Sensor Carrier Fixing via Slotted Guide and Guiding Pins
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing fixing and monitoring devices for motor vehicle components, such as clutches, require additional production steps like hot stamping to secure modules within a housing, complicating the assembly process and production.
Innovation Solution
A fixing and monitoring device featuring a sensor housing with a slotted guide and a sensor carrier equipped with guiding pins, allowing for two-sided guiding and simplified assembly without additional production steps, and utilizing a casting compound for environmental protection and thermal expansion management.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If additional production steps like hot stamping are used to secure modules in the housing, then the fixing reliability is improved, but the manufacturing complexity and production time increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces complex mechanical fixing systems (hot stamping, additional fastening steps) with a simplified geometric interlocking system using slotted guides and guiding pins. The slots and pins create a self-aligning, self-fixing mechanism that eliminates the need for separate production steps while maintaining secure fixation of the sensor carrier in the sensor housing.
Solution Approach 2:
The slotted guide structure enables the sensor carrier to self-align and self-fix within the sensor housing during assembly. The guiding pins automatically engage with the slots, and the geometry of the slots provides both positioning and retention functions, allowing the component to fix itself without external intervention or additional production steps.
2Stability of the object's composition
If additional production steps are required to fix the sensor carrier, then the fixation stability is improved, but the assembly time and productivity decrease
Solution Approach 1:
The sensor carrier is pre-equipped with guiding pins that are precisely positioned to match the slotted guide geometry in the sensor housing. This preliminary configuration ensures that during assembly, the component automatically engages in the correct position and orientation, achieving stable fixation in a single motion without requiring multiple production steps or adjustments.
Solution Approach 2:
The fixing mechanism is segmented into distinct functional elements: the slotted guide structure in the sensor housing and the corresponding guiding pins on the sensor carrier. This segmentation allows each element to be optimized independently while working together to provide both stable fixation and rapid assembly, with the slots providing guidance and retention and the pins providing precise positioning.
3Strength
If the sensor housing has undercut portions to secure the sensor carrier, then the fixation strength is improved, but the ease of manufacture decreases
Solution Approach 1:
Instead of creating complex three-dimensional undercut portions in the sensor housing, the patent uses a two-dimensional slotted guide system that provides equivalent fixation strength through geometric interlocking. The slots extend in specific directions to prevent movement in all necessary planes, achieving the same retention effect as undercuts but with a simpler, more manufacturable flat surface structure.
Solution Approach 2:
Rather than modifying the sensor housing with complex undercut geometries to secure the sensor carrier, the patent inverts the approach by providing the securing geometry on the sensor carrier itself through the guiding pins. The pins engage with the simpler slotted guides in the housing, reversing which component carries the complex geometry and making the housing easier to manufacture.
Data Source
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AI summary
A fixing and monitoring device comprises a sensor housing and a sensor carrier. The sensor housing has a receiving region in which a slotted guide is provided. The sensor carrier has a plurality of guiding pins. The sensor carrier is arranged in the receiving region. The guiding pins are guided in the slotted guide.