Finite Element Analysis provides data to foretell how a seal product will perform under certain circumstances and might help identify areas where the design may be improved with out having to check a number of prototypes.
Here we explain how our engineers use FEA to design optimum sealing options for our buyer purposes.
Why will we use Finite Element Analysis (FEA)?
Our engineers encounter many critical sealing functions with complicating influences. Envelope size, housing limitations, shaft speeds, pressure/temperature ratings and chemical media are all application parameters that we should think about when designing a seal.
In isolation, the impression of these utility parameters is reasonably easy to predict when designing a sealing answer. However, when you compound a quantity of these factors (whilst typically pushing a few of them to their upper restrict when sealing) it’s essential to foretell what will occur in actual utility situations. 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) permits us to understand and quantify the effects of real-world circumstances on a seal part or meeting. It can be utilized to determine potential causes the place sub-optimal sealing performance has been observed and can additionally be used to guide the design of surrounding parts; particularly for products similar to diaphragms and boots the place contact with adjoining parts could must be avoided.
The software additionally allows force data to be extracted in order that compressive forces for static seals, and friction forces for dynamic seals can be accurately predicted to assist customers in the final design of their products.
How do we use FEA?
Starting with a 2D or 3D mannequin of the preliminary design concept, we apply the boundary situations and constraints equipped by a customer; these can include strain, force, temperatures, and any utilized displacements. A appropriate finite element mesh is overlaid onto the seal design. This ensures that the areas of most curiosity return correct outcomes. We can use larger mesh sizes in areas with much less relevance (or lower levels of displacement) to minimise the computing time required to unravel the model.
Material properties are then assigned to the seal and hardware parts. Most sealing supplies are non-linear; the amount they deflect beneath a rise in pressure varies depending on how large that drive is. This is unlike the straight-line relationship for most metals and rigid plastics. This complicates the material model and extends the processing time, but we use in-house tensile take a look at facilities to precisely produce the stress-strain materials fashions for our compounds to ensure the evaluation is as consultant of real-world efficiency as potential.
What occurs with the FEA data?
The analysis itself can take minutes or hours, depending on the complexity of the half and the range of working situations being modelled. Behind the scenes in the software, many hundreds of 1000’s of differential equations are being solved.
The results are analysed by our skilled seal designers to identify areas the place the design can be optimised to match the particular necessities of the appliance. Examples of these requirements could embody sealing at very low temperatures, a have to minimise friction ranges with a dynamic seal or the seal might have to face up to excessive pressures with out extruding; no matter sealing system properties are most important to the client and the appliance.
Results for the finalised proposal can be introduced to the customer as force/temperature/stress/time dashboards, numerical information and animations displaying how a seal performs all through the analysis. เกจวัดแรงดันถังแก๊ส can be used as validation data in the customer’s system design course of.
An instance of FEA
Faced with very tight packaging constraints, this buyer requested a diaphragm component for a valve software. By using FEA, we were in a position to optimise the design; not only of the elastomer diaphragm itself, but additionally to propose modifications to the hardware elements that interfaced with it to increase the obtainable space for the diaphragm. This saved material stress ranges low to remove any possibility of fatigue failure of the diaphragm over the lifetime of the valve.
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