MOUNTING ARRANGEMENT, AUXILIARY MOUNTING HOLDER FOR A MOUNTING ARRANGEMENT AND METHOD FOR MOUNTING AN ADD-ON PART

Abstract

A mounting arrangement for an add-on part or charging socket on a carrier structure or vehicle body of a two-track vehicle, includes an assembly tool feeding the add-on part in a feed process step into the carrier structure in a direction of a final mounting position. The add-on part is attachable to the carrier structure at an attachment point. The mounting arrangement has an auxiliary mounting holder in the carrier structure to simplify mounting. In the feed process step, the assembly tool moves the add-on part into a premounting position, for transferring the add-on part from the assembly tool to the auxiliary mounting holder, for restoring the assembly tool without the add-on part in a reversing direction opposite the feed direction. The auxiliary mounting holder has a transverse guide, along which the add-on part is adjustable from premounting to final mounting position.

Claims

1. A mounting arrangement for mounting an add-on part or a charging socket on a carrier structure or a vehicle body of a two-track vehicle, the mounting arrangement comprising: an assembly tool for feeding the add-on part in a feed process step into the carrier structure in a direction of a final mounting position, permitting the add-on part to be attached to the carrier structure at an add-on part attachment point; an auxiliary mounting holder installed in the carrier structure for simplifying the add-on part mounting, said auxiliary mounting holder having a transverse guide; said assembly tool moving the add-on part in said feed process step to a pre-mounting position, the add-on part being transferred from said assembly tool to said auxiliary mounting holder, permitting said assembly tool to be restored without the add-on part in a reversing direction opposite to said feeding direction; and said auxiliary mounting holder permitting the add-on part to be adjusted along said auxiliary mounting holder from said pre-mounting position into said final mounting position.

2. The mounting arrangement according to claim 1, which further comprises: a wheel housing of the vehicle body for housing a vehicle wheel, said wheel housing, in a vehicle transverse direction, including a vehicle-internal wheel housing sheet metal part and a vehicle-outer wheel housing sheet metal part attached to said vehicle-internal wheel housing sheet metal part; a vehicle outer skin at least one of covering said wheel housing or having a mounting opening; a charging socket cover for covering said mounting opening; and said vehicle-outer wheel housing sheet metal part having a charging socket passage opening.

3. The mounting arrangement according to claim 2, wherein in said final mounting position, said charging socket is at least one of attached to an opening edge of said charging socket passage opening or accessible from outside when said charging socket cover is opened.

4. The mounting arrangement according to claim 2, wherein said feed direction is oriented in a vehicle vertical direction from under the vehicle to a top of the vehicle.

5. The mounting arrangement according to claim 2, wherein said vehicle assembly tool is adjustable over a linear feed stroke or over a linear reversing stroke in a direction opposite to said linear feed stroke.

6. The mounting arrangement according to claim 2, which further comprises: at least one latching element of said auxiliary mounting holder configured for a charging socket transfer, said at least one latching element having a run-on flank; a charging socket mating contour cooperating with said at least one latching element; during said feed process step, said charging socket mating contour coming into contact with said run-on flank, causing said latching element to be displaced into a release position while building up an elastic restoring force; upon reaching said pre-mounting position, said latching element springing back into a blocking position while dissipating the elastic restoring force; and said latching element having a blocking flank engaging under said charging socket mating contour, causing the charging socket in said pre-mounting position to be supported on said blocking flank of said latching element of said auxiliary mounting holder.

7. The mounting arrangement according to claim 6, wherein said auxiliary mounting holder at least one of is a plastic part or has a vehicle-upper holder base formed with at least one preloading element, and in said pre-mounting position, said preloading element presses the charging socket with a preloading force against said blocking flank of said latching element of said auxiliary mounting holder.

8. The mounting arrangement according to claim 6, wherein said blocking flank of said latching element of said auxiliary mounting holder acts as a transverse guide, and the charging socket is adjustable along said transverse guide transversely in said mounting direction.

9. The mounting arrangement according to claim 8, which further comprises: an internal corner region being open in said mounting direction; a latching element side wall; the charging socket mating contour being guided in said internal corner region in said mounting direction; and said blocking flank and said latching element side wall spanning said internal corner region.

10. The mounting arrangement according to claim 7, wherein: said auxiliary mounting holder has a position securing element for protecting the charging socket against an unintentional transverse movement out of said pre-mounting position; and said position securing element at least one of being configured to be overcome only by being forced over a predefined pressure point or being formed in said holder base of said auxiliary mounting holder.

11. The mounting arrangement according to claim 10, wherein said position securing element is an elastically flexible tab.

12. An auxiliary mounting holder for a mounting arrangement according to claim 1.

13. A method for mounting an add-on part or a charging socket, the method comprising using the mounting arrangement according to claim 1 for mounting the add-on part or charging socket on a carrier structure or a vehicle body of a two-track vehicle.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWING

[0019] FIG. 1 is a diagrammatic, side-elevational view of an electrically operated vehicle;

[0020] FIG. 2 is a roughly diagrammatic, cross-sectional view of an assembled state, in which the charging socket is installed in the vehicle body;

[0021] FIGS. 3 to 6 are cross-sectional views which illustrate the charging socket mounting; and

[0022] FIGS. 7 to 9 are perspective and cross-sectional views each showing different detailed views of the auxiliary mounting holder.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0023] Referring now to the figures of the drawings in detail and first, particularly, to FIG. 1 thereof, there is seen a two-track electrically operated vehicle which, at the rear, has a charging socket flap 3 above a rear wheel 1. In FIG. 1, the charging socket flap 3 is positioned in the vehicle vertical direction z above a lateral wheel housing recess 5 and covers a charging socket 7 (FIG. 2). As emerges from FIG. 2, the charging socket 7 is installed in the region of a rear wheel housing 9. The wheel housing 9 is built up from a vehicle-internal wheel housing sheet metal part 11 in a vehicle transverse direction y, which is welded to a body base group, not shown, and an outer vehicle wheel housing sheet metal part 15 which is connected thereto at a flange connection point 13 and which is covered by a vehicle outer skin 16. The vehicle outer skin 16 and the outer vehicle wheel housing sheet metal part 15 are firmly connected to each other in the vehicle vertical direction z at their lower edge flange 17 (FIG. 2), specifically forming a flange connection 19 delimiting the laterally outer wheel housing recess 5. Starting from this flange connection 19, the vehicle outer skin 16 in its further course toward the vehicle top is spaced apart from the vehicle outer wheel housing sheet metal part 15 by a clearance 21.

[0024] In FIG. 2, a mounting opening 23 for the charging socket flap 3 is formed in the vehicle outer skin 16, while a charging socket passage opening 25 is formed in the outer vehicle wheel housing sheet metal part 15. At the opening edge of the charging socket passage opening 25, the charging socket 7 is fixed at screw-fixing points L in its final mounting position E (FIG. 2 or 6). When the charging socket flap 3 is opened, the charging socket 7 is accessible from outside.

[0025] The core of the invention relates to an auxiliary mounting holder 29, which is screwed to the wheel housing 9 at screw-fixing points M within the wheel housing internal space 30. By using the auxiliary mounting holder 29, charging socket mounting is simplified, which is illustrated below by using FIGS. 3 to 6. Accordingly, firstly the vehicle body with the auxiliary mounting holder 29 installed therein is provided (FIG. 3). In FIG. 3, the auxiliary mounting holder is screwed through the attachment points M to the opening edge region of the charging socket passage opening 25 and to a sheet metal holder 31 of the vehicle-internal wheel housing sheet metal part 11.

[0026] A feed process step is then carried out (FIG. 4), in which the charging socket 7 is loosely positioned on receiving mandrels 33 of a vehicle assembly tool 35. The vehicle assembly tool 35 is then introduced into the wheel housing 9 toward the vehicle top in the vehicle vertical direction z through a feed stroke Z, specifically as far as a pre-mounting position V (FIG. 4). In the pre-mounting position V, a charging socket transfer from the vehicle assembly tool 35 to the auxiliary mounting holder 29 is carried out. After the charging socket transfer has been carried out, the vehicle assembly tool 35 can be restored without the charging socket 7 by a reversing stroke R (FIG. 5) in a reversing direction opposite to the feed direction.

[0027] In order to implement the aforementioned charging socket transfer, the auxiliary mounting holder 29 has latching elements 37. The latching elements 37 cooperate with a charging socket mating contour 39 (FIG. 9). During the feed process step, the charging socket mating contour 39 comes into contact with a run-on flank 41 of the respective latching element 37. As a result, the latching element 37 is displaced into a release position, building up an elastic restoring force in the process. When the pre-mounting position V is reached, the elastically displaced latching element 37 springs back into its blocking position, in which the latching element 37 engages with its blocking flank 43 under the charging socket mating contour 39 (FIG. 9), dissipating the elastic restoring force in the process. In this way, the charging socket 7 in its pre-mounting position V is supported on the blocking flank 43 of the latching element 37 of the auxiliary mounting holder 29.

[0028] The blocking flank 43 and a latching element side wall 44 in FIG. 9 form an internal corner region 45, which approximately replicates the charging socket mating contour 39 in negative form. The internal corner region 45 is configured to be open in the vehicle transverse direction y, so that the result overall is a transverse guide, along which the charging socket 7 can be displaced from its pre-mounting position V (FIG. 5) through a transverse displacement Δy (FIG. 5) as far as into its final mounting position E (FIG. 6).

[0029] In order to avoid an inadvertent transverse movement of the charging socket 7 from its pre-mounting position V, the auxiliary mounting holder 29 has a position securing element 47. The position securing element 47 blocks a transverse movement towards the outside of the vehicle. The position securing element 47 can be overcome and the charging socket 7 can be moved into the final mounting position E by a worker only after being forced over a predefined pressure point.

[0030] FIGS. 7 to 9, reveal a constructional structure of the auxiliary mounting holder 29. Accordingly, the auxiliary mounting holder 29 is approximately U-shaped in profile, with an upper vehicle holder base 49 and U-shaped legs 51 drawn up therefrom (FIG. 7). The latching elements 37 are each positioned in the U-shaped legs 51. The position securing elements 47 and the preloading elements 45 are each integrated in the holder base 49 as elastically flexible tabs.

[0031] By using the preloading elements 46, the charging socket 7 in its pre-mounting position V is pressed against the blocking flank 43 of the latching element 37 of the auxiliary mounting holder 29 with a preloading force Fv (FIG. 5 or 6).

[0032] The following is a summary list of reference numerals and the corresponding structure used in the above description of the invention: [0033] 1 Rear wheel [0034] 3 Charging socket flap [0035] 5 Wheel housing recess [0036] 7 Charging socket [0037] 9 Wheel housing [0038] 11 Vehicle-internal wheel housing sheet metal part [0039] 13 Flange connection point [0040] 15 Vehicle outer wheel housing sheet metal part [0041] 16 Vehicle outer skin [0042] 17 Edge flange [0043] 19 Flange connection [0044] 21 Clearance [0045] 23 Mounting opening [0046] 25 Charging socket passage opening [0047] 27 Opening edge [0048] 29 Auxiliary mounting holder [0049] 30 Wheel housing internal space [0050] 31 Sheet metal holder [0051] 33 Receiving mandrels [0052] 35 Vehicle assembly tool [0053] 37 Latching elements [0054] 39 Charging socket mating contour [0055] 41 Run-on flank [0056] 43 Blocking flank [0057] 45 Internal corner region [0058] 46 Preloading element [0059] 47 Position securing element [0060] 49 Holder base [0061] 51 U-shaped leg [0062] L, M Screw-fixing points [0063] R Reversing stroke [0064] Z Feed stroke