How To Select Right Disc Spring

What Is Disc Spring?

Disc spring is named for its shape like a bowl or dish. It is composed of four parameters, which include outer diameter (D), inner diameter (d), thickness (t) and height (H). It is a washer type spring with truncated conical section made of metal sheet or forging blank.

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Principle Of Disc Spring

The disc spring is a conical annular disc bearing axial load. Generally, the disc thickness is constant, and the load is evenly distributed on the inner edge of the upper surface and the outer edge of the lower surface. It is made of spring steel, which can withstand static load, impact load or dynamic alternating load and can meet the strict requirements of fatigue life.

Types Of The Disc Spring

Disc spring can be divided into anti-loose disc spring, high-temperature preloaded disc spring, high-torque preloaded disc spring and buffered tension disc spring, according to its applications.

Anti-loose disc spring

It can be applied to bolts with not too large load but severe vibration. Anti-loose disc spring can effectively prevent bolts from loosening and reversing. It can play the locking function, compensating the preload, and ensure the lasting and reliable sealing. It has good versatility for bolts and equipment.

High temperature preloading disc spring

It is applicable to bolt preloading of various flanges under high temperature environment, various pipe flanges, valves and heat exchangers. It is used for pre-tightening of flange bolts of reaction kettle, agitator, pump, centrifuge, etc. High-temperature preloaded disc spring is especially used at bolted joints with temperature difference of more than 100°C.

High torque preloading disc spring

The high torque preloading disc spring is applied to the occasions of large load and high torque. It is used for pre-tightening of valve and pipe flange bolts. It is used for the pre-tightening of  anchor bolts and flanges of fans, pumps and centrifuges, heat exchanger, reactor and agitator, generator, pipe support and hanger device,various other engineering applications of buffer device, brake device, high-voltage cable compensation device and other equipment.

Buffer tension disc spring

The buffer tension disc spring is widely used in large equipment of various industries, such as brakes, safety overload devices, mechanical starters, industrial furnaces, clutches, molds, etc.

Advantages Of Disc Spring Compared With Other Springs

1. Disc spring bears great load in a small space. 

Compared with other types of springs, the deformation energy per unit volume of disc springs is larger. It has good cushioning and shock absorption capacity, especially when the composite combination is used, the effect of absorbing impact and dissipating energy is more significant due to the effect of surface friction resistance.

2. Disc spring has variable stiffness characteristics.

By changing the ratio of the height of the inner cone in the disc to the thickness of the disc, different spring characteristic curves can be obtained, which can be linear, incremental, decreasing or their combination. In addition, the variable stiffness characteristics can also be obtained by different combinations of discs with different thickness or different number of discs.

3. Disc spring can obtain different bearing capacity

Different bearing capacity can be obtained by changing the number of discs or the combination form of discs, so each size of disc can adapt to a wide range of applications, which makes the preparation and management of spare parts easier.

4. Disc spring has a long service life

The disc spring correctly designed and manufactured, has a long service life.

Because of these advantages, disc springs are often used as strong cushioning and shock absorption devices in heavy machinery, aircraft, artillery and other machinery or weapons. It is also a pressing device in clutch, safety valve, pressure reducing valve, etc.

How To Select Disc spring

The main design parameters of the disc spring in use include load size, load characteristics, corrosivity of the medium, working temperature, pressure pulse increment during preload failure, preload deformation allowed by the equipment to resist damage.

Dimension

The specific dimension elements of each product are specified in international standards. Main dimensions include outer diameter D, inner diameter d, thickness t, free height H, etc.

Temperature

According to the working characteristics and material characteristics, the disc spring is mainly divided into four temperature ranges: normal temperature, 150°C, 300°C and 600°C.

State

The working state of the equipment, such as pre-tightening, stroke, vibration, pulse pressure frequency, frequency spectrum, pre-tightening force and other factors.

Medium

The working environment often has clear requirements for the selection of disc springs. The main factors include the corrosivity of the medium, PH value, etc.

Pressure

Different working pressure of pipes will produce different pulse pressure and thermal expansion and contraction, so it is necessary to judge the selection scheme of disc spring.

Summary

Disc spring is used more and more widely, with its high permanence. It has the advantages of , small deformation, large loading capacity, high spatial utilization rate, low maintenance and long service life.

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Related Products

When a single Disc Spring isn&#;t enough, stacking them in series, parallel or combination can solve the problem if done properly.

Disc Springs are conically-shaped, washer-type components designed to be statically loaded either continuously or intermittently, or dynamically subjected to continuous load cycling. What makes Disc Springs unique is that based on the standardized calculations of DIN (formally DIN ), the deflection for a given load is predictable.

Optimal Disc Spring performance is achieved with the working deflection between 15% and 75% of full deflection as it is in this range that the theoretical characteristics and measured results most accurately match. If a single Disc Spring is not capable of the force/deflection characteristics the application requires, Disc Springs stacked in series, parallel or combination can be used.

Methods of Stacking

For Disc Springs stacked in parallel or combination, friction between the parallel Disc surfaces needs consideration. Many factors affect the amount of friction of the Disc Springs Stack. These include, but are not limited to, surface roughness, number of Disc Springs stacked in parallel, and amount of deflection.

A reasonable allowance is 2-3% of the force for each sliding surface &#; a greater force for loading and a lesser force for unloading. Disc Springs stacked in parallel should be well lubricated and limited to a maximum of 3-4 Discs to reduce the deviation from the calculated to measured characteristics. Disc Springs stacked in parallel have increased self-dampening (hysteresis) characteristics.

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When stacking Disc Springs, a wide range of force/deflection characteristics are possible; the stack can be designed with specific load curves to meet the application requirements with both progressive and regressive possible.

Stack Construction
Having both ends of the stack resting on the larger outer edge of the Disc is desirable. If this is not possible, such as with an odd number of Discs, the larger outer edge should be arranged to be on the end to which the force is applied.

Shorter stacks are more efficient, which is of particular importance for dynamic applications. As a result of friction between the Disc Springs as well as the guiding mandrel or sleeve, the Disc Springs at the moving end of the stack tend to deflect more than the Disc Springs at the opposite end.

Using the largest practical diameter Disc Spring will reduce the number of Disc Springs per stack and the total stack height. It is recommended that the overall stack height does not exceed 3 times the external diameter of the Disc Spring or 10 Discs in series. If required, taller stacks can be divided with flat washers to provide stability.

Stack Guidance
To keep the Disc Springs in position, the stacks need guiding. The preferred method is internal guidance, such as a rod/mandrel, through the inside diameter. In the case of external guiding, a sleeve is suggested. In either case, the guiding component should be case hardened to 58 HRC with a depth of not less than 0.6mm with a surface finish of &#; 4 microns.

Progressive Load Curves
Progressive loading can be obtained by assembling the stacks in which the Disc Springs will deflect consecutively when loaded by:

• Stacking single, double and triple parallel sets in series.
• Stacking Disc Springs of various thickness in series.

Deflection of the weaker Disc Springs needs to be limited to avoid over-compression, while the stronger Disc Springs or parallel sets are still in the process of compressing.

This image above shows Disc Stacks with progressive characteristic load curve and stroke limiters to avoid overload.

Pre-Stacked
The process of installing Disc Spring Stacks in a production environment is generally a manual, time-intensive process that introduces an opportunity for errors in the stack configuration. Rather than configuring the stack of Disc Springs manually, Pre-Stacked Disc Springs (greased or ungreased) are available from manufacturers. These stacks are packaged in shrink-wrap with a perforated tab, allowing a simple installation process that saves time and helps mistake-proof the assembly process.

Read how SPIROL Engineers determined the best Disc Spring stacking methods for an overload safety switch on SPIROL.com.

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