Pneumatic hold-down clamp

The customer

• Size: Small-medium enterprise
• Sector: Manufacturing equipment & supports
• Country: United Kingdom

The Project

• Size: 45-60 man-hours
• Duration: 2-3 weeks

The Problem

• Fatigue issues on some mechanism elements
• Early malfunction of the mechanism
• Maximum retention force capacity unknown

Proposed solution

• Stress analysis under different scenarios of force and position (angle)
• Fatigue analysis simulation to estimate structure useful life (MTBF)

The simulations

• Stress analysis to find mechanical hotspots of the structure (FEA analysis)
• Fatigue simulations according to expected structure stress map (FEA analysis)
• Optimization of the design for extended product life (FEA analysis)

Project overal results

• Increase in structure useful life of 25%, maximum clamp forces were learned for the different cases.
• Savings over £14,000 for the customer in prototyping and testing (estimate).
• Savings of more than 6 weeks in development time (estimate).