SOUND GENERATING ASSEMBLY FOR AN EXHAUST SYSTEM

Abstract

A sound generating assembly for an exhaust system of an internal combustion engine of a motor vehicle includes a sound generator arranged within a sound generator housing. Furthermore, an outer contour of the sound generator housing has a connecting surface configured to be attached to a motor vehicle structure. The connecting surface is set off from a remaining surface of the outer contour.

Claims

1. A sound generating assembly for an exhaust system of an internal combustion engine of a motor vehicle comprising: a sound generator arranged within a sound generator housing; an outer contour of the sound generator housing having a connecting surface configured to be attached to a motor vehicle structure; and wherein the connecting surface is set off from a remaining surface of the outer contour, and wherein the connecting surface is separate from a sound outlet opening of the sound generator.

2. The sound generating assembly according to claim 1, wherein the sound generator housing is multi-part and the connecting surface is formed on a sound generator housing part on a sound outlet side.

3. The sound generating assembly according to claim 1, wherein the connecting surface comprises a joining zone.

4. The sound generating assembly according to claim 1, wherein the connecting surface is substantially flat.

5. The sound generating assembly according to claim 1, wherein the connecting surface is substantially C-shaped.

6. The sound generating assembly according to claim 5, wherein the connecting surface at least partly surrounds a sound generator housing axis that is substantially vertical when the sound generating assembly is in an installed position.

7. The sound generating assembly according to claim 3, wherein one to five, preferably one to three and particularly preferably two or three, brackets are joined to the sound generator housing via the connecting surface, in particular via the joining zone, and wherein bracket ends each facing away from the sound generator housing are adapted to be connected to the motor vehicle structure.

8. The sound generating assembly according to claim 7, wherein a width of the joining zone allows a tolerance compensation, more particularly the width is larger than a dimension, extending in the same direction as the width, of a contact contour of a bracket end on the sound generator housing side of each bracket, and wherein the contact contour is to be joined to the connecting surface.

9. The sound generating assembly according to claim 7, wherein the sound generator housing is multi-part, and at least one of the brackets, preferably all brackets, is or are additionally joined to a sound generator housing part on which the connecting surface is not formed.

10. The sound generating assembly according to claim 1, wherein as viewed in a sound radiation direction of the sound generator, the connecting surface is arranged at a lateral distance from temperature-sensitive components of the sound generator, in particular from a bead or diaphragm thereof.

11. The sound generating assembly according to claim 1, wherein the sound generator housing is multi-part, and the mounting of the sound generator and the forming of the connecting surface are effected on different housing parts.

12. The sound generating assembly according to claim 1, wherein the connecting surface is located parallel to and/or in an immediate vicinity of a linking surface of the sound generator on which no welding may be performed due to an associated thermal load.

13. The sound generating assembly according to claim 3, wherein the joining zone has significantly tighter shape and/or positional tolerances than neighboring surfaces of the sound generator housing.

14. The sound generating assembly according to claim 1, wherein the motor vehicle structure comprises an exhaust system.

15. The sound generating assembly according to claim 1, wherein the connecting surface is formed on a sound conducting horn.

16. The sound generating assembly according to claim 6, wherein the connecting surface surrounds the sound generator housing axis by more than 180.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0025] The invention will be discussed below with reference to an exemplary embodiment that is shown in the accompanying drawings, in which:

[0026] FIG. 1 schematically shows a sound generating assembly according to the invention, which is attached to a motor vehicle structure;

[0027] FIG. 2 shows the sound generating assembly from FIG. 1 in a partly transparent side view;

[0028] FIG. 3 shows the sound generating assembly from FIG. 2 in a view along direction III;

[0029] FIG. 4 shows the sound generating assembly from FIG. 3, with a bracket being welded to the assembly as an example;

[0030] FIG. 5 shows the sound generating assembly from FIG. 4 in a perspective view, which corresponds to the top view from FIG. 4;

[0031] FIG. 6 shows a detail of the sound generating assembly from FIG. 5; and

[0032] FIG. 7 shows a detail VII of the sound generating assembly from FIG. 2.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0033] FIG. 1 shows a sound generating assembly 10 for an exhaust system, not illustrated in more detail, of an internal combustion engine of a motor vehicle.

[0034] Here, the sound generating assembly 10 is attached to a motor vehicle structure 16 with two brackets 12, 14, illustrated merely schematically, each of which has a bracket end 12a, 14a on a sound generator housing side and a bracket end 12b, 14b on a motor vehicle structure side.

[0035] The brackets 12, 14 are welded to the sound generating assembly 10; any other suitable joining method may also be used.

[0036] For the connection to the motor vehicle structure 16, any suitable connecting method may be applied.

[0037] The sound generating assembly 10 comprises a sound generator housing 18 in which a sound generator 20 is arranged which in the illustrated exemplary embodiment is a loudspeaker (see FIGS. 2 and 7). Sound generated by the sound generator 20 is conducted via a sound outlet opening 21 to an environment or into the exhaust system via a linking not shown here.

[0038] Furthermore, in the illustrated exemplary embodiment, the sound generator housing 18 has a multi-part configuration. In this connection, the sound generator housing comprises a sound generator housing part 18a on the sound outlet side, which in the present case is configured to be funnel-shaped, in particular as a sound conducting horn or a sound conducting cone. It further includes a sound generator housing rear part 18b and a sound generator housing intermediate part 18c.

[0039] In the illustrated embodiment, the sound generator 20 is attached to the sound generator housing intermediate part 18c (see FIGS. 2 and 7).

[0040] In order to be able to attach the sound generator housing 18, for example to the motor vehicle structure 16, an outer contour 22, symbolized by a dashed line, of the sound generator housing 18 comprises a connecting surface 24.

[0041] The latter is set off from the rest of the outer contour 22.

[0042] The connecting surface 24 is formed on the sound generator housing part 18a on a sound outlet side (cf. in particular FIGS. 2-7).

[0043] Further, the connecting surface 24 is designed to be substantially flat.

[0044] Moreover, the connecting surface 24 is C-shaped.

[0045] Here, the connecting surface 24 at least partly surrounds a sound generator housing axis 26 that is substantially vertical in an installed position of the sound generating assembly 10.

[0046] A surround angle (see FIGS. 3 and 4) is preferably larger than 180 here.

[0047] Furthermore, the connecting surface 24 is arranged on the sound generator housing 18 such that, as viewed in a sound radiation direction 28 of the sound generator 20, it is located at a lateral distance from the sound generator 20 (see in particular FIG. 7). In case that the sound generator 20 is a loudspeaker, the lateral distance from a loudspeaker diaphragm is important here, in particular in a radial direction.

[0048] The connecting surface 24 comprises a joining zone 30, the shape of which corresponds essentially to that of the connecting surface 24 in the exemplary embodiment shown, with the edge portions of the connecting surface 24, however, being recessed (cf. FIG. 3).

[0049] One to five brackets 12, 14 may be joined to the sound generator housing 18 with the connecting surface 24, more precisely via the joining zone 30. For the sake of clarity, FIG. 1 shows only two brackets 12, 14 and FIGS. 4-6 show only one single bracket 12 by way of example.

[0050] The number of brackets 12, 14 may be varied depending on the size and geometry of the sound generator housing 18 and/or the installation space in which the sound generating assembly 10 is to be mounted. This makes it possible, among other things, for the sound generating assembly 10 to be employed in different types of vehicles the motor vehicle structures 16 of which exhibit differences in the region of the sound generating assembly 10.

[0051] The brackets 12, 14 are each adapted to be connected to, or are connected to, the motor vehicle structure 16 by their respective bracket end 12b, 14b facing away from the sound generator housing 18.

[0052] The bracket ends 12a, 14a on the sound generator housing side are each provided with a contact contour 32 that is configured to be joined to the connecting surface 24, more precisely to the joining zone 30.

[0053] Each of the contact contours 32 here is dimensioned in an extent corresponding to a width B of the connecting surface 24 and a width F of the joining zone 30 such that the width B of the connecting surface 24 is always larger than the corresponding dimension of the contact contour 32.

[0054] This allows the brackets 12, 14 to be connected to the connecting surface 24 or the joining zone 30 at different positions along the directions of the width B and the width F.

[0055] In other words, in this way the bracket 12, 14 can be connected to the connecting surface 24, more precisely to the joining zone 30, at slightly different distances from the sound generator housing axis 26 in order to compensate for tolerances.

[0056] In addition, one or more of the brackets 12, 14 may be joined to a sound generator housing part on which the connecting surface 24 is not formed. In this context, it is apparent from FIG. 6 in particular that the bracket 12 is connected to the sound generator housing part 18a on the sound outlet side and to the sound generator housing intermediate part 18b.

[0057] Although an embodiment of this invention has been disclosed, a worker of ordinary skill in this art would recognize that certain modifications would come within the scope of this disclosure. For that reason, the following claims should be studied to determine the true scope and content of this disclosure.