Development of Advanced Lift Fan Clutch Navy SBIR FY2012.1 Sol No.: Navy SBIR FY2012.1 Topic No.: N121-023 Topic Title: Development of Advanced Lift Fan Clutch Proposal No.: N121-023-1039 Firm: Allcomp Inc. 209 Puente Ave. City of Industry, California 91746-2304 Contact: Wei Shih Phone: (626) 369-1273 Web Site: www.allcomp.net Abstract: The overall objective of the program is to develop innovative concepts for more efficient and reliable clutch plates for the JSF Fan Duct Clutch. Carbon-carbon composite clutch plates can meet a 1,500 engagement life requirement for a lift fan clutch, but this is at least two times less than the desired lifetime. The carbon-carbon composite also does not consistently provide the desired range of friction coefficients. A new, innovative clutch plate concept that reduces wear rate and higher overall friction coefficient is required to increase the service life of the clutch. The clutch engages at up to ~8500 rpm and the clutch plates must survive rotational speeds in excess of 10,000 rpm. The clutch plates are required to withstand a high shear load in transferring ~70,000 in-lb of torque. The required instantaneous dynamic friction coefficient is >0.1 with a desired mean static coefficient of ~0.2. In Phase I Allcomp proposes to evaluate and demonstrate the feasibility of innovative clutch material and design to provide long wear life and a high, stable friction coefficient. New classes of C-C and CMC composite materials will be developed aiming to achieve balanced structural, thermal and frictional performances for the JSF Fan Clutch application. Benefits: Advanced frictional materials can be used in many military and commercial braking and clutching applications. Once the technology of using advanced C-C and CMC for the Lift Fan Clutch is demonstrated, the technology can be easily adopted by and transferred to heavy duty vehicles and many racing applications where the braking requirements are very demanding. Since the manufacturing technology of these C-C and CMC composites can also be used for many high performance aerospace and space applications, such as engine flaps, hypersonic lift body and thermal protection components, it will significantly reduce the overhead and manufacturing costs for these low volume products. Return