Hello everyone and welcome to this video, where we're going to talk about centrifugal clutches used in top fuel drag racing. I have some other relevant videos, such as a video on top fuel drag racing and a video on multiplate clutches, which you may find valuable. So, let's start by talking about the components involved.

We have a multiplate clutch here, with alternating friction plates and clutch discs that work very similar to the multiplate clutch I explained in my other video. The friction plates are locked into place using pins, so if we're looking down at it from the side, where this is the crankshaft coming in, we'll see these pins rotating the friction plates, but they won't rotate the clutch disc. The clutch disc is splined to a drive shaft or transmission shaft for other cases, but top fuels don't use transmission, so it's just the drive shaft.

Now, let's talk about the involuted fingers that apply pressure to this outer friction plate and compress the clutch pack. They do this using centrifugal force as the engine starts to rotate. Back here, we have an air piston that controls which fingers can be applied. The fingers have different length ends on them, so they allow for different fingers to be activated at different times.

As the engine starts to spin up, these involuted fingers will start to apply pressure to the friction disc, compressing the clutch pack. The center of gravity is out here, and as it rotates, it's applying a force that makes this finger rotate counterclockwise. This means it's applying pressure to the friction disc, right here, and compressing the clutch pack.

Now, we have different length ends on these fingers, so the air piston controls which fingers can be applied. Initially, only a few fingers will apply pressure to the clutch pack, resulting in a lot of clutch slip. But as the air piston moves back, this finger starts to apply pressure, and more fingers are activated. Looking down at it from this side, we'll see all these different fingers being activated by the air piston, some of them activating earlier than others.

The reason for this is to allow for clutch slip. If we applied all of the engine torque right from the start, we'd just spin the wheels and smoke the tires. That would be it - we wouldn't be successful with that run. So, we need to allow for clutch slip, which has a major part in determining how much power we can apply.

As the fingers get released, eventually all of them will be released, and the clutch pack will lock up. At this point, we've got full power headed to the rear wheels. By that point, we're maybe halfway down the track, so we know we're applying the rest of our power in an attempt to get a little more speed. But most of the time, it's from the very beginning of the run where we want to get to speed quickly.

This is all done through clutch slip. So, if you have any questions or comments, feel free to leave them below, and don't forget to check out some of the relevant links in the video description. Thanks for watching!

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enhello everyone and welcome in this video we're going to be talking about centrifugal clutches used in top fuel drag racing now I have some other relevant videos such as a video on top fuel drag racing and a video on multiplate clutches which you may find a value so I will include links in the video description so let's talk about the components involved and then work through the process of how this works now here we have a multiplate clutch uh you've got the alternating friction plates and clutch discs works very similar to the multiplate clutch that I explained in my other video in the descript deson um and you have these pins locking of course these friction plates so if you're looking down at it um basically if you're looking from the side here uh where this is the crankshaft uh coming in then you will see these pins will rotate the friction plates but they will not rotate the clutch disc and the clutch disc is splined to a drive shaft or shaft going in transmission uh for other cases but top fuels don't use transmission so it just would be the drive shaft now the other things that you've got going on are these uh involuted fingers so these fingers here are what apply pressure to this outer friction plate and compress this clutch pack and the way they do this is using centrifugal force uh as this starts to rotate now back here we have an air piston and these fingers have different length uh ends on them and so these different lengths uh allow different fingers to be activated at different times and then we have this drive shaft so looking at this uh finger as our engine starts to spin up what it's going to do is be applying this centrifugal force uh to these involuted fingers these centrifugal fingers I say involuted because that'll be the shape of it much like a gear tooth and that's simply so that can always apply uh always have contact with the friction disc um but regardless you have a point about which it rotates and then you have the center of gravity and that center of gravity is out here so as you can see as this were to be rotating the center of gravity is going to be applying a force like this and it's going to want to make this uh finger rot r at uh counterclockwise and in doing that it's going to be applying pressure to this uh friction disc right here and compressing that clutch pack now as I mentioned they have different length ends on them here and so this air piston is what controls which fingers uh can be applied so as you can see right here initially If This Were to start spinning this finger would be able to apply pressure to the clutch pack as it doesn't have anything preventing it from rotating whereas this finger does not uh have the ability to rotate because it has this air piston blocking it from rotating so as the car is going down the run this air piston starts to move back and what that does is allow for less and less clutch slip so initially you're going to have a lot of clutch slip with only a few fingers pressing up against it and then this air piston starts to move back uh then this finger starts to apply pressure and you have more fingers that activate so looking down on it from this side it's going to look something like this where you have a bunch of different Fingers um all activated by this air piston and some will activate earlier than others and the reason you do that is simply to allow for clutch slip as uh if you applied all of the engine torque right from the start you'd just spin the wheels uh smoke the tires and that would be it so you would you wouldn't be successful that run so you have to allow for clutch slip uh this has a major part um in the time that the drivers get it all comes down to whether or not uh you can apply that power and so that's basically the process I've walked through uh more fingers get released and eventually uh all the fingers will be released the clutch pack will locked up you've got full power headed to the rear wheels and by that point you know you're maybe halfway down the track or so and you're you know applying the rest of your power hoping to get a little bit more speed uh but most of that uh time comes from the very beginning of the Run uh where you want to get to speed very quickly and that's all done through clutch slip so if you have any questions or comments feel free to leave them below and don't forget to check out some of the relevant links in the video description thanks for watchinghello everyone and welcome in this video we're going to be talking about centrifugal clutches used in top fuel drag racing now I have some other relevant videos such as a video on top fuel drag racing and a video on multiplate clutches which you may find a value so I will include links in the video description so let's talk about the components involved and then work through the process of how this works now here we have a multiplate clutch uh you've got the alternating friction plates and clutch discs works very similar to the multiplate clutch that I explained in my other video in the descript deson um and you have these pins locking of course these friction plates so if you're looking down at it um basically if you're looking from the side here uh where this is the crankshaft uh coming in then you will see these pins will rotate the friction plates but they will not rotate the clutch disc and the clutch disc is splined to a drive shaft or shaft going in transmission uh for other cases but top fuels don't use transmission so it just would be the drive shaft now the other things that you've got going on are these uh involuted fingers so these fingers here are what apply pressure to this outer friction plate and compress this clutch pack and the way they do this is using centrifugal force uh as this starts to rotate now back here we have an air piston and these fingers have different length uh ends on them and so these different lengths uh allow different fingers to be activated at different times and then we have this drive shaft so looking at this uh finger as our engine starts to spin up what it's going to do is be applying this centrifugal force uh to these involuted fingers these centrifugal fingers I say involuted because that'll be the shape of it much like a gear tooth and that's simply so that can always apply uh always have contact with the friction disc um but regardless you have a point about which it rotates and then you have the center of gravity and that center of gravity is out here so as you can see as this were to be rotating the center of gravity is going to be applying a force like this and it's going to want to make this uh finger rot r at uh counterclockwise and in doing that it's going to be applying pressure to this uh friction disc right here and compressing that clutch pack now as I mentioned they have different length ends on them here and so this air piston is what controls which fingers uh can be applied so as you can see right here initially If This Were to start spinning this finger would be able to apply pressure to the clutch pack as it doesn't have anything preventing it from rotating whereas this finger does not uh have the ability to rotate because it has this air piston blocking it from rotating so as the car is going down the run this air piston starts to move back and what that does is allow for less and less clutch slip so initially you're going to have a lot of clutch slip with only a few fingers pressing up against it and then this air piston starts to move back uh then this finger starts to apply pressure and you have more fingers that activate so looking down on it from this side it's going to look something like this where you have a bunch of different Fingers um all activated by this air piston and some will activate earlier than others and the reason you do that is simply to allow for clutch slip as uh if you applied all of the engine torque right from the start you'd just spin the wheels uh smoke the tires and that would be it so you would you wouldn't be successful that run so you have to allow for clutch slip uh this has a major part um in the time that the drivers get it all comes down to whether or not uh you can apply that power and so that's basically the process I've walked through uh more fingers get released and eventually uh all the fingers will be released the clutch pack will locked up you've got full power headed to the rear wheels and by that point you know you're maybe halfway down the track or so and you're you know applying the rest of your power hoping to get a little bit more speed uh but most of that uh time comes from the very beginning of the Run uh where you want to get to speed very quickly and that's all done through clutch slip so if you have any questions or comments feel free to leave them below and don't forget to check out some of the relevant links in the video description thanks for watching\n"