Vehicle Module Brace Assembly With Frangible Impact-Yield Feet
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Solution Overview
Problem
Electrified vehicle powertrains face challenges in supporting high-voltage modules effectively while ensuring safety and kinematic response to loads, particularly during impact events, as conventional structures do not adequately yield to absorb energy without compromising module stability.
Innovation Solution
A brace assembly extending between frame rails with frangible features, such as blind apertures in the feet of the cross-brace, designed to yield under load, supporting high-voltage modules like DC/DC converters, generators, and chargers, and electric machines, allowing for energy absorption and preventing rearward movement of these modules during impacts.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Stability of the object's composition
If a rigid brace assembly is used to support high-voltage modules, then module stability is improved, but energy absorption during impact events deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The brace assembly is segmented into rigid portions (cross-brace, bridging brackets) and frangible portions (feet with apertures). The rigid portions maintain module stability while the frangible portions absorb impact energy through controlled fracture, resolving the contradiction between stability and energy absorption.
Solution Approach 2:
Different portions of the brace assembly have different mechanical properties: the cross-brace and bridging brackets are designed with high strength and rigidity to support modules, while the feet are designed with frangible features (apertures) to yield and absorb energy during impacts. This local differentiation resolves the contradiction between overall stability and localized energy absorption.
2Reliability
If the brace assembly is designed to yield under load for safety, then energy absorption is improved, but module support stability deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The brace assembly separates the yielding function (frangible feet) from the support function (rigid cross-brace and bridging brackets). The feet are designed to fracture under excessive load to protect the passenger compartment, while the rigid portions maintain module stability during normal operation, resolving the contradiction between safety and stability.
Solution Approach 2:
The frangible feet act as pre-designed sacrificial elements that yield before the main structural components fail. By placing weak points (apertures in the feet) at predetermined locations, the assembly absorbs impact energy through controlled fracture, protecting both the modules and passenger compartment while maintaining stability during normal use.
3Loss of energy
If frangible features are added to the brace assembly for impact protection, then energy absorption is improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
Rather than making the entire brace assembly complex, the frangible features are localized to specific portions (the feet). The apertures are integrated into the foot geometry, adding minimal complexity only where needed for energy absorption while keeping the rest of the assembly simple and manufacturable.
Solution Approach 2:
The frangible features are created by changing geometric parameters of the feet (adding apertures that reduce local material). This simple parameter modification enables energy absorption functionality without requiring additional components or complex mechanisms, resolving the contradiction between energy absorption and device complexity.
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
The brace assembly effectively absorbs energy from loads, preventing high-voltage modules from moving rearward into the passenger compartment, ensuring safety and maintaining structural integrity by fracturing at designed points to manage impact loads efficiently.
Implementation Method 1
the at least one driver side foot and the at least one passenger side foot each include a frangible feature configured to yield in response to a load
Implementation Method 2
The brace assembly effectively absorbs energy from loads, preventing high-voltage modules from moving rearward into the passenger compartment
Data Source
AI summary
An electrified vehicle assembly according to an exemplary aspect of the present disclosure includes, among other things, a brace assembly that extends from a passenger side frame rail of a vehicle to a driver side frame rail of the vehicle, and at least one electrified vehicle powertrain module supported by the brace assembly.