A method for weakening leather dashboard using CO2 laser scanning

Abstract

The present invention relates to a method for weakening a leather instrument panel by scanning with a CO2 laser. The instrument panel, which includes an injection-molded skeleton layer, a softening layer, and a leather layer after leather overmolding, is installed on a weakening fixture. The designated weakening line is processed by scanning a CO2 laser in a "circular punching" manner. By changing the speed, focal length, and power parameter combination, and lowering the temperature of the parts, the ablation effect of the CO2 laser on the leather is reduced, and the three-layer material is weakened at one time. The surface state of the leather instrument panel weakened by the method of the present invention is good, and it can pass various environmental tests; it has high safety performance and can pass the airbag explosion test; because the three-layer material is weakened at one time, the working hours are only one-third of the existing weakening process.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The invention relates to the technical field of weakening a leather instrument panel, and in particular to a method for weakening a leather instrument panel by using CO2 laser scanning. Background Art

[0002] With the demand for luxury car interiors, more and more car dashboards are made of leather. To ensure the safety of the co-pilot, an airbag must be installed on the co-pilot side of the dashboard, and the corresponding parts of the dashboard need to be "weakened" to guide the airbag to deploy smoothly. For non-leather dashboards, laser weakening or cold knife weakening processes are generally used, but because leather is rich in protein fibers, laser weakening will cause significant "burning" phenomenon, and cold knife weakening is easy to break, so special processes must be used for processing.

[0003] Industry status: Leather weakening processes currently include the following methods: 1) explicit sewing thread weakening 2) vibration knife weakening 3) needle puncture weakening 4) cold light source laser weakening. However, these weakening processes also have many problems. Explicit sewing thread weakening causes the airbag outline to be exposed and the aesthetics are insufficient; vibration knife weakening and needle puncture weakening will show obvious surface marks after thermal aging tests; cold light source weakening has good appearance quality, but the unit price of the equipment exceeds 10 million yuan, and the processing cost is high. In addition, the four existing weakening processes all have a common disadvantage: the multiple layers of the instrument panel need to be weakened separately, and each layer needs a weakening process, which takes a long time.

[0004] A search of patents and papers did not reveal any information on the use of scanning CO2 lasers to weaken leather dashboards. Summary of the invention

[0005] The technical problem to be solved by the present invention is to overcome the above-mentioned problems existing in the prior art and provide a method for weakening a leather instrument panel using scanning laser CO2.

[0006] It should be noted that, in this article, relational terms such as first and second, etc. are only used to distinguish one entity or operation from another entity or operation, and do not necessarily require or imply any such actual relationship or order between these entities or operations. Moreover, the terms "include", "comprise" or any other variants thereof are intended to cover non-exclusive inclusion, so that a process, method, article or device including a series of elements includes not only those elements, but also other elements not explicitly listed, or also includes elements inherent to such process, method, article or device.

[0007] In order to solve the above technical problems, the present invention is implemented by adopting the following technical solutions:

[0008] A method for weakening a leather instrument panel by using CO2 laser scanning, characterized in that a designated weakening line is processed by using a scanning CO2 laser in a "circular punching" manner.

[0009] Further, the designated weakening line is located on the instrument panel after the leather overmolding.

[0010] Furthermore, the dashboard after leather overmolding comprises an injection-molded skeleton layer, a softening layer, and a leather layer.

[0011] Further, the leather overmolded instrument panel is mounted on the weakened fixture.

[0012] Furthermore, the speed of "circular drilling" using the scanning CO2 laser is set to 50-300 mm / s, and the speed is changed by changing the galvanometer speed.

[0013] Preferably, the speed of "circular drilling" using scanning CO2 laser is set to 100-150 mm / s.

[0014] Furthermore, the parameter combination of focal length and power of "circular drilling" using scanning CO2 laser is: large pulse P1 = 40%, focal length -1 mm; small pulse P2 = 12%, focal length = -5 mm.

[0015] Further, the temperature of the parts is lowered and the temperature is set to: 0 ~ 20 °C.

[0016] Furthermore, the leather-covered instrument panel is a leather instrument panel including a middle layer of polyurethane foam.

[0017] Furthermore, the leather-covered instrument panel is a leather instrument panel including a middle layer which is a 3D mesh.

[0018] Compared with the prior art, the present invention has the following beneficial effects:

[0019] The surface condition of the leather instrument panel weakened by the method of the present invention is good and can pass various environmental tests; the safety performance is high and can pass the airbag explosion test; the investment is medium and the equipment price is slightly low; because the three layers of material are weakened at one time, the working hours are only one-third of the existing weakening process. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0020] The present invention will be further described below in conjunction with the accompanying drawings:

[0021] Figure 1 Schematic diagram of a method for weakening a leather dashboard by using CO2 laser scanning according to the present invention Figure 1 .

[0022] Figure 2 Schematic diagram of a method for weakening a leather dashboard by using CO2 laser scanning according to the present invention Figure 2 .

[0023] Figure 3 Schematic diagram of pulse punching. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0024] In order to make the purpose, technical scheme and advantages of the implementation of the present invention clearer, the technical scheme in the embodiment of the present invention will be described in more detail below in conjunction with the drawings in the embodiment of the present invention. In the drawings, the same or similar reference numerals throughout represent the same or similar elements or elements with the same or similar functions. The described embodiments are part of the embodiments of the present invention, not all of the embodiments. The embodiments described below with reference to the drawings are exemplary and are intended to be used to explain the present invention, and should not be construed as limitations on the present invention. Based on the embodiments in the present invention, all other embodiments obtained by ordinary technicians in this field without making creative work are within the scope of protection of the present invention. The embodiments of the present invention are described in detail below in conjunction with the drawings.

[0025] In the description of the present invention, it should be understood that the terms "center", "longitudinal", "lateral", "front", "back", "left", "right", "vertical", "horizontal", "top", "bottom", "inside", "outside" and the like indicate orientations or positional relationships based on the orientations or positional relationships shown in the accompanying drawings, and are only for the convenience of describing the present invention and simplifying the description, rather than indicating or implying that the device or element referred to must have a specific orientation, be constructed and operated in a specific orientation, and therefore should not be understood as limiting the scope of protection of the present invention.

[0026] The present invention is described in detail below in conjunction with the accompanying drawings:

[0027] The present invention has developed a method for weakening a leather instrument panel using a scanning CO2 laser. The instrument panel (generally comprising an injection-molded skeleton layer, a softening layer, and a leather layer) after leather overmolding is mounted on a weakening fixture, and then a scanning CO2 laser is used to process the designated weakening line by a "circular punching" method. By changing the speed, focal length, and power parameter combination, and lowering the temperature of the parts, the ablation effect of the CO2 laser on the leather is reduced, and the three layers of material are weakened at one time.

[0028] In the field of automotive dashboards, "laser weakening" = "laser drilling", that is, it is "weakened" by "punching" holes on the back of the dashboard. The number of holes generally ranges from 500 to 3,000, and each hole requires several laser pulses to complete. The meaning of cyclic drilling is: each hole is punched with one pulse in turn, and after a "circulation", the second, third, and so on pulses are punched for each hole until the processing is completed. This "cyclic drilling" method is called "scanning"; in contrast, there is also a "continuous drilling" working method, in which several pulses for each hole are punched continuously, and the next hole is processed after the first hole is completed.

[0029] "CO2" is the light source of the laser, "scanning" is the working mode of the laser, and the direct working medium is the "laser pulse" emitted by the CO2 laser.

[0030] There are many types of laser generators, such as fiber laser, excimer laser, ruby ​​laser, CO2 (carbon dioxide) laser, etc. CO2 laser refers to the type of laser generator, which is generally used for cutting plastic parts.

[0031] The application scope of the present invention is: leather-covered instrument panels, including leather instrument panels whose middle layer is polyurethane foam, leather instrument panels whose middle layer is 3D mesh, and leather instrument panels without middle layers.

[0032] The materials of the softening layer include PU (polyurethane) foam, PP back foam, PVC back foam, 3D mesh, etc.

[0033] 3D mesh is the abbreviation of 3D warp knitted fabric, which is a three-dimensional structured textile with the advantages of breathability, high elasticity and low density.

[0034] “Leather dashboard without middle layer” means that the invention is also applicable to dashboard without softening layer (only skeleton layer + leather layer).

[0035] Example 1

[0036] See also Figure 1 , Figure 2 , a method of using CO2 laser scanning to weaken the leather dashboard, using the scanning CO2 laser to process the designated weakening line through the "circular punching" method.

[0037] The leather overmolded instrument panel is mounted on weakened clamps.

[0038] The designated weakening line is located on the instrument panel behind the leather overmoulding.

[0039] The leather-covered instrument panel is a leather instrument panel including a middle layer of polyurethane foam.

[0040] See also Figure 3 The dashboard after leather overmolding includes an injection-molded skeleton layer, a softening layer, and a leather layer.

[0041] The speed of "circular drilling" using scanning CO2 laser is set to 50mm / s, and the speed is changed by changing the galvanometer speed.

[0042] The parameter combination of focal length and power of "circular drilling" using scanning CO2 laser is: large pulse P1 = 40%, focal length -1mm; small pulse P2 = 12%, focal length = -5mm.

[0043] Lower the temperature of the parts and set the temperature to: 0℃.

[0044] Example 2

[0045] The leather-covered instrument panel is a leather instrument panel including a middle layer which is a 3D mesh.

[0046] The speed of "circular drilling" using scanning CO2 laser is set to 100mm / s, and the speed is changed by changing the galvanometer speed.

[0047] The parameter combination of focal length and power of "circular drilling" using scanning CO2 laser is: large pulse P1 = 40%, focal length -1mm; small pulse P2 = 12%, focal length = -5mm.

[0048] Lower the temperature of the parts and set the temperature to: 20℃.

[0049] Example 3

[0050] The leather overmolded instrument panel is mounted on weakened clamps.

[0051] The designated weakening line is located on the instrument panel behind the leather overmoulding.

[0052] The dashboard after leather overmolding is a dashboard without a softening layer (only skeleton layer + leather layer).

[0053] The speed of "circular drilling" using scanning CO2 laser was set to 150mm / s.

[0054] The parameter combination of focal length and power of "circular drilling" using scanning CO2 laser is: large pulse P1 = 40%, focal length -1mm; small pulse P2 = 12%, focal length = -5mm.

[0055] Lower the temperature of the parts, the temperature setting is: 10℃.

[0056] The above is only a specific implementation of the present invention, but the protection scope of the present invention is not limited thereto. Any modification, equivalent replacement and improvement made by any person skilled in the art within the technical scope disclosed by the present invention and within the spirit and principle of the present invention shall be covered within the protection scope of the present invention. At the same time, the contents not described in detail in this specification belong to the prior art known to those skilled in the art.

Claims

1. A method for weakening a leather instrument panel using CO2 laser scanning, characterized in that: Use scanning CO2 laser to process the designated weakening line through "circular drilling"; The speed of "circular drilling" using scanning CO2 laser is set to 50-300 mm / s. The speed can be changed by: changing the galvanometer speed; The parameter combination of focal length and power of "circular drilling" using scanning CO2 laser is: large pulse P1 = 40%, focal length -1mm; small pulse P2 = 12%, focal length = -5mm; Lower the temperature of the parts and set the temperature to: 0~20℃.

2. The method for weakening a leather instrument panel by using CO2 laser scanning according to claim 1, characterized in that: The designated weakening line is located on the instrument panel behind the leather overmoulding.

3. The method for weakening a leather instrument panel by using CO2 laser scanning according to claim 2, characterized in that: The dashboard after leather overmolding includes an injection-molded skeleton layer, a softening layer, and a leather layer.

4. The method for weakening a leather instrument panel by using CO2 laser scanning according to claim 1, characterized in that: The leather-overmolded instrument panel is mounted on weakened clamps.

5. The method for weakening a leather instrument panel by using CO2 laser scanning according to claim 1, characterized in that: The speed of "circular drilling" using scanning CO2 laser is set to 100-150 mm / s.

6. The method of weakening a leather instrument panel by using CO2 laser scanning according to claim 1, characterized in that: The leather-covered instrument panel is a leather instrument panel including a middle layer of polyurethane foam.

7. The method for weakening a leather instrument panel by using CO2 laser scanning according to claim 1, characterized in that: The leather-covered instrument panel is a leather instrument panel including a middle layer which is a 3D mesh.

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