Corrugated Composite Vehicle Shield for Impact Resistance
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional metal-based load-carrying structures in vehicles are heavy, reducing fuel efficiency, while composite materials lack the necessary robustness and impact resistance for long-term use in automotive applications.
Innovation Solution
The development of impact-resistant composite components with optimized corrugation designs, featuring elongate ridges and undulated surfaces, which distribute impact energy effectively and enhance stiffness and strength, using materials like carbon fiber-reinforced thermoplastic polymers.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Strength
If metal-based load-carrying structures are used, then strength and impact resistance are improved, but weight increases reducing fuel efficiency
Solution Approach 1:
The patent employs carbon fiber-reinforced thermoplastic polymer composite materials to create load-carrying structures that achieve metal-level strength and impact resistance while significantly reducing weight. The composite material combines the high strength-to-weight ratio of carbon fibers with the toughness and impact resistance of thermoplastic polymers, resolving the contradiction between strength and weight.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent incorporates corrugation designs with elongate ridges and undulated surfaces that distribute impact energy effectively. The curved and undulated geometric features enhance stiffness and strength while maintaining lightweight construction, allowing the composite structure to withstand impact forces comparable to metal structures without the associated weight penalty.
2Weight of moving object
If conventional composite materials are used, then weight is reduced improving fuel economy, but ductility and impact resistance decrease
Solution Approach 1:
The patent uses thermoplastic polymer matrices instead of conventional thermosetting resins, which provide enhanced ductility and impact resistance. The thermoplastic matrix allows for greater energy absorption during impact events while maintaining the lightweight advantage of composite materials, thus improving reliability without sacrificing weight benefits.
Solution Approach 2:
The corrugation design with elongate ridges and undulated surfaces creates geometric features that enhance the composite material's ability to withstand impact. The curved geometries distribute stress more effectively and prevent crack propagation, improving ductility and impact resistance while maintaining the lightweight composite construction.
Data Source
AI summary
Provided is a load-carrying or non-load carrying structural component for a vehicle having improved impact resistance, such as a gas tank protection shield, an underbody shield, a structural panel, an interior floor, a floor pan, a roof, an exterior surface, a storage area, a glove box, a console box, a trunk, a trunk floor, a truck bed, and combinations thereof. The component has a support structure with ridges, each spaced apart from one another at predetermined intervals, to form a corrugated surface capable of load-carrying. The ridges are longitudinally extending, raised ridges. The corrugated designs provide support structures that are impact resistant.