Vehicle Sensor Mounting Assembly for Tolerance-Stable Alignment
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Solution Overview
Problem
The positioning and alignment of sensors in vehicles, particularly autonomous or semi-autonomous vehicles, are critical for their operation but are challenging to maintain during assembly, use, and repair due to manufacturing tolerances and misalignments.
Innovation Solution
A sensor assembly that includes a base, a sensor bracket, and a tolerance compensator with a washer having tabs that engage with the compensator to lock the position, allowing for easy removal and reassembly without recalibration, using threaded connections and rivet nuts to secure components.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Manufacturing precision
If traditional sensor mounting methods are used, then assembly is simple, but sensor positioning precision and alignment are difficult to maintain due to manufacturing tolerances
Solution Approach 1:
A sensor bracket is introduced as an intermediary component between the vehicle body and the sensor. The bracket includes adjustment mechanisms that allow precise positioning of the sensor while accommodating manufacturing tolerances in the vehicle body mounting surface. This mediator absorbs the dimensional variations and enables accurate sensor alignment without requiring extremely precise vehicle body fabrication.
Solution Approach 2:
The mounting system is divided into separate functional components: a vehicle body mounting interface, an adjustable sensor bracket, and a sensor interface. This segmentation allows each component to be optimized independently - the bracket can provide adjustment capabilities while the mounting interface remains simple, resolving the contradiction between precision and complexity.
2Reliability
If sensors are tightly secured to maintain alignment, then positioning stability is improved, but ease of repair and reassembly is reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The sensor bracket incorporates adjustable and removable features that allow the sensor to be securely positioned during operation but easily removed for repair or recalibration. Fastening mechanisms such as removable bolts or snap-fit connections enable the sensor to be tightly secured when installed while allowing quick removal without specialized tools or procedures.
3Manufacturing precision
If adjustment mechanisms are added to compensate for tolerances, then positioning precision is improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
Adjustment capabilities are provided only at the sensor bracket level where they are most needed, rather than throughout the entire mounting system. The bracket includes localized adjustment features such as slotted mounting holes or small-range positioners that compensate for tolerances without requiring complex mechanisms throughout the entire assembly.
Data Source
AI summary
An assembly for mounting a sensor to a vehicle includes a base, a sensor bracket, and a tolerance compensator between the base and the sensor bracket. The tolerance compensator is threadedly coupled to the base and releasably engaged with the sensor bracket in an assembled position. The assembly includes a washer including a hub fixed relative to the base and a plurality of tabs arranged circumferentially around the hub and extending radially relative to the hub. One of the tabs is moveable into engagement with the tolerance compensator in the assembled position.