Influence of phase number variation on performance of rocker joint silent chain drive system

Abstract

Previous studies about the characteristics of the rocker joint silent chain drive system with multiple phases do not completely match with the engineering, thereby the application of the multi-phase transmission system is limited. In this paper, the generic function to describe the fluctuation of the output angular velocity of the chain drive system with the multiple phases is obtained. Through analyzing the angular displacement fluctuations of the sub-sprockets, the polygonal action disturbance is proved to exist in the chain drive system under the phase number variation. By improving the multi-body dynamics simulation method, the influence of the phase number variation on the performance of the transmission system is verified. The results show that the polygonal action of the transmission system will not always be reduced with the increase of the phase number. Although the phase number variation can reduce the fluctuations about the center distance and output velocity, it can also increase the output error and the chain tension force range, ultimately reducing the chain service life. This study not only reveals the influence of the phase number variation on the chain drive, but also improves the design theory of silent chain.