Research on average temperature rise characteristic of wet clutch

On the basis of the lumped parameter method which simplifies the components in hydraulic system to nodes, a thermal resistance network model of clutch hydraulic system is proposed to investigate the effects of oil flow and rotation speed difference on the temperature rise of wet clutch during engaging. An experimental device is designed to validate the simulation results. The results show that the oil flow rate has a greater influence on the temperature rise of wet clutch under the condition of high heat flux than that under the condition of low heat flux. The oil flow brings a slight effect on the temperature rise when the cooling flow increases to the critical value. Both the relative speed and the pressure have an influence on heat flux. The temperature of wet clutch is a linear function of the relative speed of friction plates. The clutch temperature rises by 8.05 percent with every 100 r/min increment in the relative speed under same cooling condition. The proposed model is verified effectively by comparison of simulated results and experimental data, which can better reflect the thermal equilibrium of wet clutch hydraulic system in normal condition.