Design system for spring systems

摘要

Springs always have been one of the most important machine elements. A typical field of application is the automobile.Mostly simple spring shapes have been employed up to now. Increasing demands of use lead to a more frequent application of seldom used spring shapes. However, their computation is not possible with classical methods. A solution is offered by theutilisation of the finite elements analysis (FEA). Thus, the structural and dynamic analysis of springs is possible . Problems arise with the integration of the springs into assemblies. The requirement of the industrial design practice, to simulate thefunctional behaviour of complex units already in the design process for examine suspension systems or valve mechanisms, is not guaranteed. Therefore, a design system for spring units is developed which couples FEA software for structural analysis withprograms for the dynamic simulation of multi-body systems and which is integrated into CAD systems. The presentation gives an overview of this design system and reports results and examples from car engineering.