Quieting turbodiesels. (WIP).

One of the knocks on diesels is that they are comparatively noisy. Especially turbo-diesels. This is a direct result of vibrations that are transferred From the engine through the muffler and exhaust system. According to Kurt Kushner, general manager of Hydra LLC [Warren, MI], "The turbines in turbo engines inherently have some degree of vibration. It is expensive to eliminate turbocharger noise at its source by replacing vibrating turbines with higher quality, non-vibrating ones. The second option, to redesign the muffler and the exhaust so they don't generate noise, typically increases the muffler's size and the car's weight."

Such noise would be exceedingly unsettling to customers of the 2002 Mercedes 5-Class V8 turbodiesel, so Hydra's parent company, Witzenmann GmbH, worked with DaimlerChrysler to develop a stainless steel decoupling element, the KSE, that's fitted between the exhaust system and the turbocharger. There is an internal tube for exhaust gases surrounded by corrugated, multi-layer bellows. Then a wire mesh ring is wrapped around it to provide further noise muffling.