Fender Design
AIM :
To design the Baffle, A-pillar, Bumper, Sill mounting flanges on the fender for an vechicle assembly.
FENDER:
The Fender is the most critical part in the vechicle exterior, it designed in a way to protecting debris like mud, sand against pedestrian and engine compartments. Fender will act as a protective enclosure to the both front and rear wheel of an vechicle. At the same time it is improve the overall aesthetic look of an vechicle. In Some cases rear fender is integrated into the vechicle support panels. Fenders can be made up of material like Steel, Aluminium, Plastic. The fender is classified into two types by its scrap management, they are. Full and Half Fenders.
MASTER SECTION :
Master section is acts as blueprint for engineer and designers toi ensure "fit and finish" of an individual components. In BIW it ensure the vechicle outer panels, interior trim are aligned together correctly. It has some default dimension need to follow for their respective space and assembly constraints.
In this fender development we have an master section as,
MOUNTING FLANGES :
Mounting flanges are nothing but a dedicated flat shaped or contoured piece it is used to fit two commodity or structure together. It has typical feature's like holes, tab and slots to secured position the flanges to the compartment and it can be joined by using screws, blots, rivet and spot welding etc. In some cases weld nut is used for ease of assembly.
DRIP AREA FLANGES :
In drip area we need to ensure that the flanges cannot interupt any assembly sequence and its reinforcement. Drip area flanges can join the fender and the engine compartments together.
By this master section we will understand , at th rear end we must need to ensure minimum 200mm clearance between the fender flanges and the cowl assembly and at front end ensure minimum 150mm clearance for Headlight room area.
A- PILLAR :
In automobile pillars are used in the vertical to provide a support to an roof top . Car pillar's can be categorized by the alphabetical order A,B,C and D pillar. A pillar is the front most pillar of an vechicle and the fender can be mounted in the A pillar. These two part can be mounted by the sheet metal feature like Flange which is designed with Holes to mount and have additional emboss and dart to increase its structural integrity.
When designing the fender is is crucial to verify strength, ease of mounting (assembling), and the weatherproofing. During assembly incoperate the selants and gasket between fender and A-pillar to provide the ingress protection.
SILL MOUNT AREA :
Sill mounting area (rocker panel) is located in the lower edge of the vehicle it is located in way to connect between the front and rear arches of the wheel to increase it structural strength.
BUMPER MOUNT:
Bumper are the critical components which is desinged in a way to absorb impact froces during collision and it should be designed in a smooth surface finsh at the outer side to increase the predestrian saftey. In early days Bumpers are manufactured by using polypropane which have a tensile strength upto 40 MPa and very good painting properties. Fender are Mounted with the bumper with the help of Fastners.
WHEEL ARCH MOUNT :
In this area we need to validate the wheel is accomodate into the properly with clearance.
CONCLUSION :
when we developing the new stylke of fender need to ensure the above critical points and its mounting feature for good and better finish.