Local energy absorber
AssigneeGM Global Technology Operations LLC
InventorsLouis G. Hector, Jr., Nilesh D. Mankame, Hanif Muhammad, Anil K. Sachdev
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A cover covering an object includes an inner surface of the cover facing the object and spaced from the object, and an outer surface of the cover opposite the inner surface. A local energy absorber is operatively attached to the inner surface of the cover. The local energy absorber includes an energy absorbing core layer operatively attached to the inner surface of the cover and a frangible face sheet layer attached to the energy absorbing core layer facing the object. The frangible face sheet layer is to initiate fracture of the frangible face sheet layer during an impact applied to the outer surface defining an impact event having a duration of less than 20 milliseconds.
Claims22
A cover, removably covering a covered object, comprising:
- an inner surface of the cover facing the covered object and spaced from the covered object, and an outer surface of the cover opposite the inner surface;
- and
- a local energy absorber operatively attached to the inner surface of the cover, the local energy absorber including:
- an energy absorbing core layer operatively attached to the inner surface of the cover;
- a frangible face sheet layer attached to the energy absorbing core layer facing the covered object, the frangible face sheet layer initiates fracture during an impact applied to the outer surface defining an impact event having a duration of less than 20 milliseconds;
- a reinforcement sheet layer attached to the energy absorbing core layer opposite to the frangible face sheet layer to sandwich the energy absorbing core layer between the frangible face sheet layer and the reinforcement sheet layer;
- and
- a plurality of struts, each strut attached to the reinforcement sheet layer and to the frangible face sheet layer, wherein the local energy absorber further includes a subset of the plurality of struts that, during the impact event, deforms in a sequence beginning with elastic deformation, followed by buckling, followed by fracture of the subset of the plurality of struts.
A cover, removably covering a covered object, comprising:
- an inner surface of the cover facing the covered object and spaced from the covered object, and an outer surface of the cover opposite the inner surface;
- and
- a local energy absorber operatively attached to the inner surface of the cover, the local energy absorber including:
- an energy absorbing core layer operatively attached to the inner surface of the cover, the energy absorbing core layer including a matrix of open cells;
- a frangible face sheet layer attached to the energy absorbing core layer facing the covered object, the frangible face sheet layer initiates fracture during an impact applied to the outer surface defining an impact event having a duration of less than 20 milliseconds;
- and
- a reinforcement sheet layer attached to the energy absorbing core layer opposite to the frangible face sheet layer to sandwich the energy absorbing core layer between the frangible face sheet layer and the reinforcement sheet layer, wherein each open cell in the matrix of open cells defines a respective hollow tube having a respective longitudinal axis with a respective first open end and a respective second open end and each respective longitudinal axis is perpendicular to the frangible face sheet layer.
A cover, removably covering a covered object, comprising:
- an inner surface of the cover facing the covered object and spaced from the covered object, and an outer surface of the cover opposite the inner surface;
- and
- a local energy absorber operatively attached to the inner surface of the cover, the local energy absorber including:
- an energy absorbing core layer operatively attached to the inner surface of the cover, the energy absorbing core layer including an aluminum alloy honeycomb;
- a frangible face sheet layer attached to the energy absorbing core layer facing the covered object, the frangible face sheet layer initiates fracture during an impact applied to the outer surface defining an impact event having a duration of less than 20 milliseconds;
- and
- a reinforcement sheet layer attached to the energy absorbing core layer opposite to the frangible face sheet layer to sandwich the energy absorbing core layer between the frangible face sheet layer and the reinforcement sheet layer, wherein:
- a reinforcement sheet seal is formed at a reinforcement interface between the reinforcement sheet layer and the aluminum honeycomb;
- and
- a face sheet seal is formed at a face sheet interface between the frangible face sheet layer and the aluminum alloy honeycomb to prevent water from entering the aluminum alloy honeycomb.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.