The function of automobile clutch
1. Make sure the car starts smoothly
The car is in a static state before starting, if the engine and the gearbox are rigidly connected, once it is in gear, the car will suddenly be connected to the power and sudden forward thrust, which will not only cause damage to the parts, but also the driving force is not enough to overcome the huge inertia force generated by the car forward thrust, so that the engine speed drops sharply and the engine is stalled. If the clutch is used to temporarily separate the engine and gearbox at the start, and then the clutch is gradually engaged, because there is a phenomenon of slip-wear between the active part and the driven part of the clutch, the torque from the clutch can be gradually increased from zero, and the driving force of the car is also gradually increased, so that the car starts smoothly.
2. Easy to shift
During the driving process of the car, different transmission gears are often changed to adapt to the changing driving conditions. If there is no clutch to temporarily separate the engine from the gearbox, then the meshing force transmission gear in the gearbox will be difficult to separate because the load is not removed, and the pressure between the meshing tooth surfaces is very large. The other pair of meshing gears will be difficult to mesh due to the difference in circular speed between them. Even if forced into the mesh will produce a large tooth end impact, easy to damage the parts. The use of the clutch to temporarily separate the engine and gearbox after the shift, the original pair of meshing gear due to load removal, the pressure between the meshing surface is greatly reduced, it is easy to separate. The other pair of gears to be engaged, due to the small moment of inertia after the drive gear is separated from the engine, the appropriate shift action can make the circular speed of the gears to be engaged equal or close to equal, so as to avoid or reduce the impact between the gears.
3. Prevent transmission overload
When the car is in emergency braking, the wheel suddenly slows down sharply, and the drive train connected to the engine still maintains the original speed due to the inertia of rotation, which often produces a moment of inertia far greater than the engine torque in the drive system, making the parts of the drive train easy to damage. Because the clutch relies on friction to transmit torque, when the load in the drive train exceeds the torque that the friction force can transmit, the main and slave parts of the clutch will automatically slip, thus preventing the drive train from being overloaded.
