Vehicular Wheel Weight Mounting Surface Design
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional vehicular wheels require caulking for balance weight mounting, leading to visible marks and inconsistent placement, affecting the wheel's appearance during tire changes.
Innovation Solution
A vehicular wheel design featuring weight-mounting surfaces parallel to the rotational center line at the center of the rim, integrated between spokes, with a molding seam positioned away from the weight-mounting surfaces to allow for balanced weight placement without caulking, and an angle of 0.5° to 3° to ensure draft and visibility.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If balance weight is mounted on offset balance-weight mounting portion using caulking, then the wheel can be balanced, but a caulking mark remains on the wheel when the balance weight is removed, adversely influencing the external appearance
Solution Approach 1:
The wheel is divided into multiple weight-mounting surfaces positioned at different locations on the inner peripheral surface of the rim. This segmentation allows the balance weight to be mounted at the widthwise center position without requiring caulking, as each segment (weight-mounting surface) is designed to accommodate weights independently. The molding seam is strategically positioned away from the central weight-mounting surface, creating separate functional zones that eliminate the need for damaging mounting methods.
Solution Approach 2:
Instead of mounting the balance weight at an offset position from the wheel center (conventional approach), the invention inverts this by providing a weight-mounting surface at the widthwise center position. This inversion allows the balance weight to be mounted centrally without caulking, as the molding seam is positioned away from the center, creating an unobstructed central area for weight attachment that preserves the wheel's external appearance.
2Reliability
If balance weight is mounted at offset position, then the center-of-gravity can be positioned at wheel center, but the mounting position varies during tire changes, leading to inconsistent balance weight placement
Solution Approach 1:
Multiple weight-mounting surfaces are provided at different circumferential locations on the inner peripheral surface of the rim. This segmentation allows the balance weight to be mounted at the widthwise center position regardless of the tire change scenario, ensuring consistent placement. The molding seam is positioned away from the central weight-mounting surface, creating a standardized mounting location that can be consistently replicated during tire changes.
Solution Approach 2:
The weight-mounting surfaces are designed with specific geometric features (angles of 0.5° to 3° relative to the rotational center line) that provide visual cues for correct weight placement. These angular features create distinct visual markers that guide the mounting process, ensuring consistent and precise weight placement during tire changes, similar to how color changes provide visual feedback in other systems.
Data Source
AI summary
A vehicular wheel is formed by casting and includes a hub; a rim; and a plurality of spokes which extend toward the rim in the radial direction from the hub and are arranged in the circumferential direction. The wheel further includes connecting portions on an inner peripheral surface of the rim respectively connecting the plurality of spokes to the rim. Weight-mounting surfaces are formed at the center of the inner peripheral surface of the rim in the widthwise direction and arranged between respective connecting portions. The weight-mounting surfaces are formed so as to be substantially parallel to a rotational center line of the wheel. A molding seam which is formed at an interface between split faces of a wheel mold is arranged at a position spaced away from the weight-mounting surface in the widthwise direction.