Zf Friedrichshafen Ag

Zf Lemforder Metallwaren Ag

Helmut Noe

Martin Rechtien

Manfred Heidemann

Anja Wehrsse

Klaus Bröker

Marc Zeidler

A ball and socket joint is provided, preferably for use in vehicles, especially in the area of the chassis of motor vehicles. The ball and socket joint includes a ball and socket joint housing having a joint opening, with a ball pivot, which is arranged in the ball and socket joint housing, extends through the joint opening and with which a shaft is made integral. A support ring is arranged on the shaft of the ball pivot. A sealing element is arranged between the support ring and a connection component surrounding the shaft of the ball pivot. The function of the sealing element is preserved over comparatively long periods of time without being adversely affected by corrosion phenomena in the area of the ball pivot. The sealing element is designed for this purpose as an elastically and/or plastically deformable profiled body (), whose effective cross section, which is free from the effect of forces, is limited by a continuously extending, curved contour (), which is subject to deformation in the installed state, as a result of which at least a partial area of the contour () is in contact with the adjoining areas () that are to be sealed.

Ball and socket joint, for use in vehicles

A ball-and-socket joint has a pivot pin accommodated rotatably and tiltably with a spherical joint area in a bearing shell. The bearing shell is in turn arranged in the recess of a joint housing. A closing ring fixes the bearing shell in the joint housing in the axial longitudinal direction of the pivot pin by at least one surface pair. Corresponding to a first solution variant, an intermediate element made of an elastic material may be arranged between the corresponding contact surfaces of the surface pair on the bearing shell and the closing ring. As an alternative an insert element may be arranged between the outer contour of the bearing shell and the bottom area of the recess, wherein at least one intermediate element made of an elastic material is arranged between the outer surface of the insert element and the corresponding inner surface of the recess. The requirement imposed on the dimensional accuracy of the ball-and-socket joint components can be substantially reduced due to these solution variants, which contributes to a reduction of the manufacturing costs.

Ball-and-socket joint

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Hörstel, Germany

Helmut Noe