Floating flywheel - how it works, what is the role of a floating flywheel

Floating flywheel

Floating flywheel

The engines are more powerful and with more and more specific power per unit volume. Stronger engines should be accompanied by more durable gearboxes that will be able to transmit engine power reliably over many years, and that would be able to withstand the high stresses that strong engines put them on. However, that would mean an increase in gearboxes, their larger dimensions and an increase in weight, which would lead to an increase in consumption, all in accordance with increasingly rigorous environmental laws. 4 are all the more harmful to the gearbox (ie flywheel) if it is a four-cylinder engines of high torque (turbo diesels of larger displacements), while with "sixes" the amplitude of the shock pulses is lower, so the load on the flywheel is less. In practice, this means that the floating flywheel will suffer the fastest with a 4-cylinder turbo engine, while the process will be noticeably slower with atmospheric sixes, but it will still be there.


The flywheel's function is, first and foremost, to conserve the so-called rotational energy - which is why these circuits have high rotational inertia. These are high-mass discs. Flywheel - Dual Mass Flywheel, is constructed by joining two disks between which there is a system of two radially mounted springs. The design of the floating flywheel prevents dynamic shocks at start-up and reduces the vibration that comes from the engine when a sudden change of crankshaft speed occurs. The flywheel has an optimal lifespan of about 150000 km. After so many miles the characteristics of the flywheel change and it no longer performs its function completely - vibrations occur when starting and shutting down the engine, vibrations in the back (especially if the blade is new), vibrations at slow starting of the vehicle with slow release of the clutch pedal, etc. .


Floating flywheel

Floating flywheel

But because of its heavy role, the flywheel is the one that undergoes high stresses that slowly but surely destroy it, so it needs to be changed regularly, and then we come to the data, ie. the figures to be paid for that replacement. If it weren't for the flywheel, they would have changed gearboxes instead, which would have been a far more expensive intervention.
In principle, the floating flywheel is therefore there to save the gearboxes on the car that did not grow up with more and more powerful engines, especially turbo diesels with huge torques, but because of that the flywheel is the one that suffers and is treated as an ordinary consumable part. Instead of car manufacturers making stronger gearboxes that could withstand more and more hp and Nm developed by modern engines, and since for such a thing they either have to increase the dimensions of the gearbox, or would have to apply new technologies and modern and highly sophisticated materials weights that are able to withstand great stresses, but such materials are very expensive and manufacturers avoid them as much as possible because they want their cars to be as cheap as possible in order to be as competitive as possible on the market. In this "conflict of interest", manufacturers have found a solution that provides themselves with greater profit and competitiveness in the market, and shifts the cost to the customer in terms of replacing the floating flywheel, which due to its specificity and complex design / function costs as much as it costs „

Of course, they found a good excuse for all of this, which is that the flywheel provides driving comfort and a linear transmission of power from the engine to the transmission. It was as if the classic gearboxes lacked it, except for those who did not have the feeling with the clutch foot, and such are today the freewheel and floating flywheel.

Parts manufacturers say that the floating flywheel is developed so that it serves throughout the life of the vehicle, which is determined by the vehicle manufacturer. However, leading vehicle manufacturers set a lifespan of 180000 km to 220000 km. After that, it is considered that the car did its job.

Floating flywheel failures - click


Leave a reply