Experimental Investigation on Performance Characteristics of Dry Centrifugal Clutch with Grooved Friction Liners

The deteriorated condition of friction liners after prolonged use is one of the primary causes of judder in centrifugal clutches. The friction characteristics can be retained by generating specific textures or grooves on the friction liner. An attempt has been made to study the characteristics of centrifugal clutch using grooved friction liners. A test cycle for centrifugal clutch has been developed using a number of engagements as the basis. A vehicle test bench was used for the experiment where the developed test cycle was automated. The performance characteristics of the centrifugal clutch have been recorded and analyzed with normal friction liners and grooved friction liners for 100 test cycles. For this study, the groove area ratio was retained at 0.15, and the grooves were cut at 90°. After completing 100 test cycles, the clutch with a grooved friction liner exhibited better characteristics. After completing 100 test cycles, the surface roughness reduction at the leading section of the grooved friction liner and normal friction liner has been found to be 6.44% and 8.11%, respectively. The thickness reduction at the leading section of the grooved friction liner and normal friction liner has been reported to be 3.73% and 4.98%, respectively. Throughout the run of 100 test cycles, the higher clutch housing temperature has been witnessed in the case of a clutch with a grooved friction liner. At the 100th test cycle, the clutch torque with a grooved friction liner was 15.22% more than the clutch torque with a normal friction liner. Even after prolonged use, the clutch with grooved friction liner exhibited better judder characteristics and also provided higher fuel economy for vehicles.