DESC:FIELD OF INVENTION

The present invention relates to productive use of waste rubber tubes discarded by the vehicle owners, manufacturers and mechanics. In particular, the present invention relates to making a useful product from waste rubber tubes for vehicle testing process. More particularly, the present invention relates the mannequins made from waste rubber tubes for accurately simulating human body reactions during vehicle testing.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Basically, all automotive manufacturers validate the product for durability and reliability point of view before launch. In this process, the vehicles are run in Real World Usage Pattern (RWUP) condition for scheduled 50k / 100k km distance to monitor the performance degradation of every system over a predefined period.

The performance of the passenger vehicles is very critical due to competition and customers awareness in ever-evolving market.

The automobile market is significantly growing day by day with the vehicle ownership rising at an accelerated pace, particularly in fast developing countries like India and China.

Normally, mannequins are required to be loaded in all passenger vehicles for proper RWUP testing thereof.

At present, varieties of rigid plastic and fiber mannequins are available, which are quite expensive. These mannequins frequently get damaged during handling for testing of vehicles.

Therefore, the rate of degradation rate of these mannequins is very high due of their regular use on test vehicles and these also require huge storage space in testing areas.
DISADVANTAGES WITH THE PRIOR ART

Today, the disposal of automotive scrap rubber tubes is a big challenge for environmental safety, because every puncture shop / service station and auto manufacturer carelessly dumps the scrap rubber tubes. This is due to the fact that presently, there are no solutions in place for effective disposal thereof.

However, the problem with the conventional mannequins usually made of rigid plastic and fiber materials is their high costs as well as poor service life due to damages sustained during vehicle handling for rigorous testing of vehicles.

Therefore, there is an existing need for finding out solutions to replace rigid plastic/fiber mannequins, which offer the dual advantage of an efficient and economic disposal of waste rubber tubes.

OBJECTS OF THE INVENTION

Some of the objects of the present invention - satisfied by at least one embodiment of the present invention - are as follows:

An object of the present invention is to provide an effective solution for efficient disposal of waste rubber tubes of motor vehicles discarded by the vehicle users, manufacturers and mechanics.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a low-cost solution for using waste rubber tube material to make rubber mannequins used for vehicle testing.

Still another object of the present invention is to provide rubber mannequins for properly simulating the actual human body reactions during vehicle testing.

Yet another object of the present invention is to provide rubber mannequins which can be folded and stored in a smaller space than rigid plastic/fiber ones.
A further object of the present invention is to provide rubber mannequins which are manufactured from scrap rubber tube which is very economical and also offers an environment-friendly disposal thereof.

These and other objects and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent from the following description, when read with the accompanying figures of drawing, which are however not intended to limit the scope of the present invention in any way.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In accordance with the present invention, there is provided a hollow rubber mannequin made of rubber scrap for vehicle testing, the mannequin configured to accurately simulating the dynamic flexibility of the actual human body reactions on placing the same on the seats of the vehicle under testing/ validation and/or designing.

Typically, the rubber scrap is made of a composition of scrap or waste rubber tubes mixed with virgin butyl rubber and other constituents mixed in a predetermined proportion heated and converted into a liquid rubber compound to be formed into the hollow mannequin by means of a blow-molding machine fitted with a die therefor.

Typically, the mannequin is filled with water before testing/validation and/or designing to impart dynamic flexibility thereto to accurately simulate the actual human body reactions.

Typically, the mannequin is filled with water before testing/validation and/or designing to impart dynamic flexibility thereto to accurately simulate the actual human body reactions.

In accordance with the present invention, there is also provided a method of manufacturing the rubber mannequin, wherein the method comprises the steps of:
• taking scrap rubber material, e.g. waste rubber tubes;

• cleaning the rubber material on a cleaning machine;

• cutting the cleaned rubber material on a cutting machine;

• adding virgin rubber in the cleaned and cut rubber material;

• mixing the rubber mixture in a twin-roller mill/mixer;

• heating the mixed rubber above 1800C in a heater for converting into a liquid rubber compound;

• fitting a mannequin die in a blow-molding machine to obtain the mannequin body;

wherein a predetermined quantity of the liquid rubber compound is injected into the mannequin die of the blow molding machine to completely fill the die by means of nitrogen and air-pressure.

Typically, the composition of the liquid rubber compound comprises the following constituents in parts per hundred rubber:

(i) 97 part butyl BK 1675N;
(ii) 12 parts butyl irritated;
(iii) 55 parts C/B N660;
(iv) 18 parts paraffinic oil;
(v) 0.5 part TMQ;
(vi) 0.5 part 6PPD;
(vii) 0.6 part stearic acid;
(viii) 3.5 parts zinc oxide;
(ix) 2.1 parts sulphur;
(x) 0.6 part MBT;
(xi) 1.1 part TMTD; and
(xii) 62 parts GPF (N660) black.

Typically, the rubber compound filled die is removed from the blow-molding machine and retained in a cooling chamber for a predefined interval, preferably 3 minutes before removing the die therefrom and opening the die to remove the flexible, durable and foldable rubber mannequin made thereby.

Typically, the rubber mannequin is tested for leakage and loading thereof before using the same for accurately simulating the dynamic flexibility of the actual human body reactions on placing the same on the seats of the vehicle under testing/ validation and/or designing.

Typically, about 6 kg of the liquid rubber compound is injected for filling into the mannequin die.

Typically, the mannequin die is a replica of human body made in two parts and the liquid rubber compound is filled through the neck portion thereof by means of nitrogen and air-pressure to obtain the hollow rubber mannequin therefrom.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE ACCOMPANYING DRAWINGS

The present invention will be briefly described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

Figure 1 shows a rubber mannequin configured in accordance with the present invention to accurately simulate the dynamic flexibility of the actual human body.

Figure 2 shows a schematic flow diagram of the method of manufacturing the rubber mannequins configured in accordance with the present invention, as indicated in Figure 1.

DETALED DESCRIPTION OF THE ACCOMPANYING DRAWINGS

Figure 1 shows a rubber mannequin 100 configured in accordance with the present invention, which have an accurately positioned Center of Gravity (CG), which act as a human body after filling it with water and on placing it inside the vehicle under testing/validation, e.g. seated on vehicle seats. This facilitates in accurately simulating the dynamic flexibility of the actual human body to obtain better results during vehicle testing as well as part of vehicle designing.

Figure 2 shows a schematic flow diagram of the method of manufacturing the rubber mannequins configured in accordance with the present invention, as indicated in Figure 1.

The method includes taking scrap rubber 10 as raw material, e.g. waste rubber vehicle tubes; processing this scrap rubber 10 on a cleaning 20 and cutting machine 30; adding fresh rubber ingredients 40 to this cleaned and cut rubber material obtained from machines 20, 30 and mixing the two materials in a twin-roller mill or mixer 50 (e.g. Banbury mixer); heating this homogeneously mixed rubber mixture above 1800C in a heater 60 for converting into a liquid rubber compound 70 to be passed through a blow molding machine 80 fitted with specific die (preferably about 6 kg liquid rubber compound is injected into this die to completely fill the internal cavity thereof by using Nitrogen and air pressure). This liquid rubber compound filled die is passed through the cooling chambers, in which it is kept for a predefined time, e.g. 3 minutes before opening the same.

On opening the die, the liquid rubber compound filled die is cooled and finally a flexible, durable and foldable mannequin 90 is obtained which is removed for further leakage and load testing. On passing these critical tests, the rubber mannequin 100 is ready to be used for dispatch to the vehicle test center/s of the manufacturers/testing agencies. In case, the mannequin 100 does not pass the leakage and load tests, it is returned back to be mixed with rubber scrap at step 10 for reprocessing thereof. The hollow die for blow-moulding the rubber mannequin is a replica of desired human body.

The die is made into two halves, preferably divided at the center. The liquid rubber material is inserted through the neck hole by means of injecting compressed air pressure and Nitrogen gas into the molding machine.
DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

At present, the automotive manufacturers test vehicles by using rigid plastic / FRP mannequins or sand-loaded plastic drums placed within vehicles during the entire testing phase. These mannequins or drums employed as loads are used to react as dead loads.

The dynamic reactions of such loads are substantially different in comparison to the actual human body reactions, thus the test-results obtained thereby are inaccurate the vehicle under testing for validation purposes for the vehicle under testing.

The rubber mannequins configured in accordance with the present invention offer an accurate simulation of the actual human body reactions observed during vehicle handling while applying brakes or accelerating.

This is because the center of gravity (CG) shifts according to the vehicle behavior and road inputs. As per the seating capacity of vehicle, the number of water-filled rubber mannequins are placed in the prescribed manner to occupy seats of the vehicle under the prescribed conditions for validation testing.

Therefore, these rubber mannequins completely eliminate the disadvantages associated with the conventional rigid plastic/FRP mannequins by providing the same actual reactions as human body during handling, braking and acceleration of the vehicle under testing.

This also facilitates in gathering more accurate inputs for the vehicle designer during the stages of design and tuning thereof. It also helps to provide a refined product to earn customers’ confidence and to gain better customer satisfaction.

This invention is also useful to the society, because it is environment-friendly and provides effective solutions of waste rubber tube disposal as well substantial cost-recovery thereof from the scrap rubber tubes.

This invention mainly consists of converting the scrap rubber tubes into a novel composition formed with the help of fresh butyl rubber.

This composition provides a novel durable rubber compound, which comprises the following ingredients:

Compound in Parts per Hundred Rubber (phr) Composition
Butyl BK 1675N 97
Butyl irritated 12
C/B N660 55
PARAFFINIC oil 18
TMQ 0.5
6PPD 0.6
Stearic acid 0.6
Zinc oxide 3.5
Sulphur 2.1
MBT 0.6
TMTD 1.1
GPF (N660) Black 62.0

The rubber retrieved from the waste tubes is properly mixed with above proportion in two roller mills or mixer (e.g. Banbury mixer) to obtain a homogenous mixture, which is melted above 1800C to convert it into a liquid rubber compound to be passed through a blow molding machine fitted with specific die for forming human-like mannequins. The specific amount of liquid rubber compound (e.g. 6 kg) is injected into this die and it completely fills the internal cavity thereof with the help of Nitrogen gas and air pressure.

This liquid rubber compound filled die is passed through the cooling chambers for a predefined time (e.g. 3 minutes) before opening the same. After this cooling, the liquid rubber compound filled die is opened to remove the flexible, durable and foldable mannequin, which is processed further by leakage testing and load testing.
On passing these critical tests, the rubber mannequin is ready for dispatch to the vehicle test center/s of the manufacturers/testing agencies to be used for accurately simulate the actual human body reactions by applying brakes or by accelerating the vehicles under testing.

The rheological properties (the properties of the material flow, primarily in its liquid state, however also as 'soft solids' or solids under conditions noticed due to the plastic flow rather than elastic deformation in response to an applied force) and mechanical properties and the degree of dispersion of carbon black for both types of compounds, i.e. compounds prepared by using scrap tubes as well as commercial butyl crumbs, are measured and compared with the value of virgin butyl rubber.

The rheological characteristics of the compounds are determined by Monsanto MDR 2000E rhenometer. Mooney viscosity is measured by Monsanto MV 2000.

The compounds were vulcanized in a hydraulic press under pressure of 14 MPa at 1580C for 20 minutes for testing the vulcanizates.

TECHNICAL ADVANTAGES AND ECONOMIC SIGNIFICANCE

The rubber mannequins configured in accordance with the present invention has the following technical and economic advantages:

• Special rubber compound formed to make flexible, durable, foldable product.

• Reduces storage space.

• Cost-effective and economical to manufacture and maintain.

• Uses waste vehicle tubes, which are cheap, even free sometimes.

• Environment-friendly to the society by disposal of waste rubber tubes, which were difficult to be disposed earlier.

• Rubber mannequin products are durable, flexible and foldable making them suitable for accurate simulation of human body during actual testing conditions.

• Light weight thus easy for handle, load and unload.

• Being made of soft material, no injury to personnel, in case of any accident, should it occur.

The foregoing description of the specific embodiments will so fully reveal the general nature of the embodiments herein that others can, by applying current knowledge, readily modify and/or adapt for various applications such specific embodiments without departing from the generic concept, and, therefore, such adaptations and modifications should and are intended to be comprehended within the meaning and range of equivalents of the disclosed embodiments. It is to be distinctly understood that the foregoing descriptive matter is to be interpreted merely as illustrative of the invention and not as a limitation.

The description provided herein is purely by way of example and illustration. The various features and advantageous details are explained with reference to this non-limiting embodiment in the above description in accordance with the present invention. The descriptions of well-known components and manufacturing and processing techniques are consciously omitted in this specification, so as not to unnecessarily obscure the specification.

It is to be understood that the phraseology or terminology employed herein is for the purpose of description and not of limitation. Therefore, while the embodiments herein have been described in terms of preferred embodiments, the skilled person will recognize that the embodiments herein can be practiced with modification within the spirit and scope of embodiments described herein.

Therefore, the skilled person can easily make innumerable changes, variations, modifications, alterations and/or integrations in terms of materials and method used to configure, manufacture and assemble various constituents, components, subassemblies, assemblies and in terms of the size, shapes, orientations and interrelationships without departing from the scope and spirit of the present invention.

The numerical values given of various physical parameters, dimensions and quantities are only approximate values and it is envisaged that the values higher or lower than the numerical value assigned to the physical parameters, dimensions and quantities fall within the scope of the disclosure unless there is a statement in the specification to the contrary.

Throughout this specification, the word “comprise”, or variations such as “comprises” or “comprising”, shall be understood to implies including a described element, integer or method step, or group of elements, integers or method steps, however, does not imply excluding any other element, integer or step, or group of elements, integers or method steps.

The use of the expression “a”, “at least” or “at least one” shall imply using one or more elements or ingredients or quantities, as used in the embodiment of the disclosure in order to achieve one or more of the intended objects or results of the present invention. ,CLAIMS:We claim:

1. A hollow rubber mannequin made of rubber scrap for vehicle testing, said mannequin configured to accurately simulating the dynamic flexibility of the actual human body reactions on placing the same on the seats of the vehicle under testing/ validation and/or designing.

2. Rubber mannequin as claimed in claim 1, wherein said rubber scrap comprises a composition of scrap or waste rubber tubes mixed with virgin butyl rubber in a predetermined proportion heated and converted into a liquid rubber compound to be formed into said mannequin by means of a blow-molding machine fitted with a die therefor.

3. Rubber mannequin as claimed in claim 2, wherein said mannequin is filled with water before testing/validation and/or designing to impart dynamic flexibility thereto to accurately simulate the actual human body reactions.

4. Rubber mannequin as claimed in claim 2, wherein said mannequin is filled with water before testing/validation and/or designing to impart dynamic flexibility thereto to accurately simulate the actual human body reactions.

5. A method of manufacturing a rubber mannequin as claimed in anyone of the claims 1 to 4, wherein said method comprises the steps of:

• taking scrap rubber material (10), e.g. waste rubber tubes;

• cleaning said rubber material on a cleaning machine (20);

• cutting said cleaned rubber material on a cutting machine (30);

• adding virgin rubber (40) in said cleaned and cut rubber material;

• mixing said rubber mixture in a twin-roller mill/mixer (50);

• heating said mixed rubber above 1800C in a heater (60) for converting into a liquid rubber compound (70);

• fitting a mannequin die in a blow-molding machine (80) to obtain said mannequin body;

wherein a predetermined quantity of said liquid rubber compound (70) is injected into said mannequin die of said blow molding machine (80) to completely fill said die by means of nitrogen and air-pressure.

6. Method as claimed in claim 5, wherein the composition of said liquid rubber compound (70) comprises the following constituents in parts per hundred rubber:

(i) 97 part butyl BK 1675N;
(ii) 12 parts butyl irritated;
(iii) 55 parts C/B N660;
(iv) 18 parts paraffinic oil;
(v) 0.5 part TMQ;
(vi) 0.5 part 6PPD;
(vii) 0.6 part stearic acid;
(viii) 3.5 parts zinc oxide;
(ix) 2.1 parts sulphur;
(x) 0.6 part MBT;
(xi) 1.1 part TMTD; and
(xii) 62 parts GPF (N660) black.

7. Method as claimed in claim 5, wherein said rubber compound filled die is removed from said blow-molding machine and retained in a cooling chamber for a predefined interval, preferably 3 minutes before removing said die therefrom and opening said die to remove the flexible, durable and foldable rubber mannequin made thereby.

8. Method as claimed in claim 6, wherein said rubber mannequin is tested for leakage and loading thereof before using the same for accurately simulating the dynamic flexibility of the actual human body reactions on placing the same on the seats of the vehicle under testing/ validation and/or designing.

9. Method as claimed in claim 5, wherein about 6 kg of said liquid rubber compound is injected for filling into said mannequin die.

10. Method as claimed in claim 5, wherein said mannequin die is a replica of human body made in two parts and said liquid rubber compound is filled through the neck portion thereof by means of nitrogen and air-pressure to obtain said hollow rubber mannequin therefrom.

Digitally Signed.

Dated: this 30th day of August 2017. SANJAY KESHARWANI
APPLICANT’S PATENT AGENT