Ball Stud Flange Curvature for Dust Cover Sealing
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional stabilizer links face challenges in achieving high sealing characteristics and reducing weight while maintaining assembly productivity, particularly under low temperature conditions, and existing solutions either increase production costs or fail to adequately address weight reduction and motion performance improvements.
Innovation Solution
The ball stud features a flange with a concave portion that projects radially outward, providing a larger contact area for the dust cover's side lip portion, which corresponds to the curved shape of the concave portion, enhancing sealing and reducing weight, eliminating the need for an O-ring and preventing folding issues during assembly.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a side lip portion is added to the dust cover to improve sealing, then sealing characteristics are improved, but the side lip portion may contact the sharp-edged flange and fold down during assembly, reducing assembly productivity
Solution Approach 1:
The flange is designed with a curved surface instead of a sharp-edged flat surface. The curved shape eliminates the sharp edge that causes the side lip portion to fold down during assembly, while still providing adequate sealing contact area. This resolves the contradiction by maintaining sealing effectiveness without compromising assembly productivity.
2Reliability
If the outer circumferential portion of the flange is extended to improve sealing contact, then sealing characteristics are improved, but the sharp-edged end causes the side lip portion to fold down, reducing assembly productivity
Solution Approach 1:
The flange's outer circumferential portion is designed with a curved surface that extends sufficiently for sealing contact but terminates with a rounded end rather than a sharp edge. This curved geometry prevents the side lip portion from folding down during assembly while maintaining adequate sealing contact area.
3Reliability
If conventional sealing methods using O-rings are used, then sealing characteristics are improved, but production cost increases due to additional separate members
Solution Approach 1:
The sealing function is merged into the flange structure itself through the curved surface design. The side lip portion of the dust cover directly contacts the curved flange surface to create the seal, eliminating the need for separate O-ring components. This integration reduces part count and production cost while maintaining sealing effectiveness.
4Weight of moving object
If weight reduction is pursued to improve motion performance, then vehicle fuel efficiency is improved, but sealing characteristics may be compromised
Solution Approach 1:
The sealing function is integrated into the flange structure through the curved surface, eliminating the need for additional sealing components like O-rings. This integration reduces overall part weight while maintaining adequate sealing characteristics through the optimized curved geometry that ensures proper contact with the side lip portion.
Data Source
AI summary
A ball stud has a flange that outwardly projects in a radial direction of a stud portion. The flange has a concave portion that has a curved shape from a root to an outer circumferential portion in cross section. The concave portion is concave with respect to a straight line connecting an end on the root side and an end on the outer circumferential portion side of the curved shape. A dust cover has a lip to be abutted on a sealing portion and the flange of the ball stud. The lip is formed with a side lip portion. The side lip portion has a shape corresponding to the curved shape of the concave portion of the flange so as to be abutted on the concave portion.