Patent ID: 8701855

Claim:
A friction clutch in a motor vehicle, comprising: a clutch bell housing; at least one air inlet duct disposed on the clutch bell housing; at least one air outlet duct disposed on the clutch bell housing; a temperature sensor in the clutch bell housing arranged one of: in the clutch bell housing at an angular range of 90 degrees to 360 degrees along a circumference of the clutch bell housing proceeding from the air inlet duct in the flow direction of the air fed through the air inlet duct, and in the air outlet duct; an active cooling device directing a flow of air through the air inlet duct into the clutch bell housing; and a control device connected to the active cooling device and the temperature sensor, the control device measuring a temperature in the clutch bell housing the temperature sensor and controlling the active cooling device based on the measured temperature and a first clutch temperature model, and the control device continuously running the active cooling device and determining a clutch temperature based on a second clutch temperature model that takes no active cooling into account when the temperature sensor fails.