A Novel Coaxial Balance Mechanism for Reciprocating Piston Engines

Vibration is an important issue faced by reciprocating piston engines, and is caused by reciprocating inertia forces of the piston set. To reduce the vibration without changing the main structure and size of the original engine, we proposed a novel coaxial balance mechanism design based on a compact unit body. By introducing a second-order balance mass, this mechanism can significantly increase the efficiency of vibration reduction. The proposed mechanism can effectively balance the first-order and second-order inertia forces with the potential of balancing high-order inertia forces. To accurately determine the second-order balance mass, a closed-form method was developed. Simulation results with a single-cylinder piston DK32 engine demonstrate the effectiveness and advantage of the proposed mechanism. At a crankshaft speed of 2350 r/min, compared with the first-order balance device, the average root mean square velocity of the test points on the engine’s cylinder was reduced by 97.31%, and the support reaction force was reduced by 96.54%.