Structural Component

Abstract

A structural component made of a plastics material for a skin of a body of a motor vehicle has a separating line that separates the structural component into an inner region and an outer region. The inner region has three-dimensional regions having reduced material thickness for defined pivotability with a reduced force requirement. The design means that a significantly lower force requirement is needed for opening or closing the inner region.

Claims

1.-10. (canceled)

11. A structural component, comprising: a plastic structural component configured for an outer skin of a body of a motor vehicle, wherein the structural component has a separation joint which separates the structural component into an inner region and an outer region, and the inner region includes three-dimensional regions having a reduced material thickness in order to provide a defined pivotability with a reduced application of force.

12. The structural component according to claim 11, further comprising: an actuator by which the inner region is reversibly pivotable.

13. The structural component according to claim 11, wherein the reduced material thickness is between 10% and 90% of an overall material thickness of the structural component.

14. The structural component according to claim 11, wherein the reduced material thickness is between 10% and 60% of an overall material thickness of the structural component.

15. The structural component according to claim 12, wherein the inner region is pivotable by the actuator between 0° and 100° with respect to a positionally fixed structural component.

16. The structural component according to claim 11, wherein the structural component is an injection-molded component or a deep-drawn component.

17. The structural component according to claim 11, wherein the structural component is a thermoplastic plastics material component.

18. The structural component according to claim 12, wherein the actuator is an electromechanical, hydraulic or pneumatic actuator.

19. The structural component according to claim 11, wherein the structural component is at least a portion of a bumper trim of the motor vehicle.

20. The structural component according to claim 11, wherein the inner region is an air inlet.

21. The structural component according to claim 13, wherein the overall material thickness of the structural component is between 1 mm and 6 mm.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0029] FIG. 1 is a plan view of a motor vehicle according to an embodiment of the invention with a closed inner region.

[0030] FIG. 2 is a plan view of the motor vehicle according to the embodiment of the invention with an open inner region.

[0031] FIG. 3 shows a section through a front end of a motor vehicle with an exemplary structural component according to the invention.

[0032] FIG. 4a shows a first embodiment.

[0033] FIG. 4b shows a second embodiment.

[0034] FIG. 4c shows a third embodiment.

[0035] FIG. 5a shows a structural component according to the prior art.

[0036] FIG. 5b shows the structural component according to an embodiment of the invention.

[0037] The same reference numerals are used below in FIGS. 1 to 5b for the same structural elements.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0038] FIG. 1 shows a plan view of a motor vehicle 2. The motor vehicle 2 has a structural component 1 which, in the present embodiment, constitutes a bumper trim of the motor vehicle 2. The structural component 1 has a separation joint 3 which divides the structural component into an inner region 4 and an outer region 5. In FIG. 1, the inner region 4 is closed, this means that the structural component 1 appears as a single structural component 1 to an observer.

[0039] The structural component 1 is made of plastics material, in particular a thermoplastic plastics material as illustrated in the introduction, in this embodiment for an outer skin of a body of the motor vehicle 2. The inner region 4 and the adjacent outer region 5 have, for a defined pivotability of the inner region 4 with a reduced application of force, three-dimensional regions having a reduced material thickness 6. Three examples of this are illustrated in FIGS. 4a, 4b and 4c.

[0040] FIG. 2 shows the motor vehicle 2 from FIG. 1 again, but in this instance the inner region 4 is pivoted so that an air inlet in the bumper trim is thereby illustrated.

[0041] FIG. 3 shows a section through a front end of the motor vehicle 2 with the structural component 1. The inner region 4 which can be folded in is partially illustrated with a thinner wall thickness, the reduced material thickness 6, than the remainder of the structural component 1. An arrow which points from FIG. 3 to FIG. 2 shows an engagement location 8 for an actuator 7. The actuator 7 is, for example, pivotably supported in the region of an electrically actuatable motor 9. If the motor 9 is electrically controlled, the actuator 7 pulls the inner region 4 of the structural component 1 away inwardly and upwardly. The pivoted situation, as also illustrated in FIG. 2, is illustrated with broken lines in FIG. 3. It can be clearly seen how the actuator 7 is moved from an inclined position into a vertical position and in this instance via the actuator engagement location 8 folds the inner region 4 of the structural component 1 away inwardly and upwardly or opens it.

[0042] According to the invention, the structural component 1 has the separation joint 3 which separates the structural component 1 into the inner region 4 and the outer region 5, wherein the inner region 4 has, for a defined pivotability with a reduced application of force, three-dimensional regions having a reduced material thickness 6. The regions of the reduced material thickness 6 are illustrated in FIGS. 4a to 4c.

[0043] Preferably, the reduced material thickness 6 has between 10% and 90%, in particular between 10% and 60%, of the complete or maximum material thickness of the structural component 1. Furthermore, the inner region 4 can be pivoted by the actuator 7 between 0° and 100° with respect to the positionally fixed structural component 1.

[0044] Preferably, the structural component 1 is an injection-molded component or a deep-drawn component, wherein it is preferably produced from a thermoplastic plastics material.

[0045] Furthermore, the actuator 7 is preferably an electromechanical, hydraulic or pneumatic actuator, wherein for an electromechanical actuator, for example, a spindle drive can be provided.

[0046] In a particularly preferred manner, the structural component 1 is at least a portion of a bumper trim of the motor vehicle 2, as illustrated in the present embodiment. Furthermore, the inner region 4 is preferably an air inlet, as could be required for a temperature control of a unit which is arranged behind the structural component 1.

[0047] The structural component 1 preferably has a whole material thickness between 1 mm and 6 mm since the best results with respect to the deformation behavior have hereby been achieved in practical tests.

[0048] In FIGS. 4a to 4c, an inner region 4 of the structural component 1 is illustrated in each case, wherein the bottom edge from FIGS. 1 to 3 is illustrated in FIGS. 4a to 4c at the top (rotated through 180°). The regions of the reduced material thickness 6 are illustrated in each case in FIGS. 4a to 4c.

[0049] In this instance, in FIG. 4a M=95, the reduced material thickness 6 corresponds to 95% of the maximum wall thickness. In FIG. 4a, it can be seen that the actuator 7 with a material reduction of 5% has to apply a force of 28 N in order to pivot the inner region 4 of the structural component 1.

[0050] FIG. 4b again shows the same inner region 4 as FIG. 4a, but the reduced material thickness 6 is 90% of the maximum wall thickness. This results in a resultant force which has to be applied by the actuator 7 of 24 N, that is to say, less than in FIG. 4a.

[0051] FIG. 4c again shows the same inner region 4 as FIG. 4a and FIG. 4b, but the reduced material thickness 6 is now 85% of the maximum wall thickness.

[0052] This results in a resultant force which has to be applied by the actuator 7 of 19 N, that is to say, significantly less than in FIG. 4a.

[0053] FIG. 5a shows a plan view of the structural component 1. The inner region of the structural component 1 is in turn designated 4 and the outer region is designated 5. The separation joint is again designated 3. The actuator engagement location 8 shows the engagement location of the actuator 7 again. The resulting force in the structural component 1 is illustrated in a state distributed over circles. In FIG. 5a, the entire structural component 1 has the maximum material thickness, resulting in a force which has to be applied by the actuator 7 of 364 N in order to pull up or pivot the inner region 4.

[0054] FIG. 5b shows the structural component 1 of FIG. 5a again, but with the reduced material thickness 6 according to the invention. It can be clearly seen that the actuator 7 now with a significantly reduced force of 19 N is in a position to pull up or to pivot the inner region 4.

[0055] The present invention consequently relates to a large number of structural components 1, which have regions with different wall thicknesses and which as a result of local wall thickness changes have defined deformation possibilities. In particular, the regions with a reduced wall thickness do not constitute linear elements, but instead a free-form geometry which is adapted to the surface geometry.

LIST OF REFERENCE NUMERALS

[0056] 1 Structural component [0057] 2 Motor vehicle [0058] 3 Separation joint [0059] 4 Inner region [0060] 5 Outer region [0061] 6 Reduced material thickness [0062] 7 Actuator [0063] 8 Actuator engagement location [0064] 9 Motor