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In an effort to optmize the connecting rod of an internal combustion engine for both mass and reliability, an all-new forged steel design has been developed that is 37% lighter than the lightweight production design. The connecting rod has been optimized using 3D Modeling, FEA, advanced numerical simulation such as PIMO3D, and a variety of mechanical testing and lessons learned. The four critical areas of the connecting rod are defined and discussed in detail, and an optimization solution for each area is presented. Finally, the optimized connecting rod incorportating all of the knowledge and information from the previous sections is presented.

Rising gas prices at the fuel station, stronger emission requirements at the tail pipe have required more and more fine-tuning of the internal motor components. To support the customers in this difficult task, MAHLE has developed a Power Cell Unit (PCU). The newly introduced lightweight PCU with the MAHLE patented ECOFORM® piston, an optimized pin and high strength material connecting rod offers the customer a complete system that is focused on less reciprocating masses, lower friction and better NVH. The PCU as a unit has been developed for each and every component as well as the interaction of all these components to additionally benefit the customer with less program management, organization, logistic and reduction of development time because all parts are made in-house by MAHLE. An example using a conventional PCU in production versus a weight optimized version is provided for comparative purposes.