Experimental and Numerical Analysis of the Wear of Timing Chains

Excerpt

Timing chains are subject to complex mechanical loads during engine operation, causing wear at pins and bushes, which results in a lengthening of the chain. If the lengthening cannot be compensated by the chain tensioning system, significant engine damage may occur. At present, such wear problems are not taken into account sufficiently during the design of timing chains. As part of a research project with the Institute of Mechanical Engineering at the Otto von Guericke University Magdeburg, experimental studies on the wear of chain drives were carried out and from this a thermo-mechanical wear model was developed which enables analysis of the wear of chain drives during realistic driving conditions of passenger cars. …