Vehicle Dashboard Crossmember with Fibrous Composite Reinforcing Brace
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing vehicle dashboard crossmembers are heavy, expensive to manufacture, and difficult to handle, with high weight contributing to increased fuel consumption and resonance issues due to vibration propagation.
Innovation Solution
A dashboard crossmember featuring a transverse bar with a supporting web and a fiber composite reinforcing spacer, manufactured using a process that includes forming a load-bearing web and a composite reinforcing spacer, which are assembled to create a lightweight yet rigid structure, reducing weight and improving mechanical properties.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Strength
If traditional metal tube crossmembers are used, then high strength and rigidity are achieved, but weight increases and fuel consumption worsens
Solution Approach 1:
The crossmember uses a composite structure combining a metal tube with a fibrous composite reinforcing back brace. The metal tube provides baseline strength while the fibrous composite material (e.g., carbon fiber, glass fiber reinforced polymer) adds reinforcement with lower density, achieving high strength-to-weight ratio and reducing overall crossmember weight compared to solid metal construction
Solution Approach 2:
The crossmember is divided into distinct functional components: a metal tube providing structural framework and a separate fibrous composite back brace providing reinforcement. This segmentation allows each material to be optimized for its specific function while minimizing overall weight
2Strength
If traditional metal tube crossmembers are used, then structural solidity is achieved, but manufacturing complexity and cost increase
Solution Approach 1:
The crossmember is manufactured as separate components (metal tube and fibrous composite back brace) that are assembled together. This segmentation allows each component to be manufactured using optimized processes for its material type, then joined through simplified connections rather than complex monolithic metal forming operations
Solution Approach 2:
The fibrous composite back brace can be manufactured using composite molding techniques that are increasingly cost-effective and scalable, offering an alternative to traditional metal stamping, cutting, and welding operations
3Strength
If traditional metal tube crossmembers are used, then structural support is achieved, but handling difficulty increases
Solution Approach 1:
The fibrous composite back brace material has inherently lower density than metal, reducing the overall weight of the crossmember while maintaining structural support capabilities, thereby improving handling ease during assembly operations
4Strength
If traditional metal tube crossmembers are used, then structural rigidity is achieved, but vibration resonance issues occur
Solution Approach 1:
The fibrous composite back brace has different elastic properties and damping characteristics compared to metal, which can help alter the natural frequencies of the crossmember structure. This reduces the likelihood of resonance with engine or body vibrations while the composite structure itself provides vibration damping
Solution Approach 2:
By changing the material parameters from homogeneous metal to a composite metal-fibrous composite structure, the structural rigidity is maintained or enhanced while the vibrational characteristics are modified to reduce resonance phenomena
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 results in a crossmember that is lighter, more robust, and easier to produce, with improved resistance to bending, torsion, and vibration, while reducing material and energy costs and simplifying tooling.
Implementation Method 1
a second part, distinct from the first, which forms a reinforcing spacer made of a fiber composite material comprising fibers arranged in a matrix, and which connects the first branch to the second branch
Data Source
AI summary
The invention relates to a vehicle dashboard crossmember (2) including a crossbar which extends lengthwise along a generatrix line (G) that is directed substantially along the width of the vehicle body and transversely relative to the direction of travel of said vehicle, as well as at least one connection flange (3, 4) designed to enable said crossbar (2) to be attached to said body, said crossbar (2) consisting, over at least a portion of the length thereof, of a load-bearing web (10) that has a side wall (11) rounded about said generatrix line (G) so as to have, in a cross-section perpendicular to the generatrix line, a first arm (12) and a second arm (13) that are connected to one another via a common connection portion (14) and which thus define a cavity (15), and of a reinforcing brace (20) made of a fibrous composite material.