MBE 3010 Mechanical Design

Brakes & Clutches

Dr. Lawrence Li
Room Y6713
Tel 3442-8406
mekyli@cityu.edu.hk
 Brakes and Clutches
 Brakes and clutches are examples of motion control machine
elements that use friction in a useful way.
 Clutch functions in two folds:
1. Provide a gradual increase in velocity of the driven shaft
without shock.
2. When two shafts are running at same angular velocity, it acts
as a coupling without slip or loss in slip in the driving shaft.
 Brake is a device used to bring a system to rest, or to
control its speed to a certain value. The main function of a
brake is to turn mechanical energy into heat.

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 Types of brakes and clutches
Five types of brake and clutch. (a) internal, expanding rim
type; (b) external contracting rim type; (c) band brake; (d)
thrust disk; (e) cone disk

From Hamrock, Fundamentals of Machine Elements

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 Brake and clutch basics
 Use high friction  Temperature is critical, too
 In previous years, people hot will produce glassy
used asbestos-fiber- surface or even heat cracks.
containing composite. The glazed surface must be
 Now, semimetallic (metal
removed by replacement or
produced by powder by sanding.
metallurgy techniques.  Periodic inspection and
 Often a compromise
maintenance is required.
between, size (capacity)  Coefficient of friction is
and service life. crucial is selecting material.

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 Thrust disc clutches/ brakes

From Hamrock, Fundamentals of Machine Elements

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 Thrust disc clutches/brakes
 Refer to the graph for dimensionless torque plotted
against radius ratio,
1. Largest difference between the models occurs at
radius ratio approaching zero.
2. For the same torque, uniform wear model required a
larger radius ratio. (i.e. larger area)
 Uniform wear model can be viewed as a safer model
 Along with its simplicity, the uniform wear model is the
preferred one to be used.

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 Dry and wet friction coefficient
Dry

In oil
From Hamrock, Fundamentals of Machine Elements

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 Cone clutches

From Hamrock, Fundamentals of Machine Elements

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 Block (short-shoe) brakes

From Hamrock, Fundamentals of Machine Elements

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 Block brakes basics
 Friction pad is short compared to friction drum
circumference; then assume constant contact pressure
 Self-energizing case when both actuating and friction
moments are in the same rotating direction.
 Deenergizing case occurs when the actuating and friction
moments are in the opposite rotating direction.
 The actuating force cannot be zero in operation, otherwise
the design is considered as self-locking; this is undesirable
because the system will seize or grab and operate
dangerously . (Springs are always employed to resist the
actuating force.)

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Block (Short-shoe) Brakes
Referring to the diagram, when an actuating force W is applied, the reactive normal force P will
develop a friction force F=μP on the drum. This is simple device to create effective friction
torque to slow down the rotating drum, however the distances d1, d2, d3, d4 are critical in the
behaviour of this simple device.

Assume the pressure between the short block and the drum is constant. First we use C as the
hinge of the brake. And ∑ 𝑀𝐶 = 0
i.e. 𝑊𝑑4 + 𝜇𝑃𝑑1 − 𝑃𝑑3 = 0
𝑊𝑑4
∴𝑃=
𝑑3 − 𝜇𝑑1
Therefore, the friction torque generated is
𝜇𝑊𝑑4 𝑟
𝑇 = 𝜇𝑃𝑟 =
𝑑3 − 𝜇𝑑1

where r is the drum radius.

It is obvious that T will become extremely large if the denominator (𝑑3 − 𝜇𝑑1 ) approached zero.
This will cause seizure even if W is zero. Therefore, this is not desirable. Such case is termed as
the “Self-energizing”. It happens when both the actuating torque (𝑊𝑑4 ) and the friction torque
(𝜇𝑃𝑑1) are in the same direction.

Now D is the hinge and consider ∑ 𝑀𝐷 = 0, we have

𝑊𝑑4 − 𝜇𝑃𝑑2 − 𝑃𝑑3 = 0
𝑊𝑑4
∴𝑃=𝑑 , and the generated torque is
3 +𝜇𝑑2

𝜇𝑊𝑑4 𝑟
𝑇 = 𝜇𝑃𝑟 =
𝑑3 + 𝜇𝑑2
And we call this mode of operating “Deenergizing”.
 Long-shoe (internal expanding) rim
brakes Toe
• Heel – closest to hinge, no
or low pressure
• Toe – closest to actuating
force W and pressure
increases as the toe is
approached
• Based on the geometry, it
can be shown that the
contact pressure of the
pad can be written as:
p=pmax sin θ / sin θa
where θa is the angle
when p=pmax Heel
(Burr, mecahnical analysis and design, 2nd
edition p118) Hinge

From Hamrock, Fundamentals of Machine Elements

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 Forces and dimensions

From Hamrock, Fundamentals of Machine Elements

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 Long-shoe, external, contracting, rim
brakes
The analysis is the same
as the internal rim case
except when the rotation
is clockwise, the internal
rim type is self-
energizing but the
external rim type is
deenergizing and

Wd6 – Mf – Mp = 0
From Hamrock, Fundamentals of Machine Elements

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 Band brakes

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