Injection Molded Cladding Element With Integrated Heating Foil
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing injection molding methods for motor vehicle paneling elements with heating foils face challenges in protecting the foils from environmental influences and ensuring uniform heating while maintaining a visually acceptable surface finish, as the foils either require complex protection or become visible when integrated into the cladding element.
Innovation Solution
An injection molding process that uses a molding tool with a recess for a heating foil or plastic foil, allowing for a material connection with the thermoplastic material, enabling a tight and bubble-free integration, and allowing the same mold to produce variants with or without local heating, thus eliminating the need for additional sealing measures and ensuring consistent quality.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If the heating foil is arranged on the rear side of the cladding element by means of an adhesive layer, then the heating foil can be applied to the cladding element, but the heating foil itself has to be protected against environmental influences such as water or dust in a complex manner and air-filled cavities can form within the adhesive layer
Solution Approach 1:
The heating foil is integrated directly into the wall thickness of the cladding element during injection molding, merging the heating function with the structural component. This eliminates the need for separate adhesive layers and protection structures, as the heating foil becomes an inherent part of the cladding element's wall structure.
Solution Approach 2:
The heating foil is nested within the wall thickness of the cladding element, placing it inside a recess that is filled with injection molding material. This nesting approach protects the heating foil from environmental influences while maintaining a compact and integrated structure without requiring additional protection layers.
2Reliability
If the heating foil is integrated directly into the wall thickness of the cladding element, then the heating foil is protected from environmental influences, but the heating foil is visible on the surface of the injection-molded cladding element
Solution Approach 1:
The heating foil is nested within a recess in the mold wall, and the injection molding material is injected to fill the cavity and cover the heating foil. This nesting approach ensures the heating foil is completely enclosed within the wall thickness, protecting it from environmental influences while preventing any visibility on the surface.
Solution Approach 2:
The heating foil is placed in the recess before the injection molding process begins. This preliminary placement ensures the heating foil is correctly positioned and fully covered by the incoming molten plastic material, preventing any surface visibility while maintaining protection from environmental influences.
3Ease of manufacture
If the heating foil is integrated into the wall thickness, then the production can be simplified, but material accumulation or thickening forms in the recess area which becomes apparent on the visible side
Solution Approach 1:
The mold wall contains a localized recess specifically designed to accommodate the heating foil. This local modification allows the heating foil to be integrated into the wall thickness without causing general material accumulation, as the recess provides a dedicated space that maintains uniform wall thickness in the final product.
Solution Approach 2:
The heating foil is nested within a precisely defined recess in the mold wall. The recess dimensions are designed to match the heating foil thickness, ensuring the foil is fully enclosed without creating material accumulation or thickening that would be visible on the surface of the cladding element.
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 method provides effective protection against environmental influences, ensures uniform heating, and maintains a visually acceptable surface by integrating the heating foil within the cladding element without visible signs of material accumulation, enhancing the sealing and thermal efficiency of the heating system.
Implementation Method 1
The plasticized thermoplastic material provided with thermal energy and injected into the cavity, which forms the cladding element after solidification, leads to the introduction of the same thermal energy to melting of the first plastic material of the first layer of the heating foil
Implementation Method 2
The injected plasticized thermoplastic material can then bond directly to the heating layer (possibly by means of an adhesion promoter layer applied thereto) or to one or more sections of the first layer that are not overlapped by the heating layer
Data Source
Figure 1
Figure 2
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AI summary
The invention relates to an injection molding method for producing an injection-molded cladding element for a motor vehicle, which, variant-induced, can be provided with local heating. The invention further relates to a cladding element having a heating foil, and to an array comprising a cladding element and an element emitting and/or receiving an electromagnetic radiation.