Plastic Flange Screw Locking for Vehicle Sensor Attachment
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing attachment methods for vehicle components, such as wheel speed sensors, often rely on metallic bushings or plastic rings that can fail to prevent screw loosening under load.
Innovation Solution
An attachment arrangement featuring a plastic flange with a through-opening and an elastic constriction, where the attachment screw's threaded shank deforms the elastic material to form a frictional connection, preventing loosening.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a metallic bushing is injected or mounted into a plastic flange to create a pretensioned screw connection, then the screw connection is secured against loosening under load, but the device complexity and manufacturing cost increase due to additional components
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines the flange and the locking function into a single integrated plastic component. The elastic constriction is formed directly in the plastic flange material, eliminating the need for separate metallic bushings or locking mechanisms. This merging of functions reduces component count while maintaining the pretensioned screw connection security.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent utilizes the viscoelastic properties of plastic material to create an integrated solution. The plastic flange incorporates an elastic constriction that deforms during assembly and maintains continuous pressure on the screw, providing both structural support and anti-loosening functionality through the composite behavior of the plastic material itself.
2Reliability
If a plastic ring is used to create frictional locking through plastic deformation, then the screw connection is secured, but the material may not provide sufficient durability under continuous vehicle conditions
Solution Approach 1:
The patent changes the material parameter from simple plastic to viscoelastic plastic, which exhibits time-dependent mechanical properties. This allows the material to maintain continuous pressure and frictional locking over extended periods under vehicle conditions, improving both reliability and service life through the material's ability to recover and maintain force.
3Reliability
If additional metallic bushings are added to ensure secure attachment, then the screw connection reliability improves, but the manufacturing cost and assembly complexity increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges the flange structure and the locking mechanism into a single injection-molded plastic component. The elastic constriction is formed integrally with the flange, eliminating the need for separate metallic bushings and reducing both manufacturing steps and assembly operations, thereby lowering overall manufacturing cost while maintaining attachment security.
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 solution eliminates the need for additional metallic bushings, maintains a residual preload, and ensures the attachment screw does not loosen under vehicle conditions, while also being cost-effective and customer-acceptable.
Implementation Method 1
the threaded shank deforms the elastic material of the constriction plastically and elastically
Implementation Method 2
the threaded shank deforms the elastic material of the constriction plastically and elastically
Implementation Method 3
a frictional connection or frictional locking is formed between threads of the threaded shank and the remaining elastic material of the constriction
Data Source
AI summary
An attachment arrangement includes a plastic flange connected to a component to be attached and has a through-opening, and having an attachment screw, the threaded shank of which passes through the through-opening of the plastic flange and is screwed into a threaded hole at the installation location. An elastic constriction is formed in a region of the through opening facing the threaded hole, the inner spacing of which constriction is smaller than an outer diameter of the threaded shank of the attachment screw. The threaded shank plastically and elastically deforms the elastic material of the constriction during the screwing-in process, such that, when the attachment screw is screwed in, a frictional connection is formed between threads of the threaded shank and the remaining elastic material of the constriction, which frictional connection acts to prevent the attachment screw from loosening. A sensor arrangement having such an attachment arrangement is described.