VALVE HOLE FLARE FOR VEHICLE WHEELS

Abstract

Exemplary illustrations of a method of making a wheel may include stamping a wheel blank, and forming a lip extending about a periphery of an aperture defined by the wheel blank. The aperture may be configured to receive a valve stem. The method may further include refining the lip about the periphery of the aperture. The lip may define an axial thickness greater than a baseline thickness of the wheel blank adjacent the aperture. In some exemplary approaches, a method further includes providing a second wheel blank having a second aperture configured to receive a valve stem. The second aperture may define an axial thickness greater than the baseline thickness of the first wheel blank, while the lip axial thickness of the first wheel blank is substantially equal to axial thickness of the second aperture

Description

BACKGROUND

Vehicle wheels typically have an aperture or hole for receiving a valve stem to allow inflation and deflation of a tire mounted to the wheel. Original equipment manufacturers offer a wide range of wheels across vehicle model lines, including different materials. The use of different materials for various wheel designs has resulted in a proliferation of valve hole parameters. More specifically, wheels using one material, e.g., aluminum, may require a greater thickness in support areas of a wheel, compared with wheels using an inherently stronger material, e.g., steel. Accordingly, valve holes may have different dimensions or other configurations.

The different valve hole configurations have resulted in a number of different interfaces for the valve stem assemblies. As valve stem assemblies have become more complex in recent years, e.g., by incorporating electronics such as tire pressure monitoring systems, manufacturers have sought to reduce the number of different configurations to allow reducing costs through greater economies of scale. For example, some types of tire pressure monitoring systems generally require a consistent thickness of an aperture at an interface where the valve stem is secured to the valve hole. Accordingly, it would be advantageous to have a same thickness across the different wheel designs to allow use of a single valve stem design in each of the different designs. The different valve hole configurations of the different wheels, however, have contributed to greater complexity and increased costs as a result of the different interfaces required for the different wheel designs.

Accordingly, there is a need for a vehicle wheel system and associated method of making the same that addresses the above disadvantages.

SUMMARY

Various exemplary illustrations described herein are directed to a method of making a wheel, including stamping a wheel blank, and forming a lip extending about a periphery of an aperture defined by the wheel blank. The aperture may be configured to receive a valve stem. The method may further include refining the lip about the periphery of the aperture. The lip may define an axial thickness greater than a baseline thickness of the wheel blank adjacent the aperture.

In some exemplary approaches, a method further includes providing a second wheel blank having a second aperture configured to receive a valve stem. The second aperture may define an axial thickness greater than the baseline thickness of the first wheel blank, while the lip axial thickness of the first wheel blank is substantially equal to axial thickness of the second aperture.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

While the claims are not limited to the illustrated embodiments, an appreciation of various aspects is best gained through a discussion of various examples thereof. Referring now to the drawings, illustrative embodiments are shown in detail. Although the drawings represent the embodiments, the drawings are not necessarily to scale and certain features may be exaggerated to better illustrate and explain an innovative aspect of an embodiment. Further, the embodiments described herein are not intended to be exhaustive or otherwise limiting or restricting to the precise form and configuration shown in the drawings and disclosed in the following detailed description. Exemplary embodiments of the present invention are described in detail by referring to the drawings as follows.

FIG. 1A is a perspective view of an exemplary stamped wheel for a vehicle;

FIG. 1B is a sectional view of the wheel of FIG. 1A, taken through line 1B-1B;

FIG. 2A is a perspective view of an exemplary cast wheel for a vehicle;

FIG. 2B is an enlarged perspective view of the wheel of FIG. 2A;

FIG. 2C is a sectional view of the wheel of FIGS. 2A and 2B, taken through line 2C-2C;

FIG. 3A is a sectional view of a stamped wheel with a valve stem installed, according to one exemplary illustration;

FIG. 3B is a sectional view of a cast wheel with a valve stem installed, according to one exemplary illustration;

FIG. 4 is a sectional view of a stamped wheel prior to a flaring process used to form a valve hole lip, according to one example; and

FIG. 5 is a process flow diagram for an exemplary method of making a wheel.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Turning now to FIGS. 1A and 1B, an exemplary wheel 100 is illustrated. Wheel 100 may generally include a hub portion 102 centrally disposed with respect to a rim portion 104, which extends about a perimeter of the hub portion 102. The hub portion 102 may define one or more apertures or holes (not shown) for selective securement of the wheel 100 to a vehicle, e.g., to a vehicle hub using lugnuts or the like. The rim portion 104 may support the mounting of a tire. The exemplary wheel 100 illustrated may be formed of a stamped steel material. In one exemplary illustration, the hub portion 102 and rim portion 104 are each stamped from sheet steel, and are subsequently joined together, e.g., via welding.

The rim portion 104 generally defines an aperture or valve hole 106. As will be described further below, valve hole 106 may generally receive a valve stem (not shown in FIGS. 1A and 1B) to allow selective inflation and deflation of a tire associated with wheel 100. For example, the rim portion 104 may receive a tire mounted via a bead (not shown) such that the tire is mounted to the rim portion 104 in a tubeless arrangement. The aperture or valve hole 106 is defined in part by a lip 108. The lip 108, as will be described further below, may generally be formed such that it extends away from a baseline portion or the rim portion 104. In the example shown in FIG. 1A, the lip 108 extends toward an exterior side of the rim portion 104, although as will be explained below the lip 108 may alternatively extend into an interior portion of the rim portion 104.

The lip 108 may generally include a refined or smooth surface along at least a portion of the perimeter of the valve hole 106. For example, the lip 108 generally defines an offset surface 110 which is spaced away from a baseline surface 112. The offset surface 110 may be refined or smoothed, as will be described further below, such that the surface 110 is generally free of burrs or edges that might otherwise damage a valve stem received within the aperture 106 and/or lip 108. In one exemplary illustration, a refining operation such as a coining process may generally work upon the offset surface 110 and/or the backside surface 112 of the wheel 100. The offset surface 110 and baseline surface 112 generally define an axial thickness D₁ corresponding to a thickness of the lip 108. The axial thickness D₁ may be larger with respect to a baseline thickness D₂ of the rim portion 104 of the wheel 100. Thickness D₂ may be generally equivalent to a sheetmetal thickness of a stamped sheet used in forming the wheel 100 and/or rim portion 104 thereof.

Turning now to FIGS. 2A, 2B, and 2C, another exemplary wheel 200 is illustrated. Wheel 200 may be formed of a different material than wheel 100. In one exemplary illustration, the wheel 200 is formed of a cast aluminum material. As will be described further below, the material used to form the wheel 200 may in some examples have one or more material properties, e.g., a lower strength than a material used to form wheel 100, that necessitates an overall thicker wheel 200. More specifically, wheel 200 may include a hub portion 202 and a rim portion 204. The rim portion 204 may generally define a baseline thickness D₄. The baseline thickness D₄ may be greater than the baseline thickness D₂ of wheel 100. For example, as noted above, a cast construction and or aluminum material may generally require a greater thickness adjacent valve hole 206 compared with the baseline thickness D₂ of wheel 100 adjacent valve hole 106. More specifically, in order to provide a desired level of rigidity and strength of the valve hole 106 and/or the wheel 200 overall, at least the rim portion 204 of the wheel 200 may need to be relatively thicker or otherwise be reinforced as compared with corresponding features of the wheel 100.

Turning now to FIGS. 3A and 3B, a valve stem assembly 300 is shown that may be installed to either wheel 100 or wheel 200. The valve stem assembly 300 may include a valve stem 302 that is mounted by way of a snap in mount 304. A tire pressure monitoring system 306 may be disposed within an interior portion I defined by the wheel 100 with respect to a tire (not shown) mounted to the wheel 100. The tire pressure monitoring system 306 may generally be configured to determine an air pressure within the interior portion I and/or communicate the air pressure to a controller or display (not shown) to allow remote monitoring of the tire pressure, e.g., from within the interior of a vehicle to which the wheel 100 is mounted. The mount 304 may generally define opposing shoulders 308, 310, which define a distance D₅ extending between the shoulders 308 and 310. The shoulders 308, 310 may be formed of a relatively compliant material, e.g., a plastic or a hard rubber material. The relative compliance of the material used to form the shoulders 308 and 310, at least in comparison to a steel or metallic material used to form the wheels 100 and 200, may generally facilitate a snap-in mounting of the valve stem assembly 300 to the wheels 100 and 200. More specifically, one or both shoulders 308 and 310 may deflect slightly upon insertion of the valve stem assembly 300 into the valve hole 106 and/or 206.

Referring now to FIG. 3A, wheel 100 with the valve stem assembly 300 is described in further detail. As noted above, the lip 108 defines an axial thickness D₁. The valve stem assembly 300 is generally supported within the valve hole 106 by way of the snap-in mount 304, which is mounted on the lip 108. The mounting thickness of the snap-in mount 304, i.e., distance D₅ between the shoulders 308, 310, is substantially equal or otherwise corresponds to the axial thickness D₁ of the lip 108 such that the valve stem assembly 300 remained secured to the wheel 100.

Referring now to FIG. 3B, the wheel 200 is illustrated with the valve stem assembly 300. The aperture 206 defines an axial thickness D₂ that supports the valve stem assembly 300. Notably, although different materials having different material strengths are used to form the wheel 100 and the wheel 200, a same valve stem assembly 300 may be installed to each since the axial thicknesses D₁ and D₃ are each substantially equal to the mounting thickness D₅ of the mount 304. Accordingly, the lip 108 of the wheel 100 generally allows for a thicker interface with the valve stem assembly 300 that corresponds to the greater thickness required in other wheels, e.g., wheel 200.

Turning now to FIG. 4, an exemplary wheel blank 100′ is illustrated and shown prior to the forming of the valve hole 106. A piercing operation may be used to form the valve hole 106 and or the lip 108. The piercing operation may be carried out in a direction P such that the lip 108 extends to an exterior side of the rim 104, e.g., as described above with regard to wheel 100. In other words, a piercing or flaring operation may be carried out such that the lip 108′ formed thereby extends toward an exterior side E of the wheel blank 100′. Alternatively, the piercing operation may be carried out in an opposite direction, i.e., opposite to direction P, such that the lip 108 extends to an interior side I of the rim 104 and/or wheel blank 100′. In one exemplary illustration, a refining process generally smooths a surface by removing burrs, edges, or other surface discontinuities that might otherwise damage wheel components such as a valve stem extending through an aperture of the wheel. In another example, a coining operation generally works upon one or more surfaces of lip 108 to remove burrs. While a coining operation may be advantageous as it works in a substantially uniform manner along the surface(s) of the lip 108, any other process may be employed that is convenient.

Turning now to FIG. 5, an exemplary process 500 of making a wheel is illustrated. Process 500 may begin at block 502, where a first wheel blank is formed. For example, as shown above a wheel blank 100′ may be provided, which is a generally stamped steel wheel blank 100′. In one example, a hub portion 102 and rim portion 104 are each stamped from a sheet steel material, and subsequently secured together.

Proceeding to block 504, a lip may be formed in the first wheel blank. For example, as described above a piercing and/or flaring operation may be used to generally form a lip 108 extending about the perimeter of the valve hole 106. Process 500 may then proceed to block 506.

At block 506, the lip 108 may be refined about the perimeter of the valve hole 106. The lip may be refined in any manner such that the offset surface 110 is generally smoothed such that interference with a valve stem 302 is reduced or eliminated. For example, refinement of the lip 108 may generally remove sharp edges or burrs, e.g., as may result from the piercing operation used to form the valve hole 106, which may otherwise damage the valve stem 302. The lip 108 may be refined in any manner that is convenient. In one exemplary illustration, a coining operation is used to generally smooth offset surface 110. In another example, as described above a refining process generally smooths a surface by removing burrs, edges, or other surface discontinuities that might otherwise damage wheel components such as a valve stem extending through an aperture of the wheel. In another example, a coining operation generally work upon one or more surfaces of lip 108 to remove burrs. While a coining operation may be advantageous as it works in a substantially uniform manner along the surface(s) of the lip 108, any other process may be employed that is convenient. In another example, a plastic flow may be induced along the surface of the wheel blank 100′ adjacent the valve hole 106. The induced plastic flow of the sheet steel material along the surface of the wheel blank 100′ may generally refine the surface, e.g. offset surface 110 and/or an interior surface of the lip 108, thereby removing any sharp edges or burrs, which might otherwise interfere with or damaged the valve stem 302.

Proceeding to block 508, a valve stem may be installed. For example, as described above a valve stem assembly 300 may be installed to the valve hole 106. The valve stem assembly 300 may generally be a snap in the style valve stem assembly 300, which generally simplifies installation. For example, as described above, the valve stem assembly may have abutting shoulders 308 and 310 that generally interface with baseline surface 112 and offset surface 110 of the lip 108. Process 500 may then proceed to block 510.

At block 510, a second wheel may be provided. For example, wheel 200 may be formed or otherwise provided in any manner that is convenient. As noted above, the wheel 200 may have a baseline thickness D₄ that is greater than a baseline thickness D₂ of the first wheel 100. At the same time, an axial thickness D₃ associated with the wheel 200 is substantially equal to the first wheel axial thickness D₁. Accordingly, installation of a same valve stem assembly 300, or at least valve stem assemblies having substantially the same mounting thicknesses, in each of the wheels 100, and 200 is possible. Process 500 may then terminate.

In some exemplary approaches, the exemplary methods described herein may employ a computer or a computer readable storage medium implementing the various methods and processes described herein, e.g., process 500. In general, computing systems and/or devices, such as the processor and the user input device, may employ any of a number of computer operating systems, including, but by no means limited to, versions and/or varieties of the Microsoft Windows® operating system, the Unix operating system (e.g., the Solaris® operating system distributed by Oracle Corporation of Redwood Shores, Calif.), the AIX UNIX operating system distributed by International Business Machines of Armonk, N.Y., the Linux operating system, the Mac OS X and iOS operating systems distributed by Apple Inc. of Cupertino, Calif., and the Android operating system developed by the Open Handset Alliance.

Computing devices generally include computer-executable instructions, where the instructions may be executable by one or more computing devices such as those listed above. Computer-executable instructions may be compiled or interpreted from computer programs created using a variety of programming languages and/or technologies, including, without limitation, and either alone or in combination, Java™, C, C++, Visual Basic, Java Script, Perl, etc. In general, a processor (e.g., a microprocessor) receives instructions, e.g., from a memory, a computer-readable medium, etc., and executes these instructions, thereby performing one or more processes, including one or more of the processes described herein. Such instructions and other data may be stored and transmitted using a variety of computer-readable media.

A computer-readable medium (also referred to as a processor-readable medium) includes any non-transitory (e.g., tangible) medium that participates in providing data (e.g., instructions) that may be read by a computer (e.g., by a processor of a computer). Such a medium may take many forms, including, but not limited to, non-volatile media and volatile media. Non-volatile media may include, for example, optical or magnetic disks and other persistent memory. Volatile media may include, for example, dynamic random access memory (DRAM), which typically constitutes a main memory. Such instructions may be transmitted by one or more transmission media, including coaxial cables, copper wire and fiber optics, including the wires that comprise a system bus coupled to a processor of a computer. Common forms of computer-readable media include, for example, a floppy disk, a flexible disk, hard disk, magnetic tape, any other magnetic medium, a CD-ROM, DVD, any other optical medium, punch cards, paper tape, any other physical medium with patterns of holes, a RAM, a PROM, an EPROM, a FLASH-EEPROM, any other memory chip or cartridge, or any other medium from which a computer can read.

Databases, data repositories or other data stores described herein may include various kinds of mechanisms for storing, accessing, and retrieving various kinds of data, including a hierarchical database, a set of files in a file system, an application database in a proprietary format, a relational database management system (RDBMS), etc. Each such data store is generally included within a computing device employing a computer operating system such as one of those mentioned above, and are accessed via a network in any one or more of a variety of manners. A file system may be accessible from a computer operating system, and may include files stored in various formats. An RDBMS generally employs the Structured Query Language (SQL) in addition to a language for creating, storing, editing, and executing stored procedures, such as the PL/SQL language mentioned above.

In some examples, system elements may be implemented as computer-readable instructions (e.g., software) on one or more computing devices (e.g., servers, personal computers, etc.), stored on computer readable media associated therewith (e.g., disks, memories, etc.). A computer program product may comprise such instructions stored on computer readable media for carrying out the functions described herein.

The exemplary wheels 100, 200 and associated process 500 generally allows the use of a same valve stem assembly 300 with vastly different wheel types. The use of a same or very similar valve stem assemblies 300 may result in economies of scale that reduce at least in part the overall cost of providing different wheel types.

The exemplary illustrations are not limited to the previously described examples. Rather, a plurality of variants and modifications are possible, which also make use of the ideas of the exemplary illustrations and therefore fall within the protective scope. Accordingly, it is to be understood that the above description is intended to be illustrative and not restrictive.

With regard to the processes, systems, methods, heuristics, etc. described herein, it should be understood that, although the steps of such processes, etc. have been described as occurring according to a certain ordered sequence, such processes could be practiced with the described steps performed in an order other than the order described herein. It further should be understood that certain steps could be performed simultaneously, that other steps could be added, or that certain steps described herein could be omitted. In other words, the descriptions of processes herein are provided for the purpose of illustrating certain embodiments, and should in no way be construed so as to limit the claimed invention.

Accordingly, it is to be understood that the above description is intended to be illustrative and not restrictive. Many embodiments and applications other than the examples provided would be upon reading the above description. The scope of the invention should be determined, not with reference to the above description, but should instead be determined with reference to the appended claims, along with the full scope of equivalents to which such claims are entitled. It is anticipated and intended that future developments will occur in the arts discussed herein, and that the disclosed systems and methods will be incorporated into such future embodiments. In sum, it should be understood that the invention is capable of modification and variation and is limited only by the following claims.

All terms used in the claims are intended to be given their broadest reasonable constructions and their ordinary meanings as understood by those skilled in the art unless an explicit indication to the contrary in made herein. In particular, use of the singular articles such as “a,” “the,” “the,” etc. should be read to recite one or more of the indicated elements unless a claim recites an explicit limitation to the contrary.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

stamping a wheel blank;

forming a lip extending about a periphery of an aperture defined by the wheel blank, the aperture configured to receive a valve stem; and

refining the lip about the periphery of the aperture, the lip defining an axial thickness greater than a baseline thickness of the wheel blank adjacent the aperture.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein forming the lip includes flaring the wheel blank.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising piercing the wheel blank to define the aperture.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein refining the lip includes coining the lip.

5. The method of claim 3, wherein refining the lip includes inducing a plastic flow along a surface of the wheel blank.

6. The method of claim 3, wherein refining the lip includes smoothing a surface of the wheel blank along the lip.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising installing a valve stem to the lip.

8. The method of claim 7, further comprising abutting first and second shoulders defined by the valve stem against corresponding first and second lip surfaces of the lip.

9. The method of claim 8, further comprising establishing the first and second shoulders as extending substantially parallel to each other.

10. The method of claim 8, further comprising establishing the first and second shoulders of the valve stem as compliant relative to the first and second lip surfaces.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the valve stem is a snap-in valve stem.

12. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

establishing the wheel blank as a first wheel blank;

providing a second wheel blank defining a second aperture configured to receive a valve stem; the second aperture defining an axial thickness;

wherein the axial thickness of the second aperture is greater than the baseline thickness of the first wheel blank; and

wherein the lip axial thickness of the first wheel blank is substantially equal to axial thickness of the second aperture.

13. The method of claim 12, further comprising installing first and second valve stems to the first and second wheel blanks, wherein the first and second valve stems each have substantially identical installation thicknesses.

14. The method of claim 1, further comprising forming a rim portion in the wheel blank, the rim portion defining an interior side configured to receive a tire for securing to the wheel.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the lip extends into the interior side of the rim.

16. The method of claim 14, wherein the lip extends away from the interior side of the rim.

17. A method, comprising:

stamping a first wheel blank;

forming a lip extending about a periphery of a first aperture defined by the first wheel blank, the first aperture configured to receive a valve stem;

refining the lip about the periphery of the first aperture, the lip defining an axial thickness greater than a baseline thickness of the first wheel blank adjacent the aperture;

establishing the wheel blank as a first wheel blank;

providing a second wheel blank defining a second aperture configured to receive a valve stem; the second aperture defining an axial thickness;

wherein the axial thickness of the second aperture is greater than the baseline thickness of the first wheel blank; and

wherein the lip axial thickness of the first wheel blank is substantially equal to axial thickness of the second aperture.

18. The method of claim 17, further comprising installing first and second valve stems to the first and second wheel blanks, wherein the first and second valve stems each have substantially identical installation thicknesses.

19. The method of claim 17, further comprising forming a rim portion in the wheel blank, the rim portion defining an interior side configured to receive a tire for securing to the wheel.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein the lip extends away from the interior side of the rim.