POWER ELEMENT AND MOTOR VEHICLE

Technical Field

The present disclosure relates to a power element and a motor vehicle comprising the power element, in particular to a power element with a fixed damping device.

Background Art

A power element in a mechanical system is usually used to provide power to another component in the system. A power element may be, for example, a wiper motor, the power element typically comprising a mounting portion that may be passed through a hole in a body metal plate to secure a wiper motor to the body, and it is necessary to increase the damping between the wiper motor and the body metal plate to prevent a resonance vibration therebetween.

Usually, a mounting portion comprises a fixing column and a cylindrical rubber plug sleeved on the fixing column. A hole in a body metal plate is usually a slotted hole, which is usually formed by stamping sheet metal parts, resulting in the problem of the edge of the slotted hole turning up. When the mounting portion is mounted into the hole in the body metal plate, the two opposite sides of the cylindrical rubber plug abut the long side of the hole, especially abutting a turn-up thereof, so that when the wiper motor vibrates, the fixing column on the wiper motor also vibrates, causing the cylindrical rubber plug to move in the hole of the body metal plate, and thus the turn-up of the hole will seriously wear down the cylindrical rubber plug, impairing its damping characteristics, which affects the effectiveness of the wiper system.

Therefore, technical personnel in this field are committed to developing a novel power element to address the aforementioned shortcomings of the prior art.

Summary of the Invention i An objective of the present disclosure is to provide a power element that can effectively address the aforementioned shortcomings of the prior art.

The present disclosure provides a power element comprising: a fixing pin extending in a longitudinal direction, for fixing the power element to an external component, and a damping cap sleeved on the fixing pin, characterised in that the damping cap has a cap body with a hollow polygonal cross-section on a plane perpendicular to the longitudinal direction.

In the present disclosure, the above structural design of the damping cap is utilised to ensure that at least one side of a polygonal cross-section of the damping cap abuts at least one long side of the mounting hole when the fixing pin and the damping cap are mounted into a mounting hole of an external component, so that the contact area between the damping cap and the external component is increased to improve the uniformity of stress distribution on the damping cap and reduce wear, thereby extending its service life.

In one or more embodiments, the polygonal cross-section is a rectangular cross-section.

In one or more embodiments, the polygonal cross-section is a square crosssection.

In the present disclosure, a polygonal cross-section of the damping cap is set to a rectangular cross-section or a square cross-section, so that when it is mounted into a mounting hole of an external component, the two opposite sides of the crosssection of the damping cap may abut the mounting hole, further increasing the contact area between the damping cap and the external component, further effectively improving the uniformity of stress distribution on the damping cap, and reducing wear.

In one or more embodiments, the damping cap comprises a flange arranged at an end of the cap body.

In the present disclosure, the depth of insertion of the damping cap into a mounting hole of an external component may be limited by arranging a flange at an end of the cap body, thereby preventing the damping cap from passing through the mounting hole. In one or more embodiments, the top of the damping cap is provided with an air vent.

In the present disclosure, by the arrangement of an air vent at the top of the damping cap, gas in the damping cap is conveniently discharged when the fixing pin is inserted into the damping cap, so that the two fit each other closely.

In one or more embodiments, the fixing pin has a rectangular cross-section on a plane perpendicular to the longitudinal direction.

In one or more embodiments, the fixing pin has a base and a fixing pin body extending in the longitudinal direction from the base, wherein the fixing pin body is inserted into the damping cap and the base abuts the flange of the damping cap.

With the above structural design of a fixing pin of the present disclosure, a flange may be clamped between an external component and the base of the fixing pin when the fixing pin and the damping cap are mounted in a mounting hole of the external component, which prevents the problems of damage to parts and a high probability of resonance vibration due to excessive insertion causing the damping cap to pass through the body metal plate and causing hard contact between the external component and the fixing pin.

In one or more embodiments, the fixing pin is provided with a first stopper at the free end, and the damping cap has a second stopper that fits the first stopper to prevent axial movement of the damping cap relative to the fixing pin.

In the present disclosure, the damping cap is prevented from moving axially relative to the fixing pin by arranging a first stopper on the fixing pin and arranging, on the damping cap, a second stopper that fits the first stopper.

In one or more embodiments, the fixing pin is fixedly connected to the housing of the power element.

In one or more embodiments, the damping cap is a rubber cap.

In the present disclosure, the arrangement of the damping cap as a rubber cap makes it easy to obtain a material for preparing the damping cap and allows a reduction in its preparation cost.

In one or more embodiments, the power element is the output shaft assembly of an electric motor or drive rod. In one or more embodiments, the electric motor is a wiper motor.

The present disclosure further provides a motor vehicle comprising: a body with an elongated mounting hole; and a power element as described above, wherein the fixing pin and damping cap of the power element are mounted in the mounting hole, and at least one side of a polygonal cross-section of the damping cap abuts at least one long side of the mounting hole.

With the above structural design of the present disclosure, the area of contact between the damping cap and a mounting hole in the body may be increased to improve the uniformity of stress distribution on the damping cap, reduce wear, and effectively enhance the damping between the power element and the body, thereby avoiding resonance vibrations therebetween.

Brief Description of the Drawings

Fig. 1 is a schematic diagram of an example in which an electric motor is used as a power element according to an embodiment of the present disclosure, wherein the electric motor comprises a fixed damping device;

Fig. 2 is a three-dimensional view of a fixing pin according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

Fig. 3 is a three-dimensional view of a damping cap according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

Fig. 4 is a partial schematic view of the electric motor viewed along direction Ain Fig. 1, wherein the partial schematic view shows a fixed damping device;

Fig. 5 is a cross-sectional view of the fixed damping device shown in Fig. 4 along the section line B-B;

Fig. 6 is a cross-sectional view of the fixed damping device shown in Fig. 1 along the section line C-C;

Fig. 7 is a cross-sectional view of the fixed damping device shown in Fig. 1 along the section line D-D;

Fig. 8 is a side view of a fixing pin according to another embodiment of the present disclosure;

Fig. 9 is a cross-sectional view of a fixed damping device according to another embodiment of the present disclosure along the section line D-D in Fig. 1.

Specific Embodiments

Some specific embodiments will be described below to explain methods of implementation of the present disclosure, and those of ordinary skill in the art can easily understand other advantages and effects of the present disclosure from what is disclosed in this description.

It should be noted that the structures, proportions, sizes, etc. shown in the drawings of this description are intended, in cooperation with what is disclosed in the description, for easy understanding and perusal by those of ordinary skill in the art, rather than being intended to limit the conditions for implementing in the present disclosure, so they do not have any substantive technical meaning, and any modifications to the structure, changes in the proportion relationship, or adjustments in size, without affecting the efficacy and objectives that may be achieved by the present disclosure, should still fall within the scope of the technical content disclosed herein. In addition, terms such as "upper" and "one" as used herein are intended for clarity of description, rather than being intended to limit the scope of implementation of the present disclosure, and any changes or adjustments in their relative relationships without substantial changes in technical content should also be deemed to fall into the scope of implementation of the present disclosure.

In order to provide a clearer understanding of the present disclosure, some embodiments of the present disclosure will be explained in detail below in conjunction with the drawings.

The present disclosure provides a power element, as shown in Fig. 1, wherein the power element may be, for example, an electric motor, and more specifically, a wiper motor of a motor vehicle. The case where a power element is used as the wiper motor will be explained below, but it should be understood that the power element is not limited to a wiper motor as exemplified herein, as long as it has the possibility of being mounted on another component and has a vibration problem. The power element comprises a fixed damping device 1 mounted on its housing, which is configured to fix the power element to the body metal plate and increase the damping between the power element and the body metal plate to prevent resonance vibrations therebetween.

As shown in Fig. 2 and Fig. 3, the fixed damping device 1 comprises a fixing pin 10 and a damping cap 20. The fixing pin 10 is fixedly connected to the housing of the power element, configured to fix the power element to an external component (for example, a body metal plate). Specifically, the fixing pin 10 may be integrally formed with the housing of the power element, or may be fixed to the housing of the power element through fixing devices (such as screws and bolts). As shown in Fig. 2, the fixing pin 10 may include a base 11 and a fixing pin body 12 extending in the longitudinal direction X from the base 11. The fixing pin body 12 is substantially in the shape of a flat strip and without any other component thereon, and the fixing pin body 12 is substantially rectangular in cross-section on a plane perpendicular to the longitudinal direction X (as shown in Fig. 6), wherein, it should be noted that in the present disclosure, a rectangular cross-section may be a rectangular cross-section or a square cross-section. The fixing pin 10 may be made of a metal or alloy material, for example, an aluminium alloy.

As shown in Fig. 3, Fig. 5, and Fig. 7, when the wiper motor, which is a power element, is mounted on a motor vehicle, it is necessary to sleeve the damping cap 20 of the fixed damping device 1 on the fixing pin 10 to, when the fixing pin 10 is fixed to an external component, increase the damping therebetween and reduce vibration transmission . Specifically, the damping cap 20 comprises a cap body 21, and the cap body 21 is sleeved on the fixing pin body 12, wherein the two may be in an interference fit. The cap body 21 can have a hollow polygonal cross-section on a plane perpendicular to the longitudinal direction X, so that at least one side thereof can abut a mounting hole in the body metal plate. Preferably, the polygonal cross-section mentioned above may be a rectangular cross-section (as shown in Fig. 6), so that when it is mounted in a mounting hole of the body metal plate (as indicated by the dashed lines in Fig. 6), the two opposite sides of the cap body 21 in the cross-section abut the body metal plate to increase the area of contact with the body metal plate, allowing stress to be evenly distributed, reducing wear and extending service life, which shows that the above arrangement of the present disclosure can address the shortcoming of aggravated damage due to stress concentration caused by an excessively small area of contact between a cap body with a circular cross-section and a body metal plate in the prior art.

The damping cap 20 further comprises a flange 22, wherein the flange 22 may be arranged at one end of the cap body 21. In the embodiment shown in Fig. 3, the flange 22 may be a circular flange that surrounds the cap body 21, the circular flange 22 protruding from the free end of the cap body 21 , for example, so that the flange 22 abuts the base 11 of the fixing pin 10 (as shown in Fig. 5 and Fig. 7) when the damping cover 20 is assembled on the fixing pin 10, wherein, with such an arrangement, when the damping device 1 is mounted in the mounting hole of the body metal plate (as indicated by the dashed lines in Fig. 7), the flange 22 is clamped between the body metal plate and the base 11 of the fixing pin 10, which prevents the problems of damage to parts and a high probability of resonance vibration due to excessive insertion causing the damping cap 20 to pass through the body metal plate and causing hard contact between the body metal plate and the fixing pin 10. Indeed, the flange 22 as described herein is not limited to a circular flange, wherein, for example, the flange 22 may also be a part of a circular flange or a plurality of discontinuous protrusions, as long as, when the fixed damping device 1 is mounted in the mounting hole of the body metal plate, the flange 22 may be clamped between the body metal plate and the base 11 of the fixing pin 10 to avoid direct contact therebetween.

Continuing to refer to Fig. 3, the damping cap 20 is further provided with an air vent 23 at its top to facilitate the discharge of a gas from the interior of the damping cap 20 when the fixing pin 10 is inserted into the damping cap 20, so that the two fit each closely. In addition, the arrangement of an air vent also facilitates the manufacturing of the damping cap 20 by demoulding. The damping cap 20 may be an elastic cap, for example, a rubber cap, which makes a material for preparing the damping cap easily obtainable and reduces the preparation cost. The hardness of the damping cap 20 is approximately within the range of 57-67 Shore hardness (Shore A), such as Shore hardness of 57, 60, 62, 64, or 67. Referring to Fig. 4 to Fig. 7, when the damping cap 20 is assembled/sleeved on the fixing pin 10, an elastic deformation occurs, resulting in a tight fit (that is, an interference fit) therebetween, so that the damping cap 20 is driven when the power element vibrates. After the assembly of the damping cap 20 and the fixing pin 10, the fixed damping device 1 may be inserted into the mounting hole of the body metal plate (as shown in Fig. 6 and Fig. 7) so that the body metal plate contacts the flange 22 of the damping cap 20 or is distanced from the flange 22 by a gap of smaller than or equal to 2 mm, wherein the mounting hole of the body metal plate may be an elongated mounting hole, for example, an oblong hole with a length of L2 and a width of W2. Specific dimensions of the fixed damping device 1 and of the mounting hole in the body metal plate may be selected according to actual needs, and no specific restrictions are imposed thereon in the present disclosure.

When the fixed damping device 1 of the above structure is inserted into the mounting hole of the body metal plate, the two opposite sides of the fixed damping device 1 (for example, the two opposing long sides shown in Fig. 6) may abut the mounting hole to increase the area of contact between the damping cap 20 and the body metal plate, so, when the power element drives the damping cap 20 to move, the uniformity of stress distribution on the damping cap 20 will improve, which addresses the shortcoming of aggravated damage due to stress concentration caused by an excessively small area of contact between a cap body with a circular cross-section and a body metal plate in the prior art, thereby reducing wear.

Different embodiments of the present disclosure will be explained below. For simplicity of explanation, the following description focuses on the differences between each embodiment, and the similarities between them will not be detailed again herein. In addition, identical components in the described embodiments of the present disclosure are denoted by identical labels to facilitate comparison between the embodiments.

Fig. 8 is a side view of a fixing pin in another embodiment of the present disclosure; Fig. 9 is a cross-sectional view of a fixed damping device according to another embodiment of the present disclosure along the section line D-D in Fig. 1. As shown in Fig. 8 and Fig. 9, the fixing pin 10, besides the base 11 and the fixing pin body 12, further comprises a first stopper 13. The first stopper 13 is located at the free end of the fixing pin 10 and is arranged on at least one wall of the fixing pin 10. In the embodiment shown in Fig. 8, the first stopper 13 is arranged on the two opposite sides of the fixing pin 10. Correspondingly, the damping cap 20 may be provided with a second stopper 23 (as shown in Fig. 9) in the damping cap body 21 to fit the first stopper of the fixing pin 10, thereby preventing the damping cap 20 from moving axially relative to the fixing pin 10. The fixed damping device 1 with such a structure, besides allowing reduction in the wear of the damping cap 20 caused by the mounting hole of the body metal plate and an extension of its service life, also allows a reduction in the axial movement of the damping cap 20 relative to the fixing pin 10.

Although the power element of the above embodiment is described by taking the wiper motor shown in Fig. 1 as an example, the present disclosure is not limited thereto, and, for example, the power element may also be another electric motor or the output shaft assembly of a drive rod, in which case the fixed damping device is arranged on the housing of the electric motor or on the support seat of the output shaft assembly of the drive rod, and, indeed, the fixed damping device may also be arranged on a gearbox connected to the electric motor, wherein the same beneficial effect as described above may be achieved as long as the fixed damping device has a structure as described herein.

The present disclosure provides a power element comprising a fixed damping device, wherein the fixed damping device comprises a fixing pin arranged on the housing of the power element and a damping cap sleeved on the fixing pin, and the damping cap is arranged to have a hollow polygonal cross-section (especially a hollow rectangular cross-section) on a plane perpendicular to the longitudinal direction, so that when the fixed damping device is mounted in the mounting hole of the body metal plate, the two opposite sides of the damping cap may abut the body metal plate to increase the area of contact with the body metal plate, allowing stress to be evenly distributed and reducing wear, which effectively addresses the shortcoming of aggravated damage due to stress concentration caused by an excessively small area of contact between a cap body with a circular cross-section and a body metal plate in the prior art.

The present disclosure further provides a motor vehicle comprising a body (especially a body metal plate) and a power element with the above structure, wherein the body metal plate has an elongated mounting hole, the fixed damping device of the power element is mounted in the mounting hole, and at least one side of the polygonal cross-section of the damping cap of the fixed damping device abuts at least one long side of the mounting hole, which increases the area of contact between the damping cap and the body metal plate, improves the uniformity of stress distribution on the damping cap, reduces wear, and effectively enhances the damping between the power element and the body, thereby avoiding resonance vibrations therebetween.

While some exemplary embodiments of a power element and a motor vehicle provided in the present disclosure have been described above with reference to preferred embodiments, those of ordinary skill in the art can understand that, without departing from the concept of the present disclosure, variations and modifications may be made to the specific embodiments described above, and that various combinations of the technical features and structures disclosed herein may be made without exceeding the scope of protection of the present disclosure, so the scope of protection of the present disclosure is defined by the attached claims.