Construction and Development of an Alternator Bracket for a Six-Cylinder In-Line Engine MAN D0836 LOH 65 – EURO 5

The original alternator bracket was not suitable, as the standard intercooler pipes on the engine had to be modified, which caused additional work and unnecessary working hours. The plan for changing the alternator bracket had to be systematic. This includes the development of a new product, design and manufacture of a prototype.

Problem

The original alternator bracket was not suitable, as the standard intercooler pipes on the engine had to be modified, which caused additional work and unnecessary working hours. The plan for changing the alternator bracket had to be systematic.

Solution and Method

This includes the development of a new product, design and manufacture of a prototype. It is necessary to know the limits, as an assembly such as the bracket with the alternator and other parts must not encroach on the area of other components or interfere with the operation of other components. With a different development approach, they achieved a better concept solution to the problem that arose. The existing bracket was not structurally poor, but it had certain shortcomings that they wanted to eliminate. Major problems were caused by the modification of standard pipes on the engine.

With the new solution, modification will no longer be necessary. The solution saves working hours – the worker does not have to modify the pipes, which means 2 working hours less, from a time and cost perspective. If we calculate how much is saved indirectly, the saving is much greater.

Another problem with the original alternator bracket design was the non-standardised belt length, so they were forced to order a belt of non-standardised length, which was slightly more expensive. With the new alternator bracket design, a non-standardised belt length for driving the alternator will not be needed, as the design is adapted to suit a standard belt length, which is cheaper. This allows us greater flexibility in the possible change of belt suppliers, which is again related to costs.

The new solution also provides for better material or sheet metal from which the alternator bracket is made. The material is more durable; the bracket is designed to last the lifetime of the alternator, which according to the alternator manufacturer's data is 10 years. The screw material for fastening the alternator bracket is, according to the new concept of mounting the bracket to the block and mounting the alternator to the bracket, of unified quality.

This is very important, as in the case of non-uniform quality of screw elements, breakage and also a chain reaction of breakage of screw elements can occur. During operation, this can cause great damage to the alternator and the engine, and for the company this means additional unnecessary costs. The new technical documentation for the manufacture of the alternator bracket also contains various notes with which we alert the bracket manufacturer to possible errors that may occur during the manufacturing process itself.

It is necessary to highlight the parts of the alternator bracket that are produced by bending. In the past, they had problems with suppliers who bent the sheet metal for making the bracket parallel to the course of force lines in the sheet metal, which later resulted in instability of the bracket during alternator operation. Instead of parallel, the sheet metal must always be bent perpendicular to the course of force lines in the sheet metal.

With this and some other notes, they prevented the occurrence of errors, as the manufacturer of the segment where bending is required according to the drawing will know how to bend to avoid subsequent errors or cracks in the sheet metal intended for the manufacture of the alternator bracket. The new design solution has many advantages, but above all it has enabled cost reduction and shortening of the time for mounting the assembly on the vehicle. If we add everything up, the saving is large, as with each bus they will no longer lose working hours for modifying standard pipes.

An advantage is also the choice of standard belt length, as they can be more flexible when ordering from different suppliers. In addition, standard choices on the market are cheaper and also more accessible. The new assembly with the alternator and alternator bracket brings more advantages, which is why in their company it progressed from concept to implementation.