Patent Application
20090230713
The present disclosure generally relates to link systems and methods of assembling link systems.
Many link systems are assembled from a plurality of mass produced link members pivotally fastened together by pins or rivets. Each link member is manufactured according to certain preset tolerances. As the link members are assembled into a link system, there is a tolerance accumulation, which may result in an undesirable total tolerance stack up between certain locations of the link system, typically the mounting locations, in one or more orientations of the link system.
Such tolerance stack ups may result in an undesirable misfit between mass produced components connected by the link system, which may adversely affect appearance or functionality of the link system itself or that of the finished product into which the link system is assembled. Reduction of this tolerance stack up to within an acceptable range may require that the components be manufactured using more expensive methods or using more expensive equipment than would otherwise be required. Alternatively, this tolerance stack up may be compensated for after assembly, such as by adjustments, requiring extra manufacturing or installation time and expense.
Where the link system is used as a hinge to movably mount a lid to an enclosure, the stack up of tolerances in the link system may result in an undesirable misfit between the lid and the enclosure when the lid is closed. Where the lid is a trunk lid of a vehicle and the enclosure is a trunk enclosure of a vehicle, the tolerance stack up can result in an aesthetically undesirable misalignment of the trunk lid with the outer surfaces of the vehicle. In extreme cases, a tolerance stack up could result in a compromised seal between the trunk and the vehicle, which could potentially result in undesired leakage into the trunk enclosure when the trunk is closed.
The present application discloses a link system providing a desired spatial relationship in a desired orientation of the link system as well as methods of assembling link systems to obtain the desired spatial relationship.
In accordance with one exemplary assembly, a link system is disclosed having a plurality of links each one of the link members being pivotally interconnected to at least one of the other link members at a pivot joint. A first chosen link and a second chosen link have a desired relative positional relationship in a specific orientation. At least one of the pivot joints between one of the links and another of the links may include a first aperture in the one of the link members, a second aperture in the another of the link members overlying the first aperture and axially offset relative to the first aperture, and a fastener capable of deformation such as a rivet extending through the first and second apertures. The fastener may have a first head abutting the one link, a first shank portion passing through the first aperture and having a first longitudinal axis and, a second shank portion passing through the second aperture and a having a second longitudinal axis offset relative to the first longitudinal axis, and a second head abutting the another link. The first longitudinal axis may be axially offset from the second longitudinal axis a distance required to position the one link at the desired position relative to the another link in the specific orientation.
In accordance with another exemplary assembly, a method of assembling a link system is provided that may include one or more of the steps of fixturing two selected links to selected relative locations, placing a rivet through a pair of the generally aligned pairs of apertures in two of the links, and compressing (e.g., axially) the rivet to form a head on the backside of the rivet and to deform to conform to the generally aligned apertures to at least partially take up the tolerance stack up between the two selected links.
In accordance with another exemplary assembly, a lid hinge assembly may be provided for movably supporting a lid relative to an enclosure where a desired positional relationship between lid and the enclosure is maintained when the lid is closed. The lid hinge assembly could include a lid link capable of being mounted to the lid, an enclosure link capable of being mounted to the enclosure, and a pair of intermediate links. Each of the intermediate links may have an aperture overlying and axially offset relative to an aperture in the trunk link as well as an apertures overlying and axially offset from an aperture in the lid link. The apertures are axially offset predetermined distances providing the desired positional relationship between the lid link and the enclosure link when the lid link is mounted to the lid, the enclosure link is mounted to the enclosure, and lid is in the closed position. In the example, four rivets each extend through a respective pair of offset apertures, each rivet having a first shank portion passing through a first aperture, a second shank portion offset relative to the first shank portion and passing through a second aperture.
In a further exemplary assembly, a hinge assembly is assembled by fixturing the links of the hinge assembly with two links in a desired relative relationship. To generally align pairs of apertures in associated links, passing at least one rivet having a shank portion with a first outer diameter portion a second shank portion having a second outer diameter portion smaller than the first outer diameter portion through at least one of the pairs of overlying apertures. Then it is possible to deform the at least one rivet to form at least one pivotal connection between the two selected links using the deformed rivet to fill any longitudinal offset between the apertures and compensate for the tolerance stack ups between the links.
The present invention will be more fully understood upon reading the following detailed description in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.
Referring now to the drawings, illustrative embodiments are shown in detail. Although the drawings represent some embodiments, the drawings are not necessarily to scale and certain features may be exaggerated, removed, or partially sectioned to better illustrate and explain the present invention. Further, the embodiments set forth herein are exemplary and are not intended to be exhaustive or otherwise limit or restrict the claims to the precise forms and configurations shown in the drawings and disclosed in the following detailed description.
Disclosed herein is a link system 20 and method of assembling a link system for providing close dimensional tolerances in a desired orientation of the link system. In the interest of clarity, not all features of an actual implementation of a link system are described in this specification. It will of course be appreciated that in the development of any such actual illustration, numerous implementation-specific decisions must be made to achieve the developers' specific goals, such as compliance with system-related and business-related constraints that will vary from one implementation to another.
Referring now to the drawings wherein like numerals indicate like or corresponding parts throughout the several views, exemplary embodiments of a link system are illustrated.
As shown generally in
Referring now generally to
The link system 10 comprises a plurality of links and fasteners that are secured together such as utilizing the exemplary approach described below. In particular, the exemplary link system 20 includes an upper link member 50 having apertures 52 and 54 for accepting the fasteners 22 and 24 (
There are manufacturing tolerances associated with each of the components of the link system. There are manufacturing tolerances, for example, in the x-axis distance between apertures 58 and 80 (
Moreover there is a tolerance stack up in the y-axis direction. For example, y-axis distances d and e of
These tolerances accumulate during the manufacturing and assembly of the link system 20 to result in an unwanted tolerance stack up between the relative location of the apertures 52 and 54 in the upper link member 50 and the apertures 58 and 60 of the lower link member 56. When the link assembly 20 is subsequently assembled to the vehicle 10, this tolerance stack up can result in an undesirable misalignment between the trunk lid 14 and the vehicle 10 in the closed orientation of the trunk lid, unless this tolerance accumulation is accommodated in the manufacturing or assembly process.
More particularly, as shown in
On the other hand, as shown in
Referring now to
As best shown in
The lower link member 56 is similarly secured to the fixture 100 by being placed adjacent a fixture element 104 having posts 28′ and 30′ which extend through mounting apertures 58 and 60 which will subsequently be used with fasteners 28 and 30 for mounting the lower link member 56 to the vehicle 10. The lower link member 56 may be secured in a position abutting a surface of the fixture element 104 by a locking component (not shown) such as a nut or a pin engaging the posts 28′ and 30′ to secure the upper link member 50 in position during assembly of the link system 20.
The fixture 100 is designed and manufactured to maintain the upper link member 50 and the lower link member 56 their respective desired locations in the preferred orientation corresponding to a closed trunk lid 14. Furthermore, the fixture 100 holds the upper link member 50 and lower link member 56 in these desired locations to within an acceptable tolerance which is smaller than the tolerance stack up inherent in the mass produced components of the link system 20.
Intermediate link member 62 is positioned by fixturing element 106 (shown schematically) to be generally positioned with the apertures 66 and 78 aligned approximately with the apertures 68 and 80, respectively, of the upper link member 50 and the lower link member 56 for subsequent acceptance of rivets. Intermediate link member 64 is similarly positioned by fixturing element 108 (shown schematically) to be generally positioned with the apertures 72 and 84 aligned approximately with the apertures 74 and 86, respectively, of the upper link member 50 and the lower link member 56.
The positioning of the intermediate links 62 and 64 relative to the upper link member 50 and the lower link member 56 is held to a predetermined tolerance, but will not result in perfect alignment of the apertures. Since the upper and lower links 50 and 56 are held in their respective relative desired positions determined by the fixturing elements 102 and 104, respectively, the tolerance stack up that otherwise would accumulate between the mounting location of the upper link member 50, defined by the apertures 52 and 54, and the mounting location of the lower link member 56, defined by the apertures 58 and 60 will be reflected in a slight misalignment between the pairs of overlying apertures in the respective links. This is best shown by way of example at 110 and 112 in
Refer now to
An exemplary rivet 134 is provided for insertion in the pair of exemplary apertures 120 and 122 for riveting the representative links 124 and 126 together.
A bushing 140 may be fitted in the aperture 120. The busing 140 has an aperture 142 and provides a bearing surface for the exemplary rivet 134 to facilitate the pivotal movement between the representative links 124 and 126 after the components have been riveted together. The bushing 140 also includes outwardly oriented flanges 144 and 146 cooperating with opposing faces of the representative link 124 to secure the bushing to representative link 126. The outwardly oriented flange 146 also provides a bearing surface for the representative link 126, further facilitating the pivotal movement between the representative links 124 and 126 after the components have been riveted together.
The exemplary rivet 134 has a head 148 having an outer diameter substantially larger than the inner diameter of the aperture 142 in the bushing 140 so as to permit the head to abut the surface of the link 124. The exemplary rivet 134 further has a first shank portion 150 having an outer diameter j no greater than the inner diameter l of the aperture 142 in the bushing 140 so that it will pass through the aperture and will permit pivotal movement of the representative link 124. The first shank portion has approximately the same length p as the length r of the aperture 142. The exemplary rivet 134 also has second shank portion 152 having a diameter k no greater than the inner diameter m of the exemplary aperture 122 in the representative link 126 and having a length q significantly greater than the length s of the exemplary aperture 122 to provide extra material for the deformation of the exemplary rivet described below. The diameter k of the second shank portion 152 is illustrated smaller than the diameter j of the first shank portion 150 for reasons that will be described below.
As shown in
As shown in
It will be appreciated that for some installations, the anvil 160 may, alternatively, be held in a stationary position against the representative link member 126 and the rivet 134 may be driven through the apertures 142 and 122 and deformed into the recess 161 in the anvil 160 in a single operation.
As a result of the deformation process conforming the shank portions to the apertures, the formed rivet 134′ will have a first shank portion 150′ with a longitudinal axis 128 offset from the longitudinal axis 130 of the second shank portion 152′. Further, as a result of the deformation process, the formed rivet 134′ and representative links 124 and 126 form a pivot joint for the link system that pivots about longitudinal axis 128.
The portion of the second shank portion 152′ that extends beyond the exemplary aperture 122 is deformed into the recess 161 in the anvil 160 to form a head 162 on the backside of the representative link 126.
Appropriate selection of materials for the bushing 140, the links 124 and 126, and the rivet 134 will facilitate the desired formation of the pivot joint having the characteristics described above. For example, the representative links 124 and 126 and the bushing 140 should be formed of a material that is stronger than the material used for the rivet 134 so that the pressure of the riveting operation will be substantially result in deformation of the rivet rather than the other components of the pivot joint. For many applications, such as the trunk hinge system illustrated in
Referring again to
More particularly, the manufacturing tolerances described above with reference to
This requirement may be satisfied by dimensioning the apertures in the link system 20 so that they will be large enough to pass the rivets 68, 72, 82 and 88 through all of the respective pairs of generally aligned apertures, even at the maximum offset. This may be accomplished, for example, by assuring the inner diameter m (
It is possible, alternatively, to accomplish the above described dimensional relationship by either modifying the inner diameter of the apertures or by modifying the outer diameter of the rivet. Therefore, this requirement may alternatively be satisfied by dimensioning the rivets 68, 72, 82 and 88 so that the shank portions 150 and 152 will be small enough to pass through the respective pairs of generally aligned apertures even at the maximum offset. This may be accomplished, for example, by assuring the outer diameter k (
It will be appreciated that the link system 20 and the method of manufacturing the link system 20 provides a precise relative positioning of the trunk lid 14 in a chosen orientation, in this case the orientation where the trunk lid 14 is closed and it is desirable to have a proper alignment of the trunk relative to the fenders 16 and 18 of the vehicle. This is accomplished preferably by fixturing the hinge assembly 20 in the orientation corresponding to the closed trunk lid position with the links that connect to the trunk lid 14 and to the vehicle 10 in the precise relative positions that they will be in when the link system is installed in a vehicle and forming pivot joints between the links of the link system that maintain this precise relationship. It will be appreciated that, as a result of the method used, the tolerance stack up from manufacturing tolerances in the components are fully compensated for in that chosen orientation of the link system. However, in other orientations of the link system 20, such the fully open trunk orientation of
It should be noted that for some link systems, fixturing in the fully closed position may not be practical for geometric reasons. For example, the apertures for one of the rivets may be blocked by links or other components in the fully closed position. For such link systems, it may be more practical and advantageous to fixture the link system in a position reasonably close to the fully closed position. In one exemplary embodiment, the riveting may occur, for example, with the link system open an amount required by geometric or other considerations, such as approximately 5 degrees away from the fully closed position to facilitate one or more of the riveting operations. While this orientation may result in a small departure from the precision obtainable in the fully closed position, it may, for some applications, still result in a sufficiently accurate positioning of the links for practical purposes. For such applications, the desired orientation for fixturing may not be the most critical orientation of the link system, then, but instead a practical orientation that will deliver a finished link system that is held to a close tolerance in not only the desired orientation but in other orientations.
It should be noted that the selection of the apertures having a bushing or otherwise having a bearing surface for the rivet may determine the direction in which riveting should occur since the bearing surface may best accommodate rotation of the link system if the bearing surface cooperates with a portion of the shank of the rivet that is not significantly deformed. In the exemplary rivet described above, the shank portion 150 furthest from where the head 162 is formed deforms less than the shank portion 152 closer to the head 162. It should further be noted that the selection of which aperture has the bearing surface determines the center of rotation for the relative movement of the two link members associated with the aperture.
For some applications, it is possible that the link assembly 20 will be in a more precise position, even in the open orientation, than would be likely using standard riveting techniques. This is true particularly if the apertures chosen for the bearing surface, and therefore the apertures that define the center of rotation of the link assembly, are optimally selected to reduce the tolerance stack up as the link assembly moves from the fixtured orientation to other orientations. For the link assembly 20 illustrated in
However, it may not be possible or practical, for some applications, to choose the optimum apertures for defining the centers of rotation of the link assembly 20 for a variety of reasons. For some applications, the geometry of the link system 20 may pose challenges for the placement of riveting equipment and thereby may dictate the direction in which a particular rivet will need to be driven. For other applications, economic considerations may lead to a decision to perform all riveting operations through the assembly in the same direction, even where that differs from the choice that would be made to optimize the pivot points of the link assembly.
In those installations where the optimum selection of apertures to define the axis of rotation is chosen, the tolerance stack up may be significantly reduced or eliminated in all orientations of the link system. In those installations where the optimum selection of apertures to define the axis of rotation may not be chosen, the tolerance stack up will still be significantly reduced or eliminated in the orientation in which the link system is fixtured for riveting. However, the tolerance stack up could be amplified in the other orientations. As described above, this may be acceptable for link systems such as those used for trunk assemblies since the positioning of the trunk lid is not as critical when the trunk is opened as when it is closed.
It is to be understood that the above description is intended to be illustrative and not restrictive. Many alternative approaches or applications other than the examples provided would be apparent to those of skill in the art upon reading the above description. For example in the embodiment illustrated in the drawing and described above, the fixturing of the link system 20 is carried out in the orientation of the links corresponding to the trunk being in the fully closed position. For other embodiments, another relative orientation of links may be critical. The scope of the invention should be determined, not with reference to the above description, but should instead be determined with reference to the appended claims, along with the full scope of equivalents to which such claims are entitled. The present embodiments have been particularly shown and described, which are merely illustrative of the best modes. It is anticipated and intended that future developments will occur in the arts discussed herein, and that the disclosed systems and methods will be incorporated into such future examples.
It is intended that the following claims define the scope of the invention and that the method and apparatus within the scope of these claims and their equivalents be covered thereby. This description should be understood to include all novel and non-obvious combinations of elements described herein, and claims may be presented in this or a later application to any novel and non-obvious combination of these elements. Moreover, the foregoing embodiments are illustrative, and no single feature or element is essential to all possible combinations that may be claimed in this or a later application.
All terms used in the claims are intended to be given their broadest reasonable constructions and their ordinary meanings as understood by those skilled in the art unless an explicit indication to the contrary is made herein. In particular, use of the singular articles such as “a,” “the,” “said,” etc. should be read to recite one or more of the indicated elements unless a claim recites an explicit limitation to the contrary.
In sum, it should be understood that the invention is capable of modification and variation and is limited only by the claims presented below.
