Land vehicles: bodies and tops – Bodies – Structural detail
Reexamination Certificate
1999-10-14
2001-02-13
Dayoan, D. Glenn (Department: 3612)
Land vehicles: bodies and tops
Bodies
Structural detail
C296S203020
Reexamination Certificate
active
06186583
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a process for manufacturing a front face of an automobile vehicle, and to such a front face.
2. Brief Description of the Related Art
A front face or front chassi panel is conventionally mounted at the front of the engine compartment of an automobile vehicle, between the side members or the arms of the chassis, and generally supports a radiator and a system for locking the hood of the vehicle in closed position.
For many years, the front faces were made of metal, but the use of metal proved to limit the shapes that could be used. Automobile vehicle front faces were then made of plastics, in particular polyamide resin, possibly reinforced with reinforcing fibers. These plastic front faces have the noteworthy drawback of being considerably deformed in the event of shock, to such an extent that the lock that they support may be disconnected from the corresponding part of the hood.
European Patent Application 0 370 342 discloses producing an element of light construction, in particular for an automobile vehicle, which is composed of a base body in the form of a shell and of reinforcing ribs made of injected plastics material. This element is produced by overmoulding the base body with a glass-fiber reinforced polyamide resin, which leads to a relatively high cost due to the price of the raw material used. In addition, overmoulding necessarily involves the base body being shaped with high precision in order not to interfere with the mould when the latter is closed. In effect, dimensional variations of the base body might result in the mould being jammed, and even in the matrix or punch being damaged. In addition, the points of injection of the plastics material in the mould around the base body must be positioned with precision, and the flow of the plastics material is considerably disturbed in the event of an obstacle being positioned in front of these points of injection. Finally, charging and discharging of the mould are relatively long operations due to the necessarily precise positioning of the base body before the mould is closed.
European Patent Application 0 658 470 discloses making a support frame for an automobile vehicle frontage in which a framework may be fixed in grooves, recesses or housings in an overall plane frontal panel. The fixing of the framework in the panel does not allow it to rigidify this panel efficiently.
It is an object of the present invention to overcome these drawbacks by proposing a process of manufacture and an automobile vehicle front face which are particularly economical, without risk of interference of the parts with a mould or a manipulating robot, while the shock resistance of the part obtained is quite satisfactory.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
To that end, the invention relates to a process of manufacturing a bodywork element of an automobile vehicle, in which a reinforcement is formed, a part made of plastics material is moulded to form a functional support, and said reinforcement and said part are assembled by mechanical fixation or ultrasonic welding, characterized in that the process consists in:
forming a reinforcement by stamping a metal plate, and
assembling said reinforcement and said part by introducing said part in a volume for reception, defined by said reinforcement.
Thanks to the process of the invention, the metal reinforcement may be made by conventional stamping techniques, i.e. at a high rate, therefore a well controlled cost, the manufacturing tolerances being in accordance with the rules of the art. Furthermore, the structural part forming functional support may be moulded in accordance with conventional tested techniques, likewise with tolerances in accordance with the rules of the art. Mechanical assembly or welding of these parts allows possible dimensional defects to be compensated, with the result that the part obtained has a geometry defined with precision. Thanks to the introduction of the plastic part in the volume defined by the reinforcement, a two-layer body is formed around at least one part of the plastics part, with the result that the rigidity of the assembly obtained is improved, which ensures that the lock of the hood remains efficient, including in the event of a violent shock.
According to variant embodiments of the invention, it may be provided to assemble the reinforcement and the part forming functional support by clipping, cooperation of shapes, riveting, clinching, snapping, stapling or bolting. These different tested techniques may be carried out with excellent reliability and under satisfactory economic conditions.
According to an advantageous aspect of the invention, the process consists in equipping the reinforcement and/or the support-forming part with functional elements of the vehicle, before assembly of the reinforcement and the support-forming part. These functional elements may be constituted by the lock for closing the hood, elements belonging to the motor fan unit, electric cables, fluid conduits and/or optical elements of the vehicle headlights. Thanks to this aspect of the invention, the elements which vary from one vehicle to another, in particular as a function of the level of equipment, may be pre-assembled either on the reinforcement or on the support-forming part, the final assembly being made as a function of the type of front face to be obtained.
According to another advantageous aspect of the invention, the process consists in moulding the part forming functional support by injection or compression of polyester resin. The use of polyester resin makes it possible to obtain a very advantageous cost as polyester resin is of relatively low cost, in particular compared to polyamide resin.
The invention also relates to a front face of an automobile vehicle which may be manufactured by the process described hereinabove and, more specifically, to a front face of an automobile vehicle which comprises a metal reinforcement and a part made of moulded plastic material, forming functional support and assembled with this reinforcement by mechanical fixation or by ultrasonic welding. This front face is characterized in that the reinforcement is of concave shape and defines a housing for receiving at least a part of the support-forming part.
According to advantageous aspects of the invention, this front face incorporates one or more of the following characteristics:
the support-forming part and/or the reinforcement is provided with means for fixing and/or supporting functional elements of the vehicle;
the assembling between reinforcement and the support-forming part is removable;
the concavity of the reinforcement faces the engine compartment of the vehicle;
a covering is mounted on the reinforcement and/or the support-forming part, such covering forming a partition preventing recycling of the air of the engine compartment of the vehicle;
the support-forming part and/or the covering is specifically adapted to the type of vehicle and to its equipment, while the reinforcement is compatible with different types of vehicles or with vehicles with different types of equipment.
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patent: 5597198 (1997-01-01), Takanishi
patent: 5636885 (1997-06-01), Hummel
patent: 5658041 (1997-08-01), Girardot et al.
patent: 5941329 (1999-08-01), Ichioka
patent: 0658470 (1995-06-01), None
patent: 2761331 (1998-02-01), None
Dayoan D. Glenn
Dowell & Dowell , P.C.
Inoplast
Murray Mickki D.
LandOfFree
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