Finite Element Analysis supplies knowledge to foretell how a seal product will perform underneath certain circumstances and may help determine areas the place the design could be improved with out having to check multiple prototypes.
Here we explain how our engineers use FEA to design optimal sealing options for our customer applications.
Why can we use Finite Element Analysis (FEA)?
Our engineers encounter many critical sealing functions with complicating influences. Envelope size, housing limitations, shaft speeds, pressure/temperature rankings and chemical media are all utility parameters that we must contemplate when designing a seal.
In isolation, the influence of those software parameters is reasonably straightforward to predict when designing a sealing resolution. However, whenever you compound numerous these elements (whilst often pushing some of them to their higher limit when sealing) it is crucial to foretell what will occur in real utility circumstances. Using FEA as a software, our engineers can confidently design after which manufacture sturdy, dependable, and cost-effective engineered sealing options for our clients.
Finite Element Analysis (FEA) allows us to know and quantify the effects of real-world circumstances on a seal part or meeting. It can be used to determine potential causes where sub-optimal sealing performance has been observed and can additionally be used to guide the design of surrounding parts; particularly for merchandise such as diaphragms and boots where contact with adjoining components could need to be averted.
The software additionally allows drive information to be extracted so that compressive forces for static seals, and friction forces for dynamic seals may be precisely predicted to assist customers in the ultimate design of their products.
How will we use FEA?
Starting with a 2D or 3D model of the initial design concept, we apply the boundary circumstances and constraints supplied by a customer; these can embody strain, force, temperatures, and any applied displacements. A suitable finite factor mesh is overlaid onto the seal design. This ensures that the areas of most interest return correct results. We can use larger mesh sizes in areas with less relevance (or decrease ranges of displacement) to minimise the computing time required to solve the model.
Material properties are then assigned to the seal and hardware parts. Most sealing supplies are non-linear; the quantity they deflect underneath a rise in drive varies relying on how giant that drive is. This is unlike the straight-line relationship for many metals and rigid plastics. This complicates the fabric model and extends the processing time, but we use in-house tensile test services to precisely produce the stress-strain material fashions for our compounds to make sure the analysis is as representative of real-world performance as attainable.
What occurs with the FEA data?
The evaluation itself can take minutes or hours, relying on the complexity of the part and the range of operating conditions being modelled. Behind เกจวัดแรงดันpcp in the software, many hundreds of hundreds of differential equations are being solved.
The outcomes are analysed by our experienced seal designers to determine areas the place the design could be optimised to match the precise requirements of the applying. Examples of those necessities may embrace sealing at very low temperatures, a have to minimise friction ranges with a dynamic seal or the seal may have to face up to excessive pressures without extruding; no matter sealing system properties are most necessary to the customer and the appliance.
Results for the finalised proposal could be presented to the customer as force/temperature/stress/time dashboards, numerical information and animations exhibiting how a seal performs all through the analysis. This info can be utilized as validation information within the customer’s system design course of.
An instance of FEA
Faced with very tight packaging constraints, this buyer requested a diaphragm part for a valve software. By utilizing FEA, we had been in a position to optimise the design; not solely of the elastomer diaphragm itself, but additionally to propose modifications to the hardware components that interfaced with it to extend the available house for the diaphragm. This kept materials stress levels low to remove any risk of fatigue failure of the diaphragm over the life of the valve.
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