Foam Panel Fixation via Fir-Tree Mechanical Interlock
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing panel fixation methods in vehicles and aircraft, using expanded polypropylene or polystyrene foam panels with hooks and loops, fail to provide durable attachment under extreme temperatures and humidity conditions, leading to detachment issues.
Innovation Solution
A panel assembly featuring a thermoplastic foam panel with agglomerated balls and hooks/loops, incorporating a fir-tree shaped intermediate element with branches that sandwich the foam balls for secure fixation, eliminating the need for gluing or soldering, ensuring long-term attachment.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If gluing or soldering is used to fix the panel to the vehicle surface, then the panel can be attached, but the fixation deteriorates under extreme temperatures and humidity, leading to detachment
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces chemical bonding methods (gluing, soldering) with a purely mechanical fixation system. The intermediate element features a fir-tree shaped piece with branches that sandwich foam balls, creating a mechanical interlocking mechanism that physically secures the panel to the vehicle surface without relying on adhesives or thermal bonding that deteriorate under extreme conditions.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces an intermediate element as a mediator between the panel and the vehicle surface. This intermediate element comprises a plate with hooks/loops on one face and a fir-tree shaped piece on the other face, serving as a transition component that provides reliable mechanical connection while isolating the panel from direct exposure to temperature and humidity effects.
2Ease of manufacture
If hooks and loops are fixed by gluing or soldering to the panel, then fixation is achieved, but the fixation resists extreme temperature and humidity conditions poorly
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces chemical bonding methods (gluing, soldering) with a purely mechanical fixation system. The intermediate element features a fir-tree shaped piece with branches that sandwich foam balls, creating a mechanical interlocking mechanism that physically secures the panel to the vehicle surface without relying on adhesives or thermal bonding that deteriorate under extreme conditions.
3Reliability
If a mechanical fixation system with fir-tree piece is used, then resistance to temperature and humidity is improved, but the device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges multiple functions into a single intermediate element. The plate provides mounting surface and structural support, while the fir-tree shaped piece integrated into the plate combines the anchoring function (through branches sandwiching foam balls) and the connection function (through hooks/loops on the opposite face), eliminating the need for separate components and reducing overall system complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
The intermediate element serves multiple functions simultaneously: it provides structural support through the plate, creates mechanical interlocking through the fir-tree piece, enables attachment to the vehicle surface through hooks and loops, and facilitates panel replacement. This multi-functionality reduces the need for additional components despite the enhanced reliability requirements.
Data Source
AI summary
A panel-forming assembly which is intended to be fixed to a surface of a vehicle or an aircraft, for example the floor of the trunk or a surface of the hatch of the spare-wheel compartment, and comprising, on the one hand, a panel of foam of expanded thermoplastic material, in particular expanded polypropylene or expanded polystyrene, which is constituted of an agglomeration of balls made of thermoplastic material and, on the other hand, hooks and/or loops issuing from the panel and intended to cooperate with loops and/or hooks issuing from the said one surface of a vehicle, characterized in that the assembly comprises an intermediate element (4) comprising a plate (5) from a face of which project the hooks (6) and/or the loops issuing from the panel that cooperate with the loops and/or the hooks (3) issuing from the surface of the vehicle, while from a face opposite the said one face of the plate there projects at least one piece (7) in the form of a fir tree comprising elements in the form of fir-tree branches (9) defining between them intermediate spaces or interstices (d), which piece is inserted into the panel (2).