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EP-4253161-B1 - A SUPPORTING STRUCTURE FOR A CLADDING COMPONENT OF A VEHICLE, A CLADDING COMPONENT OF A VEHICLE AND VEHICLE COMPRISING SUCH A CLADDING COMPONENT

EP4253161B1EP 4253161 B1EP4253161 B1EP 4253161B1EP-4253161-B1

Inventors

  • SEPP, Benjamin
  • Rinderlin, Jürgen

Dates

Publication Date
20260506
Application Date
20220328

Claims (12)

  1. Assembly comprising a supporting structure (100) and a cladding component (200) of a vehicle (300), the cladding component (200) being supported by the supporting structure (100), wherein the supporting structure (100) comprises: - a body (102) attached to rear of the cladding component (200) of the vehicle (300) forming a cavity (104) between the supporting structure (100) and the cladding component (200) of the vehicle (300); - at least one cladding component fastening module (106) for fastening the supporting structure (100) with the cladding component (200) of the vehicle (300); and - at least one vehicle fastening module (108) for fastening the supporting structure (100) with the vehicle (300), - wherein the supporting structure (100) comprises at least one attachment mounting part (110) for mounting at least one attachment (112) to the supporting structure (100), characterized in that the at least one attachment (112) - is mounted within the cavity (104) and - comprises at least one of a sensor, a lighting module, electromagnetic shielding module, drying unit, antenna and a combination thereof, - wherein the cladding component (200) is a screen made of plastic, - wherein the cladding component (200) is a front bumper or a rear bumper of the vehicle (300), - wherein the supporting structure (100) is designed and shaped in the form of a shell such that the supporting structure (100) forms the cavity (104) with the cladding component (200) when the supporting structure (100) is fastened to the cladding component (200) and acts as a carrier body between the cladding component (200) and the vehicle body, and - wherein the supporting structure (100) is having a load line path (116) which is obtained by having a fiber composite reinforcement on the supporting structure (100).
  2. Assembly as claimed in claim 1, wherein the at least one attachment mounting part (110) is located at inside of the cavity (104).
  3. Assembly as claimed in claim 1, wherein the at least one attachment mounting part (110) is one of partially open or completely closed.
  4. Assembly as claimed in claim 1, wherein the cavity (104) is configured to be completely closed or partially open.
  5. Assembly as claimed in claim 1, wherein the at least one cladding component fastening module (106) comprises at least one of clips, screws, gluing, welding and combination thereof.
  6. Assembly as claimed in claim 1, wherein the at least one vehicle fastening module (108) comprises clips and/or channels.
  7. Assembly as claimed in claim 1, wherein the supporting structure (100) is made of thermoplastic material.
  8. Assembly as claimed in claim 1, wherein the supporting structure (100) is made of fibre composite material.
  9. Assembly as claimed in claim 1, wherein the supporting structure (100) is made in one-piece or multi-piece.
  10. Assembly as claimed in claim 1, wherein the supporting structure (100) further comprises add-on elements (114) such as ribs, crash elements, hooks, latches, openings and/or screw bosses.
  11. Assembly as claimed in claim 1, wherein the supporting structure (100) further comprises airflow system (118), lower stiffener for pedestrian protection, energy absorber for hip impact, RCAR barrier and/or pendulum impact.
  12. A vehicle (300) comprising an assembly as claimed in one of the preceding claims, wherein the cladding component (200) is supported by a supporting structure (100).

Description

The present disclosure relates to a supporting structure for a cladding component of a vehicle and relates to a cladding component of a vehicle comprising such a supporting structure. Moreover, the present disclosure relates to a vehicle comprising such a cladding component. Modern vehicles are equipped with a number of devices or systems which enhance the vehicle maneuver. These devices or systems may include lighting systems, driver assistance systems, communication systems, monitoring systems, air flow systems, energy absorbers or any other functional devices or systems. Such systems and devices may include a number of components such as sensors, lighting module, cameras, electrical and electronic circuitries. Some of these components may be located inside of the vehicle. However, due to the design reasons some of the components such as sensors, lighting module, cameras may be located within the cladding component of the vehicle. These components are exposed to the outside environment such as humidity, dirt, mud, electromagnetic radiations and other external influences and are thus prone to get damaged or malfunctioned. Therefore, there is a need to protect such components from humidity, dirt, mud, electromagnetic radiations and other external influences for proper functioning. The cladding component of the vehicle becomes heavier due to the location of the components such as sensors, lighting modules, cameras on the cladding component. Thus, a much higher structural stiffness of the current cladding component is required, which leads to heavier and more complex design of the cladding component. Thus, there is a need to reduce the weight of the cladding component without compromising its stiffness and strength. Some of the cladding component designs are disclosed in FR 2 998 524, EP 3 661 812 A1, US 4623182 A, DE 195 45 069 B4 and JP 6233483. DE 27 08 856 A1, FR 2 762 563 A1, US 6 416 094 B1, EP 1 475 268 A1 and DE 196 04 213 A1 are mentioned as further prior art documents. In almost all of the existing cladding components designs a solution for optimizing the design of the cladding component is described. However, none of the prior arts discloses any ways to reduce the weight of the cladding component without compromising its stiffness and strength of the cladding component. Also, none of the prior arts discloses protecting the fragile components such as sensors, lighting modules which may be located on the cladding component. Thus, there is a need to protect fragile components such as sensors, lighting modules from humidity, dirt, mud, electromagnetic radiations and other external influences for proper functioning. Also, there is a need to reduce the weight of the cladding component without compromising its stiffness and strength. It is one task of one embodiment of the present disclosure to present an assembly comprising a supporting structure and a cladding component of a vehicle by which the above described drawbacks can be eliminated or at least reduced and the performance of the cladding component be improved. The task is solved by the features specified in claims 1 and 12. According to the invention, an assembly comprising a supporting structure and a cladding component of a vehicle comprises: a body attached to rear of the cladding component of the vehicle forming a cavity between the supporting structure and the cladding component of the vehicle;at least one cladding component fastening module for fastening the supporting structure with the cladding component of the vehicle; andat least one vehicle fastening module for fastening the supporting structure with the vehicle, wherein the supporting structure comprises at least one attachment mounting part for mounting at least one attachment to the supporting structure. According to the present invention, at least one attachment is mounted within the cavity and comprises at least one of a sensor, a lighting module, electromagnetic shielding module, drying unit, antenna and a combination thereof. The cladding component is a screen made of plastic, wherein the cladding component is a front bumper or a rear bumper of the vehicle and the supporting structure acts as a carrier body between the cladding component and the vehicle body. The attachment aids the driver of the vehicle for safe vehicle operation. The attachment is mounted within the cavity formed between the supporting structure and the cladding component. This way, the attachment is safe from external influences such as dirt, dust, mud, humidity and electromagnetic effects. Hence, the attachment is prevented from malfunctioning and thus have increased operating life. Conventionally the cladding components such as front or rear bumpers are directly mounted to vehicle body. A number of components such as sensors, lighting modules and cameras are mounted directly on the cladding components. This makes the cladding components heavier, and thus cladding components are prone to damage or breakage du