Zf Lemforder Metallwaren Ag

Zf Friedrichshafen Ag

Jürgen Gräber

Joachim Spratte

Jochen Kruse

Manfred Bohne

Achim Möll

Metin Ersoy

Martin Rechtien

Volker Grube

Frank Budde

Wolfgang Schmitt

Olaf Abels

Manfred Heidemann

Stefan Schönhoff

Thomas Richter

Matthias Gercke

Hans Prins

Rainer Ungruh

Dirk Lamla

Melanie Enkler

Dirk Maehlmann

Thomas Rösler

Guido Remme

Christian Maassmann

Jean-Paul Castanet

Thomas Catterfeld

Cord Fricke

Florian Schiller

Annette Nienaber

Jens Otte

A ball joint, in particular for a wheel suspension of a motor vehicle, with a housing. A joint ball is arranged inside the housing and a ball shell is arranged therebetween. The outer surface of the joint ball contacts the inner surface of the housing and on its inner surface against the surface of the ball, such that the ball shell holds the joint ball so that it can move by sliding. The shell is elastic such that when a force acts upon the ball joint, the joint ball can move relative to the housing. As viewed in at least one cross-section plane passing through the mid-point of the ball, the ball shell has a radial thickness that varies, in the circumferential direction, in such manner that the force acting on the ball shell in the circumferential direction is distributed uniformly, particularly over enlarged areas thereof.

Ball joint with a loading-optimized ball shell

A ball joint, in particular, an axial joint, having a ball stud, which is enclosed in a ball socket. The ball socket is enclosed in a joint housing and is integrally formed having at least one spring element in a region of the ball socket that faces away from the opening of the joint housing. The spring element has discontinuities, in particular in the form of slots, so that wear compensation is created by the spring element within the ball joint.

Ball joint

A process is provided for manufacturing a ball and socket joint that has a ball pivot () that is composed of a pivot pin () with an essentially spherical ball head (4) arranged or made integrally in one piece on one side. A bearing shell () is provided as well as a preformed plastic film as a thin-walled ball socket () with a joint surface () enclosing the ball head at least partially. A lubricant () is introduced between the surface of the ball head () and the joint surface () of the thin-walled ball socket (). According to the process, the thin-walled ball socket () is filled first with the lubricant (). The ball head () of the ball pivot () is then introduced into the thin-walled ball socket () filled with lubricant (), and the ball head () provided with the thin-walled ball socket () is subsequently introduced into the housing (). Finally, the free space between the thin-walled ball socket () and the housing () is filled up with a material to form a bearing shell (). The ball and socket joint () is formed with a preformed plastic film as a thin-walled ball socket ().

High-performance ball and socket joint with low torques

A ball joint for a motor vehicle includes a housing () having a cavity (), and with a ball pivot (), which has a pin () and a joint ball () and which, with its joint ball (), is mounted in the cavity () of the housing () in a manner that permits it to rotate and pivot. The journal () extends through an opening () provided in the housing and out therefrom. The inventive ball joint also comprises sealing bellows (), which are placed between the housing () and the journal (). A multipart measuring arrangement is provided having at least one signal transmitter () and at least one sensor (). The measuring arrangement is placed between the pin-side end of the joint ball () and the pin-side end of the sealing bellows ().

Ball and socket joint for a motor vehicle

A ball and socket joint () is provided, for example, for a chassis bearing, with a ball (), a pivot () originating from the ball (), a housing () accommodating the ball, and a sealing bellows (), which extends between the housing () and the pivot () and has a housing-side opening () and a pivot-side opening (). The sealing bellows () has a circumferential sealing lip () for sealing at the pivot-side opening (). The ball and socket joint () has a first guide ring (), which guides the sealing bellows (). The first guide ring () is arranged at the pivot (). An especially favorable functional separation is achieved as a result between the guiding function and the sealing function.

Ball and socket joint with sealing bellows

The present invention pertains to a ball-and-socket joint, especially for steering mechanisms and/or wheel suspensions of motor vehicles, with a ball pivot (), which is accommodated rotatably and tiltably in a one-part or multipart bearing shell () within a joint housing (), wherein the bearing shell () is fixed in the joint housing by a closing ring (), wherein a metallic compressible element (), which provides a sealing contact surface between the joint housing () and the closing ring () in the assembled state of the ball-and-socket joint, is arranged between the closing ring () and the joint housing ().

Balljoint

The present invention pertains to a chassis part for connection and force transmission between a vehicle chassis of at least one wheel, consisting of fiber-reinforced plastics or plastic composite systems, preferably for a passenger car or utility vehicle. The present invention is characterized in that at least one means for measuring forces acting on the chassis parts is integrated in the plastic portions of the chassis parts.

Chassis part consisting of fiber-reinforced plastics, equipped with an integrated sensor

A ball-and-socket joint for a motor vehicle, especially for a rocker pendulum of a motor vehicle, is provided with a housing (), which is open on at least one side and into the interior space () of which a bearing shell () is inserted, which in turn accommodates a joint ball () of a ball pivot () in a slidingly movable manner. The interior space () has elevations and/or depressions () along its inner jacket surface () or a polygonal cross section, so that the bearing shell (), which is provided with an oversize in relation to the inner jacket surface (), can be inserted into the housing () in a positive-locking manner while its outer surface undergoes a partial plastic deformation. The inner jacket surface () may have pressure zones () which shorten the effective length of the elevations and/or depressions ().

Ball and socket joint

Growing community of inventors

Stemwede-Dielingen, Germany

Jürgen Gräber