Patent Application
20200001931
The present disclosure relates to vehicle wheel house liners and more particularly to a protective barrier disposed on a wheel house liner.
It is known in the art to line the outer wheel arch of vehicles with a trim part or cladding, also known as outer wheel arch liner, fender liner or wheel outer liner. These wheel arch liners can be mounted on the front and/or rear wheel arch opposite the wheel to protect the body of the car.
These wheel arch liners may reduce the noise transmission into the vehicle interior of noises generated during driving of the vehicle. These noises are mainly caused by the wheel rotating on the road surface, as well as noise from coming from water and stones thrown by the tires at the wheel house. However the wheel arch liner also serves as protection against particles highly accelerated against the wheel arch during driving, due to the rotating wheel, such as sand and gravel, and for protection against water and mud.
Wheel arch liners are formed to follow the shape of the wheel housing of vehicles. Wheel arch liners are therefore formed as 3-dimensional semi-circular structural parts. The physical properties such as structural stiffness and durability of wheel arch liners can be important for providing protection to components in (e.g., tires) or B surfaces of components forming the wheel house of the vehicle.
In the absence of wheel arch liners such components can be subjected to stone pelting, dirt, road debris, hot, cold and/or wet weather conditions and might also collide with obstacles underneath the car during use. For example, in some cases due to architectural space restraints a vehicle tire may have minimal clearance to prevent contacting an unfriendly interface (e.g., vehicle structure) due to exceeding tire flop limits, particularly when subjected to certain road hazards such as potholes. Such contact can cause damage to a tire or the vehicle structure if proper protection is not provided.
One or more exemplary embodiments address the above issue by providing a protective barrier disposed on a wheel house liner. More particularly, a protective barrier disposed on a wheel house liner and a method of manufacturing the same. In accordance with aspects of an exemplary embodiment, a protective barrier for fortifying a portion of a vehicle wheel house liner includes the wheel house liner having an arching shaped molded main body with opposing ends configured for providing a barrier between a tire and a wheel house cavity, wherein the wheel house liner includes a vehicle structure contact side. And another aspect in accordance with the exemplary embodiment includes a ballistics material patch integrally molded with a predetermined portion of the molded main body configured to provide a protective barrier between the tire and a vehicle structure. And still another aspect wherein the predetermined portion of the molded main body is at least one of the opposing ends on the vehicle structure contact side of the wheel house liner. And yet another aspect wherein the ballistics material patch is formed of an oxidized polyacrylonitrile fiber material and binding fibers.
Further aspects are disclosed as exemplary embodiments wherein the ballistics material patch is formed of a para aramid fiber material and binding fibers, or wherein the ballistics material patch further includes a middle layer formed of thermal plastic polyurethane foil material between two layers of oxidized polyacrylonitrile fiber material and binding fibers. And another embodiment wherein the ballistics material patch further includes a middle layer formed of thermal plastic polyurethane foil material between two layers of para aramid fiber material and binding fibers. Still other embodiments wherein the ballistics material patch further includes a reinforcing layer formed of thermal plastic polyurethane foil material disposed on the vehicle structure contact side of the wheel house liner. And another aspect wherein the vehicle structure is the hinge pillar pinch weld flange.
A method of manufacturing a wheel house line disposed with a protective barrier includes adhering a ballistic material patch to a predetermined portion of a wheel house liner material blank; heat molding the wheel house liner material blank and the adhered ballistic material patch together to form a wheel house liner having an arching shaped main body with opposing ends, wherein the wheel house liner is configured for providing a barrier between a tire and a wheel house cavity, and wherein the wheel house liner includes a vehicle structure contact side; and removing the molded wheel house liner and ballistic material patch from the mold wherein the ballistic material patch is configured to provide a protective barrier between the tire and a vehicle structure.
The present exemplary embodiment will be better understood from the description as set forth hereinafter, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:
The following description is merely exemplary in nature and is not intended to limit the present disclosure, application, or uses thereof.
In addition to serving as a barrier against projectiles caused by the rotating wheels, the wheel house liner may serve additional functions, including acoustic and aesthetic. Furthermore, the wheel house liner may block some of the more unsightly components and/or structure of the vehicle from being seen from the exterior of the vehicle. Some wheel house liners have an exterior edge exposed. Other vehicles include an additional molding to cover the edge such that it is not visible.
Referring now to
This will take into account the maximum jounce and rebound allowed by the suspension system and the maximum turn and tilt allowed by the steering mechanism. This envelope 18 is compared with the wheel house 10 and other components in the area, such as the body hinge pillar or fender perimeter, to perform an interference/collision analysis. The results of this analysis can be indicative as to whether that vehicle tire will strike the housing and components under driving conditions. In some cases due to design space restraints, a tire may have minimal clearance to prevent contacting an unfriendly interface (e.g., vehicle structure) due to exceeding tire envelope limits, particularly when subjected to certain road hazards such as speed bumps and potholes. Such contact can cause damage to the vehicle tire or the vehicle structure if proper protection is not provided.
Referring now to
Next, the workpiece is placed between the lower 54 and upper 56 molds of the hot press molding apparatus. Then, the upper mold 56 is moved down so that the workpiece is clamped between the core of the upper mold 56 and the cavity of the lower mold 54. In this state, heating is conducted while pressure is applied to the wheel house liner blank 52 and the ballistics material patch 22 such that melting occurs to bind the articles together between by the upper 16 and lower molds 14. After the articles are bonded and a cooling process is completed, the wheel house liner disposed with the ballistics material patch 22 is removed from the molding apparatus.
The description of the invention is merely exemplary in nature and variations that do not depart from the gist of the invention are intended to be within the scope of the invention. Such variations are not to be regarded as a departure from the spirit and scope of the invention.
