Vehicle impact structures

The provision of impact structures is difficult in the case of small vehicles, due to the shortage of working depth. We propose to use the wheel and tire as part of the deformable structures, which reduces the overall weight of the vehicle and requires little or no additional space in which to provi...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Author Coppuck, Frank
Format Patent
LanguageEnglish
Published 11.06.2019
Subjects
LAND VEHICLES FOR TRAVELLING OTHERWISE THAN ON RAILS
MOTOR VEHICLES
PERFORMING OPERATIONS
TRAILERS
TRANSPORTING
VEHICLE SUSPENSION ARRANGEMENTS
VEHICLES IN GENERAL
Online AccessGet full text

Cover

More Information
Summary:The provision of impact structures is difficult in the case of small vehicles, due to the shortage of working depth. We propose to use the wheel and tire as part of the deformable structures, which reduces the overall weight of the vehicle and requires little or no additional space in which to provide the impact structures. There is still a need to control the movement of the wheel under impact, but we have found that this can be done by appropriate design of the suspension components so that they react in a defined manner to an impact and guide the wheel in the correct manner. The present invention therefore provides a vehicle comprising a chassis, at least one wheel, and a hub carrier on which the wheel is mounted, together with a suspension connecting the hub carrier to the chassis that includes a plurality of first links extending towards the chassis in at least one of an inward or an upward direction and at least one second link extending towards the chassis in a longitudinal direction, and a crushable structure attached to the chassis at a location aligned with a path of the wheel under impact after collapse of the longitudinally extending link.
Bibliography:Application Number: US201515314856