Finite Element Analysis supplies data to foretell how a seal product will perform underneath sure conditions and might help determine areas where the design could be improved without having to test multiple prototypes.
Here we explain how our engineers use FEA to design optimum sealing options for our buyer purposes.
Why do we use Finite Element Analysis (FEA)?
Our engineers encounter many important sealing functions with complicating influences. Envelope measurement, housing limitations, shaft speeds, pressure/temperature rankings and chemical media are all software parameters that we must think about when designing a seal.
In isolation, the impression of those application parameters is fairly easy to foretell when designing a sealing resolution. However, whenever you compound numerous these elements (whilst usually pushing a few of them to their upper limit when sealing) it is crucial to foretell what’s going to occur in actual software circumstances. Using FEA as a software, our engineers can confidently design and then manufacture robust, dependable, and cost-effective engineered sealing solutions for our customers.
Finite Element Analysis (FEA) permits us to understand and quantify the results of real-world conditions on a seal half or assembly. It can be utilized to identify potential causes where sub-optimal sealing efficiency has been observed and may additionally be used to information the design of surrounding parts; especially for merchandise similar to diaphragms and boots where contact with adjoining parts may have to be avoided.
The software program also allows pressure data to be extracted so that compressive forces for static seals, and friction forces for dynamic seals could be accurately predicted to help prospects in the ultimate design of their merchandise.
How can we use FEA?
Starting with a 2D or 3D model of the initial design idea, we apply the boundary conditions and constraints equipped by a buyer; these can embrace pressure, force, temperatures, and any applied displacements. A appropriate finite factor mesh is overlaid onto the seal design. This ensures that the areas of most interest return accurate outcomes. เกจไนโตรเจนsumo can use bigger mesh sizes in areas with much less relevance (or lower levels of displacement) to minimise the computing time required to solve 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 pressure 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 mannequin and extends the processing time, but we use in-house tensile test facilities to precisely produce the stress-strain material models for our compounds to make sure the analysis is as consultant of real-world efficiency as potential.
What happens with the FEA data?
The evaluation itself can take minutes or hours, depending on the complexity of the part and the vary of operating circumstances being modelled. Behind the scenes within the software program, many lots of of hundreds of differential equations are being solved.
The outcomes are analysed by our experienced seal designers to establish areas where the design may be optimised to match the precise requirements of the appliance. Examples of these requirements could embody sealing at very low temperatures, a have to minimise friction levels with a dynamic seal or the seal may need to face up to excessive pressures with out extruding; whatever sealing system properties are most important to the shopper and the applying.
Results for the finalised proposal can be presented to the customer as force/temperature/stress/time dashboards, numerical information and animations showing how a seal performs throughout the analysis. This data can be utilized as validation information in the customer’s system design course of.
An example of FEA
Faced with very tight packaging constraints, this customer requested a diaphragm element for a valve utility. By utilizing FEA, we had been capable of optimise the design; not solely of the elastomer diaphragm itself, but also to suggest modifications to the hardware elements that interfaced with it to increase the out there area for the diaphragm. This kept material stress ranges low to remove any chance of fatigue failure of the diaphragm over the life of the valve.
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