Clutch runs nearly 50 years, millions of test stand cycles

摘要

For many employees in the automotive industry 46 years is a long career, and most mechanical components would be worn out and replaced long before they reached that milestone. But for a Force Control Industries, Inc. clutch on an axle fatigue test stand at a major automotive factory, 46 years is merely time for a rebuild. The Force Control (model S8266) was, according to original schematics, designed into the test stand and delivered in June of 1966. After running successfully until 2004 the original facility left the axle test business and shipped the entire assembly to its new location. Operators at the receiving facility, who didn't know the unit's manufacturer and didn't have Installation, Operation and Maintenance manuals, started the equipment and kept it running. The test is driven by a 150 HP motorcoupled to a flywheel. A second high inertia flywheel is coupled to the axle differential input shaft. The clutch is used to connect the second high inertia flywheel (assimilating vehicle inertia) to the motor/flywheel, bringing it up to speed. For testing, the clutch is disengaged and the output axles are stopped with brakes absorbing the flywheel inertia load through the axle assembly. The clutch is then engaged to the motor to accelerate the flywheel back up to speed to recycle the test. This can occur two to three times per minute. In terms of load on the clutch as presented by inertia from the flywheels, the worst case scenario is 50 lb ft sec~2 spinning at 150 RPM, and 50 lb ft sec~2 at rest. The unit is run pretty much around the clock.