Vehicle Body Tab Pre-fastening with Reduced Bending Angle
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Solution Overview
Problem
Tab elements used for pre-fastening body components to vehicle frames often break when made from high-strength materials like heat-formed steels or thick sheet metals, especially when subjected to bending, leading to failure in positioning and fastening.
Innovation Solution
A body component with a pre-fastening device featuring a protruding tab that can be bent at a reduced angle of 15-40° to engage behind a vehicle frame edge, providing a stop against relative movement, and is designed with a rounded end and sufficient thickness for stability, allowing engagement only during relative movement.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Strength
If tab elements are made from high-strength materials like heat-formed steels or thick sheet metals, then the strength and stability of the pre-fastening device is improved, but the risk of tab breakage during bending increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent changes the bending angle parameter from conventional large angles (60-180°) to a small angle (15-40°). This parameter change allows the use of high-strength materials without increasing breakage risk, because the reduced bending angle decreases the stress applied to the tab element during the bending process
Solution Approach 2:
Instead of making the tab element more flexible to prevent breakage, the patent inverts the approach by using high-strength materials and preventing breakage through geometric design (small bending angle and rounded end) rather than material flexibility
2Reliability
If the tab element is bent by a large angle (60-180°) to engage behind the frame edge, then the pre-fastening effectiveness is improved, but the likelihood of tab breakage increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent changes the bending angle parameter from conventional large angles (60-180°) to a small angle (15-40°). This parameter change reduces the stress on the tab element during bending while maintaining pre-fastening effectiveness through the rounded end design that engages behind the frame edge
3Manufacturing precision
If tab elements are used for pre-fastening high-strength components, then the positioning accuracy is improved, but the tab elements may break during the bending process
Solution Approach 1:
The patent changes the bending angle parameter to a small angle (15-40°) and adds a rounded end design. This allows positioning accuracy to be maintained while tab element durability is improved by reducing bending stress during the pre-fastening process
Data Source
AI summary
A body component has a side edge, which extends in a longitudinal direction and on which at least one pre-fastening device is formed. The pre-fastening device has a section that protrudes from the side edge in a transverse direction, on which section a tab pointing toward the side edge is formed. The tab can be bent in a vertical direction perpendicular to the longitudinal direction and is configured to be able to engage behind a frame edge of a vehicle frame part in a pre-fastening manner.