Piston Cylinder Seal Carrier Snap Hook Play-Free Mounting
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing piston-cylinder units in hydraulic systems, such as slave cylinders for vehicles, experience play between the sealing ring carrier and piston, leading to shifts in the characteristic curve and reduced service life due to wear.
Innovation Solution
The design incorporates snap hooks on the sealing ring carrier that engage with corresponding recesses on the annular piston, providing axial pretension to prevent play, with the snap hooks or collar being resilient to generate the necessary prestressing force, ensuring a play-free mounting.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of manufacture
If a seal carrier is mounted on the piston without positive connection, then the assembly is simple, but play occurs between the seal carrier and piston leading to characteristic curve shifts and increased wear
Solution Approach 1:
The patent employs resilient snap hooks made of elastic material that can deform radially outward during assembly and then spring back to engage with the piston recesses. This flexibility allows for simple snap-on assembly while ensuring a play-free, secure connection that prevents relative movement between the seal carrier and piston during operation.
Solution Approach 2:
The snap hooks are designed with a curved, arc-shaped geometry that allows them to flex radially outward for easy assembly and then return to their original position to create a secure engagement. The curved shape provides the necessary elasticity while maintaining a compact structure that ensures reliable connection without play.
2Reliability
If snap hooks are used to connect the seal carrier to the piston, then play-free mounting is achieved, but the device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The connection system is divided into discrete snap hooks distributed around the circumference of the seal carrier. Each snap hook independently engages with a corresponding recess in the piston, providing distributed securement. This segmentation allows the use of simple, identical components rather than a complex monolithic connection structure.
Solution Approach 2:
The resilient snap hooks automatically perform the connection function through their own elastic deformation. During assembly, the snap hooks flex outward to pass over the piston collar and then spring back to engage with the recesses, creating a self-latching connection without requiring additional fastening mechanisms or complex assembly procedures.
3Reliability
If the snap hooks are made resilient to generate axial prestress, then play is prevented, but manufacturing precision requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
The snap hooks are designed with specific geometric parameters including arc radius, thickness, and material properties that determine their resilient characteristics. By carefully selecting these parameters, the snap hooks generate the required axial prestress through their elastic deformation while maintaining manufacturing feasibility. The design balances the prestress requirement with acceptable manufacturing tolerances.
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 ensures a reliable, play-free fastening of the sealing ring carrier on the annular piston, preventing relative movements that could alter the characteristic curve and improve wear behavior and service life.
Implementation Method 1
To generate the axial prestressing force, either the snap hooks and/or the collar are designed to be resilient in the axial direction
Data Source
Figure 1~2
Figure 3~4
AI summary
The invention relates to a piston/cylinder unit of a hydraulic system, in particular of a slave cylinder for a hydraulic disengagement system (CSC) of a friction clutch of a vehicle, wherein the slave cylinder (1) has a housing (2) which is disposed concentrically with respect to a gear input shaft and wherein the housing has at least one annular pressure chamber (4), in which an annular piston (3) is guided so as to be axially movable, said piston having a seal (7) in the direction towards the pressure chamber which seal is fastened on a sealing ring support (6) accommodated on the annular piston. According to the invention latching elements (6.1) which engage with corresponding latching means (3.1) of the annular piston are disposed on the sealing ring support.