A Novel Comprehensive Model of Wet Clutch During the Engagement Process

Abstract

With the development of vehicles towards higher power density and reliability, the wet clutch, which is the critical component in transmission system, always encounters the problems of ablation, wear, and breakage. To solve this problem, a novel comprehensive model is developed for the wet clutch to reveal its intrinsic working mechanism. Firstly, a dynamic clearance varying model and a torque balance model are developed for the wet clutch to explain the bearing mechanism along the axial and circumferential directions. After that, the friction coefficient, which varies depending on the interface pressure, slipping speed and temperature, is obtained. By developing the temperature prediction model, a theoretical coupling model is finally established for the engagement process of wet clutch. From the simulation results, the coupling model is sufficient to describe the changing trend of several critical parameters, including the viscous torque, the asperity torque, the contact status on the friction interface, the temperature rise and the friction coefficient, etc.