Trailer Coupling Ball Sensor Recess Design
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing trailer hitch designs face challenges in integrating the carrier ring and sensor unit in a space-saving manner while maintaining stability and ease of assembly.
Innovation Solution
The sensor unit is positioned within a recess in the coupling ball's spherical body, with a groove design that allows for radial integration and a line channel for electrical connection, and the carrier ring features a scanning structure with magnetically prestressed areas to detect rotational positions, enabling efficient space utilization and stability.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Volume of moving object
If the sensor unit and carrier ring are integrated in the coupling ball, then space utilization is improved, but the structural complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The sensor unit is nested within a recess in the spherical body, and the carrier ring is integrated within the same spherical body. This nesting arrangement allows both components to occupy the same spatial envelope, maximizing space utilization while keeping the overall coupling ball dimensions compact.
Solution Approach 2:
The spherical body is segmented into functional zones: a groove for carrier ring guidance, a recess for sensor unit accommodation, and a line channel for electrical connections. This segmentation allows complex functionality to be organized into distinct spatial regions, making the integrated design more manageable and manufacturable.
2Volume of moving object
If the recess for the sensor unit is designed to be compact, then space saving is improved, but the stability of the spherical body may be compromised
Solution Approach 1:
The recess is designed with specific local characteristics: it extends radially inside the groove with controlled depth and orientation. The recess merges into a line channel that penetrates the coupling ball, creating a continuous structural path that maintains material integrity. This localized optimization allows space saving in the sensor housing while preserving overall spherical body stability through strategic structural continuity.
3Adaptability or versatility
If the line channel penetrates through multiple components (coupling ball, ball attachment, ball neck), then electrical connectivity is improved, but the manufacturing complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The line channel serves multiple functions simultaneously: it provides electrical connectivity from the sensor unit through the coupling ball and ball attachment to the ball neck, and also serves as a structural feature that integrates these components. This multi-functionality reduces the need for separate connection elements, ultimately simplifying manufacturing despite the initial appearance of complexity.
4Ease of operation
If the coupling ball is designed as a divided ball for easier assembly, then ease of assembly is improved, but the stability and structural integrity may be reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The coupling ball is divided into separable components (spherical body with recess, ball attachment, ball neck) that can be assembled independently. The line channel design facilitates this segmentation by providing integrated pathways that span multiple components, ensuring electrical connectivity is maintained through the assembled joints. This segmentation enables easier assembly while the continuous line channel structure helps maintain overall structural integrity.
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 design allows for a compact, stable, and easily integratable trailer hitch system that effectively detects rotational positions, enhancing connectivity and operational reliability.
Implementation Method 1
a sensor unit arranged in the coupling ball that detects the rotational position of the carrier ring
Implementation Method 2
a magnetically prestressed sensor arrangement, in which at least one sensor in particular is permeated by a magnetic field for magnetic prestressing
Data Source
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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 and the sensor unit are integrated into the coupling ball in the most space-saving way possible, it is proposed that the sensor unit be arranged in a spherical body of the coupling ball in a recess arranged radially inside the groove and that the recess has the same or a smaller extent in the direction parallel to the central axis of the coupling ball than the groove.