The Slotted Conical Disk Spring

Abstract

The slotted conical disk spring is a modification of the regular conical disk spring or Belleville spring inasmuch as it has regularly arranged slots extending from the inside diameter. A single disk of the slotted type undergoes a larger deflection at a smaller load than a regular disk spring of comparable dimensions, thereby combining some of the advantages of the disk spring and the cantilever type spring in a single unit. It is used, where stacking is undesirable, a relatively large outside diameter is tolerable, and a regressive load-deflection-diagram is desired, like in clutch applications. The theory presented here allows the design of slotted disk springs without the lengthy trial and error procedure that has been used so far. Experiments show the validity of the new theory.