Land vehicles: bodies and tops – Bodies – Lining
Reexamination Certificate
2000-09-08
2001-10-16
Pape, Joseph D. (Department: 3612)
Land vehicles: bodies and tops
Bodies
Lining
C052S396080
Reexamination Certificate
active
06302466
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a vibration-damping, heat-shielding vehicle trim
1
, together with a heat shield suitable therefor and a car body part suitable therefor.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The automobile industry is constantly striving to use space-saving and acoustically effective trims so as to be able not only to increase comfort in the passenger compartment, but also to reduce the noise level in the passenger compartment and the emission of noise to the outside. In particular, there is considerable interest in measures for the effective reduction of the noise pollution inside the vehicle caused inter alia by engine, exhaust or tyre noise.
Thus, for example, an adhesive insulation system is known from EP-A 0 253 376, in which a first covering is applied to the substrate, which covering carries a multi-ply insulating layer acting as an acoustic spring-mass system. A decoupling layer consisting of flexible, predominantly open-cell material is applied to this insulating layer or the heavy layer thereof, a carpet layer consisting of wear layer and underlay being attached in turn to said decoupling layer.
In addition, considerable importance is attached to the use of sound-absorbing heat shields. These are attached between vehicle components which become very hot, e.g. catalysts and/or exhaust pipes, and the vehicle floor, and reflect the heat irradiated by the catalysts and/or the exhaust pipes or insulate the floor from these hot vehicle components.
Heat shields known hitherto therefore consist substantially of a relatively thick formed sheet metal piece with a high heat reflection capacity, preferably of aluminium, to which a heat-absorbing insulating layer provided with a protective foil is applied. The insulating layer used generally consists of ceramic, rock or glass wool or foams or foil assemblies. Such heat shields are described in DE-U-87 00 919.6 or EP-0 439 432, for example.
A known heat shield with sound-absorbing effect is described in Utility Model DE-U-9107484.3, for example. This heat shield comprises a backing sheet of aluminium and includes an insulating layer consisting of a mesh of aluminium filaments. Additional layers within the insulating layer may consist of a foil perforated in the manner of expanded metal and are suitably pleated to form corrugations.
Such heat shields are currently used to reduce the noise level of vehicles. To this end, the heat shield backing sheet is at least partially perforated and the insulating assembly is of open-cell construction, in order to have a simultaneously sound-absorbing effect.
These heat shields are mounted in such a way that the absorbed heat may be dissipated by the air passing between shield and floor panel, i.e. they are spaced from the floor panel. These arrangements are self-supporting and require an extremely stable structure, in order to be able to withstand the considerable vibrations arising in vehicles. In addition, mounting of these heat shields is relatively complex. Such a heat shield is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,464,952, for example.
The present-day automobile industry endeavours in general to produce trims which are lighter and lower in cost than existing trims while retaining at least the same technical functionality.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is therefore the object of the present invention to provide vehicle trim which exhibits the desired functionality of known internal and external vehicle trim but is lighter, less bulky and lower in cost.
In particular, it is intended to provide vehicle trim which has a vibration-damping, heat-shielding and sound-insulating effect and is lighter, less bulky and lower in cost than conventional components.
This object is achieved according to the invention by a vehicle trim ,together with a heat shield and a car body part, and in particular by a vibration-damping, heat-shielding vehicle trim, in which a clampable heat shield backing sheet is clamped against the underside of an arched bodywork part. The insulating assembly of the heat shield may act as a spring between car body part and backing sheet.
The vehicle trim according to the invention is essentially used for arched bodywork parts, in particular in the tunnel along the vehicle floor, and comprises an acoustically effective heat shield. According to the invention, this heat shield is clamped against the car body part in such a way that the vibrations of the car body part are damped by this heat shield. In a preferred embodiment, this heat shield comprises a 0.5 mm thick backing layer of aluminium, a 9 mm thick, resilient insulating assembly of a known type, for example of NOMEX®, and a thin top layer, in particular a 0.05 mm thick aluminium foil. This heat shield is preferably attached to the car body part by clamps or clamping bars, but may also be fixed with other conventional fastening means, for example screws or clips. This attachment ensures that the backing sheet is clamped resiliently to the car body part. In this way, the resilient insulating assembly exhibits a vibration-damping effect between the backing sheet and the car body part, in relation both to the bodywork part and the backing sheet. In a preferred embodiment, the 9 mm thick insulating assembly is compressed to 6 mm. Use of a heat shield clamped on in this way allows the bituminous heavy layer conventionally used in relation to the internal trim to be omitted, or to be reduced in size to a considerable extent.
The advantages of the vehicle trim according to the invention are immediately apparent to the person skilled in sound-and the art. In particular, the direct mounting of the heat-insulating assembly (heat shield) results in vibration damping, which allows the vibration-damping heavy layer of the trim inside the vehicle to be dispensed with at least partially and thus the weight of this internal vehicle trim to be reduced considerably. The at least partial omission of a vibration-damping heavy layer in relation to the internal vehicle trim additionally results in a space-saving, i.e. thinner, construction thereof combined with at least identical acoustic efficiency.
In addition, mounting of the heat shield on the car body part, in accordance with the invention, allows the top layer of the heat shield to be completely omitted and thus further weight to be saved. A further cost saving may be achieved by the omission of special fastening elements, in particular spacers, and the simpler and thus also quicker mounting. In particular the heat shield backing sheet may be thinner, since the heat shield no longer has to be self-supporting and the wear phenomena caused by vibrations are absorbed by the resilient insulating assembly. This resilient construction thus simultaneously ensures that the entire heat shield has a longer service life. Through direct mounting of the heat shield on the underside of the floor panel, the distance between heat shield and heat source is additionally enlarged, which ensures that the heat shield is loaded with less thermal radiation. Furthermore, the sound absorption or sound insulation may be simply optimised by using a backing sheet having more or fewer perforations.
These and other objects, and features and advantages of the invention will be better understood by those skilled n the art by reference to the following detailed description taken together with the following drawings and the appended claims in which like numerals identify like components.
The invention is described in more detail below with reference to an exemplary embodiment and with the aid of the Figures, in which:
REFERENCES:
patent: 5464592 (1995-11-01), Shah et al.
patent: 38 21 468 A1 (1989-12-01), None
patent: 91 07 484.3 (1991-08-01), None
patent: 92 02 228.6 (1992-04-01), None
patent: 41 37 706 A1 (1993-05-01), None
patent: 0 881 423 A1 (1998-12-01), None
patent: 2 694 961 (1994-02-01), None
Berkowitz Marvin C.
Nath Gary M.
Nath & Associates PLLC
Pape Joseph D.
Patel Kiran B.
LandOfFree
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