Recticel Automobilsysteme Gmbh

Recticel N.v.

Kristof Benoit

Hugo De Winter

Yvan Vanluchene

Koen Vanlandschoot

Geert Van Houcke

Peter De Wilde

Peter DeWilde

Christophe Vermeire

Axel Kamprath

Patrick Hanssens

The invention relates to an elastic vehicle tire () comprising a tire cavity. Said cavity is enclosed by a running strip () supporting the tread surface () and a side wall () formed on each side of the running strip (). A noise dampening insert () or a noise dampening insert arrangement disposed therein is provided in the tire cavity. A ventilation layer () having a structure permeable to air at least in the transverse and/or longitudinal direction of the running strip () is disposed between the noise dampening insert () or noise dampening insert arrangement and connected to the inner side () of the running strip () supporting the running surface (). Said layer is suitable for passing an air flow at least partially in contact with the inner wall () of the running strip ().

Elastic vehicle tire

The present invention relates to a method for producing a flexible elastomeric composite polyurethane skin wherein a polyurethane reaction mixture is sprayed onto a mold surface and the polyurethane reaction mixture is allowed to cure to produce the skin layer. The polyurethane reaction mixture is composed of components comprising at least an isocyanate component, isocyanate-reactive components and a catalyst component and the isocyanate component is composed of at least one isocyanate having at least two NCO-groups which are not directly attached to an aromatic group. The catalyst component is substantially free of lead, which leads to a lower flexibility. In accordance with the invention, the flexibility of the polyurethane skin is increased by means of at least one flexibiliser which reduces the flexural modulus of the skin and which comprises at least one isocyanate-reactive group. The flexibiliser is preferably a monofunctional flexibiliser which comprises only one isocyanate-reactive group.

Method for producing a flexible composite elastomeric polyurethane skin

The pressure swirl atomizing nozzle for spraying a curable composition comprises an orifice piece (), which defines a funnel-shaped cavity and an exit orifice (), and an injector piece () which closing off the funnel-shaped cavity so that the funnel-shaped cavity forms a swirl chamber () between a front side of the injector piece () and the exit orifice (). The injector piece () comprises at least two swirl ports () which end in the swirl chamber () for injecting the curable composition therein and for thereby imparting swirl to the curable composition. Compared to the sum of the smallest cross-sectional areas of the swirl ports (), the side wall () of the swirl chamber () has a relatively small surface area which is however still large enough to distribute the curable composition so as to achieve a uniform spray pattern. By the reduced size of the swirl chamber (), the curable composition can be atomized more efficiently. In this way, changes of the relatively low flow rate of the curable composition through the nozzle have less effect on the droplet size and on the stability of the spray pattern.

Pressure swirl atomizing nozzle for spraying a curable composition and associated method and use

The present invention relates to a method for producing a flexible elastomeric composite polyurethane skin comprising a first and a second flexible polyurethane layer obtained by spraying a first and a second polyurethane reaction mixture onto one another. The first reaction mixture is an aliphatic polyurethane reaction mixture which is free of lead and formulated to produce a polyurethane elastomer having a flexural modulus smaller than 35 MPa. The second reaction mixture is an aromatic polyurethane reaction mixture producing a polyurethane elastomer having a smaller flexural modulus. The thickness of the aliphatic polyurethane layer could be made so small with respect to the thickness of the aromatic polyurethane layer that the composite skin has an average flexural modulus smaller than 30 MPa. Notwithstanding the lower reactivity of the aliphatic polyurethane reaction mixture, especially when using a higher NCO-index to reduce the 'rubbery feel' and the emission of VOCs and/or a flexibiliser to achieve a higher flexibility, sufficiently short cycle times can be achieved due to the accelerated curing observed when spraying the aromatic polyurethane sufficiently early against the aliphatic polyurethane layer.

Growing community of inventors

Waregem, Belgium

Kristof Benoit