Air Flap Bearing Pin Spring Mounting for Tight Installation Space
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Solution Overview
Problem
The existing air flap devices require significant movement space due to spring tongue bearing points, which can lead to collisions with surrounding devices, and have high assembly efforts due to separate manufacturing and assembly of components.
Innovation Solution
The air flap device features a resiliently connected bearing pin to the air flap, allowing the frame to be designed without movable sections, and incorporates a spiral spring component for axial mobility, enabling a space-saving design with reduced assembly complexity by forming components in one piece through injection molding.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If spring tongue bearing points are used on the frame, then the air flap can be movably mounted on the frame, but the movement space required by the spring travel increases and may cause collisions with surrounding devices
Solution Approach 1:
Instead of making the frame section movable (spring tongue on frame), the invention makes the bearing pin on the air flap movable through spring loading. This inverts the location of mobility from the stationary frame to the moving air flap, eliminating the need for deflatable frame sections and reducing external movement space requirements
Solution Approach 2:
The bearing pin with spring loading is nested within the air flap structure itself, allowing the movement mechanism to be contained within the operational air damper device space rather than requiring external movement space around the frame
2Volume of moving object
If the bearing pin is resiliently connected to the air flap, then the installation space is reduced, but the assembly effort increases due to separate manufacturing and assembly of components
Solution Approach 1:
The bearing pin and spring component are merged into a single integrated component that can be manufactured as one piece through injection molding. This combining of previously separate parts (bearing pin, spring, and mounting structure) into a single molded part dramatically reduces assembly steps and complexity while enabling the space-saving resilient connection design
3Ease of operation
If a sleeve component with bearing journal is used, then the axial mobility is achieved, but the assembly effort increases due to separate manufacturing of bearing journal and sleeve component
Solution Approach 1:
The bearing journal and spring mounting function are merged into a single integrated bearing pin component that is molded as one piece. This eliminates the need for separate sleeve components and bearing journals, reducing assembly complexity while maintaining the required axial mobility through spring loading
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
This design minimizes the required installation space and assembly effort while maintaining effective adjustment of the air flap's flow-through cross-section, allowing for efficient use of surrounding space and simplified manufacturing.
Implementation Method 1
The bearing pin is resiliently connected to the remaining air flap in the axial direction
Implementation Method 2
a bending spring component running transversely to the rotational axis, to which the bearing pin is connected
Data Source
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AI summary
The present invention relates to an air flap device for a motor vehicle, comprising: - a frame with an air passage opening and - at least one air flap rotatably mounted on the frame about an axis of rotation, wherein the at least one air flap is adjustable between a closed position in which the at least one air flap more fully covers an opening area of the air passage opening, and a free-flowing position in which the at least one air flap less fully covers the opening area of the air passage opening, wherein the axis of rotation defines an axial direction parallel to it, wherein the at least one air flap has at at least one of its axial longitudinal ends a bearing pin projecting in the axial direction, which is rotatably received in a bearing recess on the frame about the axis of rotation for rotatable mounting of the at least one air flap, wherein the bearing pin is resiliently connected to the rest of the air flap in the axial direction.