Land vehicles: bodies and tops – Bodies – Body shell
Reexamination Certificate
2000-10-03
2002-07-09
Patel, Ken (Department: 3612)
Land vehicles: bodies and tops
Bodies
Body shell
C296S182100, C296S182100, C296S183100, C296S204000, C105S422000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06416118
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to an arrangement for absorption of energy released on impact, in particular for road or rail bound vehicles.
It is known to attach energy absorbing components to the vehicle structure or to integrate them in the vehicle structure. The purpose of these components is to absorb, partially or completely, when the vehicle suffers impact causing energy to be released. The energy of impact is as a rule converted to heat along with the deformation of the component.
The purpose of energy absorbing components is to protect persons, freight and the load bearing structure or sensitive devices in the vehicle from being damaged by reducing the maximum force or negative acceleration i.e. to dampen the impact or thrust. Furthermore, when a moving train or road vehicle collides with an obstacle, the passenger compartments should not be subjected to high acceleration and should be deformed as little as possible.
Various forms of reversible and irreversible deformable energy absorbing components are known. For example, hollow sections are employed as energy absorbers which consume energy by being crushed and folded in the longitudinal direction. Furthermore honeycomb components or foamed bodies which likewise transform the energy of impact into thermal energy by deformation are known. Also known are hollow structures which on impact are filled with an energy absorbing fluid.
What these components have in common is that as a rule they do not feature any components that are integrated in the vehicle structure, but rather represent additional constructions on the periphery of the vehicle.
In the case of railway vehicles it is known e.g. to install between the coupling and the under-carriage an energy absorbing component which at average impact velocities of up to 60 km/h take up a part of the energy generated on impact. For that reason it is also known in the case of railway vehicles to employ buffers or anticlimber devices to absorb or divert forces of impact acting in the longitudinal direction of the vehicle.
The known applications suffer the disadvantage that they require a relatively large amount of space as the energy that can be absorbed by components depends to a large extent on the possible path of deformation of a deformable structure. For functional or legal reasons, in many applications in vehicle manufacture there is, however, only limited space available for energy absorbing structures. Furthermore energy absorbing components result in high vehicle weight as these generally have no additional functions in the vehicle structure.
As a rule known structures for absorbing the energy of impact ensure complete absorption of energy only for small and medium impact forces. If the energy of impact is large, as a result of the immediate effect of the force acting on the structural frame, after the path of deformation has been overcome, a pronounced peak in the force and acceleration is produced in particular in the longitudinal beam of the vehicle.
Further, there is a need to retrofit existing vehicle structures with energy absorbing components in order e.g. to increase the degree of safety and to bring the vehicles up to present day standards. For reasons of design or for economic reasons, however, there are hardly any suitable means that would allow a vehicle to be retrofitted in this manner.
The object of the present invention is therefore to provide an arrangement for absorbing the energy of impact which occupies less space than is state-of-the-art, whereby the arrangement should fulfil other functions in the vehicle structure. Further, the above mentioned arrangement should, e.g. in addition to other energy absorbing components, absorb energy of impact and break the peak forces, in particular when strong forces of collision prevail.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The foregoing object is achieved by way of the invention in that a first end face of an insert is attached at an angle to the long side of a section component and a second end face of the insert is coupled to an impact-area projecting out a distance “a” from the end face of the section component to such an extent that a force of impact acting on the impact area, while displacing a collision component in the direction of the force of impact, effects a rotational movement of the insert about a predetermined point of rotation P in the section component and local bending of the section component at the point of rotation P by some degrees of angle.
By section component in this text is to be understood a lengthy component with a cross-section that is constant or varies along its length. The section component is preferably a load bearing support beam in a vehicle structure, in particular in the vehicle frame. The support beam is to advantage a beam running in the longitudinal direction of the vehicle.
The insert is usefully in the form of a rigid lever arm or part of a lever arm of length “r” and is attached by a first end face at an angle to the long side of a section component and coupled by a second end face, preferably via a collision component, to an impact area.
By locally weakening the section component it is possible e.g. to situate the point of rotation, i.e. the kinking or bending point, in the section component. If the section component does not feature any particular point of weakness, then for structural reasons the point of rotation generally lies at the edge of the connection between the insert and the section component.
In a particularly useful version of the invention the insert is in the form of a rigid lever arm and is joined by its end face at an angle to the long side of a section component, and the point of rotation lies in the section component at the edge of the connection between the insert and the section component in such a manner that a force of impact acting on the impact area effects rotation of the insert about a radius which is equal to the length of the insert and effects local bending of the section component.
The impact area projects out from the section component i.e. out from the end face of the section component usefully a distance a. When two vehicles collide or when a collision occurs with an obstacle, the force of impact strikes first the intended impact area. Due to the rotation of the insert, the impact area is displaced a distance “a”, possibly accompanied by deformation of intermediate energy absorbing parts. Only after the impact area has been displaced the distance “a” does the force of impact meet the cross-section of the section component.
After the impact area has been displaced a distance “a” in the direction of the force i.e. up until the force of impact acts on the cross-section or on the end face or end face area of the section component, the section component or the length of section component is usefully bent an angle of 0 to 30°, advantageously 0 to 10° about the point of rotation P from its original position.
The distance a is of such a dimension that at the point in time at which the force of impact acts on the cross-section of the section component, the section component—as a result of the rotation of the insert—has already been bent an angle of the above mentioned order of magnitude.
The section component lies advantageously in the same direction as the expected force of impact. The insert is usefully attached by its end face to the section component at an angle of 0° to 180°, preferably 45° to 135°, in particular 80° to 100°.
The insert is usefully mounted to an end part of the section component close to the expected force of impact. The end part of the section component may accommodate further attached components or joining components. On impact these attached components usefully behave in such a manner that do not delay or hinder the bending of the end part of the section component.
Impact usually occurs in the front or rear part of the vehicle with the main force of impact acting in the longitudinal direction of the vehicle. In a preferred version of the invention the arrangement according to the invention is therefore i
Alusuisse Technology & Management Ltd.
Bachman & LaPointe P.C.
Patel Ken
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