Trailer Ball Coupling Housing with Edge Beads for Weight Reduction
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Existing ball couplings for trailers are heavy due to thick material for safety, leading to high production costs and weight, which hinders fuel efficiency and requires a cost-effective design to reduce material usage while maintaining stability and safety.
Innovation Solution
The ball coupling features beads along the edges of the housing to enhance stability with less material, and edge reinforcements in bearing bores and holes to prevent operational tearing, allowing for sensor integration to monitor coupling states.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If the housing is dimensioned with thick material to ensure sufficient safety and breakage resistance, then the reliability is improved, but the weight increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies local quality by adding beads (protrusions) at specific locations on the housing - specifically at the edge areas and in the contact area with the trailer drawbar. These localized reinforcements provide additional stability and breakage resistance only where needed, rather than uniformly thickening the entire housing. This allows the housing to maintain sufficient reliability at critical stress points while using less material overall, thereby reducing weight.
2Ease of manufacture
If the housing wall is made smooth with full contact to the trailer drawbar, then the ease of manufacture is improved, but the stability decreases
Solution Approach 1:
The housing maintains a smooth wall surface for most of its area, which preserves ease of manufacture. However, localized beads (protrusions) are added at specific positions - edge areas and contact areas - to provide enhanced stability and vibration elimination where mechanically necessary. This selective approach maintains manufacturing simplicity while achieving the required stability performance.
3Reliability
If beads are added to the housing to enhance stability with less material, then the reliability is improved with reduced weight, but the device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The beads are formed as rounded protrusions with curved surfaces that merge smoothly into the housing wall via radii. This curved geometry provides effective vibration damping and stability enhancement while being amenable to standard forming processes. The smooth transitions avoid stress concentration points, maintaining structural integrity without requiring complex multi-component assemblies.
4Strength
If bearing bores and holes are provided with edge reinforcement to prevent operational tearing, then the strength is improved, but the device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
Edge reinforcements are applied locally at bearing bores and holes only where structural stress requires additional strength to prevent operational tearing. These reinforcements are integrated into the housing structure and provide targeted strengthening at critical fastening locations without requiring complex modifications to the overall housing design or additional separate components.
Data Source
Figure 1
Figure 2
Figure 3
AI summary
The coupler has a sheet mold part on which holes (6) are formed for passage of screws for fixing the sheet mold part with a trailer draw bar. A rotatable ball cup is held on swivel bolts (9). The swivel bolts are guided by through holes of the cup and mounted on bearing bores (8) of a housing. The swivel bolts are arranged in a clutch mouth of the housing. The housing is provided with corrugation parts (5) that are extended from an edge region (7) of the housing to an opposite edge region of the housing and arranged at certain distance from one another in a receiving area for the draw bar.