MadSci Network: Engineering
Query:

Re: how does an air clutch operate?

Date: Tue Nov 30 10:34:41 1999
Posted By: Bradley Kelley, Grad student, Mechanical Engineering, Colorado State University
Area of science: Engineering
ID: 939791085.Eg
Message:

An air clutch works much the same way a hydraulic clutch in a car works.  
The idea of a clutch is (usually) to limit or engage/disengage torque from a 
drive shaft.  A clutch is almost always located between the power (say an 
engine or electric motor) and a load (the car wheels or a part being 
machined).  A limiting clutch prevents the motor from stalling out and 
being damaged; an engage/disengage clutch allows for selecting when 
power is applied to the load.

An air clutch is still a clutch, and it uses air for its actuation.  In a 
car, when you press the pedal down, the increased pressure in the hydraulic 
fluid disengages the engine power from the drive train.  Almost always in 
an air clutch, the increase in pressure ENGAGES the clutch.  The design is 
so if air pressure is lost, the machine will go to a SAFE mode, or disengaged 
from the drive.  The air pressure usually pushes an air cylinder that 
engages one disk with another, frequently with interlocking tines, and 
transfers the torque from one side of the clutch to the other.  When 
pressure is lost on the cylinder, a spring acting in the opposite direction 
disengages the interlocked disk, which then separates the power side from 
the load side.  A good illustration and short description is located at 
Logan Clutch's website:
 
http://www.loganclutch.com/product.html

The reason air is used is it is cleaner than hydraulics and most shops have 
a good pressurised air system in place.  Hope this is enough info.

BK



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