Active material based tunable property automotive brackets
AssigneeGM Global Technology Operations LLC
InventorsPaul W. Alexander, Alan L. Browne, Nancy L. Johnson, Nilesh D. Mankame, Hanif Muhammad, Thomas Wanke
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A tunable property bracket for a vehicle body, includes a support member comprising a first active material configured to provide support for static and dynamic loads during normal operation of the vehicle body, wherein the first active material undergoes a change in a property upon exposure to an activating condition during a loading event or a sensed loading event, wherein the change in the property is effective to provide a load bearing capacity change to the support member.
Claims20
A tunable property bracket for a vehicle body, comprising:
- a support member comprising a first active material configured to provide support for static and dynamic loads during normal operation of the vehicle body, wherein the first active material undergoes a change in a property upon exposure to an activating condition during a loading event or a sensed loading event, wherein the change in the property is effective to provide a load bearing capacity change to the support member.
A process for changing an effective stiffness property of a bracket in a dynamic loading condition, the process comprising:
- disposing a bracket intermediate a vehicle body and a vehicle frame, wherein the bracket comprises a fastener and a support member, wherein the support member is configured to matingly engage the fastener, and wherein a selected one or both of the fastener and the support member comprise an active material and are adapted to produce an effective stiffness in a dynamic loading event of the vehicle body;
- and
- activating the active material to effect a change in a property of the active material, wherein the change in the property is effective to provide a load bearing capacity change to the bracket.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.