Finite Element Analysis supplies knowledge to foretell how a seal product will function underneath certain situations and can help establish areas where the design could be improved without having to test a quantity of prototypes.
Here we explain how our engineers use FEA to design optimal sealing solutions for our buyer purposes.
Why will we use Finite Element Analysis (FEA)?
Our engineers encounter many crucial sealing functions with complicating influences. Envelope size, housing limitations, shaft speeds, pressure/temperature rankings and chemical media are all software parameters that we should contemplate when designing a seal.
In isolation, the impression of these utility parameters is fairly straightforward to predict when designing a sealing resolution. However, when you compound a selection of these components (whilst typically pushing a few of them to their upper restrict when sealing) it’s crucial to foretell what will occur in actual utility circumstances. Using FEA as a tool, our engineers can confidently design and then manufacture strong, reliable, and cost-effective engineered sealing options for our customers.
Finite Element Analysis (FEA) allows us to understand and quantify the results of real-world conditions on a seal part or assembly. It can be utilized to determine potential causes where sub-optimal sealing efficiency has been observed and may also be used to guide the design of surrounding parts; particularly for products such as diaphragms and boots the place contact with adjacent components may have to be averted.
The software program also allows drive knowledge to be extracted in order that compressive forces for static seals, and friction forces for dynamic seals could be precisely predicted to help customers within the final design of their products.
How will we use FEA?
Starting with a 2D or 3D model of the initial design idea, we apply the boundary conditions and constraints supplied by a customer; these can include stress, force, temperatures, and any utilized displacements. A appropriate finite factor mesh is overlaid onto the seal design. This ensures that the areas of most interest return accurate outcomes. We can use bigger mesh sizes in areas with much less relevance (or lower ranges of displacement) to minimise the computing time required to resolve the mannequin.
Material properties are then assigned to the seal and hardware components. Most sealing materials are non-linear; the quantity they deflect under an increase in force varies relying on how massive that force is. This is in contrast to the straight-line relationship for many metals and rigid plastics. nuova fima pressure gauge ราคา complicates the fabric mannequin and extends the processing time, but we use in-house tensile test amenities to accurately produce the stress-strain material models for our compounds to ensure the analysis is as representative of real-world efficiency as potential.
What happens with the FEA data?
The evaluation itself can take minutes or hours, relying on the complexity of the part and the range of working situations being modelled. Behind the scenes in the software program, many tons of of hundreds of differential equations are being solved.
The outcomes are analysed by our skilled seal designers to establish areas the place the design can be optimised to match the specific requirements of the applying. Examples of these necessities could include sealing at very low temperatures, a must minimise friction ranges with a dynamic seal or the seal may need to resist excessive pressures without extruding; no matter sealing system properties are most important to the shopper and the application.
Results for the finalised proposal could be presented to the shopper as force/temperature/stress/time dashboards, numerical data and animations displaying how a seal performs all through the analysis. This data can be used as validation information in the customer’s system design process.
An instance of FEA
Faced with very tight packaging constraints, this buyer requested a diaphragm element for a valve utility. By utilizing FEA, we were able to optimise the design; not solely of the elastomer diaphragm itself, but additionally to suggest modifications to the hardware elements that interfaced with it to increase the available area for the diaphragm. This saved material stress ranges low to remove any chance of fatigue failure of the diaphragm over the life of the valve.
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