Vehicle Hood Outer Panel Thickness Reduction via Bead Adhesive Support
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing vehicle hoods with outer panels and inner beads face challenges in reducing thickness while maintaining stiffness, as thinner outer panels compromise dent resistance and tension stiffness.
Innovation Solution
The vehicle hood design features a configuration where the adhesive components on the inner panel's beads support the outer panel, with a narrower gap between support parts than adhesive components, allowing for reduced thickness while maintaining stiffness, and using a specific index value for adhesive-component intervals to optimize cost and performance.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Weight of moving object
If the outer panel thickness is reduced to reduce weight, then weight is reduced, but stiffness (tension stiffness or dent resistance) is compromised
Solution Approach 1:
The inner panel is segmented into multiple beads distributed across the surface, with each bead providing localized support to the outer panel through adhesive components. This segmentation allows the outer panel to be thinner while maintaining overall stiffness, as the distributed bead structure provides multiple support points rather than relying on panel thickness alone.
Solution Approach 2:
The adhesive components are strategically positioned on the beads to provide localized support at specific points on the outer panel. This local quality enhancement means that stiffness is concentrated where needed (at the bead locations) rather than requiring uniform thickness across the entire panel, allowing weight reduction while maintaining required stiffness characteristics.
2Device complexity
If adhesive components are spaced farther apart to reduce manufacturing complexity, then device complexity is reduced, but stiffness of the outer panel is compromised
Solution Approach 1:
The patent optimizes the spacing parameter of adhesive components on each bead to a specific range (0.5 to 2.0 times the bead diameter). This parameter optimization ensures that the adhesive components are spaced far enough apart to simplify manufacturing while close enough to maintain sufficient support for the outer panel, balancing complexity and stiffness requirements.
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
This design effectively reduces the outer panel's thickness while achieving stiffness comparable to steel hoods, with tension stiffness values of 18 to 30 N/mm, and appropriate adhesive-component intervals to prevent cost increases, ensuring both strength and cost-effectiveness.
Implementation Method 1
a plurality of adhesive components (30) connecting the outer panel (10) to the inner panel (20)
Data Source
AI summary
Provided is a vehicle hood that allows a reduction in thickness of an outer panel while providing stiffness of the outer panel. A vehicle hood includes an outer panel, an inner panel, and a plurality of adhesive components. The inner panel has a plurality of beads. Each bead has a support part that supports each adhesive component. The adhesive components are provided on the support parts so as to be intermittently aligned along a specific direction. A support-part interval between the support parts adjacent to each other in an intersecting direction is smaller than an adhesive-component interval between the adhesive components adjacent to each other on the support parts.