Composite Bracket with Reinforced Side Walls for NVH Management
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Existing vehicle engine bay mounting systems, particularly those using metallic brackets, fail to effectively manage noise, vibration, and harshness (NVH) due to limitations in the design and material properties, which can lead to suboptimal performance and reliability.
Innovation Solution
A lightweight mounting system featuring a non-metallic bracket with reinforced side walls and elastomeric bushings, along with a gear tooth collar, is designed to enhance NVH performance by providing improved compressive force distribution and rotational resistance, using materials like plastic or carbon fiber reinforced polymer.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Weight of moving object
If metallic brackets are used for mounting, then structural strength is maintained, but weight is excessive and NVH performance is insufficient
Solution Approach 1:
The bracket is constructed using composite materials including a rigid backbone structure for strength and flexible material portions (elastomeric or viscoelastic) for NVH damping. This composite approach allows the bracket to achieve both lightweight properties and superior vibration isolation performance, resolving the contradiction between weight reduction and NVH performance maintenance.
Solution Approach 2:
The bracket design incorporates variable material properties throughout its structure, with different regions having different stiffness and damping characteristics. The flexible material portions are strategically positioned to provide NVH damping where needed while maintaining overall structural integrity, allowing optimization of both weight and performance parameters simultaneously.
2Reliability
If bracket thickness is increased to improve NVH performance, then damping capacity improves, but weight increases
Solution Approach 1:
Instead of uniformly increasing bracket thickness throughout, the design applies flexible damping material portions only in specific locations where NVH performance is most critical. These localized damping elements provide effective vibration isolation without the weight penalty of a uniformly thicker bracket structure.
Solution Approach 2:
The bracket combines rigid structural materials with flexible damping materials in a composite construction. This allows the structure to achieve high NVH performance through the damping properties of the flexible portions without requiring increased overall thickness or weight of the entire bracket.
3Weight of moving object
If non-metallic materials are used, then weight is reduced, but structural strength may be compromised
Solution Approach 1:
The bracket uses a composite structure with a rigid backbone framework that provides essential structural strength and load-bearing capability. Non-metallic flexible material portions are integrated into this framework to provide damping and NVH performance. This composite approach ensures that strength requirements are met by the rigid structure while weight is reduced through the use of lighter flexible materials in non-structural or semi-structural roles.
Solution Approach 2:
The bracket is segmented into distinct functional regions: a rigid backbone structure for strength and load bearing, and flexible material portions for damping and NVH control. This segmentation allows each portion to be optimized for its specific function, ensuring overall structural integrity while achieving weight reduction through strategic material placement.
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 significantly reduces weight while enhancing NVH performance and reliability by utilizing non-metallic materials and innovative design features, such as reinforced side walls and elastomeric bushings, to effectively manage vibrations and noise.
Implementation Method 1
at least one pair of elastomeric bushings. The first elastomeric bushing is positioned within the bushing receptacle on the first side of the bracket body, and the second elastomeric bushing is positioned within the bushing receptacle on the second side of the bracket body
Implementation Method 2
The elastomeric damper functions as a buffer between the primary bracket and the secondary bracket
Data Source
AI summary
A bracket for use in supporting a module within a vehicle. The bracket includes a first end, a second end, and a bracket body extending between the first end and the second end. The bracket body includes at least one attachment point defined at each of the first end and the second end, a first side that defines a mounting surface, and a second side opposite the first side. The bracket body also includes a reinforced side wall that extends about the at least one attachment point. The reinforced side wall is configured to define a bushing receptacle on both the first side and the second side of the bracket body.