Modular Connecting Joint Assembly for Stiff Vehicle Body Panels
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing vehicle body structures face challenges in small quantity batch production, requiring significant investment in facilities and molds, limiting design freedom, and necessitating a shift towards modular, eco-friendly manufacturing without press and welding processes, while also needing to enhance stiffness and scalability.
Innovation Solution
A connecting joint design featuring a base panel and sub-panels that are inwardly bent and connected, with through holes and connecting members, allowing for easy assembly and fixation, and a joint cover for enhanced stiffness and scalability.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Strength
If traditional vehicle body manufacturing processes are used (pressing, welding, painting), then structural strength and stiffness are ensured, but investment in large-scale facilities is required and design freedom is limited
Solution Approach 1:
The vehicle body is divided into multiple modular panels (base panel and sub-panels) that can be independently manufactured and then assembled together. This segmentation allows each panel to be produced using simple bending processes rather than requiring large-scale pressing facilities, while the modular assembly maintains overall structural strength through connecting members.
Solution Approach 2:
The traditional mechanical pressing and welding system is replaced with a bending-based assembly system using connecting members. Instead of using heavy press plants to form and join body parts, the invention uses bending lines and removable connecting members that can be easily assembled and disassembled, providing both structural integrity and design flexibility.
2Strength
If traditional welding and pressing processes are used, then vehicle body strength is ensured, but manufacturing costs increase for small quantity batch production
Solution Approach 1:
The vehicle body structure is segmented into standardized base panels and sub-panels that can be manufactured using simple bending processes. These modular components can be produced in small batches without requiring expensive pressing facilities, and their standardized interfaces enable cost-effective assembly through connecting members rather than traditional welding.
Solution Approach 2:
The manufacturing process parameters are changed from high-cost pressing and welding to lower-cost bending and mechanical assembly. By changing the joining method from permanent welding to removable connecting members, the invention enables flexible small-batch production while maintaining structural strength requirements.
3Adaptability or versatility
If vehicle body structure is changed to achieve scalability, then adaptability to market demand is improved, but additional development and design of joints are required
Solution Approach 1:
The connecting members are designed as universal components that can be used across different vehicle body configurations and scalability requirements. This standardized connecting mechanism serves multiple functions - joining base panels to sub-panels, enabling structural assembly, and allowing easy reconfiguration - thereby achieving scalability without requiring additional joint development for each configuration change.
Solution Approach 2:
The vehicle body structure is designed with dynamic reconfigurability through removable connecting members. This allows the body structure to be easily adjusted and reconfigured for different market demands without permanent modifications, achieving scalability while keeping joint design simple and standardized.
4Ease of manufacture
If modularized vehicle parts are assembled through mechanical assembly only, then eco-friendly smart factory requirements are met and process complexity is reduced, but structural stiffness may be compromised
Solution Approach 1:
The panels are pre-formed with bending lines that enable precise folding into the required three-dimensional shapes. This preliminary bending action ensures that when the panels are assembled with connecting members, they achieve the necessary structural stiffness without requiring complex welding or painting processes, thus meeting both assembly simplicity and strength requirements.
Solution Approach 2:
The vehicle body structure uses composite construction combining multiple bent panels joined by connecting members. This composite approach distributes structural loads across multiple components and joints, achieving the required overall stiffness through the collective strength of the modular assembly rather than relying on single monolithic structures.
Data Source
AI summary
An embodiment connecting joint includes a base panel and a plurality of sub-panels sequentially connected to sides of the base panel, respectively, the sub-panels configured to be inwardly bent with reference to the base panel to be assembled, wherein, in an assembled state, the sub-panels are configured to hold a connecting member for connection to the sub-panels.