Automated Painted Vehicle Panel Skin Manufacturing
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current methods for manufacturing vehicle body panel skins and panels are inefficient, costly, and fail to maintain a soft and luxurious look and feel, particularly when incorporating air bags, which often result in vinyl tearing during air bag deployment.
Innovation Solution
An automated system and method involving a mold transfer process along a loop-shaped guide path, with stations for painting, spraying curable polyurethane elastomer, and curing, allowing for efficient use of equipment and space while ensuring uniform thickness and adhesion, using a program-controlled manipulator and transport mechanism to control the flow and application of materials.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If vinyl skin is molded with reduced cross section thickness at tear seam location, then air bag deployment is enabled, but vinyl skin integrity is compromised and luxurious look and feel is lost
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies local quality by creating a tear seam through localized thinning of the vinyl skin at specific positions where tear lines are desired. This is achieved by positioning mold surfaces to create reduced thickness zones, allowing the vinyl to tear cleanly during air bag deployment while maintaining full thickness and strength in other areas to preserve luxurious appearance and feel.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent employs preliminary action by pre-forming the tear seam structure during the vinyl molding process itself, rather than adding separate components. The mold surfaces are positioned to create the thinning effect in advance, so that when air bag deployment occurs, the vinyl naturally tears along the predetermined line without requiring additional mechanisms.
2Productivity
If automated painting and spraying systems are implemented, then manufacturing efficiency and throughput are improved, but equipment complexity and factory space requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges multiple functions into integrated automated systems. The painting system and spraying system are combined into a single automated workflow where a program-controlled manipulator performs both painting and spraying operations sequentially on the mold. This integration improves throughput while managing complexity through coordinated automation rather than separate manual operations.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent employs dynamics by using a program-controlled manipulator that can dynamically adjust its position, movement speed, and material application rate. The system adapts the spraying and painting processes in real-time based on pre-programmed parameters, allowing flexible optimization of throughput without requiring complex manual intervention for each operation.
3Manufacturing precision
If polyurethane elastomer is sprayed on vertical mold surfaces, then complete surface coverage is achieved, but material runs and non-uniform thickness occur
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies equipotentiality by positioning the mold surface horizontally during the polyurethane elastomer spraying operation. This eliminates the gravitational effect that causes material runs on vertical surfaces, creating an equipotential condition where the material distributes uniformly across the surface without running downward, ensuring consistent thickness and complete coverage.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent changes the orientation parameter of the mold surface from vertical to horizontal during the spraying process. This parameter change fundamentally alters how the polyurethane elastomer behaves on the surface, preventing runs and ensuring uniform thickness by eliminating gravitational flow, while still achieving complete surface coverage through the horizontal positioning.
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 system achieves high throughput with a luxurious look and feel, efficiently utilizing factory space and effectively exhausting fumes, while maintaining the integrity of the vinyl skin during air bag deployment.
Implementation Method 1
spraying curable polyurethane elastomer on the painted surface at a spray station within the dispensing area. The method still further includes, after the step of spraying and while the polyurethane elastomer is uncured, transferring the mold with the paint and the uncured polyurethane elastomer from the spray station to at least one accumulator station in a curing area to allow the polyurethane elastomer to completely cure
Data Source
AI summary
An automated method and system for making painted vehicle body panel skins and vehicle body panels, such as instrument panels, are provided wherein throughput and equipment utilization are greatly improved at a relatively low cost. The method includes transferring a mold having a mold surface from an entrance station to a paint station within a dispensing area. The method further includes applying paint on the mold surface to form a layer of paint on the mold surface at the paint station. The method still further includes spraying curable polyurethane elastomer on the painted surface at a spray station within the dispensing area. The paint and spray stations may be coincident. The method still further includes, after the step of spraying and while the polyurethane elastomer is uncured, transferring the mold with the paint and the uncured polyurethane elastomer from the spray station to at least one accumulator station in a curing area to allow the polyurethane elastomer to completely cure in the mold and form the skin.