Multi-function Crossmember Integrating Sled Runners and Oil Pan Protection
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing vehicle frame designs for vehicles with front-mounted engines and transmissions require multiple components to support the transmission, protect against ground contact, and meet crashworthiness requirements, leading to increased complexity and cost.
Innovation Solution
A multi-function crossmember with longitudinally extending sled runners sandwiched between the crossmember and vehicle floor, featuring a ladder structure that surrounds the transmission oil pan and includes crossbeams for structural stiffness and mounting, eliminating the need for separate skid plates, tunnel braces, and exhaust hangers.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If multiple separate components (skid plate, tunnel braces, exhaust hangers) are used to support the transmission and meet crashworthiness requirements, then the vehicle structure can provide adequate protection and structural integrity, but the device complexity and cost increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines multiple separate components (crossmember, skid plate, tunnel braces, and exhaust hangers) into a single integrated crossmember structure. The crossmember includes a bottom surface that extends below the transmission oil pan to provide ground protection, lateral extensions that sandwich the sled runners to the floor to provide structural support, and integrated mounting points for exhaust pipes. This merging eliminates the need for separate components while maintaining all required functions.
Solution Approach 2:
The crossmember is designed as a multi-functional component that simultaneously performs multiple functions: supporting the transmission, protecting against ground contact, providing structural stiffness to the transmission tunnel, and serving as a mounting structure for exhaust pipes. The bottom surface provides ground protection, the lateral extensions provide structural support by sandwiching sled runners, and the integrated design provides mounting points for exhaust pipes, making the component universal and eliminating the need for separate specialized components.
2Ease of operation
If a low ride height is used to improve vehicle aerodynamics and handling, then the vehicle performance is improved, but the transmission components become more susceptible to ground contact and damage
Solution Approach 1:
The crossmember extends in the vertical dimension by having a bottom surface that protrudes below the transmission oil pan. This vertical extension provides ground protection without affecting the vehicle's ride height or aerodynamics. The bottom surface creates a protective barrier between the ground and vulnerable transmission components, allowing the vehicle to maintain low ride height for performance while protecting against ground contact damage.
3Strength
If additional structural members are added to meet crashworthiness requirements, then the structural integrity is improved, but the manufacturing cost and assembly complexity increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent integrates multiple structural functions into a single crossmember component. The crossmember includes a bottom surface extending below the oil pan for ground protection, lateral extensions for sandwiching sled runners to the floor, and integrated mounting points. This consolidation reduces the number of parts that need to be manufactured and assembled, thereby reducing manufacturing cost and assembly complexity while maintaining structural integrity.
Solution Approach 2:
The crossmember serves as a universal structural element that provides multiple functions: transmission support, ground protection, tunnel bracing, and exhaust mounting. By designing this single component to perform all these functions, the patent eliminates the need for multiple separate structural members, reducing both manufacturing cost and assembly complexity while maintaining the required structural integrity for crashworthiness.
Data Source
AI summary
A vehicle is provided. The vehicle may include a vehicle floor that defines a transmission tunnel and a crossmember. The crossmember may include a pair of longitudinal beams disposed along and sandwiching sled runners to the floor. Crossbeams may extend from and span between the pair to define an inner periphery that extends below and surrounds an outer periphery of an oil pan. One or more of the crossbeams may cap a tunnel that is defined by the floor.