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The powertrain engine is a major source of vibration and noise in automotive vehicles. Among the powertrain components, the valve cover has been identified as one of the main noise contributors due to its large radiating surface and thin shell-like structure. There has been an increasing demand for rapid assessment of the valve cover noise level in the early product design stages. The present study analyzes the radiated sound pressure level (SPL) of a valve cover assembly using the finite element method (FEM). The analysis is first performed using a fully coupled structural-acoustic approach. In this case the solid structure is directly coupled to the enclosed and surrounding air in a single analysis, and the structural and acoustic fields are solved simultaneously. In the next approach, the analysis is performed in a sequential manner, using a submodeling technique. First, the structural vibration of the cover is analyzed in the absence of the surrounding air.

The Plastic Valve Cover System (PVCS) should provides a leak proof seal to the cylinder head under engine temperature, isolate the vibrations transmitted from the engine through the cover to the environment, control the crankcase pressure and house the device to separate oil from the blow-by gas. In order to increase the stiffness of PVCS, short glass fibers and minerals are added during the injection molding of the plastic valve cover. The presence of the fibers results in a component with highly anisotropic thermo-mechanical properties that was not accounted in the previously approach [1]. This paper describes the updated CAE approach with the incorporation of the short fiber anisotropy into the design of cylinder head valve covers.

Finite element modeling has been used extensively nowadays for predicting the noise and vibration performance of whole engines or subsystems. However, the elastomeric components on the engines or subsystems are often omitted in the FE models due to some known difficulties. One of these is the lack of the material properties at higher frequencies. The elastomer is known to have frequency-dependent viscoelasticity, i.e., the dynamic modulus increases monotonically with frequency and the damping exhibits a peak. These properties can be easily measured using conventional dynamic mechanical experiments but only in the lower range of frequencies. The present paper describes a method for characterizing the viscoelastic properties at higher frequencies using fractional calculus. The viscoelastic constitutive equations based on fractional derivatives are discussed. The method is then used to predict the high frequency properties of an elastomer.

As a cost-effective lightweight material, thermoplastic composites have been increasingly used in the automotive industry, but mostly for nonstructural applications. Recently, thermoplastic composites have been used for under-the-hood structural components such as cylinder-head covers, oil-pans, etc. To compete with other lightweight materials such as aluminum and magnesium, the thermoplastic composite has to demonstrate sound structural performance such as long-term durability and NVH performance. In the present study, the NVH performances of production 5.4L 3V engine cylinder-head covers were studied. The covers were made of thermoplastic, aluminum and magnesium. The first phase of this work involved the design and analytical processes during the development. In the final phase of this program, the experimental parts were prototyped and tested in a Ford F150 vehicle for NVH performance.

Engine exterior cover seals are typically made of elastomeric materials and used to seal the interfaces. The design of engine/transmission seals has been traditionally considered from the sealibility aspects. Recently, there have been additional demands that these seals be designed to reduce the vibration transmitted from engine/transmission and to attenuate the radiated noise. To accomplish this goal, the frequency-dependent viscoelastic properties of the seals will have to be considered. This article examines the frequency-dependent viscoelastic properties of some common elastomeric seals. The impacts of these materials on an engine valve cover noise and vibration are particularly investigated. Some design strategies are also discussed to optimize the viscoelastic effects of the elastomeric seals.

Thermoplastics have been used increasingly for automobile components for both interior and under-the-hood applications. The plastic parts are made through various molding process such as compression molding, injection molding and blow molding. For parts with large or complicated geometry, small portions of the part may have to be molded first, then joined together using a welding process. The welded regions usually exhibit inhomogeneous and inferior mechanical performance compared to the bulk regions due to the differences in thermal history. The microstructures and mechanical properties of welded thermoplastics have been examined using hot-plate welded polyethylene. The specimens are prepared at various thermal conditions to simulate the real welding process. The thermal properties in welds are monitored using DSC (Differential Scanning Calorimetry) and the crystallinities are calculated.

The exhaust manifold heat shield is made of different material layers and is bolted to the engine exhaust manifold. The exhaust manifold heat shield has been identified as a potential major noise contributor among the engine components during normal operation, which is to protect nearby components from damage due to high heat. To reduce the noise radiated from the exhaust system, a thermal acoustic protective shield (TAPS) has been developed to act as a partial acoustic enclosure. This paper will discuss the importance of controlling NVH and what can be done design-wise to improve the TAPS characteristics. The paper discusses the impact of damping and vibration, how they are modeled. Further the present study analyzes the radiated sound pressure level (SPL) of a thermal acoustic protective shield by using the finite element analysis (FEA). The analyses are performed using the fully coupled structural-acoustic method and the sequentially coupled structural-acoustic method.

In the present study, the NVH performance of an engine valve cover assembly is analyzed by the use of “spatial transmissibility (TR)”. It is a measure of the spatial response of the cover relative to the spatial response of the underlying structure to which it is connected. A prototyped engine valve cover assembly is examined. The cover transmissibility is computed through the finite element method and also measured by experimental testing. Various isolation systems have been examined and different cover materials have been investigated, including magnesium and thermosetting plastic. The transmissibility provides a strategy for evaluating the NVH characteristic of engine cover assembly in a much more timely, cost-effective manner, while the product is still in the early conceptual stage.

The engine valve cover is known to be major contributor to powertrain noise due to its large surface area and relatively small thickness. Thus, the acoustic analysis of the valve cover has become one of the key steps in the design process. The present paper describes an acoustic infinite element approach to model the sound radiation of the valve cover. The valve cover bolted to the engine block behaves like a vibrating membrane in an acoustic medium of infinite extent. Typically, the effect of the infinite medium is modeled using either the boundary element method (BEM), or by specifying an equivalent boundary impedance on the terminating surface of an acoustic finite element mesh (NRBC). In this paper, a third method is introduced, wherein the boundary impedances are replaced by acoustic infinite elements. The methodology is presented using two different models. In the first model, a cover with a geometrically simple shape is analyzed.

The transmissibility technique has been traditionally used for evaluating the NVH performance of isolated, rigid structures such as the elastomer mount isolated automobile engine. The transmissibility quantity provides information on how a structure reduces vibration as subjected to dynamic loading and thereby attenuates noise. In the present study, the transmissibility is applied to a non-rigid, plastic structure - the engine cylinder-head cover module. The cover module includes primarily a thin, plate-like cover and the elastomer isolation system. At low frequencies, the cover will behave as a rigid mass and thus display a major peak at its resonant frequency. At high frequencies, the cover will vibrate as a flexible panel and thus display multiple peaks with magnitudes differing from point to point across the cover surface. As a result, the transmissibility calculated would have a spatial resolution, called the spatial transmissibility.