Clutches

By Abanega W.
 Clutches
• A clutch is a machine member used to connect a driving shaft to a driven shaft so that the
driven shaft may be started or stopped at will, without stopping the driving shaft.
• The use of a clutch is mostly found in automobiles.
• A little consideration will show that in order to change gears or to stop the vehicle, it is
required that the driven shaft should stop, but the engine should continue to run.
• It is, therefore, necessary that the driven shaft should be disengaged from the driving
shaft.
• The engagement and disengagement of the shafts is obtained by means of a clutch which
is operated by a lever.
 Types of Clutches
• Positive clutches
• Used when a positive drive is required.
• The simplest type of a positive clutch is a jaw or claw clutch.
 Types Clutches
• Friction Clutches
• Used mostly in cases of machines that started and stopped frequently.
• Its application is also found in cases in which power is to be delivered to machines
partially or fully loaded.
• The force of friction is used to start the driven shaft from rest and gradually brings it
up to the proper speed without excessive slipping of the friction surfaces.
• In automobiles, friction clutch is used to connect the engine to the drive shaft.
• In operating such a clutch, care should be taken so that the friction surfaces engage
easily and gradually bring the driven shaft up to proper speed.
 Material for Friction Surfaces
• The material used for lining of friction surfaces of a clutch should have the following
characteristics :
• 1. It should have a high and uniform coefficient of friction.
2. It should not be affected by moisture and oil.
3. It should have the ability to withstand high temperatures caused by slippage.
4. It should have high heat conductivity.
5. It should have high resistance to wear and scoring.
• During operation of a clutch, most of the work done against frictional forces opposing the
motion is liberated as heat at the interface. It has been found that at the actual point of
contact, the temperature as high as 1000°C is reached for a very short duration (i.e. for
0.0001 second). Due to this, the temperature of the contact surfaces will increase and may
destroy the clutch.
• Refer Table 24.1. Properties of materials commonly used
for lining of friction surfaces. On text book of machine desing,Kurmi
 Considerations in Designing a Friction
Clutch
1. The suitable material forming the contact surfaces should be selected.
2. The moving parts of the clutch should have low weight in order to minimise the inertia
load, especially in high speed service.
3. The clutch should not require any external force to maintain contact of the friction surfaces.
4. The provision for taking up wear of the contact surfaces must be provided.
5. The clutch should have provision for facilitating repairs.
6. The clutch should have provision for carrying away the heat generated at the contact
surfaces.
7. The projecting parts of the clutch should be covered by guard.
 Types of Friction Clutches
• 1. Disc or plate clutches (single disc or multiple disc clutch),
2. Cone clutches, and
3. Centrifugal clutches.

Note : The disc and cone clutches are known as axial friction clutches, while the
centrifugal clutch is called radial friction clutch.
Single Disc or Plate Clutch

?
Design of a Disc or Plate Clutch
 Design of a Disc or Plate Clutch
• Consider two friction surfaces maintained in contact by an axial thrust
(W ) as shown in Fig below.
Let T = Torque transmitted by the
clutch,
p = Intensity of axial pressure with
which the contact surfaces are held
together,
r1 and r2 = External and internal
radii of friction faces,
r = Mean radius of the friction face, and
μ = Coefficient of friction
 Design of a Disc or Plate Clutch
• Area of the contact surface or friction surface As= 2π r.dr
• Normal or axial force on the ring, δW = Pressure × Area = p × 2π r.dr
• Frictional force on the ring acting tangentially at radius r,
Fr = μ × δW = μ.p × 2π r.dr
• Frictional torque acting on the ring, Tr= Fr× r = μ.p × 2π r.dr × r = 2 π μ p. r2.dr

We shall now consider the following two cases :

1. When there is a uniform pressure, and
2. When there is a uniform axial wear.
 Design of a Disc or Plate Clutch
• Case-1: Uniform pressure
• When the pressure is uniformly distributed over the entire area of the
friction face
• By integrating Tr= with in the limit of r2 and r1 we can get for the total
friction torque.
 Design of a Disc or Plate Clutch
• Case-2: uniform axial wear.
• The basic principle in designing machine parts that are
subjected to wear due to sliding friction is that the
normal wear is proportional to the work of friction.
• The work of friction is proportional to the product of
normal pressure ( p) and the sliding velocity (V).
Therefore,
• Normal wear ∝ Work of friction ∝ p.V or p.V = K (a
constant) or p = K/V
• Case-2: Uniform axial wear
• The basic principle in designing machine parts that
are subjected to wear due to sliding friction is that the
normal wear is proportional to the work of friction.
• The work of friction is proportional to the product of
normal pressure ( p) and the sliding velocity(V).
• Normal wear ∝ Work of friction ∝ p.V
or p.V = K (a constant) or p = K/V
• Let p be the normal intensity of pressure at a distance r from the axis of
the clutch.
• Since the intensity of pressure varies inversely with the distance, therefore
• p.r = C (a constant) or p = C / r
• Normal force on the ring,
• Total force acting on the friction surface,
• Frictional torque acting on the ring

• Total frictional torque acting on the friction surface (or on the clutch)
• Notes : 1. In general, total frictional torque acting on the friction surfaces
(or on the clutch) is given by
• T = n.μ.W.R
• where n = Number of pairs of friction (or contact) surfaces, and
• R = Mean radius of friction surface
• Notes : 2. For a single disc or plate clutch, normally both sides of the disc
are effective. Therefore a single disc clutch has two pairs of surfaces in
contact (i.e. n = 2).
• Notes :3. Since the intensity of pressure is maximum at the inner radius
(r2) of the friction or contact surface, therefore equation intensity of
pressure may be written as
pmax × r2 = C or pmax = C / r2
• Notes :4. Since the intensity of pressure is minimum at the outer radius
(r1) of the friction or contact surface, therefore equation intensity of
pressure may be written as pmin × r1 = C or pmin = C / r1
• Notes :5. The average pressure ( pav) on the friction or contact surface is
given by
• Notes :6. In case of a new clutch, the intensity of pressure is
approximately uniform, but in an old clutch, the uniform wear
theory is more approximate.
Notes :7. The uniform pressure theory gives a higher friction
torque
than the uniform wear theory. Therefore in case of friction
clutches, uniform wear should be considered, unless otherwise
stated.
 Multiple Disc Clutch
• A multiple disc clutch used when a large torque is to be transmitted.
• The inside discs (usually of steel) are fastened to the driven shaft to permit
axial motion (except for the last disc).
• The outside discs (usually of bronze) are held by bolts and are fastened to
the housing which is keyed to the driving shaft.
• The multiple disc clutches are extensively used in motor cars, machine
tools etc.
• Let n1 = Number of discs on the driving shaft, and
• n2 = Number of discs on the driven shaft.
• ∴ Number of pairs of contact surfaces, n = n1 + n2 – 1
• Example.1: Determine the maximum, minimum
and average pressure in a plate clutch when the
axial force is 4 kN. The inside radius of the
contact surface is 50 mm and the outside radius
is 100mm. Assume uniform wear.
• Example.2: A plate clutch having a single driving plate with contact surfaces
on each side is required to transmit 110 kW at 1250 r.p.m. The outer diameter
of the contact surfaces is to be 300 mm. The coefficient of friction is 0.4.
(a) Assuming a uniform pressure of 0.17 N/mm2; determine the
inner diameter of the friction surfaces.
(b) Assuming the same dimensions and the same total axial thrust,
determine the maximum torque that can be transmitted and the maximum
intensity of pressure when uniform wear conditions have been reached .
• Example .3: A single plate clutch, effective on both sides, is
required to transmit 25 kW at 3000 r.p.m. Determine the outer
and inner diameters of frictional surface if the coefficient of
friction is 0.255, ratio of diameters is 1.25 and the maximum
pressure is not to exceed 0.1 N/mm2. Also, determine the axial
thrust to be provided by springs. Assume the theory of uniform
wear.
• end