• Images
• Videos
• Documents
• Books
• Articles

Advantages

A wave spring has advantages over a traditional coiled spring or a washer:⁵

• Axial space can be reduced by up to 50%. As a result, the overall size of the assembly becomes smaller, reducing weight and production cost.
• The load in an axial direction is 100% transferable.
• One multi-turn wave spring replaces multiple stacked wave washers. This eases installation and reduces maintenance times.
• A wave spring can accommodate higher thrust load within the axial space as only the wire size, number of waves, wave height and number of turns need to be adjusted to accommodate higher thrust loads.

Varieties

There are several types of wave spring:⁶⁷ Single-turn wave springs include gap single-turn and overlap single-turn type. Multi-turn wave spring types, include shim-end and plain-end types. The nested wave spring incorporates smaller waves within larger ones.

Single-turn wave spring

Single-turn springs are best for applications with short deflection and low to medium forces. The number of waves and material thickness can be changed to accommodate stronger forces. They are used for bearing pre-load.⁸⁹

Multi-turn wave spring

A multi-turn wave spring can decrease the needed axial space. It is suited for applications with large deflection and a small spring rate. A wide range of forces can be accommodated.¹⁰¹¹

Nested wave spring

Eliminates the need to stack springs to accommodate higher loads. It produces high force while maintaining the precision of a circular-grain wave spring. It replaces a stack of belleville washers where a high but accurate force is needed.¹²

Linear Wave Springs

a type of continuous wave-formed wire length produced from spring-tempered materials. They exhibit similar load/deflection characteristics to wave springs and can act as a load-bearing device.¹³¹⁴

Pitched Coil Springs

also known as a Wave Spring or a Zigzag Spring, is a type of spring that consists of a series of connected loops or waves formed in a zigzag pattern.¹⁵¹⁶

Interlaced wave spring

a type of spring that is formed by combining two constituent wave springs of similar thickness, amplitude, and frequency.¹⁷¹⁸

Materials

• Carbon steel (standard)
• Stainless steel (best suited for high stress, fatigue applications)
• Beryllium copper (corrosion resistance, particularly in marine environments)¹⁹
• Inconel (best suited for high temperature and corrosive environments)²⁰²¹
• Elgiloy (corrosion resistance, particularly in marine environments)²²²³

Citations

References

• Smalley Steel Ring Company. (2005). Engineering and Parts Catalog (Unknown ed.), Smalley Steel Ring Company
• Matsumura-Kohki Co., Ltd. (2009). Catalog, 2nd, Matsumura-Kohki Co., Ltd.
• Rotor Clip Company., Inc. (2010). Company Overview (4th ed.), Rotor Clip Co., Inc
• Rotor Clip Company., Inc. (2010). Product Specifications (12th ed.), Rotor Clip Co., Inc
• Rotor Clip Company., Inc. (2012). Wave Springs (1st ed.), Rotor Clip Co., Inc
• Lispring Company., Inc. (2009). Wave Springs (3st ed.), Lispring Co., Ltd.

References

1. "Wave Springs- Advantages". https://www.rotorclip.com/wave_spring_advantage1.php ↩

2. Rotorclip: Advantages https://www.rotorclip.com/wave_spring_advantage1.php ↩

3. Smalley Steel Ring Company. (2005). Engineering and Parts Catalog. p.7 ↩

4. Rotorclip: Advantages https://www.rotorclip.com/wave_spring_advantage1.php ↩

5. Rotor Clip Company., Inc. (2010). Product Specifications. p. 12. ↩

6. Rotor Clip Company., Inc. (2010). Product Specifications. p. 12. ↩

7. Smalley Steel Ring Company.(2005). Engineering and Parts Catalog. p.14 ↩

8. Rotor Clip Company., Inc. (2010). Company Overview. p.11 ↩

9. Preload https://web.archive.org/web/20160304095559/https://www.rotorclip.com/bearing-preload.php ↩

10. Rotor Clip Company., Inc. (2012). Wave Springs. p.2 ↩

11. Matumura-Kohki Co., Ltd. (2009).Catalog. p.20 ↩

12. Smalley Steel Ring Company.(2005). Engineering and Parts Catalog. p.14 ↩

13. Lispring Company., Inc. (2024). Wave Spring. ↩

14. linear wave springs https://www.wave-spring.com/wave-spring/linear-spring/ ↩

15. Lispring Company., Inc. (2024). Wave Spring. ↩

16. Pitched Coil Spring https://www.wave-spring.com/wave-spring/Pitched-Coil-Spring/ ↩

17. Lispring Company., Inc. (2024). Wave Spring. https://www.wave-spring.com/ ↩

18. Interlaced wave spring https://www.wave-spring.com/wave-spring/Interlaced-wave-spring.html ↩

19. Rotor Clip Company., Inc. (2010). Product Specifications. p. 10 - 11. ↩

20. Smalley Steel Ring Company.(2005). Engineering and Parts Catalog. p.84 ↩

21. Rotor Clip Company., Inc. (2012). Wave Springs. p.2. ↩

22. Smalley Steel Ring Company.(2005). Engineering and Parts Catalog. p.84 ↩

23. Rotor Clip Company., Inc. (2012). Wave Springs. p.2. ↩