Vehicle suspension assembly

Details Vehicle suspension assembly Vehicle suspension assembly

1998-09-24

2001-01-09

Stormer, Russell D. (Department: 3617)

Land vehicles: wheels and axles

Wheel

Hub

C384S544000

Reexamination Certificate

active

06170919

ABSTRACT:

FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention refers to a vehicle suspension assembly comprising a wheel flange member, a rolling bearing assembly having an inner race connected to the wheel flange member and an outer race, and a housing having a cylindrical bore adapted to receive the outer race of the rolling bearing assembly and provided with integrally formed brake support means. Further, there is provided a wheel support member for receiving the housing and screws for interconnecting the housing to the wheel support member in such a way that the rolling bearing that is received in the bore of the housing is simultaneously fixed and biased.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The efforts in the automotive industry to save gasoline have led to an increased use of aluminum materials for more and more elements of a vehicle. Even if these light-weight materials have advantages such as corrosion resistance, low weight, etc., some disadvantages are observed, particularly low strength, higher thermal expansion coefficient, lower admissible surface pressure and higher price.
In the field of vehicle wheel suspensions, so-called pivotal bearing assemblies (front) and wheel support members (rear) are used to transfer the forces coming from the shock struts (weight of the vehicle) via the wheel bearings to the wheels and, thus onto the road. Moreover, anchoring points for the steering elements, for the brake saddles as well as for the wishbone are required. The pivotal bearing assemblies are highly stressed elements that play an important role as far as the safety of the vehicle is concerned; moreover, they are highly exposed to corrosion, caused, for example, by road salt.
PRIOR ART
The Published German Patent Applications DE-OS 33 40 442 and DE-OS 195 38 212 disclose designs of suspension assemblies. However, a great danger exists that high forces generated by screwing together the parts and elements of these inventions will cause certain parts and elements to be biased inadmissibly high, with the possible result that even stop shoulders, against which a rolling bearing is pressed may be damaged.
OBJECTS OF THE INVENTION
It is an object of the present invention to provide a vehicle suspension assembly of the kind referred to herein before that does not show the disadvantages mentioned herein above. Particularly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a vehicle suspension assembly of the kind referred to herein before in which inadmissibly high biasing and damage to the rolling bearing assembly and/or the associated parts and elements are avoided.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
To achieve these and other objects, the present invention provides a vehicle suspension assembly that comprises a wheel flange member, a rolling bearing assembly having an inner race connected to the wheel flange member and an outer race, and a housing having a cylindrical bore adapted to receive the outer race of the rolling bearing assembly and provided with integrally formed brake support members.
Further, there is provided a wheel support member for receiving the housing and screws for interconnecting the housing to the wheel support member in such a way that the rolling bearing received in the bore of the housing is simultaneously fixed and biased.
According to a first aspect of the invention, the aforementioned wheel support member is provided with a protruding rib or shoulder that is resiliently deformable. The protruding rib or shoulder is located in the region of the front face of the outer race of the rolling bearing. The protruding rib or shoulder is resiliently deformed upon screwing together the housing and the wheel support member.
According to a second aspect of the invention, the aforementioned housing is provided with a protruding rib or shoulder that is plastically deformable. The protruding rib or shoulder is located in the region of the front face of the outer race of the rolling bearing. The protruding rib or shoulder is plastically deformed upon screwing together the housing and the wheel support member.
Due to the fact that the rolling bearing assembly is press-fitted in a housing that also comprises integrally formed brake support means, e.g. brake support arm members or brake support connection apertures, a good fit of the bearing assembly can be realized. Moreover, such an assembly can be optimized as far as its strength is concerned. The wheel flange can consist of aluminum material, cast iron or steel and can be optimized for light weight. Particularly advantageous is that the rolling bearing assembly is simultaneously fixed and biased in a well defined manner by virtue of axially screwing together the wheel support member and the housing. Due to this biasing of the rolling bearing assembly, micro movements and cracking noises are avoided since part of the moments occurring during driving through bends are axially transmitted through the bearing front faces.
Furthermore, such a design has the further advantage that different brakes and sizes of wheel bearings can be combined with one kind of a pivotal bearing assembly.


REFERENCES:
patent: 4359128 (1982-11-01), Krude
patent: 4491340 (1985-01-01), Von Gr{umlaut over (u)}nberg et al.
patent: 5651588 (1997-07-01), Kato
patent: 3340442 (1984-06-01), None
patent: 195 38 212 (1997-04-01), None

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