A novel design of a dry clutch pressure plate for weight reduction without compromising its thermo-mechanical performance

The main objective of this study is to conduct an experimental research to investigate the effect of ventilation channels which have never been practised into the conventional automotive clutch pressure plate before. The purpose is to reduce its weight without compromising its thermo-mechanical performance. Both convective and conductive heat transfers of the clutch pressure plate have been enhanced in order to meet thermo-mechanical performance requirements, by ventilation channels and by chemical composition adjustment, respectively. The novel design ventilated o430 size clutch pressure plates comprising different metallurgical structures have been experimentally investigated and compared with that of the conventional non-ventilated version. The results of this research have shown that it is feasible to reduce the clutch pressure plate weight by 28% without compromising its thermo-mechanical performance. Thus, the weight reduction of the heaviest component of the clutch system would also help to meet greenhouse gas emissions policies of the vehicles.