Adhesive bondline spacer clip

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11052612-B2
Application number	US-201916379895-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 10, 2019
Priority date	Apr 13, 2018
Publication date	Jul 6, 2021
Grant date	Jul 6, 2021

Abstract

A spacer clip for ensuring a minimum adhesive bond line thickness (T) during an attachment event with an adhesive, the spacer clip including: a spacer element having a thickness (t) defining the minimum bond line thickness, adapted to be arranged interleaved between a first vehicle part and a second vehicle part, a hold portion generally parallel with the spacer element and attached to the spacer element with an interconnecting portion. The spacer clip is mountable on the first vehicle part. The hold portion is adapted to be arranged on an opposite side of the first vehicle part compared to the spacer element. The spacer element and the hold portion are adapted to maintain a pressure on the first vehicle part such that the spacer clip can be mounted on the first vehicle part prior to the attachment event.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A spacer clip for ensuring a minimum adhesive bond line thickness (T) during an attachment event for attaching a first vehicle part with a second vehicle part with an adhesive, the spacer clip comprising:
a spacer element having a thickness (t) defining the minimum bond line thickness, the spacer element is adapted to be arranged interleaved between the first vehicle part and the second vehicle part when attaching the first vehicle part with the second vehicle part,
a hold portion generally parallel with the spacer element, the hold portion is attached to the spacer element with an interconnecting portion, wherein the spacer clip is mountable on the first vehicle part, wherein the hold portion is adapted to be arranged on an opposite side of the first vehicle part compared to the spacer element during the attachment event, wherein,
the spacer element and the hold portion are adapted to maintain a pressure on the first vehicle part such that the spacer clip can be mounted on the first vehicle part prior to the attachment event and maintain mounted on the vehicle part during the attachment event,
wherein the spacer clip comprises at least one weakening groove such that the spacer clip may be separated in two pieces at the weakening grooves.

2. The spacer clip according to claim 1 , wherein the spacer element is generally planar.

3. The spacer clip according to claim 1 , wherein the spacer element has a uniform thickness (t) corresponding to the minimum bond line thickness.

4. The spacer clip according to claim 1 , wherein the interconnecting portion comprises a resilient material such that when the spacer element and the hold portion are forced further apart from each other from a neutral position, the interconnecting portion attempts to bring the spacer element and the hold portion back to the neutral position.

5. The spacer clip according to claim 1 , wherein the spacer clip comprises a plastic material.

6. The spacer clip according to claim 1 , wherein the spacer clip is generally U-shaped.

7. The spacer clip according to claim 1 , wherein the spacer element, the hold portion and the interconnecting portion are made in a single piece.

8. The spacer clip according to claim 1 , wherein a width (L 3 ) of the spacer element is larger than the thickness of the spacer element.

Assignees

• Volvo Car Corp

Inventors

• Schmidt Marcus
• Van Der Putten Zef

Classifications

• B23Q3/18

  for positioning only · CPC title

• B60J1/005 Primary

  using positioning means during mounting · CPC title

• B29C65/7826 Primary

  said distance pieces being non-integral with the parts to be joined, e.g. particles · CPC title

• F16B11/006

  by gluing (gluing of plastics material B29C65/48) · CPC title

• B62D27/026

  Connections by glue bonding (in general F16B11/00; processes C09J5/00) · CPC title