Foamed steering wheel and method of manufacture

Abstract

The embodiment of the present specification provides a foamed steering wheel and a manufacturing method. The foamed steering wheel comprises a steering wheel framework, a foamed body and a functional pad. The foamed body is foamed and formed by being placed in a foaming mold by the steering wheel framework. The foamed body comprises a hub part, a spoke part and a handle part. The foamed body comprises a primary foamed body and a secondary foamed body. The primary foamed body forms the hub part and the spoke part, and forms a covering base surface in the handle part. The functional pad is covered on the covering base surface. The secondary foamed body is formed on a side of the functional pad away from the covering base surface, and forms a circumferential closed contour of the handle part or a circumferential closed contour of the handle part together with the primary foamed body. The steering wheel is formed by twice foaming. The hub part and the spoke part are formed by once foaming. Whether there is an appearance defect that cannot be repaired in an appearance area of the hub part can be directly detected. The waste of parts and production man-hours can be reduced. The part cost, the production cost and the production efficiency are saved and improved.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] This specification relates to the technical field of steering wheels, and in particular to a foam steering wheel and a manufacturing method thereof. Background Art

[0002] Currently, steering wheels with foam bottom covers that have heating or hand-off sensing functions will adopt a secondary foaming design structure to ensure the appearance of the product.

[0003] Conventional secondary foaming solution: First, the skeleton handle area is foamed once, then the functional pad is pasted on the primary foaming, and finally a secondary foaming is performed (the foaming area includes the steering wheel hub). In this solution, if the steering wheel hub (such as the hub bottom cover) has irreparable appearance defects during the final secondary foaming, it will result in a waste of parts and labor time. Summary of the Invention

[0004] In view of this, the embodiments of this specification provide a foam steering wheel and a manufacturing method. The steering wheel is formed by two foaming processes, and the hub and spoke parts are formed by one foaming process. It is possible to directly detect whether there are any appearance defects in the appearance area of ​​the hub that cannot be repaired, which can reduce the waste of parts and production hours, save parts costs, production costs and improve production efficiency.

[0005] The embodiment of this specification provides the following technical solution: a foam steering wheel, comprising a steering wheel frame, a foam body and a functional pad, wherein the foam body is formed by placing the steering wheel frame in a foaming mold and comprises a hub portion, a spoke portion and a handle portion.

[0006] The foam body includes a primary foam body and a secondary foam body. The primary foam body is used to shape the hub portion and the spoke portion, and forms a covering base surface on the handle ring portion. The functional pad is covered on the covering base surface. The secondary foam body is formed on the side of the functional pad away from the covering base surface to form a circumferential closed contour of the handle ring portion or to form a circumferential closed contour of the handle ring portion together with the primary foam body.

[0007] Preferably, the handle portion also includes a sealing step portion formed by the primary foam body and having a first radius, the second radius of the covering base surface is smaller than the first radius, and the sealing step portion and the foaming mold together form a molding cavity of the secondary foam body.

[0008] Preferably, the sealing step portion is arranged at the junction of the spoke portion and the handle ring portion, forming a continuous closed structure extending from the front side to the back side.

[0009] Preferably, the spoke portion includes at least two spokes symmetrically arranged about the hub portion, and the sealing step portion is provided in two groups, and the two groups of sealing step portions respectively span all the spokes on both sides of the hub portion.

[0010] Preferably, there are four spokes, including two main spokes and two secondary spokes, and the two main spokes are respectively distributed at the three o'clock and nine o'clock positions of the handle.

[0011] Preferably, the primary foam body also includes a slot formed at the junction of the hub portion and the spoke portion and a wire groove extending from the handle portion along the secondary spoke to the slot, the wiring harness of the functional pad is at least partially embedded in the wire groove, and the slot is used to plug in the wiring harness connector of the functional pad.

[0012] Preferably, the foam steering wheel also includes foam and leather, and the edge of the sealing step portion extends outward to form a limiting protrusion, and a groove for accommodating the foam is formed between the limiting protrusion and the secondary foam body. The foam is embedded in the groove, and the leather is covered on the outside of the foam and the limiting protrusion.

[0013] A method for manufacturing a foam steering wheel, the method being used to manufacture the foam steering wheel as described in any one of the above, comprising:

[0014] The steering wheel frame is foam-molded in a primary foaming mold to form a primary foam body, the primary foam body comprising a spoke portion, a handle portion and a hub portion, wherein the handle portion is formed with a covering base surface for bonding a functional pad;

[0015] Bonding the functional pad onto the covering base surface to obtain a steering wheel semi-assembly;

[0016] The steering wheel half assembly is foam-molded in a secondary foaming mold to form a secondary foam body.

[0017] Preferably, the primary foam body further comprises a sealing step portion formed at the junction of the spoke portion and the handle ring portion, and the sealing step portion and the secondary foaming mold together form a molding cavity of the secondary foam body.

[0018] Preferably, after the step of bonding the functional pad to the handle, the method further includes fixing the wiring harness of the functional pad to the spoke portion and fixing the wiring harness connector to the junction of the hub portion and the spoke portion.

[0019] Compared with the prior art, the at least one technical solution adopted in the embodiments of this specification can achieve the following beneficial effects:

[0020] The steering wheel is foamed twice. The first foaming process forms the hub and spoke parts. This allows direct inspection of the hub's exterior area for irreparable appearance defects, reduces waste of parts and production hours, saves parts costs, production costs, and improves production efficiency. At the same time, the first foaming process forms a covering base surface in the handle area, facilitating the bonding of functional pads. The second foaming process covers the functional pads, and simultaneously forms a circumferential closed contour of the handle. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0021] In order to more clearly illustrate the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present application, the following briefly introduces the drawings required for use in the embodiments. Obviously, the drawings described below are only some embodiments of the present application. For ordinary technicians in this field, other drawings can be obtained based on these drawings without any creative work.

[0022] Figure 1 This is a front view of the foam steering wheel provided by the present application after one foaming;

[0023] Figure 2 yes Figure 1 Cross-sectional view at AA in the middle;

[0024] Figure 3 This is a front view of the foam steering wheel provided by the present application after being covered with a functional pad;

[0025] Figure 4 yes Figure 3 Cross-sectional view at the middle BB;

[0026] Figure 5 This is a front view of the foam steering wheel provided by the present application after secondary foaming;

[0027] Figure 6 yes Figure 5 Cross-sectional view at CC;

[0028] Figure 7 Schematic diagram of the sealing step portion of the foam steering wheel provided by the present application;

[0029] Figure 8 yes Figure 5 The enlarged schematic diagram of point a in the middle;

[0030] Figure 9 yes Figure 8 Cross-sectional view at DD in the middle;

[0031] Figure 10 This is a rear view of the foam steering wheel provided by the present application after secondary foaming;

[0032] Figure 11 This is a schematic diagram of the foam steering wheel provided by the present application after being coated with foam;

[0033] Figure 12 This is a schematic diagram of the foam steering wheel provided by the present application after being covered with leather;

[0034] Figure 13 This is a schematic diagram of the foam steering wheel provided in this application after the decorative parts are installed.

[0035] In the figure, 1. steering wheel frame; 2. primary foam; 21. handle ring; 22. spoke; 221. main spoke; 222. secondary spoke; 23. hub; 24. sealing step; 25. covering base; 26. wire groove; 27. slot; 3. functional pad; 31. wiring harness; 32. wiring harness connector; 4. secondary foam; 5. secondary foam mold; 6. foam; 7. leather; 8. decorative parts. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0036] The embodiments of the present application are described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[0037] The following describes the embodiments of the present application through specific examples, and those skilled in the art can easily understand other advantages and effects of the present application from the contents disclosed in this specification. Obviously, the described embodiments are only a part of the embodiments of the present application, rather than all the embodiments. The present application can also be implemented or applied through other different specific embodiments, and the details in this specification can also be modified or changed in various ways based on different viewpoints and applications without departing from the spirit of the present application. It should be noted that, in the absence of conflict, the features in the following embodiments and embodiments can be combined with each other. Based on the embodiments in the present application, all other embodiments obtained by those of ordinary skill in the art without making creative work are within the scope of protection of this application.

[0038] It should be noted that various aspects of the embodiments within the scope of the appended claims are described below. It should be apparent that the aspects described herein can be embodied in a wide variety of forms, and any specific structure and / or function described herein is merely illustrative. Based on this application, it should be understood by those skilled in the art that an aspect described herein can be implemented independently of any other aspect, and two or more of these aspects can be combined in various ways. For example, any number and aspect described herein can be used to implement an apparatus and / or practice a method. In addition, other structures and / or functionalities other than one or more of the aspects described herein can be used to implement this apparatus and / or practice this method.

[0039] It is also need to be explained that the figures provided in the following embodiments only schematically illustrate the basic ideas of the present application, and only the components related to the present application are shown in the figures, not the number, shape and size of the components when actually implemented, and the shape, number and ratio of the components when actually implemented can be arbitrarily changed, and the layout of the components can be more complex.

[0040] In addition, in the following description, specific details are provided to facilitate a thorough understanding of the examples. However, one skilled in the relevant art will understand that the described aspects can be practiced without these specific details.

[0041] In the prior art, the general technical idea in the technical field of steering wheel formed by secondary foaming is as follows:

[0042] First, the skeleton performs primary foaming on the area of the rim, second, pastes the functional pad on the primary foaming, and finally performs secondary foaming (the foaming area includes the steering wheel hub). However, if the steering wheel hub (such as the hub cover part) has an appearance defect that cannot be repaired when the secondary foaming is performed, it will result in waste of parts and working hours, and the scheme needs a wire harness protection sleeve to fix the wire harness of the functional pad, which requires a large space.

[0043] The inventor has designed a foaming steering wheel and a manufacturing method through extensive and in-depth experiments.

[0044] More specifically, the solution adopted by the present application includes: using a method contrary to the above general technical idea, primary foaming is used to form the hub part and the spoke part, which can directly detect whether there is an appearance defect that cannot be repaired in the appearance area of the hub part, thereby reducing the waste of parts and production time, saving the cost of parts, production cost and improving production efficiency, at the same time, the insertion slot of the wire harness insertion connector for inserting the functional pad is formed in the hub part during primary foaming, without the need for wire harness protection sleeve accessories, saving cost and space required for wire harness sealing material, meeting the customer's demand for smaller space modeling.

[0045] The technical solutions provided by the embodiments of the present application are described below in conjunction with the drawings.

[0046] As shown in Figures 1-10 A foaming steering wheel includes a steering wheel skeleton 1, a foaming body and a functional pad 3, the foaming body is foamed and formed by placing the steering wheel skeleton 1 in a foaming mold, including a hub part 23, a spoke part 22 and a rim part 21,

[0047] The foaming body includes a primary foaming body 2 and a secondary foaming body 4, the primary foaming body 2 forms the hub portion 23 and the spoke portion 22, and forms a covering base 25 on the handle portion 21, the functional pad 3 is covered on the covering base 25, and the secondary foaming body 4 is formed on the side of the functional pad 3 away from the covering base 25 to form a circumferential closed contour of the handle portion 21 or to form the circumferential closed contour of the handle portion 21 together with the primary foaming body 2.

[0048] The hub portion 23, the spoke portion 22 and the handle portion 21 of the steering wheel are all formed by foaming, wherein the partial areas of the hub portion 23, the spoke portion 22 and the handle portion 21 are formed by primary foaming, the hub portion 23 is directly formed by primary foaming and does not need to be formed by secondary foaming, the covering base 25 for placing the functional pad 3 is formed on the partial area of the handle portion 21 by primary foaming, the functional pad 3 can be covered on the covering base 25, the wire harness 31 of the functional pad 3 can be pulled to the hub portion 23 through the spoke portion 22, and a separate protective sleeve for fixing the wire harness 31 of the functional pad 3 is not needed, the handle portion 21 is foamed by secondary foaming, the functional pad 3 is covered by the secondary foaming body 4 formed by secondary foaming, so that the functional pad 3 is between the covering base 25 and the secondary foaming body 4, and the handle portion 21 of the steering wheel is improved to form a circumferential closed contour of the handle portion 21.

[0049] It should be noted that since the hub portion 23 is directly formed by primary foaming, if an appearance defect that cannot be repaired is found in the appearance area of the hub portion 23, the primary foaming body 2 can be directly discarded, and subsequent processes are not needed, thereby reducing the waste of parts and production time, saving part cost, production cost and improving production efficiency.

[0050] As shown in FIG. 1, Figures 3-7 In some embodiments, the handle portion 21 further includes a sealing step portion 24 formed by the primary foaming body 2 and having a first radius, the covering base 25 has a second radius smaller than the first radius, the sealing step portion 24 and the foaming mold jointly form a forming cavity of the secondary foaming body 4, the sealing step portion 24 having the first radius is formed on the handle portion 21 by primary foaming, the second radius of the covering base 25 is smaller than the first radius, the functional pad 3 is bonded on the covering base 25, the outer periphery of the sealing step portion 24 is still higher than the outer surface of the functional pad 3, the part of the sealing step portion 24 higher than the functional pad 3 cooperates with the foaming mold to form the forming cavity of the secondary foaming body 4, the secondary foaming body 4 fills the area between the sealing step portions 24, thereby forming a circumferential closed contour of the handle portion 21, and the functional pad 3 is between the primary foaming body 2 and the secondary foaming body 4.

[0051] As shown in FIG. 1, Figure 3 ,Figure 5 and Figure 10 As shown, in some embodiments, the sealing step portion 24 is arranged at the junction of the spoke portion 22 and the handle ring portion 21, forming a continuous closed structure extending from the front to the back. The sealing step is a continuous closed structure, which is located at the junction of the spoke portion 22 and the handle ring portion 21. During the secondary foaming, the area of ​​the sealing step away from the spoke portion 22 is improved to form a complete handle ring structure.

[0052] It should be noted that the junction between the spoke portion 22 and the handle ring portion 21 is generally the portion that the driver often holds. By forming a sealing step portion 24 in this area, the functional pad 3 can be concentrated in this area, ensuring the practicality of the installation position of the functional pad 3.

[0053] like Figure 6 As shown, it should also be noted that during secondary foaming, an interference structure is formed between the secondary foaming mold 5 and the sealing step 24, and the width of the sealing step 24 is greater than the width of the interference structure. In this embodiment, the width of the sealing step 24 is 4mm, and the secondary foaming mold 5 and the sealing step 24 form an interference structure with a width of 3mm and a height of 0.5mm. The remaining 1mm of the sealing step 24 does not cooperate with the secondary foaming mold 5, which can absorb the poor sealing caused by the tolerance between individual products. Through the foaming and sealing of the material using this structure, the final product is free of step marks caused by the sealing structure, and has no effect on the appearance of the steering wheel.

[0054] like Figure 5 As shown, in some embodiments, the spoke portion 22 includes at least two spokes symmetrically arranged about the hub portion 23, and two groups of sealing step portions 24 are provided. The two groups of sealing step portions 24 respectively span all the spokes on both sides of the hub portion 23. By providing at least one spoke on the left and right sides of the hub portion 23, sealing adjustment portions are formed on the left and right sides of the handle portion 21 by foaming at one time, and the sealing step portions 24 on the left and right sides respectively span all the spokes on the left and right sides of the hub portion 23, so that all the spokes are at least partially in the continuous closed structure formed by the sealing steps.

[0055] like Figure 5 and Figures 8-9As shown in some embodiments, the spokes are provided with four, the four spokes include two main spokes 221 and two auxiliary spokes 222, two main spokes 221 are respectively distributed at the three o'clock and nine o'clock positions of the handlebar portion 21, by providing two main spokes 221 and two auxiliary spokes 222, two main spokes 221 are at the three o'clock and nine o'clock positions of the conventional handlebar portion 21, the physical keys of the steering wheel can be installed on the main spokes 221, the positions of the two auxiliary spokes 222 can be set according to the actual situation, as long as the wire harness 31 of the traction function pad 3 can reach the hub.

[0056] It should be noted that in the present embodiment, the two auxiliary spokes 222 are respectively at the positions of about five o'clock and seven o'clock of the handlebar portion 21, so as to facilitate the extension of the two wire harnesses 31 of the function pad 3 to the hub portion 23 through the auxiliary spokes 222. In other embodiments, the two auxiliary spokes 222 can also be respectively at the positions of about one o'clock and eleven o'clock of the handlebar portion 21, which can be set according to the actual situation.

[0057] As shown in some embodiments, Figure 5 and Figures 8-9 As shown in some embodiments, the one-time foaming body 2 further includes a slot 27 formed at the junction of the hub portion 23 and the spoke portion 22, and a wire slot 26 extending from the handlebar portion 21 along the auxiliary spoke 222 to the slot 27, the wire harness 31 of the function pad 3 is at least partially embedded in the wire slot 26, the slot 27 is used for inserting the wire harness connector 32 of the function pad 3, during the one-time foaming process, the slot 27 is directly formed at the junction of the hub portion 23 and the spoke portion 22, before the secondary foaming, the wire harness connector 32 of the function pad 3 can be inserted into the slot 27, at the same time, during the one-time foaming process, the wire slot 26 is directly formed on the auxiliary spoke 222, the wire harness 31 of the function pad 3 can be embedded in the wire slot 26, without the need for additional protective sleeve, saving cost and space required for wire harness 31 sealing, meeting the needs of customers for smaller space modeling.

[0058] As shown in some embodiments, Figures 11-13 As shown in some embodiments, the foaming steering wheel further includes a foam 6 and a leather 7, the edge of the sealing step portion 24 extends outward to form a limiting protrusion, a type groove for accommodating the foam 6 is formed between the limiting protrusion and the secondary foaming body 4, the foam 6 is embedded in the type groove, and the leather 7 covers the outside of the foam 6 and the limiting protrusion. The edge area of the sealing step portion 24 extends in the direction away from the steering wheel skeleton 1 to form a limiting protrusion, the foam 6 is accommodated in the type groove formed between the limiting protrusion and the secondary foaming body 4, the foam 6 is pasted on the handlebar portion 21 area of the secondary foaming body, and the outer end of the foam 6 is fitted with the limiting protrusion. The foam 6 can increase the softness of the handlebar portion 21 area and improve the hand feeling required by customers.

[0059] Referring to Figures 1-13 Based on the same inventive concept, the embodiment of the present specification provides a foamed steering wheel manufacturing method for manufacturing the foamed steering wheel as claimed in any one of the above, comprising:

[0060] The steering wheel skeleton 1 is foamed in a primary foaming mold to form a primary foamed body 2, which comprises a spoke portion 22, a grip portion 21 and a hub portion 23, and the grip portion 21 is formed with a cladding base 25 for bonding the functional pad 3;

[0061] The functional pad 3 is bonded on the cladding base 25 to obtain a steering wheel semi-assembly;

[0062] The steering wheel semi-assembly is foamed in a secondary foaming mold 5 to form a secondary foamed body 4.

[0063] In the implementation, the foamed steering wheel is obtained by twice foaming. When the steering wheel skeleton 1 is placed in the primary foaming mold for primary foaming, the hub portion 23, the spoke portion 22 and part of the grip portion 21 are directly foamed to form a slot 27 at the junction of the hub portion 23 and the spoke portion 22, a line groove 26 on the spoke portion 22, and a cladding base 25 on part of the grip portion 21. The functional pad 3 is bonded on the cladding base 25 by using adhesive or double-sided adhesive tape, etc. to obtain a steering wheel semi-assembly. The steering wheel semi-assembly is placed in the secondary foaming mold 5 for secondary foaming of the grip portion 21. The secondary foamed body 4 is bonded with the outer surface of the functional pad 3. After the secondary foaming, a circumferential closed contour of the grip portion 21 is formed. The foam 6 is bonded on the grip area of the secondary foamed body 4 to improve the holding feeling of the driver. The leather 7 is sleeved on the outside of the grip portion 21 to protect the grip portion 21. The decorative part 8 and other parts are assembled on the steering wheel after the leather 7 is sleeved to obtain a steering wheel assembly.

[0064] In some embodiments, the primary foamed body 2 further comprises a sealing step portion 24 formed at the junction of the spoke portion 22 and the grip portion 21. The sealing step portion 24 and the secondary foaming mold 5 jointly form a forming cavity of the secondary foamed body 4. The sealing step portion 24 is formed at the junction of the spoke portion 22 and the grip portion 21 during the primary foaming. The sealing step portion 24 and the secondary mold cooperate to form the forming cavity of the secondary foamed body 4 during the secondary foaming. The secondary foamed body 4 is formed in the forming cavity to fill the area between the sealing step portions 24, thereby forming a circumferential closed contour of the grip portion 21.

[0065] In some embodiments, after the step of bonding the functional pad 3 on the ring, the step also includes fixing the wiring harness 31 of the functional pad 3 to the spoke portion 22 and fixing the wiring harness connector 32 to the junction of the hub portion 23 and the spoke portion 22. During the first foaming, a slot 27 is formed at the junction of the hub portion 23 and the spoke portion 22, and a wire groove 26 is formed on the spoke portion 22. When the functional pad 3 is pasted, the wiring harness 31 of the functional pad 3 can be embedded in the wire groove 26, and the wiring harness connector 32 can be inserted into the slot 27 to fix the wiring harness 31 and the wiring harness connector 32 of the functional pad 3.

[0066] The same or similar parts between the various embodiments in this specification can be referred to in conjunction with each other, and each embodiment focuses on the differences from other embodiments. In particular, for the method embodiments described later, since they correspond to the system, the description is relatively simple, and the relevant parts can be referred to the partial description of the system embodiment.

[0067] The above description is merely a specific embodiment of the present application, but the scope of protection of the present application is not limited thereto. Any changes or substitutions that can be easily conceived by a person skilled in the art within the technical scope disclosed in the present application should be included in the scope of protection of the present application. Therefore, the scope of protection of the present application should be based on the scope of protection of the claims.

Claims

1. A foam steering wheel, comprising a steering wheel frame, a foam body and a functional pad, wherein the foam body is formed by placing the steering wheel frame in a foaming mold and comprises a hub portion, a spoke portion and a handle portion, characterized in that: The foam body includes a primary foam body and a secondary foam body, the primary foam body is used to shape the hub portion and the spoke portion, and forms a covering base surface on the handle portion, the functional pad is covered on the covering base surface, and the secondary foam body is formed on a side of the functional pad away from the covering base surface to form a circumferential closed contour of the handle portion or to form a circumferential closed contour of the handle portion together with the primary foam body; The handle portion further includes a sealing step portion formed by the primary foam and having a first radius, the second radius of the covering base surface is smaller than the first radius, and the sealing step portion and the foaming mold together form a molding cavity for the secondary foam; The sealing step portion is arranged at the junction of the spoke portion and the handle portion, forming a continuous closed structure extending from the front side to the back side; The foam steering wheel also includes foam and leather. The edge of the sealing step extends outward to form a limiting protrusion. A groove for accommodating the foam is formed between the limiting protrusion and the secondary foam body. The foam is embedded in the groove, and the leather is covered on the outside of the foam and the limiting protrusion.

2. The foam steering wheel according to claim 1, characterized in that: The spoke portion includes at least two spokes symmetrically arranged about the hub portion, and the sealing step portion is provided in two groups, and the two groups of sealing step portions respectively span all the spokes on both sides of the hub portion.

3. The foam steering wheel according to claim 2, characterized in that: There are four spokes, including two main spokes and two secondary spokes, and the two main spokes are respectively distributed at the three o'clock and nine o'clock positions of the handle.

4. The foam steering wheel according to claim 3, characterized in that: The primary foam body also includes a slot formed at the junction of the hub portion and the spoke portion and a wire groove extending from the handle portion along the secondary spoke to the slot. The wiring harness of the functional pad is at least partially embedded in the wire groove, and the slot is used to plug in the wiring harness connector of the functional pad.

5. A method for manufacturing a foam steering wheel, characterized in that: The manufacturing method is used to manufacture the foam steering wheel according to any one of claims 1 to 4, comprising: The steering wheel frame is foam-molded in a primary foaming mold to form a primary foam body, the primary foam body comprising a spoke portion, a handle portion and a hub portion, wherein the handle portion is formed with a covering base surface for bonding a functional pad; Bonding the functional pad onto the covering base surface to obtain a steering wheel semi-assembly; The steering wheel half assembly is foam-molded in a secondary foaming mold to form a secondary foam body.

6. The manufacturing method according to claim 5, characterized in that: The primary foam body further includes a sealing step portion formed at the junction of the spoke portion and the handle ring portion, and the sealing step portion and the secondary foaming mold together form a molding cavity of the secondary foam body.

7. The production method according to claim 6, characterized in that: After the step of bonding the functional pad to the handle, the method further includes fixing the wiring harness of the functional pad to the spoke portion and fixing the wiring harness connector to the junction of the hub portion and the spoke portion.

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