Land vehicles: bodies and tops – Bodies – Structural detail
Reexamination Certificate
2001-08-06
2003-07-15
Patel, Kiran (Department: 3612)
Land vehicles: bodies and tops
Bodies
Structural detail
C296S100160, C296S203030
Reexamination Certificate
active
06592174
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention concerns a structural support for cabs, in particular for drivers' cabs of road or rail vehicles, hovercraft or cable cars, or vehicle body constructions for road or rail vehicles, where the structural support in cross-section consists of a first profile part of fibre-reinforced plastic and a second profile part of metal, and the plastic profile part is a longitudinal profile with in sections different cross-sectional structures, and the connection between the two profile parts is an adhesive connection or a plastic weld connection, and a process for their production, and a frame or grid construction with a structural support. Structural supports are profiles forming a frame or grid construction.
Frame or grid constructions for cabs, in particular drivers' cabs of road and/or rail vehicles, for body constructions of road or rail vehicles or other transport elements such as hovercraft or cable cars etc., are today mainly made from the material iron, steel, aluminium and plastic. Normally, the profiles of such frame or grid constructions are made either from aluminium or plastic. The individual profiles are joined together by mechanical fixing means or by gluing.
Trims e.g. panels and other functional elements e.g. plastic panels, laminate panels or glass, and supports i.e. load-bearing elements such as consoles or connecting elements for profiles, and attachments for example locks, hinges, running boards etc., are fitted to the frame constructions.
Profiles for frame constructions are today mostly made as complete parts from one piece or at least from the same material, mainly aluminium. Framework constructions are also known in which an insulating material is inserted between two metal profile parts.
On one profile side in each case, normally the inside, different cross-sectional structures are often required which are for example designed to hold supports, wall elements, trim parts or attachments.
The terms “inside” or “on the inside” or “internal” refer to the side facing the interior of the cab or transport element, while “outside” or “on the outside” or “external” means the side facing away from the interior of the cab or transport element.
Furthermore, it is often necessary to reinforce locally the profile cross-section in certain areas under more than average load against thrust and tension forces.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,507,522 describes a hybrid support as a side longitudinal member of a guide frame for a vehicle chassis. The hybrid support consists of at least three part profiles, namely a corrugated structured plastic profile which can in turn be made of two mirror-symmetrical part profiles, and two strip-like U-profiles of metal which lie against the plastic profile on two opposite sides and surround this. The individual profile parts are connected together by means of adhesive connections.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,190,803 describes a structural part made of a shell-like first part of metal and a rib structure of plastic inlaid into the shell-like part to reinforce the structure.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,356,624 describes a self-supporting vehicle body. The body contains a metal frame on the outside of which are joined pressings made of synthetic resin.
EP 0 317 109 describes a profile structure which consists of a first structure of metal and a second external structure of plastic, where the second structure of plastic has a finish structure with low tolerances which is placed over part of the surface of the first structure and is glued to this.
EP 0 733 537 describes a door frame with a trim part made of plastic on the outside which is glued to the frame structure of the door frame.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The object of the present invention is to provide structural supports for a frame construction which are light, can be reinforced locally individually, allow the simple attachment of supports for profile connections, trim elements and attachments such as hinges or locks and which have optimum controlled crushing and crash behaviour and high strength, and provide good insulation. The structural support should also be extremely stable and resistant to breaking and bending in relation to the longitudinal and transverse forces applied and in relation to shear forces.
According to the invention, this is achieved in that the different cross-sectional structures are designed for special functional tasks such as holding equipment carriers, wall, roof or window elements, or for holding supports for connections with other profiles or attachments, and the co-efficient of thermal expansion of the first profile part is adapted to the co-efficient of thermal expansion of the second profile part by the quantity and/or substance composition of a mixed-in filler and/or the quantity and/or substance composition of the fibre reinforcement materials, where the co-efficient of thermal expansion of the first profile part deviates from the co-efficient of thermal expansion of the second profile part by less than 10%.
Preferably the profile cross-section of the structure carrier consists of two profile parts, where the one profile part consists preferably completely of metal and the other profile part preferably completely of plastic.
A frame or grid construction can consist completely or partially of the structural supports according to the invention.
The profile part of metal (metal profile part) advantageously consists of a ferrous or non-ferrous metal such as iron, galvanised iron, steel, brass, aluminium and its alloys or magnesium and its alloys. The metal profile part is preferably an extruded profile of metal in particular aluminium or its alloys. The metal profile part can be deformed as desired in its longitudinal direction and modified in its cross-sectional structure, where the cross-sectional structure of the profile part can be modified locally, in sections or throughout by bending, deforming, cutting, notching out or in any other manner. The wall thickness of the metal profile parts, in particular of aluminium, is suitably 1.5 to 7 mm, preferably 2 to 5, ideally around 3 mm.
The profile part of plastic (plastic profile part) is suitably made of reinforced and preferably fibre-reinforced plastics. Reinforcement fibres can in particular be inorganic fibres such as glass fibres, carbon or graphite fibres, metal fibres, ceramic fibres or fibres of cellulose derivatives or polyvinyl chlorides, polyacrylonitriles, polyolefins, polyesters, polyamides or aramide fibres etc. or natural fibres such as fibrous silicate minerals, jute, sisal, hemp, cotton etc. The plastics can also be plastics reinforced with textiles, fabrics, mats or fleeces of said materials. Reinforcement materials can also be coatings, rods, plates or foils of suitable materials, for example of the above materials, inlaid in the plastic. Advantageously, glass fibres, carbon fibres or aramide fibres are used and ideally the fibres are processed in the form of rovings, fabrics, mats or multi-axial matting in the pressed process, where the fibres are suitably oriented in the profile longitudinal direction.
The fibre content of the plastic part is for example 40 to 60 vol %.
As in particular with the use of fibre fabrics etc. the fibres of the reinforced plastic part profiles are oriented targeted in one or more directions and in particular in the profile longitudinal direction, the plastic profile part has a lower load-bearing capacity or strength against shear forces and also transverse forces. These disadvantages are eliminated by supplementing the plastic profile part with the metal profile part.
The plastic can also, for example, as well as reinforcement fibres contain fillers which, for example, can be coarse or fine-grained, plate-like etc. Fillers such as for example calcium carbonate, kaolin, glass, mica, talc, silicates, Wollastonite or aluminium oxides reduce the co-efficient of thermal expansion (heat expansion co-efficient) of the plastic. Fillers such as aluminium oxides and antimony oxide can be used in order to increase the fire resistance of the plastic, and fil
Röllin Ulrich
Streiff Samuel
Alcan Technology & Management Ltd.
Ostrolenk Faber Gerb & Soffen, LLP
Patel Kiran
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