EP3405356A1

EP3405356A1 - Cover plate assembly for vehicle outer body part

Info

Publication number: EP3405356A1
Application number: EP17741076.8A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Yong Li
Original assignee: Yanfeng Plastic Omnium Automotive Exterior Systems Co Ltd; Plastic Omnium SE
Current assignee: Yanfeng Plastic Omnium Automotive Exterior Systems Co Ltd; OPmobility SE
Priority date: 2016-01-19
Filing date: 2017-01-19
Publication date: 2018-11-28
Also published as: WO2017125045A1; CN205344412U; EP3405356A4; MA43797A

Abstract

A cover plate assembly for a vehicle outer body part, comprises a pre-assembled component (1) presenting a first aspect, and a support (2) presenting a second aspect; wherein the pre-assembled component (1) and the support (2) are distinct parts which are attached together. The cover plate assembly improves a conventional one-piece cover plate into an assembly consisting of a support and a pre-assembled component which are distinct parts and cooperate with each other, such that the support and the pre-assembled component can be separately treated to meet different appearance requirements according to their surrounding outer body parts such as a lower trim and a bumper skin, or a side door and a running board, and then assembled together. The cover plate assembly also meets such functional requirements as multiple disassemblies and installations, and satisfies the purpose of matching peripheral parts in appearance and quality.

Description

Cover plate assembly for vehicle outer body part

Field of Invention
The present invention relates to a cover plate assembly for a vehicle outer body part.

Background

As for typical automobile models, a cover plate, as a separate single part, is usually assembled on a vehicle outer body part in a joint part for example between a bumper skin and a lower trim, or between a running board and a lateral and lower part adjacent to a wheel of a body part, or in a headlight washer area. Such a one-piece cover plate is usually monochromatic.
However, in view of the fashion and style of the entire body part, the cover plate shall be processed by two surface treatment manners to satisfy different requirements for appearance quality and matching. For instance, in case of a tow hook cover plate, the tow hook cover plate is juxtaposed both to a bumper skin and to a lower trim. A part of the tow hook cover plate, serving as a part of the bumper skin, needs to be textured as the bumper skin, whereas the other part of the tow hook cover plate, serving as a part of the colored and injection-molded lower trim, needs to be spray-painted. Since the two parts are integrally formed, if one part is spray-painted, the other part shall be shielded. However, the defect rate of such shielded spraying is relatively high, and there are always obvious chromatic aberration between the sprayed part and the colored and injection-molded lower trim, such that customers’ requirements for colour matching cannot be met and the painting cost will accrue accordingly.
Summary
The present invention aims to overcome all the above-mentioned inconvenient by providing a cover plate assembly for a vehicle outer body part, so as to satisfy the requirements of peripheral parts for appearance matching with relative cost advantages.
A cover plate assembly for vehicle outer body part, characterized in that the assembly comprises:
- a pre-assembled component presenting a first aspect； and
- a support presenting a second aspect；
wherein the pre-assembled component and the support are distinct parts which are attached together.
In the cover plate assembly, the first aspect corresponds to the aspect of a first outer body part juxtaposed to the cover plate assembly and the second aspect corresponds to the aspect of a second outer body part juxtaposed to the cover plate assembly, the first and the second body parts presenting distinct aspects. The pre-assembled component and the support are attached together by mechanical, chemical and/or physical fixation means, for example by hooks and snaps.
In a preferred embodiment according to the invention, the cover plate assembly is a tow hook cover plate assembly presenting a first aspect corresponding to the aspect of a bumper skin juxtaposed to the tow hook cover plate assembly and a second aspect corresponding to the aspect of a lower trim juxtaposed to the tow hook cover plate assembly.
In another preferred embodiment according to the invention, the cover plate assembly is a cover plate assembly for a side door groove serving as an abutment for a ram during a wheel change. The cover plate assembly presents a first aspect corresponding to the aspect of a side door juxtaposed to the cover plate assembly and a second aspect corresponding to the aspect of a running board juxtaposed to the plate assembly.
In another preferred embodiment according to the invention, the cover plate assembly is a headlight washer cover plate assembly.
In the cover plate assembly, there are at least two hooks, and the at least two hooks are protrudingly arranged on the surface of the pre-assembled component facing the support and in the lower part of the surface； and the support is provided with hook mating holes corresponding to the hooks in position and number.
In the cover plate assembly, there are at least two snaps, and the at least two snaps are protrudingly arranged on the surface of the pre-assembled component facing the support and in the upper part of the surface； and the support is provided with snapping holes corresponding to the snaps in position and number.
In the cover plate assembly, the support is also provided with weakening holes adjacent to the snapping holes.
In the cover plate assembly, an upper position-limiting rib and a lower position-limiting rib are respectively protrudingly arranged on the upper edge and the lower edge of the surface of the pre-assembled component facing the support； and the support is provided with an upper position-limiting groove corresponding to the upper position-limiting rib in position and a lower position-limiting hole corresponding to the lower position-limiting rib in position.
In the cover plate assembly, the upper position-limiting rib and the lower position-limiting rib are both triangle-shaped.
In the cover plate assembly, two first position-limiting ribs are also protrudingly arranged on the surface of the pre-assembled component facing the support and in the upper part of the surface； and the support is provided with a first position-limiting hole that simultaneously cooperates with two said first position-limiting ribs.
In the cover plate assembly, a plurality of second position-limiting ribs are uniformly and protrudingly arranged on the entire edge of the surface of the pre-assembled component facing the support.
In a preferred embodiment according to the invention, the first aspect presented by the pre-assembled component corresponds to a texture of a bumper skin, and the second aspect presented by the support corresponds to a colored and injection-molded plastic support.
By means of the above technical solutions, the present invention improves a conventional one-piece cover plate into an assembly consisting of a support and a pre-assembled component which are distinct parts and cooperate with each other, such that the support and the pre-assembled component can be separately treated to meet different appearance requirements according to their surrounding outer body parts such as the lower trim and the bumper skin, or the side door and the running board, and then assembled together. The present invention also meets such functional requirements as multiple disassemblies and installations, and satisfies the purpose of matching peripheral parts in appearance and quality.
Brief description of the figures
Fig. 1 is a structural schematic view of a tow hook cover plate assembly for a vehicle bumper according to the present invention；
Fig. 2 is a structural schematic view of a pre-assembled part according to the present invention； and
Fig. 3 is a structural schematic view of a support according to the present invention.
Description of embodiments
A preferred embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail for a two hook cover plate assembly with reference to the drawings. It can be understood that other examples for a cover plate for a vehicle outer body part consisting of two distinct parts which are attached together, such as highlight washer cover plate or ram groove cover plate, fall within the protection scope of the present invention.
With reference to Figs. 1 to 3, the present invention provides a tow hook cover plate assembly for a vehicle bumper, which comprises:
a pre-assembled component 1, presenting a texture of a bumper skin (not shown) ； and
a support 2, presenting another texture of a colored and injection-molded plastic lower trim (not shown) ；
wherein the pre-assembled component 1 and the support 2 are distinct parts which are attached together by hooks 11 and snaps 12.
To be specific, in the present embodiment, there are at least two hooks 11, and the at least two hooks 11 are protrudingly arranged on the surface of the pre-assembled component 1 facing the support 2 and in the lower part of the surface； and the support 2 is provided with hook mating holes 21 corresponding to the hooks 11 in position and number.
Meanwhile, in the present embodiment, there are also at least two snaps 12, and the at least two snaps 12 are protrudingly arranged on the surface of the pre-assembled component 1 facing the support 2 and in the upper part of the surface； and the support 2 is provided with snapping holes 22 corresponding to the snaps 12 in position and number. The support 2 is also provided with weakening holes 23 adjacent to the snapping holes 22, so as to reduce the assembling force when the snaps 12 are snapped into the snapping holes 22 for the sake of easy installation of the snaps 12. Moreover, in the present embodiment, an upper position-limiting rib 14 and a lower position-limiting rib 13 that are triangle-shaped are respectively protrudingly arranged on the upper edge and the lower edge of the surface of the pre-assembled component 1 facing the support 2 (the triangular upper and lower position-limiting ribs have a certain guiding function when the pre-assembled component 1 is assembled to the support 2 and avoid injection molding defects such as microprinting) , two first position-limiting ribs 15 are also protrudingly arranged on the upper part of the surface, and a plurality of second position-limiting ribs 16 are uniformly and protrudingly arranged on the entire edge of the surface (the second position-limiting ribs can control the assembling flushness and clearance between the pre-assembled component 1 and the support 2) , and the support 2 is provided with an upper position-limiting groove 25 corresponding to the upper position-limiting rib 14 in position and a lower position-limiting hole 24 corresponding to the lower position-limiting rib 13 in position, and meanwhile provided with a first position-limiting hole 26 that simultaneously cooperates with two said first position-limiting ribs 15.
During the assembly of the present invention, the hooks 11 of the pre-assembled component 1 are inserted into the hook mating holes 21 of the support 2 before rotation, such that the lower position-limiting rib 13 (which has a position-limiting function in Y direction) smoothly enters into the lower position-limiting hole 24； the snaps 12 after weakened by the weakening holes 23 are connected with the snapping holes 22, the upper position-limiting rib 14 (having a position-limiting function in Y and Z directions) and the first position-limiting ribs 15 (having a position-limiting function in Z direction) naturally enter into the upper position-limiting groove 25 and the first position-limiting hole 26, and the second position-limiting ribs 16 (having a position-limiting function in X direction) cooperate with the support 2 to control the flushness and clearance, thereby satisfying the “3-2-1” positioning principle and realizing the fastening function. The present invention after pre-assembled is snapped onto the bumper skin. If the present invention needs to be dismantled, a slotted screwdriver can make the pre-assembled component 1 separate from the support 2 by way of prying it up.
The above contents are merely preferred embodiments of the present invention and not intended to limit the scope of the present invention. Variations can be made to the above embodiments of the present invention. Any simple and equivalent variation and modification made according to the claims and description of the present invention falls within the protection scope of the claims of the present invention. Conventional techniques are not described in detail in the present invention.

Claims

A cover plate assembly for vehicle outer body part, characterized in that the assembly comprises:

-a pre-assembled component (1) presenting a first aspect； and

-a support (2) presenting a second aspect；

wherein the pre-assembled component (1) and the support (2) are distinct parts which are attached together.
The cover plate assembly according to the previous claim, wherein the first aspect corresponds to the aspect of a first outer body part juxtaposed to the cover plate assembly and the second aspect corresponds to the aspect of a second outer body part juxtaposed to the cover plate assembly, the first and the second body parts presenting distinct aspects.
The cover plate assembly according to any one of the previous claims, wherein the pre-assembled component (1) and the support (2) are attached together by mechanical, chemical and/or physical fixation means, for example by hooks (11) and snaps (12) .
The cover plate assembly according to any one of the previous claims, comprising at least two hooks (11) , wherein the at least two hooks (11) are protrudingly arranged in a lower part of a surface of the pre-assembled component (1) facing the support (2) ； and the support (2) is provided with hook mating holes (21) corresponding to the hooks (11) in position and number.
The cover plate assembly according to any one of the previous claims, comprising at least two snaps (12) , wherein the at least two snaps (12) are protrudingly arranged in an upper part of the surface of the pre-assembled component (1) facing the support (2) ； and the support (2) is provided with snapping holes (22) corresponding to the snaps (12) in position and number.
The cover plate assembly according to the previous claim, wherein the support (2) is also provided with weakening holes (23) adjacent to the snapping holes (22) .
The cover plate assembly according to any one of the previous claims, wherein an upper position-limiting rib (14) and a lower position-limiting rib (13) are protrudingly arranged respectively on an upper edge and a lower edge of the surface of the pre-assembled component (1) facing the support (2) ； and the support (2) is provided with an upper position-limiting groove (25) corresponding to the upper position-limiting rib (14) in position and a lower position-limiting hole (24) corresponding to the lower position-limiting rib (13) in position.
The cover plate assembly according to the previous claim, wherein the upper position-limiting rib (14) and the lower position-limiting rib (13) are both triangle-shaped.
The cover plate assembly according to any one of the previous claims, wherein two first position-limiting ribs (15) are also protrudingly arranged in the upper part of the surface of the pre-assembled component 1 facing the support (2) ； and the support (2) is provided with a first position-limiting hole (26) which simultaneously cooperates with two said first position-limiting ribs (15) .
The cover plate assembly according to any one of the previous claims, wherein a plurality of second position-limiting ribs (16) are uniformly and protrudingly arranged on the entire contour of the surface of the pre-assembled component (1) facing the support (2) .
The cover plate assembly according to any one of the previous claims, wherein the first aspect presented by the pre-assembled component (1) corresponds to a texture of a bumper skin, and the second aspect presented by the support (2) corresponds to a colored and injection-molded plastic support.