Work out spring energy, force and the stiffness needed for a target energy store.
Because energy depends on both stiffness and deflection squared, the same energy can be stored by a stiff spring moving a little or a soft spring moving a lot. Solving both ways shows the design trade-off directly. Choosing spring rate against available travel is the central compromise in suspension and actuator design.
Spring Energy
E = ½ k x²; rearranged, x = √(2E ÷ k) and k = 2E ÷ x²
E = ½ k x²; rearranged, x = √(2E ÷ k) and k = 2E ÷ x² Because energy depends on both stiffness and deflection squared, the same energy can be stored by a stiff spring moving a little or a soft spring moving a lot. Solving both ways shows the design trade-off directly.
Choosing spring rate against available travel is the central compromise in suspension and actuator design.
This calculator takes 3 inputs: Spring constant, Compression distance, Target energy to store. The pre-filled defaults are a realistic starting point — replace them with figures from your own environment for a result you can act on.