Daimler Chrysler Ag

Hartmut Albers

Karl-Heinz Ilzhoefer

Markus Steffens

Gunter Fischer

Thomas Schuh

Dirk Siebelt

Patrick Kim

Rainer Hack

The invention relates to an impact beam for a vehicle body, which has an oblong box-type hollow profile. In order to enable the impact beam to provide sufficient rigidity and strength in the event of an impact in spite of having a lightweight construction, it is proposed that an oblong, planar, fiber-reinforced plastic part is fitted at least on the rear side of the hollow profile, which side faces the vehicle.

Impact beam for a vehicle body

A suspension for a wheel in a motor vehicle, such as a passenger car, having a link which is made of fiber composite and is mounted at one end, by means of a mounting, on a chassis of the vehicle and at the other end holds the wheel, and having spring means which are made of fiber composite and support the link on the chassis in a resilient manner. In order to obtain a particularly compact construction for the wheel suspension, the mounting has a bearing in which a bearing part, which is fastened to the chassis, is mounted such that it can be adjusted relative to a bearing part, which is fastened to the link, by pivoting about a pivot axis, and the spring means having a torsion-bar suspension which extends coaxially to the pivot axis and is fastened at one end to the chassis or to the bearing part fixed to the chassis, and is fastened at the other end to the link or to the bearing part fixed to the link.

Wheel suspension in a motor vehicle

A cardan-type joint has flanges which are arranged on mutually facing shaft ends and preferably have three axially projecting driving pins, respectively, which are mutually staggered and uniformly arranged on the circumference of a common graduated circle. The driving pins are connected with one another in a torsion-proof manner by a flexible joint ring which is provided in corner points with sockets for the driving pins. The multi-part joint ring is formed by a collar of several oval driving loops. Each of the driving loops winds around two adjacent sockets. In order to easily permit relatively large bending angles during rotation, even in the event of a high mechanical and thermal loading of the cardan-type joint, the oval driving loops are indirectly or directly swivellably disposed on the driving pins by a pair of contact surfaces which are round in a meridian section in an axially slidable manner on the socket or on the driving loop. In this case, as viewed radially from the outside, the contact surface pairs may be made concave or convex. In the case of a convex contact surface shape, a spherical shape is preferred.

Cardan-type joint

A joint for the angularly movable connection of two shafts with one another has flanges which are arranged on the shaft ends. Each of the flanges has three axially projecting driving pins which are connected with a hexagonal, elastically deformable joint ring. The joint ring, in turn, is formed in several parts by a collar of chain-link-type driving loops which can be swivelled on sockets at the corner points of the joint ring. For relieving the driving loops, one linear compression bar is also arranged in the interior of each driving loop. The compression bar has faces placed onto the sockets while transmitting force under load. The effective length of the compression bars is dimensioned such that the bars fill the clear space between two adjacent sockets only with play. The play is large enough so that the compression bars are placed in contact only after a defined basic load has been exceeded so that as the result of the load, the driving loops are elastically stretched to a defined degree.

Cardan-type joint including supportive compression bars

A universal joint with flanges located at the ends of two shafts connected by the joint includes three driving tabs projecting axially from the respective flanges. Each of the total of six driving tabs being located opposite a gap located uniformly on the circumference of a common partial circle. These tabs are connected with one another by means of a hexagonal axially elastically deformable joint ring provided with sockets at the corner points. The joint ring in turn is formed in a multipartite fashion by a ring of several driving loops that are endless, oval, and each wrapped around two adjacent sockets, said loops preferably being made of endless-fiber-reinforced plastic. In order to be able to allow higher bending angles of the universal joint without a significant increase in the stress on the parts, the driving loops in their supporting cross sections according to the invention have an axially flexible rectangular cross-sectional shape resembling a leaf spring, with the longer cross section side, with a side ratio preferably of at least 1:4, being located in an axially perpendicular plane of the universal joint. In the sockets, at least in the areas wrapped by the driving loops. Position-stabilizing circumferential grooves are provided that correspond to the cross-sectional shape of the driving loops. In the circumferential area not wrapped by the driving loops, the side flanks of the position-stabilizing circumferential grooves of the sockets are either expanded or cut away.

Growing community of inventors

Stuttgart, Germany

Hartmut Albers