Fiber-Reinforced Plastic Vehicle Body with Integrated Support Beam
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Solution Overview
Problem
The complexity and cost of manufacturing and assembling modern vehicles with fiber-reinforced plastic bodies, which consist of numerous individual components, lead to high tool and assembly costs, quality assurance challenges, and functional disadvantages due to numerous component separations and complex connection points.
Innovation Solution
A one-piece die-cast support beam made of aluminum or manganese alloy is integrated with the vehicle body, providing a functionally integrated and load path-optimized component that supports the spring strut and is glued to the wheel house, reducing the need for multiple components and simplifying connections by distributing supporting forces across a large surface area.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If numerous individual fiber-reinforced plastic components are used to construct the vehicle body, then design flexibility and structural functionality are improved, but manufacturing complexity, assembly costs, and quality assurance efforts increase significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges multiple individual fiber-reinforced plastic components (wheel house, support beam, spring strut support, outer skin component holder) into a single integrated body structure. This consolidation reduces the number of separate parts from multiple components to one monolithic fiber-reinforced plastic piece, thereby reducing manufacturing complexity and assembly operations while preserving design flexibility through integrated structural optimization
Solution Approach 2:
The integrated body structure performs multiple functions simultaneously: it provides the wheel house enclosure, structural support via the support beam, spring strut mounting, and outer skin component attachment. This multi-functionality eliminates the need for separate dedicated components for each function, reducing overall system complexity while maintaining adaptability
2Adaptability or versatility
If multiple individual components are assembled together, then functional specialization is improved, but assembly costs and quality assurance efforts increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines multiple functionally specialized components into one integrated body structure that houses all functions internally. The support beam, spring strut support, and outer skin holder are merged into the monolithic fiber-reinforced plastic body, eliminating assembly operations and quality checks for multiple separate parts while maintaining functional specialization through internal structural design
3Adaptability or versatility
If connection points are added to fiber-reinforced plastic body components, then component connectivity is improved, but manufacturing complexity and cost increase due to required inserts
Solution Approach 1:
The patent integrates all connection points and mounting locations directly into the monolithic fiber-reinforced plastic body structure during manufacturing. Connection points for the spring strut support, outer skin components, and other attachments are built-in as integral features of the body, eliminating the need for separate inserts or post-manufacturing modifications, thereby maintaining manufacturing simplicity while ensuring component connectivity
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
This solution reduces the number of connection points, lowers weight and costs, enhances functional stability with fewer seams, and facilitates easier repairs by integrating multiple support functions into a single component, particularly in the engine compartment adjacent to the wheelhouse.
Implementation Method 1
the support beam is also advantageously glued to a bulkhead of the body. Bondings of this type on the wheel house or bulkhead can have a large surface area, so that high supporting forces can be transmitted between the body and the support beam via them
Data Source
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AI summary
The invention relates to a body (10) of a vehicle, which is made of fiber-reinforced plastic and has a wheel housing (12) and a suspension strut support (20) arranged there, wherein a one-part supporting carrier (26) is provided, by means of which the suspension strut support (20) is supported and which is itself adhesively bonded to the wheel housing (12).