The flexible shield is a part of the pump system that dispenses soap-product. The function of the flexible shield is to protect the soap pump from intruding water. Investigation on performance of the current design flexible shield found that the current design of the flexible shield has not succeeded yet because there are no enough vertical reaction force in the upper part of the flexible shield after the deformation 9 mm to return to its rest position by itself (the requirement is 10 mm deformation).
In the real experiment, the product must contain enough vertical reaction force on the upper part area of the flexible shield to return to its rest position independently. At that situation, there is no minimum turning point in the force against displacement graph. In the Ansys simulation, this condition is illustrated by the same graph force against displacement as the real experiment. To eliminate the locking mechanism during the deformation, the discontinuity should not exist, which means there should be no minimum turning point in the force against displacement graph.
The combination of material and geometry are two very influencing factors to the performance of new design flexible shield. From the analysis using Finite Element Method, it is discovered that the displacement position of the minimum turning point in the force against displacement graph of the new design concept is bigger than the current design, which matches our requirement. The force-displacement relationship graphs the minimum turning point position (11 mm displacement).
