CONSTRUCTION OF A VEHICLE WHEEL BALLANCING MACHINE

CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION

1.0 INTRODUCTION

A vehicle wheel balancing machine is a tool that helps to detect imbalanced wheels and so aid in
the correction of the imbalance. This topic design and construction of a wheel balancing machine
is introduced in steps, to serve as an introduction and to lay the foundations for significance of
the study. This preliminary chapter is made of an introduction, a statement of the aim and
objectives, scope or delimitations of the project and the significance of the study.

1.1 INTRODUCTION

Power transmission in engineering is accomplished by the use of shafts bearings, pulleys, belts,
rollers, gears, couplings, etc. Most machine members are linked or interconnected with one
another before this power transmission can be effective.

Misalignment or out of balance of shafts or any of these machine members results in excessive
vibration which is transmitted to other members and down to the foundation bolt and therefore
inducing fatigue stress on the members. Fatigue, probably, is responsible for over 70% of failure
of engineering component in operation. Misalignment in shafts and bearing causes excessive
load. High speed bearing of aircrafts that may operate at over 20,000 rpm may become
catastrophic if there be any unbalance of the members. Out of balance of machine members
creates serious problems on the functionality and durability and machine members and on the
machine in general.

The unbalance is considering the most common source of vibration in machine components [1],
[2]. It could cause for excessive bearings loadings, which reduce useful life time, and increase
fatigue failure of machines. In modern machines, the unbalance factor is quite important for
designing and maintenance health monitoring. Based on the aforementioned, there is a need to
have industrial equipment in continuous operation, and the best way to increase the machines life
time are through its adequate alignment and precision balancing methods. If the machine is
balanced and aligned correctly, and if all the resonance problems are corrected, then it is likely
that the machine will operate for a significantly longer time period, before failures occurs [3],
[4]. Any type of failure mode can lead to a functional failure and therefore to economic losses.
Therefore, in order to secure an efficient working machines process [5],[6],[7], in recent years
have been applying efficiently, the conditions maintenance approach.

It is therefore, with the understanding of the sensitivity of balancing in the design of mechanical
components and the need to put balancing into consideration in the fabrication of our local
machines, the view to determine the level of out of balance and the subsequent balancing of
these machine members that necessitated the idea of designing and constructing a Basic Static
and Dynamic Balancing Apparatus of this nature.

1.2 AIM AND OBJECTIVES

The aim of this project is to construct a machine capable of balancing a typical motor vehicle
wheel. The objectives of this project are:

i. to help the vehicle mechanic and car user meet their need at appropriate time.
ii. To make the operation of a modern wheel balancer simple and adoptable to rural and
urban applications.
iii. To construct a wheel balancer that requires little or no maintenance.

1.3 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

The construction of the vehicle wheel balancer arises from the following problems encountered
by both the rural and urban motorists.

i. Rampant cases of unbalanced wheels.

ii. Insufficient wheel balancing machines.
iii. High cost of wheel balancing.
1.3 SCOPE OR DELIMITATION OF THE PROJECT

The basic and dynamic balancing machine covers the fundamental exploits of knowledge to
design and construct and static and dynamic balance for any mechanical member since each
machine components has its own balance depending on its bulkiness. The basic principle of
construction lies on the one chained in our construction. This construction gives illumination for
the construction of production and maintenance balance. It also serves as a means of
demonstrating static and dynamic balancing in laboratories of higher learning. The work will
concentrate in constructional procedures such as modifications and not deal with determinant
estimation of strength of material, thickness of materials, and or classifications of materials used.

1.4 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE PROJECT

Apart from its being a purely academic exercise, this project will in no small way be useful to
students who wish to undertake further work on the topic of wheel balancing. The work will also
serve as base material for self-sufficiency as the balancing machines in used are mainly imported
from china. This work can be a source of gainful employment for any mechanical engineering
student who wishes or become a fabricator of the machine.
 CHAPTER TWO: LITTERATURE REVIEW

2.0 INTRODUCTION

In this section of the project, materials that are of bearing to this work are given as a source for
comparing the present work with those undertaken by different authors on similar topics. The
chapter actually gives rise to a justification for the work.

2.1 GENERAL REVIEW

S. Sweedney et al., in 2005 [8] redesigned the rotor balancing system to reduce the unbalance
phenomena. It was obtained by changing a lighter disk and shorter rotor shaft to increase the
rigidly of the system. D. Han in 2006 [9], developed a model balancing for non-isotropic rotor
system. The idea was to develop a generalized modal analysis from an unbalance model response
to obtain new model parameters to be use partly, to quantify the unbalances, and partly to reduce
it. L. T. Hongwei et al., in 2011[10], their research work was based on vibration signals analysis
and filtering techniques. They developed an online process for dynamic balancing system for
spindle and grinding in CNC machines. A laser device was implemented to perform rotor
balancing by, M. Stoesslein et al., in 2016. It works by the laser removing materials in automatic
and controlled form. A structure surface vibration signals values were used to activate removing
materials. A. Wanq et al., in 2017 [10], applied a four order non-homogeneous partial differential
equation set to unbalance responses, damping bearing coefficients and rotor unbalance. It was
also proposed a novel measurement Point Vector Method to determine rotor unbalance under
operating. A high-speed balance approach was developed for turbo machinery by G. Bin in 2018.
The rotating speed of a rotor is hardly constant in practice due to angular speed fluctuation,
which affects the balancing accuracy of the rotor. In this paper, the effect of angular speed
fluctuation on vibration responses of the unbalanced rotor is analyzed quantitatively. Then, a
vibration signal correction method based on zoom synchro’s squeezing transform (ZST) and
tacho less order tracking was proposed. The instantaneous angular speed (IAS) of the rotor is
extracted by the ZST firstly and then used to calculate the instantaneous phase. The vibration
signal is further resampled in angular domain to reduce the effect of angular speed fluctuation.
The signal obtained in angular domain is transformed into order domain using discrete Fourier
transform (DFT) to estimate the amplitude and phase of the vibration signal. Simulated and
experimental results show that the proposed method can successfully correct the amplitude and
phase of the vibration signal due to angular speed fluctuation. The Coefficient Balance Method
(CBM) was used to identify the shaft balancing values. The multi plane coefficients with varying
speeds are based on steady state response from the Finite Element Method (FEM). H. Cao, et al.,
in 2018 [11], studied the vibration signal corrections of an unbalanced rotor as a result of speed
fluctuations. First, it was defined the speed fluctuations and it was reduced the effects of the
rotors fluctuations, by using the Zoom Synchro squeezing Transform (ZST). A self-sensing
piezoelectric actuator was used for unbalance detection in rotor systems, by R. Ambur, et al., in
2018 [12]. In this research, the tests were performed the unbalance rotor faults were detected by
using a parameter optimization method, which was also calculated the location, phase and
unbalance magnitude. The final analysis was performed in laboratory test bench, and the
developed method could be used both for control action and fault detection. It was also described
included a numerical simulation of the manufactured prototype and it was also performed a
dynamical structure analysis by modal analysis. The literature review reveals that an extensive
research has been performed; partly study the development and designing of rotor balancing
system and the use of different measurement techniques to detect the unbalance severity.
However, it can be stated it has still a place to research in this field partly, to give a systematic
framework for rotor unbalance quality measurements. Therefore, the main objective of this
research work was to design and developed a low-cost dynamic rotor balancing machine. It`s
recommend the condition based-maintenance (MBC), which is a maintenance program to collect
data continuously and perform the maintenance decisions [13], [14], [15], [16], [17].

2.2 Swith C. (2019), worked on a Design and Development of a Dynamic Vibration Balancing
Machine for Industrial Applications. In this work it was stated that There is a steadily growing
demand for reliable, versatile measurement rotor balancing system which can be used to
determine the machine unbalances behavior. The effect of these causes is the increase of
vibration amplitudes, causing damage to elements of the machines, mainly in the bearings,
reduce useful life time, and increase fatigue failure in machines. The industry requires that
machines have to operate continuously, efficient maintenance philosophy, and reduce down time.
Therefore, this research work has the main objective to design and develop a low-cost rotor
balancing measurement system for industrial applications. This research study was based on the
ISO 1940-1 standard. The Solidworks software was used for the designing, structural stress, and
modal analysis. It was also carried out and extensive numerical analysis with Finite Element
Method (FEM), of the developed measurement system, in order to identify the structure
resonance frequencies to avoid with the induction motor rotation frequency. For the simplicity,
precision and robustness, the single plane four runs method for rotor balancing was selected.
Finally, it was developed a rotor balancing measurement system. It showed the ability, and
potential to use the developed equipment in industrial environment. Moreover, it has been shown
that the measurement and the applied analysis method have worked accurate for unbalance
detection and reduction of vibration levels from G13 to G2.

2.3 Acording to Robert B., in his work titled vibration-based balancer he stated that there is a
steadily growing demand for reliable, versatile measurement rotor balancing system which can
be used to determine the machine parts unbalances. The effect of these causes is the increase of
vibration amplitudes, causing damage to elements of the machines, mainly in the bearings,
reduce useful life time, and increase fatigue failure in machines. The industry requires that
machines have to operate continuously, efficient maintenance philosophy, and reduce the down
time.

2.4 Patrick A. in 2017 designed a modified wheel balancing machine in which is was discovered
that The balancing machine is equipment used for the following- determining the proper location
and amount of balance work in a rotor (applicable in a motor amerture) – determining the
position and magnitude of a given mass to balance the unbalance centrifugal effect of a system
(this is applicable in determining automobile crankshaft mass distribution. This equipment was
designed and constructed for the use of the Faculty Engineering, Lagos State University the
Mechanics of Machine Laboratory since the possibility of acquiring one is remote due to the
non-availability of the hard currency needed. Moreover, the need to take students outside the
university to use the equipment has totally been eliminated thereby saving valuable time and
cost. The objective of looking inwards towards technology acquisition is also manifested.
Furthermore Frequently, a machine already in operation will need rebalancing or a new machine
when assembled at its permanent location will need balancing furthermore in most cases the cost
of disassembly shipping to a balancing machine are prohibitive hence the design and
construction of the balancing machine was undertaken to facilitate the conduct of related
experiments on vibration caused by unbalanced rotors in LASU’S Engineering Mechanics of
Machine laboratory. The cost of importing a machine is far beyond the reach of the Faculty thus
using locally available materials, the objectives of looking inwards has been realized.

2.5 DYNAMIC BALANCER

Figure 2.5 The Dynamic balancer

2.51 Wheel weights

Just as there are a number of assembly balancing methods, there are a variety of weights for
balancing purposes. There are standard clip-on weights of various types that are made to
accommodate the contours of different rim flanges. There are MC weights used on a number of
U.S. vehicles, EN weights used on VW and Honda vehicles, FN weights for Japanese vehicles
and IAW weights used on many South Korean and European vehicles. A few of these types are
shown in this box. There also are adhesive weights that are not covered in this article. They are
used for custom wheels or those that do not have an outside flange. Additionally, there are three
primary materials used to produce wheel weights. Lead weights, the original weights used to
balance assemblies, are making their way out of the scene. Several states have outlawed lead
weights – as have the European Union and Japan – and the EPA is considering national action.
Remaining alternatives for both clip-style and stick-on weights include zinc and steel. The
common types of weights are shown in figure 2.51a, 2.51b and 2.51c.

Figure 2.51a Standard clip-on weight

Figure 2.51b Clip on mass weight

Figure 2.51c FN weights used on Japanese vehicles

2.6 PRACTICAL TYPES OF BALANCING MACHINE

Static wheel balancers

This type of wheel balancer is stationary and relies on gravity to help detect imbalances. The
wheel is mounted on a non-rotating spindle tool, and any “heavy spots” in the wheel will deflect
the tooling downward to indicate the area and degree of imbalance. Static wheel balancers tend
to be less accurate than dynamic wheel balancers, but are smaller, more portable, and more
economical, making them ideal for home mechanics and shops on a tight budget.

Figure 2.6a Static and dynamic wheel balance

Dynamic wheel balancers

This type of wheel balancer identifies imbalances by spinning the wheel in a manner that mimics
its movement while driving. It is larger and more powerful than a static wheel balancer, and
often features the latest state-of-the-art technology to help deliver the most accurate assessments
possible. Dynamic wheel balancers can accommodate a variety of wheel diameters and are
available at many different price points, making them the right choice for larger garages with
higher volume tire centers.

Figure 2.6b Dynamic wheel balancing machine

Bubble wheel balancers

Bubble balancers, which get their name from the bubble in the oil-filled sighting gauge that is
used to signal imbalances, are old school machines that operate much like static wheel balancers.
They are very affordable and can frequents
Figure 2.6c Simple practical bubble Type balancer
 CHAPTER THREE: MATERIALS AND METHOD

3.0 INTRODUCTION

In this chapter of the work, the materials used in the fabrication of the bubble balancing machine
are listed, the method used in actualizing is also summarized.

3.1 MATERIALS

Table 3.1 List of materials used

S/N COMPONENT QUANTITY

1 Round pipe 1 1
2 2” steel rod 2m
3 Used wheel shaft assembly 1
4 Welding rod 12mm 12
5 18 bolt and nut 18 bolt/nut
6 Assorted bolts and nuts assorted

The method used in this project is to first of all calculate the parameters of the wheel balancing
machine from its specifications, Then the physical rig or setup is fabricated.

3.21 MECHANICAL DESIGN OF THE WHEEL BALANCING MACHINE

For static balancing machine design, considerations are only on the balancing force and angular
position measurement.

WHEEL BALANCING MACHINE INSTRUMENTATION

(a). Measurement of the Unbalance Force

The unbalance force can be assessed by the degree of displacement from zero center of the
bubble balance, it is this estimate that is related to the counterbalance mass to be placed at the
rim radius by [3]:

m = (a*w/g)/(w2*R) (2)

(b). Angular Position Measurement

The attached bubble balance can be used to measure the location of the unbalance force in the
wheel.

The static balance selected for the project is shown in figure 3.21. The process of balancing is
manual in nature. The wheel is turned through a cycle and allowed to rest, an unbalanced wheel
will always turn and rest in a certain position of unbalance due the weight of the unbalance. The
procedure is repeated till the balance condition of the tire is obtained by addition of balance.

Figure 3.21a the picture of the rig

Figure 3.21b1 side view of the rig

Figure 3.21b2 Close up view of the rig

 Figure 3.21b3 Side view of the rig

CHAPTER FOUR: RESULT AND DISCUSSION

4.1 RESULT

Results obtained from test are tabulated on table 4.1

Table 4.1 Result

S/N Wheel rim No of balance attempts Final No of Weight added Result

size
1 14 4 1 balanced
2 14 3 2 balanced
3 15 4 1 balanced
 4 15 2 2 balanced
5 16 3 2 balanced
6 16 3 1 balanced

4.2 DISCUSSION

Mass unbalance in a rotating system usually produces unwanted centrifugal forces that reduces
the life span of mechanical elements. To minimize the harmful effects of unbalance, the wheel
balancing is frequently considered to be upfront technique that is carried out in guidance with the
instruction specified by the balancing machine manufacturer. The result on table 4.1 showed that
in very few attempts, the motor vehicle wheel can be balanced using the fabricated machine in
this work. Though the test was done on only rim size 14 to 16, it can be deduced that the same
result can be expected with rims of higher diameters if the same type of balancer is fabricated for
larger diameter wheels. The number of weights added were in line with acceptable practice for
motor vehicle wheel balancers.

CHAPTER FIVE: CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS

5.1 CONCLUSION

There is a steadily growing demand for reliable, versatile motor vehicle wheel balancing system
which can be used to determine wheel unbalances. Unchecked wheel unbalance causes increase
of vibration amplitudes, causing damage to elements of the machines, mainly in the bearings,
reduce useful life time, and increase fatigue failure in machines. The transportation industry
requires that motor vehicles have to operate continuously, efficient maintenance philosophy, and
reduce the down time. Therefore, this research work has the main objective to design and
develop a low-cost motor vehicle wheel balancing system for industrial and private applications.
Based on the literature review was selected the dynamic type wheel balancer. The designing and
prototype manufacturing was done in stages taking many factors into consideration. The system
was put together by welding the component parts, polishing where necessary. The cost and
efficiency of the of the developed motor vehicle balancing system, when compared to standard
alternatives with the same capability precision requirements, was very competing at about 50%
less in price. Finally, A dynamic type motor wheel balancer was developed, this showed the
ability, and potential of the mechanical engineering students to developed equipment in
industrial environment.

Finally, the cost of the developed rotor balancing system, comparing standard alternatives with
the same accuracy and precision, was about 87% less in price.

5.2 RECOMMENDATIONS

To further improve upon this simple work on motor vehicle wheel balancer, the following
recommendations are hereby given:

i. Precision cutting and welding is recommended using electronic CNC machines to

reduce vibrations due to machine part imbalance.
ii. Finishing should be improved probably by electroplating.
iii. A multi wheel version should be worked on for rapid correction of wheel balance.
 iv. An electromechanical version can be worked on to include an electronic vibration
sensor.

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