Spliced lightweight subframe

Abstract

The application discloses a spliced lightweight auxiliary frame, which comprises a longitudinal beam component and a cross beam component, the longitudinal beam component is a metal component, the cross beam component is a polymer composite material component, and the longitudinal beam component and the cross beam component are spliced to form the auxiliary frame. The auxiliary frame has the advantages that the cross beam component is made of the polymer composite material, the longitudinal beam component is the metal component, the longitudinal beam component which needs to bear larger load has higher mechanical strength, the cross beam component which bears relatively small load can be lightened, the overall auxiliary frame is simply spliced and welded to form, the integrally-formed cross beam component and longitudinal beam component can be integrally formed with a vehicle body connecting interface, the overall auxiliary frame can have structural strength and light weight, and is highly integrated.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] This invention relates to the field of vehicle chassis component manufacturing, specifically to a lightweight, modular subframe. Background Technology

[0002] The subframe is a crucial component of the vehicle's floor structure, significantly impacting the rigidity of the chassis and decisively influencing the vehicle's weight. Lightweighting of the subframe and other chassis components has a substantial effect on optimizing the vehicle's power-to-weight ratio. Currently, traditional subframes use metal materials such as steel, aluminum alloy, or magnesium alloy, resulting in significant weight and complex manufacturing processes. Furthermore, the connecting interfaces often involve splicing and welding, making assembly and disassembly difficult. With the increasing demand for longer driving ranges in new energy vehicles, the need for overall vehicle lightweighting is growing. Composite material subframes offer the following advantages over traditional metal materials: 1. Lightweight. Composite materials have a higher specific strength than metallic materials, resulting in higher strength and stiffness for the same weight. 2. High integration. Integrated molding technologies such as composite material injection molding reduce the number of subframe connecting parts, improving the reliability of the subframe. 3. High strength and fatigue resistance. The subframe bears engine torque, road load impact, etc., requiring high strength and fatigue life. Composite materials can achieve better strength performance through topology optimization and processing, while also possessing superior fatigue performance; 4. Environmental adaptability. The composite material has a low coefficient of thermal expansion, maintaining small structural deformation at high and low temperatures, and its corrosion resistance is comparable to that of metals; 5. Environmental friendliness. Compared with metal materials such as aluminum alloys, thermoplastic composites have a lower carbon emission factor and are recyclable.

[0003] However, the structural strength of a subframe made of a single composite material is still limited. For applications with high load requirements, a subframe that is both lightweight and has strong mechanical strength is needed to solve the aforementioned technical problems. Summary of the Invention

[0004] To address the shortcomings of existing technologies, this invention provides a lightweight, modular subframe, comprising longitudinal beams and crossbeams. The longitudinal beams are metal components, and the crossbeams are polymer composite materials. The longitudinal beams and crossbeams are assembled to form the subframe.

[0005] Furthermore, the crossbeam component is composed of upper and lower separate components, the upper component and the lower component are integrally formed from polymer composite materials, and the lower component is covered and connected to the lower surface of the upper component.

[0006] Furthermore, the upper body component is a hollow U-shaped component, and the lower body component is a plate-shaped component that covers and connects to the opening of the upper body component.

[0007] Furthermore, the upper body component is integrally injection molded from nylon thermoplastic composite material and short glass fiber.

[0008] Furthermore, the outer surface of the upper body component is reinforced with continuous fiber glass fiber or carbon fiber.

[0009] Furthermore, a metal insert is embedded inside the end of the crossbeam member, and the end of the metal insert is welded to the longitudinal beam member.

[0010] Furthermore, one end of the metal insert is embedded in the end of the crossbeam member, and the other end has an extended overlapping edge, which is welded to the longitudinal beam member.

[0011] Furthermore, one end of the metal insert embedded in the crossbeam member has an engagement expansion groove, and the polymer composite material at the end of the crossbeam member is embedded in the engagement expansion groove.

[0012] Furthermore, the engagement expansion groove is a round hole, a protrusion, or a groove.

[0013] Furthermore, at the end connection of the longitudinal beam member and the transverse beam member, there is an extended connecting edge, and the lower body member and the connecting edge are connected and riveted to the upper body member.

[0014] Compared with existing technologies, the technical solution of this application has the following beneficial effects: The subframe proposed in this invention has crossbeams made of polymer composite materials and longitudinal beams made of metal, which gives the longitudinal beams, which need to bear greater loads, higher mechanical strength. Meanwhile, the crossbeams, which bear relatively less load, are lightweight. The overall subframe is formed by simple splicing and welding, and the integrally molded crossbeams and longitudinal beams can be integrated into the body connection interface, making the subframe as a whole balance structural strength and lightweight, and highly integrated. Attached Figure Description

[0015] Figure 1 : Schematic diagram of the overall structure of the subframe; Figure 2 : Schematic diagram of the subframe split structure; Figure 3 : Figure 2 A magnified view of a portion of the image. Detailed Implementation

[0016] The technical solutions of the embodiments of the present invention will be clearly and completely described below with reference to the accompanying drawings. Obviously, the described embodiments are only some embodiments of the present invention, and not all embodiments. Based on the embodiments of the present invention, all other embodiments obtained by those skilled in the art without creative effort are within the scope of protection of the present invention.

[0017] A lightweight subframe for splicing includes longitudinal beam components 1 and crossbeam components 2. The longitudinal beam components 1 are metal components, and the crossbeam components 2 are polymer composite material components. The longitudinal beam components 1 and crossbeam components 2 are spliced ​​together to form a hollow subframe.

[0018] In this embodiment, see Figures 1-3 The longitudinal beam component 1, as a high-load-bearing component, is made of hollow aluminum alloy through die casting, and the body connection interface on the longitudinal beam component 1 can also be die-cast. This gives the longitudinal beam component 1 greater structural strength, and the hollow, closed structure of the longitudinal beam component 1 also takes into account both lightweighting and structural integration. The crossbeam component 2, on the other hand, is made of polymer composite material through integral injection molding. As a lower-load-bearing component, it meets the requirements for structural strength, but its lightweighting is significantly improved.

[0019] In a more preferred embodiment, the crossbeam component 2 is composed of upper and lower separate components. The upper component 21 and the lower component 23 are integrally formed from polymer composite materials, and the lower component 23 is covered and connected to the lower surface of the upper component 21.

[0020] In a more preferred embodiment, the upper body component 21 is a hollow U-shaped component, and the lower body component 23 is a plate-shaped component that covers and connects to the opening of the upper body component 21. The hollow U-shaped component makes the interior of the subframe a hollow space, providing excellent mechanical strength while further improving weight reduction. After the plate-shaped lower body component 23 connects to the opening of the upper body component 21, it closes the upper body component 21, forming a closed overall structure and enhancing structural strength. The hollow U-shaped component facilitates the one-piece injection molding of the upper body component 21. The U-shaped component has a certain draft taper, which can improve structural strength on the one hand and facilitate demolding after molding on the other.

[0021] In a more preferred embodiment, the upper body component 21 is integrally injection molded from nylon thermoplastic composite material and short glass fibers, with reinforcing components molded onto its outer surface. Specifically, in this embodiment, the upper body component 21 is injection molded from nylon PA6 / PA66 thermoplastic composite material and short glass fibers, with continuous fiber glass / carbon fiber molded onto its outer surface. The lower body is made of continuous fiber glass / carbon fiber sheet with a nylon PA6 / PA66 matrix, shaped by molding. Preferably, in the molded reinforcing components, the extension direction of the continuous fiber glass fibers is consistent with the extension direction in the upper body component 21. This can improve the tensile and compressive strength of the molded subframe and enhance the overall rigidity of the subframe.

[0022] In a more preferred embodiment, a metal insert 22 is embedded inside the end of the crossbeam member 2, and the end of the metal insert 22 is welded to the longitudinal beam member 1. Since the subframe in this embodiment consists of a composite material for the crossbeam member 2 and a metal component for the longitudinal beam member 1, the structural strength at their joint needs to be reliably guaranteed. The metal insert 22 is made of metal, preferably the same material as the longitudinal beam member 1. It can be pre-embedded and integrally injection molded during the injection molding of the crossbeam member 2. This allows one end of the metal insert 22 to be embedded inside the crossbeam member 2, while the other end is exposed as a connection interface. Because both are made of metal, the end of the metal insert 22 can be reliably welded to the longitudinal beam member 1, ensuring the structural strength at the interface.

[0023] In a more preferred embodiment, one end of the metal insert 22 is embedded in the end of the crossbeam member 2, and the other end has an extended overlapping edge 221, which is welded to the longitudinal beam member 1. In this embodiment, the end of the longitudinal beam member 1 is a hollow frame structure, and the overlapping edge 221 of the metal insert 22 is a U-shaped end face, which is welded to the frame end face to connect the longitudinal beam member 1 and the crossbeam member 2.

[0024] In a more preferred embodiment, one end of the metal insert 22 embedded in the crossbeam member 2 has an engagement expansion groove 222, and the polymer composite material at the end of the crossbeam member 2 is embedded in the engagement expansion groove 222. When one end of the metal insert 22 is integrally injection molded, the engagement expansion groove 222 is filled with composite material to give the end embedded in the crossbeam member 2 higher mechanical strength, and it will not come out due to load under the engagement of the engagement expansion groove 222 and the cured composite material.

[0025] In a more preferred embodiment, the engagement expansion groove 222 is a round hole, a protrusion, or a groove.

[0026] In a more preferred embodiment, the end connection of the longitudinal beam member 1 and the transverse beam member 2 has an extended connecting edge 23. The lower body member 23 is connected to and riveted to the upper body member 21. Specifically, in this embodiment, at the connection between the end of the longitudinal beam member 1 and the end of the transverse beam member 2, a metal connecting edge 23 extends from its lower bottom surface for riveting to the lower body member 23. The connecting edge 23 is inserted into the U-shaped end face of the upper body member 21. When the lower body member 23 is fastened to the opening of the upper body member 21, its end face and the connecting edge 23 are on the same plane after riveting.

[0027] It should be noted that, in this document, relational terms such as "first" and "second" are used only to distinguish one entity or operation from another, and do not necessarily require or imply any such actual relationship or order between these entities or operations. Furthermore, the terms "comprising," "including," or any other variations thereof are intended to cover non-exclusive inclusion, such that a process, method, article, or apparatus that comprises a list of elements includes not only those elements but also other elements not expressly listed, or elements inherent to such a process, method, article, or apparatus. Without further limitations, an element defined by the phrase "comprising one..." does not exclude the presence of other identical elements in the process, method, article, or apparatus that includes said element.

[0028] Although embodiments of the invention have been shown and described, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes, modifications, substitutions and alterations can be made to these embodiments without departing from the principles and spirit of the invention, the scope of which is defined by the appended claims and their equivalents.

Claims

1. A lightweight, modular subframe, characterized in that, It includes longitudinal beam components (1) and crossbeam components (2). The longitudinal beam components (1) are metal components, and the crossbeam components (2) are polymer composite material components. The longitudinal beam components (1) and crossbeam components (2) are spliced ​​together to form a hollow subframe.

2. The lightweight subframe as described in claim 1, characterized in that, The crossbeam component (2) is composed of upper and lower split components. The upper component (21) and the lower component (23) are integrally formed from polymer composite materials. The lower component (23) is covered and connected to the lower surface of the upper component (21).

3. The lightweight subframe as described in claim 2, characterized in that, The upper body component (21) is a hollow U-shaped component, and the lower body component (23) is a plate-shaped component that is connected to the opening of the upper body component (21).

4. The lightweight subframe as described in claim 3, characterized in that, The upper body component (21) is integrally injection molded from nylon thermoplastic composite material and short glass fiber.

5. The lightweight subframe as described in claim 4, characterized in that, The outer surface of the upper body component (21) is reinforced with continuous fiber glass fiber or carbon fiber.

6. The lightweight subframe as described in claim 2, characterized in that, The end of the crossbeam member (2) is embedded with a metal insert (22), and the end of the metal insert (22) is welded to the longitudinal beam member (1).

7. The lightweight subframe as described in claim 6, characterized in that, The metal insert (22) is embedded at one end into the end of the crossbeam member (2) and has an extended overlapping edge (221) at the other end, which is welded to the longitudinal beam member (1).

8. The lightweight subframe as described in claim 7, characterized in that, The metal insert (22) is embedded in one end of the crossbeam member (2) and has an engagement expansion groove (222). The polymer composite material at the end of the crossbeam member (2) is embedded in the engagement expansion groove (222).

9. The lightweight subframe as described in claim 8, characterized in that, The meshing expansion groove (222) is a round hole, a protrusion, or a groove.

10. The lightweight subframe as described in claim 6, characterized in that, The longitudinal beam member (1) and the transverse beam member (2) have an extended connecting edge (23) at the end connection, and the lower body member (23) and the connecting edge (23) are connected and riveted to the upper body member (21).

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