Motor Vehicle End Structure Attachment Plate Tab Design
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing motor vehicle front end structures experience unstable and unpredictable behavior of buffering elements during frontal impacts due to excessive bending of attachment plates, leading to inefficient energy absorption and increased weight from oversized components.
Innovation Solution
The design incorporates attachment plates with tabs that protrude forward, providing a point reaction to longitudinal loads, reducing bending moments and stabilizing the plastic deformation of buffering elements, allowing for optimal energy absorption without over-sizing.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Force
If tabs of attachment plates protrude rearwards and are welded to struts, then the structure provides load transmission path, but the attachment plates experience excessive bending moments during impact
Solution Approach 1:
The patent inverts the traditional rearward-protruding tab configuration by making tabs protrude forward instead. This reversal changes the load path geometry, allowing the load to be transmitted more directly to the strut while reducing the bending moment arm on the attachment plate, thereby resolving the contradiction between load transmission and bending resistance
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces a longitudinal dimension offset between the tab protrusion point and the welding seam location. By separating these two functions in the longitudinal direction, the load application point (tab tip) can be optimized for minimal bending moment while the welding seam remains structurally sound for load transmission
2Loss of energy
If buffering elements are oversized to ensure sufficient energy absorption, then energy absorption capacity increases, but vehicle weight increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent treats the buffering elements as sacrificial components designed for controlled plastic deformation during impact. By optimizing their geometry and material properties rather than simply increasing size, the system achieves sufficient energy absorption through controlled failure modes, avoiding the need for oversized permanent structures
Solution Approach 2:
The patent optimizes multiple parameters of the buffering elements including cross-sectional geometry, wall thickness distribution, and material properties to achieve optimal energy absorption efficiency. This parametric optimization allows smaller, lighter buffering elements to absorb the required energy through controlled plastic deformation
3Stability of the object's composition
If attachment plates are made larger to reduce bending, then bending stability improves, but device complexity and manufacturing difficulty increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the attachment plate into distinct functional zones: tabs for load application, a connecting region for structural integrity, and welding areas for strut attachment. This segmentation allows each zone to be optimized independently, maintaining stability without requiring an overall increase in plate size or 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
This configuration enhances the stability and predictability of buffering elements during impacts, enabling efficient energy absorption without the need for oversized components, resulting in a weight-saving solution.
Implementation Method 1
box elements, generally made of metallic material, which deform plastically to absorb energy in the event of impacts at moderate speed
Data Source
Figure 1
Figure 2~3
Figure 4~5
AI summary
An end structure (3) of a motor vehicle body (1) has two longitudinal struts (7) which extend along respective axes (8) have respective ends (16), on which respective attachment plates (35) are fitted; the attachment plates (35) have respective walls (37), which are ring-shaped about longitudinal axes (8) and defined frontally by respective faces (39) having substantially vertical and flat resting zones (40); two supporting plates (27) rest respectively on these resting zones (40) and are fixed to the walls (37) and to two buffering elements (25), which are substantially coaxial to the struts (7); the two attachment plates (35) further have respective tabs (41), which are radiused to said walls (37) at an inner annular perimeter thereof and end with respective edges (44), which are longitudinally aligned with the supporting plates (27).