Vehicle Suspension Support Structure with Reinforcing Elements
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing support structures for vehicle wheel suspensions lack stability and contribute to increased vehicle weight, reducing payload capacity and efficiency, while traditional design methods do not optimize for lightest weight and strongest components.
Innovation Solution
A support assembly with integrated mounting facilities for wheel suspension guiding linkages and anti-roll provisions, utilizing a unitary forging or casting with separately attached high-strength sheet metal reinforcing elements that extend from the chassis beam to anchoring struts, reducing assembly time and weight by up to 25% and enhancing structural integrity.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of manufacture
If an integrally formed cross member with separate suspension trunnion brackets is used, then assembly is simplified and can be preassembled as a unit, but stability and structural integrity are reduced compared to conventionally attached brackets
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges the cross member and suspension trunnion brackets into a single integrally formed support structure, eliminating separate assembly steps while maintaining structural integrity through optimized monolithic design. This resolves the contradiction by combining manufacturing simplicity with structural stability in one component.
Solution Approach 2:
The support structure utilizes composite material construction with high-strength steel components strategically positioned within the integral structure to enhance stability and structural integrity while maintaining assembly simplicity. The composite approach allows different material properties in different regions of the same component.
2Stability of the object's composition
If conventional support structures with separate reinforcing plates are used, then structural stability is maintained, but vehicle weight increases reducing payload capacity and fuel efficiency
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the function of separate reinforcing plates by integrating reinforcement features directly into the integral support structure. The cross member itself is designed with optimized geometry and material distribution that provides the necessary structural stability without requiring additional separate components, thereby reducing vehicle weight.
Solution Approach 2:
The support structure applies local quality enhancement by concentrating high-strength materials and optimized geometric features specifically at critical stress points within the integral structure, rather than uniformly reinforcing the entire structure. This localized approach maintains structural stability while minimizing overall weight.
3Strength
If traditional design methods with safety margins are used, then component strength is ensured, but weight is increased and payload capacity is reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies parameter changes by utilizing modern computer-based engineering to optimize material properties, dimensional constraints, and geometric parameters of the integral support structure. This allows precise calculation of minimum required strength, eliminating excessive safety margins and reducing component weight while maintaining adequate strength through scientifically optimized parameters.
Data Source
AI summary
A support assembly for receiving a vehicle wheel suspension and adapted for mounting to a vehicle structure, is disclosed that includes: a transverse body (3, 203, 303) having opposite ends; a left hand anchoring strut (9, 209, 309) extending downwardly from the transverse body (3, 203, 303) to define a distal left hand lower end; a right hand anchoring strut (7, 207, 307) extending downwardly from the transverse body (3, 203, 303) to define a distal right hand lower end. Separately attached left hand and right hand external reinforcing elements (31, 33; 231, 233, 333) each extend from an adjacent one of the opposite ends of the transverse body (3, 203, 303) to a connecting area (35, 37; 235, 335, 337) adjacent the respective one of the left and right hand distal lower ends of the downwardly extending anchoring struts (7, 9; 207, 209, 307, 309).