Finite Element Analysis offers knowledge to predict how a seal product will function under sure circumstances and can help identify areas the place the design could be improved without having to test a quantity of prototypes.
Here we clarify how our engineers use FEA to design optimum sealing solutions for our customer functions.
Why can we use Finite Element Analysis (FEA)?
Our engineers encounter many critical sealing applications with complicating influences. Envelope size, housing limitations, shaft speeds, pressure/temperature ratings and chemical media are all utility parameters that we should consider when designing a seal.
In isolation, the impression of these utility parameters is reasonably straightforward to predict when designing a sealing answer. However, when you compound a variety of these components (whilst usually pushing some of them to their higher restrict when sealing) it’s essential to predict what will occur in actual software situations. Using FEA as a software, our engineers can confidently design and then manufacture strong, reliable, and cost-effective engineered sealing options for our customers.
Finite Element Analysis (FEA) permits us to grasp and quantify the effects of real-world conditions on a seal part or meeting. It can be utilized to determine potential causes where sub-optimal sealing performance has been noticed and can additionally be used to guide the design of surrounding elements; especially for products such as diaphragms and boots the place contact with adjoining elements could must be averted.
The software also allows pressure data to be extracted in order that compressive forces for static seals, and friction forces for dynamic seals could be accurately predicted to assist prospects within the ultimate design of their products.
How can we use FEA?
Starting with a 2D or 3D mannequin of the preliminary design idea, we apply the boundary circumstances and constraints equipped by a buyer; these can include 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 interest return correct outcomes. We can use larger mesh sizes in areas with less relevance (or decrease 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 supplies are non-linear; the amount they deflect underneath a rise in pressure varies relying on how large that pressure is. This is unlike the straight-line relationship for most metals and inflexible plastics. เพรสเชอร์เกจวัดแรงดันน้ำ complicates the fabric mannequin and extends the processing time, but we use in-house tensile take a look at services to precisely produce the stress-strain materials fashions for our compounds to ensure the analysis is as representative of real-world performance as potential.
What happens with the FEA data?
The evaluation itself can take minutes or hours, relying on the complexity of the half and the range of working conditions being modelled. Behind the scenes within the software, many tons of of thousands 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 particular necessities of the application. Examples of these necessities could include sealing at very low temperatures, a have to minimise friction levels with a dynamic seal or the seal might have to withstand high pressures without extruding; no matter sealing system properties are most essential to the client and the appliance.
Results for the finalised proposal could be introduced to the client as force/temperature/stress/time dashboards, numerical information and animations showing how a seal performs throughout the analysis. This info can be used as validation information in the customer’s system design course of.
An instance of FEA
Faced with very tight packaging constraints, this customer requested a diaphragm component for a valve utility. By utilizing FEA, we had been in a position to optimise the design; not solely of the elastomer diaphragm itself, but also to suggest modifications to the hardware elements that interfaced with it to extend the obtainable area for the diaphragm. This kept materials stress ranges low to take away any risk of fatigue failure of the diaphragm over the life of the valve.
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