Skeletal Commercial Vehicle Chassis Support Structure
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional commercial vehicle chassis designs face challenges in weight reduction, suspension properties, mechanical strength, durability, and rigidity, leading to increased mass and reduced payload due to high notch stresses and inefficient force transmission.
Innovation Solution
The design incorporates a commercial vehicle chassis supporting structure with a skeletal, framework-like structure featuring branched or ring-like struts, allowing for a high area moment of inertia while reducing mass, and includes a configuration where the axle body and trailing arm are connected via a U-shape with angled cross braces and recesses to accommodate chassis springs, optimizing space and force distribution.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Strength
If conventional solid profile or hollow profile carriers are used for axle body and trailing arms, then mechanical strength and rigidity are ensured, but weight increases and payload capacity decreases
Solution Approach 1:
The solid profile carriers are segmented into multiple thin-walled struts arranged in skeletal, framework-like, branched, or ring-like configurations. This segmentation maintains structural strength through geometric arrangement while reducing material usage and weight.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent employs composite structural approaches by combining multiple thin-walled struts to form carriers that achieve equivalent or superior mechanical properties compared to solid profiles, but with reduced weight. The struts may be made from materials optimized for strength-to-weight ratio.
2Strength
If wall thickness is increased to withstand notch stresses at connection points, then mechanical strength is improved, but the axle body becomes oversized and heavier
Solution Approach 1:
Instead of uniformly increasing wall thickness throughout the axle body, the patent applies local reinforcement only at critical connection points where notch stresses occur. The struts are designed with varying cross-sections or local thickening at attachment areas, while other regions maintain thinner walls to reduce weight.
Solution Approach 2:
The axle body is divided into multiple struts that can be individually optimized for their specific load conditions. This allows targeted reinforcement at stress concentration points without oversizing the entire structure.
3Reliability
If air springs are positioned with smaller horizontal offset, then suspension properties improve with higher proportion of wheel load transmitted to chassis, but vehicle height increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent repositions the air springs from a primarily horizontal offset arrangement to a vertical arrangement above the axle body. This dimensional change allows the suspension system to achieve improved load transmission characteristics without increasing the vehicle's lateral dimensions, accommodating the air springs within the vertical space above the axle.
Solution Approach 2:
The air springs are positioned within the space above the axle body, nesting the suspension components within the existing chassis structure. This arrangement optimizes space utilization and achieves improved suspension properties without increasing overall vehicle height.
Data Source
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AI summary
The invention relates to a commercial vehicle chassis support structure (4) in which an axle body and/or longitudinal control arms (22, 23) are designed in a skeletal manner with several struts (5) spanning a surface or a space. Preferably, the commercial vehicle chassis support structure (4) is L-shaped in a side view. Here, one leg of the L is formed by a horizontal substructure forming the longitudinal control arms (22, 23), while the other leg of the L is formed by a vertical substructure forming the axle body. In a particular embodiment of the invention, an upper cross member (9) of the commercial vehicle chassis support structure (4) has two recesses (12, 13) through which a space (14) open at least upwards is formed above a lower cross member (10), which is suitable for receiving a suspension spring (6).