Analysis of helical springs
Our first case study is a simulation exercise that involves a helical compression spring. Springs are known to store energy when deflected and return the same energy upon release from the deformed state. Their use can be found in systems as complex as vibration isolation systems, shock absorbers, watches, and bomb detonation mechanisms, to simple devices such as toy cars and pens. Detailed accounts of the design of springs can be found in some of the references in the Further reading section, for example, [4]. In what follows, we will examine the simulation of a helical compression spring as part of a sub-assembly.
Problem statement – case study 1
Figure 6.5 shows different views of a spring-based weighing module. The performance of the module is intrinsically tied to the deformation of the compression helical spring (isolated in Figure 6.5c). As a result, understanding the performance of the spring is a necessary engineering design task....