CN113511033A - Protective cover for vehicle half shaft, vehicle half shaft comprising protective cover and vehicle - Google Patents

Abstract

The invention relates to a protective cover for a vehicle half-shaft provided with a flexible sheath, which surrounds at least the majority of the flexible sheath and is made of a hard material, such as metal or nylon. The shield is a stamped or integrally injection molded part in the shape of a truncated cone or bowl and has a smaller circular opening at one axial end and a larger circular opening at the other axial end. The axial end portion having the smaller circular opening is press-fitted over the shaft rod of the vehicle axle shaft in an interference manner, and the other axial end portion having the larger circular opening is designed in a closed-up shape. The bottom end of the protective cover is provided with a reinforcing rib or a concave part, and/or a metal net is attached to the side wall. The side wall of the protective cover is also provided with at least one assembling window for the jacket clamp. The axial length of the boot is less than the overall length of the sheath. The invention also relates to a vehicle half shaft comprising the protective cover and a vehicle.

Description

Protective cover for vehicle half shaft, vehicle half shaft comprising protective cover and vehicle

Technical Field

The invention relates to the technical field of vehicles, in particular to a protective cover for protecting a vehicle half shaft sheath, a vehicle half shaft comprising the protective cover and a vehicle.

Background

A half shaft (also referred to as a drive shaft) of a vehicle is generally provided with a sheath for preventing grease leakage, and the sheath is often made of a soft material such as rubber or resin, as shown in fig. 1. The mounting position of the protective sleeve on the whole vehicle is positioned at the lower end of the chassis and above the ground, and the protective sleeve is directly exposed in the surrounding environment without protective measures. This may cause the following problems: when the whole vehicle runs on a road, particularly a non-urban pavement, the half shaft rubber sleeve is hit or pierced by foreign matters to cause grease leakage of the half shaft. Specifically, the half shaft sheath may be damaged and cause grease leakage, so that the joint type lubricating effect and the heat dissipation function of the whole half shaft are reduced, and the service life of the half shaft is reduced; in addition, the damage of the sheath can also cause the entry of foreign matters, which not only reduces the service life, but also brings the problems of NVH (noise, vibration and harshness), thereby reducing the driving feeling of the whole vehicle; in addition, since the vehicle half shaft is almost positioned at the lowest end of the whole vehicle, the problem of breakage of the half shaft sheath is difficult to observe from the aspects of drivers, maintenance personnel and the like, and if the vehicle runs in a grease leakage state for a long time, the shaft is easily broken, so that the safety of the drivers and passengers is affected.

Disclosure of Invention

An object of the present invention is to solve at least one of the above problems and disadvantages in the prior art.

According to one aspect of the invention, a protective cover for a vehicle half-shaft is provided with a flexible sheath that surrounds at least a majority of the flexible sheath and is made of a hard material.

Optionally, the hard material is metal or nylon.

Optionally, the protective cover is a stamped or integrally injection molded part in the shape of a truncated cone or a bowl, and the circular opening of one axial end of the protective cover is smaller than the circular opening of the other axial end.

Optionally, the one axial end having the smaller circular opening is press-fitted onto the shaft of the vehicle axle shaft in an interference manner.

Optionally, the other axial end having the larger circular opening is designed in a closed-off shape, which is substantially annular.

Optionally, the one axial end portion having the smaller circular opening has a reinforcing structure including at least one of reinforcing ribs and a bottom end recessed portion, and/or a metal mesh having a quadrangular lattice configuration or a honeycomb configuration is attached to an inner wall surface or an outer wall surface of a side wall of the boot.

Optionally, the side wall of the protective cover is provided with at least one fitting window adapted to a protruding portion of a clip for a vehicle half-shaft, and/or the axial length of the protective cover is less than the overall length of the sheath so that the clip of the sheath is exposed outside the protective cover.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is also provided a vehicle axle shaft including the protective cover for a vehicle axle shaft described above.

Optionally, the vehicle half-shaft is a rear half-shaft of the vehicle.

According to yet another aspect of the invention, there is also provided a vehicle comprising the aforementioned protective cover for a vehicle half shaft.

The invention provides a hard protective cover which is additionally arranged on the periphery of the existing half shaft protective cover. The protection cover of hard material wraps up the flexibility or the soft sheath of semi-axis inside the protection cover almost completely, consequently can protect the semi-axis to avoid external force and damage to effectively prolong the life of semi-axis. The protective cover according to the invention can obtain at least one of the following advantages: the stamping part or the integrated forming part which has simple structure and is easy to manufacture is used for protecting the important working part of the half shaft, so that the failure rate of the half shaft can be effectively reduced, and the long-term stable work can be ensured; the side wall of the protective cover is windowed, and the mounting hole of the half shaft hoop is reserved, so that the assembly of original parts is not influenced; the press fitting mode of interference fit is utilized, the assembling mode and the sequence of the original parts are not influenced, any design of the original parts is not required to be changed, additional customization can be completely carried out, and the press fitting device is supplied to the market in the form of a modified part; in addition, a recess may be added to the bottom of the shield and/or a metal mesh may be attached to the shield wall to meet strength requirements and address NVH issues.

Drawings

The invention is described in detail below by way of non-limiting examples with reference to the accompanying drawings, which are schematic only and not necessarily to scale, and which show only those parts which are necessary in order to elucidate the invention, while other parts may be omitted or merely mentioned briefly. That is, the present invention may include other components in addition to those shown in the drawings. In the drawings:

FIG. 1 schematically illustrates a prior art boot mounted on a vehicle axle shaft;

FIG. 2 is a schematic perspective view of a protective cover for a vehicle axle shaft in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a schematic perspective view of the protective cover of FIG. 1 from another angle;

FIG. 4 is a schematic view of the protective cover of FIG. 1 mounted on a vehicle axle shaft;

FIG. 5 is a schematic view of the boot of FIG. 1 mounted on a vehicle axle shaft showing details of engagement with the boot clip.

Detailed Description

A protective cover for a vehicle half shaft according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings. In the following description, numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide a more thorough understanding of the present invention to those skilled in the art. It will be apparent, however, to one skilled in the art, that implementations of the invention may be practiced without all of these specific details, but with only a portion thereof. Furthermore, it should be understood that the invention is not limited to the specific embodiments described. Rather, it is contemplated that the invention may be practiced with any combination of the following features and elements, whether or not they relate to different embodiments. Thus, the following aspects, features, embodiments and advantages are merely illustrative and should not be considered elements or limitations of the claims except where explicitly recited in a claim.

FIG. 2 schematically illustrates a protective cover 20 for a vehicle axle shaft according to one embodiment of the present invention. The boot 20 may enclose at least a majority of the flexible/supple sheath 10 (see fig. 1) disposed over the axle shaft. The protective cover 20 is advantageously made of a hard material to assist in protecting the sheath 10. The hard material may be, for example, metal or nylon. The protective cover made of hard materials is utilized to almost completely wrap the flexible sheath of the half shaft, so that the rubber sleeve can be protected from being damaged by external force. Suitable materials for the boot 20 may be selected based on the ability of the half-shafts to move.

As shown in fig. 2 to 4, the protective cover 20 has a frustoconical or bowl shape with one axial end 21 having a smaller circular opening and the other axial end 22 having a larger circular opening.

The protective cover 20 according to the present invention may be formed by press molding or integral injection molding. The structure and the process are simple, so that the method is convenient for low-cost and large-batch production. By protecting the important working parts of the half shaft by using a stamping part or an integrated forming part which has simple structure and is easy to manufacture, the half shaft can be ensured to work stably for a long time, and the failure rate of the half shaft can be effectively reduced.

Fig. 4 schematically shows a state in which the protective cover 20 is mounted on the half shaft of the vehicle. As shown in fig. 4, the axial end 21 having the smaller circular opening may be press-fitted over the axle shaft 30 of the vehicle axle shaft in an interference manner. The press fitting mode of interference fit does not influence the assembly mode and sequence of original parts of the vehicle, does not need to change any design of the original parts, can be completely customized additionally, and can be adapted to the existing vehicle half shaft in the form of a modified part. In addition, with this mounting, the protective cap 20 can be secured to the maximum extent so as to be movable with the axle 30, so that the bending capability of the axle shaft is not affected and the strength of the axle shaft 30 is not reduced. Other mounting arrangements are also contemplated, for example the guard 20 may be clamped to the shaft using a clamp.

Referring again to fig. 2, the axial end 22 having the larger circular opening is designed with a necked-in portion to reduce the possibility of foreign objects entering the boot 20 and damaging the inner sheath 10. The necked-in portion may be generally annular in shape. It is contemplated that the necked-in portion of the axial end 22 may also be tapered opposite the body of the boot 20. Here, the body of the boot 20 is gradually enlarged in the axial direction from the axial end 21 toward the other axial end 22, as shown in fig. 4.

The axial end 21 (also called bottom end) with the smaller circular opening may have a reinforcing structure. For example, a protruding bead or a recessed portion 24 may be provided at the axial end portion 21, for example, at rounded corners thereof, as shown in fig. 3.

Additionally or alternatively, the side walls of the boot 20 may be provided with a reinforcing structure, for example, a metal mesh may be attached to the inner or outer wall surface of the side walls, so that the protection performance may be enhanced and the life span of the boot may be extended. The metal mesh may have a quadrangular lattice configuration or a honeycomb configuration.

By providing a reinforcing structure, it is possible to simultaneously meet the strength requirements and avoid or at least reduce problems in terms of NVH (noise, vibration and harshness)

Referring to fig. 3 to 5, the side wall of the protective cover 20 may be provided with an assembly window 23, the assembly window 23 being adapted to a protruding portion of the clip 11 for a vehicle axle shaft. By providing the assembly windows 23, mounting holes for the half-shaft clips 11 can be reserved so as not to interfere with the assembly of the original components. Advantageously, two mounting windows 23 are provided on the side wall of the protective cover 20, diametrically opposite each other, so that during assembly it is only necessary to align the projecting portion of the clip 11 with either one of the mounting windows 23, thus simplifying the assembly process.

The axial length and wall thickness of the boot 20 may also be determined based on the motion capabilities of the axle shaft, the diameter of the circular opening of the axial end 22, and the like. Advantageously, the axial length of the protective cover 20 is less than the overall length of the sheath 10, so that the clips 11 of the sheath 10 can be exposed outside the protective cover 20. For example, the axial length of the boot 20 is greater than half of the overall length of the sheath 10 but less than the overall length of the sheath 10, such as in the range of 2/3 to 5/6 of the overall length of the sheath 10. This arrangement ensures, on the one hand, the angle of bending of the half-shafts and, on the other hand, also allows the protective cover 20 not to interfere with the sheath 10 and its clip 11 and not to interfere with the assembly of the nodal pattern adjacent to the axial end 22.

The rear half-shafts of vehicles are usually bent at a much smaller angle than the front half-shafts, and therefore the boot according to the invention is particularly suitable for application to rear half-shafts.

The protective cover according to the invention is particularly suitable for vehicles with off-road capability or often driving on unpaved roads.

It will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that the embodiments described above are exemplary and can be modified by those skilled in the art, and that the structures described in the various embodiments can be freely combined without conflict in structure or principle.

Having described preferred embodiments of the present invention in detail, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various changes and modifications may be made without departing from the scope and spirit of the appended claims, and the invention is not to be limited to the embodiments set forth herein.

Claims (10)

1. A protective cover for a vehicle half-shaft provided with a flexible sheath, characterized in that it surrounds at least the majority of the flexible sheath and is made of a hard material.

2. A protective cover according to claim 1, wherein the hard material is metal or nylon.

3. The protective cover according to claim 2, wherein the protective cover is a press-formed part or an integral injection-molded part in a truncated cone shape or a bowl shape, and a circular opening of one axial end portion of the protective cover is smaller than a circular opening of the other axial end portion.

4. A protective cover according to claim 3, wherein said one axial end portion having the smaller circular opening is press-fitted in an interference manner onto a shaft of a vehicle axle shaft.

5. The protective cover according to claim 3, wherein the other axial end portion having the larger circular opening is designed in a necked-in shape having a substantially annular shape.

6. The protective cover of claim 3,

the one axial end portion having the smaller circular opening has a reinforcing structure including at least one of a reinforcing bead and a bottom end recess portion, and/or

A metal mesh having a quadrangular lattice configuration or a honeycomb configuration is attached to an inner wall surface or an outer wall surface of a side wall of the protective cover.

7. The protective cover according to any one of claims 1 to 6,

at least one assembly window is arranged on the side wall of the protective cover, the assembly window is adapted to a protruding part of a clamping hoop for a vehicle half shaft, and/or

The boot has an axial length less than the overall length of the boot such that the band of the boot is exposed outside of the boot.

8. A vehicle axle shaft comprising a protective cover for a vehicle axle shaft according to any one of claims 1 to 7.

9. The vehicle axle shaft as defined in claim 8, wherein the vehicle axle shaft is a rear half shaft of a vehicle.

10. A vehicle comprising a protective cover for a vehicle axle shaft according to any one of claims 1 to 7.

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