Finite Element Analysis offers data to predict how a seal product will perform underneath sure circumstances and can help determine areas the place the design could be improved with out having to test a number of prototypes.
Here we explain how our engineers use FEA to design optimal sealing solutions for our customer purposes.
Why do we use Finite Element Analysis (FEA)?
Our engineers encounter many crucial sealing applications with complicating influences. Envelope measurement, housing limitations, shaft speeds, pressure/temperature scores and chemical media are all utility parameters that we should think about when designing a seal.
In isolation, the impact of those application parameters within reason straightforward to predict when designing a sealing answer. However, if you compound a number of these factors (whilst usually pushing some of them to their upper restrict when sealing) it’s crucial to predict what will happen in actual utility circumstances. Using FEA as a software, our engineers can confidently design after which manufacture sturdy, reliable, and cost-effective engineered sealing options for our clients.
Finite Element Analysis (FEA) permits us to know and quantify the results of real-world conditions on a seal half or meeting. It can be used to establish potential causes where sub-optimal sealing performance has been observed and may additionally be used to information the design of surrounding components; particularly for merchandise corresponding to diaphragms and boots the place contact with adjoining parts might must be avoided.
The software program also permits drive knowledge to be extracted so that compressive forces for static seals, and friction forces for dynamic seals could be precisely predicted to help customers in the last design of their merchandise.
How can we use FEA?
Starting with a 2D or 3D mannequin of the preliminary design concept, we apply the boundary conditions and constraints supplied by a buyer; these can embrace strain, drive, temperatures, and any applied displacements. A appropriate finite factor mesh is overlaid onto the seal design. pressure gauge octa ensures that the areas of most curiosity return correct results. We can use larger mesh sizes in areas with much less relevance (or lower ranges of displacement) to minimise the computing time required to unravel the mannequin.
Material properties are then assigned to the seal and hardware components. Most sealing materials are non-linear; the quantity they deflect beneath a rise in pressure varies relying on how massive that drive is. This is in distinction to the straight-line relationship for most metals and rigid plastics. This complicates the material model and extends the processing time, however we use in-house tensile take a look at amenities to precisely produce the stress-strain materials models for our compounds to make sure the evaluation is as consultant of real-world performance as possible.
What occurs with the FEA data?
The analysis itself can take minutes or hours, depending on the complexity of the part and the vary of working situations being modelled. Behind the scenes in the software, many tons of of 1000’s of differential equations are being solved.
The outcomes are analysed by our experienced seal designers to identify areas the place the design may be optimised to match the precise requirements of the applying. ไดอะแฟรม ซีล of those necessities may include sealing at very low temperatures, a have to minimise friction levels with a dynamic seal or the seal may have to withstand excessive pressures without extruding; whatever sealing system properties are most essential 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 displaying how a seal performs throughout the evaluation. This data can be utilized as validation data in the customer’s system design process.
An example of FEA
Faced with very tight packaging constraints, this buyer requested a diaphragm part for a valve software. By using FEA, we were capable of optimise the design; not only of the elastomer diaphragm itself, but in addition to propose modifications to the hardware parts that interfaced with it to increase the available space for the diaphragm. This stored materials stress levels low to take away any possibility of fatigue failure of the diaphragm over the life of the valve.
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