Designing Belleville Spring Washers

Abstract

Belleville spring washers are elastic washers that have circular shapes. They are flexible axially and deflect like springs when they are compressed. Belleville spring washers provide preload between two fastened surfaces and are used to prevent loose fastening, absorb shocks, eliminate play and uniformize load. Belleville spring washers are often employed when radial space is constrained, and moderate load is applied in the operation. In this paper, a systematic method is presented for designing and analyzing Belleville spring washers. To model a Belleville spring washer, a slanted surface is first utilized to define the axial cross section. The solid model of the Belleville spring washer is then generated through rotating the slanted surface along its central axis. The solid model of a Belleville spring washer is completely decided by its four geometric parameters: the internal and external diameters, the thickness of the washer and its height. The design of a Belleville washer is systemized in this paper as optimizing its four geometric parameters. The analysis of a Belleville washer is conducted based on its solid model. Examples on designing and analyzing Belleville spring washers are presented in the paper to verify the effectiveness and demonstrate the procedure of the introduced method.