Asymmetric Hub for Vibration Damping in Vehicle Sensor Mounting
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Solution Overview
Problem
Two-bolt mounting configurations for vehicle components, such as yaw-rate sensors, increase the likelihood of improper installation due to four degrees of freedom, and existing three-bolt designs complicate alignment and require additional hardware, while also failing to effectively dampen vibrations.
Innovation Solution
A component mounting system with a housing featuring a pair of component mounting passages and a component orientation element, including a hub that aligns with a vehicle orientation element only in the correct orientation, providing tactile feedback against improper installation and using a deformable hub to absorb vibrations.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If a two-bolt mounting configuration is used, then installation time and material requirements are reduced, but the possibility of erroneous installation increases due to four degrees of freedom
Solution Approach 1:
The component orientation element incorporates asymmetric geometric features including a hub with non-circular cross-section and corresponding asymmetric receptacles. This asymmetric design allows the component to be mounted in only one correct orientation, eliminating the four-degree-of-freedom problem while maintaining the simplicity of a two-bolt mounting system. The asymmetric hub geometry provides tactile feedback to the installer, ensuring proper orientation without requiring additional bolts or complex alignment procedures.
2Reliability
If a three-bolt mounting configuration with asymmetric spacing is used, then the number of mounting degrees of freedom is reduced, but hardware complexity and alignment difficulty increase
Solution Approach 1:
The invention extracts the orientation control function from the mounting bolts themselves and places it into a dedicated component orientation element. This separation allows the use of simple, evenly-spaced mounting holes in the vehicle mounting bracket while the orientation control is handled by the asymmetric hub and receptacles on the sensor assembly. This eliminates the need for complex asymmetrically-spaced holes in the mounting bracket, reducing alignment complexity while maintaining reliable orientation control.
3Ease of manufacture
If standard rigid mounting brackets are used, then manufacturing is simplified, but vibration transmission from the vehicle to the sensor increases
Solution Approach 1:
The hub is designed with vibration-damping parameters optimized for reducing vibration transmission. The hub's material composition, density, and geometric parameters are specifically selected to attenuate vibrations between the rigid mounting bracket and the sensor. This allows the use of simple, rigid mounting brackets for easy manufacturing while the hub acts as a vibration-damping interface that protects the sensor from harmful vibrations.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
Ensures correct component orientation through tactile feedback and reduces vibration transmission by allowing the component to be securely mounted in one of multiple orientations while effectively damping vibrations using a deformable hub.
Implementation Method 1
A hub on the component orientation element acts to tune the component orientation element for attenuating vibration received by the component orientation element from the vehicle
Implementation Method 2
using a deformable hub to absorb vibrations
Data Source
AI summary
A component to be mounted on a vehicle includes a housing, a pair of component mounting passages, defined in the housing, aligning with a pair of respective vehicle mounting passages when the component is any of a plurality of orientations with respect to the vehicle, and a component orientation element, on the housing. The component orientation element cooperates with a vehicle orientation element only when the component is in one of the plurality of orientations with respect to the vehicle. A hub on the component orientation element acts to tune the component orientation element for attenuating vibration received by the component orientation element from the vehicle.