When examining a vehicle’s device, one of its important elements, namely the clutch of a car, cannot be ignored. The main purpose of this mechanism is a short-term disconnection of the transmission component from the engine, as well as damping of vibrations and reducing the load on the main transmission elements when the car is moving.
It is in order to ensure smooth, gearless starting of the vehicle, there is a car clutch. Usually this term refers to a transmission element whose component is designed to disconnect or connect the connection between the gearbox and the engine.
To date, the following types of clutch are distinguished: friction, hydraulic and electromagnetic. In turn, the most common type of clutch - friction, can be divided into three categories: multi-disc, double-disc and single-disc single-disc, clutch.
The principle of operation of the clutch of a friction type vehicle is to transmit torque due to friction. With the hydraulic type of clutch, the connection between the gearbox and the engine is through a fluid stream, and in electromagnetic control it is through a magnetic field.
In addition to the above categories, the vehicle’s grip can be divided into “wet” and “dry”. These types got their names due to the used method of friction between the disks. So, for example, the friction that occurs in a liquid is called wet adhesion, and with dry friction, respectively, dry adhesion, which today has gained great popularity.
Next, consider the vehicle clutch device. It consists of the following elements: clutch housing, flywheel, driven and pressure plates, clutch, spring diaphragm, clutch release bearing, fork.
In cars on which powerful engines are installed, a double-disk clutch is used, which in turn transmits the highest torque with an unchanged size. Such results are achieved through the use of two driven discs, in the interval of which a gasket is installed. This allows you to get four friction surfaces.
After depressing the pedal, the drive moves the fork, which drives the clutch bearing, which acts on the diaphragm petals of the spring of the pressure plate. As a result, the leaves of the diaphragm spring bend toward the flywheel, the outer edge of which moves to the side, releasing the pressure plate. After that, the torque is no longer transmitted to the transfer case from the engine.
When the clutch pedal is released, the push mechanism drives the driven disk through which it contacts the flywheel mechanism. The gearbox is supplied with torque from the engine due to friction.
For high loads, the grip of the car can be made of high-strength ceramic with a high coefficient of friction. The main disadvantage of such a clutch is a sharp "grasp", as a result of which it is not suitable for installation in budget cars.
In most cases, there is no clutch only in hydromechanical automatic transmissions and is only available in robotic transmissions. Here, the gears are shifted and the electric drives are squeezed out. In cam boxes, which are mainly used in sports cars, where only when pulling from a place the clutch pedal is used, after which the gear change occurs in the absence of a pedal.
On average, a vehicle’s clutch guarantees trouble-free operation of up to 100 thousand kilometers, but there are many cases of failure of the clutch system at an earlier date. Such situations arise when the clutch is used improperly, and very often: light jerks from the place, long pressing the clutch pedal at traffic lights, etc.