Composite crush can

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12090939-B2
Application number	US-202017596980-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 23, 2020
Priority date	Jun 24, 2019
Publication date	Sep 17, 2024
Grant date	Sep 17, 2024

Abstract

A method for making a crush can for a vehicle which has an internal moulded structure can include providing a crush can with a hole, filling the hole in the crush can with a fibre-reinforced material and compression moulding the fibre-reinforced material using the internal shape of the crush can as an outer shell of a split mould.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A method of making a component comprising a crush can having an internal moulded structure, the method comprising:
providing a substantially hollow crush can;
inserting a fibre-reinforced material into the substantially hollow crush can;
moulding said fibre-reinforced material using an internal shape of the substantially hollow crush can as an outer shell of a split mould, at least one further part of the split mould being inserted into the crush can to form said internal moulded structure.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the substantially hollow crush can is a composite crush can.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the internal moulded structure is made by compression moulding.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the internal moulded structure is configured to receive a towing attachment.

5. The method of claim 4 , wherein the internal moulded structure is internally threaded to compliment a threaded portion of said towing attachment.

6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising attaching a towing attachment to the internal moulded structure.

7. The method of claim 4 , wherein the towing attachment comprises a threaded shank at a first end and a towing eye at a second end, and wherein the towing attachment is attached to the internal moulded structure by screwing the first end into a corresponding feature in the internal moulded structure.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the fibre-reinforced material comprises a plurality of fibres embedded in a polymeric material.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the fibre-reinforced material is a sheet moulding compound.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein the internal moulded structure comprises reinforcing structure having a tapered wall.

11. The method of claim 1 , wherein providing the substantially hollow crush can comprises providing the substantially hollow crush can configured to couple a bumper beam to a supporting structure of a vehicle, the substantially hollow crush can having a first fixing means at a first end, a second fixing means at a second end, a frangible portion and a non-frangible portion extending between and fixedly coupled to the first fixing means and the second fixing means.

Assignees

• Jaguar Land Rover Ltd

Inventors

• Smith James
• Chung Colin
• Hook Nicholas
• Sicard Frederic

Classifications

• B23P2700/50

  Other automobile vehicle parts, i.e. manufactured in assembly lines · CPC title

• Y10T29/49622

  Vehicular structural member making · CPC title

• B60R2019/186

  Additional energy absorbing means supported on bumber beams, e.g. cellular structures or material · CPC title

• B29C70/40

  Shaping or impregnating by compression (B29C70/34 takes precedence){not applied} · CPC title

• B29C70/08

  comprising combinations of different forms of fibrous reinforcements incorporated in matrix material, forming one or more layers, and with or without non-reinforced layers · CPC title