Injection molded thermoplastic integrated front end reinforcement and method of making the same
AssigneeCadence Innovation LLC
InventorSassan Tarahomi
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A vehicle body front end preassembly and method of making a vehicle front end assembly is disclosed. According to the method of the present invention, the integrated front end module (10) is injection molded to include integrally molded fastener receptacle (32) and integrally molded reinforcement ribs (28) that are injection molded from a fiber reinforced thermoplastic polymer. A partially assembly vehicle body (12) is provided that has partially unattached body panels that are secured to the frame (14). Unattached body panels are secured to the integrated front end module (10). The preassembly is then immersed in an electro-coat bath, painted and then baked in a paint oven.
Claims20
A method of making a vehicle front end assembly comprising:
- injection molding an integrated front end reinforcement module from a fiber reinforced thermoplastic polymer;
- providing a vehicle body having body panels;
- securing the integrated front end reinforcement module to the vehicle body;
- attaching the body panels to the integrated front end reinforcement module to form a vehicle end assembly;
- painting the vehicle front end assembly;
- and
- baking the vehicle front end assembly in a paint oven.
A method of making part of a vehicle body assembly comprising:
- injection molding an integrated reinforcement module from a fiber reinforced thermoplastic polymer;
- providing a vehicle body having body panels;
- securing the integrated reinforcement module to the vehicle body;
- attaching the body panels to the integrated reinforcement module to form a vehicle assembly;
- painting the vehicle assembly;
- and
- baking the vehicle assembly in a paint oven.
A method of making a vehicle front end assembly comprising:
- injection molding an integrated front end reinforcement module including integrally molded fastener receptacles and integrally molded reinforcement ribs;
- providing a partially assembled vehicle body having partially unattached body panels;
- securing a first set of fastener receptacles to a frame;
- attaching the unattached body panels to a second set of fastener receptacles to form a basic vehicle front end assembly;
- immersing the basic vehicle front end assembly in an electro-coat bath;
- and
- painting the basic vehicle front end assembly.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.