Vehicle Door Insert-Moulded Frame Nodes for Stronger Tube Joints
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Solution Overview
Problem
The automotive industry faces challenges in achieving reliable and cost-effective endurance strength connections between metal tubes and plastics-material components in vehicle doors, requiring complex and costly process steps, and existing methods for producing doors or tailgates often involve separately welded reinforcement frames and adhesive bonding.
Innovation Solution
A vehicle door design featuring connection nodes produced by insert-moulding, where metal tubes with recesses are plugged into inserts, allowing for a torsionally rigid connection, and the support part is simultaneously injection-moulded with the connection nodes, utilizing an injection-moulding procedure to form a sleeve-shape connection that creates undercuts for secure linking.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Strength
If metal tubes are connected to plastics-material components using traditional methods (welding or adhesive bonding), then connection strength can be achieved, but the process becomes complex and cost-intensive
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines the connection of metal tubes to plastics-material components with the injection-moulding process itself. The metal tubes are inserted into the mould before injection, and the plastics material flows around them during moulding, creating an integrated connection that eliminates separate welding or adhesive bonding steps while maintaining connection strength
Solution Approach 2:
The metal tubes are pre-positioned and inserted into the injection-moulding tool before the actual injection process. This preliminary placement ensures proper alignment and positioning, allowing the plastics material to form accurate connection geometries during injection without requiring complex post-processing or additional connection steps
2Strength
If special geometry is implemented in metal tubes to ensure reliable force transmission, then connection strength improves, but additional cost-intensive process steps are required
Solution Approach 1:
The patent changes the geometric parameters of the metal tubes through the injection-moulding process itself. The plastics material flows around the metal tubes and creates integrated connection geometries with optimized shapes for force transmission. This approach achieves the necessary geometric complexity at low cost since the geometry is formed during the standard injection-moulding process rather than requiring separate machining or forming operations
3Strength
If reinforcement frames are separately welded and then joined by adhesive bonding, then structural strength is achieved, but production time and process complexity increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges multiple operations into a single injection-moulding process. The reinforcement frames (metal tubes) are positioned in the mould, and the plastics-material support parts are injection-moulded around them in one step. This simultaneously achieves structural strength through integrated connections and eliminates the need for separate welding and adhesive bonding operations, significantly improving production efficiency
Solution Approach 2:
The patent creates composite structures by integrating metal tubes with plastics-material components through injection-moulding. The resulting hybrid structure combines the strength properties of both materials while forming them into a unified assembly during the moulding process, eliminating the need for separate joining operations and reducing production complexity
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 simplifies the reinforcement of frame structures and production of plastics-material support parts, enabling a strong and cost-effective connection between metal and plastics components, facilitating various connection types and enhancing the structural integrity of vehicle doors.
Implementation Method 1
the connection nodes are able to be produced by insert-moulding, wherein the support part of the same plastics material is simultaneously linked to the connection node
Implementation Method 2
The vehicle door according to the invention can be produced by an injection-moulding procedure, wherein the plastics-material components of the support part as well as of the connection nodes are simultaneously injection-moulded
Implementation Method 3
the metal tube when insert-moulding collapses in the direction toward the insert
Implementation Method 4
the metal tube in the connection region has a shape which is adapted to the shape-imparting component
Data Source
AI summary
The invention relates to a vehicle door which comprises at least one support part of plastics material and at least two frame parts, wherein the frame parts are connected to one another by way of connection nodes, wherein the connection nodes are able to be produced by insert-moulding, wherein the support part of the same plastics material is simultaneously linked to the connection node.