DAMPER BEARING COMPRISING A HOUSING AND COVER

Abstract

The invention relates to a damper bearing comprising a hollow housing (1) for receiving a damping element (5) and a cover (3) for fixing the damping element (5) in the housing (1), wherein the housing (1) and the cover (3) are manufactured from plastic and the connection between the housing (1) and the cover (3) is produced integrally by a welding process, which is based on a relative movement between the housing (1) and the cover (3). The invention furthermore relates to a method for producing a damper bearing according to the invention, in which the housing and the cover are brought into contact at contact surfaces provided for this purpose, and a relative movement between the housing and the cover is then generated, which causes the housing and the cover to be integrally welded as a result of the energy input into the contact surfaces.

Claims

1. A damper bearing, comprising a hollow housing for receiving a damping element and a cover for fixing the damping element in the housing, wherein the housing and the cover are manufactured from plastic, wherein a connection between the housing and the cover is produced integrally by orbital welding or oscillating friction welding, which is based on a relative movement between the housing and the cover.

2. The damper bearing of claim 1, wherein contact surfaces of the housing and the cover which are provided for the integral connection are of rotationally symmetrical design.

3. The damper bearing of claim 1, wherein the orbital welding is used.

4. The damper bearing of claim 1, wherein the oscillating friction welding is used.

5. The damper bearing of claim 1, wherein contact surfaces of the housing and the cover are spaced apart from an outer surface of the damping element in a radial direction relative to an axis of rotation and are separated by a separating element.

6. The damper bearing of claim 5, wherein the separating element is designed as a groove or web.

7. The damper bearing of claim 1, wherein contact surfaces of the housing and the cover are conically shaped.

8. The damper bearing of claim 1, wherein the housing and the cover are manufactured of fiber-reinforced polyamide with a fiber content of more than 20%.

9. The damper bearing of claim 1, wherein the damping element is based on a cellular polyisocyanate polyaddition product.

10. A method for producing a damper bearing, the method comprising: making a hollow housing for receiving a damping element, making a cover for fixing the damping element in the housing, contacting the housing with the cover at contact surfaces, and then generating a relative movement between the housing and the cover, which causes the housing and the cover to be integrally welded as a result of energy input into the contact surfaces, wherein the housing and the cover are manufactured from plastic.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein a penetration depth of the cover into a cavity of the housing is detected metrologically during the relative movement.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the metrologically determined penetration depth is used to set a specified compression of the damping elem

Description

EXAMPLE 1

[0034] A damper bearing according to the invention is illustrated in a plan view in the fully assembled state in FIG. 1. The damper bearing comprises a housing 1, which is provided for the purpose of being mounted by means of three flanges with through holes on the body of a motor vehicle. In the center of the housing 1, there is a cavity, in which a damping element 5 is accommodated. The damping element 5 is fixed in the cavity of the housing by means of a cover 3. In the example illustrated, the upper side of the cover is flush with the upper side of the housing. However, this embodiment is not compulsory. Depending on the specifications in respect of the installation space in which the damper bearing is to be installed, it is also possible for the upper side of the cover to project beyond the housing or to be inserted into the cavity in a recessed manner.

[0035] The housing 1 and the cover 3 are manufactured from plastic, in the example illustrated from polyamide (PA 6.6) with a volume-based glass fiber content to 50%. The connection between the housing and the cover is produced integrally by a welding process, which is based on a relative movement between the housing and the cover.

[0036] FIG. 2 shows a longitudinal section through the damper bearing shown in FIG. 1. The damping element 5 is clamped between the housing base and the cover 3. In the example illustrated, the damping element 5 is designed as a hollow cylinder, which has an annular groove centrally in the axial direction, in which an insert 15 is arranged. This insert 15 is used to secure the piston rod of a shock damper thereon.

[0037] FIG. 3 shows an enlarged detail of the illustration in FIG. 2. In this example, the outside diameter of the cover 3 is smaller than the inside diameter of the housing 1 in the region provided to receive the cover 3. In the assembled state, therefore, an annular gap 11 is formed between the cover 3 and the housing 1. On its lower side, which faces the damping element 5, the cover 3 has an annular groove.

[0038] The region of the cover between the groove and its outer rim has a greater thickness than the inner region of the cover. Thus, the rim of the cover projects downward in an axial direction beyond the inner region of the cover. The lower annular surface of this rim forms the contact surface on the cover, which is provided for welding to the housing.

[0039] Proceeding outward in a radial direction from the cavity in which the damping element 5 is arranged, the housing 1 first of all has an annular web 7, which is followed by an annular groove. The base of this groove forms the contact surface 9 on the housing, which is provided for welding to the cover.

[0040] FIGS. 1 to 3 show the damper bearing in the assembled state. To produce the welded joint, the housing 1 and the cover 3 have been brought into contact at the contact surfaces mentioned, and a relative movement between the housing and the cover has then been generated.

[0041] The relative movement causes an energy input in the form of friction into the contact surfaces, which has the effect that the plastics material at the contact surfaces melts and welds integrally.

[0042] By virtue of the shaping of the cover and the housing in the region of the groove, the plastics material formed by the melting process remains in the housing and is prevented by the web 7, which acts as a separating element, from coming into contact with the damping element 5. This minimizes and, ideally, completely prevents impairment of the damping element 5 by the welding process.

[0043] During the welding process, the cover 3 is pushed in the direction of the housing base. During this process, the extent to which the cover penetrates into the cavity of the housing is detected metrologically. The welding process is continued until a predetermined precompression of the damping element 5 has been achieved.

EXAMPLE 2

[0044] A longitudinal section through a housing 1 of another example of a damper bearing according to the invention is illustrated in FIG. 4. This damper bearing differs from the damper bearing according to example 1 essentially in the shaping of the contact surfaces 9 provided for welding. The contact surfaces of the housing and the cover, which is not shown in FIG. 4, are conically shaped. As in example 1, the contact surface 9 of the housing is separated from the housing cavity 13 provided to receive the damping element by an annular web 7.

[0045] For welding, the housing and the cover are brought into contact at the contact surfaces, and a relative movement between the housing and the cover is then generated. The plastics material at the conical contact surfaces melts owing to the energy input and joins together integrally. In comparison with example 1, the surface provided for melting is larger owing to the conical configuration. As in example 1, the damping element is protected from the melting material since it remains in the annular groove formed between the web 7 and the contact surfaces.