JP4559245B2 - Method for producing foam with integrated insert and skin opening expansion jig and foaming mold used therefor - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a method for manufacturing a foam integrated with an embedded skin such as a headrest or an armrest of an automobile, and an opening expansion jig and a foaming mold used therefor.

An automobile headrest is foam-molded by housing an insert made of a headrest stay in a bag-shaped skin and then injecting a foaming raw material into the bag-shaped skin. As a method for manufacturing this headrest, the one disclosed in Patent Document 1 has been proposed. In this manufacturing method, as shown in FIG. 10, a headrest stay (insert) 17 is arranged inside a bag-shaped skin material 12 in which a slit-shaped opening 18 of the headrest is formed. As shown in FIG. 11, a pair of tongue pieces 12a and 12b are provided by extending the skin edge. Next, the tubular film 51 is sandwiched between the tongue pieces 12a and 12b, and a plate-like jig 52 having a length substantially equal to the length of the opening 18 is inserted between the tongue pieces 12a and 12b. Then, after the opening 18 is linearly stretched by the plate-like jig 52, the pad portion 11 is accommodated in the forming die 50 shown in FIG. 11, and the funnel 53 is inserted into the tubular film 51. The foaming raw material 55 is injected into the inside of the skin material 12 by an injection machine 54 through the above, and the foaming of the pad portion 11 is performed.
Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 7-31759

  However, in the above conventional manufacturing method, the funnel 53 for injecting the foaming raw material 55 and when the funnel 53 is pulled out from the opening 18, the foaming raw material 55 adhering to the funnel 53 is dropped onto the surface of the skin material 12. A tubular film 51 for prevention must be used. For this reason, not only does the setting work take time and the molding work efficiency decreases, but also the number of accessory parts of the foam molding die 50 increases, making the production cumbersome and making it impossible to reduce the manufacturing cost. There was a problem. In addition, since the foamed raw material 55 adheres and remains on the funnel 53 and the tubular film 51 during the foam molding operation, not only the raw material cost is wasted but also the funnel 53 needs to be cleaned. However, there is a problem in that the efficiency of the molding operation is reduced and the manufacturing cost of the skin-integrated foamed product (pad portion 11) cannot be reduced.

  In the conventional manufacturing method, since the foaming raw material 55 is injected into the pad portion 11 using the funnel 53, the foaming raw material 55 remaining in the funnel 53 is dropped. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 11, the surface of the foaming raw material 55 becomes uneven, and at the final stage in which the foaming raw material 55 is foamed, a hollow portion is locally formed by the valley portion T on the upper side inside the pad portion 11. There was also a problem of fear.

  The present invention eliminates the above-mentioned problems in the prior art, reduces the number of accessory parts required for foam molding operations, and can reduce the manufacturing cost of the skin-integrated foamed product. The manufacturing method of the insert-integrated skin integrated foam product that can reduce the cost of the material, eliminate the waste of raw material costs, and improve the appearance of the skin integrated foam product, the opening expansion jig used therefor, and the foaming mold Is to provide.

  In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the invention according to claim 1 is characterized in that an insert is arranged inside a bag-shaped skin having a slit-shaped opening, and an opening expansion jig in a bent state is provided in the slit-shaped opening. After inserting, holding the opening in an open state where the foaming raw material can be injected, and setting the bag-like skin provided with the insert and the opening expanding jig in a foam-opening mold in a mold open state, from the opening Injecting a foaming raw material into the bag-shaped skin, and then closing the foaming mold to deform the open expansion jig in a bent state into a flat state, and closing the opening, The gist is that the insert and the foaming material are integrally foam-molded.

  Invention of Claim 2 is an opening expansion jig used for the manufacturing method of Claim 1, Comprising: When it is hold | maintained in a bending state and mold closing force is provided with a foaming mold, it will deform | transform into a flat state The gist of the invention is that it is configured as described above.

The gist of the invention of claim 3 is that, in claim 2, the opening expanding jig is integrally formed in a bent state by an elastic plate material.
The invention according to claim 4 is a foaming mold provided with the opening expanding jig according to claim 2 or 3, wherein the opening expanding jig is flattened when the mold is closed. The gist of the present invention is that a housing recess that is housed and held in a state is formed.

  According to the present invention, the slit-shaped opening is held in an open state in which the foaming raw material can be injected by inserting the opening expansion jig in a bent state into the slit-shaped opening of the bag-shaped skin. For this reason, the number of accessory parts required for the injection of the foaming raw material is only one opening expansion jig, and the manufacturing can be easily performed and the manufacturing cost can be reduced. In addition, since it is only necessary to perform the mounting operation of the opening expanding jig once for the slit-shaped opening, the setting operation of the mold can be easily performed, and the cost can be reduced. Furthermore, since the opening expansion jig does not need to enter deeply into the slit-like opening of the bag-like skin, the amount of foamed resin adhering to the surface of the jig is almost eliminated, and the waste of raw material costs is eliminated. In addition, it is possible to improve the appearance of the foam integrated with the skin without the occurrence of a lacking portion in the foamed resin.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, an embodiment in which the present invention is embodied in a method for manufacturing a headrest of an automobile as a foam integrated foam with a built-in insert and a foaming mold used therefor will be described with reference to FIGS.
As shown in FIG. 1, on the left and right sides of the bottom portion 12 of the skin material 12 sewn with a fabric 13 cut into a predetermined shape so as to form the outer peripheral surface of the pad portion 11 of the headrest, that is, both the left and right sides of the bottom portion of the pad portion 11 The two insertion holes 16 are formed, a pair of leg portions 17a of a U-shaped headrest stay 17 as an insert is inserted into both the insertion holes 16, and the upper end portions thereof protrude outward.

A slit-shaped opening 18 is formed in the center of the bottom of the skin material 12, that is, in the center of the bottom of the pad portion 11, and the front and back are reversed through the opening 18 after the skin material 12 is sewn.
Next, an opening expanding jig 21 that is attached to the inner peripheral edge of the slit-shaped opening 18 and expands and holds the opening 18 in a flat triangular opening state will be described.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the opening expanding jig 21 is configured by connecting a pair of left and right strip-shaped plate materials 22 and 23 so as to be rotatable with respect to each other by a hinge mechanism 24. As shown in FIG. 2, the hinge mechanism 24 includes a substantially cylindrical tube portion 25 connected to the base end portion of one plate member 22 and a cylindrical shape connected to the base end portion of the other plate member 23. The connecting pin 27 is inserted into the pair of upper and lower cylindrical portions 26, the intermediate portion of the connecting pin 27 is fixed to the cylindrical portion 25, and the cutout portion 27 a formed on the upper outer peripheral surface of the connecting pin 27 is The flat part 26a of the upper cylinder part 26 is made to contact. The plate members 22 and 23 are elastically held in a bent state, that is, in a flat mountain shape, by the engagement of the flat portion 26a and the cutout portion 27a. Further, when an external force greater than a predetermined value is applied to the bent plate members 22 and 23 with the hinge mechanism 24 as the center, that is, when a mold closing force is applied in a state of being set on a mold as described later, the flat shape with respect to the notch 27a. The correspondence relationship of the portion 26a is released, and the plate members 22 and 23 are rotated and deformed from the bent state to the flat state. In the bent state of the opening expanding jig 21 shown in FIG. 1, the angle α of the plate members 22 and 23 is set to 160 degrees, for example.

  As shown in FIG. 1, locking step portions 22 a and 23 a are notched at the lower ends of the ends of the plate materials 22 and 23 of the opening expanding jig 21. As shown in FIG. 3, when the opening expanding jig 21 is fitted into the slit-shaped opening 18, both end edges of the opening 18 are engaged with the locking step portions 22a and 23a, and the opening 18 is formed into a flat triangular shape. It is extended and held in an open state.

  Long hole-shaped guide holes 22b and 23b are respectively formed in the intermediate portions of the plate materials 22 and 23, and both guide holes 22b and 23b are formed in a first mold 31 of a foam mold 30 shown in FIG. The provided locking pin 36 is inserted to hold the opening expanding jig 21 at a predetermined position of the first mold 31. As shown in FIG. 1, notches 22c and 23c are formed at the base ends of the plates 22 and 23, and the plates 22 and 23 extend downward from the lower end of the hinge mechanism 24. As shown, the lower edges of the plate members 22 and 23 slightly enter the cavity of the foaming mold 30.

  Next, based on FIGS. 4 to 7, a foam molding die 30 for performing foam molding by injecting a foam raw material into the pad portion 11 on which the headrest stay 17 and the opening expansion jig 21 are mounted will be described.

  At the lower end of the first mold 31 that holds the surface of one side (right side in FIG. 4) of the pad portion 11, a second mold 32 that holds the surface of the other side (left side in FIG. 4) of the pad portion 11 is provided. Is mounted via a hinge mechanism 33 so as to be capable of opening and closing in the left-right direction. A third molding die 34 is mounted on the upper end portion of the second molding die 32 through a hinge mechanism 35 so as to be opened and closed in the vertical direction. As shown in FIG. 7, on both the left and right sides of the upper mold mating surface of the first molding die 31, there are concave portions 31a for fitting a pair of convex portions 34a formed on the left and right sides of the third molding die 34. Is formed. Further, the convex portion 31 b formed between the pair of concave portions 31 a of the first mold 31 is fitted into the concave portion 34 b formed between the convex portions 34 a of the third mold 34. ing. Grooves 31c and 34c that form support holes for penetrating and supporting the leg portions 17a and 17a of the headrest stay 17 in a mold-matched state are formed on the mold mating surfaces of the concave portions 31a and 31a and the convex portions 34a and 34a. ing.

  A pair of right and left inclined holding surfaces 31d and 31d for holding the vicinity of the hinge mechanism 24 of the opening expanding jig 21 in a bent state are provided on the front end mold joint surface of the convex portion 31b of the first mold 31. A pair of left and right locking pins 36 for holding the opening expanding jig 21 are formed in parallel with each other on the inclined holding surfaces 31d and 31d. Then, by inserting the both locking pins 36 into the guide holes 22b and 23b of the plate members 22 and 23, the opening expanding jig 21 is held at a predetermined position on the mold joining surface of the convex portion 31b of the first mold 31. I try to do it. On the mold mating surface corresponding to the recess 34b of the third mold 34, an accommodation recess 34d that can be accommodated and held in a flat state when the opening expansion jig 21 is closed is formed. Two insertion holes 34e into which the distal end portions of the locking pins 36 can be inserted are formed.

Next, a method of foaming the pad portion 11 of the headrest by injecting a foaming raw material into the pad portion 11 using the foam molding die 30 will be described.
First, as shown in FIG. 3, the leg portion 17 a of the headrest stay 17 is attached to the insertion hole 16 of the pad portion 11, and the opening extension jig 21 is fitted into the slit-like opening 18 in a bent state.

  Next, as shown in FIG. 4, with the first to third molding dies 31 to 34 of the foam molding die 30 opened, the pad portion 11 is accommodated in the first molding die 31, and the headrest stay 17 is The leg portion 17a is engaged with a groove 31c provided in the first mold 31 and protrudes upward. In synchronization with this operation, the locking pin 36 provided on the inclined holding surface 31d of the first mold 31 is passed through the guide holes 22b and 23b of the opening expanding jig 21, and the opening expanding jig 21 is moved to both. It is held by the locking pin 36. In this state, since the plate members 22 and 23 of the opening expanding jig 21 are held in a bent state, the slit-like opening 18 is held in a flat triangular opening state (see FIG. 3).

  Next, the second mold 32 and the third mold 34 are rotated in the clockwise direction in FIG. 4 around the hinge mechanism 33, and the left surface of the pad portion 11 and the plate materials 22, 23 as shown in FIG. 5. The tip edge is rotated to a position where it can be held. In this state, a foaming raw material 42 such as urethane resin is injected into the inside of the pad portion 11 from the slit-shaped opening 18 by the foaming raw material injection machine 41, and after a predetermined amount is injected, The injection of the foam raw material 42 is stopped.

  Further, in FIG. 5, the first to third molds 31, 32, 34 are rotated by rotating the second mold 32 and the third mold 34 toward the first mold 31 around the hinge mechanism 33. Is closed as shown in FIG. In this step, when a mold closing force is applied to the opening expanding jig 21, the plate members 22 and 23 of the opening expanding jig 21 are deformed from the bent state to the flat state around the hinge mechanism 24, and the first molding is performed. The convex portion 34a of the third mold 34 is fitted into the concave portion 31a of the mold 31, and the convex portion 31b is fitted into the concave portion 34b. Then, the opening expanding jig 21 is accommodated in a flat state in the accommodating recess 34d of the third mold 34, and the mold closing of the foam mold 30 is completed. In this mold closing process, since both the locking pins 36 are penetrated through the elongated hole-shaped guide holes 22b and 23b, the rotational deformation of the plate members 22 and 23 of the opening expanding jig 21 is allowed. In this mold closed state, the distal end portion of the locking pin 36 is inserted into an insertion hole 34e provided on the bottom surface of the housing recess 34d of the third molding die 34.

  After the foaming raw material 42 inside the pad portion 11 is foamed and the foam molding of the pad portion 11 is completed, the second molding die 32 and the third molding die 34 of the foam molding die 30 are opened. Next, the pad portion 11 is separated from the first mold 31 with the third mold 34 opened. Furthermore, the foam expansion molding of the pad portion 11 is completed by pulling the opening expanding jig 21 away from the slit-shaped opening 18 of the separated pad portion 11. The opening expansion jig 21 is manually restored from the flat state to the bent state shown in FIG. 1 and used for the next molding operation of the pad portion 11.

According to the method for manufacturing an insert-embedded skin integrated foam product of the above embodiment, the following effects can be obtained.
(1) In the above-described embodiment, the opening expansion jig 21 in a bent state is fitted into the slit-shaped opening 18 formed in the skin material 12 of the pad portion 11, and the opening 18 is expanded and held in a flat triangular opening state. In this state, the pad portion 11 was accommodated in the foam molding die 30 in the mold open state, and the foam raw material 42 was injected into the pad portion 11 from the triangular opening 18 by the injector 41. For this reason, it is possible to inject the foaming raw material 42 into the inside of the pad portion 11 using only the opening expanding jig 21, eliminating the need for a tube-like film and a funnel, which has been conventionally required, and reducing the manufacturing cost. Can be planned. In addition, since the mounting operation of the opening expanding jig 21 need only be performed once for the slit-shaped opening 18, the setting operation of the accessory part of the mold 30 can be easily performed, and the cost can be reduced as described above. be able to. Further, since the opening expansion jig 21 does not need to be deeply penetrated from the slit-shaped opening 18 of the skin material 12, the amount of the foamed resin adhering to the surface of the jig 21 is almost eliminated, and the raw material cost is wasted. Can be eliminated, and the appearance of the pad portion 11 can be improved by eliminating the occurrence of a lacking portion in the foamed resin.

  (2) In the above embodiment, the inclined holding surface 31d is formed with respect to the mold joint surface of the convex portion 31b of the first mold 31 of the foaming mold 30, and the pair of locking pins 36 are provided on the inclined holding surface 31d. The opening expanding jig 21 is attached to both the locking pins 36 through the guide holes 22b and 23b. Further, the opening expanding jig 21 is accommodated in the accommodating recess 34d of the third mold 34 in a flat state with the mold closed. For this reason, the opening expansion jig 21 can be stably held at predetermined positions on the mold joining surfaces of the convex portions 31b and the concave portions 34b of the first molding die 31 and the third molding die 34.

  (3) In the above embodiment, since the foaming raw material 42 is injected from the injector 41 in a state where the slit-shaped opening 18 is expanded and held by the opening expanding jig 21 in a flat triangular shape, In comparison, the injection time of the foaming raw material 42 can be shortened, and the efficiency of the molding operation can be improved. Further, the foaming raw material 42 can be injected almost evenly into the bottom of the pad portion 11 by using the opening 18 opened to a large area so that the surface is not uneven. Further, since the foaming raw material 42 does not adhere to the opening expanding jig 21 and remains, the residual raw material does not drop and the surface of the foaming raw material 42 is not uneven. For this reason, as the foaming raw material 42 is foamed, its upper surface rises while maintaining a substantially uniform height, the foamed resin is uniformly filled in the upper space of the pad portion 11, the lacking portion is eliminated, and the pad portion 11. Can improve the quality.

In addition, you may change the said embodiment as follows.
As shown in FIG. 8, you may use the opening expansion jig | tool 21 integrally formed by the elastic board material in the bending state always. In this case, manufacturing can be performed easily and cost can be reduced.

  As shown in FIG. 9, you may use the opening expansion jig | tool 21 which was always integrally formed in the flat rhombus shape with the elastic board material. Although not shown, two opening expansion jigs 21 shown in FIG. 1 may be combined to form a diamond shape. In these cases, since the slit-shaped opening 18 can be opened in a diamond shape, the open state of the opening 18 can be stabilized.

The housing recess 34d of the third mold 34 may be omitted.
In the above embodiment, the present invention is embodied in a foam molding apparatus for a headrest of an automobile, but in addition to this, for example, a method for manufacturing an armrest and other foam integrated with an embedded skin, an opening expansion jig used therefor, and a foam mold May be used.

The isolation | separation perspective view which shows the headrest and opening expansion jig | tool of a motor vehicle as a foam integrated article with a built-in insert of this invention. The expansion perspective view which shows the detail of the hinge mechanism of an opening expansion jig. The perspective view which shows the state which inserted the opening expansion jig in the slit-shaped opening of a pad part. Sectional drawing of the mold open state for demonstrating the foam molding operation | work of the pad part by a foam molding die. Sectional drawing which shows the half mold open state of a foaming mold. Sectional drawing of the mold closed state for demonstrating the foam molding operation | work of the pad part by a foam molding die. The perspective view explaining the relationship between an opening expansion jig, a 1st shaping | molding die, and a 3rd shaping | molding die. The perspective view which shows another example of an opening expansion jig. The perspective view which shows another example of an opening expansion jig. The perspective view which shows the pad part, plate-shaped jig | tool, and funnel of the conventional headrest. Sectional drawing of the mold closing state for demonstrating the conventional foam molding operation | work.

Explanation of symbols

  18 ... Slit-shaped opening, 21 ... Opening expansion jig, 22, 23 ... Plate material, 24 ... Hinge mechanism, 30 ... Foaming molding die, 31 ... First molding die, 31b ... Protrusion, 31d ... Inclined holding surface, 32 ... 2nd shaping | molding die, 34 ... 3rd shaping | molding die, 34b ... recessed part, 34d ... accommodation recessed part.

Claims (4)

An insert is placed inside the bag-shaped skin formed with a slit-shaped opening, and an opening expansion jig in a bent state is fitted into the slit-shaped opening, and the opening is held in an open state in which a foaming raw material can be injected. After the bag-shaped skin provided with the insert and the opening expansion jig is set in a foam-molding mold in an open state, a foaming raw material is injected into the bag-shaped skin from the opening, and then the foam-molding mold. The mold with the insert closed is deformed into a flattened state and the opening is closed, and the opening is closed, and the bag-shaped skin and insert and foam material are integrally foam-molded. A method for producing a monolithic foam product. It is an opening expansion jig used for the manufacturing method according to claim 1, and is configured to be deformed into a flat state when held in a bent state and provided with a mold closing force by a foaming mold. Features an opening expansion jig. 3. The opening expansion jig according to claim 2, wherein the opening expansion jig is integrally formed in a bent state by an elastic plate material. A foaming mold comprising the opening expansion jig according to claim 2 or 3, wherein the foaming mold is formed with an accommodation recess for accommodating and holding the opening expansion jig in a flat state when the mold is closed. A foaming mold characterized by being made.

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