UNIT BEARING HAVING A CARRYING ELEMENT AND PRODUCTION METHOD

Abstract

A unit bearing includes a bearing body configured to be received by a rigid bearing housing provided with an opening on at least one side, a carrier element and at least one support member engaging the rigid bearing housing through the opening. The bearing body includes elastomer abutments. The elastomer abutments are disposed between the rigid bearing housing and the support member. The carrier element is disposed between the support member and the elastomer abutments. The unit bearing is configured such that relative movements of the bearing body with respect to the bearing housing caused by loading of the support member along three mutually orthogonal directions are limited by the elastomer abutments.

Claims

1-12. (canceled)

13. A unit bearing, comprising: a carrier element; a bearing body configured to be received by a rigid bearing housing provided with an opening on at least one side, the bearing body including elastomer abutments; at least one support member engaging the rigid bearing housing through the opening; wherein the elastomer abutments are disposed between the rigid bearing housing and the at least one support member; wherein the carrier element is disposed between the support member and the elastomer abutments and spaces the support member from all of the elastomer abutments; and wherein the unit bearing is configured such that relative movements of the bearing body with respect to the bearing housing caused by loading of the support member along three mutually orthogonal directions are limited by the elastomer abutments.

14. A unit bearing in accordance with claim 13, wherein the carrier element similarly spaces the support member from all of the elastomer abutments.

15. A unit bearing in accordance with claim 13, wherein the carrier element forms at least one shape fit with at least one region of the support member in the position of use.

16. A unit bearing in accordance with claim 13, wherein the support member has at least one cutout defined therein and the carrier element is provided with at least one projection engaging in a respective cut-out of the support member, and/or the carrier element has at least one cutout defined therein and the support member is provided with at least one projection engaging in a respective cutout of the carrier element.

17. A unit bearing in accordance with claim 16, wherein at least one projection has a geometrical shape in cross-section.

18. A unit bearing in accordance with claim 16, wherein each projection tapers in the projecting direction.

19. A unit bearing in accordance with claim 13, wherein the carrier element contacts at least two oppositely disposed side surfaces of the support member in a planar manner in the position of use and is preloaded against them.

20. A unit bearing in accordance with claim 13, wherein at least one section of the support member has a substantially quadrangular contour and the carrier element engages over the at least one section at three sides and at corner regions which bound a side of the support member free of the carrier element, the at least one section of the support member covered by the carrier element.

21. A unit bearing in accordance with claim 20, wherein the carrier element has a contour corresponding to the covered section of the support member or deviating therefrom.

22. A unit bearing in accordance with claim 13, wherein the elastomer abutments form a common abutment body which completely outwardly encompasses the carrier element in the position of use.

23. A unit bearing in accordance with claim 13, wherein the elastomer abutments are disposed in three mutually orthogonal directions.

24. A unit bearing in accordance with claim 13, wherein the bearing body is an elastomer bearing body.

25. A unit bearing in accordance with claim 13, wherein the relative movements along three mutually orthogonal directions at both sides of a position of rest of the respective movement are limited by the elastomer abutments.

26. A unit bearing in accordance with claim 13, wherein the carrier element is thermoplastic.

27. A method of manufacturing a unit bearing in accordance with claim 13, comprising the steps of: permanently connecting the elastomer abutments to the carrier element to form an assembly; releasably connecting the assembly to at least one section of the support member.

28. A method in accordance with claim 27, further comprising the step of: directly applying an abutment body formed from the elastomer abutments onto the carrier element while applying a bonding agent; and subsequently vulcanizing the abutment body.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0022] FIG. 1 a perspective side view of a first embodiment with a support member and with a carrier element located thereabove;

[0023] FIG. 2 a perspective side view of a second embodiment with a support member and with a carrier element located thereabove at which an abutment body with abutments is arranged;

[0024] FIG. 3 a perspective view obliquely from below of an embodiment having a support member above which a carrier element is arranged at which projections and cut-outs can be recognized for interlocking with complementary regions of the support member;

[0025] FIG. 4 a perspective view obliquely from above of a carrier element from FIGS. 1 to 3;

[0026] FIG. 5 a perspective side view of the lower side of a carrier element from FIG. 1 or FIG. 3; and

[0027] FIG. 6 a perspective side view of the lower side of a carrier element of FIG. 2.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0028] The components of a support member 2 associated with a unit bearing not shown in any greater detail precision and marked as a while by 1 and a carrier element 3 which is formed from a thermoplastic and which can be releasably connected to the support member 2 can be recognized in FIGS. 1 to 3. An abutment body 4 can only be seen in FIG. 2 in this respect; it is vulcanized onto the carrier element 3 and recognizably completely covers it for the viewer at least to the front side, rear side and upper side and simultaneously forms a bearing body 4, not shown in further detail, at which the support surface 10 located at the lower side of the support member 2 for the viewer in FIGS. 1 to 3 is supported. A common carrier element 3 which simultaneously spaces the support member 2 from all the elastomer abutments 11, 12, 13 in the X, Y and Z directions is therefore arranged between the support member 2 and the elastomer abutments 11, 12, 13 of the bearing body 4 which form the abutment body 4. In this respect, at least one abutment can be recognized in FIG. 2 in at least one deflection direction from a position of rest with respect to the respective direction of movement, with the abutment 12 bounding the deflection in both direction of deflection of this direction of movement in the Y direction by engagement of a section, not further shown, of the bearing housing, likewise not to be recognized. It can furthermore be recognized in FIG. 2 that the elastomer abutments 11, 12, 13 form a common abutment body 4 which completely outwardly encompasses the carrier element 3 in the position of use.

[0029] When looking at the support member 2 in the three representations of FIGS. 1 to 3, three eyelets 5 approximately at the end face can be recognized in the section of said support member at the right for the viewer for the at least indirect connection of the support member 2 to a section of a unit not further shown, in particular of an internal combustion engine or of a drive unit comprising an internal combustion engine and a transmission. Turning to the left in the view, the cross-section of the support member 2 tapers and merges into a parallelepiped section 6 at whose left end face a section 7 of a U section type, viewed from the side, bounds the support member 2. The parallelepiped section 6 in this respect has four triangular cut-outs 8 which are grouped in a kind of honeycomb structure to form a quadrangle and which are arranged at the upper side of the section 6 for the viewer. These cut-outs 8 form engagements for the complementary projections 9, 9 which are formed at the carrier element 3 and which engage into the cut-outs 8 in the position of use and whose walls form a shape fit with the cut-out walls oppositely adjacent them. The projections 9 in accordance with FIGS. 1 and 3 are formed in the manner of a truncated pyramid. The carrier element 3 in accordance with FIG. 2 has projections 9 which are formed differently from them, namely provided with a cruciform cross-section and grouped in a regular 22 formation and which make corresponding cut-outs necessary at a support member 2, not shown. It can moreover be recognized, on the one hand, that the contour of the carrier element 3 in FIGS. 1 to 3 largely follows the definition by the support member 2 or by its covered sections 6, 7, which also includes a tongue-shaped, upwardly projecting projection 14 engaging into a complementary cut-out 15 of the carrier element 3 at the left end face of the support member 2. This projection 14 also has a geometrical shape, namely that of a trapezoid, which tapers per se, and indeed here actually in turn in the direction of the projection.

[0030] It finally also results from FIGS. 1 to 3 that a section 6 of the support member 2 has a substantially quadrangular contour and the carrier element 3 engages over this section 6 at three sides and at corner regions which bound an uncovered side, with the uncovered side having the support surface 10. The projections 9, 9 of the carrier element 3 engage into the cut-outs 8 disposed opposite the uncovered side at the support member 2. In this respect, the carrier element 3 contacts at least two oppositely disposed side surfaces of the support member 2 in a planar manner in the position of use and is preloaded against them such that a force fit is formed at the side surfaces of the parallelepiped section 6.

[0031] The conditions described with respect to the carrier element 3 can again be recognized in FIGS. 4 and 5, namely substantially the two sections 6, 7 encompassing the support member 2 and the engagement 15 for the projection 14 which is arranged at the end face at the support member 2 and which projects upward approximately transversely to the longitudinal extent of the support member 2 for the viewer. It can be more exactly recognized in FIGS. 4 and 5 that latch noses 18 which engage over the corner regions of the support member 2 at its uncovered side face on another at the two lower ends of the side cheeks 16 of the carrier element 3 over their length.

[0032] As can easily be recognized in FIG. 6, they are connected to the carrier element 3 in one piece by projections 9 formed with a cruciform cross-section. This likewise applies to the projections 9 in accordance with FIGS. 1 and 3 formed in the manner of truncated pyramids.

[0033] The above-described invention accordingly relates to a unit bearing 1 having an elastomer bearing body 4 which is received in a rigid bearing housing provided with an opening at at least one side, wherein at least one support member 2 engages through the at least one opening and is supported against the bearing housing at the bearing body 4, and wherein relative movements of the bearing body 4 with respect to the bearing housing caused by loading of the support member 2 along three mutually orthogonal directions of extent X, Y, Z of the bearing body 4 at both sides of a position of rest of the respective relative movement can be limited by elastomer abutments 11, 12, 13 of the bearing body 4 arranged between the bearing housing and the support member 2. To have an elastomer bearing available which reduces or avoids known disadvantages and which can be manufactured faster and more favorably, a common carrier element 3 is arranged between the support member 2 and the elastomer abutments 11, 12, 13 and simultaneously spaces the support member 2 from all the elastomer abutments 11, 12, 13.