Modular Axle Bracket With Hollow Cross Member Stiffening
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing axle brackets for motor vehicles are oversized due to being dimensioned for maximum drive torque, making them unsuitable for vehicles with lesser motorization, as providing different dimensions is economically unviable, leading to inefficient material usage and weight.
Innovation Solution
A modular axle bracket design featuring a hollow U-shaped cross member with a stiffening element that can be added or omitted based on vehicle motorization, providing additional load paths and reinforcing the cross member without increasing weight, using a transverse strut mounted at strategic nodal points within the cross member's hollow space.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If the axle bracket is dimensioned for maximum drive torque, then the strength and reliability are improved, but the weight and material usage increase
Solution Approach 1:
The axle bracket is divided into a basic version and an enhanced version with optional stiffening elements. The cross member can be supplied without stiffening elements for lower motorization vehicles, or with stiffening elements for higher motorization vehicles, allowing segmentation of the structure based on actual load requirements.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent changes the structural parameters of the axle bracket by introducing optional stiffening elements that can be added or removed. This allows the same basic cross member design to achieve different strength levels by adjusting whether stiffening elements are present, rather than manufacturing entirely different cross members.
2Adaptability or versatility
If different dimensions of axle brackets are provided for different motorization levels, then the adaptability is improved, but the device complexity and manufacturing cost increase
Solution Approach 1:
A single basic cross member design serves multiple functions and multiple vehicle types. The same basic cross member can be used across different motorization levels by optionally adding stiffening elements, eliminating the need for multiple different cross member designs and simplifying the overall system.
Solution Approach 2:
The axle bracket system is segmented into a universal basic version and optional enhancement elements. The basic cross member is designed to be universally applicable, with stiffening elements serving as optional add-ons that segment the performance levels rather than creating entirely separate design families.
3Weight of moving object
If the cross member is made as a hollow profile, then the weight is reduced, but the strength may be compromised
Solution Approach 1:
The stiffening elements are nested within the hollow space of the cross member. This allows the hollow profile to provide weight reduction while the internally placed stiffening elements compensate for and enhance the structural strength, creating a composite structure that optimizes both weight and strength.
Solution Approach 2:
The cross member combines a hollow profile structure with integrated stiffening elements to create a composite structural system. This composite approach allows the hollow profile to provide weight reduction while the stiffening elements provide structural reinforcement, achieving an optimized balance between weight and strength.
Data Source
AI summary
An axle bracket for a front axle or rear axle of a motor vehicle includes two side members and at least one cross member interconnecting the side members and having at least one attachment point for attachment of a drive component, wherein during travel an operating force can be introduced from the drive component via the attachment point to the cross member. The cross member is constructed as a hollow profile of downwardly open U-shaped configuration to define a hollow space bounded by an upper top wall and two sidewalls depending downwards from the top wall. The cross member has a bearing site configured for securement of a stiffening element such that the stiffening element is arranged, at least in part, in the hollow space of the cross member, for increasing a strength of the cross member.