GB2359584A

GB2359584A - Mounting seal for components of vehicles, in particular of campers and caravans

Info

Publication number: GB2359584A
Application number: GB0031362A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Bernd Hohl; Gerhard Romer
Original assignee: Hymer AG
Current assignee: Hymer AG
Priority date: 1999-12-22
Filing date: 2000-12-21
Publication date: 2001-08-29
Anticipated expiration: 2020-12-21
Also published as: GB2359584B; IT251242Y1; DE19962057A1; FR2802860A3; ITUD20000061U1; FR2802860B3; DE19962057C2; GB0031362D0

Abstract

A mounting seal for components 4, 10 of vehicles, in particular of campers and caravans, which consists of a sealing tape, comprising a foam body 17 with pores 18 which are saturated by an impregnating agent 20, providing a durable adhesive property. The impregnating agent may be situated in the pores and having been introduced to the foam body 17, does not harden or bond. The impregnating agent may also form an adhesive layer 23 that does not harden and forms no substantially continuous sealing surface. The agent used may be an acrylate polymer with a bulk density of approximately 150 kg/m<SP>3</SP> and a vapour diffusion resistance coefficient of approximately ž & 100 according to DIN 526915. The mounting seal after being properly fitted may achieve a joint permeability of approximately a & 0.1 m<SP>3</SP> / [h*m*(daPa)<SP>n</SP>] according to DIN 18055 and a watertightness under heavy rain according to DIN 18055 above 600 Pa or above RS/PRA. The mounting seal may also be attached at one side to a double-sided adhesive tape 24 that is attached to at least one component of the vehicle.

Description

1 2359584 Mounting seal for components of vehicles, in particular of

campers and caravans The subject matter of the invention is a mounting seal for components of vehicles, in particular of campers or camper vans and caravans, according to the preamble of claim 1.

Here, it is known to provide a mounting seal for an add-on component, such as e.g. windows, doors, shutters, garage shutters, roof arching and the like, on the walls and roofs of campers and caravans, whereby an elastic sealant has been used.

The use of such elastic sealants is however problematical because said sealants merely form a sealing film, which is applied adhesively onto the component to be connected. The drawback here however is that said sealing film over an extended period of time hardens and loses its adhesiveness relative to the adjacent component. As a result, the sealing effect in relation to the adjacent component is cancelled. A gap may therefore form, through which water may penetrate as a result of capillary action and travel under the component to be protected.

Nor is such a sealing film capable of withstanding high shear forces of the kind which usually arise with high dynamic movements of body parts and add-on parts of campers and caravans.

This leads to tearing of the sealing film as a result of dynamic movements of the components to be sealed and hence to loss of the sealing action. Experience has moreover shown that the components, which are to be mutually sealed and which abut one another, are subject to specific settling phenomena. This means that over an extended period of time the sealing gap between the components becomes larger and the sealant lying in between is incapable of following the growing sealing gap and 2 maintaining the adhesive bond. The result is therefore tearing of the sealing film off the component to be sealed, leading in turn to loss of the sealing effect.

The object of the invention is to develop the seal of a built-in component of campers and caravans in such a way that an excellent sealing effect is provided even over an extended period of time, that said seal also follows an appropriate motional play of the components to be sealed and that an excellent adhesive bond with the component to be sealed is provided.

To achieve said object, the invention is characterized by the technical teaching of claim 1.

An essential feature of the invention is that, as an elastic sealant, use is made of a sealing tape comprising a foam body with pores, which is saturated with an impregnating agent, which impregnating agent presents a durable adhesive property.

A further essential feature is that impregnating a foam body with the permanently elastic impregnating agent offers the advantage that, because of the spring properties of the foam body, the as such non-springy impregnating agent then springs with the foam body and compensates for appropriate motional play between the components to be sealed, wherein as before, the adhesive bond between the impregnating agent bonded in the foam body and the adjacent component is still maintained.

In terms of definition, there is therefore no hardening or even formation of an approximately closed sealing surface of the impregnating agent, rather the impregnating agent remains bonded in the foam body without the impregnating agent itself cross-linking or hardening into a sealing surface.

3 The impregnating agent has an approximately honey-like viscosity and is preserved with said viscosity, when bonded in the foam body, without leading to hardening of the foam body or of the impregnating agent. The material of the impregnating agent is an acrylate polymer, which has a bulk density of preferably 150 kg /M3 and a vapour diffusion resistance coefficient of g: 100 according to DIN 526915.

A joint permeability of CC:! 0. 1 M3 / [hm(daPa)n 1 according to DIN 18055 is achieved.

A watertightness under heavy rain according to DIN 18055 is achieved up to 600 Pa.

The given technical teaching therefore offers the substantial advantage that, through the use of a sealing tape comprising an impregnated foam body, superior sealing properties are now achieved for camper and caravan components, which are to be sealed, despite the latter being subject to considerable motional play as well as considerable temperature differences, this however being irrelevant because of the invention of the impregnated foam body.

The formation of a substantially closed sealing film is therefore expressly dispensed with because the entire foam body with the impregnating agent introduced and bonded therein acts, as a whole, as a sealing tape without forming a separate sealing skin.

The subject matter of the present invention arises not only from the subject matter of the individual claims but also from the combination of the individual claims one with the other.

All of the details and features disclosed in the documents, including the abstract, in particular the three-dimensional 4 construction illustrated in the drawings, are claimed as essential for the invention in so far as they are, individually or in combination, novel compared to prior art.

There now follows a detailed description of the invention with reference to drawings which illustrate several ways of implementing the invention. Further features essential for the invention and advantages of the invention emerge from said drawings and their description.

The drawings show:

Figure 1: a diagrammatic section through a sealing 15 situation at a window of a caravan or camper; Figure 2: a section on the line II-II in Figure 1; Figure 3: an enlarged view through an impregnating agent-bonded foam body between two connecting surfaces during the assembly state; Figure 4: the view according to Figure 3 in the completely assembled operational state; Figure 5: a sealing effect situation, which is modified compared to Figure 4; Figure 6:

as a further embodiment, a section through seal of a knockout window at the side wall of a caravan or camper.

In Figure 1 a window 5 is generally installed as a rigid unit in a side wall 1. Said side wall comprises an internal decorative panel 2, an intermediate thermally insulated PU foam layer 3 and an outer skin 4, which may be made of plastics material or aluminium.

The solid window 5 is installed with the aid of a frame 6 into an appropriate recess in the side wall. For said purpose use is made of a clamp 7, which on the one hand is supported against the decorative panel 2 and on the other hand presses a frame section 8 towards the outer skin 4 and 10 hence clamps the window 5 in position from both sides.

The frame section 8 has an external frame rail 9, which comprises two oppositely directed limbs 10, 11.

What is important now is that at least in the gap adjacent to the one limb 10 a sealing tape 12 is inserted, which is applied adhesively both against the outside of the outer skin 4 and against the inside of the limb 10.

Naturally, the present invention is not restricted to the arrangement of the sealing tape 12 at said point. The sealing tape may be disposed at any desired point of a joint where it is a matter of joining two mutually abutting components sealingly to one another.

In Figure 1 it is moreover evident that the limb 10 has an inward directed projection 13, with which it rests against the outer skin 4 and hence closes off the sealing tape 12 in a downward direction.

A section through the arrangement is shown in Figure 2, where the section is effected through the web 14 of the frame section 8 and the provision of an upper limb 10 and a lower limb 11 is merely indicated.

Only the projection 13 of the lower limb 11 is shown. What is important is that the sealing tape 12 extends around the 6 entire recess in the side wall 1 and is constructed in its joint region with an approximately 1 cm overlapping joint.

Figure 3 illustrates the effect and the construction of the sealing tape in an extremely enlarged view, from which it is evident that a foam body 17 is provided, which forms individual pores (cells) 18, which are spatially offset relative to one another and disposed in different planes. It is a case therefore of an open-cell foam body 17, which is then impregnated in accordance with the invention with an impregnating agent 20, which is formed from the said elastomeric sealing material.

The unloaded state of the sealing situation is shown according to Figure 3, from which it is evident that the foam body 17 is disposed in expanded form between the surfaces 4, 10 which are to be sealed.

It is further indicated that the foam body 17 (namely, therefore, the sealing tape 12 as a whole) is fastened at one side to a double-sided adhesive tape 24, which is disposed on the one limb In said manner, easy assembly of the sealing tape 12 on the components to be sealed is guaranteed.

In the illustrated embodiment, the contours of the pores 18 form webs 19, which are completely covered and enclosed by the impregnating agent 20, with the result that the impregnating agent 20 surrounds the webs and also forms the outer surfaces of the foam body 17.

As a result, the impregnating agent 20 is present as an adhesive layer throughout the foam body 17 and in particular also forms external adhesive layers of the foam body 17, which are precisely by definition non-crosslinking and permanently adhesive.

7 When the component according to Figure 3 is compressed in the direction of the arrows 15 and 16, this leads to a collapsing of the pores 18, which therefore distend and which are in reality compared to Figure 4 - much smaller than is illustrated there.

What is important in the case of the view according to Figure 4, however, is that the impregnating agent 20 is distributed throughout the foam body 17 and forms the outer-lying adhesive layer 23, which is then applied adhesively onto the inner surface 22 of the outer skin 4 (limb 10).

This is important because the impregnating agent 20 completely surrounds all of the webs 19 with a coating 21 and hence entirely fills the foam body.

Figure 4 shows that, even when the two components 4, 10 to be sealed are moved apart from one another by a specific distance in the direction of the arrows 151, 16', it is only the pores 18 which then open and the adhesive bond is still maintained because of the coatings 21 and so the adhesive layer 23 at the inner surface 22 of the outer skin 4 is still maintained.

Thus, throughout the life of the two components a separation of the adhesive layer 23 does not occur and an adhesive bond is permanently maintained at the inner surface 22 precisely because said layer does not harden or shear off as a result of dynamic movements.

In said manner, the described sealing tape 12 creates a superior, durable sealed joint, which is effective against shearing forces and for the first time enables such components to be sealed throughout the life of a camper or caravan. Water penetration, even as a result of capillary action, is reliably avoided.

8 Because the foam body 17 has elastic recovery, in the event of the components 4, 10 moving apart from one another in the direction of the arrows 15', 16' the foam body will therefore correspondingly expand but, since it is completely impregnated with the impregnating agent 20 (so as to cover the webs 19), the adhesive bond will still be maintained.

Figure 5 uses the same reference characters to denote identical components to Figure 4 but here, owing to an increased distance 25 between the outer skin 4 of the side wall 1 and the limb 10 of the frame section 9, the adhesive layer 23 is provided not continuously but only at points along the inner surface 22 and the adhesive tape 24.

Ideally, therefore, for each pore 18 there is one adhesive point, with the result that a non-continuous grid of an adhesive layer 23 is formed. In practice however, various adhesive points will always combine to form a larger adhesive point although not substantially continuous, a two-dimensional adhesive layer 23 is accordingly achieved.

It is also shown in Figure 5 that deeper-lying pores 18 do enter into an adhesive bond with the pores 18 situated (in the direction of vehicle parts 4, 10) above them but not with the pores 18 situated substantially in a horizontal plane, which lies approximately parallel to the vehicle parts 4, 10.

In contrast to this, Figure 4 shows an adhesive layer 23 in which even deeper-lying adhesive layers enter partially into a bond and so larger adhesive points are achieved than in the construction according to Figure 5, where there arises substantially for each pore 18 one adhesive point in the adhesive layer 23 and in the layers situated below.

9 Legends of drawings 1. 2.

4.

7.

side wall decorative panel foam layer outer skin window 6. frame clamp frame section frame rail 10. limb 11. limb 12. sealing tape 13. projection 14. web 15. direction of arrow 16. direction of arrow 17. foam body 8.

9.

18. pore 19. webs 20.

impregnating agent 21. coating 22. inner surface 23. adhesive layer 24. double-sided adhesive tape 25. distance

Claims

Claims

1. Mounting seal for components of vehicles, in particular of campers and caravans, characterized in that, as an elastic sealant, use is made of a sealing tape (12) comprising a foam body (17) with pores (18), which is saturated with an impregnating agent (20), which impregnating agent (20) presents a durable adhesive property.

2. Mounting seal for components of vehicles according to claim 1, characterized in that the impregnating agent (20) is situated at the pores (18).

3. Mounting seal for components of vehicles according to one of claims 1 or 2, characterized in that the impregnating agent (20) after being introduced into the foam body (17) neither hardens nor bonds into substantially closed sealing surfaces.

4.

Mounting seal for components of vehicles according to one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that the impregnating agent (20) after being properly mounted on the vehicle forms an adhesive layer (23), which is situated between the sealing tape (12) and the respective vehicle parts (1, 9), and in that the adhesive layer (23) does not harden.

Mounting seal for components of vehicles according to claim 4, characterized in that the adhesive layer (23) between the sealing tape (12) and the respective vehicle parts (1, 5, 9) forms no substantially continuous sealing surface.

Mounting seal for components of vehicles according to one of claims 1 to 5, characterized in that the impregnating agent (20) is an acrylate polymer.

11 7. Mounting seal for components of vehicles according to one of claims 1 to 6, characterized in that the impregnating agent (20) has a bulk density of approximately 150 kg /M3.

8. Mounting seal for components of vehicles according to one of claims 1 to 7, characterized in that the impregnating agent (20) has a vapour diffusion resistance coefficient of approximately g: 100 according to DIN 526915.

9. Mounting seal for components of vehicles according to one of claims 1 to 8, characterized in that the mounting seal after being properly fitted achieves a joint permeability of approximately a:5 0.1 m 3 [hm(daPa) n] according to DIN 18055.

10. Mounting seal for components of vehicles according to one of claims 1 to 9, characterized in that the mounting seal after being properly fitted achieves a watertightness under heavy rain according to DIN 18055 above 600 Pa or above RS/PRA.

11. Mounting seal for components of vehicles according to one of claims 1 to 10, characterized in that the sealing tape (17) with the impregnating agent (20) is attached at one side to a double-sided adhesive tape (24), which adhesive tape (24) is attached to the at least one component (1, 9) of the vehicle.