Feasibility study of single-mass flywheels with centrifugal pendulum vibration absorbers in vehicles with dual-clutch transmissions

Dual-clutch transmissions (DCTs) are very sensitive to torsional vibration and easily produce rattle noise if a single-mass flywheel (SMF) with a conventional torsional damper or a dual-mass flywheel (DMFW) is used in the vehicle. Only a DMFW combined with a centrifugal pendulum vibration absorber (CPVA) can eliminate rattle problem; however, this solution is expensive. Alternatively, a SMF with a CPVA is proposed to eliminate the DCT rattle issue, which could be a feasible and cost-effective solution free of side effects introduced by DMFWs. The vibration absorption principle of different types of pendulums and the rotor dynamic model are investigated to study the feasibility of a SMF with CPVA in a DCT vehicle. A seven-degree-of-freedom nonlinear lumped torsional vibration model is proposed to evaluate the torsional vibration attenuation performance of different configurations of torsional dampers and CPVAs. As per the model calculation results, the bifilar pendulum features the best attenuation performance compared with the circular and cycloid pendulums. The effect of pendulum parameters on attenuation is studied, and the optimized values are obtained. The SMF and optimized bifilar CPVA combination can satisfy the no-rattle requirements in vehicle relative to the DCT in-vehicle no-rattle threshold. A vehicle assessment on roads using physical pendulum prototypes indicates that the SMF with CPVA can be used as an alternative, cost-effective solution for DCTs, instead of the expensive DMFW with CPVA solution.