Abstract
The main torsional vibration source of the driveline is the fluctuation of the engine torque. The gear rattle is generated by an impact in the backlash due to this torsional vibration. Optimization of the clutch torsional characteristic is one of the effective methods to reduce the idle gear rattle. Many researches have been reported on this problem but only few of them give sufficient consideration to the detail clutch modeling and clutch design parameters (stiffness, hysteresis torque, preload, first stage length). This paper pays attention to the gear impact mechanism and clutch design parameters to reduce the idle gear rattle with computer simulation.