Hybrid Support Frame for Thermally Stable Vehicle Lighting
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Solution Overview
Problem
Vehicle lighting devices using thermoplastic materials suffer from high thermal expansion coefficients leading to undesirable light distortion and limited design freedom, while metallic die-cast components restrict geometry options.
Innovation Solution
A support frame with a sandwich structure of metallic sheet members and plastic joints, providing a hybrid component with low thermal distortion, high mechanical rigidity, and flexible geometry, allowing integration into the vehicle body for stable light module positioning.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of manufacture
If thermoplastic materials are used for support frames and housings, then design freedom and ease of manufacture are improved, but thermal expansion causes light distortion and dimensional instability
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies composite materials by combining metallic sheet members (aluminum or steel) with plastic components to create a hybrid support frame. The metallic sheets provide low thermal expansion and high dimensional stability, while the plastic components enable complex geometries and integration. This composite structure resolves the contradiction by achieving both manufacturing flexibility and thermal stability that neither material could provide alone.
2Manufacturing precision
If metallic die-cast components are used for support frames, then thermal expansion and dimensional stability are improved, but design freedom and geometry flexibility are restricted
Solution Approach 1:
The support frame is segmented into distinct metallic sheet members that can be independently formed and assembled. This segmentation allows each metal sheet to be manufactured with precise dimensional control while maintaining overall design flexibility through the modular assembly approach, resolving the contradiction between stability and design freedom.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent uses thin metallic sheet members instead of rigid die-cast components. These thin sheets can be bent, formed, and shaped into complex geometries while maintaining dimensional stability, thereby providing design freedom comparable to plastics while retaining the thermal advantages of metal.
3Ease of manufacture
If monolithic support frames made of fibre-reinforced plastics are used, then ease of manufacture is improved, but installation space and structural rigidity are increased
Solution Approach 1:
The support frame transitions from a monolithic three-dimensional plastic structure to a layered two-dimensional metallic sheet construction. This dimensional change allows the frame to achieve the required structural rigidity with reduced volume and installation space, while the layered assembly approach maintains manufacturing ease.
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
Ensures dimensionally stable and high-precision lighting functionality by absorbing forces and maintaining precise positioning of light modules relative to the vehicle body, while offering design flexibility and reduced installation space.
Implementation Method 1
These materials have disadvantageously high thermal expansion coefficients, which can lead to undesirable impairments of the generated light impression during temperature changes
Data Source
Figure 1a~1c
Figure 1d
Figure 2a~2b
AI summary
The invention relates to a support frame (10) for components (20, 30) of a vehicle lighting device (100), especially for a housing (20) or for a light module (30). According to the invention the support frame (10) features a sandwich structure of at least two metallic sheet members (1, 2) in parallel arrangement and at least one intermediate plastic joint member (3), which features form-locking joints with the sheet members (1, 2).