Reinforcing bracket, subframe and vehicle

Abstract

The present disclosure provides a reinforcing support, a subframe and a vehicle, and relates to the technical field of vehicles. The reinforcing support comprises a plate body, the plate body is provided with a groove and at least two reinforcing ribs arranged along a first direction, the reinforcing ribs extend along a second direction, the groove extends along the first direction and is arranged through the reinforcing ribs, and the first direction and the second direction intersect. The rigidity and mode of the subframe can be improved.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] This disclosure relates to the field of vehicle technology, and more specifically, to a reinforcing bracket, a subframe, and a vehicle. Background Technology

[0002] In a vehicle, the subframe is a key subsystem that connects the body, powertrain, and suspension system. Through its rigid structure, it compensates for the insufficient strength of the main body (such as the body-in-white) in the chassis area, reducing deformation caused by road impacts or body torsion.

[0003] However, existing vehicles, in order to avoid the exhaust system, will affect the stiffness and modal characteristics of the subframe.

[0004] It should be noted that the information disclosed in the background section above is only used to enhance the understanding of the background of this disclosure, and therefore may include information that does not constitute prior art known to those skilled in the art. Summary of the Invention

[0005] This disclosure provides a reinforcing bracket, a subframe, and a vehicle, which can improve the stiffness and modal characteristics of the subframe.

[0006] According to a first aspect of this disclosure, a reinforcing bracket is provided, comprising a plate having a groove and at least two reinforcing ribs arranged along a first direction, the reinforcing ribs extending along a second direction, the groove extending along the first direction and penetrating the reinforcing ribs, the first direction and the second direction intersecting.

[0007] In one embodiment of this disclosure, the groove includes a plurality of interconnected slot segments arranged along the first direction, at least two of the slot segments having different widths in the second direction.

[0008] In one embodiment of this disclosure, the reinforcing rib includes two edge ribs and at least one intermediate rib, the two edge ribs are arranged along the first direction, the intermediate rib is located between the two edge ribs, and the width of the groove segment of the intermediate rib in the second direction is smaller than the width of the groove segment of the edge rib in the second direction.

[0009] In one embodiment of this disclosure, the width of the intermediate rib in the first direction is greater than the width of the portion of the edge rib in the first direction.

[0010] In one embodiment of this disclosure, the number of intermediate ribs is one, and the groove includes a first groove segment, a second groove segment, and a third groove segment arranged and connected along the first direction. The first groove segment is a groove segment of one edge rib, the second groove segment is a groove segment of the intermediate rib, and the third groove segment is a groove segment of another edge rib. Wherein, the width of the second groove segment in the second direction is less than the width of the first groove segment in the second direction, and the width of the second groove segment in the second direction is less than the width of the third groove segment in the second direction.

[0011] In one embodiment of this disclosure, the width of the first groove segment in the second direction is smaller than the width of the third groove segment in the second direction.

[0012] In one embodiment of this disclosure, the sidewall of the groove segment of the reinforcing rib is a slope, and the slope of the edge rib is different from the slope of the intermediate rib; wherein, the slope of the edge rib is greater than the slope of the intermediate rib.

[0013] In one embodiment of this disclosure, each of the reinforcing ribs is provided with a mounting hole, and the reinforcing bracket is integrally formed by a stamping structure.

[0014] According to a second aspect of this disclosure, a subframe is provided, including a main body and a reinforcing bracket as described in any of the above embodiments; wherein the main body has a clearance groove for accommodating an exhaust pipe, the clearance groove extending along a first direction, the reinforcing bracket being connected to the main body, and a clearance space for placing the exhaust pipe is formed between the groove and the clearance groove.

[0015] According to a third aspect of this disclosure, a vehicle is provided, including the reinforcing bracket as described in any of the above embodiments, or including the subframe as described in any of the above embodiments.

[0016] The disclosed reinforcing bracket, subframe, and vehicle, by incorporating a reinforcing bracket in the main body and providing grooves and reinforcing ribs on the bracket plate, achieve two objectives: firstly, the grooves can accommodate the exhaust pipe, allowing it to exit from the bottom of the main body; secondly, the reinforcing bracket addresses the issue of insufficient rigidity caused by the clearance groove in the main body; and thirdly, the multiple reinforcing ribs on the plate increase the rigidity of the reinforcing bracket, thereby improving the rigidity and modal characteristics of the subframe. This results in more uniform stress distribution on the subframe, controlling the vibrations transmitted from engine and road excitations to the vehicle body, improving vibration isolation, and reducing the amplitude of vibrations transmitted from the powertrain and road surface to the vehicle interior, thus improving the vehicle's NVH performance. Furthermore, the reinforcing bracket has a simple structure, small size, and light weight, which helps reduce costs.

[0017] It should be understood that the above general description and the following detailed description are exemplary and explanatory only, and are not intended to limit this disclosure. Attached Figure Description

[0018] The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and form part of this specification, illustrate embodiments consistent with this disclosure and, together with the description, serve to explain the principles of this disclosure. It is obvious that the drawings described below are merely some embodiments of this disclosure, and those skilled in the art can obtain other drawings based on these drawings without any inventive effort.

[0019] Figure 1 This is a structural schematic diagram of the support structure from a first-view perspective in one embodiment of this disclosure.

[0020] Figure 2 This is a structural schematic diagram of the reinforced support from a second perspective in one embodiment of this disclosure.

[0021] Explanation of reference numerals in the attached figures: 1. Plate body; 11. Groove; 111. First groove segment; 112. Second groove segment; 113. Third groove segment; 12. Reinforcing rib; 121. Edge rib; 122. Intermediate rib; 13. First mounting hole; 14. Second mounting hole; X, First direction; Y, Second direction. Detailed Implementation

[0022] Exemplary embodiments will now be described more fully with reference to the accompanying drawings. However, these exemplary embodiments can be implemented in many forms and should not be construed as limited to the embodiments set forth herein; rather, they are provided so that this disclosure will be thorough and complete, and will fully convey the concept of the exemplary embodiments to those skilled in the art. The same reference numerals in the drawings denote the same or similar structures, and therefore detailed descriptions of them will be omitted. Furthermore, the drawings are merely illustrative of this disclosure and are not necessarily drawn to scale.

[0023] Although relative terms such as "up" and "down" are used in this specification to describe the relative relationship of one component of an icon to another, these terms are used only for convenience, such as according to the orientation of the examples shown in the accompanying drawings. It is understood that if the device of the icon is flipped upside down, the component described as "up" will become the component described as "down." When a structure is "up" of another structure, it may mean that the structure is integrally formed on the other structure, or that the structure is "directly" mounted on the other structure, or that the structure is "indirectly" mounted on the other structure through another structure.

[0024] The terms “a,” “one,” “the,” “the,” and “at least one” are used to indicate the presence of one or more elements / components / etc.; the terms “including” and “having” are used to indicate an open-ended inclusion and to mean that there may be other elements / components / etc. in addition to the listed elements / components / etc.; the terms “first,” “second,” and “third,” etc., are used only as markers and are not a limitation on the number of objects.

[0025] In this document, the first direction X and the second direction Y intersect. For example, the first direction X and the second direction Y can be perpendicular or non-perpendicular and intersect. In this disclosure, the first direction X can be the length direction of the vehicle, and the second direction Y can be the width direction of the vehicle.

[0026] This disclosure provides a vehicle, which can be a conventional gasoline vehicle or a hybrid vehicle. The vehicle may include a body, a powertrain, a suspension system, a subframe, and an exhaust pipe. The powertrain may include an engine. The body, powertrain, and suspension system are connected via a subframe, which may be welded or bolted together to serve as a support structure for the vehicle. The exhaust pipe is located at the bottom of the subframe.

[0027] The subframe may include a main body and a reinforcing bracket. The main body has a clearance groove on the side away from the powertrain for accommodating an exhaust pipe. The clearance groove extends along a first direction X. The reinforcing bracket is connected to the main body and extends along a second direction Y. A clearance space for accommodating the exhaust pipe is formed between the reinforcing bracket and the clearance groove.

[0028] See Figure 1 The reinforcing bracket may include a plate 1, which has a groove 11 and at least two reinforcing ribs 12 arranged along a first direction X. The reinforcing ribs 12 extend along a second direction Y. The groove 11 extends along the first direction X and passes through the reinforcing ribs 12. That is, the groove 11 divides each reinforcing rib 12 into rib segments arranged along the second direction Y on both sides of the groove 11. The clearance space is formed by the groove 11 and the clearance groove.

[0029] Thus, by setting a reinforcing bracket in the main body, and providing grooves 11 and reinforcing ribs 12 on the plate 1 of the reinforcing bracket, the grooves 11 can be used to avoid the exhaust pipe, allowing the exhaust pipe to exit from the bottom of the main body. Furthermore, the reinforcing bracket solves the problem of insufficient rigidity caused by the avoidance groove in the main body. The multiple reinforcing ribs 12 on the plate 1 increase the rigidity of the reinforcing bracket, thereby improving the rigidity and modal characteristics of the subframe. This results in more uniform stress on the subframe, controlling the vibrations transmitted from the engine and road surfaces to the vehicle body, improving the vibration isolation rate, and reducing the amplitude of vibrations transmitted from the powertrain and road surface to the vehicle interior. This improves the vehicle's noise, vibration, and harshness (NVH) performance. In addition, the reinforcing bracket has a simple structure, small size, and light weight, which helps reduce costs.

[0030] In one embodiment of this disclosure, the vehicle may directly include a reinforcing bracket, which may not be connected to the subframe, and is used to strengthen the structural strength of other components (such as crossbeams, longitudinal beams, etc.).

[0031] In one embodiment of this disclosure, the reinforcing bracket can be formed by stamping steel plates, that is, it can be integrally formed by stamping structure, so as to facilitate the manufacture of the reinforcing bracket.

[0032] In one embodiment of this disclosure, the reinforcing bracket can be bolted to the subframe to facilitate its assembly and disassembly, which is beneficial for later maintenance. In other embodiments of this disclosure, the reinforcing bracket can also be connected to the subframe by welding, bonding, or other methods.

[0033] In one embodiment of this disclosure, the groove 11 may include a plurality of groove segments arranged and connected along a first direction X, with at least two groove segments having different widths in a second direction Y. For example, the groove 11 may include two groove segments with different widths in the second direction Y. As another example, the groove 11 may include three groove segments, where two groove segments may have different widths in the second direction Y, or all three groove segments may have different widths in the second direction Y. Thus, by designing groove segments with different widths, the groove 11 can be an irregular groove structure. When the reinforcing bracket is subjected to a force in the second direction Y, since the sidewalls of the groove segments of each reinforcing rib 12 are not in the same plane, the possibility of the reinforcing bracket bending at the groove 11 can be reduced, improving the rigidity and durability of the reinforcing bracket, and thereby increasing the service life of the reinforcing bracket.

[0034] It should be noted that the trough segment has two sidewalls arranged along the second direction Y, and the width of the trough segment in the second direction Y refers to the distance between the two sidewalls of the trough segment.

[0035] In one embodiment of this disclosure, see Figure 1 The reinforcing rib 12 includes two edge ribs 121 and at least one intermediate rib 122. The two edge ribs 121 are arranged along the first direction X, and the intermediate rib 122 is located between the two edge ribs 121. The width of the groove segment of the intermediate rib 122 in the second direction Y is smaller than the width of the groove segment of the edge rib 121 in the second direction Y. Thus, since the intermediate rib 122 is located near the center of the plate 1, making the width of the groove segment of the intermediate rib 122 smaller than the width of the groove segment of the edge rib 121 in the second direction Y facilitates the smooth fitting of the exhaust pipe into the groove 11, enabling better fixation of the exhaust pipe. For example, the number of intermediate ribs 122 can be one, two, three, etc. When there are multiple intermediate ribs 122, the multiple intermediate ribs 122 are arranged along the first direction X.

[0036] In one embodiment of this disclosure, see Figure 1 The width of the intermediate rib 122 in the first direction X is greater than the width of the portion of the edge rib 121 in the first direction X. This allows the intermediate rib 122 to have higher strength, thereby improving the strength of the reinforcing bracket.

[0037] In one embodiment of this disclosure, see Figure 1 The groove 11 includes a first groove segment 111, a second groove segment 112, and a third groove segment 113 arranged and connected along a first direction X. The width of the second groove segment 112 in the second direction Y is smaller than the width of the first groove segment 111 in the second direction Y, and the width of the first groove segment 111 in the second direction Y is smaller than the width of the third groove segment 113 in the second direction Y. There is one intermediate rib 122. The first groove segment 111 is a groove segment of an edge rib 121, the second groove segment 112 is a groove segment of the intermediate rib 122, and the third groove segment 113 is a groove segment of another edge rib 121. Thus, since the second groove segment 112 has the smallest width in the second direction Y, the first groove segment 111 has the second largest width in the second direction Y, and the third groove segment 113 has the largest width in the second direction Y, when the reinforcing bracket is subjected to the force in the second direction Y, since the sidewalls of the first groove segment 111, the second groove segment 112, and the third groove segment 113 are not in the same plane, the possibility of the reinforcing bracket bending at the groove 11 can be reduced, thereby improving the rigidity and durability of the reinforcing bracket and thus increasing the service life of the reinforcing bracket.

[0038] In one embodiment of this disclosure, each reinforcing rib has a mounting hole. See also [link to details]. Figure 1The intermediate rib 122 has two first mounting holes 13, which are located on both sides of the second groove section 112, so as to facilitate the bolts to be passed through the first mounting holes 13 to achieve a fixed connection between the reinforcing bracket and the main body. In addition, by providing the first mounting holes 13 on the intermediate rib 122, since the intermediate rib 122 has a reinforcing function, the problem of reduced rigidity of the reinforcing bracket caused by opening the first mounting holes 13 can be solved.

[0039] In one embodiment of this disclosure, see Figure 1 Each edge rib 121 is provided with two second mounting holes 14, which are located on both sides of the groove section of the edge rib 121. A bottom guard plate can be installed on the side of the reinforcing bracket away from the main body, so that bolts can be passed through the second mounting holes 14 to achieve a fixed connection between the reinforcing bracket and the bottom guard plate. The bottom guard plate can protect the subframe and the engine.

[0040] In one embodiment of this disclosure, see Figure 1 The width of the portion of the edge rib 121 with the second mounting hole 14 in the first direction X is greater than the width of the portion of the edge rib 121 without the second mounting hole 14 in the first direction X, so as to increase the rigidity and structural stability of the portion of the edge rib 121 with the second mounting hole 14.

[0041] In one embodiment of this disclosure, the sidewall of the groove segment of the reinforcing rib 12 is a slope, and the slope of the edge rib 121 is different from the slope of the intermediate rib 122. Thus, since the groove segments of the edge rib 121 and the intermediate rib 122 have different widths in the second direction Y, setting different slopes for the edge rib 121 and the intermediate rib 122 is beneficial to improving the stability of each reinforcing rib 12.

[0042] In one embodiment of this disclosure, see Figure 1 The slope of the edge reinforcement 121 is greater than that of the intermediate reinforcement 122. This can further improve the structural stability of the intermediate reinforcement 122, thereby increasing the stiffness of the entire reinforced support.

[0043] In one embodiment of this disclosure, see Figure 1 , Figure 2 The reinforcing rib 12 is formed by bending the plate 1 towards the main body. In other words, the side of the reinforcing rib 12 away from the main body is recessed towards the main body, allowing the reinforcing bracket to be stamped from a flat plate of uniform thickness, reducing weight, lowering costs, and facilitating the manufacturing of the reinforcing bracket. Furthermore, since a bottom guard plate is installed on the side of the edge rib 121 away from the main body, the bottom guard plate can be located in the groove 11 of the edge rib 121, making the bottom guard plate and the reinforcing bracket coplanar. This helps reduce wind resistance during vehicle operation and increases the vehicle's driving range.

[0044] In one embodiment of this disclosure, the reinforcing bracket is located at the bottom of the subframe (e.g., arranged laterally at the bottom of the front subframe), which can make full use of the front compartment's layout space and is easy to arrange. The reinforcing bracket is connected to the subframe by bolts, which is simple to install, easy to disassemble, and helps to improve assembly efficiency.

[0045] Other embodiments of this disclosure will readily occur to those skilled in the art upon consideration of the specification and practice of the invention disclosed herein. This application is intended to cover any variations, uses, or adaptations of this disclosure that follow the general principles of this disclosure and include common knowledge or customary techniques in the art not disclosed herein. The specification and examples are to be considered exemplary only, and the true scope and spirit of this disclosure are indicated by the appended claims.

Claims

1. A reinforcing bracket, characterized in that, The plate includes a plate (1) having a groove (11) and at least two reinforcing ribs (12) arranged along a first direction (X), the reinforcing ribs (12) extending along a second direction (Y), the groove (11) extending along the first direction (X) and passing through the reinforcing ribs (12), the first direction (X) and the second direction (Y) intersecting.

2. The reinforcing bracket according to claim 1, characterized in that, The groove (11) includes a plurality of groove segments arranged and connected along the first direction (X), and at least two of the groove segments have different widths in the second direction (Y).

3. The reinforcing bracket according to claim 2, characterized in that, The reinforcing rib (12) includes two edge ribs (121) and at least one intermediate rib (122). The two edge ribs (121) are arranged along the first direction (X), and the intermediate rib (122) is located between the two edge ribs (121). The width of the groove of the intermediate rib (122) in the second direction (Y) is smaller than the width of the groove of the edge rib (121) in the second direction (Y).

4. The reinforcing bracket according to claim 3, characterized in that, The width of the intermediate rib (122) in the first direction (X) is greater than the width of the portion of the edge rib (121) in the first direction (X).

5. The reinforcing bracket according to claim 3, characterized in that, The number of intermediate ribs (122) is one, and the groove (11) includes a first groove segment (111), a second groove segment (112), and a third groove segment (113) arranged and connected along the first direction (X). The first groove segment (111) is a groove segment provided on one of the edge ribs (121), the second groove segment (112) is a groove segment provided on the intermediate rib (122), and the third groove segment (113) is a groove segment provided on another edge rib (121). Wherein, the width of the second groove segment (112) in the second direction (Y) is less than the width of the first groove segment (111) in the second direction (Y), and the width of the second groove segment (112) in the second direction (Y) is less than the width of the third groove segment (113) in the second direction (Y).

6. The reinforcing bracket according to claim 5, characterized in that, The width of the first slot segment (111) in the second direction (Y) is smaller than the width of the third slot segment (113) in the second direction (Y).

7. The reinforcing bracket according to claim 3, characterized in that, The sidewall of the groove section of the reinforcing bar (12) is a slope, and the slope of the edge bar (121) is different from the slope of the middle bar (122); wherein the slope of the edge bar (121) is greater than the slope of the middle bar (122).

8. The reinforcing bracket according to any one of claims 1-7, characterized in that, Each of the reinforcing ribs (12) is provided with an installation hole, and the reinforcing bracket is integrally formed by stamping.

9. A subframe, characterized in that, The invention includes a main body and a reinforcing bracket as described in any one of claims 1 to 8; wherein the main body has a clearance groove for avoiding an exhaust pipe, the clearance groove extending along a first direction (X), the reinforcing bracket is connected to the main body, and a clearance space for placing the exhaust pipe is formed between the groove (11) and the clearance groove.

10. A vehicle, characterized in that, It includes the reinforcing bracket as described in any one of claims 1 to 8, or the subframe as described in claim 9.

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