Foamed Steering Wheel Skeleton Segmentation for Mold Sealing
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Solution Overview
Problem
The existing manufacturing process for vehicle steering wheels with foamed components faces challenges in achieving reliable sealing, particularly at foam edges where lines for data transmission and power supply are located, due to complex and costly process technology.
Innovation Solution
A steering wheel design featuring a steering wheel skeleton and skeleton cover that form a substantially closed peripheral wall projection, allowing for easy and reliable contact with a foam mold, with channel walls that are largely foam-free inside, ensuring a simple and effective seal through a sharp-edged free edge that engages with the foam mold.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If skeletal foaming is used with foam edges where lines run for data transmission and power supply, then operating units can be integrated into the steering wheel, but reliable sealing between foam mold and steering wheel skeleton becomes complex and expensive
Solution Approach 1:
The steering wheel skeleton is segmented into a first skeletal element and a second skeletal element that are separable. The first element forms a foam edge with a sealing surface, while the second element contains the operating unit. This segmentation allows the foam mold to seal against the first element without interfering with lines connected to the second element, thus integrating operating units while simplifying sealing.
Solution Approach 2:
The operating unit is extracted from the main skeleton structure and placed in a separate second skeletal element. This extraction removes the operating unit and its associated lines from the foam edging area, allowing the foam mold to seal cleanly against the first skeletal element without complexity from embedded lines.
2Reliability
If conventional foaming processes are used with complex sealing requirements, then sealing reliability can be maintained, but manufacturing cost and process complexity increase
Solution Approach 1:
By segmenting the skeleton into two elements where only the first forms a foam edge, the sealing surface is simplified to a clean geometry without embedded lines. This maintains sealing reliability through a dedicated sealing surface while greatly simplifying the manufacturing process and reducing costs.
Solution Approach 2:
The first skeletal element acts as an intermediary between the foam mold and the second skeletal element containing the operating unit. It provides a clean sealing surface for the foam mold while the lines pass through or alongside it to reach the second element, mediating between sealing requirements and operating unit integration.
Data Source
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AI summary
The invention relates to a foamed steering wheel for a motor vehicle and relates to a particularly advantageous way of manufacturing such a steering wheel. According to the invention, the foam cladding adjoins, in the region of the foam edge, a skeleton projection on the steering wheel skeleton and a covering projection on the skeleton covering, with the skeleton projection and the covering projection directly adjoining one another and together forming a substantially closed peripheral wall projection for contacting a foaming mould.