EoW January 2014

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News
Technology
January 2014 56
MicroStudio defines the spring as: ‘the
simplest but the most complex unknown
piece of coiled wire.’
For more than 15 years the company has
measured and tried to understand this
little, complex piece of wire. As a result
it has produced a tester that is able to
analyse what happens to a compression
spring that purely does its duty: to be
compressed and to give back the received
force.
The gauge LED4D consists of a revolving
set of plates, where the spring is placed.
The spring is pressed and the set of plates
turns around the axis plates/spring and,
step-by-step, a camera measuring system
collects and stores the images of the
compressed spring, while a set of load
cells discovers all the forces that come
into play during this operation. All this is
patent pending.
Anybody who manufactures or uses
springs knows that a compressed spring
returns almost six types of forces:
• Axial force
Fz
• Lateral force in “X” direction
Fx
• Lateral force in “Y” direction
Fy
• Overturning torque in “X” direction
Mtx
• Overturning torque in “Y” direction
Mty
• Axial torque
Mo
Furthermore, the same spring loses its
shape and its encumbrance becomes
bigger.
All dimensions of the compressed spring
also modify their values:
• Length
• Outside diameter of the coils
• Pitch
• Span between the coils
LED4D recognises, evaluates and
measures all these parameters.
The management of all these values
is not easy. After a couple of years
researching, measuring and testing, the
engineers of MicroStudio came up with
the most complete machine for analysing
compression springs.
Against the complexity and the volume
of data that the operator can have from
LED4D, there is the extreme simplicity of
the using of the gauge:
• Call your recipe
• Place the spring between the two
plates
• Press “start” and await the results
The results are in the form of graphics
or discrete values (numbers) that the
operator can store in the usual figure
(electronic sheet or CSV).
MicroStudio produces the LED4D spring
analyser in five models, from 250 N to 3.0
kN with a field of view of Ø38 x 48mm and
Ø75 x 95mm.
MicroStudio Srl – Italy
Website:
The most complete
machine for the analysis of
compression springs
▲ ▲ The LED4D spring analyser fromMicroStudio