JPS6356412A - Automotive interior trim and manufacture thereof - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To prevent the generation of noise due to mutual contact of components by vibration, by a method wherein a hollow body for receiving electric apparatuses, which is embedded in a resin foamed body, receiving a connector therein, provided with an opening coinciding with another opening formed on the skin thereof and made of a hard material, is provided in the title automotive interior trim. CONSTITUTION:Resin foaming material is poured into a mold to foam it and mold a resin foamed body 12. In this case, a hollow body 26 is fixed by the engaging relation between a positioning project 44 and a flexible printed wiring base plate 20 is attracted and fixed to the inner wall of a male mold 34. Resin foam molded form is taken out of the mold and one part of an end wall 26b, including a part of a skin 16 and a positioning recess 26, is cut off from respective hollow bodies 26 whereby the opening is formed. Predetermined electric apparatuses 32 are inserted into respective hollow bodies 26 in a finished meter panel 10 to connect them to a connector 24 supported by an annular supporting piece 30. According to this method, noise, generated by the mutual contacts of components, such as terminals, connectors or the like, due to vibration, may be prevented.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] The present invention relates to a vehicle interior body made of resin foam as a base material, such as an instrument panel or a panel supporting electrical equipment such as G9 equipment and lighting. , and its manufacturing method.

and that. Bamboo car instrument panels are broadly divided into two types: (1) press-molded steel plates that are fixed to the vehicle body by welding or screwing, and (2) resin molded products that are fixed to the vehicle body by screwing.

If the instrument panel is made of resin, it can be significantly lighter. ■A high degree of freedom in design; ■The first advantage of press-molded steel products is that the safety pad (protective buffer), which is attached as a separate piece to the curved edge of the top, can be foam-molded integrally with the main body ( In addition, resin eLif instrument panels are often adopted because they can produce a design effect for instrument panels, which have become larger and more complex in recent years.

The normally used resin instrument panel is instrument panel 0 shown in Figure 1.
As shown in 1, the H1 structure is generally made by covering a resin foam (e.g., urethane foam, polystyrene foam) 02 with a skin (e.g., semi-rigid or soft vinyl chloride sheet) 03, leaving only a part of it. In addition to having a space 04 used for arranging articles, etc., an opening for installing instruments or a ventilation port 06 for air conditioning is formed. A reinforcing base material 07 made of hard resin or steel plate is integrally joined to the void formed in the resin foam.
This reinforcing base material 07 not only defines a void, but also
! It has a function of improving the rigidity of the J training equipment board 01.

In addition, an air conditioning duct connected to the air outlet 06 is arranged in the empty space 04 (however, if the reinforcing base material 07 is formed in a cylindrical shape, a separate duct is not required). , T
i-equipped equipment (speedometer, engine revolution meter.

Wire harness (fuel gauge, various indicator lights, etc.) connected to
Kumiden $! J) is provided.

This wire harness is equipped with terminals, connectors, etc., and is fixed with a presser piece that is screwed onto the wall surface of the reinforcing base material 07. However, as the vehicle body is photographed, attached parts such as terminals, connectors, etc. Alternatively, the reinforcing base material 07 contacts with them and vibrates, generating noise. In addition, a large number of electrical equipment can be installed on the instrument panel.
1, the work of connecting the wire harness to the terminals and connectors was complicated, and this significantly hindered the efficiency of vehicle assembly work.

As a solution to the inconvenience that occurs when a wire harness is placed in the empty space of the instrument panel, a wire harness is installed between the instrument panel body made of a hard material and the ridge pad attached to cover a part of the surface of the instrument panel body. An example of this is a wiring structure for an instrument panel in which a thin printed wiring board is sandwiched (Japanese Utility Model Application Publication No. 14746/1983).

However, in this wiring structure, each type of device is distributed on the instrument panel! The issue of how to arrange lead wires, terminals, connectors, etc. to make conductive connections between the device and the printed wiring remains pending [13] If this issue is not resolved, the above wire harness method will not be possible. It is not possible to eliminate the drawbacks of Therefore, for example, electrical devices are incorporated into a safety pad made of resin foam on an instrument panel etc. during molding (for example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 56-5
0833), lead wires, terminals, and connectors may be integrated into the safety pad. However, during molding, the connectors for connecting electrical equipment were installed completely inside the resin foam.
Post-processing to expose the connector is complicated.

The present invention was devised based on this technical background, and its purpose is to omit the conventionally used wire harness. The object of the present invention is to manufacture a vehicle interior body by a simple method, which reduces the number of parts and the number of assembly steps, and prevents the generation of noise due to contact vibration between parts.

The purpose of this is: (1) A vehicle interior body that is made of a resin foam as a base material and a part of the surface of the resin foam is covered with a skin, and is used with an electrical equipment attached, and where the skin is present. a flexible printed wiring board integrated along the surface of the resin foam on the non-contact side; a plurality of connectors coupled to the flexible printed wiring board; Provided is an interior body for a vehicle, characterized in that the body is housed in a hollow body made of a hard material for storing electrical equipment and has an opening that matches an opening formed in a surface skin and is made of a hard material. In manufacturing, ■ A skin is placed along the inner wall of the mold, multiple connectors are connected to the flexible printed circuit board in advance, and the connectors are placed inside a closed hollow body made of hard insulating material. The housed flexible printed wiring board assembly is inserted into the mold, the end wall of the hollow body made of hard insulating material is brought into contact with the skin, and the flexible printed wiring board is inserted into the mold. A mold is formed along the inner wall, and then a resin foam material is injected into the mold and foamed to enclose the hollow body made of hard insulating material and form a mold against the skin and flexible printed wiring board. After forming an integrally bonded resin foam and modeling the resulting integral molded product, forming an opening in the end wall of the hollow body made of a hard insulating material that is in contact with the skin and in the skin that is in contact with this. achieved by.

In the present invention, a flexible printed wiring board is used in place of the wire harness. Because the flexible printed wiring board is flexible, it can be easily placed along the inner wall of a mold for molding resin foam, which is the base material for vehicle interior parts, and it can also be placed along the inside of the resin foam. Even if a part of the flexible printed wiring board moves due to the foaming pressure when the resin foam material is foamed to embed a flexible printed wiring board in it, the displacement will be localized due to its flexibility. This has the advantage that the displacement of the flexible printed wiring board body is effectively suppressed.

In addition, in the present invention, in order to save the effort of assembling parts to the molded vehicle interior body, electrical equipment is connected to a flexible printed wiring board that is integrated with the resin foam by integral foam molding. In addition, the connector is housed inside a hollow body made of hard insulating material, avoiding direct contact with the resin foam formed by foam molding. , Post-processing to expose the connector so that electrical equipment can be connected
is extremely simple.

Figure 2 shows the automobile instrument panel 10 as a longitudinal sectional view of the main parts. The instrument panel 10 is made of a resin foam 12 (
(e.g., urethane foam), a reinforcing base material 14 made of a hard material embedded in the resin foam 12, a skin 16 (made of semi-rigid or soft vinyl chloride resin) covering the outer surface of the resin foam 12, and a resin foam The main components are an air conditioning duct 18 made of a hard material embedded in the body 12 and a flexible printed wiring board 20 partially embedded in the resin foam 12. Lead wires 22 (terminals may be used) of a plurality of connectors 24 corresponding to each electrical equipment divider 32 are connected to the wiring circuit of the flexible printed wiring board 20.
Also, a hollow body 2 made of a hard insulating material houses each connector 24.
6 is embedded in the resin foam 12. The hollow body 2G has an opening 28 that can receive the electrical equipment 32 connected to the ``1'' connector 24, and is made of an elastic material along its bottom wall through which the lead wire 22 passes. An annular support piece 30 is provided.This annular support piece 30 is used to insert an electrical equipment separater 32 into the hollow body 26 and connect the connector 2 to the annular support piece 30.
When the connector 24 is connected to the outer wall of the electrical equipment 32 and the retaining protrusion 32a provided on the outer wall of the electrical equipment 32 is engaged with the retaining protrusion 26a provided on the inner wall of the hollow body 26, the connector 24 is pressed into an annular shape with an appropriate force. The connector 2 is pressed against the support piece 30.
4 and the electrical equipment 32 are immovably supported (FIG. 6).

The instrument panel 10 having such a structure is manufactured by the following procedure.

■A recess 36 is formed on its inner wall to avoid the printed wiring circuit of the flexible printed wiring board 20, and a male mold 34 has a plurality of vent holes 38, and a female mold 34 has a plurality of raised parts 42 on its inner wall. A mold 40 is prepared.

A degassing hole 38 in the male mold 34 is used to insert a flexible printed wiring board assembly consisting of a flexible printed wiring board 20, a connector 24, and a hollow body 26 into the mold, and then insert a flexible printed wiring board 20 into the mold. The recess 36 is used to vacuum and fix the printed wiring circuit of the flexible printed circuit board 20 to the inner wall of the male mold 34, and the inner wall and the printed wiring circuit of the flexible printed circuit board 20 are vacuum-suctioned and fixed to the inner wall of the male mold 34. This is to avoid contact with people.

Note that the deaeration hole 38 should be provided at least at a position corresponding to the hollow body 26. As a result, the flexible printed wiring board 20 is suctioned and fixed to the inner wall of the male mold 34 at the periphery, and the hollow body 26 can be prevented from shifting.

On the other hand, the raised part 42 of the female mold 40 is provided corresponding to the plurality of electrical devices 32 to be mounted on the instrument panel 10 as a finished product, and is provided at the center of the raised part 42 on the end wall 26b of the hollow body 26. It is provided with a positioning bulge 44 that engages with the formed positioning recess 26c (FIG. 3).

(2) A skin 16 is installed along the inner wall of the female mold 40 before loading the flexible printed wiring board assembly into the mold. Next, the flexible printed wiring board assembly is inserted into the mold, and the positioning recess 2 of each hollow body 26 is inserted through the skin 16.
6c is fitted into the positioning protrusion 44 of the raised portion 42. This operation positions the hollow body 26 with respect to the female mold 40. In this state, when the male mold 34 and the female mold 40 are put together and the air is removed through the deaeration hole 38, the flexible printed wiring board 20 is suctioned and fixed to the inner wall of the male mold 34 (FIG. 3).

(2) Thereafter, a resin foam material is injected into the opened mold and foamed to form a resin foam 12 (FIG. 4). At this time, the hollow body 26 is fixed in engagement with the positioning protrusion 44, and the flexible printed wiring board 20 is suctioned and fixed to the inner wall of the male mold 34, so that the flexible printed wiring board is fixed by the foaming pressure. Misalignment of the assembly is effectively prevented. The connector 24 also includes a hollow body 26 made of a hard insulating material.
Since the connector 24 and the resin foam 1
2 contact will not occur.

After taking out the obtained resin foam molded product from the mold, as a post-processing step, a part of the skin 1G and a part of the end wall 26b including the positioning recess 26c are cut out for each hollow body 26 to form an opening. (See figure 5, resection position arrow A), hollow body 2
6 so that electrical equipment 32 can be inserted into the interior. Like this,
Since the four positioning parts 26c are removed by post-processing, the appearance of the finished instrument panel 10 is not impaired.

■ The specified electrical equipment 32 is inserted into each hollow body 26 of the completed instrument panel 10, and the electrical equipment 32 is connected to the connector 24 supported by the annular support piece 30. At the same time, the hollow body 26 A removal prevention protrusion 26 protruding from the inner wall of the
a and a protrusion 32a that prevents the electrical equipment 32 from being removed.

The electrical equipment 32 is correctly held within the hollow body 26 by the engagement relationship of the removal prevention protrusion 32a with the handling prevention protrusion 26a and the elastic restoring force of the annular support piece 30. In addition,
The shape of the hollow body 26 may be determined in accordance with the shape of the electrical equipment 32 to be received, and various shapes such as a cylindrical shape, a prismatic cylinder shape, a flat rectangular cylinder shape, etc. are selected.

The present invention is carried out in the steps described above, but as shown by arrow B in FIG. In order to make this structure possible, the flexible printed wiring board 20 in that part should not be attracted to the inner wall of the male mold 34, and a small protrusion for maintaining the distance should be provided on a part of the inner wall to prevent the inner wall from being flexible. It is sufficient to use a stock that allows the resin foam material to enter between it and the printed wiring board 20. As a result, the flexible printed wiring board 20
will move due to the foaming pressure, while other parts of the flexible printed wiring board assembly remain stationary for the reasons stated in item 0 above.

Since the flexible printed wiring board 20 and the connector 24 are integrated into the instrument panel 10 constructed in this way, there is no need to install a wire harness that is completed by assembling many parts, and the number of man-hours is reduced. In addition, noise due to mutual contact vibration between nine parts such as terminals and connectors is not generated. Also, the electrical equipment 3 for the connector 24
2 are naturally connected simply by inserting the electrical equipment 32 into the hollow body 26, so the assembly of the electrical equipment 32 to the instrument panel 10 can be performed extremely efficiently.

Note that the degassing hole 3g of the male mold 34 and the positioning protrusion 44 of the fi mold 40 are omitted, and therefore the positioning recess 26C of the hollow hole 26 is also omitted, and the flexible printed wiring is assembled by the pressing force of both molds. It is also possible to retain the body and skin 16 and carry out foam molding.

As is clear from the above explanation, a flexible printed wiring board integrated along the surface of the resin foam on the side where no skin is present, and a flexible printed wiring board bonded to the flexible printed wiring board. and a hollow body made of a hard material for storing electrical equipment, which is embedded in a resin foam body, houses the connectors therein, and has an opening that matches an opening formed in the skin. A vehicle interior body characterized by the following features and a method for manufacturing the same have been proposed.

The present invention provides wire harnesses in which parts such as terminals, connectors, fuse blocks for circuit protection, fusible links, resistors, diodes, etc. are assembled together, and vinyl dabs, vinyl tubes, corrugated tubes, etc. are used as protective materials. Instead, flexible print S! In addition to using a 2g board, with the connector connected to the flexible printed $1 board, these were embedded in the resin foam by integrating them during foam molding, reducing the number of parts and making assembly easier. A reduction in man-hours is achieved. In particular, in the present invention, by using a hollow body made of a hard insulating material, it is possible to embed the connector in the resin foam. As a result, it is possible to eliminate the trouble of connecting the connector to the flexible printed wiring board integrally embedded in the resin foam, and to connect the embedded connector to other connectors or other parts. contact and the generation of contact vibration noise.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a partially cutaway perspective view showing a publicly known resin instrument panel for an automobile, FIG. 2 is a longitudinal sectional view showing a resin J1 instrument panel for an automobile according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIGS. Fig. 5 is an explanatory diagram showing the implementation procedure of the method of the present invention, Fig. 6 shows the state in which electrical equipment is assembled to the automobile resin instrument panel obtained by the procedure, and the main part enlarged view of Fig. 2 is shown. FIG. 3 is a corresponding cross-sectional view. 10... Instrument panel, 12... Resin foam, 16...
Skin, 18... Duct, 20... Flexible printed wiring board, 22... Lead wire, 24... Connector, 2
6...Hollow body, 26a...Handled with stopper projection, 2[).
... End wall, 26c... Positioning recess, 28... Opening, 30... Annular support piece, 32... Electrical equipment, 32a
...The enemy is the stop protrusion, 34...male mold, 36...recess, 38...exhaust hole, 40...female mold, 42...
Raised portion, 44... positioning protrusion.

Claims (3)

[Claims] (1) In a vehicle interior body that uses a resin foam as a base material and covers a part of the surface of the resin foam with a skin, and is used with electrical equipment attached, the resin foam is formed on the side where the skin is not present. A flexible printed wiring board integrated along the surface of the body, a plurality of connectors coupled to the flexible printed wiring board, embedded in a resin foam to house the connectors therein, 1. An interior body for a vehicle, comprising: a hollow body made of a hard material for receiving electrical equipment and having an opening that matches an opening formed in a skin. (2) In a method of manufacturing a vehicle interior body, which is made of a resin foam as a base material and whose surface is covered with a skin, and which is used with electrical equipment attached, A flexible printed wiring board assembly is provided, in which a plurality of connectors are connected in advance to a flexible printed wiring board, and the connectors are housed inside a closed hollow body made of a hard insulating material. The end wall of the hollow body made of a hard insulating material is brought into contact with the skin, the flexible printed wiring board is placed along the inner wall of the mold, and the mold is closed. A resin foam material is injected into the mold and foamed, thereby encasing the hollow body made of hard insulating material and forming a resin foam that is integrally bonded to the skin and the flexible printed wiring board. 1. A method for producing a vehicle interior body, which comprises demolding the integrally molded product, and then forming openings in the end wall of a hollow body made of a hard insulating material that is in contact with the skin and in the skin that is in contact with the end wall. (3) The end wall of the hollow body made of a hard insulating material and the inner wall of the mold that faces this through the skin are formed with positioning recesses or projections that fit into each other through the skin. , a patent characterized in that during post-processing of the obtained integrally molded product, openings are formed in the end wall and skin of the hollow body made of a hard insulating material so that the positioning recesses or protrusions are removed. A method for manufacturing a vehicle interior body according to claim 2.