Finite Element Analysis offers information to foretell how a seal product will operate under certain situations and might help identify areas where the design can be improved without having to test a quantity of prototypes.
Here we explain how our engineers use FEA to design optimum sealing solutions for our buyer applications.
Why can we use Finite Element Analysis (FEA)?
Our engineers encounter many crucial sealing purposes with complicating influences. Envelope measurement, housing limitations, shaft speeds, pressure/temperature ratings and chemical media are all software parameters that we should consider when designing a seal.
In isolation, the impression of those application parameters within reason easy to foretell when designing a sealing answer. However, when you compound numerous these components (whilst typically pushing some of them to their higher restrict when sealing) it’s essential to foretell what will happen in real software situations. Using FEA as a tool, our engineers can confidently design after which manufacture robust, dependable, and cost-effective engineered sealing solutions for our prospects.
Finite Element Analysis (FEA) permits us to know and quantify the consequences of real-world circumstances on a seal half or meeting. It can be used to establish potential causes the place sub-optimal sealing performance has been noticed and may also be used to guide the design of surrounding components; particularly for merchandise such as diaphragms and boots the place contact with adjacent elements might must be prevented.
The software program also permits pressure data to be extracted in order that compressive forces for static seals, and friction forces for dynamic seals may be accurately predicted to assist prospects within the last design of their products.
How do we use FEA?
Starting with a 2D or 3D model of the initial design concept, we apply the boundary conditions and constraints provided by a customer; these can embrace stress, pressure, temperatures, and any applied displacements. A suitable finite component mesh is overlaid onto the seal design. This ensures that the areas of most interest return accurate 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 solve the mannequin.
Material properties are then assigned to the seal and hardware elements. Most sealing materials are non-linear; the quantity they deflect underneath an increase in drive varies depending on how large that force is. This is unlike the straight-line relationship for many metals and rigid plastics. This complicates the fabric model and extends the processing time, but we use in-house tensile test amenities to precisely produce the stress-strain material fashions for our compounds to ensure the analysis is as representative of real-world performance as potential.
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The analysis itself can take minutes or hours, depending on the complexity of the half and the vary of working situations being modelled. Behind the scenes in the software program, many lots of of hundreds 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 necessities could embody sealing at very low temperatures, a must minimise friction ranges with a dynamic seal or the seal might have to withstand excessive pressures without extruding; whatever sealing system properties are most essential to the customer and the appliance.
Results for the finalised proposal may be presented to the customer as force/temperature/stress/time dashboards, numerical information and animations exhibiting how a seal performs all through the analysis. This info can be used as validation knowledge in the customer’s system design process.
An instance of FEA
Faced with very tight packaging constraints, this customer requested a diaphragm part for a valve application. By using FEA, we were capable of optimise the design; not only of the elastomer diaphragm itself, but additionally to propose modifications to the hardware parts that interfaced with it to extend the obtainable house 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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