Effect of surface textures of friction plates on wear behaviour and torque transmission in compressors with clutch mechanism

Heavy-duty vehicle air compressors are constantly driven by the vehicle's engine. Even after compressed air is no longer needed in the vehicle, the compressor continues to operate. Therefore, unnecessary power consumption occurs due to the compressor. Clutch mechanisms are used to prevent unnecessary power consumption and provide energy efficiency. Although there are many types of clutch mechanisms, the use of the multi-disc or lamellar clutch mechanism is generally common in heavy-vehicle compressors. Functionally, these are mechanisms that stop the compressor by deactivating it when the compressed air requirement in the vehicle is over and reactivate the compressor operation when the air is needed again. During this activation and deactivation process, the friction plates or discs in the clutch are frictionally connected to each other, and motion and torque transmission occur by contact with each other. In this study, as a result of the contact and friction of the plates with each other, issues such as wear and surface condition of the plates are investigated. Three repeated wear tests (20 N-200 RPM, 45 N-400 RPM, and 120 seconds) were performed on friction plates with carbon fibre paper surfaces produced by two different companies (OEM and YUMAK) and the coefficient of friction during wear, torque transmission, macro- (1300 μm) and micro-images (50×) of the surface before and after wear, and surface topographic images were measured to see how deep the wear on the surface was. According to the results obtained, the wear behaviour of the friction plates and how it would be healthier in terms of grip were examined.