MPIF member profile: Cloyes Gear & Products

Smaller, faster engines need to be quiet, forcing the development of new timing-chain technologies.

TMV Staff

Published July 15, 2015

MPIF Member profiles

Today’s Motor Vehicles profiles members of the Metal Powder Industries Federation several times per year, alternating with profiles of National Fluid Power Association member profiles. Contact Editor Robert Schoenberger at 216.393.0271 or rschoenberger@gie.net to nominate a company.
 

MPIF events
August 10-12, 2015, Powder Metallurgy Short Course, Penn Stater Conference Center Hotel, State College, Pennsylvania. This course is for those starting out with the PM industry and those looking to update their knowledge. Topics include designing PM parts, functional properties of sintered metals, injection molding, and material testing. http://goo.gl/dSD199

About the MPIF
MPIF is a federation if six associations representing leading suppliers of metal powders, PM parts and products, and processing equipment.

  • Powder Metallurgy Parts Association (PMPA)
  • Metal Powder Producers Association (MPPA)
  • Powder Metallurgy Equipment Association (PMEA)
  • Metal Injection Molding Association (MIMA)
  • Refractory Metals Association (RMA)
  • Isostatic Pressing Association (IPA)

Computer-controlled variable-valve timing (VVT) technology has allowed automakers to boost engine power and fuel efficiency, but when manufacturers started using the technology nearly 20 years ago, significant problems with noise, vibration, and harshness (NVH) arose. Cloyes Gear & Products Inc., a division of Metaldyne Performance Group (MPG), uses powdered-metal (PM) timing components to help mitigate those problems.

“In the 1990s, when Cloyes was awarded our first complete engine timing system, the NVH requirements from the original equipment manufacturer (OEM) required a new, industry-leading NVH chain system,” says David Schaefer, senior vice president of global sales for the supplier. “The Cloyes engineering team and the OEM team developed eccentric steel cushion rings and over-molded rubber sprockets as solutions.”

As several manufacturers have turned to smaller, turbocharged engines to replace big V6 and V8 powerplants, precision requirements have grown.

“Opportunities have developed for us, such as out-of-balance conditions that require chain or gear drive balance shafts. The need for material properties for strength and wear is more important,” Schaefer says. He adds that Cloyes’ engineers had to develop timing components that are significantly smaller because automakers have shaved as much space off of heavy engine blocks as possible.

“The overall package is becoming smaller with no extra space allowed,” Schaefer says. “So the need to package so much technology into a smaller space is a challenge.”
 

Cloyes Gear & Products

  • Current headquarters – Fort Smith, Arkansas
  • Employees – 940 in 6 locations
  • Powdered metal use – Sprockets and gears
  • Technology – More than 25 design patents to reduce engine noise
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