Energy absorbing collapsible armrest with tunable stiffening feature

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9505325-B2
Application number	US-201414567536-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 11, 2014
Priority date	Dec 11, 2014
Publication date	Nov 29, 2016
Grant date	Nov 29, 2016

Abstract

A vehicular armrest assembly includes a laterally collapsible substrate having a gap defined between inner and outer substrate portions. A tunable stiffening feature is disposed on the collapsible substrate and has an aperture positioned over the gap, and engagement tabs that engage the inner and outer substrate portions. The stiffening feature provides lateral support to the collapsible substrate to selectively allow the inner and outer substrate portions to deflect toward each other after a predetermined lateral load is placed on the collapsible substrate and an elastic bed disposed on the tunable stiffening feature and covering the aperture. The elastic bed vertically supports a cover member at the aperture and the lateral support provided to the collapsible substrate is solely provided by the stiffening feature.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An armrest assembly for a vehicle comprising:
a laterally collapsible substrate having a gap defined between inner and outer substrate portions;
a tunable stiffening feature disposed on a top of the collapsible substrate and having an aperture positioned over the gap, and engagement tabs that vertically engage the inner and outer substrate portions at respective tab receptacles, wherein the stiffening feature provides tunable lateral support to the collapsible substrate to selectively allow the inner and outer substrate portions to deflect toward each other after a predetermined lateral load is placed on the collapsible substrate; and
a planar elastic bed disposed on the tunable stiffening feature and covering the aperture, the planar elastic bed vertically supporting a cover member at the aperture, wherein the tunable lateral support provided to the collapsible substrate is provided by the stiffening feature.

2. The armrest assembly of claim 1 , wherein inner and outer substrate portions include tab receptacles for receiving the tabs.

3. The armrest assembly of claim 1 , wherein the elastic bed is made of unfilled polypropylene.

4. The armrest assembly of claim 1 , wherein the stiffening feature is overmolded onto the collapsible substrate.

5. The armrest assembly of claim 1 , wherein the stiffening feature is tuned by modifying material thickness of the stiffening feature.

6. The armrest assembly of claim 5 , wherein the stiffening feature includes a spanning support that defines a plurality of apertures.

7. The armrest assembly of claim 5 , wherein the stiffening feature includes a plurality of spanning supports defining a plurality of apertures, wherein each spanning support includes a structural rib disposed adjacent at least one of the plurality of apertures, and wherein the structural rib includes a notch that at least partially defines a buckling feature of the stiffening feature.

8. A vehicle armrest comprising:
an armrest substrate having inner and outer substrate portions defining a gap;
an interior reinforcement disposed over the armrest substrate and having a tunable lateral stiffener defining an aperture positioned above the gap and a vertically-supporting elastic bed, the lateral stiffener defining buckling notches providing a predetermined lateral support between the inner and outer substrate portions; and
a cover positioned over and vertically supported by the elastic bed proximate the aperture.

9. The vehicle armrest of claim 8 , wherein the tunable lateral stiffener and the vertically supporting elastic bed are integrally formed portions of the interior reinforcement that defines a unitary member.

10. The vehicle armrest of claim 8 , wherein the interior reinforcement includes engagement tabs that extend vertically into the inner and outer substrate portions, and wherein the inner and outer substrate portions include tab receptacles for receiving and retaining the engagement tabs.

11. The vehicle armrest of claim 8 , wherein the elastic bed is made of unfilled polypropylene.

12. The vehicle armrest of claim 8 , wherein the lateral stiffener is overmolded onto the inner and outer substrate portions.

13. The vehicle armrest of claim 8 , wherein the armrest substrate includes an attachment portion having a plurality of protrusions that are received by an armrest receptacle defined within a frame of a vehicle door, and wherein the armrest receptacle includes a plurality of crumple portions that are at least partially defined by the buckling features.

14. The vehicle armrest of claim 8 , wherein the stiffening feature is tuned by modifying the size of the aperture.

15. An armrest comprising:
a tunable stiffening feature spanning over a gap defined between opposing armrest substrates and setting lateral positions of the opposing armrest substrates, the tunable stiffening feature having an aperture disposed within the gap; and
a planar elastic cover extending over the aperture and providing vertical support to an armrest cover proximate the aperture, the planar elastic cover being free of resistance to lateral movement of the opposing armrest substrates.

16. The armrest of claim 15 , wherein the tunable stiffening feature includes integrally formed engagement tabs that extend vertically into the opposing armrest substrates, and wherein each of the opposing armrest substrates includes tab receptacles for receiving and retaining the engagement tabs.

17. The armrest of claim 15 , wherein the elastic cover is made of unfilled polypropylene.

18. The armrest of claim 15 , wherein the tunable stiffening feature is overmolded onto the opposing armrest substrates.

19. The armrest of claim 15 , wherein the opposing armrest substrates include inner and outer armrest substrate portions, wherein the outer armrest substrate portion includes an attachment portion having a plurality of protrusions that are received by an armrest receptacle defined within a frame of a vehicle door, and wherein the armrest receptacle includes a plurality of crumple portions.

20. The armrest of claim 15 , wherein the tunable stiffening feature is tuned by at least one of modifying a size of the aperture and modifying a material thickness of the tunable stiffening feature.

Assignees

• Ford Global Tech Llc

Inventors

• Doan Linh
• Laird Kenneth S
• Aekbote Krishnakanth E
• Zhou Yudong
• Jadhav Nitesh Chandrakant

Classifications

• B60N2/78

  post or panel mounted · CPC title

• B60N2/427 Primary

  Seats or parts thereof displaced during a crash · CPC title

• B60N2/75 Primary

  Arm-rests · CPC title

• B60R13/0243 Primary

  Doors · CPC title

• B60N2/46 Primary

  Operations & Transport · mapped topic