Plastic Airbag Cover with Reinforcing Rib for Stability
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Solution Overview
Problem
The existing plastic cover elements for motor vehicle driver airbag modules face challenges in meeting visual and haptic demands, especially when covered with leather, due to geometric instability and cost considerations, particularly with soft plastic components.
Innovation Solution
A cover element with a reinforcing rib extending parallel to the screen section and a groove for the casing connection, allowing for a one-piece injection molding design that maintains geometric stability and visual quality, while avoiding sink marks through increased wall thickness in transition areas.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Manufacturing precision
If a soft plastic cover element is used to meet visual and haptic demands with leather casing, then visual and haptic quality is improved, but geometric stability deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies local quality by providing a reinforcing rib in specific critical areas (screen section and transition zones) while keeping other areas soft for visual and haptic quality. This localized reinforcement maintains geometric stability only where needed without compromising the overall soft plastic construction that provides aesthetic and tactile properties.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent creates a composite structure by integrating a reinforcing rib (stiffer material or thicker section) within the soft plastic cover element. This composite approach combines the geometric stability of reinforced areas with the visual and haptic qualities of soft plastic in other areas, resolving the contradiction between stability and aesthetic requirements.
2Stability of the object's composition
If a reinforcing rib is added to improve geometric stability, then stability is improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges the reinforcing rib with the cover element by forming it as an integral part of the same injection molding process. This combining of functions (structural reinforcement and aesthetic cover) into a single molded component avoids the need for separate reinforcement parts and assembly steps, thereby improving geometric stability without significantly increasing device complexity.
3Ease of manufacture
If the cover element is designed as a one-piece injection molding part, then manufacturing cost is reduced, but geometric stability deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent resolves this contradiction by implementing local quality through a reinforcing rib that is integrated into the one-piece injection molded cover element. This allows the majority of the cover to be produced as a simple, cost-effective single-piece mold, while specific localized areas receive enhanced reinforcement to ensure geometric stability, all within the same manufacturing process.
4Manufacturing precision
If wall thickness is increased in transition areas to avoid sink marks, then visual quality is improved, but manufacturing cost increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies local quality by selectively increasing wall thickness only in critical transition areas where sink marks would occur, rather than uniformly thickening the entire cover element. This localized approach prevents visual defects in high-visibility areas while minimizing additional material usage and manufacturing cost in less critical regions.
Data Source
AI summary
A plastic cover element (10) for a driver airbag module having a side wall (22) extending from a lower end (22a) to an upper end (22b), enclosing an interior space. The upper end (22b) is covered by an overlap (30) which extends in a radial direction across the side wall (22) and in an axial direction back toward the lower end (22a) of the side wall (22), forming a screen section (32) extending generally parallel to the side wall. The outside surface of the overlap has at least one groove (40) to receive the sewn edge of a casing. An axial section (44) of the groove (40) extends into the lower end area of the screen section (32) and in the area of this axial section (44) and at least one reinforcing rib extends parallel to it between the screen section (32) and the side wall (22).