Highlights
1 Outline
Today’s demanding manufacturing environments require greater amounts of data to be collected at each stage of the process; through the design phase, manufacturing and logistics – to the products lifecycle. Logistic operations in todays international markets are complex, and tracking parts is essential. Sensors and other data collection devices are key in adapting to Industry 4.0 requirements set out by many companies. The sensor components themselves are not able to operate in certain harsh manufacturing environments and, therefore, require protective cases to minimise damage and maximise their up time.
Many factors need to be considered when designing components with such complex requirements. These include; cost, design life, loads, deflections, dynamic behaviour, material etc. – all of which must be analysed to ensure the safety and reliability – but also ensure. Moreover, as the sensor technology driven sector is rapidly changing, so too are the needs for the required protective equipment; which highlights the need to have efficient design and analysis tool in place to shorten production times.
2 Objectives and Specifications
The aim of this project is to conduct a finite element based structural analysis of a sensor cover (Figure 1) to ensure it conforms to a set of specifications. The sensor case will house two optical devices, that require sapphire lenses to allow for high transmission of a wide range of wavelengths. As the electronics contained within the case are isolated and sensitive to dimensional change (such as deformations), the maximum deformation of the case cannot exceed 1.00 mm and although a degree of plasticity can be accepted, the final deformation after elastic recovery cannot exceed 0.2 mm. As the sapphire lens cannot withstand excessive deformation without fracturing, the deformation at the location where the lens is mounted (Figure 2) cannot exceed 0.1 mm. Therefore, some modifications to the internal case design and material
selection will need to be made. The external shape of the case must remain as-is, and no dimensional changes are allowed. Tip: supress everything except the case before running an analysis. We are not concerned about the sensors themselves or the lenses – they are just there for your guidance in the redesign.
The sensor cover is floor mounted, therefore, you will need to analyse for a worst- case scenario of the cover being run over by a fork-lift of other heavy loading device. The loads will be applied to the top surface only. The cover has a total of 4 different mounting locations. These include four holes along the outer flange (Cylindrical Supports), four solid mounting pads inside the cover (Compression Only Support), the bottom of the flat flanged surface (Fixed Support) and the overlapped ledge that runs around the three sides (Frictionless Support). See the Figures below for the described locations.
Figure 2 to Figure 7 provide hints on the boundary conditions. However, you will need to set these up yourself in ANSYS. Make sure you describe each boundary condition and how it relates to the physical setup in your report, i.e., why certain settings are used within each boundary condition.
Your initial analysis will need to be done with “Structural Steel NL”. You will also need to explore at least three (3) different materials in total. As you will need to analyse for plastic deformations, make sure you use Non-Linear (NL) materials. Also discuss the type of non-linearity you are using in your model. As the component is in a harsh operating environment, you will need to use metal alloys. Justify the materials you are selecting, discuss them in terms of their properties, cost, manufacturability and anything else you may deem relevant.
You will need to show the effect of mesh sizes. This means you must apply at least two (2) meshing tools of your choice to improve the mesh quality as well as performing a mesh convergence study that plots the max. principle stress as a function of element size in a region of interest. Remember, your version of ANSYS is node limited (32K), so you only need to refine your mesh in the areas of interest.
Apply the support boundary conditions as described above. Apply load sets to your model on the top surface shown in Figure 4. The highest load needs to be applied in the Y direction (8000 N) and the smaller load in the X (1500 N) direction (make sure the loads are in the correct direction!). Because you will be looking at the plastic deformations of the cover, make sure you apply the load over three steps. With the first step having zero loads, the second step with the loads applied, and the third and final step zero loads.
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