Fiber Reinforced Plastic Bumper Beam with Ribbed C-Section
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current bumper beams for vehicles face challenges in achieving a balance between weight reduction and maintaining mechanical strength and rigidity, especially in regions without stringent low-speed collision tests, leading to limitations in deformation minimization and economic viability.
Innovation Solution
A bumper beam design featuring a C-shaped beam main body made of fiber-reinforced plastic with horizontal, vertical, and inclined rib portions, and stay portions with specific structural features, including a hollow interior and H-type section side surfaces, optimized with continuous fibers and thermoplastic resin compositions for enhanced mechanical properties and weight efficiency.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Weight of moving object
If the bumper beam is made of fiber reinforced plastic to reduce weight, then weight reduction is achieved, but mechanical strength and rigidity may be compromised
Solution Approach 1:
The bumper beam employs fiber reinforced plastic composite material, combining organic fibers (glass, carbon, or plant-based) with polymer matrices to create a material that achieves high strength-to-weight ratio, resolving the contradiction between weight reduction and mechanical strength enhancement
Solution Approach 2:
The beam main body is divided into multiple functional zones including rib portions (first, second, and third ribs) with different thicknesses and orientations, allowing optimized material distribution that enhances structural strength while minimizing overall weight
2Device complexity
If the bumper beam structure is simplified for weight reduction, then manufacturing cost decreases, but deformation resistance during impact is reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The bumper beam structure is segmented into multiple functional components including beam main body, stay portions, and three distinct rib portions with specific thickness variations, creating a complex geometry that enhances deformation resistance while maintaining manufacturing feasibility through integrated molding
Solution Approach 2:
Different regions of the bumper beam are designed with locally optimized properties: the first rib portion has greater thickness for high-stress areas, while other regions use thinner sections, achieving reliable deformation resistance without excessive overall complexity
3Strength
If thicker beam sections are used to prevent cracking during collision, then mechanical strength is improved, but weight increases
Solution Approach 1:
The beam main body incorporates a first rib portion with thickness greater than the second and third rib portions, concentrating material only where highest stress occurs during collision, thereby achieving crack resistance without uniform weight increase across the entire beam
Solution Approach 2:
The use of fiber reinforced plastic provides high strength-to-weight ratio, allowing the first rib portion to achieve superior crack resistance through localized thickening while the overall weight remains controlled through the inherent lightness of the composite material
Data Source
AI summary
A bumper beam for a vehicle is attached to a front or rear portion of the vehicle, includes a beam main body having a front surface opposite to a surface to be attached to the vehicle, the front surface being curved outwardly, and the beam main body having a C-shaped section opened outwardly toward the front surface, and stay portions formed on both sides of the beam main body, each of the stay portions having an opening at a rear surface thereof. The beam main body includes a fiber reinforced plastic.