Finite Element Analysis provides information to foretell how a seal product will function beneath certain circumstances and may help establish areas the place the design may be improved without having to test a number of prototypes.
Here we explain how our engineers use FEA to design optimum sealing solutions for our buyer applications.
Why will we use Finite Element Analysis (FEA)?
Our engineers encounter many crucial sealing functions with complicating influences. Envelope dimension, housing limitations, shaft speeds, pressure/temperature rankings and chemical media are all application parameters that we should consider when designing a seal.
In isolation, the impact of those application parameters is fairly straightforward to predict when designing a sealing solution. However, when you compound a selection of these components (whilst typically pushing a few of them to their higher limit when sealing) it is essential to foretell what will happen in real application situations. Using FEA as a tool, our engineers can confidently design and then manufacture strong, dependable, and cost-effective engineered sealing solutions for our clients.
Finite Element Analysis (FEA) permits us to understand and quantify the consequences of real-world conditions on a seal half or meeting. It can be used to identify potential causes where sub-optimal sealing performance has been observed and can be used to information the design of surrounding elements; especially for products such as diaphragms and boots where contact with adjoining elements may must be averted.
The software also permits drive data to be extracted in order that compressive forces for static seals, and friction forces for dynamic seals can be accurately predicted to help clients within the ultimate design of their products.
How can we use FEA?
Starting with a 2D or 3D mannequin of the initial design idea, we apply the boundary circumstances and constraints supplied by a buyer; these can embody stress, pressure, temperatures, and any utilized displacements. A appropriate finite component mesh is overlaid onto the seal design. This ensures that the areas of most curiosity 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 elements. Most sealing supplies are non-linear; the amount they deflect underneath a rise in drive varies relying on how large that force is. This is in contrast to the straight-line relationship for many metals and rigid plastics. This complicates the fabric mannequin and extends the processing time, however we use in-house tensile test facilities to precisely produce the stress-strain materials models for our compounds to ensure the evaluation is as consultant of real-world performance as potential.
What occurs with the FEA data?
The analysis itself can take minutes or hours, relying on the complexity of the half and the range of operating circumstances being modelled. Behind the scenes within the software program, many lots of of hundreds of differential equations are being solved.
The results are analysed by our experienced seal designers to identify areas the place the design could be optimised to match the precise requirements of the applying. Examples of these requirements may embrace sealing at very low temperatures, a must minimise friction levels with a dynamic seal or the seal may have to face up to excessive pressures with out extruding; no matter sealing system properties are most necessary to the shopper and the application.
Results for the finalised proposal can be offered to the customer as force/temperature/stress/time dashboards, numerical knowledge and animations exhibiting how a seal performs throughout the evaluation. Last chance can be used as validation data in the customer’s system design course of.
An example of FEA
Faced with very tight packaging constraints, this buyer requested a diaphragm element for a valve software. By using FEA, we have been in a place to optimise the design; not only of the elastomer diaphragm itself, but in addition to suggest modifications to the hardware components that interfaced with it to extend the available house for the diaphragm. This kept material stress levels low to remove any risk of fatigue failure of the diaphragm over the life of the valve.
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