Balance shafts

Balance shafts

Internal Combustion Engines

Published in Iqbal Husain, Electric and Hybrid Vehicles, 2021

For a good primary balance, the power strokes of the multiple cylinders are equally spaced. The engine arrangements that have good primary balance are: Inline 4 and 6 cylinders, 90° V 8 cylinders and flat 4 and 6 cylinders. The arrangements that have poor primary balance are 90° V 6 cylinders and Inline 3 cylinders. In the arrangements with poor primary balance, counter-rotating balance shafts are used to cancel vibration.

Balancing collaborative human–robot assembly lines to optimise cycle time and ergonomic risk

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Journal Information

Published in International Journal of Production Research, 2022

Kathryn E. Stecke, Mahdi Mokhtarzadeh

This study is motivated by situations in which robots collaborate with humans in common stations and the new challenges that line balancing faces. Two automotive industry subassembly examples demonstrate HRC. A balance shaft module (BSM) is an automobile engine subassembly that reduces engine vibrations caused by piston and crankshaft rotation. Figure 2 shows a BSM with a pair of identical balance shafts that rotate in opposite directions at twice the speed of the crankshaft. A pulley is screwed on balance shaft 2. Balance shafts are housed within a balance shaft enclosure top (BSET) and a balance shaft enclosure bottom (BSEB), which are screwed together.

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Internal Combustion Engines

Balancing collaborative human–robot assembly lines to optimise cycle time and ergonomic risk