Patent Application
20190315174
The present disclosure relates to a suspension arm of a vehicle suspension system. More particularly, the present disclosure relates to a hybrid suspension arm for a vehicle, which is formed of composite material, and a manufacturing method therefor.
In order to achieve weight reduction in suspension arm, a suspension arm formed of composite material of metal and plastic (hereinafter, referred to as a hybrid suspension arm) has been proposed. For example, the hybrid suspension arm may be formed such that an arm body made of steel material is manufactured by a pressing process and a bending process and then plastic material is coupled to an inner side of the arm body.
However, such a hybrid suspension arm has a disadvantage in that a weight of the arm body is still heavy due to a characteristic of steel material since the arm body is formed of steel material, and it is difficult to make a plate of steel material in a predetermined shape through a pressing process and a bending process.
Further, the arm body formed by the pressing process and the bending process has a large manufacturing tolerance so that the arm body may not be precisely matched with a mold (for following plastic insert molding process). Consequently, a portion in which a plastic insert molding part is not formed may occur or a burr may be formed. In addition, there is a problem that a coating of the portion in which the arm body is in contact with the mold is delaminated and the portion is corroded later due to rainwater and the like.
Further, when cooling is performed after plastic insert molding, an insert molding made of plastic material, which has a shrinkage rate that is larger than that of steel, shrinks more than the arm body, as a result a gap occurs between the arm body and the plastic insert molding and overall strength of the arm body can be degraded.
Further, when rainwater or the like penetrates into the gap to be collected therein, the arm body may be corroded and durability of the suspension arm may be degraded.
The present disclosure is directed to providing a hybrid suspension arm for a vehicle, which solves the above-described problems, is lighter, satisfies strength required for a vehicle, and has excellent durability.
A hybrid suspension arm for a vehicle according to one embodiment of the present disclosure comprises an arm body comprising aluminum, and an insert molding part made of plastic material, which is insert-molded on the arm body and coupled thereto.
The arm body may be formed in a truss structure.
When viewed from a cross section perpendicular to a longitudinal direction of the suspension arm, the arm body may be surrounded by the insert molding part.
The arm body may comprise curved portion and straight portion, and a thickness of at least a portion of the curved portion may be formed to be greater than a thickness of the straight portion.
A ball joint coupling part may be integrally formed on at least one end portion of the arm body.
A bush coupling part may be integrally formed on at least one end portion of the arm body.
A surface treatment may be performed on the arm body to form a plurality of irregularities thereon.
When viewed from a top of the arm body, the irregularities may be formed of a plurality of holes having an average diameter in a range of 1 μm to 100 μm.
The arm body may be formed of aluminum, and the insert molding part of plastic material may be formed of nylon-based resin.
The arm body may be formed in a structure comprising a plurality of outer frames for forming the arm body, circular frame disposed inside the outer frame, and at least one straight frame for connecting between the outer frames and between the outer frame and the circular frame, so as to have the truss structure.
A thickness of the portion in which at least two among the outer frame, the circular frame, and the straight frame of the arm body are connected may be formed to be greater than a thickness of the straight frame.
A method of manufacturing a suspension arm for a vehicle according to one embodiment of the present disclosure may comprise preparing an arm body comprising aluminum, placing the arm body on a mold, and forming an insert molding part coupled to the arm body by inserting-molding plastic material into the mold.
A surface treatment may be performed on the arm body to form a plurality of irregularities thereon.
The method may further comprise machining the portion of the arm body, which is brought into contact with the mold, so as to match a dimension of the portion of the arm body to that of the mold.
The arm body may be formed by casting or die casting.
In accordance with one embodiment of the present disclosure, when compared with a conventional suspension arm made of steel material, an overall weight of a suspension arm can be reduced to achieve weight reduction. Consequently, it is possible to reduce a weight of a vehicle and improve fuel efficiency.
Further, when plastic insert molding is performed, matching between an arm body and a mold can be improved such that it is possible to prevent occurrence of the portion in which a plastic insert molding part is not formed, or occurrence of a burr.
Further, unlike a conventional suspension arm, since a gap does not occur between the arm body and a plastic insert molding, it is possible to prevent corrosion of the arm body due to penetration of rainwater or the like through the gap.
The following drawings, which are incorporated herein by reference, illustrate exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure and serve to provide a further understanding of the technical idea of the present disclosure together with the detailed description of the present disclosure. Accordingly, it should be construed that the present disclosure is not limited to features illustrated in the drawings.
Embodiments of the present disclosure are exemplified for the purpose of describing the technical spirit of the present disclosure. The scope of the claims according to the present disclosure is not limited to the embodiments described below or to the detailed descriptions of these embodiments.
Unless otherwise defined, all technical and scientific terms used herein have the same meaning commonly understood by those skilled in the art to which the present disclosure pertains. All terms used herein are selected for the purpose of more clearly describing the present disclosure and not limiting the scope of the present disclosure defined by appended claims.
Unless the phrase or sentence clearly indicates otherwise, terms “comprising,” “including,” “having,” “taking,” and the like used herein should be construed as open-ended terms encompassing the possibility of including other embodiments.
The singular form described herein may include the plural form unless the context clearly dictates otherwise, and this is equally applied to the singular form set forth in the claims.
Terms a “first,” a “second,” and the like are used to distinguish a plurality of components, and the order or importance of corresponding components is not limited by these terms.
Hereinafter, exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. In the accompanying drawings, the same reference numerals are assigned to the same or corresponding components. Further, in the following description of the embodiments, a duplicate description of the same or corresponding components may be omitted. However, even though a description of a component is omitted, such a component is not intended to be excluded in any embodiment. Further, exemplary embodiments of a hybrid suspension arm for a vehicle, which will be described below, may be used as an upper control arm or a lower control arm in a vehicle suspension system.
Further, in a suspension arm for a vehicle according to the present disclosure and a manufacturing method therefor, the following description is made with respect to examples of a lower control arm, but the present disclosure is not limited thereto, and this description is also applicable to an upper control arm.
For example, the arm body 10 may have a “λ” shape. The arm body 10 may be manufactured by casting or die casting a material comprising aluminum.
The arm body 10 may have a truss structure. The truss structure defined herein means a structure formed of a plurality of straight bars and/or curved bars.
Referring to
As the arm body 10 according to the present disclosure is manufactured using aluminum through casting or die casting, it is possible to manufacture the arm body 10 in a truss structure which is difficult to be formed by conventional press forming process. Consequently, when compared with a conventional “⊏”-shaped steel arm body, it is possible for the arm body 10 to obtain required strength while reducing a weight thereof.
Further, the strength of the arm body 10 according to the present disclosure may be further improved due to a configuration which will be described below.
For example, a thickness of the portion in which at least two among the outer frames 101, the circular frame 103, and the straight frames 102 of the arm body 10 are connected may be formed to be greater than a thickness of the straight frame. Further, the outer frame 101 may include curved portion and straight portion, and the circular frame 103 is curved. According to the present embodiment, a thickness of at least a portion of the curved portion is formed to be greater than a thickness of the straight portion such that a portion vulnerable to buckling deformation may be complemented and rigidity may be increased.
Further, as shown in
As shown in
Further, as shown in
Furthermore, since the arm body 10 according to one embodiment of the present disclosure is manufactured using aluminum through casting or die casting, when compared with a conventional arm body formed by pressing and bending steel material, matching property between the arm body 10 and a mold (for insert molding) is improved. Consequently, when insert molding is performed, it is prevented that the plastic insert molding part 20 is improperly formed on a portion of the arm body 10 or a burr is formed.
Further, when a gap is formed between the arm body 10 and the plastic insert molding part 20, rainwater and the like may penetrate into the gap and the arm body 10 may be corroded. In the arm body 10 according to one embodiment of the present disclosure, the plastic insert molding part 20 is firmly coupled to the arm body 10 to minimize the gap such that corrosion of the arm body 10 is prevented and durability of the suspension arm 1 is enhanced.
Returning back to
A ball joint 31 may be coupled to the ball joint coupling part 30, and the ball joint 31 may be coupled to a vehicle wheel. Further, a bush 41 may be coupled to the bush coupling part 40, and the bush may be engaged with a vehicle body through a bolt or the like.
The plastic insert molding part 20 may not be formed on the ball joint coupling part 30 and the bush coupling part 40. The ball joint coupling part 30 and the bush coupling part 30, which are formed of aluminum material, has excellent corrosion resistance, and thus a separate coating treatment may not be necessarily required.
Next, a method of manufacturing a suspension arm according to one embodiment of the present disclosure will be described with reference to
In the preparing of the arm body 10 (ST100), aluminum material may be formed to correspond to a predetermined shape of the arm body 10 by casting or die casting.
When the preparing of the arm body 10 (ST100) is completed, the placing of the prepared arm body 10 on the mold (ST200) is performed. In operation ST200, in order to fix a position of the arm body 10 in the mold, a portion of the arm body 10 may be brought into contact with the mold to be fixed thereto. For example, the portions which are not covered with the plastic insert molding part 20, i.e., the portion 300 which the outer frame 101 is brought into contact with the ball joint coupling part 30 and the bush coupling part 40 in the arm body 10, may be placed to be brought into direct contact with the mold.
In the forming of the plastic insert molding part by insert molding plastic material into the mold (ST300), heated plastic is injected into the mold so that the plastic insert molding part 20 is formed to surround the arm body 10.
As shown in
As shown in
As described above, although the exemplary embodiments have been described with reference to the accompanying drawings, various alternations and modifications can be derived by those skilled in the art from the above description of the present disclosure. For example, it should be understood that an appropriate result may be achieved even when the techniques described herein may be performed in a different order than the described methods, and/or that components of the described structures, devices, and the like are coupled or combined in a form different from the described methods, or substituted or replaced with other components or equivalents.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10-2016-0181227 | Dec 2016 | KR | national |
This application is a continuation of International Application No. PCT/KR2017/015138 filed on Dec. 20, 2017 which claims priority to Korean Patent Application No. 10-2016-0181227 filed on Dec. 28, 2016, the entire contents of which are herein incorporated by reference.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Parent | PCT/KR2017/015138 | Dec 2017 | US |
| Child | 16454897 | US |
