Localized Fibrous Insert Carrier for Lightweight Structural Reinforcement
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Solution Overview
Problem
There is a need for alternative structural reinforcement carrier structures in the automotive industry that combine dissimilar materials compatible for joining without adhesives, provide weight savings, and offer localized reinforcement without additional structural features, while maintaining chemical and physical compatibility and a continuous interface.
Innovation Solution
A structural reinforcement system comprising a polymeric material with a consolidated fibrous insert having elongated fibers and an activatable material that expands to form an adhesive bond, allowing for localized reinforcement and integration with a polymeric carrier, which can be thermally activated to fill gaps and provide structural rigidity.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Strength
If a hybrid reinforcement structure with multiple materials is used, then structural reinforcement is improved, but the complexity of joining dissimilar materials increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent employs homogeneity by using compatible polymeric materials for both the carrier and fibrous insert, allowing them to be joined without adhesives through direct bonding. This resolves the contradiction by maintaining structural reinforcement while eliminating the complexity of joining dissimilar materials, as the compatible polymeric materials can be directly bonded together.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent uses composite materials by combining a polymeric carrier with a fibrous insert made of compatible polymeric material. This creates a hybrid structure that provides structural reinforcement while the compatibility of the polymeric materials allows for simplified joining without adhesives, resolving both the strength and complexity concerns.
2Strength
If metallic materials are used for reinforcement, then structural strength is improved, but weight increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent employs composite materials by combining a polymeric carrier with a fibrous insert, both made of polymeric material. This composite structure provides the necessary structural strength while maintaining weight savings, as polymeric materials are lighter than metallic alternatives. The fibrous insert reinforces the polymeric carrier without requiring heavy metallic components.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent applies parameter changes by selecting polymeric materials with appropriate mechanical properties to replace metallic materials. By changing the material parameter from metal to polymer while maintaining structural integrity through the fibrous insert design, the patent achieves both weight reduction and sufficient structural strength.
3Strength
If dissimilar materials are joined with adhesives, then bonding strength is improved, but the number of manufacturing steps increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent uses homogeneity by ensuring the carrier and fibrous insert are made of compatible polymeric materials that can bond directly without adhesives. This eliminates the need for additional adhesive application steps, reducing manufacturing complexity while maintaining bonding strength through the compatibility of the polymeric materials.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent extracts the adhesive from the joining process by using compatible polymeric materials that can bond directly to each other. This removes the intermediate adhesive layer and simplifies the manufacturing process, reducing the number of steps required while maintaining the bonding strength through direct material compatibility.
4Strength
If localized reinforcement is achieved through structural features like ribs, then strength at specific locations is improved, but the overall complexity of the carrier increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies local quality by placing the fibrous insert at specific locations within the carrier where localized reinforcement is needed. This allows strength to be enhanced at predetermined locations without adding complex structural features like ribs throughout the entire carrier, thus achieving localized strength while minimizing overall structural complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent uses segmentation by dividing the reinforcement function into a separate fibrous insert component that can be positioned at specific locations within the carrier. This segmented approach allows localized reinforcement at predetermined locations without requiring complex integrated structural features, simplifying the overall carrier design while providing targeted strength enhancement.
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 enables the creation of a unitary carrier structure with continuous surfaces, offering enhanced structural reinforcement and weight savings, with no visible knit lines or voids, and allows for the design of carriers with localized reinforcement regions, effectively addressing the need for improved structural reinforcement in automotive vehicles.
Implementation Method 1
the activatable material can be activated (e.g., by the heat from a coating bake oven), the activatable material can expand and bond to a surface defining the cavity
Implementation Method 2
upon being activated (e.g., by the heat from a coating bake oven), the activatable material can expand and bond to a surface defining the cavity
Data Source
AI summary
A structural reinforcement for an article including a carrier that includes: (i) a mass of polymeric material having an outer surface; and (is) at least one consolidated fibrous insert having an outer surface and including at least one elongated fiber arrangement having a plurality of ordered fibers arranged in a predetermined manner. The fibrous insert is envisioned to adjoin the mass of the polymeric material in a predetermined location for carrying a predetermined load that is subjected upon the predetermined location (thereby effectively providing localized reinforcement to that predetermined location). The fibrous insert and the mass of polymeric material are of compatible materials, structures or both, for allowing the fibrous insert to be at least partially joined to the mass of the polymeric material. Disposed upon at least a portion of the carrier will be a mass of activatable material.