Interior Panel Insert Molding for Airbag Deployment Doors
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current methods for manufacturing interior panels with integrated airbag deployment doors in motor vehicles are costly due to the need for secondary operations like laser scoring, which increase investment and operating costs.
Innovation Solution
The method involves forming a frangible tear seam during the insert molding process by positioning an insert in a molding tool and solidifying molten plastic material around it, creating a quasi-knit line that serves as the airbag deployment door, eliminating the need for subsequent pre-weakening patterns.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of manufacture
If laser scoring or mechanical scoring is used to form pre-weakening patterns after molding, then the airbag deployment door can be formed, but manufacturing costs and operating costs increase significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines the formation of the airbag deployment door with the substrate molding process by using an insert molded into the substrate during injection molding. The insert creates a quasi-knit line that serves as the pre-weakening pattern, eliminating the need for separate laser scoring or mechanical scoring operations after molding.
Solution Approach 2:
The insert is positioned and molded into the substrate before the final molding is complete, creating the frangible tear seam (pre-weakening pattern) in advance during the molding process itself. This preliminary action eliminates the need for subsequent secondary operations to create the deployment door.
2Productivity
If secondary operations like laser scoring are performed after molding, then the airbag deployment door is created, but productivity decreases due to additional processing steps
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges the creation of the airbag deployment door with the substrate molding operation. By using an insert molded during the injection molding process, the deployment door is formed simultaneously with the substrate, eliminating separate secondary operations and reducing total manufacturing time.
Solution Approach 2:
The molding process continues uninterrupted to form both the substrate and the insert with the quasi-knit line in a single continuous operation. This eliminates idle time between molding and subsequent secondary operations, maintaining continuous productive action throughout the manufacturing process.
3Ease of manufacture
If an insert is molded into the substrate during the molding process, then the frangible tear seam is formed without secondary operations, but the device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the molding process into two distinct components: the substrate and the insert. The insert is a separate pre-formed component that is molded into the substrate during the injection molding process. This segmentation allows the complex frangible tear seam feature to be created by a simple insert rather than requiring complex molding cavity designs.
Solution Approach 2:
The insert acts as an intermediary element that facilitates the creation of the frangible tear seam. Rather than directly forming the complex tear seam pattern in the substrate, the insert serves as a mediating component whose presence during molding automatically creates the desired quasi-knit line and frangible tear seam through the molding process itself.
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 approach reduces manufacturing costs and improves efficiency by integrating the airbag deployment door directly into the substrate during the molding process, ensuring a clean deployment with minimal fragmentation.
Implementation Method 1
A molten plastic material is advanced and solidified in the molding tool to form a substrate section about the insert such that an insert quasi-knit line is formed along an interface between the insert and the substrate section
Data Source
AI summary
Interior panels having integrated airbag deployment doors for motor vehicles and methods for making such interior panels are provided. In one example, an interior panel for a motor vehicle includes a substrate. The substrate includes a substrate section and an insert. The insert is disposed in the substrate section such that a frangible tear seam is formed along an interface between the insert and the substrate section defining an integrated airbag deployment door in the substrate.