Motor vehicle drive shaft comprising a straight seam welded pipe of an aluminum alloy
AssigneeVAW Aluminum AG
InventorsHeinz Schoch, Klaus-Georg Bottger, Thorsten Schulze, Jurgen Westhof
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A drive shaft for motor vehicles in the form of a pipe consisting of aluminum. The drive shaft is a straight seam welded pipe consisting of a strain-hardening aluminum alloy. The pipe is straight seam welded without incorporation of additional materials and the wall thickness of the pipe is greater than 2 mm.
Claims13
A drive shaft for motor vehicles wherein rotation of the drive shaft transmits torque from an engine to at least one wheel of the vehicle, the drive shaft being rotationally coupled for transmitting torque between the engine and the at least one wheel, the drive shaft comprising a straight seam welded pipe of an aluminum alloy, the pipe having a straight weld seam without incorporation of additional materials, the pipe having a wall thickness greater than 2 mm, the weld seam having a variation in wall thickness of between -0.1 and +0.1 mm, the drive shaft having an inner surface which is a continuous surface and the wall thickness being substantially constant from one end to the other end of the pipe.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.