BAFFLE

Abstract

A baffle or reinforcement element for sealing and/or reinforcing a cavity, in particular a cavity of a vehicle, comprising: a carrier plate with a first plate surface and a second plate surface, and at least a first and a second expandable element, in particular expandable foam element, supported by the carrier plate, wherein the first expandable element covers, at least substantially, the entire first plate surface and forms a first outer surface of the baffle or reinforcement element and the second expandable element covers, at least substantially, the entire second plate surface thereby forming a second outer surface of the baffle element.

Claims

1. A baffle or reinforcement element for sealing and/or reinforcing a cavity, comprising: a carrier plate with a first plate surface and a second plate surface, and a first and a second expandable element, supported by the carrier plate, wherein the first expandable element covers, at least substantially, the entire first plate surface and forms a first outer surface of the baffle or reinforcement element and the second expandable element covers, at least substantially, the entire second plate surface and forms a second outer surface of the baffle element.

2. The baffle or reinforcement element of claim 1, wherein the first and/or second expandable element covers at least parts of an edge area of the carrier plate.

3. The baffle or reinforcement element of claim 1, wherein a weight of the first and/or second expandable element per surface area of the carrier plate is more than 0.05 g/cm.sup.2.

4. The baffle or reinforcement element of claim 1, wherein a thickness of the carrier plate is more than 1.0 mm.

5. The baffle or reinforcement element of claim 1, wherein at least part of the edge area of the carrier plate is kept free from any expandable material.

6. The baffle or reinforcement element of claim 1, wherein the carrier plate is free from any through-holes.

7. The baffle or reinforcement element of claim 1, wherein the carrier plate is made of plastic material and/or the first and/or second expandable element is made of a foamable material.

8. The baffle or reinforcement element of claim 1, wherein the expandable element has an expansion rate of more than 50% and/or has an expansion rate of less than 3000% and/or wherein the material of the expandable element is a sealing foam or a reinforcing foam.

9. The baffle or reinforcement element of claim 1, wherein the first and/or second expandable element has, in its original state, a plate shape.

10. An expanded baffle or reinforcement element produced by a baffle or reinforcement element of claim 1, wherein the expandable element is expanded.

11. A method for producing a baffle or reinforcement element, according to claim 1, comprising the steps: c) providing a carrier plate with a first plate surface and a second plate surface; d) covering, at least substantially, the entire first plate surface with a first expandable element, expandable foaming element so that the expandable foaming element forms an outer surface of the baffle or reinforcement element and covering, at least substantially, the entire second plate surface with a second expandable element, expandable foaming element so that the expandable foaming element forms an outer surface of the baffle or reinforcement element.

12. The method of claim 11 further comprising expanding the first and/or second expandable foam element so that it expands.

13. A system comprising a baffle or reinforcement element produced by the method of claim 11 and a cavity for receiving the baffle or reinforcement element.

14. A method for sealing and/or reinforcing a cavity with a baffle or reinforcement element of claim 1.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0035] In the following preferred embodiments of the present invention are described with reference to the drawings. These show:

[0036] FIG. 1 an oblique view of a baffle or reinforcement element according to the prior art;

[0037] FIG. 2 a further oblique view of the baffle or reinforcing element according to FIG. 1;

[0038] FIG. 3 an oblique view of a baffle and/or reinforcing element according to an embodiment of the invention; and

[0039] FIG. 4 a further oblique view of the embodiment of FIG. 3.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS

[0040] FIGS. 1 and 2 show a baffle and/or reinforcing element according to the prior art. A carrier plate 1 (e.g. based on polyamide) supports an expandable foam element 2 running along the edge of the carrier plate 1.

[0041] A first embodiment of the present invention is shown in FIGS. 3 and 4. There, the carrier plate 1 supports a first expandable foam element 2a and a second expandable foam element 2b so that a first plate surface 3a and a second plate surface 3b are (entirely) covered by the expandable foam elements 2a, 2b. As can be seen, an edge area 4 is free from any expandable material. The expandable foam elements form a first outer surface 5a or a second outer surface 5b of the baffle and/or reinforcing element, respectively.

REFERENCE SIGNS

[0042] 1 Carrier plate [0043] 2 Expandable element [0044] 2a First expandable element [0045] 2b Second expandable element [0046] 3a First plate surface [0047] 3b Second plate surface [0048] 4 Edge area [0049] 5a First outer surface [0050] 5b Second outer surface