MOLDED GLASS TRIM ELEMENT FOR VEHICLE

Abstract

A method for manufacturing a molded vehicle trim element including the following steps: (i) providing a carrier plate in a mold for injection molding including a mobile core of the mold and cavity of the mold to give the final shape of the vehicle trim element, (ii) providing a glass panel in the mold having at least a first region to be bent, (iii) cold bending the glass panel inside the mold in a requested shape, (iv) injecting a soft material to form the vehicle trim element made of bent carrier plate and glass panel fixed together via the molding material, and (v) removing the vehicle trim element from the mold.

Claims

1. A method for manufacturing a molded vehicle trim element, the method comprising: providing a carrier plate in a mold for injection molding comprising a mobile core of the mold and cavity of the mold to give a final shape of the vehicle trim element, providing a glass panel in the mold having at least a first region to be bent, cold bending the glass panel inside the mold in a requested shape, injecting a soft material to form the vehicle trim element made of bent carrier plate and glass panel fixed together via the molding material, removing the vehicle trim element from the mold.

2. The method for manufacturing a molded vehicle trim element according to claim 1, wherein the vehicle trim element is a vehicle interior trim element.

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein the glass panel has a second region to be bent.

4. The method according to claim 1, wherein the carrier plate comprises an opening.

5. The method according to claim 1, wherein the mold comprises a mobile core and/or a cavity further comprising means to cold bend at least a first region and a second region of the carrier plate and/or at least a first region and a second region of the glass panel.

6. The method according to claim 5, wherein the mobile core further comprises a second mobile part.

7. The method according to claim 1, wherein the cavity of the mold comprises a fixed part and a mobile part further comprising means to maintain the glass panel.

8. The method according to claim 1, wherein the carrier plate is made of a thermoplastic material or metallic material.

9. The method according to claim 8, wherein the carrier plate is made of a material selected from the group consisting of polybutylene terephthalate, polycarbonate-acrylonitrile butadiene styrene, polyamide PA6, polyamide copolymer PA66, polyoxymethylene, polypropylene, thermoplastic elastomers, and a thermosets material, epoxies with or without fillers.

10. The method according to claim 1, wherein the glass panel is provided with a primer.

11. The method according to claim 1, wherein the soft material is selected from the group consisting of thermoplastic elastomer, Polyurethane, soft PVC, and silicone

12. A vehicle interior and/or exterior trim element manufactured by the method according to claim 1.

13. A bending mold comprising: a mold having a mobile core and a fix cavity, the mobile core and/or the fix cavity being designed to cold bend a glass panel, and an injection unit to inject a soft material.

14. The bending mold according to claim 13, wherein the mobile core is adapted to receive a carrier plate on which the glass panel will be fixed thanks to the soft material injected from injection units.

15. The method according to claim 1, wherein the glass panel is provided with a primer with a silane component.

16. The bending mold according to claim 14, wherein the injection unit it provided in the cavity of the mold.

17. The method according to claim 9, wherein the thermosets material is polyurethane.

18. The method according to claim 7, wherein the means to maintain the glass panel is a suction cup.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0079] Exemplary embodiments will be described in conjunction with the following figures.

[0080] FIG. 1 shows a sectional view of the 2K injection mold according to one embodiment of the present invention after injection of the carrier plate,

[0081] FIG. 2 shows a sectional view of the injection mold according to one embodiment of the present invention before bending the glass panel and in open position,

[0082] FIG. 3 shows a sectional view of the injection mold according to one embodiment of the present invention after bending a first region of the glass panel by closing of the mold,

[0083] FIG. 4 shows a sectional view of the injection mold according to one embodiment of the present invention after bending the second region of the glass panel, by use of mechanical mean integrated to the fix side of the mold,

[0084] FIG. 5a and FIG. 5b shows a sectional view of the injection mold according to one embodiment of the present invention after bending a first region and the second region of the glass panel, and injecting the molding material,

[0085] FIG. 6 shows a exploded view of the glass panel and the carrier plate after the cold forming and injection process according to one embodiment of the present invention,

[0086] FIG. 7 shows a sectional view of a vehicle interior trim element according to an embodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0087] Corresponding features shown in FIGS. 1 to 7, thee following figures are denoted using the same reference numerals.

[0088] For avoidance of doubt, the present invention is applicable for all means of transport such as automotive, train, plane . . . .

[0089] The following description is directed to a method for manufacturing a vehicle interior trim element. However, it is applicable to vehicle exterior trim element.

[0090] FIG. 1 illustrates mold to implement the method of the method for manufacturing a molded vehicle interior trim element according to one embodiment of the present invention.

[0091] FIG. 1 illustrates a mold 100 allowing a 2-components (2K) injection molding for manufacturing a vehicle interior trim element 1. The carrier plate 106 is this particular embodiment is formed by mold-injection. The mold 100 comprises a mobile core mold 101 and a cavity mold 102. The mobile core 101 and cavity 102b molds are designed according the final shape requested for the vehicle trim element. The cavity 102b of the mold 100 is used to make the carrier plate 106. The cavity 102b may be one of the side of the mold used to make the carrier plate 106. The mold 100 is provided with a cavity 102 to inject the soft material 120 and shape the glass panel 107, the mobile core 101 changes its position to be faced to the cavity 102. According to one embodiment of the present invention, the carrier plate 106 is made of polypropylene. It is understood that it may be made of another injecting molded material as ABS . . . . Injection mold machine are well-known, the mechanism will not be described here in detail. According to the present invention, the carrier plate 106 may be provided with an opening for example to place within a display. In this particular embodiment, the carrier plate is designed as console or a dashboard for a vehicle. The console trim element may extend between the left and right back seats. The upper trim element may cover the upper part of the center console from the mid part of the center console to part just above the dashboard. This trim element may be substantially flat or with a curvature. Some access to functional parts may be provided through this trim element. The middle part presents a curvature to correctly fit with the design of the center console. The middle part may show an opening to have an access to functional buttons to control for example sound, air conditioning . . . . The opening may be covered by another piece of glass sheet which may be openable, for example by a sliding movement. However, in one other embodiment of the invention, the functional buttons placed into the trim elements may be replaced by touch functions with lead to suppress anesthetic functional buttons which generally protrude from the center console. This trim element in this specific embodiment presents some holes for example storage compartment or for cup holders systems.

[0092] In another embodiment of the invention, the upper trim element extends to the dashboard and integrates a display panel as such a GPS, CD/audio player screen . . . .

[0093] According to one embodiment of the present invention, the mobile core 101 of the mold 100 may comprise a second mobile core 115 to help to handle the glass when the carrier plate 106 is provided with an opening for example for a display. The second mobile core 115 as a mechanical means is provided to give a complex shape (different curvature radius at different regions) to the glass panel. The second mobile core 115 can be piloted by mechanical (spring for example), hydraulic or pneumatics means.

[0094] According to one embodiment of the present invention as shown in FIG. 2, a carrier plate 106 having a shape according the final requested shape of the trim element is provided on the mobile core 101 of the mold 100. The carrier plate 106 may have a first region 110 flat or with a first curvature and a second region 111 with a second curvature. According to this embodiment, the vehicle trim such as dashboard has a complex shape. To cold bend the glass panel 107 to be fixed to the carrier plate 106 to form the vehicle trim element, a glass panel 107 is handled inside the mold 100 by the cavity 103 of the mold 100 thanks for example with vacuum cum 113. Vacuum cup 113 can be used to maintain the glass panel 107 and to fix the glass in its final shape as shown in FIG. 2. Conventional vacuum system, similar to thermoforming vacuum shaping system could be also used to shape the glass accordingly. The cavity 102 is a cavity for the injection of the soft material according to the present invention between the carrier plate 106 and the glass panel 107. According to this embodiment, the mobile core 101 may be provided with a second mobile core 115 as described previously in the case of the carrier plate 106 and the glass panel 107 are provided with an opening. The cavity of the mold 100 may be provided with a mobile core 104 to handle the glass panel and to help to bend the glass panel with a complex shape. The cavity 102 may be provided with a mobile core 104 to bend the glass panel in a second region 117. The second mobile core 104 moves toward the mobile core 101. The mobile core 101 on which the carrier plate 106 is provided moves toward the cavity 102 of the mold 100 to bring the carrier plate 106 in contact with the glass panel 107. The pressure exerted between the mobile core 101 and the cavity 102 allows to cold bend a first region 116 of the glass panel as shown in FIG. 3. The glass panel 107 is fixed to its shape thanks to vacuum cup 113. Then, the mobile 104 of the cavity 102 of the mold 100 goes down toward the mobile core 101 to bend the second region 117 of the glass panel 107 as shown if FIG.4 to give the final shape of the glass panel 107 on the carrier plate 106.

[0095] As shown in FIG. 5b, Once the final shape of the vehicle trim element 1 is done, the soft material 120 is injected between the carrier plate 106 and the glass panel 107 through the injection units 114 provided in the cavity 102 of the mold 100 to fix the vehicle trim element 1. The soft material 120 is for example a thermoplastic elastomer (TPE) or polyurethane or any suitable material for injection molding. The carrier plate may be provided, on its face expected to be in contact with the glass panel, with recess which is filled with the soft material to perform the adhesion/fixation of the glass panel onto the carrier plate

[0096] Once the soft material 120 injected between the glass panel 106 and the carrier plate 106, the mold 100 opens up to release the vehicle trim element 1 as shown in FIG. 5b.

[0097] The FIG. 6 shows an exploded view of the glass panel 106 and the carrier plate 106 before the assembly. The carrier plate 106 comprises a first region 110, a second region 111 and a third region 112. The three region have different radius of curvature determining the complexity of the shape of trim element and more particularly the complexity of the bending of the glass panel 107 with also a first region 116, a second region 117 and a third region 118.

[0098] The FIG. 7 shows a cross section of the vehicle trim element comprising a carrier plate 106 assembled to the glass panel 107 with a soft material 120.

[0099] According the present invention the carrier plate may be made of any material as described above. The glass panel may comprise soda lime and/or aluminosilicate. The glass panel may be chemically and/or thermally strengthened. A thickness of the glass panel may be at least 0.01 mm and/or at most 2 mm. The soft material may be made of any material as described above. The trim element may a simple shape or a complex shape requesting means in the mold to bend the glass panel (a the carrier panel) according different specifications requested by the car maker.

[0100] According to one embodiment of the present invention, the trim or decorative elements may be present in the interior of a motor vehicle and particularly a car, as doors handles contours, door panels, trim elements of the dashboard, back of seats . . . .

[0101] According to another embodiment of the invention, the functional parts may be directly managed from the trims elements thanks to “touch function” providing a touch panel. Thus, the trims elements made of glass sheet may host different functionalities around electronic gadgetry and vehicle control information, connectivity, touch, display and audio. Thus the upper part of the center console may be made of glass sheet in a larger part of the upper part of the center console, without anesthetically buttons to control for example audio control volume and on/off, engine start/stop system, head up display control system, glazing opening, display system control, allows circulation of information display in the car on the different glass panels, control of SMART glazings, etc. According to this embodiment, the touch panel may be curved for improved ergonomics conditions of drivers/passengers (view adaptation and glare related issues). Cavities on trim elements can be processed to provide haptic feedback on a plain glass sheet for easy detection of touch sensors (for safety reason of the driver).

[0102] According to another embodiment of the invention, some lighting means as for example OLED, LED, special glass paint/enamel backing, may be integrated into the center console or on its edges. A polycarbonate plate may be provided behind the glass trim element in order to better diffuse the light.

[0103] In another preferred embodiment of the invention, the trim elements are made in one piece of glass sheet extended from the rear of the console body to the dashboard wherein openings are arranged to provide an access to functional parts. Such openings may be covered by openable piece of glass sheet.