Pneumatic Spring Intermediate Member for Bellows Fastening
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing air spring designs face challenges in securely fastening the ends of rolling bellows to the rolling piston or cover under high pressures, leading to potential damage and reduced service life, while also requiring cost-effective production and improved assembly processes.
Innovation Solution
The use of separate intermediate members for fastening the ends of the rolling bellows, allowing for independent manufacturing and material selection, with detachable connections such as screws or snap connections, simplifying assembly and enabling easier handling during leak testing, and facilitating the use of different air spring variants.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If clamping rings with high clamping pressure are used to fasten the ends of the rolling bellows, then secure fastening is achieved, but damage to the ends of the rolling sleeve occurs and service life is reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The fastening system is segmented into three components: the rolling bellows end, the intermediate member with clamping seat, and the clamping ring. The intermediate member acts as a buffer that separates the clamping force from the rolling bellows end, preventing direct transmission of high clamping pressure to the bellows material.
Solution Approach 2:
The intermediate member serves as a mediator between the clamping ring and the rolling bellows end. It absorbs and distributes the clamping pressure through its clamping seat, preventing concentration of stress on the rolling bellows end and avoiding material damage.
2Reliability
If the rolling piston or cover is designed with strong radial annular walls to absorb clamping forces, then fastening stability is improved, but manufacturing complexity and cost increase
Solution Approach 1:
The clamping force absorption function is extracted from the rolling piston or cover and transferred to the intermediate member. The intermediate member is specifically designed with a clamping seat optimized for absorbing clamping forces, while the rolling piston or cover maintains its original simple cylindrical structure without requiring complex radial annular walls.
Solution Approach 2:
The intermediate member acts as an intermediary component that takes over the function of absorbing clamping forces. This allows the rolling piston or cover to remain structurally simple while still achieving stable fastening through the intermediate member's optimized clamping seat design.
3Adaptability or versatility
If the rolling piston is manufactured with integrated clamping contours, then fastening function is combined, but assembly complexity and difficulty increase
Solution Approach 1:
The air spring system is divided into separable modules: the rolling piston or cover, the intermediate member with clamping seat, and the rolling bellows. This segmentation allows each component to be manufactured independently with optimized geometry, and assembled through simple sequential steps without requiring complex integrated contours.
Solution Approach 2:
The intermediate member serves multiple functions: it provides the clamping seat for the clamping ring, connects the rolling bellows end to the rolling piston or cover, and can be universally applied to different rolling piston or cover designs. This universal design simplifies manufacturing while maintaining functional integration.
4Ease of operation
If detachable screw connections or plug-in connections are used for the intermediate member, then assembly and leak testing are simplified, but connection reliability may be reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The intermediate member is pre-designed with the clamping seat and clamping ring configuration optimized for secure fastening. This preliminary design ensures that when the detachable connection is assembled, the clamping forces are automatically distributed correctly, maintaining connection reliability while allowing for easy assembly and disassembly.
Data Source
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AI summary
The spring (1) has a set of connection units for mounting ends (7, 16) of a hose rolling bellows (4) on a rolling piston (3) and/or a cover (2) by a clamping ring (8) and a plug connection, where the plug connection is formed as a bayonet socket or a snap connection unit. One of the connection units consists of a separate intermediate link (10) that is to be joined to the rolling piston and/or the cover. The intermediate link is designed as a ring in a pot-shape and comprises retaining edges (13) as clamping seats (14) for the rolling bellows ends.