JP2701680B2 - Inlet shield molding method - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an inlet shield capable of supplying fuel to a fuel pipe connected to a tubular portion from a fuel port on a flange portion side, and more particularly, to an inlet shield having rigidity at least inside the flange portion. The present invention relates to a method for forming an inlet shield in which an insert is embedded.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, this type of inlet shield has
It has a cylindrical part and a flange part. An oil supply pipe communicating with the fuel tank is connected to the cylindrical portion, and the flange portion side is an oil supply port. The inlet shield is attached and fixed to the body by being tightened at its flange portion with bolts or the like. Thereby, the space between the oil supply pipe and the body opening is sealed by the inlet shield.

Generally, a metal insert is buried in the flange portion and in the vicinity thereof. The insert improves the mounting rigidity of the inlet shield.

FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view showing a part of a mold for forming an inlet shield, that is, a part forming a flange portion of the inlet shield. As shown in the figure, a cavity 24 having the shape of an inlet shield is formed by a mold 23 including a fixed mold 21 and a movable mold 22. A plurality of projections 25 (one in the figure) projecting inward (upward in the figure) of the cavity 24 are formed in the fixed mold 21. In addition, a gate 26 that opens to the cavity 24 is formed in the fixed mold 21. This gate 26
It is formed so as to face the mold split plane PL. In addition, the mold surface PL substantially corresponds to the lower surface of the flange portion for convenience of molding.

When an inlet shield is formed using the above-described mold 23, first, an insert 27 is installed in a cavity 24. At this time, insert 27
Is mounted on the projection 25 of the fixed die 21. And
The molten polymer material is injected from the gate 26 and filled into the cavity 24. Thereafter, the polymer material is cooled and solidified, and the solidified material is removed from the mold 23 to obtain an inlet shield.

[0006]

However, according to the above-mentioned conventional technique, the mold surface PL substantially corresponds to the lower surface of the flange portion, and the gate 26 is formed so as to face the mold surface PL. . That is, in FIG.
Since the polymer material is injected from the lower side of the cavity 24 forming the flange portion, the insert 2 placed on the projection 25 is injected with the injection of the polymer material.
7 was likely to be pushed up by the polymer material. Therefore, when the filling of the polymer material is completed, as shown in FIG. 7, the insert 27 moves to the upper side of the figure, that is, to the filler port side, and as a result, a part of the insert 27 is moved to the filler port side (design surface). Side). As a result, there is a possibility that the design property is impaired.

If the insert 27 is displaced from the initial installation position, the bolt holes for tightening formed in the insert 27 and the bolt holes (both not shown) in the flange portion are displaced. I will. As a result, one of the bolt holes may be closed, making it impossible to mount the inlet shield with bolts.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned problems, and its object is to prevent the insert from being displaced at the time of molding, thereby deteriorating the design and making it difficult to mount the insert on a body. It is an object of the present invention to provide a method of forming an inlet shield capable of preventing the occurrence of the above.

[0009]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention comprises a cylindrical portion and a flange portion extending from the tip of the cylindrical portion toward the outer periphery, and at least the inside of the flange portion is provided. A method of forming an inlet shield in which a rigid insert is embedded, wherein the flange portion side is used as an oil supply port, and fuel can be supplied from the oil supply port to an oil supply pipe connected to the tubular portion, comprising a fixed mold and a movable mold. Installing the insert in a cavity formed by a mold having a mold so as to directly or indirectly contact the fixed or movable mold; and forming the cavity in the fixed or movable mold. A step of injecting the molten polymer material from a gate opening closer to the oil filler side than the insert to fill the polymer material into the cavity. When, after solidifying the polymeric material, and further comprising the step of taking out the one obtained by the solidification from the mold and its gist.

[0010]

According to the above arrangement, the insert is installed in the cavity so as to directly or indirectly contact the fixed or movable mold. Next, the molten polymer material is injected from the gate opening into the cavity, and is filled into the cavity. And after the polymer material solidifies,
The solidified product is removed from the mold to form an inlet shield.

[0011] Here, the gate is opened in the cavity closer to the filler port than the insert. Therefore, when the molten polymer material is injected from the gate, the insert is stressed by the polymer material in a direction that directly or indirectly contacts the fixed or movable mold. In other words, the insert receives little stress in the direction away from the installed mold. Therefore, the insert does not deviate from the initial installation state due to the injection of the polymer material.

[0012]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS One embodiment of the present invention will now be described with reference to FIGS.
5 will be described. As shown in FIG. 4, a fuel filler port 2 is provided at a rear portion of the vehicle 1. More specifically, as shown in FIG. 5, a part of the body 3 at the rear of the vehicle 1 is opened, and an inlet shield 4 is attached to the opening. The inlet shield 4 includes a tubular portion 5 having one end bent inward, and a flange portion 6 extending from the tip (the left end in the drawing) of the tubular portion 5 in the outer peripheral direction. The inlet shield 4 is formed of a blend of polyvinyl chloride (PVC) and nitrile rubber (NBR). The flange portion 6 side of the inlet shield 4 is the oil filler port 2.

An oil supply pipe 7 shown by a two-dot chain line in FIG. A cap 8 also indicated by a two-dot chain line is fastened to the tip of the oil supply pipe 7. A drain port 9 for draining water is formed in the tubular portion 5, and water in the inlet shield 4 is discharged from the drain port 9 to the outside of the vehicle. The inlet shield 4 is tightened by a bolt (not shown) at the flange 6 so that the body 3
It is attached and fixed. In addition, the filler port 2 is provided with a lid 10 which is substantially flush with the body 3. When the refueling is not performed, the lid 10 is closed and the refueling port 2 is closed.

An insert 11 made of a zinc steel plate is buried in the flange 6 and in the vicinity thereof. The insert 11 is provided with a ridge 12 for increasing the rigidity of the insert 11 itself. And
The insert 11 improves the mounting rigidity of the inlet shield 4.

Next, a mold used for molding the above-described inlet shield 4 will be described. FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view showing a part of a mold 13 forming the flange portion 6 in the inlet shield 4. FIG. 2 is a diagram of FIG.
FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view taken along a line A. As shown in these figures, the mold 1
3 has a fixed mold 14 and a movable mold 15. And
A cavity 16 having the shape of the inlet shield 4 is formed by the two dies 14 and 15. A plurality of projections 17 (one in the figure) projecting inward (upward in the figure) of the cavity 16 are formed in the fixed mold 14.

The fixed die 14 is provided with a gate 18 opening to the cavity 16. In the gate 18 and its vicinity, the mold surface PL is formed on the upper side as compared with the other parts, and the gate 1 is formed.
8 is formed so as to face the parting plane PL. More specifically, the gate 18 is used to insert the insert 1 placed on the projection 17 in a molding step described later.
1 is located above the upper surface. In addition, since the uppermost surface on the fuel filler port 2 side is a design surface of the inlet shield 4 which is a molded product, the gate 18 is formed lower than the design surface, and only the gate 18 is formed with a small R shape at an end portion. Thus, the inlet shield 4 excellent in design can be obtained.

Next, an operation when the inlet shield 4 is formed by using the above-mentioned mold 13 will be described. First, as shown in FIG. 1, the insert 11 is installed in the cavity 16. At this time, the insert 11 is placed on the projection 17 of the fixed die 14.

Then, the melted blend is injected from the gate 18. At this time, as described above, the gate 18 is connected to the insert 1 placed on the projection 17.
1 is located above the upper surface. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 3, when the molten blend is injected from the gate 18, the insert 11 moves in a direction (downward in the figure) in which the insert contacts the fixed mold 14 via the protrusion 17 by the blend. Subject to stress. In other words, the insert 11
Hardly receives any stress in the direction away from the fixed mold 14 on which it is installed. Therefore, the insert 11 does not deviate from the initial installation state due to the injection of the blend.

After that, the injection of the blend is continued for a predetermined time, so that the blend is filled into the cavity 16 without the insert 11 being shifted from the initial installation state.

Then, the blend is cooled and solidified, and the solidified material is removed from the mold 13 to obtain
The above-described inlet shield 4 is obtained. As described above, according to the method of forming the inlet shield 4 in the present embodiment, the position of the gate 18 is provided above the upper surface of the insert 11. Then, when the molten blend is injected from the gate 18,
The direction in which the insert 11 comes into contact with the fixed mold 14 via the projection 17 by the blend, that is, the insert 11
Is stressed in the direction in which it is pressed. For this reason, the injection 1
1 does not deviate from the initial installation state. Therefore, the ridges 12 and the like of the insert 11 are not exposed to the oil filler port 2 side (design surface side), and it is possible to prevent the design property from being impaired by the exposure of the insert 11 beforehand. Further, since the insert 11 does not shift from the initial installation position, the bolt holes for tightening formed in the insert 11 and the bolt holes (both not shown) of the flange portion 6 do not shift. Therefore, there is no possibility that one of the bolt holes will be closed due to the displacement of the insert 11, and the inlet shield 4 can be securely attached by bolts at the time of attachment.

It should be noted that the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and may be implemented as follows with a part of the configuration appropriately changed without departing from the spirit of the invention. (1) In the above embodiment, the insert 11 is mounted on the projection 17 of the fixed die 14, but may be directly mounted on the fixed die 14 or the movable die 15.

(2) In the above embodiment, the gate 18 is formed on the fixed die 14, but it may be provided on the movable die 15. (3) In the above-described embodiment, the ridge 12 is formed to impart rigidity to the insert 11, but the ridge 12 may be omitted.

(4) In the above embodiment, a blend of PVC and NBR was used as the polymer material, but any material having thermoplasticity may be used.

[0024]

As described above in detail, according to the inlet shield molding method of the present invention, it is possible to surely prevent the misalignment of the insert from deteriorating the design and making it difficult to mount it on the body. The effect is excellent.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view showing a part of an inlet shield molding die according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken along line AA of FIG. 1 in one embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a partial cross-sectional view showing a state where a melted blend is injected into a cavity of the mold of FIG. 1 in one embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a partial perspective view showing a rear portion of the vehicle in one embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a partial cross-sectional view showing the vicinity of a filler port mainly including an inlet shield in one embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view showing a part of a mold for molding an inlet shield in a conventional technique.

7 is a partial cross-sectional view showing a state in which a molten polymer material is injected and filled into a cavity of the mold of FIG. 6 in a conventional technique.

[Explanation of symbols]

2 ... refueling port, 5 ... cylindrical portion, 6 ... flange portion, 7 ... refueling pipe, 11 ... insert, 13 ... mold, 14 ... fixed type, 1
5 movable type, 16 cavity, 18 gate.

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] 1. A cylindrical portion (5) and a flange portion (6) extending from the tip of the cylindrical portion (5) to the outer periphery, and at least the inside of the flange portion (6) has rigidity. An insert (11) is buried, and the flange (6) side is used as a fuel filler (2), and fuel is supplied from the fuel filler (2) to a fuel filler pipe (7) connected to the cylindrical part (5). A method for forming a possible inlet shield, comprising: a mold (1) having a fixed mold (14) and a movable mold (15).
3) installing the insert (11) in the cavity (16) formed by 3) so as to directly or indirectly contact the fixed mold (14) or the movable mold (15); (14) or the movable mold (15), wherein the insert (11) of the cavity (16) is formed.
A step of injecting the molten polymer material from a gate (18) that opens to the oil supply port (2) side to fill the cavity (16) with the polymer material; And then taking out the solidified product from the mold (13).