Vehicle Dashboard Backing Section Reinforcement for Knee Restraint
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional vehicle dashboards lack sufficient strength in the backing section to prevent deformation during frontal collisions, leading to inadequate restraint of passenger knee movement, as the reaction force is not efficiently transmitted to the knees, potentially allowing them to move forward.
Innovation Solution
A vehicle dashboard design featuring a glove box with a reinforcing bead on the backing section to enhance rigidity, combined with a load transmitting section between the backing section and the vehicle frame, which ensures the reaction force is effectively transmitted to the passenger's knees, thereby restraining forward movement.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Strength
If the backing section is made with conventional structure, then the device complexity is low, but the strength is insufficient during frontal collision
Solution Approach 1:
A reinforcing bead with a curved cross-section is formed on the backing section. The curved geometry of the reinforcing bead increases the moment of inertia of the backing section, thereby enhancing its bending strength and rigidity without adding significant structural complexity. The reinforcing bead extends in the vehicle width direction and has a curved cross-section when viewed from the vehicle front-rear direction, which efficiently resists deformation during frontal collision.
Solution Approach 2:
The physical parameters of the backing section are modified by adding a reinforcing bead that changes the geometric parameters (cross-sectional shape, moment of inertia) of the backing section. This parameter change increases the strength and rigidity of the backing section to prevent deformation during collision while maintaining a relatively simple overall structure.
2Reliability
If the backing section deforms during collision, then the device complexity remains low, but the reliability of restraining passenger knees deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The reinforcing bead with curved cross-section provides enhanced structural integrity to the backing section, ensuring it maintains its shape and does not deform during frontal collision. This reliable structural performance ensures that the reaction force is properly transmitted to restrain the passenger's knees, improving safety reliability without complex additional mechanisms.
Solution Approach 2:
The backing section incorporates a reinforcing bead that creates a composite structure combining the base material with the reinforcing feature. This composite structure enhances the overall strength and deformation resistance of the backing section, ensuring reliable knee restraint functionality during collision events.
3Strength
If the backing section is strengthened with complex structure, then the strength increases, but the ease of manufacture decreases
Solution Approach 1:
The reinforcing bead is formed with a curved cross-section that can be efficiently manufactured using standard molding techniques. The curved geometry is integrated into the backing section as a single molded part, avoiding the need for separate components or complex assembly processes. This approach maintains ease of manufacture while significantly enhancing the strength and rigidity of the backing section.
Solution Approach 2:
The reinforcing bead is merged with the backing section as an integrated structure, forming a single molded part. This integration eliminates the need for separate manufacturing and assembly steps for the reinforcing feature, maintaining ease of manufacture while achieving the required strength enhancement for collision safety.
4Stability of the object's composition
If the reinforcing bead is added to the backing section, then the rigidity is enhanced, but the weight of the dashboard increases
Solution Approach 1:
The reinforcing bead with curved cross-section increases the moment of inertia of the backing section, thereby enhancing rigidity. The curved geometry provides structural reinforcement that resists deformation during collision. The weight increase is minimal compared to the significant improvement in rigidity and collision resistance performance.
Solution Approach 2:
The geometric parameters of the backing section are changed by adding the reinforcing bead, which increases the moment of inertia and section modulus. This parameter change enhances rigidity with minimal material addition, resulting in negligible weight increase while achieving the required structural stability for safety performance.
Data Source
AI summary
A backing section is adjacently disposed in front, in a front-and-rear direction of the vehicle, of an upper portion of a door section of a glove box, and inhibits the door section from moving further forward from a position at a time of the glove box being in a closed state. A reinforcing bead for enhancing rigidity is formed on a contact surface of the backing section with the door section. When a vehicle comes into a frontal collision, and knees K of a passenger collide with the backing section, the backing section becomes difficult to deform. If the backing section does not deform, a reaction force from the backing section is transmitted to the knees K via the door section, and forward movement of the knees K is restrained.