SPE Awards | automotive
Injection moulded designs featured heavily among the winners and fi nalists of the 2014 SPE Automotive Innovation Awards. Chris Smith takes a closer look
Winning automotive designs
The Automotive Innovation Awards competition, organised and judged by the North American Automotive Division of the Society of Plastics Engineers (SPE), has long provided a showcase for the smartest examples of global car component design and processing technology. This year’s event – the 44th
– was no exception and
included six injection moulded examples among its winners, while a further 20 injection moulded applica- tions earned their place on its shortlist of 36 fi nalists. The top award – winning the competition’s overall
Grand Award and the Safety category – was a novel new active glove box developed by Faurecia and Ford for the 2015 Ford Mustang. This patented design integrates an injection moulded knee airbag into the glove box door to reduce weight by 65% over a traditional solution. A 75% space saving is also achieved, along with an estimated cost reduction of between $5 and $10 per vehicle. The three-part design
comprises a rear reaction surface panel injection moulded in a 20% talc fi lled PP from Advanced Composites (a high stiffness ADX 5017 grade) and a front panel in a Mitsubishi TPO (TT850N airbag door grade) formu- lated to perform well at high strain rates over a wide temperature range. A third injection moulded bladder produced in a high rubber content PP (an ADX 5028 grade also from Advanced Composites) is sandwiched between the door front and rear reaction panel. The bladder is welded in place on the outer door to
create a seal. Welding is also used to secure the two outer halves of the sandwich, however, this assembly weld is designed to fail when the infl ator is activated during an impact, allowing the entire front panel to extend forward to provide cushioning for the occupant’s knees (click here to view the Ford video clip) The new design distributes the impact load over a
larger area than a conventional design, allowing the use of lower infl ation pressures. It also eliminates the need
www.injectionworld.com
for visible seams. “With this innovative airbag design, we have developed technology that provides protection for vehicle occupants while also reducing
weight and enabling greater design
fl exibility,” says Ford’s restraints manager Sean West.
The 2015 Mustang is the
fi rst commercial application for the new design. However, Ford says other applications for the new airbag design are being considered. These include adapting the technology to allow airbags to be placed in new locations in the vehicle interior. Another Ford Mustang component also made the
fi nalist list in the Safety category –a bumper energy absorber developed by Tier One company Netshape International and injection moulded by Shape Corp in a Highfax 852X TPO from Lyondell Basell that meets both US Part 581 impact and EU pedestrian protection requirements (a considerable challenge because the US regulation calls for stiffness while the EU regulation demands fl exibility). By eliminating the need for two
Main image: A novel
passenger-side knee-airbag by Faurecia for Ford’s 2015
Mustang won the prestigious Grand Award in the 2014 SPE Automotive Innovation
contest. This schematic shows the
placement of the Ford/
Faurecia active knee protection system
November/December 2014 | INJECTION WORLD 39
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66