Overmolded Wheel Balancing Weight Clip Design
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Existing wheel-balancing weights made of steel face issues such as corrosion, difficulty in shaping for a precise fit, aesthetic concerns, and the need for a lead-free alternative that can be effectively covered with plastic without complex and costly tooling, while maintaining a secure and gap-free fit with the wheel.
Innovation Solution
An undercutless overmolded wheel-balancing weight design using a mold that prevents polymer injection around the wheel-securing clip, allowing for easy extraction and a polymer distribution that follows the shape of the clip for a tight junction, reducing the thickness of the overmolding material in these areas to prevent undercuts and ensure a secure fit.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Object-affected harmful factors
If steel is used for wheel-balancing weights to replace lead, then environmental friendliness is improved, but corrosion resistance deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent uses a composite structure combining steel core with polymer overmolding. The steel provides the necessary weight and structural integrity while the polymer coating protects against corrosion. This composite approach allows replacing lead with environmentally friendly materials while maintaining durability through the protective polymer layer.
2Strength
If steel is used for wheel-balancing weights, then weight and strength are improved, but ease of shaping deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The manufacturing process is segmented into two distinct stages: first forming the steel core with basic shaping, then separately overmolding the polymer coating. This segmentation allows the steel core to be manufactured using conventional high-strength processes while the polymer layer is applied subsequently to achieve the final precise geometry and fit, thereby maintaining strength while improving ease of shaping.
3Shape
If plastic overmolding is applied to steel wheel-balancing weights, then aesthetic appearance is improved, but manufacturing complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The steel core is pre-formed with the basic geometry and mounting features before the polymer overmolding is applied. This preliminary action allows the complex polymer shaping to focus only on the cosmetic and protective aspects, rather than having to form both structural and aesthetic features in a single complex mold, thereby reducing overall manufacturing complexity.
4Reliability
If plastic overmolding is applied to steel wheel-balancing weights, then corrosion resistance is improved, but gap formation deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent employs parameter changes in the polymer material properties and molding process to ensure the polymer flows into all gaps and crevices of the steel core, creating a seamless composite structure. By controlling viscosity, temperature, and pressure parameters during overmolding, the process achieves complete encapsulation of the steel core without gaps, thereby maintaining both corrosion resistance and precise fit.
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
The solution provides a cost-effective, aesthetically pleasing, and corrosion-resistant polymer-overmolded wheel-balancing weight with a secure fit to the wheel, preventing water and dirt ingress and simplifying the manufacturing process by avoiding complex molds and undercuts.
Implementation Method 1
Covering the wheel-balancing weights with plastic could be an advantageous alternative
Implementation Method 2
molding plastic over the wheel-balancing weight
Data Source
AI summary
A polymer overmolded wheel-balancing weight adapted to be removably secured to a wheel to correct an unbalanced wheel to prevent undesired vibrations when the wheel is rotating, the polymer overmolded wheel-balancing weight with a wheel-securing clip sized and designed to be secured to a wheel, and a weight assembled to the wheel-securing clip and at least partially covered with overmolding polymer material that is sized and designed to abuts the wheel-securing clip on a wheel side at a first location thereof, and abuts the wheel-securing clip on a side opposed to the wheel side at a second location thereof, the first location being distinct from the second location. A kit of wheel-balancing weight and a wheel with an overmolded wheel-balancing weight are also encompassed by the present application.