Steering Column Adaptor with Non-Circular Cross Section
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing steering column designs face challenges in ensuring reliable mounting and impact absorption due to material tolerances and complexity in machining, which can lead to undesirable effects such as uncontrolled movements during a crash, affecting the driver's safety.
Innovation Solution
A steering column design featuring a casing tube with a non-circular inner cross section and an adaptor with a compatible outer configuration, allowing for a form-fitting connection that suppresses resonances and provides secure fixation, using methods like caulking or screwing for axial securing, enabling cost-effective production and improved running properties.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Object-affected harmful factors
If an adaptor made from resin or rubber-elastic material is used to absorb vibrations, then vibration absorption is improved, but mounting reliability deteriorates due to material tolerances and fastening restrictions
Solution Approach 1:
The steering column is divided into separate functional components: a casing tube for structural support, a bearing seat for precise bearing mounting, and an adaptor for vibration absorption. This segmentation allows each component to optimize its specific function without compromising overall reliability.
Solution Approach 2:
The adaptor serves as an intermediary element between the casing tube and the bearing seat, absorbing vibrations while the form-fitting connection ensures reliable positioning. The bearing seat acts as another intermediary, providing a stable mounting surface for the bearing within the adaptor.
2Object-affected harmful factors
If the bearing seat is formed in a spacer or adaptor to absorb vibrations, then vibration absorption is improved, but positioning precision deteriorates due to tolerances in material combinations
Solution Approach 1:
The casing tube features a localized non-circular inner cross-section that provides form-fitting engagement with the adaptor. This local geometric feature ensures precise positioning and prevents rotation, compensating for tolerances in the vibration-absorbing adaptor material.
Solution Approach 2:
The non-circular inner cross-section of the casing tube creates an asymmetric form-fitting connection with the adaptor. This asymmetric geometry eliminates rotational play and ensures precise angular positioning, overcoming the tolerances inherent in resin or rubber-elastic materials.
3Ease of operation
If a rolling bearing is used at the lower end of the steering spindle, then rotational smoothness is improved, but structural complexity increases due to additional mounting components
Solution Approach 1:
The bearing seat is integrated with the adaptor component, combining the functions of vibration absorption and bearing support into a single element. This merging reduces the number of separate parts and simplifies the overall structure while maintaining rotational smoothness.
Solution Approach 2:
The adaptor serves multiple functions: it absorbs vibrations, provides a mounting seat for the bearing, and ensures precise positioning through form-fitting engagement with the casing tube. This multi-functionality reduces structural complexity by eliminating the need for separate components.
Data Source
AI summary
A steering column may comprise a casing tube and a steering spindle that is mounted in the casing tube so as to be rotatable about a longitudinal axis of the casing tube. Because the casing tube may be an outer casing tube that has a non-circular inner cross section and because an adaptor may be manufactured from metal as an extruded part and may comprise an outer circumferential configuration that is compatible with an inner cross section of the casing tube and an interior annular bearing seat, the adaptor can be inserted into the outer casing tube and can be fastened there.