Bearings – Rotary bearing – Antifriction bearing
Patent
1993-12-02
1995-08-08
Hannon, Thomas R.
Bearings
Rotary bearing
Antifriction bearing
384499, F16C 4300
Patent
active
054392985
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
The invention concerns a suspension strut bearing for the suspension of wheels in automotive vehicles comprising an inner bearing ring and an outer bearing ring which can be secured by means to a neighboring part of a vehicle body, the inner bearing ring radially surrounding a tolerance ring arranged concentrically in a bore thereof, the said bearing further comprising a bearing housing of deep drawn sheet metal which encloses the outer bearing ring, and a flange which extends essentially crosswise to a bearing axis and is made in one piece with the bearing housing.
A suspension strut bearing with a thin-walled one-piece housing is described in DE-A 28 20 585. In this document considered to be species defining, the outer bearing ring is surrounded in the peripheral direction by a bush-like portion of the housing. This portion merges in the axial direction into a radially extending flange for securing the prior art suspension strut bearing to a neighboring part of a vehicle body. A disadvantage of this bearing is that considerable sheet thicknesses are required for obtaining a positionaly exact securing of the bearing to a neighboring part of a vehicle body. Sheet thicknesses of 5 mm which are commonly used in this region of a vehicle body are not deep drawable with the required precision, or are so only at very high costs. A possible danger is that the housing undergoes undesired deformation on application of force. Moreover, the prior art document does not indicate any measures for connecting the outer bearing ring in an adequately strong manner to the bush-like flange of the housing, and particularly for fixing the outer bearing ring in the axial direction. In addition, no measures for an adequate sealing of the bearing can be inferred from the document.
Other solutions show a two-piece flange, for example with complicated reinforcement inserts, or welded constructions with the known disadvantages, or again, structures with a relatively solid design of the bush-like portion (DE-A 39 42 652).
It is therefore the object of the invention to provide a suspension strut bearing of the initially described type in which the aforementioned disadvantages are eliminated and which particularly comprises a simple-to-manufacture means for connection to a neighboring part of a vehicle body which meets high requirements of both strength and precision.
The invention achieves this object according to the characterizing part of claim 1 by the fact that the bearing housing comprises a crimping of 180.degree. in at least one region of its inner surface which bears against the outer bearing ring, the crimping extends at least over the entire outer surface of the outer bearing ring or over the front end thereof, an axial positional fixing of the outer bearing ring is assured by an annular swaging of the inner surface of the bearing housing, and the crimping merges directly into the flange. This flange has a sheet thickness suitable for deep drawing and can be stiffened by beads. By the choice of this sheet thickness, it is possible to make the flange and the bearing housing in one piece from a sheet metal part. The hitherto used welded joint involving detrimental microstructural changes in the edge regions of the welded joint is no longer required. The total mass of the suspension strut bearing is reduced by the construction of the invention.
Advantageous developments in the invention form the subject matter of the sub-claims 2 to 4 and will be described more closely below.
From claim 2 it can be seen that the bearing housing is angled radially inwards starting from a cylindrical portion thereof which radially surrounds the outer bearing ring, and this angled portion merges into a radially outwards crimped portion to form the flange (FIG. 2). The crimpings described here and in claim 1 serve on the one hand to positionaly fix the outer bearing ring in the suspension strut bearing and on the other hand they serve for the stiffening of the entire construction.
In a further development of the invention according to claim 3, an in
REFERENCES:
patent: 3051469 (1962-08-01), Boschi
patent: 4462608 (1984-07-01), Lederman
patent: 4566812 (1986-01-01), Takei et al.
patent: 4640632 (1987-02-01), Brandenstein et al.
patent: 4909642 (1990-03-01), Hoermandinger
Doppling Horst
Scholian Horst
Zernickel Alexander
Hannon Thomas R.
INA Walzlager Schaeffler KG
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