Patent Application
20190217798
A portion of the disclosure of this patent document contains material which is subject to copyright protection. This patent document may show and/or describe matter which is or may become trade dress of the owner. The copyright and trade dress owner has no objection to the facsimile reproduction by any one of the patent disclosure as it appears in the Patent and Trademark Office patent files or records, but otherwise reserves all copyright and trade dress rights whatsoever.
The disclosure relates to a device for protecting automobiles from impact, and more particularly, to a device for protecting the underside of automobiles from damage.
Automobile drivers often encounter situations where the underside of the automobile, scrapes against a steep driveway, a speed bump, a parking block, or an uneven road surface, which can damage the automobile's bumper or rocker panels. This type of damage can be expensive to repair.
Many existing forms of automobile underside protection are custom made for specific automobiles, which can make them expensive and challenging to install. There is a need for durable and easy to install under bumper protection that can be applied to different types of automobiles.
A device for protecting an underside of an automobile is described herein. Throughout this description, the embodiments and examples shown should be considered as exemplars, rather than limitations on the apparatus described.
As shown in
An automobile underside protector, as disclosed herein, can prevent or reduce damage to an underside of an automobile. The protector can be positioned on the underside of an automobile where the automobile is most likely to impact objects that will cause damage. For example, the protector can be positioned at a front edge of an underside of the bumper. If the automobile does impact an object, such as a parking block or an uneven roadway, the protector will be impacted instead of the automobile, so that the automobile is not damaged.
The automobile underside protector can be formed of a semi-hard, yet flexible and resilient, abrasion resistant, high tear strength material. The protector can be shaped so that it can be easily formed to the underside of various different automobiles. Further, the protector can be easily applied via an adhesive on the side of the protector adjacent the automobile. The protector can have rounded or beveled edges to minimize grabbing onto the object of impact.
In one example, an automobile underside protector 201 for application to an underside of an automobile is shown in
The protector 201 can be a flexible elongated band 202 formed of any suitably hard or semi-hard material, such as polyurethane or other types of flexible rubber or plastic. A suitable hardness of the material is necessary so the protector 201 is hard enough to have sufficient tear strength and abrasion resistance, but not too hard for the protector to be bent to form to the automobile during application of the protector 201.
This optimization is a balance between the amount of material found between the protector's edge and a root of the notch in the protector to facilitate bending during installation. A greater amount of material is desired to provide protection and abrasion resistance during contact between the protector and the road. However, a depth of the notch must be deep enough to facilitate bending during installation on curved surfaces on the underside of an automobile bumper. Optimizing an amount of material present versus an amount removed by the notch is desirable.
Numerous sample protectors were tested to determine a force required to bend the protector 15 degrees and 30 degrees. Those forces were studied for significant points of inflection in the data. From the data set, it can be seen where the inflection point is most noticed. In one test, a protector with a height of 3/16 inch and a width of 1.5 inches was tested with notches of different depths. A force required to bend the protector 15 degrees and 30 degrees significantly increased when a distance between a front edge of the protector and an apex of the notch was greater than about 0.25 inches. In another test, a protector with a height of ¼ inch and a width of 1.5 inches was tested with notches of different depths. Again, a force required to bend the protector 15 degrees and 30 degrees was significantly increased when a distance between a front edge of the protector and an apex of the notch was greater than about 0.25 inches.
Additionally, qualitative analysis was performed to determine a desirable amount of force to bend the protector during installation, as well as protection provided when an installed protector contacted an asphalt driveway. From this testing, and the desire to have the most amount of material present in the protector as possible, it has been determined that a desirable depth from the front edge to an apex of the notch is 0.25 inches. Protectors with depths greater about 0.4 inches were difficult to install and tended become detached from the automobile. Protectors with depths less than 0.15 inches provided insufficient protection from scrapes and scratches.
An exemplary suitable hardness range is from 70 Shore A to 95 Shore A, and an exemplary optimum hardness is 85 Shore A. In one example, the protector 201 can be formed of Versathane® A-8, TDI-Polyester Prepolymer, manufactured by Coim USA Inc. The protector 201 can be made using a profile extrusion method or other comparable manufacturing methods such as compression molding or mold casting. Protectors formed from materials with a hardness less than 70 Shore A provided insufficient protection, and protectors formed from materials with a hardness greater than 95 Shore A were difficult to bend to install.
In an example, the protector can be formed of a material with an abrasion loss with in a range of 25 mm3 to 50 mm3 based on ISO 4649, and with a tear strength in a range of 40 kN/m to 85 kN/m based on DIN ISO 34-1/B/b.
The protector 201 has a front edge 251, a back edge 252, a bottom surface 253, and a top surface 254. The protector 201 can be formed to have any suitable length 203, such as a length from 6 inches to 48 inches. Exemplary protectors 201 can have a height 205 of between about 0.12 and 0.4 inches. In one example, the protector 205 can have a height 205 of about 0.23 inches. Both a bevel 208 between the front edge 251 and the bottom surface 253 and a bevel 207 between the back edge 252 and the bottom surface 253 can have a radius of curvature of about 3/32 inch. The protector can have a width 209 of in a range from about 1.00 inches to 2.00 inches. For example, the protector can have a width of about 1.5 inches.
Notches can be cut in the back edge 252 of the protector 201 to form teeth 210. For example, the protector 201 can be put through a mandrel punch press to have the notches punched out. Other notch manufacturing techniques may also be used, such as die cutting, water jetting, laser cutting or the like. The notches can be u-shaped, v-shaped, s-shaped, or hexagonally-shaped. A u-shaped notch, i.e., a notch with a u-shaped apex, is shown in
As shown in
A width 227 of the protector 201 between the apex 228 of the notch and the front edge 251 can have a range from about 0.15 to 0.5 inches. In one example, the width 227 can be about 0.25 inches. Width 227 should be wide enough to provide sufficient protection for the automobile, but not so wide that the protector 201 is difficult to bend during installation. For example, this optimization is a balance between the amount of material found between the front edge 251 and the apex 228 of the notch to facilitate bending of the protector 201 during installation. A sufficient amount of material is desired to provide the greatest protection for the automobile and abrasion resistance during contact between the protector and an object. However, the depth of the notch is adequately or sufficiently deep to facilitate bending during installation on the curved underside of automobiles.
As shown in
The protector 201 can be installed on a bottom surface of a bumper 101A of automobile 101, as shown in
In one example, a bond between the adhesive and the semi-hard protective material can be improved via a Corona treatment process to increase positive surface energy of the urethane material and allow for a stronger bond. Corona treatment, or air plasma, is a surface modification technique that uses a low temperature corona discharge plasma to change properties of a surface. In other examples, the bond between the adhesive can be improved via a flame etching treatment or a plasma treatment. After the semi-hard protective material has undergone the treatment process, the adhesive can be bonded to the corona treated surface.
In one example, the notches are formed in the protector 201 after the adhesive has been applied.
To apply the protector 201 to the automobile, the liner is removed, and the protector is firmly pressed against the underside of the automobile in the desired position. It can be desirable to start application of the protector from one end and press one portion at a time into position while progressing to the other end. The automobile surface can be prepared by cleaning with a mixture of 70% isopropyl alcohol (IPA) and 30% water to ensure that the surface is free of contaminants. Surfaces with existing scratches can be lightly abraded using a sand paper in order to smooth the textured surface to obtain more flatness, allowing improved contact area and adhesion. Further, priming a surface using a 3M Tape Primer 94 can improve initial and long-term adhesion to both new and scratched surfaces.
The protector 201 can be bent to be applied 501 to curved portions of the underside of the automobile 101 or can be left straight to be applied 503 to straight portions of the underside of the automobile 101, as shown in
The protector can be any of one or more desired colors, such as black, white, or any color that matches a color of the automobile. The protector can also be clear or transparent. The protector can also be colors chosen as an accent or to be easily noticed by observers, such as bright or fluorescent colors. Characters, designs, or logos can also be included on any portion of the protector.
The surfaces of the protector, e.g., the front and back edges and top and bottom surfaces, can have various different textures. For example, the front edge and bottom surface can be smooth to reduce grabbing of the protector by an impacted object. The top surface can have a texture that will facilitate adherence of the adhesive.
The protector can have additional layers, such as a protective coating or metal guards. The material of the protector can have inclusions, e.g., inclusions that have a different hardness from the primary material of the protector.
While the protector is described and shown as having a rectangular cross-section, the protector can have cross-sections of other shapes, such as wedge-shapes. For example, the front edge can be taller or shorter than the back edge, or the top surface can be wider or narrower than the back surface. Further, the front edge can be at an angle of less than 90 degrees to the top surface, so that the protector is less likely grab an impacted objected.
The adhesive can be either a dark or black color, or a color that matches the automobile. The adhesive can also be a brighter color chosen as an accent color. The adhesive can also be clear or transparent.
Though the protector is generally installed with the front edge towards the front, it can be installed in various other configurations to fit the underside of the automobile. In addition to the bumper, the protector can be installed on any desired portion of the automobile, such as under side portions of the automobile, under rocker panels, under a rear bumper, etc.
Although exemplary embodiments of the invention have been shown and described, it will be apparent to those having ordinary skill in the art that a number of changes, modifications, or alterations to the invention as described herein may be made, none of which depart from the spirit of the invention. All such changes, modifications and alterations should therefore be seen as within the scope of the invention claimed.
