Steering Member Stiffness via Local Reinforcement
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Solution Overview
Problem
The existing steering members in vehicles face a challenge in improving stiffness without increasing weight, as increasing the thickness of attachment portions leads to overall weight gain due to their production from pressed steel plates.
Innovation Solution
A steering member design incorporating a rod-like main body with a plate-like reinforcing part and a bracket that extends towards the front, where the reinforcing part covers the reinforced area on the main body's outer surface, increasing plate thickness locally to enhance stiffness while maintaining weight efficiency, and a weak portion in the bracket to absorb collision forces without projecting into the vehicle interior.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Strength
If the thickness of attachment portions is increased to improve stiffness, then the stiffness of the steering member is improved, but the weight of the steering member increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies local quality by providing a reinforcing part only at specific locations where strength is needed (attachment portions of lower and upper members), rather than uniformly increasing the thickness of the entire steering member. This allows the attachment portions to have increased plate thickness for improved stiffness while keeping other areas at normal thickness to maintain weight efficiency.
Solution Approach 2:
The reinforcing part is divided into a first reinforcing part for the lower member and a second reinforcing part for the upper member, allowing independent optimization of each attachment portion. This segmentation enables precise placement of reinforcement only where structural support is required, avoiding unnecessary weight increase in other areas.
2Strength
If the thickness of the entire lower member and upper member is increased to improve stiffness, then the stiffness is improved, but the weight of the steering member increases
Solution Approach 1:
Instead of uniformly increasing the thickness of the entire lower and upper members, the patent applies local quality by adding a reinforcing part only at the attachment portions. This localized reinforcement provides the necessary stiffness improvement while minimizing the overall weight increase, as only specific critical areas are thickened rather than the entire structure.
3Strength
If the bracket is designed to extend toward the front side to distribute collision forces, then the deformation resistance is improved, but the device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The bracket is merged with the reinforcing part, where the bracket extends from the reinforcing part toward the front side of the vehicle. This integration allows the bracket to effectively distribute collision forces across the reinforced structure, improving deformation resistance while avoiding the complexity of separate, independent components.
Data Source
AI summary
A steering member includes a main body extending in a vehicle-width direction, at least one support part, a reinforcing part, and a bracket. The support part supports the steering. The reinforcing part is formed in a plate-like shape and attached to a reinforced area of an outer circumferential surface of the main body. The bracket is attached to the reinforcing part and extends from the reinforcing part toward a front side of the vehicle so as to be attached to a body of the vehicle. The outer circumferential surface of the main body comprises a support area to which the at least one support part is attached. The reinforced area faces the support area across the main body.