JPH0452083Y2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Industrial Application Field] This invention relates to an improvement of a suspension arm such as a transverse link used in a suspension device of a vehicle such as an automobile.

[Conventional technology]

For example, as a transverse link which is a conventional suspension arm,
There is something like the one described in the publication.

The transverse link includes two vehicle body attachment portions that are swingably attached to the vehicle body via elastic bodies, and a wheel support portion that is provided near one of the vehicle body attachment portions and rotatably supports the wheels. It is interposed between the vehicle body and the wheels so that the upper surface is substantially horizontal. A wheel-side constant velocity joint that connects the drive shaft and the hub member is disposed above the wheel support part of the transverse link, and a dust boot made of a rubber-like elastic body is attached to the outside of the constant velocity joint. Encapsulated.

[Problem that the invention attempts to solve]

However, such conventional transverse links are made of cast iron,
The problem was that the design focused exclusively on ensuring strength by polymerizing and welding multiple press-formed metal plates, which made little contribution to reducing vehicle weight, especially unsprung weight. It was hot. Regarding the positional relationship between the transverse link and the drive shaft, the upper surface of the transverse link forms a substantially horizontal plane, and a constant velocity joint covered with a dust boot is disposed above the wheel support. Therefore, for example, when driving on a snowy road, snow tends to accumulate on the upper surface of the transverse link, and when that snow gradually grows and freezes solidly, the rocking movement of the transverse link due to input from the road surface, etc. There was also a problem in that the ice came into contact with the dust boots, causing damage to the dust boots.

[Means for Solving the Problems] This invention was made by paying attention to the problems of the conventional technology, and includes a device that is at least partially disposed below a drive shaft and rotated by the drive shaft. In a suspension arm that swingably supports a drive wheel on the vehicle body, between the vehicle body side attachment part of the arm body and the drive wheel support part,
They are connected by a plurality of edge members whose height is larger than their width, and ribs whose height is larger than their width are spanned between each edge member to integrally form a ladder shape. It is characterized by solving the above problems.

[Effect]

Therefore, in this invention, the suspension arm is connected between the vehicle body side attachment part of the arm body and the drive wheel support part by a plurality of edge members whose height dimension is larger than the width dimension, A rib whose height is larger than its width spans between each edge member and is integrally molded into a ladder shape, making it possible to reduce weight while ensuring sufficient strength as a suspension arm. As described above, since the suspension arm is formed into a ladder shape by the plurality of edge members and the ribs therebetween, a large number of holes penetrating vertically are formed in the suspension arm. Therefore, as the suspension arm vibrates, ice and snow adhering to the top surface of the suspension arm can easily fall through the hole, and the dust boot can be damaged by the ice and snow on the vertically moving suspension arm. It can prevent damage.

〔Example〕

This invention will be explained below based on illustrated embodiments.

1 to 3 show an embodiment of this invention, and FIG. 4 is a diagram of a front suspension of a front wheel drive vehicle showing an example of its usage.

First, to explain the configuration, 1 shown in FIG. 4 is a drive shaft, and the differential side constant velocity joint 2 is connected to a differential shaft (not shown) via constant velocity joints 2 and 3 connected to both ends of the drive shaft. In addition, the wheel side constant velocity joint 3 is connected to a hub member 4 so as to be relatively displaceable, and the outside of each constant velocity joint 2, 3 is connected to a dust boot 5 made of a rubber-like elastic body such as rubber. 6, respectively.

A wheel 7, which is both a driving wheel and a steering wheel, is fixed to the hub member 4, and the hub member 4 is rotatably supported by a knuckle 8. The knuckle 8 is fixed to the lower end of a suspension strut 9, and the upper end of the suspension strut 9 is fixed to a vehicle body side member 10.

Further, an arm bracket 12 is fixed to the nutcle 8 via a ball joint 11,
The arm bracket 12 is placed below the dust boot 6 that covers the wheel side constant velocity joint 3.
It is fixed to a wheel support portion 14 of a transverse link 13, which is a specific example of a suspension arm, by fixing means such as bolts and nuts 15.

As shown in FIG. 1, this transverse link 13 has a link body 16 which is curved into an arched shape and has the wheel support portion 14 provided in its central portion.
and bosses 17 and 18 integrally formed at both ends of the link body 16, which are integrally molded by die-casting using a die-casting alloy such as an aluminum alloy.

The bosses 17 and 18 are transverse links 1
A wheel support portion 14 located in the middle of the arc forms a drive wheel support portion. There are two edge members 16a, 16a on the outside of the arc between the wheel support part 14, which is the drive wheel support part, and the bosses 17, 18, which are the mounting parts on the vehicle body side. There is an edge member 16b connected between both bosses 17 and 18. These edge members 16a, 1
6b, as shown in FIG. 2, the height dimension is larger than the width dimension.

Between the edge members 16a and 16b, there is a rib 16c whose height is similarly larger than its width.
are stretched over each other to form a ladder-like shape on a plane, as shown in FIG. Furthermore, in this embodiment, the portion close to the wheel support portion 14 is the edge member 1.
A hole 20 formed by the link body 6a, 16b and the rib 16c and vertically penetrating the link body 16 remains as it is. Further, the other portion of the link body 16 is formed with a planar upper surface portion 16d that closes the upper ends of the edge members 16a, 16b and the rib 16c, forming a downward U-shape as shown in FIG. .

As shown in cross-section in FIG. 2, the hole 20 of the link body 16 is made as large as possible within the range where the rigidity of the frame surrounding the hole 20 has the strength necessary to support the wheel on the vehicle body. Set it to be larger. As shown in FIG. 3, the other frame portions have a U-shaped cross section to sufficiently improve rigidity. 19 is a bolt hole.

The center lines of the two bosses 17 and 18 are set to coincide with each other, and the transverse link 13 is connected to the vehicle body side member 10 through a rubber bush (not shown in the figure) inserted into each boss 17 and 18. It is elastically supported so that it can swing.

Next, the effect will be explained.

Since the transverse link 13 has a ladder shape as described above, it is lightweight while ensuring sufficient strength, and particularly reduces the unsprung weight.

Furthermore, when a force is applied to the wheel 7 from the road surface, such as when driving on an uneven road, the wheel 7 swings vertically about the two bosses 17 and 18 in response to the input force. In this case, if the vehicle is traveling on a snowy road, snow on the road may ride on the upper surface of the transverse link 13, but the constant velocity joint 3 on the wheel side of the drive shaft 1 of the transverse link 13 Since two relatively large holes 20 are provided in the lower part of the dust boot 6 to be covered, the snow that rides on the
It passes through the hole 20 and falls onto the road.

As a result, the upper surface of the transverse link 13,
In particular, since no ice protrusions are formed below the wheel-side dust boots 6 due to snow growth and freezing, the risk of damage to the dust boots 6 due to the ice protrusions can be eliminated.

FIG. 5 shows another embodiment of this invention.

In this embodiment, the link body 16 of the transverse link 13 has a truss structure. That is, a truss portion 16e similar to the rib 16c is used instead of the upper surface portion 16d of the previous embodiment, and in this case, the transverse link 13
Since the holes 20 are formed over the entire upper surface of the holder, it is possible to prevent ice protrusions from forming at any position on the upper surface. The other configurations are the same as those of the embodiment described above, and by configuring it in this manner, the same effects as those of the embodiment described above can be obtained.

In the above embodiment, a transverse link was explained that is connected to the vehicle body at two locations, but if it is located below the drive shaft, a suspension that is fixed to the vehicle body at one location may be used. Of course, an arm may also be used.

[Effect of idea]

As explained above, according to this idea,
The suspension arm is connected between the vehicle body side attachment part of the arm body and the drive wheel support part by a plurality of edge members whose height is larger than the width, and the width dimension is set between each edge member. Since the ribs, which are larger in height than the previous model, are integrally molded into a ladder shape, the weight can be reduced while ensuring sufficient strength as a suspension arm.

Further, since the suspension arm is formed into a ladder shape by the plurality of edge members and the ribs between them as described above, a large number of holes are formed in the suspension arm to pass through it vertically. For this reason, as the suspension arm vibrates, ice and snow adhering to the upper surface of the suspension arm can easily fall through the hole, causing the snow, etc. that rides on the suspension arm to grow on the upper surface of the arm. This provides the effect of preventing the dust boot that covers the constant velocity joint portion of the drive shaft from being damaged by frozen, hardened snow or the like.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Fig. 1 is an explanatory diagram showing an embodiment of this invention, Fig. 2 is an end view of the cut section taken along the - line in Fig. 1, Fig. 3 is an end view of the cut part taken along the - line in Fig. 1, and Fig. 4 is an end view of the cut section taken along the - line in Fig. The figure is an explanatory diagram showing an example of the usage state of this invention, and FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram showing another embodiment of this invention. 1... Drive shaft, 2, 3... Constant velocity joint, 5, 6... Dust boot, 7... Wheel,
13... Transverse link (suspension arm), 14... Wheel support section.

Claims (1)

[Scope of utility model registration request] In a suspension arm that is at least partially disposed below a drive shaft and that swingably supports a drive wheel rotated by the drive shaft on the vehicle body, the suspension arm is located between the vehicle body side mounting portion of the arm body and the drive wheel support portion. are connected by multiple edge members whose height is larger than the width, and ribs whose height is larger than the width are spanned between each edge member to form an integral ladder-like structure. The suspension arm is characterized by: