Front Under Guard Structure for Utility Vehicle Wheel House Protection
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Utility vehicles operating in off-road conditions face challenges as obstacles like stones and wooden twigs kicked up by the front wheels can enter the wheel houses, potentially damaging the engine or obstructing steering, which existing mud guards fail to adequately address.
Innovation Solution
A front under guard structure is designed for utility vehicles, comprising a mainframe with ROPS and front under guards attached to the rear sides of the front wheels, constructed from pipe-shaped outer frameworks and plate-shaped bodies, extending horizontally and obliquely to provide rigidity while minimizing material usage, and allowing common use on both sides to reduce component count.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Object-affected harmful factors
If front under guards are constructed from multiple components to ensure adequate protection, then obstacle prevention is improved, but the number of components and manufacturing complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The front under guard is designed as an integrated structure that combines the protective barrier function with the mounting structure. The guard extends directly from the cross member, merging the support element and protective element into a single unified component, thereby reducing the total number of parts while maintaining adequate protection.
Solution Approach 2:
The cross member serves dual functions: as a structural mounting element and as the base for the front under guard. This multi-functionality reduces the need for separate mounting brackets or additional structural elements, simplifying the overall component count while ensuring adequate protection.
Data Source
AI summary
A utility vehicle includes a mainframe located between one pair of left and right front wheels and at least one pair of left and right rear wheels and forming a framework of a chassis. A ROPS (Roll-Over Protective Structure) is provided in a middle part in the vehicle-body front-rear directions in the mainframe, and thereby surrounds a cabin. Front under guards are provided in spaces on rear sides of the front wheels so as to cover mud guard walls provided for separating the cabin from the spaces on the rear sides of the front wheels.