Bumper strip for vehicle and manufacturing method thereof

Abstract

A bumper strip for a vehicle may include an upper surface portion forming an upper surface, a rear surface portion downwardly extending from the rear end portion of the upper surface portion and accommodated on a hood seating portion of the bumper, a matching portion cover of a shape extending in the rearward and downward directions from the rear surface portion, and a side surface portion forming a side surface, and wherein the upper surface portion, the rear surface portion, the matching portion cover and the side surface portion are integrally formed.

Claims

1. A bumper strip for a vehicle, the bumper strip comprising: an upper surface portion forming an upper surface of the bumper strip; a rear surface portion downwardly extending from a rear end portion of the upper surface portion, wherein the rear surface portion is configured to be accommodated on a hood seating portion of a bumper; a matching portion cover extending in rearward and downward directions from the rear surface portion; a side surface portion forming a side surface of the bumper strip; and a hook supporting portion for accommodating an assemble hook to be coupled to the hood seating portion, wherein the hook supporting portion is formed in plural according to a number of the assemble hook and the respective hook supporting portions are spaced apart from each other, wherein the assemble hook includes an assemble guide integrally extending in a predetermined length from a lower surface of the hook supporting portion so as to be easily inserted into a hole formed in the bumper, and wherein the upper surface portion, the rear surface portion, the matching portion cover and the side surface portion, and the hook supporting portion are integrally formed in one piece.

2. The bumper strip for the vehicle of claim 1, wherein the hook supporting portion extends from a front end portion of the upper surface portion to the rear surface portion in the bumper strip, and wherein the hook supporting portion is configured to form a closed cross-section with the upper surface portion and the rear surface portion.

3. The bumper strip for the vehicle of claim 2, wherein the hook supporting portion has a shape corresponding to a shape of the hook seating portion of the bumper.

4. The bumper strip for the vehicle of claim 2, wherein the assemble hook downwardly extends from a lower surface of the hook supporting portion; and wherein the assemble hook and the assemble guide are integrally formed with the hook supporting portion.

5. The bumper strip for the vehicle of claim 4, wherein the assemble hook further includes: a penetrating portion configured for passing through a hook insertion hole of the hood seating portion; and a hanging portion extending from the penetrating portion and having a diameter larger than a diameter of the penetrating portion and decreasing in a diameter toward a lower portion thereof, wherein the assemble guide protrudes from the hanging portion.

6. The bumper strip for the vehicle of claim 5, wherein a diameter of the assemble guide is smaller than the diameter of the penetrating portion.

7. The bumper strip for the vehicle of claim 5, wherein the hanging portion is formed in a shape of a cone.

8. The bumper strip for the vehicle of claim 7, wherein the hanging portion is partially formed on an external surface of the penetrating portion.

9. The bumper strip for the vehicle of claim 2, further including: a bumper inserting portion downwardly extending from a lower surface of the hook supporting portion and having a flange, wherein the flange of the bumper inserting portion is configured to be inserted into a groove of the hood seating portion of the bumper.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

(1) FIG. 1 and FIG. 2 show a manufacturing process of a conventional bumper strip;

(2) FIG. 3 and FIG. 4 show a portion of the bumper strip by an exemplary embodiment of the present invention;

(3) FIG. 5 shows a portion of the frontal shape of the bumper strip by the exemplary embodiment of the present invention;

(4) FIG. 6 shows a cross-sectional view taken along line A-A in FIG. 5;

(5) FIG. 7 shows a cross-sectional view taken along line B-B in FIG. 5;

(6) FIG. 8 and FIG. 9 show the manufacturing method of the bumper strip as an exemplary embodiment of the present invention; and

(7) FIG. 10 shows a cross-sectional shape of the bumper strip by another exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

(8) It may be understood that the appended drawings are not necessarily to scale, presenting a somewhat simplified representation of various features illustrative of the basic principles of the present invention. The specific design features of the present invention as included herein, including, for example, specific dimensions, orientations, locations, and shapes will be determined in part by the particularly intended application and use environment.

(9) In the figures, reference numbers refer to the same or equivalent parts of the present invention throughout the several figures of the drawing.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

(10) Reference will now be made in detail to various embodiments of the present invention(s), examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings and described below. While the present invention(s) will be described in conjunction with exemplary embodiments of the present invention, it will be understood that the present description is not intended to limit the present invention(s) to those exemplary embodiments. On the other hand, the present invention(s) is/are intended to cover not only the exemplary embodiments of the present invention, but also various alternatives, modifications, equivalents and other embodiments, which may be included within the spirit and scope of the present invention as defined by the appended claims.

(11) To fully understand the present invention, the operational advantages of the present invention, and the objects attained by the practice of the present invention, reference may be made to the appended drawings illustrating the exemplary embodiments of the disclosure and the description in the accompanying drawings.

(12) In describing an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, known techniques or repetitive descriptions which may unnecessarily obscure the essence of the present invention would either reduce or omit the description thereof.

(13) FIG. 3 and FIG. 4 show a portion of the bumper strip by an exemplary embodiment of the present invention; and FIG. 5 shows a portion of the frontal shape of the bumper strip by the exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

(14) Hereinafter, referring to FIG. 3 to FIG. 5, a bumper strip according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention will be described.

(15) The bumper strip for the vehicle as an exemplary embodiment of the present invention is to be mounted on a bumper 10 of the vehicle to fill the gap between the bumper 10 and a hood 20, and to prevent being stabbed by impact when the hood 20 is closed.

(16) The bumper strip may include an upper surface portion 110 exposed from the upper end portion of the bumper 10 to form an upper surface, a rear surface portion 120 accommodated on a hood seating portion 11 of the bumper 10 to downwardly extend from the rear end portion of the upper surface portion 110, a matching portion cover 130 of a shape of extending in the rearward and downward directions from the rear surface portion 120, and side surface portions 150 forming both sides surfaces.

(17) Herein, the direction of the upper, lower, and back sides corresponds to the direction based on the front of the vehicle.

(18) Since these parts of the bumper strip are integrally formed by the injection type rubber and should correspond to the end portion shape of bumper 10, the bumper strip has a curved shape with the center being higher than the side and is formed in a shape curved to the rear of the vehicle from the center toward the side thereof.

(19) Furthermore, for joining to bumper 10, a hook supporting portion 140 may be formed as referenced in FIG. 5 and FIG. 6.

(20) The hook supporting portion 140 may be a portion that is seated in contact with the hood seating portion 11 of the bumper 10.

(21) The hood seating portion 11 may be rounded from the upper end portion of the bumper 10 in the downward and rearward directions, and then extends in a flat shape.

(22) The hook supporting portion 140 may be rounded in the downward and reward directions from the front end portion of the upper surface portion 110 to correspond to the curved surface of the hood seating portion 11 to correspond to the shape of the hood seating portion 11, and then extending to the rear surface portion 120 to have a flat shape to form a closed cross-section.

(23) The hook supporting portion 140 may be for a hook accommodated and assembled in the hood seating portion 11, so it is formed only as a partial according to the number of assemble hooks. As shown in FIG. 7, the portion where the hook supporting portion 140 is not formed does not form the closed cross-section.

(24) Furthermore, an assemble hook 160 downwardly extending from the lower surface of the hook supporting portion 140 is formed and inserted into a hook insertion hole formed in the hood seating portion 11.

(25) The assemble hook 160 may include a penetrating portion 161 passing through the hook insertion hole and a hanging portion 162 having a diameter larger than the diameter of the penetrating portion 161 and decreasing in a diameter toward the lower portion thereof, and an assemble guide 163 is extended from the hanging portion 162.

(26) The assemble guide 163 may have a diameter smaller than the diameter of the penetrating portion 161 and is configured to easily insert into the hook insertion hole.

(27) The hanging portion 162 is inserted into the bumper by the shape to prevent the assemble hook 160 inserted into and assembled to the bumper from being separated to the upper side thereof.

(28) In an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, the hanging portion 162 is in a shape of cone.

(29) In an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, the hanging portion 162 is partially formed on an external surface of the penetrating portion 161, as shown in FIG. 4

(30) Since the hook supporting portion 140, the assemble hook 160 and the assemble guide 163 are integrally formed by the injection type rubber, the conventional clip assemble and the fusion process of the end portion become unnecessary.

(31) Furthermore, as shown in FIG. 4, the side surface portions 150 also may have a bottom surface shape such as the hook supporting portion 140 for assemble workability and coupling strength, and the assemble hook 160 and assemble guide 163 can also be formed on the bottom surface of these side surface portions 150.

(32) FIG. 8 and FIG. 9 show the manufacturing method of the bumper strip according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention. Referring to these drawings, the manufacturing method of the bumper strip as an exemplary embodiment of the present invention will be described.

(33) A manufacturing method by an exemplary embodiment of the present invention is to integrally injection-mold the bumper strip having the upper surface portion, rear surface portion, matching portion cover, hook supporting portion, and side surface portions described above with rubber material, and the description of the configuration for general injection molding will be omitted here.

(34) The manufacturing method the present invention differs from the conventional manufacturing method of forming the main strip by extruded rubber and manually assembling the assemble means and fusing the end portions.

(35) Therefore, it is possible to omit the additional processing of the assemble means such as hooks or the process of additional welding, reducing the material cost and simplifying the process.

(36) An upper mold and a lower mold corresponding to the shape of the upper surface portion, the rear surface portion, the matching portion cover, the hook supporting portion, and the side surface portions are manufactured, and the upper mold and the lower mold are assembled and rubber resin is injected to manufacture the bumper strip shape.

(37) Furthermore, after assembling the mold for the shape of the hook supporting portion, assemble hook, assemble guide and side surface portions formed on the bottom surface, the injection is proceeded by inserting a slide core S1.

(38) The slide core S1 of FIG. 8 is a slide core S1 having a core shape matching the shape of the hook supporting portion 140, the assemble hook 160 including the penetrating portion 161 and the hanging portion 162, and the assemble guide 163.

(39) Furthermore, the slide core S2 of FIG. 9 has a core shape matching the shape of the assemble hook 160 and assemble guide formed at the lower end portion of the side surface portions 150 and the side surface portions 150.

(40) Thus, the bumper strip manufacturing method of the present invention makes it possible to simplify the process and saving the material cost by integrally forming the shape of the bumper strip by the injection rubber.

(41) Additionally, FIG. 10 shows the cross-sectional shape of the bumper strip by another exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

(42) The bumper strip 200 by another exemplary embodiment of FIG. 10 differs from the preceding exemplary embodiment only in assemble means such as an assemble hook.

(43) The difference in shape is as shown, and the difference in manufacturing is that the shape of bumper strip 200 is formed by insert injection in manufacturing bumper 10.

(44) Accordingly, the shape of the assemble guide for the assemble is not required, and the shape of the bumper inserting portion 260 only needs a shape of a flange 265 having a protruding circumference to prevent the bumper strip from being detached after manufacturing, so that the lower portion may be implemented as a radially extending shape than the upper portion.

(45) In an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, the hood seating portion 11 of the bumper 10 may include a groove 410 to which the flange 265 of the bumper inserting portion 260 may be seated therein.

(46) In an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, the flange 265 of the bumper inserting portion 260 may be made of elastic material such as rubber.

(47) For convenience in explanation and accurate definition in the appended claims, the terms “upper”, “lower”, “inner”, “outer”, “up”, “down”, “upper”, “lower”, “upwards”, “downwards”, “front”, “rear”, “back”, “inside”, “outside”, “inwardly”, “outwardly”, “internal”, “external”, “inner”, “outer”, “forwards”, and “backwards” are used to describe features of the exemplary embodiments with reference to the positions of such features as displayed in the figures.

(48) The foregoing descriptions of specific exemplary embodiments of the present invention have been presented for purposes of illustration and description. They are not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the present invention to the precise forms disclosed, and obviously many modifications and variations are possible in light of the above teachings. The exemplary embodiments were chosen and described to explain certain principles of the present invention and their practical application, to enable others skilled in the art to make and utilize various exemplary embodiments of the present invention, as well as various alternatives and modifications thereof. It is intended that the scope of the present invention be defined by the Claims appended hereto and their equivalents.