Spring assembly for a chassis, vehicle chassis comprising a spring assembly, method for producing a spring assembly for a vehicle chassis and use of a spring assembly

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12409693-B2
Application number	US-202117921307-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 26, 2021
Priority date	Apr 27, 2020
Publication date	Sep 9, 2025
Grant date	Sep 9, 2025

Abstract

A spring assembly for a vehicle chassis may include a spring that features a coating, a spring support, and an intermediate layer. The intermediate layer can be arranged between the spring and the spring support. The intermediate layer may be at least materially connected to the spring, in particular to the coating on a side facing the spring. The intermediate layer lies entirely or partially against the spring support on a side facing away from the spring and is connected to the spring support by a connection other than a material connection.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A spring assembly for a vehicle chassis, comprising:
a spring that has a coating;
a spring support that has an adhesive-repellent supporting region for supporting the spring; and
an intermediate layer arranged between the spring and the spring support, wherein the intermediate layer includes an adhesive;
wherein the intermediate layer is at least materially connected to the coating on a side facing the spring;
wherein the intermediate layer lies entirely or partially against the spring support on a side facing away from the spring and is connected and anchored to the adhesive-repellent supporting region of the spring support by a connection other than a material connection;
wherein the connection is a positive connection configured with positive elements and negative receptacles that receive the positive elements;
wherein either:
projections with undercuts of the intermediate layer are received as the positive elements in undercut cavities of the spring support that form the negative receptacles, or
projections with undercuts of the spring support form the positive elements, with the positive elements being received in the negative receptacles, wherein undercut cavities in the intermediate layer form the negative receptacles.

2. The spring assembly of claim 1 wherein the connection is the positive connection and a nonpositive connection.

3. The spring assembly of claim 1 wherein the spring support is comprised of a flexible plastic selected from a group of polyurethane, acrylonitrile-butadiene acrylate, acrylonitrile-chlorinated polyethylene styrene, acrylonitrile-methyl methacrylate, butadiene rubber, butyl rubber, chloroprene rubber, ethylene-ethyl acrylate copolymer, ethylene-propylene-diene rubber, ethylene-vinyl acetate, fluororubber, isoprene rubber, natural rubber, polyisobutylene, polyvinylbutyral, silicone rubber, styrene-butadiene rubber, vinyl chloride-ethylene, vinyl chloride-ethylene methacrylate, or a combination thereof.

4. The spring assembly of claim 1 , wherein the intermediate layer comprises a composition that is selected from a group of acrylates, epoxy resins, polyurethanes, silicones, silane hybrid systems, polysulfides, or a combination thereof.

5. The spring assembly of claim 1 wherein a hardness of the intermediate layer is less than a hardness of the coating of the spring.

6. The spring assembly of claim 1 wherein a hardness of the intermediate layer is at most 70 Shore D.

7. The spring assembly of claim 1 wherein the intermediate layer has an elongation at break of at least 50%.

8. The spring assembly of claim 1 wherein the intermediate layer has a thickness in a range of 0.1 mm to 10.0 mm.

9. The spring assembly of claim 1 comprising spacers by way of which a surface of the coating and a surface of the spring support are held at a distance from one another, wherein a space formed between the surface of the coating and the surface of the spring support is filled with the intermediate layer.

10. The spring assembly of claim 9 wherein the spacers are distributed such that the spring and the spring support are aligned relative to one another in an axial direction and/or in a radial direction with respect to a spring axis.

11. The spring assembly of claim 10 wherein the spacers are configured as projections that project from the surface of the spring support.

12. The spring assembly of claim 1 wherein the spring support is configured such that when viewed in cross section through a spring wire the spring is received in the spring support over a contact angle range of at least 30° and is connected positively to the spring support by the intermediate layer, wherein the intermediate layer has a constant thickness in a contact region at the spring support.

13. A vehicle chassis comprising the spring assembly of claim 1 .

14. The spring assembly of claim 1 wherein the intermediate layer is anchored as the positive element in cavities of the spring support that form the negative receptacle.

15. The spring assembly of claim 1 wherein the undercut cavities include T-slots.

16. The spring assembly of claim 1 wherein the undercut cavities include dovetail grooves.

17. The spring assembly of claim 1 wherein the intermediate layer includes an elastic adhesive.

18. A method for producing a spring assembly for a vehicle chassis, the method comprising:
a) providing a spring that has a coating;
b) providing a spring support that has an adhesive-repellent supporting region for supporting the spring;
c) providing a filler;
d) applying the filler to the spring and/or to the adhesive-repellent supporting region of the spring support;
e) producing an intermediate layer between the spring and the spring support by bringing into contact
i) the spring with the adhesive-repellent supporting region of the spring support, to which supporting region the filler has been applied,
ii) the spring, to which the filler has been applied, with the adhesive-repellent supporting region of the spring support, or
iii) the spring, to which the filler has been applied, with the adhesive-repellent supporting region of the spring support, to which supporting region the filler has been applied; and

f) forming a material, adhesive connection between the intermediate layer produced in step (e) and the spring, wherein an anchoring connection other than a material connection is formed between the adhesive-repellent supporting region of the spring support and the intermediate layer produced in step (e), wherein the anchoring connection is a positive connection configured with projections anchored in undercut cavities.

Assignees

• Thyssenkrupp Federn & Stabilisatoren Gmbh
• Thyssenkrupp Ag

Inventors

• Westerhoff Karsten
• Schrage Jan-Yves
• Gross Marcel

Classifications

• F16F1/126

  comprising an element between the end coil of the spring and the support proper, e.g. an elastomeric annulus (F16F1/13 takes precedence) · CPC title

• B60G2204/124

  Mounting of coil springs · CPC title

• B60G2206/82

  Joining · CPC title

• B60G2206/42

  Springs · CPC title

• B60G2202/12

  Wound spring · CPC title