Steering Column Slot Width Adjustment via Clamping Bolt
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing steering column designs face complications in assembly and require a high number of components due to the need for a prestressing system to avoid play between the inner column jacket and the guide part, making low-play mounting challenging.
Innovation Solution
A steering column design that utilizes a slot in the guide part with a clamping bolt to set a selectable slot width, allowing for minimal play and predefined prestress between the column jacket and the guide part, thereby reducing the displacement force required and improving stiffness and resonant frequency, with the clamping bolt also serving as a lever axle for the height adjustment drive.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a multiplicity of components including leaf springs is used for prestress, then play between column jacket and guide part is avoided, but assembly complexity and number of components increase
Solution Approach 1:
The invention extracts and eliminates the complex prestress system with multiple components (leaf springs, adjustment mechanisms) and replaces it with a single clamping bolt that directly applies the necessary prestress to the column jacket, thereby simplifying assembly while maintaining low-play mounting
Solution Approach 2:
The clamping bolt serves multiple functions: it provides the prestress to eliminate play, sets the slot width for column jacket positioning, and acts as a lever axle for the height adjustment drive, replacing what would traditionally require separate components
2Reliability
If a multiplicity of components including leaf springs is used for prestress, then play between column jacket and guide part is avoided, but the number of components increases
Solution Approach 1:
The invention removes the unnecessary components (leaf springs, multiple adjustment mechanisms) from the system and retains only the essential clamping bolt that provides the necessary prestress, reducing the component count while maintaining reliable low-play mounting
Solution Approach 2:
The invention merges the prestress function, slot width adjustment function, and lever axle function into a single clamping bolt component, eliminating the need for separate components and reducing the overall quantity of parts
Data Source
AI summary
A steering column for a motor vehicle, having a column jacket for rotatably mounting a steering shaft, and a guide part that engages around the column jacket, in which the column jacket is mounted such that it is telescopically displaceable in the direction of the rotational axis of the steering shaft by means of a motorized longitudinal adjustment drive. The steering column achieves mounting of the column jacket, which mounting is from as low-play as possible to play-free, with low structural complexity and a small installation space, by virtue of the fact that the guide part has a slot, the slot width of which can be varied by means of a clamping screw, such that a play between a bearing surface of the guide part which mounts the column jacket and an outer lateral surface of the column jacket can be set.