Open AccessU.S. Navy Experience with SSS (Synchro-Self-Shifting) Clutches
Author(s) -
Morgan Hendry,
Michael Zekas B.
Publication year - 2010
Publication title -
mechanical engineering
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.117
H-Index - 17
eISSN - 1943-5649
pISSN - 0025-6501
DOI - 10.1115/1.2010-aug-9
Subject(s) - navy , clutch , aeronautics , propulsion , engineering , automotive engineering , spare part , crew , rollover (web design) , turbine , marine engineering , operations management , computer science , mechanical engineering , aerospace engineering , archaeology , history , world wide web
This article discusses the experience of the US Navy with Synchro-Self-Shifting (SSS) clutches. The US Navy has nearly 40 years of experience using SSS clutches in main reduction gears of gas-turbine-driven ships and propulsion systems with combinations of gas turbines and diesel engines or electric motors, and in steam-turbine propulsion plants for use with electric motor drives. Over 900 SSS clutches have been installed in 14 different classes of US Navy ships, with some having been in service for over 30 years. SSS clutches have accumulated approximately 15,278,000 hours of operation. Mean Time Between Failures in Hours for US Navy clutch applications is relatively high (271,550 hours) based on the operational hours accumulated and the total number of failures that have occurred. The maintenance and repair strategy used for US Navy SSS clutches is similar to a Performance Based Logistics arrangement, where the Navy maintains a rotatable pool of ready-for-issue clutches, and in the event of a problem or failure, the clutch is changed out with an available spare.
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