CN204998309U - Motor vehicle parts - Google Patents

Abstract

The utility model relates to a motor vehicle part, which is provided with at least one thermoplastic element made of thermoplastic material, wherein said element comprises at least one high mechanical stress region (3), said motor vehicle part is characterized in that said Said thermoplastic element comprises at least one metal reinforcement element (4) locally overmoulded in at least said high mechanically stressed area, said metal reinforcement element comprising a group distributed between said metal reinforcement elements ( 4) with openings (5) on most of the surface.

Description

Motor Vehicle Parts

technical field

The utility model relates to the technical field of motor vehicle parts (for example: vehicle doors and windows).

Background technique

A motor vehicle window comprises a window body constituting an element allowing at least partial blocking of a body opening. The body is movable between a blocking position for the opening and a passage position for free access to and from the opening.

In particular, vehicle back windows (for example: back doors) are known which consist of an inner box and an outer skin which form a single-body panel or a double-body panel and are completely Or partly integrate certain exterior equipment that may or may not be visible from outside the vehicle (light unit, tailgate or rear window opening control, logo, washer-wiper system, locks, stops, license plate, etc.).

The vast majority of prior art tailgates are made of steel.

However, tailgates are also known which are made of thermoplastic and/or thermosetting plastic material in order to reduce the weight of the tailgate but at the same time provide mechanical properties which are not as good as steel.

Thermosets have better strength against deformation than thermoplastics, but have a greater density of defects. Thermoplastic materials have a small elastic limit (beginning to deform plastically at low stresses), and therefore have relatively little burst strength, and are subject to mechanical fatigue during their use. However, like all vehicle doors and windows, those made of thermoplastic materials are subject to standards.

In order to meet the requirements of these standards, in particular, the areas where the doors and windows are attached to the vehicle (hinges, locks, jacks, etc.) must be reinforced so that the doors and windows do not become decoupled from the vehicle when tested by this standard.

In order to guarantee the geometric stability of the inner panel made of thermoplastic material over its entire service life even if it is subjected to several opening and closing operations, it is known to add to the inner box made of thermoplastic material one or Multiple oversized metal reinforcements.

A major drawback of these solutions is that they increase the weight of windows and doors made of thermoplastic material. However, the purpose of using this material is precisely to reduce the weight of the final part in the end.

In addition, there may be an adhesion problem between the metal reinforcement and the thermoplastic resin containing the metal reinforcement. As a result, the reinforcement moves and its function in areas of high mechanical stress can no longer be guaranteed correctly.

Utility model content

The object of the present invention is to solve these drawbacks by providing a motor vehicle window made of thermoplastic material comprising a wire mesh or a three-dimensional metal mesh (French "métal déployé") type in areas of high stress local metal reinforcements.

In general, the subject-matter of the invention relates to a motor vehicle window provided with at least one element made of thermoplastic material comprising at least one area of high mechanical stress. The thermoplastic element comprises at least one metal reinforcement which is overmoulded locally at least in said high mechanical stress area and which comprises a set of hole.

Such a metal reinforcement overmolded on a thermoplastic part allows the reinforcement of the part against large mechanical stresses which would lead to damage to the part without the reinforcement.

This reinforcement is lighter than traditional reinforcements (made of solid sheets without holes), thus retaining the significance of using thermoplastic materials. In fact, unlike a part made of sheet material comprising only a few openings to fix eg a hinge therein, in the present invention the openings are actively and extensively realized.

Another advantage of this reinforcement is related to the dimensional stability of the window or door. In practice, the doors and windows of a vehicle must meet dimensional requirements that, once installed in the vehicle, require clearance and flushness with the various components in the vicinity of the door and window. These dimensions of the doors and windows, which allow maintaining said gap and flushness, must be maintained regardless of the temperatures to which the vehicle is subjected. Therefore, doors and windows must maintain their dimensions as much as possible within a temperature range consistent with the vehicle's operating temperature. Overmolding of an insert of the wire mesh or three-dimensional metal mesh type allows improved dimensional stability, since the insert limits the expansion of the thermoplastic resin on which it is bonded due to its smaller expansion than thermoplastic material.

Finally, the openings of the metal reinforcement allow a better connection of the thermoplastic material to the metal reinforcement since the material enters and penetrates the openings. In fact, the openings allow the material to rebond forming multiple mechanical bridges between the two surfaces of the reinforcement, whereby the openings allow avoiding scaling between the sheet insert and its overmoulding, without The scaling will appear on the surface of the hole.

A final advantage brought about by the metal reinforcement is that it can be deformed more easily than traditional reinforcements. Preforming is therefore easier and even unnecessary, since the reinforcement can be molded directly in the mould.

According to the invention, said regions may be regions of high mechanical stress and/or regions whose dimensions change due to thermal expansion.

According to the invention, the metal reinforcement element can be a wire mesh, or a three-dimensional metal mesh panel.

According to one embodiment, the metal reinforcing element is preformed to follow the shape of the element made of thermoplastic material.

Parts consistent with the invention may be doors and windows of a vehicle or the front surface of a vehicle.

The utility model also relates to a manufacturing method for manufacturing a part of a motor vehicle component (such as a door and window), in which method at least one thermoplastic material is realized by molding for being assembled to form the The element of the part, the method is characterized in that the following steps are realized:

- the metal reinforcement is realized by implementing a set of openings in the metal plate, wherein said openings are distributed over most of the surface of the metal plate;

- select at least one area of an element made of thermoplastic material; and,

- locally overmolding the metal reinforcement in the region.

Said regions may be selected individually or in combination from the following region types: regions of high mechanical stress and regions of dimensional change.

According to the present invention, the metal reinforcement can be a wire mesh, or a three-dimensional metal mesh panel.

Finally, according to one embodiment, the metal reinforcement is preformed to conform in said area to the shape of the element made of thermoplastic material.

Description of drawings

The invention will become apparent upon reading the accompanying drawings, provided by way of example and not limitation. In these drawings:

Figure 1 shows an example of a door and window in accordance with the present invention;

Figure 2 shows an example of a preformed metal reinforcing element in the form of a wire mesh;

FIG. 3 shows a metal reinforcement element locally added in areas of high mechanical stress on an element made of thermoplastic material.

detailed description

Referring now to FIG. 1 , there is shown an example of a motor vehicle door window 1 according to the present invention.

The motor vehicle window 1 is provided with at least one panel 2 made of thermoplastic material. The thermoplastic material may be eg polypropylene (PP).

The panel 2 made of thermoplastic material comprises at least one area 3 of high mechanical stress. "Areas of high mechanical stress" are areas in which the thermoplastic material is exposed to high forces during normal operation of the motor vehicle window 1 (opening and closing of the window), which would damage the panel 2 made of thermoplastic material. These damages can lead to deformation, cracking or even breakage of the panel 2 . Such a break would lead to decoupling of the motor vehicle window 1 from the vehicle carrying the motor vehicle window 1 . This zone is, for example, the zone ZC carrying the hinge, the lock zone ZS or the jack zone ZV where the window is connected to the vehicle.

In order to reinforce this region 3 and thus avoid damage to the panel 2 made of thermoplastic material, the panel 2 made of thermoplastic material is provided with at least one metal reinforcing element 4 at least in this region 3 . FIG. 2 shows a metal reinforcement element 4 according to the invention.

As shown in FIG. 3 , this metallic reinforcement element 4 is locally added to at least one area of high mechanical stress 3 and/or area of high thermal expansion on/in the panel 2 made of thermoplastic material. Preferably, the metal reinforcement element 4 is added by overmolding. This overmolding can be complete or partial.

Preferably, as shown in FIG. 2 , the metal reinforcement elements 4 are preformed to follow the shape of the panels 2 made of thermoplastic material.

The metal reinforcement element 4 comprises a set of openings 5 distributed over most of the surface of the metal reinforcement element 4 .

In contrast to panels which comprise a small number of openings in which eg hinges are fastened, these openings are realized actively and in large numbers.

Preferably, the openings are evenly distributed over the entire surface of the metal reinforcement element 4 . As a result, the ratio of the area of the metal reinforcement element 4 to the area of the opening it comprises can for example be close to two.

Of course, this ratio depends on the chosen compromise between the desired mechanical strength properties of the metal reinforcement element 4 and its weight.

The openings may be the same or different in shape, size and arrangement.

These large numbers of openings thus allow to reduce the weight of the metal reinforcement element 4 and thus of the motor vehicle window 1 while maintaining the mechanical strength properties of the window.

Also, the openings allow the penetration of injected thermoplastic material through these openings 5 when the reinforcing elements are overmolded on the panels 2 made of thermoplastic material, and thus better maintain the metal reinforcing elements 4 in the machine. Motor car doors and windows 1.

The metal reinforcement element 4 is preferably a metal plate with holes. The metal reinforcement can be a wire mesh, or a three-dimensional metal mesh panel. "3D Metal Mesh" is a method that allows the realization of parts with holes through a combination of cuts and stretches realized in metal sheets.

Figure 1 shows a vehicle rear door window of the shutter type.

The motor vehicle door and window 1 according to the present invention can also be a tailgate comprising an inner box and an outer skin, wherein the inner box constitutes an element made of thermoplastic material, and the inner box and the outer skin constitute One- or two-body panels and fully or partially integrating certain exterior equipment visible from the outside of the vehicle (light units, tailgate or rear window opening controls, logos, washer-wiper systems, locks, stops, license plate, etc.).

The invention is not limited to the described embodiments, other embodiments will be apparent to those skilled in the art. In particular, this solution can be applied to other motor vehicle components, such as the technical front surface of the vehicle ("faceavanttechnique", abbreviated "FAT"), locally reinforcing the technical of the vehicle with the metal reinforcement element 4 according to the invention surface, especially in the hooking area of the lock of the bonnet.

It is also possible to select a region 3 whose size changes mainly due to thermal expansion. In fact, certain motor vehicle components (eg, vehicle doors and windows) must meet dimensional requirements for clearance and flushness with various components in the vicinity of these components once installed on the vehicle. These dimensions of the windows and doors allow maintaining said gap and flushness regardless of the temperature to which the vehicle is subjected. Therefore, doors and windows must retain their dimensions as much as possible within a temperature range consistent with the vehicle's operating temperature. Overmoulding of an insert of the wire mesh or three-dimensional metal mesh type allows improved dimensional stability, since the insert limits the expansion of the thermoplastic material in which it is comprised/overmolded due to its smaller expansion than the thermoplastic material .

The invention also relates to a method for manufacturing a part of a motor vehicle component, such as a door or window, in which method at least one component made of thermoplastic material intended to be assembled to form the component is realized by moulding, The method is characterized in that the following steps are implemented:

- the metal reinforcement element 4 is realized by implementing a set of openings in the metal plate, wherein said openings are distributed over most of the surface of the metal plate;

- Select zone 3 of at least one element made of thermoplastic material; and,

- Partially overmolding the metal reinforcement element 4 in the region 3 .

This area is, for example, an area of high mechanical stress. This region may also correspond to a region whose size changes due to thermal expansion. Finally, this region can also correspond to a region of high mechanical stress and dimensional changes.

According to this method, the metal reinforcement element 4 can be a wire mesh, or a three-dimensional metal mesh panel.

According to a specific embodiment of the method, the metal reinforcement element 4 is preformed before or during (ie simultaneously) overmolding of the metal reinforcement element 4 to fit the element made of thermoplastic material in the zone 3 shape.

Claims (6)

1. A motor vehicle component provided with at least one thermoplastic element made of thermoplastic material, characterized in that said thermoplastic element comprises at least one region which is partially overmoulded on at least one of said thermoplastic elements ( 3) The metal reinforcement element (4), said metal reinforcement element (4) comprising a set of openings (5) distributed over most of the surface of said metal reinforcement element (4). 2. The motor vehicle component according to claim 1, wherein the region (3) is a region of high mechanical stress and/or a region whose dimensions change due to thermal expansion. 3. The motor vehicle component according to any one of claims 1 and 2, wherein the metal reinforcement element (4) is a wire mesh. 4. The motor vehicle component according to any one of claims 1 and 2, wherein the metal reinforcement element (4) is a three-dimensional metal mesh. 5. The motor vehicle component according to any one of claims 1 and 2, wherein the metal reinforcement element (4) is preformed to conform to the shape of the thermoplastic element. 6. The automotive component of any one of claims 1 and 2, wherein the automotive component is a vehicle door window or a vehicle front surface.