A problem on spring design Problem A helical spring of wire diameter 6mm and spring index 6 is acted by an initial load of ies compressing it further by 10mm the stress in the wire is 500MPa. Find the Number of active coils. G = 84000MPa. Solution: Despring index(C) x d=36 mm — 5 sin fA 18 9 ad’ 4-4 C 3 or, 500=1. 2535, SE (Note that in case of static load one m6 ccan also use Ks instead of Kiy.) 6 F=940.6N a He yam 6 10 Gd! “SDN Gd*_ 84000x6" or, N=——~—= 5 KSD'N” 14x$x36 = 2] nrnsProblem A helical compre: on spring, made of circular wire, is subjected to an axial force, which varies from 2.5 kN to 3.5 kN. Over this range of force, the deflection of the spring should be approximately 5 mm. The spring index can he taken as 5. The spring has square and ground ends. The spring is made of patented and cold-drawn steel wire with ultimate tensile strength of 1050 N/mm? and modulus of rigidity of 81370 N/mm. The permissible shear stress for the spring wire should be taken as 50% of the ultimate tensile strength. Design the spring and calculate (i) wire diameter; Gi) mean coil diameter; (iii) number of active coil (iv) total number of coils (v) solid length of the spring; (vi) free length of the spring; (ii) required spring rate; and (iii) actual spring rateSolution Given P=2.5t03.5kKN 6=Smm_ C=5 = 1050 N/mm? G=81370 N/mm? t= 0.5 S, Sur ut Step 1 Wire diameter The permissible shear stress for the spring is given by, 7=0.5 Sy = 0.5 (1050) = 525 N/mm? From Eq. (10.7), From Eq. (10.13). 8PC T= «(®25) or 525=(1 3105 nd o d=10.55 or Ilmm a) S85005)} md? Step II Mean coil diameter D=Cd=S(1l)=55mm (ii) Step IL Number of active coils From Eq. (10.8), se 8PD°N or _ 83500 — 2500)(55)° N Gd* - (81. 370)(11)* o N=448 or 5coils (iii)Step IV Total number of coils For square and ground ends, the number of inactive coils is 2. Therefore, N,=N+2=5+2=7 coils (iv) Step V_ Solid length of spring solid length of spring = N,d/= 7(11) = 77 mm (v) Step VI Free length of spring The actual deflection of the spring under the maximum force of 3.5 KN is given by, Se 8PD°N _ 8(3500)(55)3(5) _ Gd* (81370)(1 1)* It is assumed that there will be a gap of 0.5 mm between the consecutive coils when the spring is subjected to the maximum force of 3.5 KN. The total number of coils is 7. Therefore, total axial gap will be (7— 1) 0.5 =3 mm. Free length = Solid length + Total axial gap + & 19.55mm =77+3+19.55 = 99.55 or 100 mm (vi) Step VIL Required spring rate _ R=P, _ 3500-2500 6 5 Step VUL Actual spring rate Gd* _ (81370) 1)* ~ 86596) k = 200 N/mm (vii) =179,.01 N/mm (viii)Problem A helical spring is acted upon by a varying load of 300 N to 900 N respectively as shown in the figure. The spring deflection will be around 15 mm and outside diameter of the spring should be within 48-50 mm. Solution To design the spring for the given data, the most important parameter is the spring index. The spring index decides the dimension of the spring with respect to chosen wire diameter. Normally the spring index varies over a wide range from 3-12. For higher value of the spring index the curvature effect will be less, but relatively size of the spring and stress in the spring wire will increase. However, the effects will be some what opposite if the value of spring index is lower. Hence, it is better to start the iteration process with the spring index of 6-7. Let us start the problem with spring index, C=6 and wire diameter, d=7 mm. The above choice gives us a coil mean diameter, D =42 mm. Thereby, the outside diameter of the coil is 49 mm, which is within the given limit. Computation of stresses: _ 300+900 2 ‘The mean loadF, = = 600N stress amplituday, = 227-30 _ sag Shear stress concentration factat,, = 1+ 2 Wahl correction factor, = #°6—! , 2615 1.253 4x6 6 > 600%42 So the value of mean shear stress= 1.083. O02 202.62MPa and the value of stress amplitudg = 1.253 523004? _ 77 >1.Pa ax(7)Estimation of material properties: As no specific use of the spring is mentioned in the problem, let us take Chrome Vanadium as the spring material. This alloy spring steel is used for high stress conditions and at high temperatures, it is also good for fatigue resistance and long endurance for shock and impact loads. 1790 oe From the relationship of 6 ui to 7, (yield point) and endurance limit, -, we find that Ultimate strength of the materiat, , = 324 MPa for chrome 1, =O, *0.51=675.2MPa vanadium, and 0.2 = 264.8MPa ist FS = 1.00 Factor of safety, FS=1.0 implies that the design do not consider any unforeseen effect that may cause extra stresses in the spring. Normally in design of springs it is better to consider a factor of safety which should be in the vicinity of 1.3-1.5. In order to increase the value of FS, in the next iteration, natural choice for the spring index, C is 5 and d = 8 mm. Because C=7 and d = 6 mm will lead to more stress on the wire and the value of FS will not improve, With C=5 and d=8 mm and following the similar procedure as in previous iteration we 31] 1.1x8x600%40 ax8 =131.3MPa 1311x8x 300% 40 78,24MPa 1x8?‘Material properties: 1790 io 1297 MPa 1, = 661.4 MPa -. = 259.4 MPa LE _ 1313 , 78.2 FS" 6614" 6614 FS=146 The factor of safety obtained is acceptable. Therefore the value of spring index is 5 and corresponding wire diameter is 8mm, Finally, 26614 (2288441) nos Bes Hence, mean spring diameter, D=40 mm. ‘Outer diameter of spring, D,=40+8=48 mm, This value is within the prescribed limit. Inner diameter of spring, D, =32mm 900 ~ 300 ‘Spring rate, =40N /mm =40%10' N/m 7 ‘Once the value of stiffness is known, then the value of number of active tums, N of the spring is, 80x10 x8! ——_—= 16 (407 x. Bi max = SX I00X 40716 99 5mm S0K10 xS In the above equation, G = 80000 MPa. Spring Nomenclature: Let us select the type of spring as squared and ground ends. For this type of spring the value of free length is, ounce where, L, =4N, =8.0x(16+2)=144mm S sence = 15%D gy temonce [= 18x8+22.5 + 155g, 170mm d_ 170-16 16 =9.625nmCheck for buckling: We know that for steel, 1.<2572 =206mm C Here, for the given spring seat configuration, Ce = 0.5 The free length of the spring, 170 mm is less than the critical length for buckling, 206mm. Therefore the design is safe. Check for critical frequency: In order to find the critical frequency of the spring, the weight of the spring is to be first computed, #2 (ay\(r) W, =247yd°DN 2.47 x( 8X10" )° x( 40X10" )x16x7800x9.81 =7.74N Ws Therefore, The fundamental frequency of the spring (for both ends within flat plates), fF Safe frequency for design should be at least 20 times less than the fundamental frequency to take care of more number of harmonics. Therefore, the spring frequency for should be around 6 Hz. 1 f4ox 2 774