Amsted Automotive’s EV Dynamic Controllable Clutch with Powder Metallurgy parts wins Gold 2024 Merit Award
January 23, 2024
Amsted Automotive has been awarded Gold in the ‘Electric Vehicles – Overall Vehicle Technology of the Year’ category in the 2024 Automotive and Transportation Merit Awards. The award is in recognition of the company’s Dynamic Controllable Clutch (DCC), an electro-mechanical eAxle Disconnect System designed for electric vehicles. The DCC incorporates a Powder Metallurgy notch plate and pocket plate, produced by Amsted Automotive’s Burgess-Norton division in Geneva, Illinois, USA.
Designed to recognise the efforts put forth by global industries and the markets they serve, the Merit Awards acknowledge companies that have contributed to the continued growth of the market.
The Amsted eAxle Disconnect System engages and disengages the drive axles to conserve energy and maintain on- and off-road capabilities while increasing EV range by up to 10%. The technology is used in commercially available EVs today, providing a seamless engagement and disengagement of all-wheel and four-wheel drive, making it a real-world solution for global automakers.
The notch plate and pocket plate parts are made from FLNC-4408 sinter-hardened steel to a density of 7.1 g/cm3. Both parts rotate in the assembly and have balance requirements that are maintained through a combination of tooling geometry, die-fill compensation, and sectional densities to avoid the need for a balance correction operation.
The use of Powder Metallurgy provides a 9% weight saving, and the parts also won a Grand Prize in the MPIF Powder Metallurgy Design Excellence Awards in 2023.
A white paper on DCC functionality can be downloaded here.
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