Convertible Top Linkage With Guide Track Joint
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Solution Overview
Problem
The existing convertible vehicle top linkages experience significant wear and risk of damage due to strong forces acting on the mobile joint when transitioning from turning to sliding, particularly at the point where the pin engages with the oblong hole, leading to potential mechanical failure.
Innovation Solution
The top features a link assembly with a coupling link that includes a fixed joint and a mobile joint with a pivot axis that can shift, where the guide track blocks the mobile joint's shifting until it leaves the track, allowing forces to be distributed through two bearing points, independent of mechanical tolerances and external forces, thus reducing stress on the joint.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If a mobile joint with a pin and oblong hole is used to allow pivoting and shifting, then the top linkage can transition between closed and storage positions, but the pin experiences strong forces and extensive wear at the switching point
Solution Approach 1:
A guide track is introduced as an intermediary element between the mobile joint and the link assembly. The guide track guides the mobile joint during pivoting motion and blocks its shifting until the guiding element leaves the guide track, thereby mediating the transition between turning and sliding phases and distributing forces away from the pin
Solution Approach 2:
The motion path of the mobile joint is segmented into distinct phases: a pivoting phase guided by the guide track and a sliding phase that occurs only after leaving the guide track. This segmentation allows the joint to experience controlled motion in each phase, reducing the mechanical stress at the transition point
2Ease of operation
If the pin is allowed to turn freely in the oblong hole, then the joint has mobility, but the flattened portions experience high stress and wear
Solution Approach 1:
The guide track acts as an intermediary that carries the loading function during pivoting, allowing the pin to maintain its flattened portions for mobility while the guide track bearing surface absorbs the mechanical stress
Solution Approach 2:
The system dynamically transitions between two operational modes: when the guiding element is in the guide track, the joint pivots with the mobile joint blocked; when the guiding element leaves the guide track, the mobile joint is free to slide. This dynamic behavior optimizes both mobility and strength requirements
Data Source
AI summary
A convertible top linkage which is displaceable between a closed and position, and having a link assembly on either side of a vertical longitudinal center plane of the top, each link assembly having a first and second link, the first link and the second link being pivotable relative to a common base and connected to each other via a coupling link which is hinged to the first link via a fixed joint and to the second link via a mobile joint. The second link may have a guide track for a guiding element of the coupling link, the guide track keeping the mobile joint in position relative to the second link when the two links are being pivoted in a defined angle range, the mobile joint being shifted relative to the second link when the two links are being pivoted outside of the defined angle range.