Steering Column Guide Elastic Damping
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing adjustable steering column guides face challenges in providing reliable and cost-effective impact damping at the end of the adjustment path, with known solutions either being complex and expensive or offering hard, undamped spring-back stops.
Innovation Solution
A one-piece plastic molded part with guide walls and projections that undergo elastic deformation to provide damping, optimized for compact design and low material usage, using polyoxymethylene (POM) with reinforcing additives, and featuring a ramped projection for enhanced damping force distribution.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If elastic damping means are used in the guide, then impact damping and comfort are improved, but production becomes complicated and expensive due to different materials
Solution Approach 1:
The damping function is merged into the guide structure itself by forming elastic projections directly on the guide walls. This eliminates the need for separate damping components and allows the guide to be produced as a single-piece injection molded part, resolving the contradiction between achieving reliable impact damping and maintaining ease of manufacture.
Solution Approach 2:
The guide is made from a composite plastic material (polyoxymethylene with reinforcing glass fibers) that combines the necessary hardness for guiding metal parts with sufficient resilience for damping. This single material solution eliminates the need for multiple materials and assembly steps, resolving the manufacturing complexity issue while maintaining reliable damping performance.
2Ease of manufacture
If a bow spring damping means is used in the guide, then production cost is reduced, but the stop becomes hard and undamped
Solution Approach 1:
The guide walls have different local properties: the main body provides rigid guidance while the projections provide localized elastic damping. This local quality differentiation allows the single plastic component to achieve both cost-effective production and reliable damping performance, resolving the contradiction between low production cost and good damping performance.
3Reliability
If the projection deflection is accommodated by support part recesses, then the damping function is achieved, but the support part construction becomes complex
Solution Approach 1:
Instead of accommodating the projection deflection by providing recesses in the support part, the solution inverts the approach: the projection is designed to deflect without requiring support part recesses. The guide walls and projections are dimensioned to allow the necessary deflection within the available space, simplifying the support part construction to a simple plate with an opening while maintaining the damping function.
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 achieves reliable and comfortable damping with reduced material usage and cost, ensuring extended service life and easy assembly, while maintaining a compact design suitable for mass production and integration into motor vehicle steering columns.
Implementation Method 1
the deflection of the projection being accompanied by an elastic deformation of the guide wall
Data Source
Figure 1~3
Figure 4~7
Figure 8~9
AI summary
The device has a guiding wall (1) arranged parallel to another guiding wall (2). A body is guided in a guiding direction by the guiding walls, where a movement of the body in the guiding direction is limited by a stop (6). A damping unit is provided for exerting force on the body. The damping unit has a projection (2a) arranged at one of the guiding walls, where the projection is spring-elastically deflected in a direction perpendicular to the guiding direction through the body.