Title of Invention | A METHOD OF MANUFACTURING FIBER REINFORCED PLASTIC(FRP) OUTER REAR VIEW MIRROR(ORVM) COMPONENT INTEGRATED WITH OPERATIONAL MECHANISM |
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Abstract | A functional outer rear view mirror made in fiber reinforcement plastic (FRP) comprising of a sub assembly of fiber reinforcement housing and a ball stem, where in the said ball stem rotates freely in the housing due to the releasing agent, being an integral part of the housing, the mirror glued on to the housing at the locations provided & the inner & outer base also made in fiber reinforcement plastic, where in the said sub assembly of the housing and the stem are mounted on the inner base and then this assembly is mounted on the vehicle & the said outer base is fitted to the inner base at the locations provided. |
Full Text | FORM 2 THE PATENTS ACT 1970 (39 of 1970) & THE PATENTS RULES, 2003 COMPLETE SPECIFICATION (See Section 10; rule 13) TITLE OF THE INVENTION A method of manufacturing FRP component integrated with operational mechanism and FRP component manufactured thereof APPLICANTS TATA MOTORS LIMITED, an Indian company having its registered office at Bombay House, 24 Homi Mody Street, Hutatma Chowk, Mumbai 400 001 Maharashtra, India INVENTORS Mukund. V. Pote and 2. S. C Gaikwad Both Indian nationals of TATA MOTORS LIMITED, an Indian company having its registered office at Bombay House, 24 Homi Mody Street, Hutatma Chowk, Mumbai 400 001 Maharashtra, India PREAMBLE TO THE DESCRIPTION The following specification particularly describes the invention and the manner in which it is to be performed. FIELD OF INVENTION This invention relates to functional fiber reinforcement plastic (FRP) components. And more specifically related to FRP components integrated with operational mechanism such as outer rear view mirror for prototype vehicles. BACKGROUND OF INVENTION Outer rear view mirrors (ORVM) are used for viewing the rear portion of the vehicle during driving. This is a legal requirement. Tooled up mirrors are used in production vehicles, but for prototype vehicles developing the outer rear view mirror assembly is difficult. The tooled up mirrors cannot be fitted on prototype vehicles as it is time consuming and heavy cost is involved. In prototype vehicle the design of the mirror assembly will change to incorporate new design and making tooled up components will be time consuming and costly. By using FRP mirror assembly in prototype vehicles, cost and time for making components is saved and also it will be easy to modify the design if required. The conventional method of making ORVM for the prototype vehicles is to use the tooled up ORVM of some other existing production vehicle & make it suitable to fit it on the prototype vehicle. This is done by cutting the tooled up ORVM to suit the mounting & then make suitable brackets for mounting the ORVM on the prototype vehicle. Disadvantages in conventional methods: The appearance of the complete assembly is poor & shabby. The method of fixing ORVM is troublesome. The actual styling of the vehicle is not achieved due to surrogate ORVM and there will be no design validation during testing. SUMMERY OF INVENTION To develop functional Outer Rear View Mirrors in fiber reinforcement plastic (FRP) that will be; a) Easy to assemble. b) Exactly as per design & styling c) Solve the purpose during testing & driving. d) Close to the design intent assembly to validate the design. It is achieved by developing fiber reinforcement plastic assembly. This is made by making a master of the component by any suitable method like CNC machining / rapid prototyping / by hand etc. By using the master to make die and punch in FRP. A both side finish FRP component is made by using this die and punch. An operational mechanism is placed in the die & punch of the component at the provided location and then the FRP component of the housing is laminated to get both side finishes FRP component integrated with the operational mechanism. The operational mechanism is free to rotate in the FRP component by being an integral part of the component. The objective of present invention is to provide a method of manufacturing FRP component integrated with operational mechanism comprising steps of: a) Preparing a master mold of the component having a housing, b) Preparing a dovetail insert from the master mold housing, c) Preparing a die by laminating the master mold along with the dovetail insert and applying reinforcement, d) Preparing a punch by laminating the die inserted with the dovetail insert and applying reinforcement, e) Inserting operational component in the dovetail insert, f) Inserting the dovetail insert with operational component in the die, g) Preparing FRP component by laminating the die with dovetail insert and the punch and assembling h) Removing the FRP component from said assembly after curing. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS Fig 1 - shows the drawing of the dovetail insert. Figs 2 & 3 - show the drawings for the die and punch of the housing. Fig 4 - shows cross sectional view of die, punch assembly with dovetail insert. Fig 5 - shows the isometric view of the ball stem. Fig 6- shows the isometric view of master mold of outer rear view mirror DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Referring now to the drawings wherein the showings are for the purpose of illustrating a preferred embodiment of the invention only, and not for the purpose of limiting the same. The method of manufacturing of FRP component integrated with operational mechanism has been explained with an application of manufacturing of Outer rear view mirror in FRP used for the vehicle and it not for the purpose of limiting the same. Reference to the figures 2 and 3, the both side finish fiber reinforcement plastic (FRP) component is made from the die & punch. A both side finish fiber reinforcement plastic (FRP) trim is manufactured as follows; A master mold is required to produce a fiber reinforcement plastic (FRP) trims. The master mould is made of materials like modeling boards or wooden materials. Die and punch are required to make both side finish fiber reinforcement plastic (FRP) trims. If the master mould is made from modeling boards then the same master mould can be used as a die. Once the die is ready, the said die is finished to get a good surface finish. Clearance means such as wax sheet is applied of thickness equivalent to the thickness of the required fiber reinforcement plastic (FRP) trim. A wooden structure is prepared on the surface of the die that acts as reinforcement for the punch. The surface of the die is laminated or hand laid where the wax sheet has been applied. After lamination the wooden structure is placed on the laminated surface of the said die and one more layer of the lamination is applied again, so that the structure gets bonded with the punch. After curing locations for the die and punch is created or prepared before releasing the punch. These locations help to assemble the die and punch by any clamping means during lamination of the component. The punch is released and separated from the surface of the die. The wax sheet is removed and the surface of the punch is cleaned to get a good surface finish. The surface of the die and punch is laminated and it is clamped with suitable clamping means. After curing, the die & punch is disassembled and the component is released or taken out. The extra surface of the both side finish fiber reinforcement plastic (FRP) trim is trimmed and it is polished for getting a good surface finish. Suitable color is applied to paint the component and assembling it at the required position. To manufacture fiber reinforcement plastic component integrated with operational mechanism, the operational mechanism should be integrated in the die & punch assembly before molding the component. Further for preparing FRP component integrated with operational mechanism, the die and punch has to be modified so that operational mechanism can be molded integrally with the component. FRP component is having housing for holding the operational mechanism. Referring to figure 6, a master mold is prepared by using any conventional method. This master is having housing (13) for locating the operational mechanism. Figure (5) shows an operational component (stem) with spherical head (11). The head of the stem will be located inside the housing (13) so that the housing with the component can be rotated on the head. To hold the stem on the die and punch assembly a dovetail insert, refer fig 1, is used in which stem can be inserted. The die has been modified to accommodate the dovetail insert. A dovetail groove (6) is made on the die to accommodate said dovetail insert. Referring to figures 1, 2 & 6, Dovetail insert is a molded piece which is having a support structure (3) and a protrusion (1) having recess (2) for inserting the operational element (stem). The said protrusion (2) is complementary to the housing (13) of the master mold. The support structure (3) is having a taper shaping to restrict the movement of the insert after inserting in the die groove (16). The dovetail insert is made from modeling board or any other suitable material which becomes solid state after curing. The said material is applied on the outer surface of the housing (13) portion of the master mold in sufficient thickness. After curing it has to be removed so that a protrusion (1) exactly complementary to the outside housing (13) portion of the master mold with a support structure (30 will be obtained. Referring to figures 2, 3, &5, the Die is prepared by applying fiber reinforcement plastic (FRP) material on said master mould along with dovetail insert by using suitable reinforcement means. After curing the master mold with dovetail insert will be removed. A groove (6) will form on the die due to the dovetail insert. The metallic stem (10) as shown in figure 5 is machined by a suitable conventional method is placed in the location (2) provided in the dovetail insert. For making a punch, insert the dovetail insert with stem assembled in the groove provided in the die. Clearance means is provided on said die of thickness equivalent to thickness of fiber reinforcement plastic (FRP) trim. Sufficient clearance means is provided at the stem head portion which is projecting outside of the dovetail insert. This will help to a have sufficient clearance between die and punch so that housing will be formed during molding and said stem head can rotate freely inside the housing. Said clearance means can be wax sheet or any suitable material of uniform thickness. Fiber reinforcement plastic (FRP) material is applied on said clearance means provided on die to prepare punch. Die and punch units are separated and clearance means is removed from the die surface. Releasing agent is applied all over the stem before assembling it in the die and punch for laminating the housing. The dovetail insert along with the stem is located in the provision created in the die. The die and punch are laminated. Figure 4 shows cross sectional view of die and punch assembly, the die (4) and punch (5) assembled using locators (7, 9) in die and punch respectively. The stem (10) is located inside the dovetail insert (11) and placed in the groove on the die. Clearance (c) is formed between the die & punch due to applying clearance means (wax sheet) while preparing the punch. This clearance will be equal to the thickness required for the FRP component. Laminating die & punch and assembling together a component will be formed in a rigid shape in the clearance provided between die and punch. After curing the FRP housing is released along with the stem. The stem is now a part of the housing but can freely rotate in the location provided in the housing due to the releasing agent applied on the stem. Tail end of the operational component (stem) is projecting outside the housing which can be attached to any other arrangement, and head of the component rotatably fixed inside the housing of the FRP component. The FRP component can freely rotate about the head of the operational component (stem). The foregoing description is a specific embodiment of the present invention. It should be appreciated that this embodiment is described for purpose of illustration only, and that numerous alterations and modifications may be practiced by those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. It is intended that all such modifications and alterations be included insofar as they come within the scope of the invention as claimed or the equivalents thereof. WE CLAIM 1. A method of manufacturing FRP component integrated with operational mechanism comprising steps of, a) Preparing a master mold of the component having a housing, b) Preparing a dovetail insert from the master mold housing, c) Preparing a die by laminating the master mold along with the dovetail insert and applying reinforcement, d) Preparing a punch by laminating the die inserted with the dovetail insert and applying reinforcement, e) Inserting operational component in the dovetail insert, f) Inserting the dovetail insert with operational component in the die, g) Preparing FRP component by laminating the die with dovetail insert and the punch and assembling h) Removing the FRP component from said assembly after curing. 2. A method of manufacturing FRP component integrated with operational mechanism as claimed in claim 1 wherein said master mold is prepared by CNC machining or rapid prototyping or by hand. 3. A method of manufacturing FRP component integrated with operational mechanism as claimed in claim 1 wherein said master mold having housing for accommodating the operational component. 4. A method of manufacturing FRP component integrated with operational mechanism as claimed in claim 3 wherein said operational component is a stem with a head. 5. A method of manufacturing FRP component integrated with operational mechanism as claimed in claim 4 wherein said head of the stem freely rotates inside housing of the FRP component. 6. A method of manufacturing FRP component integrated with operational mechanism as claimed in claim 1 wherein said dovetail insert having a protrusion for accommodating said operational component and a support structure. 7. A method of manufacturing FRP component integrated with operational mechanism as claimed in any one of the preceding claims wherein said protrusion is complementary to the outside housing of said master mold. 8. A method of manufacturing FRP component integrated with operational mechanism as claimed in claim 1 wherein said die is having a dovetail groove for accommodating said dovetail insert. 9. A FRP component manufactured by said method of manufacturing as claimed in claim 1 to 8. 10. A method of manufacturing FRP component integrated with operational mechanism substantially as herein described with reference to accompanying drawings. ABSTRACT Title: A method of manufacturing FRP component integrated with operational mechanism and FRP component manufactured thereof A functional outer rear view mirror made in fiber reinforcement plastic (FRP) comprising of a sub assembly of fiber reinforcement housing and a ball stem, where in the said ball stem rotates freely in the housing due to the releasing agent, being an integral part of the housing, the mirror glued on to the housing at the locations provided & the inner & outer base also made in fiber reinforcement plastic, where in the said sub assembly of the housing and the stem are mounted on the inner base and then this assembly is mounted on the vehicle & the said outer base is fitted to the inner base at the locations provided. Fig 4 |
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Patent Number | 269145 | |||||||||
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Indian Patent Application Number | 2001/MUM/2007 | |||||||||
PG Journal Number | 41/2015 | |||||||||
Publication Date | 09-Oct-2015 | |||||||||
Grant Date | 01-Oct-2015 | |||||||||
Date of Filing | 08-Oct-2007 | |||||||||
Name of Patentee | TATA MOTORS LIMITED | |||||||||
Applicant Address | BOMBAY HOUSE, 24 HOMI MODY STREET, HUTATMA CHOWK, MUMBAI | |||||||||
Inventors:
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PCT International Classification Number | B29C70/04 | |||||||||
PCT International Application Number | N/A | |||||||||
PCT International Filing date | ||||||||||
PCT Conventions:
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