Conical compression springs

​In our latest blog Tim Page, our Managing Director, will look at situations that require the manufacture of conical compression springs.
 
When space is limited, or a spring application requires a non-linear spring rate, a conical spring is recommended for use. When the spring is coiled it creates the non-linear spring rate, once the spring is deflected the coils begin to contact.
 
As the larger coils move further, they have the lowest spring rate, they will contact sooner. This results in the number of active coils reducing and then increasing the spring rate. A compressed conical spring can also be coiled so the coils lie inside of each other, this will result in the spring having a solid length of one wire diameter. This can be very useful when space is restricted.
 
Designing a conical compression spring is much more complex than that of parallel sided springs. An approximation of the spring’s behaviour can be sought from the calculations, as small changes in the pitch of the spring can result in large changes in the load/deflection characteristics.
 
What are the benefits of nested springs?
A nesting spring is one that has one or more springs sitting inside a larger spring. The spring manufacturer can design a spring to achieve more loadbearing material into a fixed space. This will result in the nested spring being able to support a greater load than one spring on its own could withstand.
 
The working life of the spring can be increased as the working stresses within each nested spring are reduced, the length of the spring can also be reduced by the spring manufacturer resulting in less chance of buckling.
 
Tangling in operation can occur if the springs adjacent to each other are not coiled in different directions. In situations where high loads and long fatigue life are needed, particularly in a small space, then nested springs are widely used.
 
Next month our Sales Manager, Jon Davies will look at ‘wire forms’.