Vehicle Joint With Integral Press-Fit Locking Ring
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing vehicle joints face a conflict between ensuring proper seating in a bearing eye and maintaining minimal resistance to movement, which can lead to increased moment of resistance and potential chassis tuning issues, especially under dynamic loads, and are limited in their ability to absorb axial loads without compromising the air gap or using additional locking rings.
Innovation Solution
A joint design featuring an outer sleeve, a joint shell, and an inner sleeve with radially outwardly projecting edge cylinders forming a groove, where an integral press-fit device on the inner sleeve acts as an additional locking ring, allowing for a preferred axial direction for high axial load absorption and minimizing the impact of outer sleeve diameter reduction during press-in.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If the pressing-in force is increased to ensure a tight fit of the joint in the bearing eye, then the tight fit is improved, but the outer sleeve diameter is reduced to such an extent that the joint's moment of resistance increases
Solution Approach 1:
The inner sleeve acts as an intermediary element between the outer sleeve and the joint shell. It absorbs the pressing-in forces and protects the joint shell from direct contact with the reduced outer sleeve diameter, thereby maintaining the moment of resistance while ensuring a tight fit in the bearing eye
Solution Approach 2:
The joint is divided into functional segments: the outer sleeve for pressing-in, the inner sleeve for protecting the joint shell, and the joint shell for receiving the inner joint part. This segmentation allows each component to fulfill its specific function without interfering with others
2Strength
If two locking rings are pressed into axially spaced end regions of the outer sleeve, then the joint can withstand radial loads, but the joint cannot bear high axial loads and requires asymmetrical designs that eliminate the air gap
Solution Approach 1:
The joint design incorporates asymmetry by providing a preferred axial direction for receiving axial loads through the open end of the outer sleeve. The inner sleeve has different structural characteristics at its ends, with one end open and the other closed, allowing asymmetric load distribution that accommodates both radial and axial loads effectively
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 enables the joint to be pressed into a bearing eye with minimal effect on the moment of resistance, maintains radial stress, and allows for high axial load absorption without compromising the joint shell, while eliminating the need for a separate closure ring and providing a reproducible measurement of joint radial elasticity.
Implementation Method 1
a locking ring is pressed into the outer sleeve for at least partial radial expansion of the outer sleeve
Data Source
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AI summary
The invention relates to a joint (1, 39) for a vehicle, the joint comprising an outer sleeve (5), a joint shell (7) for receiving a movably supported joint inner portion (8, 40), and an inner sleeve (6), at least part of which is arranged between the joint shell (7) and the outer sleeve (5), wherein the inner sleeve (6) has two radially outwardly projecting rim cylinders (24, 25) which are axially mutually spaced and run around the outer periphery of the inner sleeve (6), and the two rim cylinders (24, 25) define a peripheral recess (23) on the outer periphery of the inner sleeve (6). The joint (1, 39) is characterised in that a press-fit device (32) designed integrally with the inner sleeve (6) extends in the region of at least one rim cylinder (24) of the inner sleeve (6) radially outwards beyond the outer diameter of the rim cylinder (24).