Controlling isolation system of initial combustion engines

Abstract

To evaluate the effect of the engine vibration on the vehicle's ride comfort and improve the vehicle's ride comfort, three types of engine’s isolation systems including the traditional rubber mount (TRM), hydraulic mount (HM), and semi-active HM controlled by the PID control (SHM) are proposed. A dynamic model of the inline 4-cylinder engine is established to determine the excitation force of the engine. By the combination of the random excitation of the vehicle floor affecting the engine isolation system, the isolating performance of the TRM, HM, and HM is then simulated and evaluated on isolating the engine vibration and improving the vehicle’s ride comfort. Both the root mean square (RMS) values of the engine acceleration response (aRMSe) and isolation force (FRMS) of engine isolation systems are given as the objective functions. The research results show that the engine vibration combined with the excitation of the road surface roughness significantly affects the vehicle’s ride comfort. By using the SHM, both the engine acceleration and isolation force are significantly reduced in comparison with the TRM. Especially, the values of the aRMSe and FRMS are remarkably decreased by 9.32 % and 9.69 % in comparison with the TRM. Thus, to improve the vehicle's ride comfort and reduce the effect of the engine's vibration on the ride comfort, the engine isolation system used by the TRM needs to be replaced by using the SHM.