Lightweight Composite Thermoplastic Sheets for Automotive Seat Backs
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Solution Overview
Problem
Traditional vehicle seat back systems are heavy due to dense steel or bulky blow-molded plastics, making them inefficient for meeting tougher automotive fuel economy standards, which require weight reduction without compromising strength.
Innovation Solution
A multi-layered fiber reinforced thermoplastic sheet with a permeable core and bi-directionally oriented reinforcing skins, allowing for lightweight, strong, and easily moldable automotive interior structural components, such as seat backs, using a low-pressure thermoforming process.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Strength
If steel stamping is used to manufacture seat backs, then strength is improved, but weight increases significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The patent uses composite materials consisting of a porous core layer made from fiber reinforced thermoplastic material combined with reinforcing skins. This composite structure provides the necessary strength while significantly reducing weight compared to solid steel stamping, directly resolving the contradiction between strength and weight.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent employs a porous core layer with controlled porosity to reduce material density and weight while maintaining structural integrity through the fiber reinforcement and bonding with reinforcing skins, thereby achieving weight reduction without sacrificing strength.
2Weight of moving object
If blow molded plastic is used for seat backs, then weight is reduced, but volume increases making the component bulky
Solution Approach 1:
The porous core layer provides weight reduction while the controlled porosity allows for compact packaging. The fiber reinforcement and skin layers provide structural support that enables a more compact form factor compared to traditional blow molded plastics, resolving both weight and volume concerns.
Solution Approach 2:
The composite structure with reinforcing skins bonded to the porous core provides enhanced structural efficiency, allowing the seat back to be both lightweight and compact, eliminating the bulkiness associated with traditional blow molded plastic solutions.
3Manufacturing precision
If steel stamping dies are used for manufacturing, then production precision is improved, but manufacturing cost increases due to capital investment
Solution Approach 1:
The patent changes the material parameters by using thermoplastic fiber reinforced composites that can be formed using lower-cost molding processes. These materials can be molded with adequate precision using aluminum or composite tooling instead of expensive steel stamping dies, reducing capital investment while maintaining acceptable manufacturing precision.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention replaces expensive, long-lived steel stamping dies with more affordable molding tools. The thermoplastic composite material allows for cost-effective tooling that can be used for production without requiring the same level of capital investment as steel stamping infrastructure.
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
The solution reduces vehicle weight by up to 60% compared to steel designs while maintaining strength, enabling reduced packaging space and improved leg room/storage space in vehicles.
Implementation Method 1
The core layer includes a plurality of reinforcing fibers bonded together with a thermoplastic resin
Implementation Method 2
molding the multi-layered fiber reinforced sheet into a predetermined shape
Data Source
AI summary
A multi-layered fiber reinforced sheet for automotive vehicle interior structural components includes, in an exemplary embodiment, a permeable fiber reinforced thermoplastic core layer having a first surface and a second surface. The core layer includes a plurality of reinforcing fibers bonded together with a thermoplastic resin, and has a density of about 0.1 gm/cc to about 1.8 gm/cc. The multi-layered fiber reinforced sheet also includes at least one first reinforcing skin applied to the first surface of the core layer, and at least one second reinforcing skin applied to the second surface of the core layer. Each first and second reinforcing skin includes a matrix of reinforcing fibers and a thermoplastic resin wherein the matrix of reinforcing fibers applied to the first surface are arranged in a bi-directional orientation and the matrix of reinforcing fibers applied to the second surface are arranged in a bi-directional orientation.