US-20260126068-A1 - AXIAL TOLERANCE COMPENSATION ARRANGEMENT, A CONNECTION BETWEEN TWO COMPONENTS WITH SAME AS WELL AS A CONNECTION AND A MANUFACTURING METHOD FOR SAME

US20260126068A1US 20260126068 A1US20260126068 A1US 20260126068A1US-20260126068-A1

Abstract

An axial tolerance compensation arrangement for the automatic compensation of tolerances between a first and a second component, including: a nut element with a radially outer fastening structure, which is fastenable in a component opening of the first component, and an inner nut thread of a first thread direction, a hollow screw with a head and a hollow-cylindrical shaft having an adjustment thread matching the nut thread at a radial outside and a fastening thread with a second thread direction opposite to the first thread direction at a radial inside. The fastening thread interacts with a fastening screw of a second thread direction so that the first and the second component are fastenable via the tolerance compensation arrangement, wherein the hollow-cylindrical shaft comprises a disassembling protection at an axial end which faces away from the head. The disassembling protection prevents unscrewing of the hollow screw from the nut element.

Inventors

Gunnar Lindner
Sandra Steffenfauseweh

Assignees

Böllhoff Verbindungstechnik GmbH

Dates

Publication Date: 20260507
Application Date: 20251105
Priority Date: 20241106

Claims (13)

1 . An axial tolerance compensation arrangement for the automatic compensation of tolerances between a first component and a second component, comprising: a. a nut element with a radially outer fastening structure which is fastenable in a component opening of the first component, and an inner nut thread of a first thread direction, b. a hollow screw with a head and a hollow-cylindrical shaft having an adjustment thread at a radial outside matching the nut thread and a fastening thread with a second thread direction opposite to the first thread direction at a radial inside, wherein the fastening thread interacts with c. a fastening screw of a second thread direction so that the first and the second component are fastenable to one another by means of the tolerance compensation arrangement, wherein d. the hollow-cylindrical shaft comprises a disassembling protection at an axial end which faces away from the head, wherein with the disassembling protection an unscrewing of the hollow screw from the nut element during an installation of the tolerance compensation arrangement is prevented.
2 . The tolerance compensation arrangement according to claim 1 , in which the annular nut element and the hollow screw are made of plastic material.
3 . The tolerance compensation arrangement according to claim 1 , in which the disassembling protection comprises a circumferential shaft wall or at least two axial webs which extend in axial direction of the hollow screw and are thermically radially expandable, so that at least a free end of the shaft wall or the axial webs extends radially beyond an inner diameter D I of the nut element.
4 . The tolerance compensation arrangement according to claim 1 , in which the disassembling protection is comprised of at least two axial webs extending in axial direction of the hollow screw and each extending with a constant radial width or extending conically with an increasing radial width toward a free end.
5 . The tolerance compensation arrangement according to claim 4 , the at least two axial webs of which have a radial inside and a radial outside, the inner side of which extends nearly parallel and the outer side of which extends radially outwards inclined to a longitudinal axis of the hollow screw.
6 . The tolerance compensation arrangement according to claim 5 , the at least two axial webs of which do not comprise any thread on a radial inside so that the fastening screw is subject to a rotation inhibition by the axial webs and/or displaces them more radially to the outside than with thread.
7 . The tolerance compensation arrangement according to claim 1 , in which the disassembling protection comprises at least two axial webs extending in axial direction of the hollow screw and each having radially outwards a radial web arranged on a radial outside.
8 . The tolerance compensation arrangement according to claim 7 , in which at least two radial webs are arranged with respect to each other in a way that they form a circumferentially extending thread web.
9 . The tolerance compensation arrangement according to claim 1 in which the fastening thread of the hollow screw in the form of an overmolded metallic thread insert is molded into the hollow cylindrical shaft.
10 . A connection of a first component and a second component spaced from same using the tolerance compensation arrangement according to claim 1 and a fastening screw.
11 . The connection according to claim 10 in which the first component comprises a keyhole geometry in which the nut element is arranged.
12 . A connection method of a first component with a keyhole geometry with a second component spaced from same with a component opening with the tolerance compensation arrangement according to claim 1 , comprising the following steps: a. fastening the nut element having the hollow screw preassembled in the opening of the first component, b. arranging the component opening of the second component opposite to the fastening thread of the hollow screw and screwing in a fastening screw which extends through the component opening into the fastening thread, c. rotating the fastening screw and by that, corotating the hollow screw until same abuts the second component and d. tightening the fastening screw in the fastening thread when the head of the hollow screw rests against the second component.
13 . (canceled)

Description

1. FIELD OF THE INVENTION The present invention is related to an axial tolerance compensation arrangement for the automatic compensation of tolerances between a first and a second component, a connection between these two components with the help of the axial tolerance compensation arrangement, a respective connection method as well as a manufacturing method for the axial tolerance compensation arrangement. 2. BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION In the state of the art, different tolerance compensation arrangements are known, with the help of which two components are fastenable at a distance to each other. These tolerance compensation arrangements follow different technical principles. DE 10 2010 048 239 A1 describes a first component with a hollow cylindrical fastening recess. A tolerance compensation sleeve may be slid into this fastening recess. Subsequently, a fastening screw is screwed through an opening of a second component into this tolerance compensation sleeve. The tolerance compensation sleeve widens radially due to this screwing process, that way clamping itself in the fastening recess of the first component. At the same time, the second component is pulled against the tolerance compensation sleeve in order to establish the connection between the first and the second component. According to the technical teaching of the European patent application 0 414 162 A1, firstly, an anchoring part with a hollow shaft is arranged in the opening of the first component. Then, a distance piece is screwed into this hollow shaft by means of a thread until it compensates an existent distance between a first and a second component. By screwing-in the fastening screw through the opening of the second component into the distance piece, the distance piece is expanded like a dowel. That way, on the one hand, the fastening of the second component to the distance piece which is anchored in the anchoring arrangement and a clamping, radial expanding of the distance piece takes place so as to fix the adjusted tolerance between the first and the second component. This construction is quite laborious, as for example, no automatic tolerance compensation while screwing-in the fastening screw takes place. Rather, firstly, the anchoring piece is to be fastened in the first component and then, the distance piece is to be adjusted to the distance to be compensated between the component by screwing in the same thread direction as the fastening screw. Subsequently, it can happen during screwing-in the fastening screw that the distance piece screwed further into the anchoring piece so that the tolerance to be compensated of the tolerance compensation arrangement is reduced again. Thus, the disadvantages of this arrangement are not only the number of parts but also the kind of application, which increases the cycle time for establishing a connection between two components. In order to realize an independent axial tolerance compensation between two components during them being connected, the state of the art suggests tolerance compensation arrangements where thread pairings of a different thread direction and a dragging element are combined with each other. This is for example described in EP 2 049 807 B1, DE 10 2020 216 324 A1, EP 1 780 424 A1. In particular, the integration of the dragging arrangement into two interconnected thread sleeves with different thread pairings increases the manufacturing effort of such axial tolerance compensation arrangements, as often, the dragging element is made of another material than the thread sleeves which are to be connected with one another. Nonetheless, the advantage of these arrangements is that they can be integrated into the connecting process without any additional installation effort as while fastening the components which are at a distance to each other, the tolerance compensation arrangement compensates the distance between the two components in a supportive, independent and subsequently mechanically loadable manner. The European patent EP 1 304 489 B1 further simplifies such known axial tolerance compensation arrangements with automatic tolerance compensation, as the disclosed tolerance compensation arrangement is only comprised of a screw, a nut and a compensation bushing. The screw, the nut and the compensation bushing are configured so that they have a right-handed thread pairing and a left-handed thread pairing. Furthermore, the compensation bushing includes a clamping portion which can enter into a friction fit with the screw. This measure leads to the screw corotating the compensation bushing due to the friction fit first and thus screwing it out of the nut against the insertion direction until the compensation bushing attaches the first component after the completed tolerance compensation. After that, the screw is then screwed together directly or indirectly with the nut while overcoming the friction fit. Thus, the advantage of this construction is that no additional dragging element, fo