Exhaust mufflers are divided according to the manufacture of their circumferential jacket, which is closed in the circumferential direction, into two types of manufacture, namely, exhaust mufflers of the shell construction and exhaust mufflers of the winding construction. While two deep-drawn metal sheets are connected to one another at the edge in the shell construction, a metal sheet is wound around a core and closed in the winding construction. An exhaust muffler insert is subsequently pushed on the front side, i.e., axially into the wound jacket and two end panels are fastened or inserted on the front side at axial ends that are located mutually apart from each other and connected to the jacket, e.g., by tacking.
At least one pipe, especially an inlet pipe, is arranged laterally in a transversely mounted exhaust muffler, especially in a transversely mounted rear muffler, so that it extends through the jacket and into the interior of the exhaust muffler. This is problematic in connection with the winding construction, because this laterally arranged pipe can be mounted only after insertion of the exhaust muffler insert, since it is necessary for absorbing the forces occurring during the operation to support the pipe inserted through the jacket at both the jacket and the exhaust muffler insert located on the inside. However, this supporting at the exhaust muffler insert can be embodied with difficulty only in conjunction with the winding construction because of the reduced accessibility.
An exhaust muffler of the type mentioned in the introduction is known from WO 2006/131165 A1. It comprises two front-side end panels facing away from each other, a circumferential jacket, which is closed in the circumferential direction, at least one exhaust muffler insert, at least one inlet pipe and at least one outlet pipe. At least one of the pipes extends here through the jacket into the interior of the exhaust muffler. This pipe is fastened, in addition, to the jacket. This pipe is fastened, in addition, to the exhaust muffler insert in the prior-art exhaust muffler, namely, by mechanical forming. The pipe led laterally through the jacket is fastened to the exhaust muffler insert in the prior-art exhaust muffler, e.g., by inserting into the pipe an expansion tool, with which the pipe is widened in the area of a panel of the exhaust muffler insert, through which the pipe was inserted, such that the pipe with the panel is pressed in the radial direction in a positive-locking manner.
USPTO Backgrounds
USPTO Backgrounds