AT414

Transmission line systems in vehicles

Lecture 3
 • Friction Clutches
• Lining grooves
• The grooves on the clutch linings help it cool down
• act as channels for removed particles to guide them out
• leave a clean friction surface
• The areas the grooves occupy, reduce the total friction area of the clutch linings
• The rivet holes on the linings also reduce the total friction area of the clutch linings
• For simplicity, the grooves are taken in pure radial directions which are different from those
in practice which often have angled directions
• Assuming n grooves on the plate
• The total normal force and the total torque
 • Friction Clutches
• Lining grooves
• The parameters of the grooved surface will be denoted by a prime and those of full
friction surface with no prime
For the case of uniform pressure, assuming an identical clutch spring for the two models

The pressure is higher since the same force is applied on a smaller surface
Evaluating the torque capacity

Therefore no change occurs to the torque capacity when grooves are included on the surface and
the only effect is the pressure increase due to the surface reduction
 • Friction Clutches

• Diaphragm Springs
• Exert necessary force for the generation of friction torque
• These springs are of conical shell form with a number of slots cut out in the upper part
• Different circular or square holes are made at the bottom parts of the slots to hold pivots
or retaining bolts
• The tips of so-called fingers come into contact with the release (or throw-out) bearing
when clutch pedal is depressed
• At the engaged stage the release bearing is held away from the diaphragm spring’s fingers
• The diaphragm spring can be regarded as two separate springs joined together
• The lower part of spring is a Belleville spring and the upper part consists of several flat
springs
• The clamping force of the clutch is generated only by the Belleville part of the diaphragm
spring
 • Friction Clutches
• Diaphragm Springs
• The bottom part (outer rim) of the spring is in contact with the pressure plate
• When the clutch is depressed, the release bearing pushes the fingers and the spring is
pulled back and moves the pressure plate away from the clutch plate
• Three forces are important in the clutch system
• The pedal force
• The bearing force
• The spring force
 • Friction Clutches
• Diaphragm Springs
• The pedal force 𝐹𝑝 applied by the driver’s foot is amplified by the leverage
• A force 𝐹𝐿 is generated and transferred to the clutch lever input
• Once again this force is amplified and the bearing force 𝐹𝐵 results
• The bearing force is transmitted to the spring and causes the spring force on the clutch
plate to decrease
• The bearing force is related to the pedal force
 • Friction Clutches
• Diaphragm Springs
• Three groups of forces acting on the clutch spring
• include those exerted by the release bearing on the finger tips
• those exerted by the retainers at the spring holes (support forces)
• the reaction forces from the pressure plate
• The forces acting on the pressure plate are reaction forces from the spring and the clutch
plate that balance each other
• the force that compresses the clutch plate between the pressure plate and the flywheel is
equal in magnitude to the reaction force on the spring and is called the clamp load
 • Friction Clutches
• Diaphragm Springs
• before the clutch assembly is bolted to the flywheel, the diaphragm spring is free and the
cover will remain at a distance 𝛿0 from the flywheel surface
• Bolting the cover to the flywheel forces the spring into a pre-loaded condition
• In the engaged state with no bearing force, the diaphragm spring pivots over its slot rings
and its outer rim forces the pressure plate tightly against the clutch plate with force 𝐹𝑆
due to a preload
• The change of the bearing force 𝐹𝐵 with its displacement 𝛿𝐵 has a non-linear
characteristics (release load)
 • Friction Clutches
• Diaphragm Springs
• The variation of the spring load 𝐹𝑆 with the spring travel 𝛿𝑆
• It increases up to a peak with increase in the displacement then starts to decline to a
minimum and afterwards increases exponentially
• when a clutch plate is placed between the pressure plate and the flywheel, the pressure
plate will undergo an initial displacement 𝛿𝑆 ∗ = 𝛿2 − 𝛿1 due to the contraction of the
clutch plate cushion springs
In the beginning, the displacement
𝛿 relative to the reference line is zero
when no force is applied. The application
of force will cause a displacement 𝛿
 • Friction Clutches
• Diaphragm Springs
• assume the segment supports the full load of the diaphragm spring as a whole
• This segment is in static equilibrium under the action of several forces
• The segment is supported at the pivot S by unknown forces
• The clamp force 𝐹𝐶 and the friction force 𝐹𝑋 are acting at the pressure plate’s contact
point C
• The bearing force 𝐹𝐵 acts at the finger tip and at the cuttings (shaded areas) there are
forces (not shown) that are all moved to the pivot point S together with their resulting
moments 𝑀𝑆 about S
• The moment balance about point S is
 • Friction Clutches
• Diaphragm Springs
• 𝐹𝑋 is the friction force at point C

• The moment 𝑀𝑆 is the spring’s resistance to the applied load

• It increases when the spring deflection 𝛿𝑆 increases
• It is equal to the moment of the spring’s elastic force about the point S

• the clamp force equation in general

In which 𝑘𝑠 is seesaw gain, 𝛿𝐵 is the releasing bearing displacement, 𝛿𝑃 is the pressure plate
lift-off displacement, and 𝛿𝑆 is the total spring deflection
 • Friction Clutches
• Diaphragm Springs
 • Friction Clutches
• MG Formula (stands for Mashadi-Ghyasvand)
• The spring force-displacement equation uses the basic Belleville equation with several
modifications
 • Friction Clutches
• MG Formula

Geometrical Definition
parameters
𝐸 modulus of elasticity
(MPa)
𝜈 Poisson’s ratio of the
spring material
 • Friction Clutches
• MG Formula
• Comparison of test data with results of spring MG formula
 • Friction Clutches
• MG Formula
 • Friction Clutches
• Example 1
• The information for a passenger car clutch is given in the following table table

• Write a MATLAB code to plot the following

• Plot the 𝐹𝑆 − 𝛿𝑆 and 𝐹𝐵 − 𝛿𝐵 curves using the MG formula
• Calculate the seesaw gain 𝑘𝑠
• Plot the variation of clamp force inside the first plot of 𝐹𝑆 − 𝛿𝑆
• Calculate the initial deflection 𝛿𝐶∗