Lightweight Powertrain Shim With Limiter For Vertical Force Management
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Solution Overview
Problem
Thermoplastic materials used in powertrain chocks for motor vehicles lack the mechanical strength to withstand significant vertical forces, and metal inserts required for reinforcement pose fixing challenges due to increased thickness, complicating assembly and environmental considerations.
Innovation Solution
A lightened powertrain chock design incorporating thermoplastic parts with metal inserts and an elastic component, featuring a limiter that indirectly supports the inserts during vertical forces, and continuous fiber reinforcement for enhanced mechanical strength and reduced weight, while maintaining assembly conditions similar to sheet metal parts.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Weight of moving object
If thermoplastic material is used to make the wedge for lightening purposes, then weight is reduced, but mechanical strength is insufficient to withstand significant vertical forces
Solution Approach 1:
The wedge combines thermoplastic material with metal inserts to create a composite structure. The thermoplastic provides lightweight properties while the metal inserts embedded within provide the necessary mechanical strength to withstand vertical forces, thus resolving the contradiction between weight reduction and strength maintenance.
Solution Approach 2:
Metal inserts are strategically positioned at specific locations within the thermoplastic wedge where high stress occurs. This local reinforcement approach maintains overall weight reduction while providing targeted strength enhancement at critical areas to bear vertical loads.
2Strength
If metal inserts are integrated into the thermoplastic part for reinforcement, then mechanical strength is increased, but thickness increases causing fixing problems
Solution Approach 1:
The metal inserts are nested within the thermoplastic material rather than being external additions. This nesting approach allows the inserts to be embedded in recesses or cavities of the thermoplastic wedge, maintaining the overall external dimensions and thickness while providing internal reinforcement for strength enhancement without complicating the fixing process.
3Force
If the limiter bears directly against the inserts, then vertical force resistance is improved, but the intermediate piece generates significant constraining forces that exceed thermoplastic material capacity
Solution Approach 1:
The limiter is designed to bear against the metal inserts directly, bypassing the thermoplastic material for force transmission in the vertical direction. The metal inserts act as intermediaries that transfer the vertical loads from the limiter to the structural elements, protecting the thermoplastic material from excessive constraining forces while maintaining effective vertical force resistance.
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 effectively increases mechanical strength and reduces weight, allowing the chock to manage vertical forces effectively while maintaining the same installation and assembly conditions as traditional sheet metal parts, with the added benefit of improved shock resistance and stiffness.
Implementation Method 1
an elastic part, and a limiter provided with a fixing means with an intermediate part intended to be fixed to the powertrain, the limiter comprising ends superimposed with a part of the inserts in a vertical direction, the limiter bearing against the inserts via the thermoplastic part during the application of a vertical force
Data Source
Figure 1a~1b
Figure 2a~2b
Figure 3~4a
AI summary
The invention relates mainly to a shim (10) for a powertrain, in particular of a motor vehicle, characterised in that it comprises: - two inserts (12), each having an interface (14) for the attachment thereof to a structural element of the motor vehicle, - a portion (18) made of a thermoplastic material and connecting said inserts (12) with an elastic part (20), and - a limiter (22) provided with a means (24) for the attachment thereof to an intermediate part to be fastened to said powertrain, - said limiter (22) having ends (26) positioned on top of a portion (28) of said inserts (12) in a vertical direction.