WO2019084905A1

WO2019084905A1 - Expandable seal for rear lamp area

Info

Publication number: WO2019084905A1
Application number: PCT/CN2017/109276
Authority: WO
Inventors: Wenying ZHAO; Guohui Hu; Bing Li; Bo Zhang; Francois Petit
Original assignee: Psa Automobiles Sa
Priority date: 2017-11-03
Filing date: 2017-11-03
Publication date: 2019-05-09

Abstract

A bodywork (1) of a vehicle comprises a rear fender (3) disposed on each lateral side and a wall (5) forming a cavity for receiving a rear lamp, and which is adjacent to the rear fender (3), said wall (5) comprises an edge (9) adhered by a seal (11) to a corresponding edge (13) of the fender (3). The seal (11) is moreover an expandable seal (11) comprising expandable material (15) carried by a support (17), and extending along and between the edge (9) of the wall (5) and the corresponding edge (13) of the fender (3).

Description

EXPANDABLE SEAL FOR REAR LAMP AREA

TECHNICAL FIELD

The invention is directed to the field of the bodywork, and more particularly to the bodywork parts concerning the rear lamp area of an automotive vehicle.

BACKGROUND

Beside the fact that the bodywork of a vehicle is composed of many parts welded together, some areas of the bodywork are more likely affected by the entry of rainwater. This is particularly the case of the rear lamp housings which are located at the level of the trunk rear gutters and the rear fenders, and are usually formed by several metallic walls assembled by electric weld spots.

In this regard, figures 1 and 2 illustrate a perspective view and a cross-sectional view of a right rear lamp housing 2, respectively. In this case on figure 1, the rear lamp housing 2 comprises only one wall 5 forming a cavity for installing a light device (not shown) . This cavity is located near to the trunk opening 4 and is surrounded by the right rain gutter 6 and the right rear fender 3.

Although the assembly by spot welding is strong and efficient, this technique is often used for bodywork parts which are not visible and easily accessible as well for accommodating the electrodes of the welder. For this reason in particular, the assembly of the edges of the rear lamp housings on the edges of the rear fenders and the rear gutters is more often performed with welding tapes and glue. Figure 2 shows particularly the assembly with welding tape and glue 8 of the upper and lower edges 9 of the wall 5 of a right rear lamp housing2 on the edges 13 of the corresponding rear fender 3. Despite the fact that this method contributes to maintain the aesthetic of the bodywork 1, the use of welding tape and glue 8 can be tricky. Indeed, as the glue extends when the temperature increases, its expansion proves generally difficult to control and consequently causes bad painting applications. Moreover, in addition to the additional operator costs, this way of sealing does not provide a satisfactory water proofness.

Prior art document published FR 2 918 014 A1 discloses a rear lamp housing which comprises in its superior part a sealing plate with an expandable seal. One side of the sealing plate is attached to the wall of the rear lamp housing by clipping, and the other sides, connected to the rear fender, are coated with an expandable material and in contact with sealing beads. Although this device improves the water proofness of the rear lamp housings, its function is limited to the upper part of the rear lamp housing and not to all the surrounding of the rear lamp housing. Moreover, this system has the disadvantage to be complex and still time consuming to implement.

SUMMARY

The invention has for technical problem to overcome at least one of the drawbacks of the above cited prior art. More specifically, the invention has for technical problem to provide a simple and efficient solution to prevent the entry of rainwater inside of the rear lamp housings and the trunk as well.

The invention is directed to a bodywork of a vehicle, comprising: a rear fender on each lateral side; a wall forming a cavity for receiving a rear lamp, on each lateral side and adjacent to the rear fender, said wall comprising an edge adhered by a seal to a corresponding edge of the fender; wherein the seal is an expandable seal comprising expandable material carried by a support, and extending along and between the edge of the wall and the corresponding edge of the fender.

According to a preferred embodiment, the support of the expandable seal is attached by mechanical engagement to one of the edge of the wall and the corresponding edge of the fender.

According to a preferred embodiment, the expandable material extends transversely from one side to the other side of the support, over said support.

According to a preferred embodiment, the support comprises an elongated body and at least one portion extending transversely from said body and forming an expansion limiting surface that limits expansion of the expandable material.

According to a preferred embodiment, the edge of the wall comprises a folded end strip portion of said wall and a fold edge, the at least one expansion limiting surface extending along said fold edge.

According to a preferred embodiment, the at least one expansion limiting surface is located adjacent to a corner of the wall and of the fender, said corner being adjacent a trunk opening between the two cavities and the two fenders.

The invention is also directed to an expandable seal comprising an expandable material; wherein said expandable seal further comprises an elongated support carrying the expandable material, said support comprising fastening means.

According to a preferred embodiment, the elongated support comprises an elongated body, the fastening means comprising holes formed in said body, for receiving pin-shaped fasteners.

According to a preferred embodiment, the expandable seal further comprising studs extending from the elongated body and embedded by the expandable material.

According to a preferred embodiment, the expandable seal further comprising at least one portion extending transversely from said body and forming an expansion limiting surface that limits expansion of the expandable material.

The invention is interesting in that it provides a simple device to prevent the entry of rainwater inside the rear lamp housing, and this device is all the more interesting that it can also be applied to any other bodywork parts. The expandable seal of this invention is actually an economical system which is easy to carry out and therefore not time consuming. Moreover, this invention is particularly interesting in that it enhances the water proofness of the bodywork while improving the NVH (Noise, Vibration, Harshness) performance.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Other features and advantages of the present invention will be readily understood from the following details description and drawings among them:

Figure 1 shows a perspective view of a right rear lamp housing according to the prior art.

Figure 2 illustrates a cross-section view of the figure 1.

Figure 3 is a perspective view and at the back of a right rear lamp housing which comprises an expandable seal according to the invention.

Figure 4 and 5 illustrate each an enlarged and perspective view of the expandable seal which is attached along the edge of the wall of a rear lamp housing.

Figure 6 shows a view from below of the expandable seal of figures 3 to 5.

Figure 7 shows a view from above of the expandable seal of figures 3 to 5.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Figures 1 and 2 have been already described above in relation with the prior art.

Figure 3 is a perspective view and at the back of a right rear lamp housing 2 which comprises an expandable seal 11 according to the invention. This bodywork 1 area comprises on the lateral side a rear fender (not shown) and a wall 5 which forms a cavity adjacent to the rear fender 3. The wall 5 of the cavity is designed to receive a rear lamp (not shown) and, it comprises an edge 9 which is adhered by an expandable seal 11 to an edge of the right rear fender (not shown) . Actually, this expandable seal 11 comprises two elements, a support 17 and expandable material 15 which is carried by the support 17 and extends transversely from one side to the other side of this last one and over.

In practice, the expandable seal 11 is designed to extend along and between the edge 9 of the wall 5 of the rear lamp housing 2 and an edge 13 of the rear fender 3. However, in the interest of clarity, the edge 13 of the rear fender 3 has not been shown in this case on the figure 3. Only the upper face of the expandable seal 11 can be observed, namely the face covered by expandable material 15.

Concerning the support 17 of the expandable seal 11, this part is formed in fact by an elongated body and its attachment to one edge 9 of the wall 5 of the rear lamp housing 2 and the corresponding edge 13 of the fender 3 is realized by mechanical engagement, as a result the expandable material 15 of the seal 11 can thus easily extends. Advantageously, the body of the support 17 comprises also at least one portion which extends transversely to form an expansion limiting surface 19 whose the function is to control the expansion of the expandable material15 of the seal 11.

Figures 4 and 5 illustrate each an enlarged view of the expandable seal 11 of the figure 3. On figure 4 in this case, we can clearly observe that the edge 9 of the wall5 of the rear lamp housing 2, on which the expandable seal 11 is attached, comprises a folded end strip portion21 and a fold edge 23. The support 17 (not visible since below) of the expandable seal 11 comprises on its lower face fastening means 29 which allow this one to be firmly fixed on the folded end strip portion 21 of the wall 5. In this case the fastening means 29 are pin-shaped fasteners 33.

On figure 5, which shows more precisely a view from above of the expandable seal 11, we can see the expansion limiting surface 19 of the support 17 (not visible since below) extending along the fold edge23 the wall 5 of the rear lamp housing 2. In the preferred embodiment of the invention (see figure 2) , there is only one expansion limiting surface 19, adjacent to a corner 25 of the wall 5 of the rear lamp housing 2 and of the corresponding rear fender 3. Actually, this corner 25 defines an area which is difficult to access and thus to water protect, since this corner 25 is also adjacent to the trunk opening 4 (not visible on the figure 4, see figure 1) of the vehicle. The function of the expansion limiting surface 19 of the support17 is to specifically limit the extension of expandable material 15 in the corner25 and like that avoided that it extends over the fold edge 23 of the wall 5 of the rear lamp housing 2. Obviously, according to the geometry of the edge 9 of the wall 5 of the rear lamp housing 2 on which the expandable seal 11 is attached and as well as the geometry of the fender 3, the support 17 can also comprise more than one expansion limiting surface 19.

Figures 6 and 7 are views from below and above of the expandable seal 11 according to the preferred embodiment of the invention, respectively. This expandable seal 11 comprises a support 17 and expandable material15 which extends transversely from one side to the other side of the support 17, and over as well.

Figure 6 shows that the support 17 is constituted by an elongated body which comprises fastening means 29 with holes 31 (not shown) being designed to receive pin-shaped fasteners33 which permit to pre-maintain and attached the expandable seal 11 on the edge 9 of the wall 5 of the rear lamp housing 2 (see figures 3, 4 et 5) before the implementation of the rear fender 3 (not shown) . This support 17 further comprises at one of its end an expansion limiting surface 19. This expansion limiting surface 19 is in fact a portion of the support 17 which extends transversely from the body of the support 17 and which has for effect to limit or control the expandable material 15.

In figure 7, the expandable seal 11 is shown from its upper face. The expandable material 15 extends from one side to the other side of the support17 and is maintained on the support 17 by studs 35 which are embedded by the expandable material 15. In the opposite of the figure 6, the figure 7 shows the holes 31 of the fastening means 29 formed in the support 17 and in which pin-shaped fasteners 33 are introduced.

Advantageously, the support 17 less flexible than the expandable material 15is based on polyamide 66 with no expanding ratio while the expandable material 15 is based on EVA (ethylene vinyl-acetate) , known as expanded rubber or foam rubber, with an expanding ratio of approximately 1400%to 2300%. However, both are realized by double injection molding.

Once synthesized, the expandable material 15 is pre-maintained on the support 17 with studs 35, and pin-shaped fasteners 33 are then used to fix the expandable seal 11 on the edge 9 of the wall 5 of each rear lamp housing 2. These steps are performed during the mounting of the bodywork 1 (see the figure 3) , and consequently at the same time than the mounting of the rear fenders 3 on the rear lamp housings 2. As the expandable material 15 is a thermoplastic material, upon heat it will expand naturally along and between the edge 9 of the wall 5 of each rear lamp housing 2 and the corresponding edge 13 of the fender 3. In this way, it results that the sealing is improved and water is prevented to penetrate since all the spaces are occupied by the expanded material 15.

Generally, the present invention is interesting in that the expandable seal presents the advantage to be simple and economical to implement, and moreover easily adaptable in size and in form to be used to other parts of the bodywork which present a low water proofness and need also to have a good exterior appearance.

Claims

Bodywork (1) of a vehicle, comprising:

a rear fender (3) on each lateral side;

a wall (5) forming a cavity for receiving a rear lamp, on each lateral side and adjacent to the rear fender (3) , said wall (5) comprising an edge (9) adhered by a seal (11) to a corresponding edge (13) of the fender (3) ;

characterized in that

the seal (11) is an expandable seal (11) comprising expandable material (15) carried by a support (17) , and extending along and between the edge (9) of the wall (5) and the corresponding edge (13) of the fender (3) .
Bodywork (1) according to claim 1, wherein the support (17) of the expandable seal (11) is attached by mechanical engagement to one of the edge (9) of the wall (5) and the corresponding edge (13) of the fender (3) .
Bodywork (1) according to one of claims 1 and 2, wherein the expandable material (15) extends transversely from one side to the other side of the support (17) , over said support (17) .
Bodywork (1) according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the support (17) comprises an elongated body and at least one portion extending transversely from said body and forming an expansion limiting surface (19) that limits expansion of the expandable material (15) .
Bodywork (1) according to claim 4, wherein the edge (9) of the wall (5) comprises a folded end strip portion (21) of said wall (5) and a fold edge (23) , the at least one expansion limiting surface (19) extending along said fold edge (23) .
Bodywork (1) according to one of claims 4 and 5, wherein the at least one expansion limiting surface (19) is located adjacent to a corner (25) of the wall (5) and of the fender (3) , said corner (25) being adjacent a trunk opening (4) between the two cavities and the two fenders (3) .
Expandable seal (11) comprising an expandable material (15) ;

characterized in that

said expandable seal (11) further comprises an elongated support (17) carrying the expandable material (15) , said support (17) comprising fastening means (29) .
Expandable seal (11) according to claim 7, wherein the elongated support (17) comprises an elongated body, the fastening means (29) comprising holes (31) formed in said body, for receiving pin-shaped fasteners (33) .
Expandable seal (11) according to claim 8, further comprising studs (35) extending from the elongated body and embedded by the expandable material (15) .
Expandable seal (11) according to one of claims 8 and 9, further comprising at least one portion extending transversely from said body and forming an expansion limiting surface (19) that limits expansion of the expandable material (15) .