FORM 2
THE PATENT ACT 1970
(39 of 1970)
&
The Patents Rules, 2003
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION
(See Section 10, and rule 13)
1. TITLE OF INVENTION : JOINT ARRANGEMENT

2. APPLICANT(S)
a) Name :ZF FRIEDRICHSHAFEN AG
b) Nationality :GERMAN Company
c) Address :88 038 FRIEDRICHSHAFEN
GERMANY

3. PREAMBLE TO THE DESCRIPTION
The following specification particularly describes the invention and the manner in which it is to be performed : -

Description
The invention relates to a joint arrangement according to the preamble of claim 1 as well as to a motor vehicle having at least one such joint arrangement.
In motor vehicle chassis, joint arrangements are provided at a plurality of points for connecting relatively movable parts in the chassis or in the steering. In this case, tolerances of the respective components have to be compensated by adapting the position and/or alignment of the joint arrangement in accordance with these tolerances.
For example, for connecting a lower cross-link control arm to the wheel carrier held thereon it is known to fasten a joint arrangement to the outwardly extending end of the cross-link control arm, wherein for this purpose the joint arrangement is mounted in a fixed manner on a mounting plate provided with three oblong holes. This mounting plate is then screw-fastened to the cross-link control arm end, wherein by means of the oblong holes an adjustment facility arises. The joint pin projecting up from the mounting plate engages through the wheel carrier and is securable above the wheel carrier by means of a screw connection.
Such an alignment by means of a plurality of screws in oblong holes entails a high assembly outlay.
The underlying problem of the invention is to achieve an improvement of the tolerance compensation for the position and/ or alignment of joint arrangements of a motor vehicle chassis.
The invention solves this problem by means of a joint arrangement having the features of claim 1 as well as by means of a motor vehicle having the features of claim 11. As regards advantageous refinements and developments of the invention, reference is made to the further claims 2 to 10.


By virtue of the fact that in the joint arrangement the joint axis is situated at a distance from the central line situated centrally in the joint, a tolerance compensation may occur. Variations from the intended position of the joint axis may be compensated by installing the joint axis, which previously coincided with the the centre line, at such a distance that the joint axis occupies the optimum installation position with regard to the tolerances.
If the joint axis is situated parallel to the centre line, the alignment is simplified and takes into account only variations in a plane cut vertically of the joint axis.
If in a particularly advantageous manner the eccentricity of the joint axis relative to the centre line is adjustable and fixable, the alignment may be effected individually and in dependence upon a concrete tolerance variation during assembly.
In particular, the joint may is a sleeve joint having an eccentrically disposed through-bore, so that a pin disposed in a fixed manner on a component to be connected may engage into the through-bore and be moved into an appropriate position by alignment of the eccentric through-bore.
In another application, the joint may comprise as a joint body a ball head, which is movable with a in the joint socket and from which for tolerance compensation a joint pin eccentrically emanates. By rotating the joint body the transverse distance of the receiver of the pin is variably adjustable. This adjustment may be effected in the mounted state of the wheel and be fixed by tightening the single fastening means, for example a union nut, that secures the pin on the cross-link control arm. The adjustment outlay is therefore minimized.
Alternatively, in a joint of a similar construction a joint pin may extend centrically relative to the pin, wherein the receiving joint socket itself is movable around a centre line.

A particularly advantageous application of the invention is in a motor vehicle at the articulated connection between a control arm, which guides and/ or carries a wheel, and a wheel carrier movably connected to the control arm and the wheel.
In this case, in particular the joint arrangement in a reversal of the previously known conditions may receive a pin pointing rigidly outwards from the wheel carrier and hold this pin on the cross-link control arm.
In this way, the fastening between wheel carrier and cross-link control arm is shifted radially outwards relative to the wheel axis. Thus, no fastening means is situated in the space between the wheel carrier and the hub and no intervention is required here during assembly or disassembly. The extension arm of the wheel carrier may therefore move closer to the hub and the clearance relative to the rim flange is increased. The advantageous nature of this comes particularly to the fore at a McPherson-style axle, where the wheel carrier is penetrated by a drive shaft above the pin connecting the wheel carrier to the cross-link control arm, with the result that particular attention has to be devoted here to spatial problems.
Further advantages and features of the invention emerge from embodiments of the subject matter of the invention that are represented in the drawings and described below.
The drawings show:
Fig. 1 a schematic overview drawing of a joint arrangement according to the
invention at a control arm of a driven wheel of a motor vehicle chassis,
Fig. 2 a schematic exploded drawing of the connection parts in Fig. 1 with
sectioned sleeve joint in the cross member,

Fig. 3 a plan view of the sleeve joint according to Fig. 2 received in the cross
member,
Fig. 4 a similar view to Fig. 2 but of an alternative arrangement comprising a
ball joint with a pin in the cross-link control arm, which is fixable by means of an adjustably eccentric abutment in the wheel carrier.
In the first embodiment (Fig. 1 to Fig. 3) an eccentric sleeve joint 15 is represented:
On the detail of a chassis shown by way of example in Fig. 1 a McPherson-style axle arrangement 1 is represented, which as such is used in principle also in the second embodiment and in which to the top end of a wheel carrier 2 a shock-absorbing strut 3 is attached and on the bottom end of the wheel carrier 2 an extension arm 4 is provided, which has a component pointing in the direction of the vehicle transverse centre and by which the wheel carrier 3 is connected via a joint- and/or bearing arrangement 8 to a cross-link control arm 7, which carries or at least guides the wheel 5, here indicated by the rim 6. The control arm 7 here takes the form of a so-called wishbone and is coupled to the vehicle body pivotably about an axis 9 situated at least almost longitudinally of the vehicle.
The wheel carrier 3 is penetrated by a drive shaft 10, which in turn is surrounded by a gaiter 11.
Instead of a McPherson arrangement, other geometries may be used. For example, an arrangement comprising an upper and a lower cross-link control arm 7 may alternatively be provided. In the following, embodiments having only a lower crosslink control arm 7 are described:
According to the first embodiment in the drawing there is exactly associated with the wheel carrier 3 a pin 12, which is directed rigidly outwards from the wheel

carrier 3, has a component pointing down towards the cross-link control arm 7 and is received on the latter in the joint arrangement 8.
The pin 12 may be rigidly connected to the wheel carrier 3, for example secured by means of an interference fit or weld join in a recess let into the wheel carrier 3. Alternatively, the pin 12 may be formed integrally on the wheel carrier 3. At any rate, the unit of wheel carrier 3 and pin 12 may be delivered in a fully assembled state to the assembly line.
Depending on geometry, the pin 12 may have a cross-sectional shape differing from a rotational symmetry, for example an elliptical or triangular cross section, for counteracting against a predominant stress direction. The pin 12 also need not, as represented in Fig. 1, have a uniform cross section over its entire length but may, for example, alternatively be stepped or taper conically, hyperbolically or parabolically.
Onto the end 13 of the pin 12 pointing radially outwards relative to the wheel axis there may be mounted a fastening means 14 that secures the connection of the pin 12 to the control arm 7. Here, on the pin end 13 an external thread is provided, which may be secured by means of a nut 14.
In the mounted position, the pin 12 engages through the control arm 7 so that the fastening element 14 is mountable onto the pin 12 at the far side of the control arm 7, here therefore at the underside of the control arm 7. Thus, a fastening means that would have had to be introduced into the space between the extension arm 4 and the drive shaft 11 is entirely unnecessary.
As is evident for example from Figure 3, the pin 12 may be received on the cross-link control arm 7 in a joint arrangement 8 in the form of sleeve joint 15, the joint socket 17 of which may be press-fitted into the cross-link control arm 7 or welded in place by means of for example a circumferential weld seam or merely screw-connected

thereto. The precise arrangement of the sleeve joint 15 therefore depends on the respective geometries in the vehicle.
In order to enable a compensation of manufacturing tolerances of the cross-link control arm, the coupling thereof, the vehicle body or further parts, the sleeve joint 15 has an eccentric through-bore 18 with a joint axis Al for receiving the pin 12. The joint axis Al is offset parallel to the centre line A2 of the joint body 16 by the eccentricity e. This makes it possible during assembly first to connect the wheel carrier 3 to the cross-link control arm 7 by passing the pin 12 through the bore 18, and then in this connection position, in which the wheel alignment is easily checkable by visual examination, to carry out a fine adjustment particularly in vehicle transverse direction: for this purpose, the joint body 16 of the sleeve joint 15 has on its, here, bottom end an external hexagon 19 or other attachment facility for a tool, by which the joint body 16 is rotatable until the adjusted wheel camber corresponds to a setpoint selection. This position is then fixable in that the nut or similar fastening element 14 is mounted onto the downwardly protruding pin end 13 and tightened, with the result that the bottom edge 20 of the extension arm 4 is braced firmly with the top edge 21 of the joint body 16.
By virtue of the use of an eccentric and adjustable joint arrangement 8 assembly is facilitated and, despite the adjustment facility, only one fastening means 14 has to be tightened or, for disassembly, loosened, which for example compared to an adapter solution having a plurality of oblong holes means that the work is made considerably easier and weight is moreover reduced.
The joint 15 may be subject both axially and radially to bending stress.
In a second embodiment according to Fig. 4 a joint 22 that may likewise be subject to bending and axial stress and has a ball head 23 is provided, in which the ball head 23 is seated axially on the pin 24 and is for example braced with or welded to or press-

fitted in the cross member 7. The threaded socket 25 fastened to the wheel carrier 3, on the other hand, is of an eccentric design.
The joint axis Al as centre line of the receiver 26, which in connection position lies flush with the axis of the pin 24 and of the ball head 23, is offset parallel with an eccentricity e relative to the centre line A2, which as a mid-point axis vertically cuts the circle defined by the external contour of the threaded socket 25.
Here too, in connection position an alignment is possible, namely by rotating the joint socket 25 around the centre line A2 until for example the wheel camber corresponds to the setpoint position. The adjusted angle of rotation about the centre line A2 may then be secured for example by means of a screw, which engages laterally into the channel 27, or in some other manner.
Alternatively - in a manner that is not shown - the joint socket 25 may be rotationally symmetrical and the axis of the pin 24 may be offset eccentrically relative to the ball head 23, which might lead to an, on the whole, basically identical position of the parts 3 and 7 relative to one another. The eccentric ball head 23 might be rotatable either from below by means of a tool shoulder on the pin 24, for example an external hexagon or a hexagon socket, or by means of an intervention through the joint socket.

List of reference characters
1 McPherson-style arrangement
2 shock-absorbing strut
3 wheel carrier
4 extension arm
5 wheel
6 rim
7 cross-link control arm
8 joint-and/or bearing arrangement
9 swivelling axis
10 drive shaft
11 gaiter
12 pin
13 pin end
14 fastening means
15 sleeve joint
16 joint body
17 joint socket
18 through-bore
19 tool shoulder
20 bottom edge of wheel carrier
21 top edge of joint body
22 second joint
23 ball head
24 pin
25 joint socket
26 receiver
27 channel for screw engagement
Al joint axis
A2 centre line of joint body
e eccentricity

WE CLAIM:
1. Joint arrangement (8) comprising a joint (15; 22), which may be subject to at least axial and bending stress and comprises an outer joint socket (17; 25) and an inner joint body (16; 23) movable relative thereto, characterized in that the joint axis (Al) is situated at a distance (e) from a centre line (A2) situated centrally in the joint (15; 22).
2. Joint arrangement according to claim 1, characterized in that the joint axis (Al) is situated parallel to the centre line (A2).
3. Joint arrangement according to one of claims 1 or 2, characterized in that the eccentricity (e) of the joint axis (Al) relative to the centre line (A2) is adjustable and fixable.
4. Joint arrangement according to one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that the joint (15) is a sleeve joint having an eccentrically disposed through-bore (18).
5. Joint arrangement according to one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that the joint comprises as a joint body a ball head (23), which is movable with a in the joint socket and from which a joint pin (24) eccentrically emanates.
6. Joint arrangement according to one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that the joint (22) comprises as a joint body a ball head (23), which is movable with a in the joint socket and from which a joint pin (24) emanates centrically relative to the ball head (23), wherein the joint socket (25) is movable around a centre line (A2).
7. Joint arrangement according to one of claims 1 to 6, motor vehicle chassis, characterized in that the joint arrangement is provided in a motor vehicle for the articulated connection between a control arm (7), which guides and/or

carries a wheel (5), and a wheel carrier (3) movably connected to the control arm (7) and the wheel (5).
8. Joint arrangement according to claim 7, characterized in that the joint arrangement receives a pin (12), which is directed rigidly outwards from the wheel carrier (3), and holds the pin (12) on the cross-link control arm (7).
9. Motor vehicle chassis according to claim 8, characterized in that the control arm (7) is a lower cross-link control arm, facing which from above is a downward-directed component of the pin (12).
10. Joint arrangement according to one of claims 7 to 9, characterized in that the joint arrangement is disposed in a McPherson-style axle (1) between the wheel carrier (3) and the cross-link control arm (7).
11. Motor vehicle having at least one joint arrangement (8) according to one of claims 1 to 11, in particular inside chassis- and/or steering parts.

11

ABSTRACT
A joint arrangement (8) comprising a joint (15; 22), which may be subject to at least axial and bending stress and comprises an outer joint socket (17; 25) and an inner joint body (16; 23) movable relative thereto, is so designed that the joint axis (Al) is situated at a distance (e) from the centre line (A2) situated centrally in the joint (15; 22).
To,
The Controller of Patents,
The Patent office
Mumbai