Cambered Damper Receptacle for Uniform Preload
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Solution Overview
Problem
The increased body rigidity of modern vehicles requires a more comprehensive consideration of local connections between the body and chassis to achieve optimal driving comfort, dynamics, and pleasure, as conventional damper connections often result in reduced hatch width and compromised through-loading space due to the need for a large spring strut mount, leading to issues like local lifting and rattling noises.
Innovation Solution
A body-side receptacle for the damper with a cambered contact surface that closes gaps under load, ensuring uniform preload and surface pressure across the contact area, enhancing the connection's rigidity and preventing local lifting, thereby improving driving comfort and acoustics.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Strength
If a conventional spring strut mount is used to connect the damper to the body, then the connection rigidity is insufficient due to local gaps under load, but increasing the mount size reduces the hatch width and through-loading space
Solution Approach 1:
The contact surface of the mount is designed with a camber (curvature) that creates a pressure distribution matching the deformation characteristics of the damper and mount under load. This local optimization of the contact surface geometry ensures uniform pressure distribution and eliminates gaps without requiring an overall increase in mount size, thus maintaining hatch width while improving connection rigidity
2Ease of manufacture
If the contact surface between mount and damper is flat, then manufacturing is simpler, but gaps arise under tensile and compressive loads causing local lifting and rattling noises
Solution Approach 1:
The contact surface of the mount is designed with a camber (curvature) that creates a pressure distribution matching the deformation characteristics of the damper and mount under load. This curvature ensures that the contact surfaces remain uniformly pressed together under both tensile and compressive loads, eliminating gaps that would cause local lifting and rattling noises, while the cambered design remains manufacturable using conventional processes
3Strength
If the mount and damper are rigidly connected to eliminate gaps, then connection rigidity improves, but the through-loading dimension is reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The cambered contact surface creates a localized pressure distribution that eliminates gaps at the critical connection interface without requiring an overall increase in mount size or rigid connection that would reduce through-loading dimension. The curvature is specifically designed to match the deformation characteristics under local load conditions
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
The solution provides a significantly higher connection rigidity, linear force transmission, and reduced noise, resulting in enhanced driving dynamics and extended service life by maintaining contact across the entire surface under both tensile and compressive loads.
Implementation Method 1
which after screwing due to elastic deformation of the recording and / or the damper is closed
Data Source
Figure 1
Figure 2
AI summary
The connection of a damper (3) to a receptacle (2) of a vehicle body is particularly rigid if no local gaps are formed between said two components either under tensile loading or under compressive loading. According to the invention, the contact surface between the body-side receptacle (2) and the damper (3) is designed such that, when the damper (3) is bearing against the receptacle (2) in the unloaded state before being screwed on, there is a gap in each case between the receptacle (2) and the damper (3) in the region of the screw connection points, which gap is closed after the screw connection is produced on account of elastic deformation of the receptacle (2) and/or of the damper (3). As a result of the corresponding design of the contact surface, as uniform a preload as possible is generated between the damper (3) and the receptacle (2) already in the unloaded state.