Patent Application
20250179849
Claddings are important elements applied to various vehicle components, such as vehicle doors. Generally, a vehicle door cladding may conceal an edge of the vehicle door and/or various openings in the vehicle door (e.g., sealant holes or drain holes). However, claddings may increase manufacturing costs and assembly time of the vehicle components on which claddings are implemented.
The present disclosure generally relates to vehicle components, and more specifically, to a vehicle cladding.
In one or more embodiments, a cladding is disclosed. The cladding includes a first portion, a second portion, and a living hinge formed between the first portion and the second portion thereby forming a monolithic structure. The first portion and the second portion are operable to couple to opposing sides of a vehicle component.
In one or more embodiments, a method of forming a cladding is disclosed. The method includes activating a first set of gates to inject a first polymer portion into a mold. The method further includes, after a first time period has elapsed after activating the first set of gates, activating a second set of gates to inject a second polymer portion into the mold. The method further includes, after a second time period has elapsed after activating the second set of gates, activating a third set of gates to inject a third polymer portion into the mold. The first polymer portion, the second polymer portion, and the third polymer portion flow through the mold to form a monolithic structure having a living hinge, and a continuous section having greater than 50% of a length of the living hinge is formed from one of the first polymer portion, the second polymer portion, or the third polymer portion.
So that the manner in which the above recited features of the present disclosure can be understood in detail, a more particular description of the disclosure, briefly summarized above, may be had by reference to embodiments, some of which are illustrated in the appended drawings.
It is to be noted, however, that the appended drawings illustrate only exemplary embodiments and are therefore not to be considered limiting in scope, and may admit to other equally effective embodiments.
It is to be understood that the following disclosure provides many different embodiments, or examples, for implementing different features of various embodiments. Specific examples of components and arrangements are described below to simplify the disclosure. These are, of course, merely examples and are not intended to be limiting. The section headings used herein are for organizational purposes and are not to be construed as limiting the subject matter described.
Claddings are important elements applied to various vehicle components, such as vehicle doors. Generally, a vehicle door cladding conceals the stamping hem edge of the vehicle door and/or various openings in the vehicle door (e.g., sealant holes or drain holes). However, claddings generally include multiple parts which may increase costs associated with manufacturing and assembly of the vehicle door. Certain embodiments described herein provide a more efficient and/or cost effective cladding.
In particular, certain embodiments relate to a cladding for a vehicle component (e.g., a vehicle door) that implements a living hinge design. The living hinge design conceals the stamping hem edge of the door and/or various openings in the door (e.g., sealant holes or drain holes) and reduces costs associated with manufacturing and assembly of the vehicle door.
In certain embodiments, the cladding is composed of a first portion and a second portion. A living hinge is formed between the first portion and the second portion thereby forming a monolithic structure. The first portion and the second portion are operable to couple to opposing sides of a vehicle component.
In certain embodiments, the vehicle component is a door that has an interior surface and an exterior surface. The first portion has a first set of couplings operable to couple to the interior surface of the door, and the second portion has a second set of coupling operable to couple to the exterior surface of the door. In certain embodiments, the first and/or second set of couplings include snap-fit connectors. The interior surface and/or the exterior surface may include a stamped metal surface, where the first and/or second set of couplings couple to one or more holes (e.g., locating holes) formed in the stamped metal surface.
When the first portion and the second portion are in a folded configuration, the first portion is coupled to the interior surface, and the second portion is coupled to the exterior surface, such that the first and second portions enclose a bottom portion of the door to cover, for example, door hems, drain holes, and/or sealant holes.
In various embodiments, the monolithic structure of the cladding is made from a polymer (e.g., expanded polyolefin, a thermoplastic polyolefin, polypropylene, etc.) which has polymer chains that traverse the living hinge and are aligned in a direction that is substantially perpendicular to a principal axis of the living hinge. This orientation of the polymer chains improves the strength and durability of the living hinge and is enabled by the injection molding techniques described below in conjunction with
In general, the techniques described herein provide more efficient and/or cost effective claddings for vehicle doors while also providing a premium look and increased durability.
In some embodiments, the monolithic structure (e.g., the first portion 101, the second portion 102, and the living hinge 103) forming the cladding 100 is composed of a polymer. In certain embodiments, the polymer may include, without limitation, an expanded polyolefin, a thermoplastic polyolefin, polypropylene, and combinations of the same and like. In some embodiments, polymer chains of the polymer that traverse the living hinge 103 are aligned in a direction that is substantially perpendicular to a principal axis 104 of the living hinge 103. In certain embodiments, the monolithic structure may be formed by injection molding. In some embodiments, the living hinge 103 may be substantially free from weld lines along the length of the living hinge 103.
As shown in
In certain embodiments, during assembly (e.g., assembly of a vehicle door), the first portion 101 is operable to be folded towards the second portion 102 along the principal axis 104 of the living hinge 103. Alternatively, the second portion 102 may be operable to be folded towards the first portion 101 along the principal axis 104 of the living hinge 103.
As shown in
As illustrated in
In certain embodiments, multiple sets of gates, each set of gates having one or more gates, may be activated to flow the polymer through the mold 412 to form the cladding 100. Multiple gates may be utilized in injection molding method 300 to uniformly dispense the polymer through the mold 412 and ensure that the polymer reaches each portion of the mold 412 when forming the cladding 100. In various embodiments, implementing multiple gates when injection molding the cladding 100 may enable the formation of weld lines (e.g., which may be formed when a portion of polymer injected via one gate meets a portion of polymer injected via another gate) to be better controlled. For example, as described below in further detail, the sets of gates may be activated in an order and with a time delay that produces a living hinge 103 that is substantially free of weld lines along the length of the living hinge 103. Additionally and/or alternatively, in certain embodiments, the injection molding method 300 is implemented to form a cladding 100 in which portions of the polymer that traverse the living hinge 103 have polymer chains that are aligned in a direction that is substantially perpendicular to the principal axis 104 of the living hinge 103.
At step 302, a first set of gates is activated to inject a first polymer portion 407 into the mold 412. For example, as shown in
At step 304, after a first period of time has elapsed since the first set of gates was activated, a second set of gates is activated to inject a second polymer portion 408 into the mold 412. For example, as shown in
At step 306, after a second period of time has elapsed since the second set of gates was activated, a third set of gates is activated to inject a third polymer portion 410 into the mold 412. As shown in
As illustrated in
Although various embodiments of the present disclosure have been illustrated in the accompanying Drawings and described in the foregoing Detailed Description, it will be understood that the present disclosure is not limited to the embodiments disclosed herein, but is capable of numerous rearrangements, modifications, and substitutions without departing from the spirit of the disclosure as set forth herein.
The term “substantially” is defined as largely but not necessarily wholly what is specified, as understood by a person of ordinary skill in the art. In any disclosed embodiment, the terms “substantially”, “approximately”, “generally”, and “about” may be substituted with “within [a percentage] of” what is specified, where the percentage includes 0.1, 1, 5, and 10 percent.
The foregoing outlines features of several embodiments so that those of ordinary skill in the art may better understand the aspects of the disclosure. Those of ordinary skill in the art should appreciate that they may readily use the disclosure as a basis for designing or modifying other processes and structures for carrying out the same purposes and/or achieving the same advantages of the embodiments introduced herein. Those of ordinary skill in the art should also realize that such equivalent constructions do not depart from the spirit and scope of the disclosure, and that they may make various changes, substitutions, and alterations herein without departing from the spirit and scope of the disclosure. The scope of the invention should be determined only by the language of the claims that follow. The term “comprising” within the claims is intended to mean “including at least” such that the recited listing of elements in a claim are an open group. The terms “a”, “an”, and other singular terms are intended to include the plural forms thereof unless specifically excluded.
Conditional language used herein, such as, among others, “can”, “might”, “may”, “e.g.”, and the like, unless specifically stated otherwise, or otherwise understood within the context as used, is generally intended to convey that certain embodiments include, while other embodiments do not include, certain features, elements, and/or states. Thus, such conditional language is not generally intended to imply that features, elements, and/or states are in any way required for one or more embodiments.
While the above detailed description has shown, described, and pointed out novel features as applied to various embodiments, it will be understood that various omissions, substitutions, and changes in the form and details of the embodiments illustrated can be made without departing from the spirit of the disclosure. As will be recognized, the various embodiments described herein can be embodied within a form that does not provide all of the features and benefits set forth herein, as some features can be used or practiced separately from others. The scope of protection is defined by the appended claims rather than by the foregoing description. All changes which come within the meaning and range of equivalency of the claims are to be embraced within their scope.
