Cast Holding Structure for Stiff Battery Mounting Under Vibration

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Solution Overview

Problem

Existing mounting structures for large components in vehicles, such as electric truck batteries, face challenges in decoupling from the vehicle frame to prevent vibrations while maintaining structural integrity and design freedom, often requiring large elastomer bearings that lead to inefficiencies in bending and torsional stiffness.

Innovation Solution

A holding structure with a receiving eye, fixing points, and walls arranged to allow for high flexural and torsional stiffness, manufactured cost-effectively through casting, featuring cavities and ribs to distribute loads efficiently.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Reliability

If large-diameter elastomer bearings are used to compensate for large displacements, then vibration compensation capability is improved, but mounting eye size increases and structural weight increases

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvevibration compensation capabilityVSAvoidmounting structure weight
Core Design Contradiction:
ReliabilityVSWeight of stationary object

Solution Approach 1:

The mounting structure is divided into functional segments: elastomer bearings for vibration compensation, mounting eyes for connection, and a bearing mounting structure as an intermediate element. This segmentation allows each component to be optimized independently, enabling the use of appropriately sized bearings without requiring oversized mounting eyes throughout the entire structure.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #1Segmentation

Solution Approach 2:

The patent introduces a third dimension by adding a bearing mounting structure as an intermediate element between the elastomer bearing and the vehicle frame. This additional structural layer distributes loads more efficiently and provides design freedom in geometric arrangement, allowing vibration compensation without proportionally increasing overall structure weight.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #17Another dimension (Dimensionality change)

2Strength

If as much material as possible is concentrated in the plane perpendicular to the through-holes to achieve high bending stiffness, then bending stiffness is improved, but torsional stiffness decreases due to deflection and twisting

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvebending stiffnessVSAvoidtorsional stiffness
Core Design Contradiction:
StrengthVSStability of the object's composition

Solution Approach 1:

The bearing mounting structure features local quality variations with different wall thicknesses and material distributions in different regions. The structure has optimized material concentration in areas requiring bending resistance while maintaining adequate torsional rigidity through strategically placed thicker sections and rib reinforcements.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #3Local quality

Solution Approach 2:

The bearing mounting structure can be manufactured as a composite component combining different materials or material densities in different regions, allowing simultaneous optimization of bending and torsional stiffness properties through material composition rather than uniform material distribution.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #40Composite materials

3Adaptability or versatility

If special bearing mounting structures are used to achieve greater design freedom in geometric arrangement, then design freedom is improved, but structural complexity increases

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvedesign freedomVSAvoidmounting structure complexity
Core Design Contradiction:
Adaptability or versatilityVSDevice complexity

Solution Approach 1:

The bearing mounting structure is designed as a universal component that can accommodate different elastomer bearing sizes, positions, and orientations. The standardized mounting interface and geometric flexibility allow the same basic structure type to serve multiple mounting configurations, reducing overall system complexity despite increased design freedom.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #6Universality (Multi-functionality)

Data Source

PatentEP4344920B1Support structure
Publication Date: 2026.01.28 VIBRACOUSTIC SE
  • EP4344920B1 patent drawingFigure 1a
  • EP4344920B1 patent drawingFigure 1c~1b1
  • EP4344920B1 patent drawingFigure 1f~1b2

AI summary

A holding structure (2a, 2b, 2c) is proposed, comprising at least one receiving eye (4, 6) having a central receiving axis (A4, A6), at least two fixing points (12, 14, 16, 18) each having a fixing axis (A12, A14, A16, A18) running parallel to the at least one receiving axis (A4, A6), a first wall (8) and a second wall (10) arranged on opposite sides of the holding structure (2a, 2b, 2c), wherein the two walls (8, 10) are spaced apart in the direction of the at least one receiving axis (A4, A6), wherein the at least one receiving eye (4, 6) extends from one of the walls (8, 10) to the other wall (8, 10), and wherein the holding structure (2a, 2b, 2c) also has at least one cavity (H1, H2, H3, H4) which is arranged between the walls (8, 10).