Composite Skin-Foam-Carrier Airbag Flap Rupture Control
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Existing methods for producing composite skin-foam-carrier components for motor vehicles, such as instrument panel supports, face challenges in reliably creating material weaknesses for airbag flaps, as laser processing can damage the skin and cutter methods are difficult to guide precisely, leading to unpredictable rupture contours and potential particle flight during airbag deployment.
Innovation Solution
A method involving injection molding of a carrier with a raised groove-shaped contour along the tear line, where a tool is used to create uniform gaps in the contour, ensuring precise and reproducible material weakening, and an airbag hinge mesh is attached to maintain flap connection during deployment, preventing particle flight.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a laser is used to produce material weaknesses in the carrier and foam layer, then the airbag flap can be made to tear open, but the skin layer may be damaged
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the material weakening process by creating gaps only in the raised contour structure, not through the entire composite component. This segmentation allows the carrier to be weakened at the tear line while preserving the integrity of the skin layer, as the gaps are confined to the raised contour region that does not extend through the skin.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent applies local quality by creating material weaknesses specifically in the raised contour region of the carrier, rather than uniformly across the entire component. The gaps are localized to the tear line area within the raised contour, allowing controlled rupture where needed while maintaining strength and integrity in other areas, particularly protecting the skin layer from damage.
2Manufacturing precision
If a cutter is used to remove material along the tear line, then material weakening is achieved, but the process is difficult to guide precisely and may gouge off the foam layer
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies preliminary action by forming the raised contour with groove-shaped cross-section along the tear line during the injection molding process, before any material removal is performed. This pre-formed structure guides the subsequent gap creation process, ensuring precise tear line definition while simplifying the manufacturing step of creating material weaknesses, as the tool only needs to create gaps in the pre-defined raised contour rather than cutting along the tear line from scratch.
3Ease of manufacture
If material weaknesses are created without a raised contour structure, then the process is simpler, but the rupture contour is undefined and particle flight may occur
Solution Approach 1:
The patent uses preliminary action by forming the raised contour structure during injection molding before creating the gaps. This pre-formed raised contour with groove-shaped cross-section serves as a built-in guide for the tear line, ensuring precise rupture contour definition while maintaining process efficiency, as the contour is created in the molding step rather than requiring separate precision machining operations.
Solution Approach 2:
The raised contour acts as an intermediary structure between the carrier material and the gap creation process. It provides a defined geometric feature that guides the tear line and controls the rupture contour, while the gaps created in this raised contour serve as the actual material weaknesses. This intermediary structure ensures precise rupture definition without requiring complex direct cutting or perforation processes.
Data Source
AI summary
The present disclosure relates to a method of producing a composite skin-foam-carrier component for a motor vehicle, including the steps of injection-molding a carrier having one or more airbag flaps delimited by a hinge area and by a predefined tear line, wherein a raised contour with a groove-shaped cross-section is created along a segment of the tear line, producing a foam layer between a skin and the injection-molded carrier, producing gaps in the raised contour by guiding a tool over the raised contour after the production of the foam layer, and removing a portion of the raised contour. The present disclosure also relates to a composite skin-foam-carrier component for a motor vehicle.