JP2001301402A - Light-alloy-made wheel for vehicle - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a good-design wheel for a vehicle capable of corresponding to individual person. SOLUTION: This light-alloy-made wheel for a vehicle has a rim part and a disk part including a hub part and a design part. The design part has a specific design part having a projecting part and/or a recessed part forming an integrally casted specific design, and color of at least a part of the projecting part and/or the recessed part is different from color of the other of the design part.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a design part which is provided with a unique design part having a convex shape and / or a concave shape formed integrally with a unique design, and which is excellent in design and manufactured by casting. A light alloy wheel for vehicles. In particular, it relates to an original vehicle light alloy wheel incorporating a unique design department required by an individual, a company, and other customers.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Road wheels of automobiles, which are one type of vehicle wheels, have various materials and structures. For the purpose of reducing the weight and improving the appearance and design of automobiles, iron and aluminum alloys are used. Conversion to light alloys such as magnesium alloys and titanium alloys is progressing, and the proportion of aluminum wheels made of aluminum alloys is increasing. These light alloy wheels are wheels of the same specification, which are usually mass-produced by the wheel manufacturer under the instruction of the overall specification of the wheel from a wheel dealer or a car maker. For this reason, it is easy to become immersed in personality, and it does not satisfy the demand to wear wheels with unique designs that emphasize personal preferences and are different from others.

As shown in FIG. 7, a light alloy wheel 30 generally has a thick hub portion 14 attached to an axle by bolts and nuts, and a design portion 9 having a mixture of a thick portion and a thin portion.
And a thin rim 11 to which a tire is attached. The rim portion 11 includes a front flange portion, a rear flange portion, a cross portion where the rim portion and the disk portion intersect, and a rim center portion. In addition, the design part 9 is provided with a design hole 39. The design part 9 often has a smooth curved surface shape.

[0004] Wheels affect the appearance of a vehicle and are produced in various shapes. Broadly speaking, there are spoke type, dish type, fin type and mesh type. The spoke type is designed such that 3 to 10 spokes extend from the hub portion and are connected to the rim portion, and the spokes are mainly used. In the dish type, a gentle surface is formed in a much wider area of the hub portion than in the spoke type, and the center of the design portion connected to the rim portion by shorter spokes is substantially disc-shaped. The fin type belongs to the spoke type, but is characterized by a relatively large number of spokes and a thin point. Also, the mesh type has a large number of spokes and is elongated narrowly, but the spokes are meshed like a mesh between the hub portion and the rim portion. Each specification has various forms.

[0005] In the spoke type and the dish type among the above four types, there are usually many relatively flat portions on the surface of the design part, and wheels with names (individual names and company names) and letters are attached to the car. Not installed.
Although a wheel cap on which letters and designs are printed may be attached to the wheel, no name or letters are given to the wheel design part itself, and the idea is disclosed in JP-A-59-114101 as an idea. It is merely described that a plain space portion is provided between the portion and the hub portion and characters, symbols, numbers, designs, and the like are applied to the space portion. It is described that characters can be carved directly on the wheel with a processing machine, or that processing can be performed directly on a mold and characters can be added by casting. It is difficult to identify and has low designability as fashion. Therefore, it does not satisfy the taste requirements of customers such as individuals and has not been put to practical use.

[0006]

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] Individual names, company names,
When customer requirements such as letters, numbers, marks, etc. are provided on wheels as a unique design by a wheel manufacturer, it is necessary to cut each wheel or process the mold as described above to change the shape is there. However, it is hard to obtain a wheel that satisfies the status of individuality by using a machine that cuts the shape after purchase of the wheel and digs the shape or a method that creates a unique design as a separate body and fixes it to the wheel afterwards. It is important to meet the needs that it is tailor-made to manufacture for the individual from the time of casting.

Therefore, it is desirable to set and manufacture a mold so as to have a unique design integrally cast as a design part from the time of casting. However, processing a mold as described in the above publication can be applied only to mass-produced products. At that time, when selling wheels with different cast characters for each individual, if the mold itself is processed, a mold is required for each specification, which is too costly. Under such circumstances, a product having a unique design that has been cast for each wheel has been efficiently produced, and a product having a high design property has not been produced so far. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to solve the above-mentioned problems and to provide a light alloy wheel for a vehicle having a high designability capable of responding to requests from individuals, companies and other customers.

[0008]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION A light alloy wheel for a vehicle according to the present invention has a disc portion including a hub portion and a design portion and a rim portion, and the design portion has a unique design integrally cast. It is provided with a unique design portion having a convex shape and / or a concave shape to be formed, and at least a part of the convex shape and / or the concave shape is different in color of another design portion. As a result, it is possible to provide a low-cost wheel with a high design quality, in which the unique design of the cast integral body stands out. The unique design in the present invention is a character,
Refers to places with unique designs such as numbers, marks, names, family crests, patterns and pictures. Also, the unique design part refers to a part formed by nesting other than the unique design on the design part, and the design part may have a unique design part having irregularities on the surface of the design part,
There may be a unique design part without unevenness. Also,
As described above, a unique design having irregularities is provided inside the unique design portion.

[0009] In order to provide uneven shapes having different unique designs for each customer, it is necessary to use a nest corresponding to each unique design in a mold. Although it depends on the material and manufacturing method of the nest itself, the casting surface condition of the specific design portion corresponding to the nesting may be different from that of the other design portions. In the case where the unique design has a convex shape, the design can be improved by processing at least the upper surface of the convex shape to give a smooth or metallic luster and coating with a transparent acrylic paint or coloring with a paint in order to enhance the design. Although it is possible to paint the convex shape of the specific design with a predetermined thickness to hide the roughness of the casting surface and improve the design, the surface is not as uniform as the convex upper surface which is processed more smoothly. When the specific design is concave, the inner surface of the concave shape is polished to give a smooth or metallic luster, and the design can be improved by coating with a transparent acrylic paint or coloring with a paint. In the case where the unique design has a concave shape and the unique design portion has a step with the surface of the other design portion, polishing the unique design portion other than the unique design has a remarkable effect on the improvement of the design.

[0010] In order to further improve the appearance, it is desirable to color-coat a unique design portion other than the unique design. If the unique design is a glossy surface or color painted surface, the other unique design part is a different color painted surface, and the other design part is a different color part from the color painting, the unevenness of the unique design is greatly emphasized It is possible to Further, the design portion other than the convex upper surface or the concave shape of the unique design and the unique design portion may have the same color, and only the unique design portion other than the unique design may have a different color. Other design parts are epoxy primer + acrylic color + acrylic clear multilayer coat,
Various powder coatings such as multilayer coating of powder primer + solvent color + clear powder and multilayer coating of powder primer + acrylic color + acryl clear can be appropriately selected.

In the present invention, if the unique design has a convex shape, the unique design portion other than the unique design may be convex with respect to the surface of the other design portion, and the design portion and the unique design portion are flat and only the unique design portion is formed. The shape may be convex. In addition, it is also possible to once form a unique design portion having a frame shape with a convex shape, and further apply the unique design to the convex shape.
The height of the convex shape is desirably within 10 mm, more preferably within 5 mm of the unique design portion. This is because the strength of the wheel is slightly increased by the convex shape, but if the rotation balance of the wheel is considered too high, the so-called wheel balance is lost. The unevenness expressing the unique design and the unique design portion is not limited to the above, and can be appropriately combined. Further, it is desirable that the width of the convex shape be 2 mm or more. If the length is less than 2 mm, it is difficult to accurately cast characters without the molten metal remaining on the nest side.

In the present invention, when the specific design is concave, the other specific design portions may be concave, the specific design portion may be convex, and the specific design may be expressed as concave. Alternatively, the unique design portion may be once framed in a convex shape, and a concave shape of the unique design may be formed therein. The depth of the concave shape of the unique design is desirably less than 6 mm from the surface of another design portion. If the concave shape is too deep, the wheel balance is likely to be lost, and the safety strength may not be maintained. The unique design portion and the concavities and convexities expressing the unique design are not limited to those described above, and can be appropriately combined.

In the description of the casting method of the present invention, a method of casting by low pressure casting is described. However, it is needless to say that the casting method is not limited to this and can be applied to gravity casting and die casting. In the above description, the casting method when providing a design portion having a unique design on the disk portion of an aluminum alloy wheel of one-piece casting (one piece) has been described, but the unique design is provided on the design portion of a two-piece or three-piece wheel. Can also be applied when providing It goes without saying that the present invention can be applied not only to aluminum alloy wheels but also to magnesium alloy wheels and titanium alloy wheels.

[0014]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The details of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 6 is a sectional view showing a main part of a casting apparatus for carrying out the present invention. In the drawing, the same numbers are given to the cavities corresponding to the wheels in FIG. In FIG. 6, the mold includes a lower mold 8 having various surface shapes corresponding to the wheel design, an upper mold 12 positioned above the lower mold 8,
There is provided a horizontal die 10 that can slide left and right so as to form a cavity by fitting with the lower die 8 and the upper die 12. Lower mold 8
Are set on the lower mold base 3. The upper mold 12 is fixed to the upper mold base 13 with bolts. The cavity is
The disk cavity 16 comprises the hub cavity 14 and the design cavity 9. The sprue 7 is formed in the hub cavity 14, and the sprue 7 is
Is in communication with The lower end 4 of the stalk is provided with a holding furnace 2 containing a molten metal 5 made of an aluminum alloy in a closed vessel 1.
Has been inserted. The sealed container is provided with an air pressure valve 15, and the pressure in the sealed container is increased by the air pressure valve 15 to move the molten metal 5 into the cavity through the Stoke.
The lower die 8 is formed with a storage part 17, and a nest is fitted into the storage part 17. A lower die cooling passage is provided at a position corresponding to the design part cavity 16.

FIG. 4 shows a relationship between a nest and a lower mold having a unique design in a convex shape. First, as shown in FIG. 4, positioning is performed by fitting a nest 20 into a storage portion 17 provided in the lower die 8. At this time, as shown in the figure, a step 25 of 5 mm or less was provided between the upper surface of the nest and the surface of the other design portion. 5m
If it is more than m, the weight is extremely increased and the balance tends to be lost as a wheel.

In the present invention, the material forming the nest includes sand, ceramic, gypsum and the like. The sand mold includes a CO2 mold, a shell mold, a cold box mold and the like, and can be molded by a mold, but can be molded by using a wooden mold to reduce the cost. Examples of the ceramic include alumina, zirconia, and a composite material with sand. Materials for nesting include sand, ceramic, and gypsum, as described above, but must be removed from the cast product (wheel) after casting. Is preferred.

The operation of the above configuration will be described. The positioning was performed by fitting the insert 20 to the lower mold 8. Next, lower mold 8
Then, a wheel cavity was formed by the upper mold 12 and the horizontal mold 10. The molten metal in the closed container is pressurized, and the molten metal 5 is transferred from the stalk 6 in FIG.
Inside. The molten metal was substantially concentrically filled in the order of the design part cavity 9 and the rim part cavity 11, and then the molten metal was solidified from the inner flange side of the rim part 11 so as to be directional solidified. When the pressure is released after the molten metal in the cavity has solidified, the molten metal 5 in the stalk 6 returns to the holding furnace 2 in the closed vessel 1. As shown in FIG. 4B, the lower die 8 and the upper die 12
, The formed wheel was separated from the lower mold 8 and the nest 20 was taken out of the mold. The nest 20 was removed so as not to damage the convex shape 21, and a wheel having a unique design cast in the unique design portion 22 was obtained.

FIG. 1A is a front view of a disk portion of a vehicle wheel according to an embodiment of the present invention. In the case of a two-piece or three-piece wheel, only such a disk portion may be manufactured and joined to a separately manufactured rim portion. At the center of the disk portion, a thick hub portion 14 attached to the axle is formed. A design portion 9 in which a thick portion and a thin portion coexist is formed on the outer periphery of the hub portion. Among them, the design part which is not relatively inclined with respect to the disk part has a unique design part name (AB in the figure).
The convex shape and the concave shape forming C) are formed. An outer peripheral portion 22 that comes into contact with the nest is formed around the name to further emphasize the name. FIG. 2 shows FIG.
FIG. The cross section of the name has an uneven shape as schematically shown. Basically, it is preferable to provide a spoke type or a dish type having many gently inclined surfaces, but as shown in FIGS. 1B to 1D, the shape of the disk portion is not particularly limited.

For example, the dish type shown in FIG. 1B has more flat surfaces than other types, so that it can be fitted to a mold even if the nest is large. In the figure, the characters are cast out only on a part, but it is also possible to form the cast characters over a wider area, for example, by integrating the outer periphery of the hub portion.

FIG. 5 is a perspective view showing the shape of the nest.
FIG. 5A shows an example of nesting for making the name part convex. The nest 20a is provided with an inclined portion 31 for aligning with the storage portion of the mold. The storage portion provided in the mold had the same angle as the inclined portion 31 and a wide inclination. The inclined portion and the inclined portion 31 of the insert were fitted to each other, and the insert was positioned with respect to the mold. The molten metal contained within the nested concave shape 24 caused the name of the wheel to be formed in a convex shape. The concave shape 24 is a surface state slightly different from the casting surface of the design part. Therefore, the convex shape of the name is likely to have a casting surface different from the surface of the other design part. Therefore, it is necessary to apply processing such as giving metallic luster to the upper end of the convex shape. Conversely, FIG. 5B shows an example of nesting for making the name concave. The convex shape 25 of the nest 20b causes the name of the wheel to be formed in a concave shape. In this nest, a concave outer peripheral portion 26 is formed.
Is a surface state slightly different from the casting surface of the design part. Therefore, the unique design portion 22 on the wheel side tends to have a casting surface different from the surface of the other design portion. Therefore, at least the name or the unique design part 22 other than the name needs to be processed such as giving metallic luster.

FIG. 3A is a cross-sectional view of a main part of a portion where a name having a convex shape is provided on the wheel. In the drawing, reference numeral 9 denotes a wheel design portion, and reference numeral 18 denotes another design portion surface. 0.5mm height difference between nest and other design surface
The shape of the unique design portion 22a is raised from the surface of the other design portion. 21a is the convex shape of the name.
A powder primer such as a powder acrylic layer, a powder epoxy layer or a powder epoxy polyester layer was applied to the design portion 9, and a coating layer such as an acrylic color and an acrylic clear was provided thereon to form a multilayer 41. In addition, the surface of the unique design portion including the convex upper surface 23 of the name is polished on the whole surface of the multilayer 6 to make it glossy, and thereafter, in order to make the convex shape stand out, a color coating 42 having a color different from that of the multilayer 41 is provided. The design is improved on the design part 22a. The protruding shape 21a of the name was a metal color of aluminum of the wheel material. Further, a clear coating 43 was further applied to the upper layer to make the entire surface glossy. Further, as another embodiment, as shown in FIG. 2B, a multilayer 41 is provided on the whole, then a color coating 42 is applied to the upper layer of the multilayer 6 of the unique design portion 22a, and then a name portion is formed to give a metallic color. The convex upper surface 23 was processed. Further, a clear coating 43 was further applied to the upper layer to make the entire surface glossy.

FIG. 3C is a sectional view of a main part of a portion provided with a name having a concave shape. The step between the nest and the other design portion surface 18 was set to 2 mm so that the unique design portion 22b other than the name protruded from the other design portion surface 18. 27 is a concave shape of the name part. First, the surface of the unique design portion 22b was polished by diamond grinding to smooth the casting surface. Next, a powder primer such as a powder acrylic layer, a powder epoxy layer or a powder epoxy polyester layer was applied to the whole, and a coating layer such as an acrylic color and an acrylic clear was provided thereon to form a multilayer 41. Thereafter, the concave shape 27 of the name was polished to a metal color of aluminum of the wheel material. Further, an acrylic clear coating 43 was further applied to the entire surface to make the entire surface glossy. FIG.
(D) is a cross-sectional view of a main part in which the unique design part other than the name and the other design part surface 18 are smoothed and only the concave part 27 of the name part is provided. First, a powder primer such as a powder acrylic layer, a powder epoxy layer or a powder epoxy polyester layer was applied to the entire surface, and a coating layer such as an acrylic color and an acrylic clear was provided thereon to form a multilayer 41. Next, the concave inner wall of the name was polished to give metallic luster.
Thereafter, a color coating 42 was applied to cover the concave inner wall. In addition, polyester clear coating 43
To give an overall gloss.

FIG. 3E is a cross-sectional view of a main part in which the unique design portion other than the name is concave with respect to the other design portion surface 18 and the name is convex. The step between the nest and the other design portion surface 18 was set to 0.5 mm so that the unique design portion 22c other than the name was depressed from the other design portion surface 18. 21b is the convex shape of the name. First, a powder acrylic layer, a powder epoxy layer, a powder epoxy polyester layer, and the like were applied to the entire surface, and a coating layer such as an acrylic color and an acrylic clear was provided thereon to form a multilayer 41. Next, the upper surface 23 of the convex shape was polished by diamond grinding to make the surface smooth and have a metallic color of aluminum. Thereafter, a color coating 42 was applied to the upper surface 23 of the convex shape. Further, a clear coating 43 was applied to the whole to make the entire surface glossy.

In the above-described embodiment, the one in which a multilayer is firstly formed with an emphasis on the film thickness and color coating is performed on the unique design and the unique design portion, so as to be applicable to normal line production, is mainly given. Also, if you want to reduce the number of coating layers, first apply primer coating of the base + color coating, then mask the unique design part and / or unique design and apply color painting to other design parts, and then Polishing the top surface of the shape and the unique design portion, and further applying a clear coating can be selected as appropriate.
Also, the description has been given of the wheel in which the design section is provided with a name as a unique design section. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and it is possible to have a unique design section provided with another unique design.

[0025]

As described above, according to the present invention, there is provided a light-alloy wheel for a vehicle having a high appearance that satisfies the customer's requirements and has a unique design that is unusually prominent. it can. In particular, a light alloy wheel for a vehicle provided with a personal name as a unique design has a high design property that sufficiently satisfies individual preferences.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a front view of a disk portion of a wheel according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a view taken in the direction of arrows AA in FIG.

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view of a main part showing a painting state of a unique design part.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a relationship between a fitting portion of a mold and a nest.

FIG. 5 is a perspective view showing an example of nesting.

FIG. 6 is a sectional view of a main part of a casting device used in the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a cross-sectional view showing a conventional wheel shape.

[Explanation of symbols]

9: design part, 14: hub part, 16: disk part, 1
7: storage part, 18: surface of another design part, 20: nest, 21: unique design, 22: unique design part, 2
3: (specific design) convex top surface, 27: (specific design) concave shape, 30: wheel, 41: multilayer, 42: color coating layer, 43: clear coating

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continuing on the front page (72) Inventor Hiroyuki Takatsuka 5200 Mitsugajiri, Kumagaya-shi, Saitama, Hitachi Metals Co., Ltd.

Claims (9)

[Claims] 1. A light alloy wheel for a vehicle having a disk portion including a hub portion and a design portion and a rim portion, wherein the design portion is a convex shape and / or a concave shape forming a unique design integrally cast. A light alloy wheel for a vehicle, comprising: a unique design portion having: and a color of at least a part of the convex shape and / or the concave shape is different from that of another design portion. 2. A light alloy wheel for a vehicle having a disc portion including a hub portion and a design portion, and a rim portion, wherein the design portion has a convex shape forming a unique design integrally cast. And at least a convex upper surface of the convex shape is processed, and at least a part of the convex shape and a color of another design portion are different from each other. 3. A light alloy wheel for a vehicle having a disc portion including a hub portion and a design portion and a rim portion, wherein said design portion has a convex shape forming a unique design integrally cast. A light alloy wheel for a vehicle, wherein at least a convex upper surface of the convex shape is processed, and a unique design portion other than the convex shape has a color different from that of the convex upper surface and other design portions. 4. The vehicle light according to claim 2, wherein the metal surface on which the convex upper surface has been processed has an appearance in which a clear coating or a color coating is applied, and the other design portions are coated on a casting surface. Alloy wheels. 5. A light alloy wheel for a vehicle having a disc portion including a hub portion and a design portion and a rim portion, wherein the design portion has a concave shape forming a unique design integrally cast. A light alloy wheel for a vehicle, wherein the surface of the concave shape is machined and at least a part of the concave shape is different from a color of another design part. 6. A light alloy wheel for a vehicle having a disc portion including a hub portion and a design portion and a rim portion, wherein the unique design portion has a concave shape forming a unique design cast integrally with the design portion. And a light alloy wheel for a vehicle, wherein the unique design portion is processed and at least a part thereof is different in color from other design portions. 7. The light alloy for a vehicle according to claim 5, wherein the metal surface having the concave shape has an appearance in which a clear coating or a color coating is applied to the metal surface, and the other design portion is applied to the casting surface. Made wheels. 8. The light alloy wheel for a vehicle according to claim 1, wherein the unique design is a personal name. 9. An aluminum alloy vehicle light alloy wheel having a disc portion including a hub portion and a design portion and a rim portion, wherein the design portion has a convex shape forming a unique design integrally cast. With a unique design portion having, the convex shape has an appearance in which at least the convex upper surface is processed by clear coating on the metal surface processed, and the other design portion is a multilayer including at least a primer layer, a color layer, and a clear layer. Light alloy wheels for vehicles, which have the appearance.