Curved Side Rail Suspension Bracket for Rigidity and Crash Bending
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Solution Overview
Problem
Automobile suspensions face challenges in balancing rigidity against road forces and impact reduction during frontal collisions, as existing designs either compromise on rigidity for crash absorption or fail to effectively disperse collision loads.
Innovation Solution
The suspension design features a curved side rail with a bracket that includes a reinforcing bead and a curved ridge line, enhancing rigidity through a box structure and tapered reinforcing bead, allowing the side rail to deform and absorb collision loads while maintaining strength against road surface forces.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of manufacture
If the suspension uses a simple bracket structure, then ease of manufacture is improved, but rigidity against force from the road surface deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The bracket is designed with non-uniform thickness, featuring a thicker first region and a thinner second region. This local quality variation allows the bracket to have enhanced rigidity where needed (first region) while maintaining ease of manufacture and reducing overall complexity (second region), thereby resolving the contradiction between manufacturing simplicity and structural rigidity.
2Strength
If the side rail is made rigid to resist road forces, then rigidity against road force is improved, but ability to deform and absorb collision impact deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The side rail incorporates a curved portion with varying rigidity characteristics. The curved geometry creates localized flexibility in specific regions while maintaining overall structural rigidity. This allows the side rail to resist road forces effectively during normal operation while enabling controlled deformation during frontal collisions to absorb impact energy.
Solution Approach 2:
The side rail includes a curved portion that leverages geometric curvature to achieve mechanical properties that a straight rigid structure cannot provide. The curvature allows the rail to flex and absorb collision energy while maintaining sufficient rigidity for road force resistance, resolving the contradiction between rigidity and deformability.
3Strength
If the bracket is made stronger to prevent collapse during collision, then strength during collision is improved, but ability to allow side rail deformation deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The bracket's non-uniform thickness design creates a first region with higher strength to prevent bracket collapse during collision, while the thinner second region allows controlled deformation. This local differentiation enables the bracket to be strong where needed while permitting the side rail to deform in designated areas, resolving the contradiction between bracket strength and rail deformability.
Data Source
AI summary
An automobile suspension includes a side rail extending in a front-rear direction of a vehicle body, a lower arm, and a bracket linking the lower arm to the side rail. A front end of the side rail and a rear end of the side rail are linked to a frame of the vehicle body, and the side rail curves such that a middle of the side rail is lower than at least one of the front end and the rear end. The bracket includes a pair of side plates that supports a shaft of the lower arm and is joined to a side face of the side rail, and an upper plate that links the side plates and is joined to an upper face of the side rail.