Analysis And Research Of Wave Spring Mechanical Properties

Wave spring is a widely used kind of non-standard elastic element. As one of theimportant characteristics of wave spring, the working ability of the spring is determined bythe mechanical properties. This paper takes the monolayer wave spring as the research object,the method of theoretical calculation, finite element analysis and experiment test are used tostudy the wave spring mechanical properties.Firstly, according to the wave spring structural characteristics, the theoretical calculationformula of stiffness characteristic curve is deduced. Secondly, the parametric modelingmodule of wave spring is established in the SolidWorks software, the spring model isimported to the ANSYS Workbench software for analyzing the spring stiffness characteristiccurve and the relationship between the spring stiffness and spring parameters. Also taking thespring opening as the research object, the influence of spring opening type and size to thespring stiffness is analyzed. Thirdly, the wave spring stiffness is tested, the error analysis isobtained by comparing the theoretical calculate and FEA result with testing result. Finally, thedynamic analysis for the wave spring is done, the natural frequency and vibration model ofthe wave spring are obtained by the modal analysis; The resonant response of the spring isobtained by the harmonic response analysis.The research results turn out that: FEA method can be used as an effective way to studythe wave spring mechanical properties, although theoretical calculation method has certainlimitations, the revised formula can still be used to study the wave spring mechanicalproperties. The stiffness characteristic curves of the wave spring are linear in the workingrange. The structure parameters of wave spring have different degree of influence on springstiffness, the relationship of spring stiffness with the spring wave number and thickness ispower function, with the spring ratio of outer diameter and inner diameter is quadraticfunction, with the spring work friction coefficient is linear function, the contact frictioncoefficient has a lag effect on the spring compression. The stiffness characteristic curves of different opening wave springs with the same structure parameters are very close, the springstiffness slowly decreases with the opening increase, when the opening increases to the half ofthe waveform, the spring stiffness decreases significantly. The modal value of integral typewave spring is the highest in the three kinds of spring, the modal value of overlap wave springis the lowest, the axial direction is the main vibration direction of the three kinds of spring.