US 11,440,496 B2Granted

Bearing unit, steering-wheel subassembly and method for producing a vehicle subassembly

AssigneeTRW Automotive Safety Systems GmbH

InventorDominik Schütz

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Abstract

A description is given of a bearing unit of a vehicle subassembly, wherein the vehicle subassembly has a vehicle-mounted support, in particular a vehicle steering wheel (10), and a component which is to be fastened on the support, in particular an airbag module. The baring unit comprises at least one adjustable spacer element (14a, 14b, 14c) for orienting the position of the component on the support. Also provided are a bearing unit having a plurality of spacer elements (14a) which can be adjusted independently of one another and a steering wheel subassembly having a vehicle steering wheel (10) and an airbag module, wherein the vehicle steering wheel (10) and the airbag module are connected to each other by the bearing unit. The invention additionally relates to a method for producing a vehicle subassembly having a vehicle-mounted support, a component which is to be fastened on the support and at least one bearing unit.

Claims17

Dependent claims

A bearing unit for connecting a vehicle-mounted support to a component which is to be fastened on the support, the vehicle-mounted support being a steering wheel (10), the component being an airbag module (12), the bearing unit comprising:

at least one adjustable spacer element (14a, 14b, 14c) for orienting the position of the component on the support, and
a first fastener by which the support or the component can be fixed on the spacer element (14a, 14b, 14c),
wherein the spacer element (14a, 14b, 14c) has a support-side holding member (26) comprising a first thread (28), a component-side holding member (22) comprising a second thread (24) and a second fastener by which the support-side holding member (26) can be fixed on the support or the component-side holding member (22) can be fixed on the component,
wherein the second thread (24) engages in the first thread (28) in such a way that the length of the spacer element (14a, 14b, 14c) varies by a rotational movement of the support-side holding member (26) relative to the component-side holding member (22).

1 more element

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Facts

Application: 16/483,491Filed 19 Jan 2018
Priority: DE 102017102463.88 Feb 2017
Published: US 2020/0017056 A116 Jan 2020
Granted: 13 Sep 2022
Term ends: Not estimatedThe source records don’t support an estimate.

Classification6 codes

B60R 21/2035
In steering wheels or steering columns: using modules containing inflator, bag and cover attachable to the steering wheel as a complete sub-unit
B62D 1/04
Vehicle-mounted: hand wheels
F16C 35/02
Rigid support of bearing units; Housings, e.g. caps, covers: in the case of sliding-contact bearings
B60R
Vehicle fittings and parts

Family

US 2020/0017056 A1Pre-grant publication · published 16 Jan 2020
US 11,440,496 B2This patent

From the US filing history. Foreign family members aren’t listed.

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