Fender Design Challenge
Fender Design
Aim : Design various mounting point on the Fender for Perfect Fit of Fender on CAR.
Objective : To prepare the various mounting points on the Fender like drip area, Sill mount, Bumper Mount and A-Pillar mount etc, for the fender fitting by using NX CAD.
Theory :
- Introduction
- Classification of Fenders
- Types of Fenders
- Fender Wheel Arch
- Types of Wheel arch regulations
- Mounting Regions or Parts of the Fender
- Design Procedure
- Some Relevant Images
Introduction :
Fender is the American English term for the part of an automobile, motorcycle or other vehicle body that frames a wheel well (the fender underside). Its primary purpose is to prevent sand, mud, rocks, liquids, and other road spray from being thrown into the air by the rotating tire. Fenders are typically rigid and can be damaged by contact with the road surface.
Sticky materials, such as mud, may adhere to the smooth outer tire surface, while smooth loose objects, such as stones, can become temporarily embedded in the tread grooves as the tire rolls over the ground. These materials can be ejected from the surface of the tire at high velocity as the tire imparts kinetic energy to the attached objects. For a vehicle moving forward, the top of the tire is rotating upward and forward, and can throw objects into the air at other vehicles or pedestrians in front of the vehicle.
In British English, the fender is called the wing. (This may refer to either the front or rear fenders. However, in modern unibody vehicles, rear fenders may also be called quarter panels.) The equivalent component of a bicycle or motorcycle, or the "cycle wing" style of wing fitted to vintage cars, or over tires on lorries which is not integral with the bodywork, is called a mudguard in Britain, as it guards other road users – and in the case of a bicycle or motorcycle, the rider as well – from mud, and spray, thrown up by the wheels.
- What is the meaning of the name Fender?
Fender is the US English term for part of an automobile (vehicle body of car) that frames the wheel well (the fender underside). Its primary purpose is to shield wheels and protect both passengers’ compartment and pedestrians from projection of water, mud and stones.
- What is the purpose of a Fender on a car?
Fender is the American English term for the part of an automobile, motorcycle or other vehicle body that frames a wheel well (the fender underside). Its primary purpose is to prevent sand, mud, rocks, liquids, and other road spray from being thrown into the air by the rotating tire.
- What is a Fender-Bender?
A fender-bender is a minor collision in which the fender of the car is damaged. Depending on the make of the car, fenders may be made from fiberglass, steel, or other materials.
- What is a Fender on a car?
On the other hand, a car fender is a body kit attached to the sides of the car, specifically on the wheel arches. A fender is used for various reasons such as to improve aesthetics, prevent debris from being thrown by the tires, and even enhance aerodynamics. Some fenders on a car are more noticeable than others.
Classification of Fenders :
- Front side Fender
- Rear side Fender
- Front fender which is mounted on the front side of the car which is placed near and side to the engine.
- Rear fender is placed on the rear wheel of the car and it gives the protection from backside of the car.
Types of Fenders :
There are mainly two types of fenders
- Full Bumper Type.
- Half Bumper Type.
Full Bumper type
This type of fender is used in olden days, it is no more in use due to its heavyweight of the structure and consumes more raw material in manufacturing.
Half Bumper Type
Half Bumper Type fenders are widely used now, due to its mini size and the scrap or wastage is less compared to the full bumper type.
Presently we are using the half bumper type , the reason for choosing the half bumper type is that when we choose the full bumper type the blank used for creating it is very large and also has the lot of wastage , but in the case of the half bumper type we have the possibility to reduce the scrap . This is what we called as scrap management.
In half bumper type we reduce the usage of the steel material and uses the lots of plastic on the bumper which in term decreases the cars weight and increases the performance.
Fender Wheel Arch :
The wheel arch is an arch-shaped cavity in the body of a vehicle, which houses a wheel. It has two important functions. It serves for the safety of pedestrians and other cars because the wheel is situated in the body of a vehicle.
The second function is to protect the car from the sticky materials, such as mud, may adhere to the smooth outer tire surface, while smooth loose objects, such as stones, can become temporarily embedded in the tread grooves as the tire rolls over the ground. These materials can be ejected from the surface of the tire at high velocity as the tire imparts kinetic energy to the attached objects. For a vehicle moving forward, the top of the tire is rotating upward and forward and can throw objects into the air at other vehicles or pedestrians in front of the vehicle.
Types of Wheel arch regulations:
- Japanese regulations.
- European regulations.
- US regulations.
Mounting Regions or Parts of the Fender :
There are different 5 regions on the Fender for fitting the Fender on car which are as follows,
- Drip mount area
- Sill mount area
- Bumper mount area
- A-Pillar mount area
- Baffle mount area
1. Drip mount area :
It is the important mounting uni of the fender. it is connected with the engine compartment, therefore the lot of design constraints are to be followed while designing the fender. While designing the drip area we have to initially leave 200-300 mm for cowl top.
For placing the headlamp we have to leave at least 150 mm at the front while designing the fender. Cowl top part consists pf wiper motor and its instruments. Two darts are added on the longer side of the drip area in order to provide the stiffness and adds strength to the part.
This helps the fender to not to vibrate and impact the forces outside of the fender during motion of the vehicle. Embossing are provided on the mounting to strengthen them during fastening.
As you can see in the above images we have created some emboss and mounting holes for the fasteners we have created flat surface and have given the minimum 5mm flat area around the mounting holes.
2. Sill mount area :
Sill is the panel directly below the bottom of the door supporting the floor and may be used to combine the floor and the body. The bottom end of the fender is mounted on the sill body for reinforcement of the fender panel , thus the sill mounting position is designed with holes and emboss. M5 fasteners are used to fix the fenders on the sill body.
3. Bumper mount area :
Bumper mounting area is used to fix the plastic bumper to the fender with the help of the fasteners, As you can see we have created the bumper mount using emboss, dart and bridge curve to cut out the sharp corners.
The bumper mounting region is located beneath the bumper. The fender gets attached before the installation of the bumper. After fixing the fender with fasteners the bumper will cover the bumper mounting.
4. A-Pillar mount area :
The A-pillar is the structural pillar that combines the body to the roof. this make the sides of the windshield rest. front fenders are fastened to the A -pillar to form a robust structure. This mounting area is located near the cowl top of the car, where it is fastened with the cowl.
While creating this mount was tricky one as we have create a emboss on curved surface so for that we have used datum plane and according to that we have created the sketch.
5. Baffle mount area :
Baffle mounting or mudguard are clip fit type of mounting on the inner side of the fender arch over the Tyre. it protects the car engine compartment and pedestrians from causing injuries from chip out debris on the road when the car is in motion. they are mounted on the fender using a special type of locking clips which are made up of plastics.
In this mounting area, baffles are mounted using fastners,which is used to seal the opening between wheel & engine campartment. So that, engine compartment can't be harmed by any kind of debris or mud splashes over it, through the rotating wheel.
For baffle mounting we didn’t made any kind of emboss we have created the mounting holes for it and we have created the baffle flange on which the holes are there. After creating the mounts we finally thicken it which gives thickness to the sheet metal.
Design Procedure :
Given Master Sketch :
Various Commands and Tools used for the Design process :
- SKETCH
- OFFSET IN FACE
- CURVE ON SURFACE
- BRIDGE CURVE
- EMBOSS
- TRIM SHEET
- LAW EXTENSION
- FACE BLEND
- EDGE BLEND
- DART
- THICKEN
The manufacturing of the fender majorly involves these main operations.
1.Embossing
2.Bending
3.Cutting and Blanking
Embossing
Embossing is a metal forming process for producing raised or sunken designs or relief in sheet material using matched male and female roller dies, theoretically with no change in metal thickness, or by passing sheet or a strip of metal between rolls of the desired pattern.
Bending
Metal bending is a process by which metal can be deformed when applying force to the subject, which causes it to bend at an angle and form the anticipated shape, which often results in it being in a ‘V’ or a ‘U’ shape. This is done through the application of force on a workpiece. The force on the work piece can be mechanical, pneumatic or hydraulic.
Cutting and Blanking
Cutting processes are those in which a piece of sheet metal is separated by applying a great enough shearing force to cause the material to fail.
Blanking is a steel manufacturing process in which a flat, geometric shape is created by feeding a coil of sheet metal into a press and die. In this process, the blank is punched out from the large metal sheet.
various Design Regions :
- Drip mount area
- Sill mount area
- Bumper mount area
- A-Pillar mount area
- Baffle mount area
- Thickness of 0.75 under the direction :
- Front View
- Backside View :
Part Navigator :
Conclusion :
All regions and specially Drip Area part are designed with the help of given master section and given help videos are done with the help of NX CAD.
Because of this project I have learnt that the basic surface modelling commands of NX cad & prepare a part & model of car fender using the given data provided in the question.