DE102018201906A1 - Method and device for producing a vehicle component - Google Patents

Abstract

The invention relates to a method for producing a vehicle component (1), comprising the steps of: producing (100) an injection-molded component (2) with at least one recess (3) formed on a surface of the injection-molded component (2); Inserting at least one band section (4) of a fiber-reinforced plastic band into the recess (3); and welding the inserted into the recess band portion (4) with the injection-molded component (2). In order to optimize the series production of vehicle components (1) with regard to the production costs and the production quality, the welding takes place from a side of the band section (4) facing away from the injection-molded component (2).

Description

The invention relates to a method for producing a vehicle component, comprising the steps: producing an injection-molded component having at least one recess formed on a surface of the injection-molded component; Introducing at least one band section of a fiber-reinforced plastic band into the recess; and welding the inserted into the depression band portion with the injection molding.

Furthermore, the invention relates to a device for producing a vehicle component, comprising: at least one injection molding tool for producing an injection-molded component with at least one recess formed on a surface of the injection-molded component; at least one device for introducing at least one band section of a fiber-reinforced plastic band into the recess of the injection-molded component removed from the injection-molding tool; and at least one welding unit for holding the injection molding member and welding the band portion inserted in the recess to the held injection molded member.

High ecological, economic and political requirements lead to a growing application of lightweight solutions in the form of fiber-reinforced injection-molded components, especially in vehicle construction. It may be necessary to reinforce an injection-molded component, so that the injection-molded component can withstand the mechanical stresses during its intended use. Only locally reinforced fiber injection molded components are significantly cheaper to produce than injection molded components, which are made entirely from a fiber composite material. For local reinforcement, a reinforcing element can be arranged on an injection-molded component which, for example, itself is made of a fiber composite material. The reinforcing element may be formed, for example, as a fiber-reinforced plastic tape having embedded in a matrix material made of plastic endless reinforcing fibers. There are known applications in which such a reinforcing element is overmolded or at least partially encapsulated during the production of an injection-molded component with a respectively used injection molding material.

The biggest challenge in using a reinforcing element in the form of a fiber reinforced plastic tape, also called tape, in large scale applications is in the manufacturing process of injection molded parts. The manual or automated placement of a tape in an injection mold can be very time consuming. Here, a robot or a person must arrange the thin tape in the injection mold before the injection molding process can be started. This leads to an ineffective manufacturing process, in particular due to the manual process actions and the risk that the required positioning tolerances will not be achieved. Using a robot instead of a person is more effective in terms of timing and accuracy but is more costly and requires more space.

The US Pat. No. 6,237,509 B1 discloses a synthetic resin pallet having a load bearing upper surface and an opposing lower surface, the pallet being reinforced by a reinforcing member of a fiber reinforced material to resist a bending force acting in a direction orthogonal to those surfaces. The reinforcing member is attached by heat-welding it to the inside of a groove formed in one or both surfaces.

The US 2016/0339821 A1 discloses a vehicle seat having a seat frame made of metal and a reinforcing member locally fixed to a portion in which a stress concentration occurs in the seat frame, the reinforcing member being fixed so that the reinforcing member distributes a stress, and wherein the reinforcing member is a relative one Has density that is smaller than a relative density of the seat frame.

The WO 2015/069111 A1 discloses a vehicle wheel with a rim, the rim having a rim base having a wound band comprising a fiber reinforced thermoplastic or thermosetting polymer matrix. For producing the vehicle wheel, at least one conical shape is provided which is rotated about an axis of rotation, wherein an endless belt made of a fiber-reinforced thermoplastic or thermosetting matrix material in different directions at angles between -90 and + 90 degrees with respect to the axis of rotation about the rotating Form is wound. Subsequently, melting and consecutive solidification or consolidation or curing of the polymer matrix material or gluing or welding of the wound strip takes place, so that a frustoconical rim bed is produced.

The DE 10 2012 213 663 A1 discloses a transmission carrier for a motor vehicle, which is profiled formed and at predetermined locations has a number of inserts of metal, which are adapted for gear attachment. The gear carrier is at least partially made of continuous fiber-reinforced or quasiendlosfaserverstärktem plastic material, in particular made of organic sheet.

The US 9 302 414 discloses an airbag assembly having an airbag panel having a deployable member disposed in a cavity formed between an inner reinforced reaction panel and an outer panel. Furthermore, the airbag assembly includes at least one reinforcing strip in at least a portion of the airbag panel that includes a plurality of optical fibers, each of the plurality of optical fibers being individually enclosed by an outer cover layer and placed in a substantially parallel configuration.

Available at http://waset.org/pdf/books/?id=67106&pageNumber=1495, the publication "Automated Local Reinforcing of Glass Fiber-Injection-Molded Preforms with Carbon Fiber Tapes" discloses the arrangement of carbon fiber tapes on injection molded components.

The invention has for its object to optimize the mass production of vehicle components in terms of manufacturing costs and manufacturing quality.

According to the invention the object is achieved by a method having the features of claim 1, wherein the welding takes place from a side facing away from the injection-molded component of the band section.

It should be noted that the features listed in the following description as well as measures in any technically meaningful way can be combined with each other and show further embodiments of the invention. The description additionally characterizes and specifies the invention, in particular in connection with the figures.

According to the invention, after an injection molding operation has been carried out, the band section is arranged on the injection-molded component produced in the recess on the injection-molded component. For this purpose, the injection-molded component is preferably first removed from an injection mold, after which the band section is introduced into the recess. The process of arranging the band section on the injection-molded component and the process of welding the band section and injection-molded component thus take place temporally and spatially separated from the injection molding process. As a result, the welding of strip section and injection-molded component can be integrated, for example, in a conventional welding process, which is often required for the production of structurally complex vehicle components, and in which, for example, further components are welded to the injection-molded component. As a result, no additional welding process for the production of the vehicle component is required. In contrast, in a conventional manufacturing process for vehicle components, a belt section of a fiber reinforced plastic belt is usually disposed within a cavity of an injection mold prior to performing an injection molding operation, which is relatively expensive.

As a result of the inventive welding of the band section with the injection-molded component from the side of the band section facing away from the injection-molded component, the band section can be positioned exactly in the recess before welding as desired and remain in this position during the welding in which it is secured by the recess, to prevent displacement of the strip section during welding. The recess may in this case be formed such that the band section is received in at least one dimension positively in the recess.

Due to the geometric dimensions of the depression on the injection-molded component, an accurate and reproducible positioning of the band section on the injection-molded component is possible because the band section is held on one or more, in particular all, sides of the depression, in particular also during the welding of the band section and injection-molded component. This increases the manufacturing quality according to manufactured vehicle components. As a result, it is not necessary to secure the positioning of the band section relative to the injection-molded component in such a complex manner as is necessary in a conventional method in which the band section is to be arranged within the cavity of the injection-molding tool before the injection molding is carried out. This thus leads to a minimization of the technological complexity for the production of the vehicle component, compared to such a conventional method, which is associated with a reduction of manufacturing costs. According to the invention, the band portion after the injection molding process only has to be inserted into the depression formed on the injection-molded component in order subsequently to be able to be welded to the injection-molded component in a simple manner.

The injection molding member is made of a plastic material, which plastic material may contain reinforcing fibers, for example, carbon fibers, glass fibers, aramid fibers, or the like. The injection molding tool used for producing the injection-molded component has the recess of the injection-molded component as a positive mold, so that the recess of the injection-molded component is formed directly on the injection-molded component during injection molding. The production of the injection-molded component is preferably carried out in an automated injection molding process using a corresponding injection molding tool. In the manufacture of the injection molding component can at the Surface of the injection molding and two or more wells are formed.

The introduction of the band section of the fiber-reinforced plastic band in the recess can be done manually or automatically. The latter can increase the Einbringgenauigkeit and their reproducibility. In the recess and two or more band sections can be placed side by side or one above the other.

The welding of the inserted into the depression band portion with the injection-molded component can be done manually, for example by means of a welding gun, or automated.

With the method according to the invention vehicle components of various shapes can be produced. In particular, the method can be used to produce lining components which consist at least predominantly of plastic.

The fiber-reinforced plastic tape may be formed as a flat band in the tape longitudinal direction unidirectional, with bidirectional or with multidirectionally oriented reinforcing fibers. The plastic band may be constructed of two or more layers with different fiber orientations. The plastic strip may comprise a polymeric material in which the reinforcing fibers are at least partially embedded. The polymer material may, in particular with respect to its melting temperature, be similar or equal to the plastic component of the plastic material of the injection-molded component, so that the polymer material can bond cohesively to the plastic component of the plastic material during the injection molding. As a result, detachment of the band section or the band sections from the injection-molded component is reliably prevented. The reinforcing fibers of the plastic band can be, for example, glass fibers, carbon fibers, aramid fibers or other artificial or natural fibers.

The plastic material of the injection-molded component, for example, have a thermoplastic or thermosetting plastic component or be made entirely of a thermoplastic or thermosetting material. The plastic material may or may not contain reinforcing fibers or other filler such as talc. The plastic material, other than any filler contained therein, may be made of, for example, polypropylene, a polyamide, polyoxymethylene, a polycarbonate, or an acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene copolymer. For fiber reinforcement of the plastic material this may contain short or long reinforcing fibers. For example, glass fibers, carbon fibers, aramid fibers or other artificial or natural fibers may be used for fiber reinforcement. The plastic material may also be foamed by a physical or chemical foaming process to reduce the weight of the injection molding component.

According to an advantageous embodiment, the welding takes place by ultrasonic welding. This type of welding can to a certain extent be carried out through the band section, whereby a friction-induced heating of the contacting contact surfaces of band section and bottom of the recess of the injection-molded component takes place. The ultrasonic welding in particular has the advantage that the contact surfaces of band portion and injection-molded component need not be heated prior to the introduction of the band portion in the recess on the injection molding, as would be required for example in a Heizelementschweißen, hot gas welding and laser welding.

A further advantageous embodiment provides that an at least partially laser-transparent plastic strip is used as the fiber-reinforced plastic strip and the welding takes place by laser transmission welding. This type of welding also takes place through the band section, in that the laser beams penetrate the band section substantially without significant heating and then impact in particular on the bottom of the recess of the injection-molded component, where the laser beams are absorbed with heat generation to the material of the injection molding in the region of Bottom of the well to melt. The laser transmission welding also has the particular advantage that the contact surfaces of band portion and injection-molded component need not be heated prior to the introduction of the band portion in the recess on the injection molding, as would be required for example in a Heizelementschweißen, hot gas welding and laser welding.

According to a further advantageous embodiment, the introduction of the band section into the recess and / or the welding takes place automatically. As a result, the manufacturing accuracy and the reproducibility of individual production can be increased and a shorter cycle time can be achieved.

According to a further advantageous embodiment, at least one welding spot and / or at least one welding line is formed between the band section and the injection-molded component during welding.

The above object is further achieved by a device having the features of the claim 6 solved, the welding unit is designed such that the welding of a side facing away from the injection molded component side of the band section is feasible.

With the device, the advantages mentioned above with respect to the method are connected accordingly. In particular, the apparatus for carrying out the method according to one of the above-mentioned embodiments or a combination of at least two of these embodiments can be used together.

The injection molding tool used for producing the injection-molded component has the recess of the injection-molded component as a positive mold, so that the recess of the injection-molded component is formed directly on the injection-molded component during injection molding. The injection mold may also have two or more corresponding positive molds.

The device for introducing the band section of the fiber-reinforced plastic strip into the recess of the injection-molded component removed from the injection-molding tool may be, for example, an industrial robot. The introduction device can have at least one refillable storage unit for storing the fiber-reinforced plastic strip. The storage unit or the introduction device can be set up to output a signal if the quantity of plastic strip still available in the storage unit falls below a predetermined limit value. The storage unit can have at least one holding unit and at least one unwindable plastic ribbon spool arranged replaceably on the holding unit. The introduction device may also have at least one electrically controllable drive for unwinding the plastic tape reel. The drive is preferably an electric motor with which the plastic ribbon spool can be rotated about its longitudinal central axis.

The welding unit may comprise a holding unit for holding the injection-molded component, wherein the holding unit may be stationary or may be formed by a portion of a production line. For welding the band portion inserted into the recess with the held injection-molded component, the welding unit may comprise an industrial robot with a welding gun or the like. The welding robot can be controlled in such a way that it carries out the welding of strip section and injection-molded component from a side of the strip section facing away from the injection-molded component.

The device according to the invention may have at least one control electronics for controlling the injection molding tool, the introduction device and / or the welding unit. The device according to the invention can be used in particular for mass production of vehicle components in the form of at least partially fiber-reinforced injection-molded components.

According to an advantageous embodiment, the welding unit is set up to carry out an ultrasonic welding process. With this embodiment, the advantages mentioned above with respect to the corresponding embodiment of the method are connected accordingly.

A further advantageous embodiment provides that the welding unit is adapted to carry out a laser beam welding process, wherein the fiber-reinforced plastic tape is an at least partially laser-transparent plastic tape. With this embodiment, the advantages mentioned above with respect to the corresponding embodiment of the method are connected accordingly.

• 1 ein Ablaufdiagramm eines Ausführungsbeispiels für ein erfindungsgemäßes Verfahren,
• 2 eine schematische Darstellung eines mit dem erfindungsgemäßen Verfahren hergestellten Fahrzeugbauteils in einem ersten Herstellungszustand,
• 3 eine schematische Darstellung des in 2 gezeigten Fahrzeugbauteils in einem zweiten Herstellungszustand,
• 4 eine schematische Darstellung des in 2 gezeigten Fahrzeugbauteils in einem dritten Herstellungszustand, und
• 5 eine schematische Darstellung eines Ausführungsbeispiels für eine erfindungsgemäße Vorrichtung.

Further advantageous embodiments of the invention are disclosed in the subclaims and the following description of the figures. Show it

• 1 a flowchart of an embodiment of a method according to the invention,
• 2 a schematic representation of a vehicle component produced by the method according to the invention in a first manufacturing state,
• 3 a schematic representation of the in 2 shown vehicle component in a second state of manufacture,
• 4 a schematic representation of the in 2 shown vehicle component in a third state of manufacture, and
• 5 a schematic representation of an embodiment of a device according to the invention.

In the different figures, the same parts are always provided with the same reference numerals, which is why these are usually described only once.

1 shows a flowchart of an embodiment of an inventive method for manufacturing a vehicle component in the form of an at least partially fiber-reinforced injection-molded component.

In process step 100 For example, the injection molding component is produced automatically using at least one recess formed on a surface of the injection molding component using an injection molding tool. For example, in step 100 a vehicle component are manufactured, as it is in 2 is shown.

In process step 200 At least one band section of a fiber-reinforced plastic band is automatically introduced into the recess. As a result, for example, a production state of the in 2 shown vehicle component, as shown in 3 is shown.

In process step 300 the inserted into the recess band section is automatically welded to the injection molding. This welding takes place from a side of the band section facing away from the injection-molded component. The welding can be done by ultrasonic welding. Alternatively, an at least partially laser-transparent plastic tape can be used as the fiber-reinforced plastic strip, and the welding can be carried out by laser transmission welding. In the welding, at least one welding point and / or at least one welding line can be formed between the band section and the injection-molded component.

2 shows a schematic representation of a vehicle component produced by the method according to the invention 1 in a first state of manufacture. It is only the injection-molded component 2 of the vehicle component 1 with a rectangular recess formed thereon 3 shown.

3 shows a schematic representation of the in 2 shown vehicle component 1 in a second state of manufacture. The second manufacturing state is thereby apparent from the first manufacturing state, that a band section 4 a fiber-reinforced plastic tape, not shown, into the recess 3 has been inserted to form fit in the recess 3 to be included.

4 shows a schematic representation of the in 2 shown vehicle component 1 in a third state of manufacture. In the third manufacturing state, the welding of the band section takes place 4 with the injection-molded component 2 using a welding gun 5 , which is adapted to carry out ultrasonic welding or laser transmission welding and with the welding of a the injection-molded component 2 opposite side of the band section 4 out.

5 shows a schematic representation of an embodiment of a device according to the invention 6 for producing a vehicle component, not shown, in the form of an at least partially fiber-reinforced, not shown injection-molded component.

The device 6 has an injection mold 7 for producing the injection-molded component with at least one depression formed on a surface of the injection-molded component, not shown. The injection mold 7 points to the depression as a positive form 8th on.

Furthermore, the device 6 An institution 9 for introducing at least one not shown band portion of a fiber-reinforced plastic band, not shown, into the recess of the injection-molded component taken from the injection-molding tool.

In addition, the device 6 a welding unit 10 for holding the injection-molded component and for welding the band portion inserted into the recess with the retained injection-molded component. The welding unit 10 is formed such that the welding of a side facing away from the injection-molded component side of the band section is feasible. The welding unit 10 is set up to perform an ultrasonic welding process. Alternatively, the welding unit 10 arranged to perform a laser beam welding process, wherein the fiber reinforced plastic tape is an at least partially laser-transparent plastic tape.

Furthermore, the device 6 a control electronics 11 for driving the injection mold, the device 9 and the welding unit 10 on.

LIST OF REFERENCE NUMBERS

1

vehicle component

2

injection-molded component

3

deepening

4

band section

5

welding gun

6

device

7

injection mold

8th

Positive form of 7

9

Facility

10

welding unit

11

control electronics

100

Process step (manufacture)

200

Process step (introduction)

300

Process step (welding)

QUOTES INCLUDE IN THE DESCRIPTION

This list of the documents listed by the applicant has been generated automatically and is included solely for the better information of the reader. The list is not part of the German patent or utility model application. The DPMA assumes no liability for any errors or omissions.

Cited patent literature

• US 6237509 B1 [0005]
• US 2016/0339821 A1 [0006]
• WO 2015/069111 A1 [0007]
• DE 102012213663 A1 [0008]
• US 9302414 [0009]

Claims (8)

Method for producing a vehicle component (1), comprising the steps: - producing (100) an injection-molded component (2) with at least one recess (3) formed on a surface of the injection-molded component (2); - introducing at least one band section (4) of a fiber-reinforced plastic band into the recess (3); and - welding the band section (4) inserted in the recess to the injection-molded component (2); characterized in that the welding takes place from a side of the band section (4) facing away from the injection-molded component (2). Method according to Claim 1 , characterized in that the welding takes place by ultrasonic welding. Method according to Claim 1 , characterized in that as fiber-reinforced plastic strip, an at least partially laser-transparent plastic tape is used and the welding is carried out by a laser transmission welding. Method according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the introduction of the band section (4) into the recess and / or the welding takes place automatically. Method according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that during the welding at least one welding point and / or at least one welding line is formed between the band section (4) and the injection-molded component (2). Device (6) for producing a vehicle component (1), in particular configured for carrying out the method according to one of the preceding claims, comprising: - at least one injection mold (7) for producing an injection-molded component (2) with at least one on a surface of the injection-molded component (2) formed recess (3); - At least one means (9) for introducing at least one band section (4) of a fiber-reinforced plastic strip in the recess (3) of the injection molding (7) removed injection molding component (2); and - at least one welding unit (10) for holding the injection molding member (2) and welding the band portion (4) inserted in the recess (3) with the held injection molded member (2); characterized in that the welding unit (10) is designed such that the welding of a the injection molding component (2) facing away from the band section (4) is feasible. Device (6) according to Claim 6 , characterized in that the welding unit (10) is adapted to perform an ultrasonic welding process. Device (6) according to Claim 6 characterized in that the welding unit (10) is adapted to perform a laser beam welding process, wherein the fiber reinforced plastic tape is an at least partially laser transparent plastic tape.

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