Mechanical springs

SYLLABUS
• Types (06 hrs)
• Types
• Applications
• Materials for springs
• Stress and deflection equations for helical compression
Springs
• Style of ends
• Design of helical compression and tension springs
• Springs in series and parallel
• Concentric helical springs
• Helical torsion Spring
• Surge in springs
• Multi-leaf springs (Theoretical treatment only).
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 ABOUT SPRING

• A spring is defined as an elastic body, whose

function is to distort when loaded and to
recover its original shape, when the load is
removed.
• Applications:
Springs in clutches, brakes, spring loaded
valves, toys, clocks, vehicle suspension
systems.

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TYPES OF SPRINGS

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 HELICAL SPRINGS
•The helical springs are made up of a wire coiled in the form of a
helix and is primarily intended for compressive or tensile loads.

•The cross-section of the wire from which the spring is made

may be circular, square or rectangular. The two forms of helical
springs are compression helical spring as shown in Fig. (a) and
tension helical spring as shown in Fig.(b).

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 The helical springs have the following advantages
•Easy to manufacture.
•Available in wide range.
•Reliable.
•Constant spring rate.
•Performance can be predicted more accurately.
•Characteristics can be varied by changing dimensions.

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 CONICAL AND VOLUTE SPRINGS
•The conical spring, is wound with a uniform pitch.

•The volute springs, are wound in the form of paraboloid with

constant pitch and lead angles.
•Used in special applications where a telescoping spring or a
spring with a spring rate that increases with the load is desired.
•The major stresses produced in conical and volute springs are
also shear stresses due to twisting

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Conical and volute springs

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 TYPES OF SPRINGS

TORSION SPRINGS
•The helical type may be used only in applications where the
load tends to wind up the spring and are used in various electrical
mechanisms.
•The spiral type is also used where the load tends to increase the
number of coils and when made of flat strip are used in watches
and clocks.
•The major stresses produced in torsion springs are tensile and
compressive due to bending.
•Door hinges, automobile starters ,watches ,clocks

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Helical and Spiral torsion springs

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 LAMINATED OR LEAF SPRINGS
•The laminated or leaf spring (also known as flat spring or carriage
spring) consists of a number of flat plates (known as leaves) of
varying lengths held together by means of clamps and bolts.
•These are mostly used in automobiles.
•The major stresses produced in leaf springs are tensile and
compressive stresses
•.
DISC OR BELLEVILE SPRINGS
•These springs consist of a number of conical discs held together
against slipping by a central bolt or tube.
•These springs are used in applications where high spring rates
and compact spring units are required.
•The major stresses produced in disc or bellevile springs are
tensile and compressive stresses.
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Laminated or leaf springs. Disc or bellevile springs .

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 TERMS USED IN COMPRESSION SPRINGS…

1.Solid Length (Ls)

When the spring is compressed until the coils touch each other

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2.Free Length (Lf) :

A free length is the length when spring is in uncompressed

condition

3. Active Coils : Which contributes to the spring action

4. Inactive Coils : When the ends coils which are in

contact with seat do not contribute spring action
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Spring index. The spring index is defined as the ratio of the mean
diameter of the coil to the diameter of the wire.
Mathematically,
C=D/d
Where D = Mean diameter of the coil, and
d = Diameter of the wire.
Spring rate The spring rate (or stiffness or spring constant) is defined
as the load required per unit deflection of the spring. Mathematically,
k=W/δ
where W = Load
δ = Deflection of the spring.

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Pitch The pitch of the coil is defined as the axial distance between
adjacent coils in uncompressed state. Mathematically,
•Pitch of the coil, p = Free length / n′ – 1
•The pitch of the coil may also be obtained by using the following
relation, i.e.

where LF = Free length of the spring,

LS = Solid length of the spring,
n' = Total number of coils, and
d = Diameter of the wire.

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Let,
n = no of active coils or turns
p = pitch , mm
d = wire diameter.

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 MATERIAL FOR HELICAL SPRINGS
• The springs are mostly made from oil-tempered carbon steel wires
containing 0.60 to 0.70 per cent carbon and 0.60 to 1.0 per cent
manganese.
• Music wire is used for small springs. Non-ferrous materials like
phosphor bronze, beryllium copper, monel metal, brass etc., may
be used in special cases to increase fatigue resistance, temperature
resistance and corrosion resistance.
• The helical springs are either cold formed or hot formed
depending upon the size of the wire.
• Wires of small sizes (less than 10 mm diameter) are usually
wound cold whereas larger size wires are wound hot.
• The strength of the wires varies with size, smaller size wires have
greater strength and less ductility, due to the greater degree of
cold working.
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 MATERIAL FOR HELICAL SPRINGS…

• The material of the spring should have high fatigue strength, high
ductility, high resilience and it should be creep resistant. It largely
depends upon the service for which they are used i.e. severe
• service, average service or light service.
• Severe service means rapid continuous loading where the ratio of
minimum to maximum load (or stress) is one-half or less, as in automotive
valve springs.
• Average service includes the same stress range as in severe service but
with only intermittent operation, as in engine governor springs and
automobile suspension springs.
• Light service includes springs subjected to loads that are static or very
infrequently varied, as in safety valve springs.

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 MATERIAL FOR HELICAL SPRINGS…
• The values of allowable shear stress, modulus of rigidity and
modulus of elasticity for various materials used for springs.

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 STRESSES IN HELICAL SPRINGS OF
CIRCULAR WIRE
• Consider a helical compression spring made of circular wire and subjected to an axial load W
Let D = Mean diameter of the spring coil,
d = Diameter of the spring wire,
n = Number of active coils,
G = Modulus of rigidity for the spring material,
F = Axial force on the spring,
τ = Maximum shear stress induced in the wire,
C = Spring index = D/d,
p = Pitch of the coils, and
δ = Deflection of the spring, as a result of an axial load F.

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STRESSES IN HELICAL SPRINGS OF
CIRCULAR WIRE…

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STRESSES IN SPRING WIRE

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Stresses induced in spring wire:
1)Torsional Shear Stress:
Torsional Shear Stress induced in a spring wire due to torsional moment
T=FD/2

2) Direct Shear Stress: Due to the direct shear force F

3) Resultant Shear Stresses

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4. Result Shear Stress with Curvature Effect :
Curvature of wires increases the shear stress on inner surface of
spring and decreases it slightly on outer surface.
1.Wahl shear stress factor is used to consider effects of direct shear stress and
curvature effect stresses in addition to torsional shear stress.

1.The maximum shear stress induced in a spring wire is

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Deflection of Helical Springs:

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Problem 1. Design a close coiled helical compression spring with following data:
• Service load range = 2250 N to 2750 N
•Axial deflection of spring for load range= 6 mm
•Spring Index = 5
•Permissible shear stress for spring=420 N/mm2
•Modulus of rigidity for spring material = 84 KN/mm2
•Neglect the effect of stress concentration.( Assume Square and Ground ends)
•Draw a dimensional sketch of spring.
Given Data: Fmin= 2250 N Fmax=2750 N G=84 KN/mm2 C=6
Solution:
Wire diam. d= 9.58 mm Ls=(n+2)d=112.32mm
Mean coil diam. D=48 mm Max. Deflection=33mm
Spring stiffness K=83.33N/mm Lf=Ls + Max Defle. + 0.15 Max Defle
No of turns n=9.7 turns =150.27 mm
Total no of turns n’= n+2 =11.7 turns Lf= pn +2d p= 13.5 mm
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Problem 2. A safety valve of 60mm diameter is to blow off at a pressure of 1.2
Mpa. It is held on its seat by closed coil helical spring. The maximum lift of the
valve is 10mm. Design a suitable compression spring of spring index 5 and
providing an initial compression of 35 mm. The maximum shear stress in the
material of the wire is limited to 500 N/mm2 while the modulus of rigidity of spring
material is 80000 N/mm2.Calculate 1) diameter of spring wire. 2) mean coil
diameter 3) no of active turns 4) pitch of coil. Assume Square and Ground ends.
Given Data: dv=60 mm Pmax= 1.2 N/mm2
Solution: d=11 mm
D=55 mm
n=11.67 turns
p=15.42 mm

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 SPRINGS IN SERIES
• Consider two springs connected in series as shown in Fig.
W = Load carried by the springs,
δ1 = Deflection of spring 1,
δ2 = Deflection of spring 2,
k1 = Stiffness of spring 1 = W / δ1, and
k2 = Stiffness of spring 2 = W / δ2
• A little consideration will show that when the springs are connected in
series, then the total deflection produced by the springs is equal to the sum
of the deflections of the individual springs.

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 SPRINGS IN PARALLEL
• Consider two springs connected in parallel as shown in Fig
Let W = Load carried by the springs,
W1 = Load shared by spring 1,
W2 = Load shared by spring 2,
k1 = Stiffness of spring 1, and
k2 = Stiffness of spring 2.
• A little consideration will show that when the springs are connected in parallel,
then the total deflection produced by the springs is same as the deflection of the
individual springs.
We know that W = W1 + W2
or δ.k = δ.k1 + δ.k2
∴ k = k1 + k2
where k = Combined stiffness of the springs, and
δ = Deflection produced.

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 CONCENTRIC OR COMPOSITE
SPRINGS
• To obtain greater spring force within a given space.
• To insure the operation of a mechanism in the event of failure of one of
the springs.
• The concentric springs for the above two purposes may have two or more
springs and have the same free lengths as and are compressed equally.
• Such springs are used in automobile clutches, valve springs in aircraft,
heavy duty diesel engines and rail-road car suspension systems.
• Sometimes concentric springs are used to obtain a spring force which does
not increase in a direct relation to the deflection but increases faster. Such
springs are made of different lengths .The shorter spring begins to act only
after the longer spring is compressed to a certain amount. These springs are
used in governors of variable speed engines to take care of the variable
centrifugal force

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A carriage suspension system showing the use of
concentric springs

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• Consider a concentric spring as .
W = Axial load, W1 = Load shared by outer spring
W2 = Load shared by inner spring d1 = Diameter of outer spring,
d2 = Diameter of inner spring, D1 = Mean diameter of outer spring,
D2 = Mean diameter of inner spring δ1 = Deflection of outer spring,
δ2 = Deflection of inner spring, n1 = Number of active turns of outer spring
n2 = Number of active turns of inner spring.
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Problem 3: A concentric spring consists of two helical
compression springs one inside the other. The free length
of the outer spring is 15mm greater than the inner spring.
The wire diameter and mean coil diameter of inner spring
are 5mm and 30mm respectively, while wire diameter and
mean coil diameter of outer spring are 8mm and 52mm
respectively. Assume same material for two spring and
modulus of rigidity of spring is 81370 N/mm2. if the
composite spring is subjected to maximum axial force of
1000N,calculate
i.The compression of each spring
ii.The force transmitted by each spring; and
iii.The maximum torsional shear stress induced in each
spring.

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Problem 4: Two helical springs are arranged in a
concentric manner with one inside each other. Both the
springs have same free length and carry a total load of
2000 N. The outer spring has 8 active coils with mean coil
diam. Of 80 mm and wire diam. Of 10 mm. The inner spring
has 12 active coils with mean coil diam. Of 64 mm and wire
diam of 8mm .G=81370 N/mm2. determine
i)Max. load carried by each spring.
ii)Total deflection of each spring.
iii)Max. deflection in each spring.
Solution:
i)F1= 1304.3 N F2=695.7 N
ii)def.=52.33
iii)314.6 and 262.19 N/mm2

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 HELICAL TORSION SPRINGS
• The helical torsion springs as shown in Fig., may be made from round,
rectangular or square wire.
• These are wound in a similar manner as helical compression or tension
springs but the ends are shaped to transmit torque.
• The primary stress in helical torsion springs is bending stress whereas in
compression or tension springs, the stresses are torsional shear stresses.
• The helical torsion springs are widely used for transmitting small torques
as in door hinges, brush holders in electric motors, automobile starters etc.

Helical torsion spring.

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 HELICAL TORSION SPRINGS…
K = Wahl’s stress factor =
C = Spring index,
M = Bending moment = W × y,
W = Load acting on the spring,
y = Distance of load from the spring axis, and
d = Diameter of spring wire.
and total angle of twist or angular deflection,

•l = Length of the wire =

•E = Young’s modulus,
•I = Moment of inertia =
•D = Diameter of the spring, and
•n = Number of turns.

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HELICAL TORSION SPRINGS…

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 ECCENTRIC LOADING OF SPRINGS

• Sometimes, the load on the springs does not coincide with the
axis of the spring, i.e. the spring is subjected to an eccentric
load. In such cases, not only the safe load for the spring
reduces, the stiffness of the spring is also affected.
• The eccentric load on the spring increases the stress on one
side of the spring and decreases on the other side.
• When the load is offset by a distance e from the spring axis,
then the safe load on the spring may be obtained by
multiplying the axial load by the factor

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 SURGE IN SPRINGS
• When one end of a helical spring is resting on a rigid support and the other end is
loaded suddenly, then all the coils of the spring will not suddenly deflect equally,
because some time is required for the propagation of stress along the spring wire.
• A little consideration will show that in the beginning, the end coils of the spring in
contact with the applied load takes up whole of the deflection and then it transmits a
large part of its deflection to the adjacent coils. In this way, a wave of compression
propagates through the coils to the supported end from where it is reflected back to
the deflected end.
• This wave of compression travels along the spring indefinitely. If the applied load is
of fluctuating type as in the case of valve spring in internal combustion engines and
if the time interval between the load applications is equal to the time required for
the wave to travel from one end to the other end, then resonance will occur.
• This results in very large deflections of the coils and correspondingly very
high stresses. Under these conditions, it is just possible that the spring may
fail. This phenomenon is called surge.

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 LEAF SPRINGS

• Leaf springs (also known as flat springs) are made out of flat
plates. The advantage of leaf spring over helical spring is that
the ends of the spring may be guided along a definite path as it
deflects to act as a structural member in addition to energy
absorbing device. Thus the leaf springs may carry lateral loads,
brake torque, driving torque etc., in addition to shocks.

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LEAF SPRINGS…

Semi-elliptical leaf spring.

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NIPPING OF LEAF SPRINGS

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THANK YOU !

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