Trailer Coupling Carrier Ring Wear Resistance
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Existing trailer hitches face challenges in precisely guiding and wear-resistance of the carrier ring, which affects the accuracy and durability of the rotational position detection of the driver ring relative to the coupling ball.
Innovation Solution
The trailer hitch incorporates a scanning structure with alternating material webs and recesses around the central axis, a metal carrier body with radially protruding driver elements, and a sensor unit that detects the rotational positions using a magnetically prestressed arrangement, enhancing precision and stability.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Device complexity
If the carrier ring is made of plastic and allowed to move freely in the groove, then the device complexity is reduced, but the guidance precision and stability deteriorate
Solution Approach 1:
The carrier ring is constructed as a composite structure combining a metal carrier body (providing structural stability and precision) with a plastic coating layer (providing wear resistance and reducing complexity). This composite approach resolves the contradiction by achieving high guidance precision through the metal substrate while maintaining device simplicity through the plastic overlay.
Solution Approach 2:
The carrier ring is designed with a spherical geometry that precisely fits the groove curvature, enabling accurate rotational guidance. The spherical shape ensures consistent contact with the groove surfaces, improving guidance precision while the self-centering nature reduces the need for complex guidance mechanisms.
2Ease of manufacture
If the carrier ring is made of plastic, then the ease of manufacture is improved, but the wear resistance deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The carrier ring combines a metal carrier body (providing structural integrity and wear resistance) with a plastic coating layer (providing ease of manufacture and corrosion resistance). The metal substrate ensures long-term durability and wear resistance, while the plastic coating can be applied through standard manufacturing processes, resolving the contradiction between ease of manufacture and wear resistance.
Solution Approach 2:
Different regions of the carrier ring have different material properties: the carrier body is made of wear-resistant metal, while the outer surface has a plastic coating for ease of manufacture and corrosion protection. This local differentiation of material quality allows each region to optimize for its specific functional requirements.
3Manufacturing precision
If a metal carrier body is used with radially movable driver elements, then the guidance precision and stability are improved, but the device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The driver elements are designed to be radially movable rather than fixed, allowing them to dynamically adapt to the coupling ball surface. This dynamic capability improves guidance precision by maintaining optimal contact, while the elements remain integrated with the carrier body to avoid excessive complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
The driver elements are merged with the carrier body as an integrated structure, where the elements are radially movable but remain structurally connected to the carrier. This merging approach improves guidance precision through the movable contact surfaces while avoiding the complexity of completely separate components.
4Measurement precision
If the scanning structure uses alternating material webs and recesses, then the measurement precision of rotational position is improved, but the device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The scanning structure replaces complex mechanical position sensing with a magnetic field-based detection system. The alternating material webs and recesses create a magnetic pattern that is read by a magnetic sensor, substituting mechanical contact and measurement with a non-contact magnetic field approach, thereby improving measurement precision while managing complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
The alternating material webs and recesses in the scanning structure create a magnetic field pattern analogous to optical encoding. The varying magnetic field strength (analogous to color or intensity changes) as the scanning structure rotates provides precise rotational position information to the magnetic sensor, improving measurement precision through a relatively simple structural pattern.
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
This solution allows for precise and stable guidance of the carrier ring, improving wear-resistance and enabling accurate detection of rotational positions, thereby enhancing the overall performance and reliability of the trailer hitch.
Implementation Method 1
the scanning structure is designed in such a way that it has successive areas that influence a magnetic field to different extents
Implementation Method 2
such areas that influence a magnetic field to different degrees can be realized in that these areas can be magnetized to different degrees
Implementation Method 3
the driver elements, starting from the carrier body, extend with a component running in the radial direction to the central axis and are therefore in particular themselves movable radially to the central axis relative to the carrier body
Data Source
Figure 1
Figure 2
Figure 3
AI summary
In order to improve a trailer coupling for motor vehicles, comprising a carrier unit arranged on a rear area of the motor vehicle, a ball neck which carries a coupling ball at a first end and which is held at a second end on the carrier unit, a groove circumferential around a central axis of the coupling ball in which a drive ring is rotatably guided about the central axis, and a sensor unit arranged in the coupling ball and which detects rotational positions of the drive ring, in such a way that the drive ring is guided as precisely as possible and is designed to be as wear-resistant as possible, it is proposed that the drive ring has a carrier body made of metal and that drive elements are held on the carrier body which project radially outwards to the central axis over a geometric spherical surface defined by the coupling ball surface.