A viscous damper is a fundamental component to create durability and efficiency in a powertrain system by reducing torsional vibration.
Viscous Dampers - Born From Necessity
Houdaille (later renamed to Vibratech TVD) invented the technology in 1946 (view company history) to reduce the risk of crankshaft failure being experienced in diesel powered off-highway equipment. While other torsional damping devices existed at the time, soon the reliability of a viscous damper made it the preferred choice of design engineers and purchasers. They can be found today protecting business critical equipment in the off-highway, rail, oil and gas, power generation, marine, military and over-the-road trucking domains. In addition, they are commonly used at the automotive OEM level in exotic sports cars and light-duty diesel trucks, plus grassroots to professional racing applications.
Today’s Challenge
Today design engineers at engine, vehicle and equipment manufacturers are challenged even harder to deliver emissions-compliant, quieter and more fuel-efficient powertrains without sacrificing performance and reliability. The use of sophisticated turbochargers, high-pressure fuel injection and elevated mean effective pressures put an even greater and destructive torsional vibration force into the system.
Read 'Viscous Dampers: Evolving To Meet New Needs & Applications' and you'll gain broad insight on how viscous dampers have progressed to meet today's challenges.
Vibratech TVD
Vibratech TVD continues to be a specialized leading provider of torsional vibration analysis, viscous damper development (crankshafts, drivelines, hybrid drives) and low-to-high volume manufacturing to global OEM powertrain division. The ISO 9001:2008 certified company is headquartered in Springville, New York USA.
