CHASSIS COMPONENT AND METHOD FOR PRODUCING A CHASSIS COMPONENT

Abstract

The present disclosure relates to a chassis component having a base body, wherein the base body has an opening for passing through a fastening means and two guide elements for guiding an eccentric element are arranged on opposite sides of the opening, wherein the guide elements are formed in one piece and using the same material of the base body of the chassis component by mechanical processing and each have a back side and a contact side facing the opening, wherein the contact side is formed orthogonally to the base body. According to the present disclosure, an outer transition region with a radius is formed between the respective contact sides and the base body. The present disclosure further relates to a method for producing a chassis component.

Claims

1-20. (canceled)

21. A chassis component comprising: a base body, the base body comprising an opening configured to receive a fastening means and two guide elements for guiding an eccentric element, the two guide elements arranged on opposite sides of the opening, the two guide elements comprising one piece and using a same material of the base body, the guide elements each comprising a back side and a contact side facing the opening, the contact side is orthogonal to the base body, and an outer transition region with a radius is between the respective contact sides and the base body.

22. The chassis component according to claim 21, wherein the radius is between 0.2 mm and 2 mm.

23. The chassis component according to claim 21, wherein the chassis component is a wishbone or a spring link.

24. The chassis component according to claim 21, wherein the back sides taper in an opposite direction to the contact sides and merge into the base body.

25. The chassis component according to claim 21, wherein the contact sides comprise a plano-convex shape.

26. The chassis component according to claim 21, wherein the side of the contact side facing away from the base body comprises an at least partially flat region which runs parallel to the base body.

27. The chassis component according to claim 21, wherein the base body comprises an indentation below the guide elements, and the indentation comprises a front side and a top side, and the front side is parallel to the contact side.

28. The chassis component according to claim 27, wherein the base body comprises an underside in region of the opening, and a lower transition region comprising a radius between the front side and the underside.

29. The chassis component according to claim 27, wherein an inner transition region with a radius is between the front side and the top side.

30. The chassis component according to claim 27, wherein an orthogonal distance is between the parallel front side and the contact side, which is between 10% and 50% of a material thickness of the base body, 20% and 40%, or 25% and 35%.

31. The chassis component according to claim 27, wherein a distance, which is in a central vertical cross section of the guide elements between the outer transition region and the inner transition region, corresponds to between 30% and 80% of a material thickness of the base body, 40% and 60%, or 45% and 55%.

32. The chassis component according to claim 21, wherein the chassis component comprises an extruded profile comprising a light metal material.

33. The chassis component according to claim 21, wherein the guide elements are cold-formed without cutting processing, such that the grain flow of the material is not interrupted.

34. The chassis component according to claim 21, wherein the contact sides have a height which is less than or equal to a thickness of the base body.

35. The chassis component according to claim 21, wherein the opening comprises an elongated hole.

36. A method of producing a chassis component, the method comprising: inserting a base body of the chassis component into a forming tool to form the guide elements, wherein the forming tool comprises a punch, a lower die, and a fixing element, and the lower die comprises mold recesses corresponding to the guide elements, and forming the guide elements by linearly advancing the punch, and the punch is aligned at an angle ? between 30? and 60? relative to the base body, in order to obtain the chassis component.

37. The method according to claim 36, wherein the base body comprises an opening configured to receive a fastening means and the guide elements are on opposite sides of the opening for guiding an eccentric element.

38. The method according to claim 36, wherein an opening configured to receive a fastening means is in the base body at a same time as the guide elements, and the guide elements are on opposite sides of the opening.

39. The method according to claim 36, wherein the guide elements are cold formed.

40. The method according to claim 36, wherein the forming process takes place at a pressure between 5 t and 20 t, or 7.5 t and 13 t.

41. The chassis component according to claim 21, wherein the radius is between 0.5 mm and 1.5 mm.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0039] The invention disclosure is described in more detail hereinafter on the basis of exemplary embodiments illustrated in the drawings. In the figures: FIG. 1A shows a chassis component in a side view according to at an embodiment of the disclosure;

[0040] FIG. 1B shows a detailed view of a chassis component according to at an embodiment of the disclosure;

[0041] FIG. 2 shows a chassis component in a plan view according to at an embodiment of the disclosure;

[0042] FIG. 3A shows a chassis component in a perspective view according to at an embodiment of the disclosure;

[0043] FIG. 3B shows a detailed view of a guide element according to section B-B of FIG. 2 according to at an embodiment of the disclosure;

[0044] FIG. 3C shows an alternative embodiment variant of a guide element according to section B-B of FIG. 2 according to at an embodiment of the disclosure;

[0045] FIG. 4 shows a guide element according to section A-A of FIG. 1B according to at an embodiment of the disclosure;

[0046] FIG. 5A shows a manufacturing method for producing a chassis component in the starting position according to at an embodiment of the disclosure; and

[0047] FIG. 5B shows a manufacturing method for producing a chassis component with punch feed according to at an embodiment of the disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0048] In the figures, the same reference numbers are used for same or similar components, even if a repeated description is omitted for reasons of simplicity.

[0049] FIG. 1, FIG. 2, and FIG. 3A show a chassis component 1, which is a spring link. The chassis component has two opposing base bodies 2, which correspond to the link arms of the spring link. The base body 2 also has an opening 3 for passing through a fastening means. Two guide elements 4 for guiding an eccentric element 5 are arranged on the opposite sides of the opening 3, see FIG. 1B. The guide elements 4 are formed in one piece by mechanical processing and using the same material of the base body 2 of the chassis component 1. The guide elements 4 each have a back side 6 and a contact side 7 facing the opening 3. The contact side 7 is orthogonal to the base body 2. The opening 3 is designed in the form of an elongated hole.

[0050] The eccentric element 5 has an eccentric screw 8 with an outer collar 9. The outer collar 9 of the eccentric element 5 is guided by the guide elements 4 in such a way that when the eccentric element 5 rotates, the eccentric screw 8 moves within the opening 3 and the chassis component 1 is thus displaced.

[0051] According to the perspective view of the chassis component 1 in FIG. 3A the contact sides 7 have a plano-convex shape and the back sides 6 taper in the opposite direction to the contact sides 7 and merge into the base body 2. This design of the guide elements 4 ensures improved robustness of the guide elements 4, enables the guide elements 4 to be designed to be as space-saving as possible and is an optimal form for force transmission from the eccentric element 5 to the base body 2. FIG. 3B shows the guide elements 4 and the base body 2 according to section B-B of FIG. 2. The plano-convex shaped contact sides 7 of the guide elements 4 have a height Hk which is less than or equal to the material thickness Sg of the base body 2. This ensures that the guide elements 4 always have sufficient material thickness.

[0052] FIG. 3C shows an alternative embodiment variant of the guide elements 4. The side of the contact side 4 facing away from the base body 2 has an at least partially flattened region 10, which extends parallel to the base body 2. In this way, the height Hk of the contact sides 7 and thus the height of the guide elements 4 can be designed as low as possible without reducing the contact surface for the eccentric element 5.

[0053] The guide elements 4 in section A-A of FIG. 1B are shown in FIG. 4. According to the disclosure, an outer transition region 11 with a radius Ra is formed between the respective contact sides 7 and the base body 2. The transition region 11 increases the material thickness between the contact sides 7 and the base body 2. The radius Ra according to the disclosure, which connects the contact sides 7 with the base body 2, significantly reduces the risk of crack formation. This increases the service life of the chassis component 1.

[0054] The radius Ra is between 0.2 mm and 2 mm, between 0.5 mm and 1.5 mm.

[0055] The base body 2 has a respective indentation 12 below the guide elements 4, as seen in FIG. 3A and FIG. 4. The indentation 12 is created by mechanical forming of the guide elements 4. The indentations 12 have a front side 13 and a top side 14, wherein the front side 13 is arranged parallel to the contact side 7. In this case, a correspondingly parallel arrangement of the front sides 13 with the contact sides 7 leads to improved stability and robustness of the guide elements 4.

[0056] An orthogonal distance is formed between the parallel front side 13 and contact side 7, which corresponds to between 10% and 50% of the material thickness Sg of the base body 2. The distance A is between 20% and 40% and between 25% and 35% of the material thickness Sg of the base body 2. This distance A according to the disclosure ensures sufficient material thickness between the front side 13 and the contact side 7, which increases robustness and lifespan of the guide elements 4.

[0057] An inner transition region 15 with a radius Ri is able to be arranged between the front side 13 and the top side 14. The inner transition region 15 increases the stability of the guide elements 4 and also reduces the risk of cracks at the transition between the front side 13 and the top side 14.

[0058] The middle vertical cross section of the guide elements 4, as shown in section A-A of FIG. 4, comprises a distance B between the outer transition region 11 and the inner transition region 15. The distance B is in between 30% and 70% of the material thickness Sg of the base body 2. The distance B is between 40% and 60% and between 45% and 55% of the material thickness Sg of the base body 2. The distance B is therefore the smallest distance between the outer transition region 11 and the inner transition region 15. A length of the distance B according to the disclosure ensures sufficient material thickness, which increases the robustness and the service life of the guide elements 4. No shear cutting is required, reducing the risk of cracking. In addition, the distance B according to the disclosure is able to ensure that the fibers within the material structure are not damaged and the material strength is therefore fully maintained. The uninterrupted flow of the fibers of the material is able to be seen in FIG. 4.

[0059] The base body 2 has an underside 16 in the region of the opening 3. A lower transition region 17 with a radius is able to be formed between the front side 13 and the underside 16.

[0060] In an alternative embodiment variant, the chassis component 1 is able to be designed such that the inner transition region 15 merges directly into the lower transition region 17. In this case, no separate front side 13 is formed between the transition regions 15, 17.

[0061] The chassis component 1 is made of an aluminum alloy and is an extruded profile.

[0062] The guide elements 4 are cold formed. This enables short processing times, good surface quality, tight dimensional tolerances, optimal material utilization and long-term consolidation of the material. The grain flow of the material is also not interrupted.

[0063] As shown in FIG. 1 and FIG. 3, the opening is designed as an elongated hole. The elongated hole enables a corresponding movement of the chassis component 1 through the eccentric element 5.

[0064] FIG. 5A and FIG. 5B illustrate the method for producing a chassis component 1 according to the disclosure, wherein the method comprises the following steps: [0065] intially a chassis component precursor 18 is provided, which is a spring link precursor. This chassis component precursor has a base body 2, which corresponds to the link arm of the spring link precursor. [0066] the base body 2 of the chassis component precursor 18 is then inserted into a forming tool 19 in order to form the guide elements 4. The forming tool 19 has a punch 20, a lower die 21 and a fixing element 22, wherein the lower die 21 has mold recesses 23 corresponding to the guide elements 4 to be formed. The base body 2 is pressed onto the lower die 21 with a force F2 by the fixing element 22 and the shape of the guide elements 4 to be formed is determined based on the shape of the mold recesses 23 and the shape of the punch head 24. [0067] the guide elements 4 are formed by a linear forward feed of the punch 20 with a force F1, wherein the punch 20 is aligned at an angle ? between 30? and 60? relative to the base body 2. After the forming process, the finished chassis component 1 is obtained.

[0068] Due to the angle ? according to the disclosure between the punch 20 and the base body 2, only a small amount of pressure is required to form the guide elements 4. The pressure for the forming process is between 5 t and 20 t, between 7.5 t and 13 t. In comparison to similar forming processes for producing guide elements 4, this involves extremely low pressure. On the one hand, this has the advantage that less energy is required for the forming process, and on the other hand, due to the low contact pressure, there are no unwanted indentations or other damage to the base body 2 that originate from the forming tool 19. The oblique orientation of the punch 20 also makes possible to obtain with the forming process a material structure that is optimal for the stability of the guide elements 4. The material fibers are preserved so that the material structure and thus the robustness and strength of the material are not affected.

[0069] The punch 20 has a punch head 24. The punch head is designed in such a way that, as a result of the forming process, the contact sides 7 of the guide elements 4 have a plano-convex shape and the back sides 6 taper in the opposite direction to the contact sides 7 and merge into the base body 2. The mold recesses 23 of the lower die 21 are also designed accordingly.

[0070] In at least one embodiment of the present disclosure, the punch head 24 is designed in such a way that by the forming process an inner transition region 15 with a radius Ri is formed between the front side 13 and the top side 14. The mold recesses 23 of the lower die 21 are designed in such a way that by the forming process an outer transition region 11 with a radius Ra is formed between the contact side 7 and the base body 2.

[0071] In at least one embodiment of the present disclosure, the base body 2 has an opening 3 for passing through a fastening means, so that the guide elements 4 are able to be formed on opposite sides of the opening 3 for guiding an eccentric element 5.

[0072] Alternatively, an opening 3 for passing through a fastening means is able to be formed in the base body 2 at the same time as the guide elements 4. Here too, the guide elements 4 are arranged on opposite sides of the opening 3. By simultaneously forming the opening 3 and guide elements 4, two processing steps of the production process are able to be merged, which has an advantageous effect on the processing time of the chassis component precursor 18.

[0073] The guide elements 4 are formed using a cold forming process. This enables short processing times, good surface quality, tight dimensional tolerances, optimal material utilization and long-term consolidation of the material. The grain flow of the material is also not interrupted.

[0074] In at least one embodiment of the present disclosure, the surfaces of the guide elements 4 are additionally polished after the forming process. This further increases the service life of the chassis component 1.