Research of a contact stresses in swivel elements of flexible shaft in screw conveyor for transportation of agricultural materials

Abstract

The paper presents the new design of the rotating part with ball-bearing swivel joints between its sections for flexible screw conveyors. The new design provides for the improvement of the operation efficiency and loading capacity, the enhancement of the technological capabilities and the reduction of the admissible curvature radius. The contact stresses in the swivel element as the most loaded area in the rotating part have been analysed. It has been established that the maximum contact stresses arise at the points of contact between the ball and the flat surface of the slot in the cylindrical bushing. The recommended design limitation range for the cavity cone angle is within about 30–50°. The relation between the loads and the stresses depending on the operating conditions has been modelled with the use of computer modelling. The comparison of the computer modelling results and the obtained calculation data has proved that the difference between the respective values varies within the range of 11–26%.

Keywords

• bulk agricultural material
• contact stress
• flexible screw conveyor
• pipe
• section