Support for a vibration damper having a control and / or supply line

Abstract

Support of a vibration damper (1) having a control and / or supply line (12) in the chassis of a vehicle by means of a support bearing housing (100) which receives the upper end of the vibration damper (1) and supports the vibration damper (1), which in turn is supported on a body section of the vehicle in such a way that, with the exception of at least one opening for fastening the support bearing housing (100), no further opening is provided in this body section, characterized in that an adapter plate (200) with an outlet opening for the control and / or supply line (12) is provided between the support bearing housing (100) and the body section, the side of which facing the body section is shaped in such a way that the support bearing housing can be mounted with and without the adapter plate by the same manufacturing process.

Description

[0001] The invention relates to the support of a vibration damper having a control and / or supply line in the chassis of a vehicle via a support bearing housing that accommodates the upper end of the vibration damper and supports the vibration damper. The support bearing housing, in turn, is supported on a body section of the vehicle in such a way that no further openings are provided in this body section, except for at least one opening that may be provided for fastening the support bearing housing. JP S59-147 611 U, US 4 534 580 A, DE 10 2010 029 403 A1, DE 199 20 111 C1, JP 2004-231 091 A, JP H07-36 195 Y2, and JP S61-3 714 U are cited as prior art.

[0002] DE 10 2010 029 403 A1 describes a particularly advantageous "shock absorber" support for a vehicle wheel suspension, which not only simplifies the assembly of the chassis and vehicle body ("body") in the manufacturing process of the motor vehicle, for example a car, but also contributes to increasing the strength of the vehicle body in that the body section on which the vibration damper is optionally connected to a suspension spring, via which the vehicle body is partially supported on the associated vehicle wheel, has no further openings, with the exception of one or more openings that may be provided for fastening the support bearing housing.

[0003] The prior art shows a simple shock or vibration damper. However, when installing a more complex vibration damper, one equipped, for example, with a control line via which the damping characteristics can be varied, the question arises as to how such a control line, leading from the upper end section of a "commercially available" so-called adjustable vibration damper that represents a standard component, or even a corresponding supply line for supplying the vibration damper with energy or a fluid, can be effectively routed within the vehicle or within its body. Typically, such lines are essentially routed through conventional support bearing designs that have relatively large openings in the supporting body area, thus penetrating the vehicle body at the respective opening.However, this is no longer the case with the relatively new vibration damper support according to the generic state of the art mentioned at the beginning.

[0004] The object of the present invention is to provide a remedy for this problem.

[0005] The solution to this problem is for a vibration damper support according to the preamble of claim 1, characterized in that an adapter plate with a lateral outlet opening for the control and / or supply line is provided between the support bearing housing and the body section. The side of the adapter plate facing the body section is shaped such that the support bearing housing can be assembled with and without the adapter plate using the same manufacturing process. According to an advantageous development, the control and / or supply line has a preformed and elastically deformable loop with which it is routed in the support bearing housing.

[0006] According to one proposal, the control and / or supply line is routed through an outlet opening in a special adapter plate provided between the support bearing housing and the vehicle body or the body section to which the support bearing housing is supported and attached. This has the crucial advantage that the said body section does not have to be weakened to allow the control and / or supply line to pass through. In view of the necessary sealing of the interior of the support bearing housing from the environment, which should be absolutely splash-proof, especially in the case of adjustable dampers, the provision of a so-called adapter plate with a lateral outlet opening for the control and / or supply line is advantageous according to the proposal.The latter is designed so that vehicles with and without adjustable dampers, which thus receive either no adapter plate or one with one, can be manufactured on the same production line and using the same tools. Thanks to a particularly advantageous development, the adapter plate can be simply clipped onto the support bearing housing.

[0007] The invention is explained in more detail in the accompanying figures, in which the essential elements are shown in a simplified manner using the same reference numerals.

[0008] Reference numeral 100 designates a support bearing housing for supporting a chassis vibration damper on the vehicle body or body of a motor vehicle. This support is fundamentally designed in the same way as the shock absorber support shown in the aforementioned DE 10 2010 029 403 A1. In this prior art document, the support bearing housing bears the reference numeral 4 (not found here) and a section of the vehicle body bears the reference numeral 2 (not found here). However, the body 2 of this prior art document corresponds to the present "body section," and the support bearing housing 100 of the present embodiment is very similar to the support bearing housing 4 of the prior art document. For example, the present support bearing housing 100 also has three bores 110 (cf.Reference number 10 of DE 10 2010 029 403 A1), through which fastening screws (not shown) are passed, via which the support bearing housing 100 is fastened to the said body section, wherein in the embodiment according to . Fig. 1 the upper flat surface 101 of the support bearing housing 100 in the figure rests against the said body section.

[0009] In the present figurative representations, only a part of the upper end of the vibration damper 1 (= shock absorber 1 of the cited printed prior art) is visible, which is located within the support bearing housing 100, and also a short section of the tube projecting downwards from the support bearing housing 100. Within the support bearing housing 100, where the upper end section of the vibration damper 1 is only Fig. 2 (due to the broken-away illustration) is suitably fastened between the bottom 102 of the abstractly described "pot-shaped" support bearing housing 100 and a fixing ring 120 inserted therein, preferably via a rubber bearing 130, a control and / or supply line 12 of the vibration damper 1 can be seen, via which control signals and energy for the actuation of valves provided in the vibration damper 1, known to the person skilled in the art, are supplied to the latter, by means of which the damping characteristics of the vibration damper 1 can be changed.

[0010] The control and / or supply line 12 is connected via an electrical plug 13 to electrical contacts provided at the free end of the vibration damper 1 and is arranged within the “pot” of the support bearing housing 100 in the form of a loop in the embodiment according to Fig. 1 to a connecting socket 14 inserted into the side wall (= "pot wall") of the support bearing housing 100, into a now no longer visible opening in this wall located away from the body section. The vehicle's electrical "cable harness" (not shown) can be suitably connected to this connecting socket 14 via an electrical plug 15.

[0011] In the example according to Fig. 2 is based on the (also in the embodiment according to Fig.1) a so-called adapter plate 200 is placed on a support bearing housing which is open upwards towards the aforementioned body section (not shown in the figure), in which, in addition to a channel for receiving the control and / or supply line 12, a lateral outlet opening is provided, into which (again) a connecting socket 14 is inserted, to which the control and / or supply line 12 is connected from the inside and to which the vehicle's electrical "cable harness" (not shown) can be suitably connected from the outside via an electrical plug 15. This adapter plate is characterized by a relatively low overall height and is shaped on its side facing the body section in such a way that the support bearing housing 100 can be mounted on a vehicle or on its aforementioned body section, either with or without the adapter plate attached, using the same manufacturing process.Since the adapter plate 200 completely covers the upper side of the support bearing housing 100 facing this body section, three holes 210 aligned with the holes 110 of the support bearing housing 100 are also provided in the adapter plate 200 for fastening this structural unit of support bearing housing 100 and adapter plate 200 to the aforementioned body section. The support bearing housing 100 and the adapter plate 200 also form a compact structural unit in that the adapter plate 200 can be and is easily clipped to the support bearing housing 100 using clips 220. A circumferential seal 230 is provided on the upper side of the adapter plate 200 shown here, which prevents the ingress of moisture and also protects the aforementioned body section against corrosion.

[0012] As already mentioned and illustrated in the figure, the control and / or supply line 12 is guided in the form of a loop in the support bearing housing 100 or in a cavity or the like in the adapter plate 200. This loop, which can also be shaped differently and in particular can have several turns arranged one above the other in the vertical direction, is preformed on the one hand and at the same time is at least slightly elastically deformable. The term "preformed" is to be understood to mean that the control and / or supply line 12 assumes exactly the respective preformed shape without the influence of external forces. Even with elastic deformation, this respective shape should be resumed after the force required for this is removed. Suitable techniques for implementing this property of a line are known to the relevant person skilled in the art.The loop or a comparable shape of the control and / or supply line 12 ensures that the control and / or supply line 12 remains undamaged during operation of a vehicle equipped with a vibration damper support according to the invention, even over many years, despite relative movements that the vibration damper 1 mounted in the support bearing housing 100 performs with respect to the support bearing housing 100.

Claims

[1] Supporting a vibration damper (1) having a control and / or supply line (12) in the chassis of a vehicle via a support bearing housing (100) which receives the upper end of the vibration damper (1) and supports the vibration damper (1), which in turn is supported on a body section of the vehicle in such a way that no further opening is provided in this body section with the exception of at least one opening which may be provided for fastening the support bearing housing (100), characterized by that an adapter plate (200) with an outlet opening for the control and / or supply line (12) is provided between the support bearing housing (100) and the body section, the side of which facing the body section is shaped in such a way that the support bearing housing can be assembled with and without the adapter plate using the same manufacturing process. [2] Support according to claim 1, wherein the adapter plate is designed to be clipped onto the support bearing housing. [3] Support according to claim 1 or 2, characterized by that the control and / or supply line (12) has a pre-formed and elastically deformable loop with which it is laid in the support bearing housing (100).

Images