Vehicle Wheel Resonance Chamber With Adjustable Insert Neck
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional methods for manufacturing vehicle wheels, such as two-piece bonding and one-piece casting, face challenges in increasing manufacturing costs and dimensional errors, and fail to efficiently adjust the target resonance frequency for sound absorption.
Innovation Solution
A method involving a one-piece casting process with a temporary flange for chucking, followed by flow forming, friction stir welding, and fine machining to create a resonance chamber, along with inserting an adjustable insert neck into a sound-absorbing hole to adjust the resonance frequency and reduce weight.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Object-affected harmful factors
If a wheel is manufactured in a two-piece bonding manner to form a resonance chamber, then the resonance sound absorption is improved, but the manufacturing cost increases due to increased number of processes and friction stir welding area
Solution Approach 1:
The wheel is divided into a rim part and a disc that are cast separately as one-piece bodies, then bonded through friction stir welding to form a resonance chamber at their boundary. This segmentation allows the resonance chamber to be formed while maintaining manufacturing efficiency.
Solution Approach 2:
The rim part and disc are bonded together through friction stir welding to form an integrated wheel structure with a resonance chamber. This merging creates the sound-absorbing resonance chamber while maintaining structural integrity and reducing overall manufacturing complexity compared to traditional two-piece bonding methods.
2Ease of manufacture
If a wheel is cast in a one-piece state and then machined to form a resonance chamber, then the manufacturing cost is reduced, but dimensional errors occur during machining and target resonance frequency cannot be adjusted
Solution Approach 1:
The rim part and disc are cast in advance as separate one-piece bodies with predetermined shapes. This preliminary casting action allows for precise dimensional control before bonding, eliminating dimensional errors that would occur if machining were performed after casting a complete one-piece wheel.
Solution Approach 2:
The inner diameter and length of the insert neck are adjustable parameters that can be modified to tune the resonance frequency of the resonance chamber. This parameter adjustment capability allows precise control of the resonance frequency while maintaining the benefits of one-piece casting.
3Ease of manufacture
If a one-piece casting method is used to reduce manufacturing cost, then the manufacturing process is simplified, but the target resonance frequency for sound absorption cannot be adjusted
Solution Approach 1:
The insert neck is designed with adjustable inner diameter and length parameters, making the resonance chamber adaptable to different resonance frequency requirements. This dynamic adjustability is achieved through selective casting parameters while maintaining the simplicity of the one-piece casting process.
Solution Approach 2:
The inner diameter and length of the insert neck are variable parameters that can be changed to adjust the resonance frequency. This allows the same basic one-piece casting structure to be adapted for different sound absorption requirements by simply modifying these dimensional parameters.
4Object-affected harmful factors
If friction stir welding is used to bond rim part and disc, then the resonance chamber is formed, but the manufacturing area and time increase
Solution Approach 1:
The wheel is segmented into rim part and disc that are cast separately and then bonded, allowing the resonance chamber to be formed at their boundary. This segmentation enables efficient friction stir welding with minimized bonding area compared to traditional methods.
Solution Approach 2:
The rim part and disc are merged through friction stir welding to form the wheel structure with integrated resonance chamber. This merging process is optimized to minimize welding area and time while ensuring proper formation of the resonance chamber for effective sound absorption.
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 approach stabilizes machining processes, reduces dimensional errors, allows for easy adjustment of resonance frequency, and minimizes wheel weight by using a hollow insert neck in the sound-absorbing hole.
Implementation Method 1
a friction stir welding process of integrally bonding a portion where the forming end and the stepped part are in close contact with each other
Data Source
AI summary
A method for manufacturing a vehicle wheel includes: a casting process of manufacturing the wheel in a one-piece body having a forming end and a temporary flange protruding at inner and outer sides of the wheel, respectively, wherein the one-piece body further includes a resonance chamber forming groove; a primary shape machining process of forming a stepped part at an outer circumferential side of the resonance chamber forming groove; a flow forming process of bending the forming end to be seated on the stepped part; a friction stir welding process of integrally bonding a portion where the forming end and the stepped part are in close contact with each other; a fine machining process of removing the temporary flange;and a sound-absorbing hole machining process of forming a sound-absorbing hole for communicating between the resonance chamber and an interior space of a tire in the forming end.