Embossed Cabin-Chassis Bracket for Controlled Collision Rupture
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing brackets for connecting cabin assemblies to chassis assemblies in heavy-duty vehicles fail to reliably break during a truck vs truck rear-end collision while withstanding everyday fatigue stresses and forces.
Innovation Solution
A bracket design featuring a main plate with an embossment perpendicular to its surface, extending from the rear to the front, creating a predefined line of rupture to separate the cabin and chassis assemblies during a collision, while maintaining structural integrity under normal conditions.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If the bracket is designed to break during frontal collision, then the cabin assembly can separate from the chassis assembly to prevent driver injury, but the bracket may fail to withstand fatigue stresses and forces during everyday use
Solution Approach 1:
The bracket features an embossment located between the cabin attachment portion and chassis attachment portion that creates a localized weak point. This embossment concentrates stress along a specific line, ensuring predictable rupture during collision while the rest of the bracket maintains full strength for everyday use. The embossment line extends from or proximate from a rear edge towards a front edge of the bracket, creating a controlled fracture path.
2Ease of operation
If the bracket is dimensioned to break off when subjected to certain force in collision, then cabin separation is achieved, but it becomes difficult to withstand fatigue stresses during everyday use
Solution Approach 1:
The embossment is pre-formed during bracket manufacturing, creating a predetermined rupture line before the bracket is installed in the vehicle. This preliminary structural modification ensures that when collision forces are applied, the bracket will rupture along the embossed line as intended, while the overall bracket design maintains sufficient strength for normal operational conditions.
Data Source
Figure 1~2
Figure 3~4
AI summary
The invention provides for a bracket (22) for connecting a cabin (13) to a chassis (11) of a heavy-duty vehicle (10), wherein the bracket (22) comprises a main plate (24) having a cabin attachment portion (26) for connecting to the cabin (13) and a chassis attachment portion (28) for connecting to the chassis (13), wherein the main plate (24) of the bracket (22) comprises an embossment (42) which is embossed perpendicularly to the main plate (24), which is located between the cabin attachment portion (26) and the chassis attachment portion (18) of the main plate (30), and which extends along an embossment line (42L) from or proximate from a rear edge (32, 36) of the bracket (22), towards a front edge (30, 34) of the bracket (22). The invention also provides for a heavy-duty vehicle equipped with such bracket for connecting a cabin (13) to a chassis (11).