Modeling of Silicone Oil Clutch for Analyzing Thermal Performance

The silicone oil clutch is a device that uses the viscous shear force of silicone oil to transmit torque. Due to the difference in the rotational speed of the driving and driven parts, the silicone oil inside the clutch generates much heat, and the silicone oil temperature increases, resulting in a decrease in viscosity. Therefore, excellent thermal performance is necessary for silicone oil clutch to ensure torque transmission ability. This paper proposes a modeling method for analyzing the thermal performance of a silicone oil clutch. Firstly, the temperature measurement test for the silicone oil clutch is carried out by using wireless temperature measurement equipment. The driven speed, silicone oil temperature, and the temperature of different areas of the clutch shell are measured under different driving speeds. Considering the variation of silicone oil viscosity with temperature and the influence of the fan on the surrounding flow field, the CFD thermal simulation model of silicone oil clutch is established. Under the condition that the driving and driven speeds are equal to the test values, the silicone oil temperature and shell temperature under different working conditions are calculated using the established simulation model and compared with the test values. The results show that the error between the calculated results and the test data is kept below 9.4%, and the calculated results are in good agreement with the test results in the relationship between temperature and driving speed and the temperature change trend in different areas of the shell.