Joints and connections – Articulated members – Pivoted
Patent
1998-08-13
2000-02-29
Browne, Lynne H.
Joints and connections
Articulated members
Pivoted
403144, 403138, 29898051, 294411, F16C 1100
Patent
active
060301414
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
The invention pertains to a ball joint, particularly as steering joint for motor vehicles, with a joint housing having a spherical ring-shaped bearing surface, in which a ball arranged on a ball pin is seated so as to be able to rotate and tilt to a limited extent and which is closed off by a lid which is formed in the initial state with an outer diameter exceeding the inner diameter of a smooth-walled cylindrical drillhole of the joint housing and which in the installed state is supported at its rim in a force fit in the joint housing. The invention further pertains to a device for the assembly of such a ball joint.
Such a ball joint is known from DE-PS 195 13 826. By the use of the lid supported in a form fit in the joint housing, it is possible with this known ball joint to compensate for manufacturing tolerances while avoiding a fixed contact surface to the lid. For this purpose, a spring element is arranged between the bearing ball and the lid, which in the initial state provides defined spring forces in order to compensate for the wear-induced elasticity of the joint. This joint has proven itself in dynamic tests, but it was established on the basis of calculations that, on the one hand, the service life of the spring element is less than the service life of the ball joint and, on the other, that the continuous load from the spring element on the ball in the direction of the longitudinal axis of the ball pin inevitably leads to an increased wear on the bearing surfaces in the axial direction. In addition, there is the fact that, due to the continuous pressure stress on the ball in the direction of the bearing surface, unfavorable lubrication conditions may appear in the ball joint, usually provided with a permanent lubrication.
Another ball joint with a lid supported by a force fit in the joint housing is known from U.S. Pat. No. 4,163,617. In this known ball joint, the bearing surface is formed by a snap capsule bearing shell provided with axial slits, which completely surrounds the ball arranged on the ball pin. These snap capsule bearing shells, which can be produced completely from plastic, have the disadvantages that, on the one hand, voluminous construction is required, due to the material, and on the other, that normal plastics are not suited to absorb the stress peaks appearing particularly in the utility vehicle field without permanent damage to the bearing shell.
Starting from this prior art, the invention is based on the problem of creating a ball joint that can be produced economically in an automated manner and is functionally safe with low wear over a long time. The invention is also based on the problem of creating a simple device for the assembly of such a ball joint.
The solution by the invention to this problem is characterized in that, on the side of the ball equator opposite the spherical ring-shaped bearing surface of the joint housing, the lid is in turn formed with a spherical ring-shaped bearing surface for the ball.
Due to the formation of a spherical ring-shaped bearing surface on the lid, which does not need to be assembled with a form fit, that is, accepting manufacturing tolerances, but with a force fit, that is to say, free of play, a spring can be omitted between the lid and a separate upper bearing shell. Since no spring acting in the axial direction is employed in the formation of the ball joint according to the invention, not only does an economy result from the omission of an expensive element, the wear in the axial direction produced by the spring needed to compensate for play is also eliminated. With the ball joint according to the invention, which is used particularly as a steering joint and is consequently primarily stressed in the radial direction, sickle-shaped wear results on the spherical ring-shaped bearing surfaces only in the direction running radially to the longitudinal axis of the ball pin, that is, no relevant play in the axial direction results even as wear appears.
The spherical ring-shaped bearing surface of the lid makes contact with the ball surf
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Kozlowski Horst
Lieber Hanno
Schmermbeck Sabine
Welchert Erhart
Browne Lynne H.
Cottingham John R.
TRW Fahrwerksysteme GmbH & Co. KG
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