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AssigneeTip Engineering Group, Inc.
InventorDavid J. Bauer
Estimating the term…
A process for preweakening the inside of an automotive trim piece cover layer of various constructions by use of a laser beam so as to enable formation of an air bag deployment opening in the trim piece formed at the time the air bag deploys. The laser beam impinges the inside surface of the cover to form a groove scoring or spaced perforations to form a preweakening pattern. A robot arm may be used to move a laser generator so as to form the preweakening pattern. The laser beam can be controlled in accordance with sensed conditions to achieve accurate preweakening, and may also be used to trim substrate panels and to perform other cutting operations.
A process for constructing a preweakened automotive interior trim piece covering an air bag installation at a particular location, said preweakening applied in a pattern enabling formation of an air bag deployment opening in said trim piece, said opening formed by pressure exerted by deployment of an air bag from said air bag installation, said trim piece having an inside surface and an outer visible surface extending smoothly and uninterruptedly across said preweakening at said particular location, said preweakening accomplished by directing a CO2 laser beam generator onto said inside surface of said trim piece to preweaken said trim piece by scoring said trim piece along a predetermined pattern and controlling said preweakening effect of said laser beam to remove material by said laser to an extent forming a preweakening having a stepped depth configuration along said predetermined pattern in a region of said trim piece near said outer surface of said trim piece without completely penetrating said outer surface.
A process for constructing a preweakened automotive interior trim piece, said preweakening extending in a deployment door pattern enabling formation of an air bag deployment opening in said trim piece at a particular location overlying said airbag, by pressure exerted by a deploying air bag mounted behind an inside surface of said trim piece at said particular location, said trim piece having an outer visible surface extending smoothly and uninterruptedly across said preweakening deployment door pattern, said preweakening applied by directing a laser beam at said inside surface of said trim piece and controlling a material removal effect of said laser beam to partially score said trim piece along a predetermined pattern overlying said airbag, said partial scoring step including the step of controlling said laser beam so as to form a continuous groove along said predetermined pattern extending into said inside surface of said trim piece, and further including forming perforations extending partially into said trim piece from the inside side of said continuous groove but not completely penetrating said outer visible surface of said trim piece, said perforations forming a stepped depth in said continuous groove.
Apparatus for prescoring into an inner side of an automotive interior trim piece having a continuous outer surface comprising:
A process for constructing a preweakened automotive interior trim piece covering an air bag installation, said preweakening extending in a pattern enabling formation of an air bag deployment opening in said trim piece, by pressure exerted by a deploying air bag mounted on the inside of said trim piece at a particular location, said trim piece having a plurality of layers including an outer layer and an inner layer, said outer layer having an outer visible surface extending smoothly and uninterruptedly across said preweakening at said particular location, said preweakening accomplished by directing a CO2 laser beam onto an inside surface of said inner layer of said trim piece while relatively moving said trim piece to preweaken said trim piece by removing material in a predetermined pattern, but without completely penetrating the outer layer of the said trim piece, said outer layer having material removed by said laser beam to have a stepped bottom configuration lying along said predetermined pattern.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.