Additive Vehicle Shock Tower with Load-Path Spokes
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Solution Overview
Problem
The automotive industry faces challenges in increasing vehicle component performance while reducing weight, as existing forming processes like stamping and casting are limited by complexity and often result in excess material.
Innovation Solution
A vehicle shock tower assembly is designed with a base, lower, and upper portion, featuring spokes that extend along load paths, formed via additive manufacturing to disperse vertical forces efficiently, using bonded layers for optimized thickness and structure, resembling a web-like or bone-like design, and secured to a wheel well and engine compartment cross beam.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of manufacture
If stamping and casting processes are used to form vehicle components, then manufacturing simplicity is maintained, but design complexity is limited and excess material is generated
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies additive manufacturing technology to fundamentally change the manufacturing process parameter from traditional stamping/casting to layer-by-layer deposition. This enables complex internal geometries, variable thickness spokes, and optimized load path structures that cannot be achieved with conventional processes, directly resolving the contradiction between manufacturing simplicity and design complexity
Solution Approach 2:
The shock tower utilizes composite material structures with varying spoke thicknesses and densities optimized for specific load paths. The additive manufacturing process enables creation of multi-material or gradient material structures within the single component, allowing complex designs while maintaining manufacturing efficiency through digital modeling and automated deposition
2Ease of manufacture
If traditional forming processes are used, then manufacturing process is simple, but material usage efficiency is poor due to excess material
Solution Approach 1:
By transitioning to additive manufacturing, the process enables precise material deposition only where structurally required. The variable spoke thickness and optimized geometry parameters are directly manufactured rather than formed from excess material, eliminating traditional subtractive manufacturing waste and improving material usage efficiency
Solution Approach 2:
The additive manufacturing approach extracts only the necessary material for the load-bearing structures, placing material precisely along identified load paths. This eliminates the need for subsequent material removal operations and reduces overall material consumption while maintaining structural integrity
3Weight of moving object
If weight is reduced to improve vehicle performance, then fuel efficiency increases, but structural integrity may be compromised
Solution Approach 1:
The shock tower features locally optimized spoke structures with varying thicknesses positioned precisely along load paths. Critical load-bearing regions have thicker spokes while non-critical areas use thinner material, achieving weight reduction without compromising structural integrity where it matters most
Solution Approach 2:
The shock tower is segmented into multiple spoke elements rather than a solid monolithic structure. This segmentation allows each spoke to be independently optimized for its specific load function, reducing overall weight while maintaining the cumulative structural strength needed for vehicle performance
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 reduces material usage while maintaining structural integrity, allowing for more complex designs and improved load dispersion, enhancing vehicle performance and reducing weight.
Implementation Method 1
formed via additive manufacturing to disperse vertical forces efficiently
Implementation Method 2
using bonded layers for optimized thickness and structure
Data Source
AI summary
A vehicle shock tower component including a top portion, an upper portion, and a lower portion is provided. The top portion defines a plane. The upper portion may include one or more upper spokes having a thickness based on a stiffness ratio to disperse load paths resulting from a force application to the upper portion. The upper spokes may extend substantially perpendicularly from the plane and an intersection spoke region may extend substantially perpendicularly from the plane. The lower portion may include one or more lower spokes extending at an angle from the one or more upper spokes and the intersection spoke region to a base portion for securing to a vehicle wheel well. Each of the spokes may be aligned with a load path defined by application of a force to the top portion in which the force is applied in a direction substantially perpendicular to the plane.