Analysis of screw connection in air conditioning systems

Air conditioning systems in vehicles require long-term reliability during their entire service life. Especially, a good sealing function is needed for the prevention of coolant leaking. Unfortunately, in specific cases, after a particular time, screw connections of the air conditioning circuit lose their tightness, and the coolant starts to leak. Therefore, this paper focuses on the analysis and design optimisation of screw connections. We used the finite element method for describing the sealing, screw and disc spring behaviour. Then, we proposed a new design of the disc spring to obtain the proper force-deformation characteristics of the connection and ensure the tightness of the screw connection.