1(Engg.) Student, Department of Automotive Design and Engineering, M. S. Ramaiah School of Advanced Studies, Bangalore
2Professor, Department of Automotive Design and Engineering, M. S. Ramaiah School of Advanced Studies, Bangalore
3Professor and Head of Department, Department of Automotive Design and Engineering, M. S. Ramaiah School of Advanced Studies, Bangalore
Door module is preassembly of various components on a carrier plate which can be directly mounted onto the door inner panel. These door modules, when directly shipped to the OEM's, save assembly time and cost in mass manufacturing. Long fiber reinforced thermoplastic polypropylene (PP-LFT) with glass filled fiber material is used for various automotive applications as it has improved structural and material properties over conventional materials like steel. Door modules made of PP-LFT material is manufactured using injection molding method. Although significant work was done on design and analysis of plastic door modules, there was no support information on how the final design of the door module was arrived at.
Topology and shape optimisation were used in the present investigation to arrive at a design. 30% glass filled STAMAX® PP-LFT door modules were used to replace the existing steel door module plate. Stress analysis and dynamic door slam analysis were carried out on the door module of new design to assess its performance under various durability loading conditions. Finally Mold flow simulation was performed on the door module part to check its manufacturability in mass manufacturing.
Final design of STAMAX® PP-LFT based plastic door module is 33% lighter than the existing steel door module plate and has improved strength, stiffness and manufacturability.
Plastic Door Module, Door Slam, Mold Flow Analysis, STAMAX®
