3D-Printed Ventilation Nozzle Air Guide With Integrated Light Guide
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Existing air guide elements for ventilation nozzles in motor vehicles are complex to produce and prone to errors due to their design, which includes movement between light-guiding elements.
Innovation Solution
The air guide element is designed as a single-piece component using multi-component 3D printing, with a transparent core serving as a light guide and surface features printed from transparent, semi-transparent, and opaque materials to simplify production and expand design possibilities.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Illumination intensity
If movement between two light-guiding elements is provided to illuminate the air guide element, then the air guide element can be illuminated, but the device becomes relatively complex to produce and relatively prone to errors
Solution Approach 1:
The patent integrates the light guide function directly into the air guide element by printing light-guiding material onto the air guide fins themselves, merging the illumination function with the air guiding structure. This eliminates the need for separate moving light-guiding elements and their complex assembly, thereby reducing production complexity while maintaining illumination capability.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent extracts the light guide function from separate moving components and integrates it directly onto the air guide fins through printing. This extraction and integration of the illumination function into the main structure eliminates the complex movement mechanisms between separate light-guiding elements, simplifying the overall device while preserving the illumination effect.
2Ease of manufacture
If the air guide element is produced as a single piece using multi-component 3D printing, then production is simplified and errors are reduced, but advanced illumination and color schemes require multiple material types
Solution Approach 1:
The patent employs multi-component 3D printing technology that utilizes different material properties (transparent, semi-transparent, and opaque materials) within a single printed component. This allows the air guide element to have varying light transmission characteristics in different regions, enabling complex illumination patterns and color schemes while maintaining single-piece construction and production simplicity.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent applies different material types (transparent, semi-transparent, opaque) to specific regions of the air guide element based on local functional requirements. This local differentiation of material properties enables precise control over illumination and color in different areas of the air guide fins, achieving design flexibility without compromising the single-piece manufacturing advantage.
3Adaptability or versatility
If transparent, semi-transparent, and opaque materials are printed onto the core, then design possibilities are expanded, but the manufacturing process becomes more complex
Solution Approach 1:
The patent utilizes a multi-component 3D printing system that can deposit multiple material types (transparent, semi-transparent, opaque) in a single integrated manufacturing process. This universal printing capability allows the same manufacturing system to produce complex multi-material structures without requiring separate assembly steps, thereby expanding design possibilities while keeping the manufacturing process relatively simple.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
This approach simplifies production, reduces errors, and expands design possibilities by allowing for flexible illumination and color schemes, while also providing efficient and attractive lighting solutions for the vehicle interior.
Implementation Method 1
The main body and the air guiding fins, and thus the entire air guide element with the exception of the lighting device, are produced as single piece by means of multi-component 3D printing... the main body of the air guide element according to the invention has a transparent core... The printing of the surface and/or of the air guiding fins or their surfaces partially from transparent and partially from opaque material then makes it extremely easy and efficient to realize the desired design, for example to place luminous air guiding fins on a non-luminous surface of the main body or vice versa.
Implementation Method 2
the air guide element is provided with a lighting device... the lighting device injects light into the arms and/or the hollow space from the side facing away from the acute angle
Data Source
AI summary
An air guide element for a ventilation nozzle in a motor vehicle includes a main body at least partially enclosing the cross-section of the ventilation nozzle and on which air guiding fins are arranged. The air guide element also includes a lighting device. The main body and the air guiding fins are produced as a single piece by multi-component 3D printing. The main body has a transparent core. Portions of the surface of the main body and the air guiding fins are printed onto the core at least partially from a semi-transparent material and at least partially from an opaque material.