Slotted Clipping Bushing Assembly Without Welding or Adhesives
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Existing fastener assemblies face challenges with labor-intensive and costly projection welding or adhesive application methods for securing bushings to components, which can fail cleanliness inspections.
Innovation Solution
A drawn metal bushing device with a slotted barrel body and cantilevered beam legs, featuring hooks and concave surfaces, that securely engages components by clipping onto one component and retaining fasteners, eliminating the need for welding or adhesives.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Strength
If projection welding is used to secure the bushing to the component, then the bushing is securely attached, but additional labor, cost, and complexity are added to the assembly
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces the welding process (thermal/mechanical system) with a mechanical clipping system. The bushing includes cantilevered beam legs with hooks that mechanically engage with ledges in the component, eliminating the need for welding equipment and processes while maintaining secure attachment.
Solution Approach 2:
The bushing is designed to be self-securing through its own structural features. The cantilevered beam legs with hooks automatically engage with the component ledges when the bushing is inserted, requiring no external welding operation or additional fastening steps.
2Ease of manufacture
If adhesive is applied to secure the bushing, then the bushing is attached without welding, but cleanliness inspections are failed
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces the adhesive bonding system with a mechanical clipping system. The hooks on the cantilevered beam legs engage directly with ledges in the component, providing a mechanical attachment that requires no adhesives and thus passes cleanliness inspections.
Solution Approach 2:
The bushing is designed as a standalone mechanical component that achieves its attachment function through its own structure, eliminating the need for additional materials like adhesives that would require cleanup and inspection.
3Reliability
If welding is used to secure the bushing, then secure attachment is achieved, but labor and cost increase
Solution Approach 1:
The bushing automatically secures itself through the engagement of its cantilevered beam leg hooks with the component ledges. This self-securing mechanism eliminates the need for skilled welding labor and reduces assembly time, thereby improving productivity while maintaining reliable attachment.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces the welding process with a simple mechanical insertion and engagement process. The bushing is simply inserted into the component hole, and the hooks automatically engage with the ledges, requiring minimal labor and no specialized welding equipment or skills.
Data Source
Figure 1~2
Figure 3~4
Figure 5~6
AI summary
A bushing device includes a cap end shaped to engage a first surface of a first component having a first hole, and a slotted barrel body coupled with the cap end and elongated along a center axis. The slotted barrel body includes plural first cantilevered beam legs extending away from the cap end in directions that are parallel to the center axis. One or more of the first cantilevered beam legs has a hook at a distal end of the one or more first cantilevered beam legs. The slotted barrel body is shaped to fit inside the first hole in the first component and into a concentric second hole in a second component. The hook of the one or more first cantilevered beam legs is positioned to engage the second component to secure the first component and the second component together.