Vehicular Door Apron with Accordion Bellow Strips
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Solution Overview
Problem
Vehicles suffer from superficial damage to doors due to accidental contact with adjacent cars, and existing solutions fail to prevent such damage effectively while allowing for easy removal during car washing.
Innovation Solution
A vehicular door apron with accordion bellow strips and magnetizable materials that expand to absorb impact, secured by hook clips that attach only when the door is open, preventing unintentional removal and allowing for display messages on an outward-facing surface.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a protective device is installed on the vehicle door to prevent damage from adjacent vehicles, then door protection is improved, but the device may be accidentally removed during normal operations or car washing
Solution Approach 1:
The hook clip is designed to dynamically change its engagement state based on door position. When the door is open, the hook clip can be easily attached to or removed from the door lip. When the door is closed, the hook clip's geometry prevents accidental removal, as the door lip cannot disengage the hook without the door being in the open position. This dynamic behavior resolves the contradiction by providing both secure attachment during normal use and easy removal when needed.
2Reliability
If a protective device is permanently attached to the vehicle door, then door protection is improved, but the device cannot be removed for car washing or maintenance
Solution Approach 1:
The device transitions from a static permanent attachment to a dynamic conditional attachment. The hook clip remains attached under normal closed-door conditions but can be easily removed when the door is open, providing the functionality of both permanent and removable devices.
3Reliability
If the protective device extends far from the door surface to provide adequate protection, then door protection is improved, but the device may interfere with door operation or aesthetic appearance
Solution Approach 1:
The protective device dynamically adjusts its extension distance based on door position. During door operation, the device remains retracted close to the door surface, minimizing interference. When the door is closed and stationary, the device can extend outward to provide adequate protection. This dynamic adjustment resolves the contradiction between protection effectiveness and operational interference.
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
Effectively prevents door damage from adjacent vehicles by expanding to absorb impact and securely attaching to the door, while allowing easy installation and removal only when the door is open, and providing a removable display surface.
Implementation Method 1
one or more magnetizable material along the vehicle-facing surface
Implementation Method 2
a bellow strip having accordion walls defining a cavity, the bellow strip movable between a uninflated condition and an expanded condition; the expanded condition extends at least two inches further from the vehicle-facing surface than the uninflated condition
Data Source
AI summary
A vehicular apron is provided. The vehicular apron is dimensioned and adapted to extend the length of a door of the vehicle at its outward-most portion, thereby absorbing damage that would otherwise be imparted into the underlying door. The vehicular apron provides clips at each end for slipping on and off of a lip of the door only when the door is in an open position, whereby unintentional removal of the vehicular apron is nearly impossible when the door is in the closed position. Magnets along an inward first surface may also secure the vehicular apron to the door. A bellow strip or a plurality of spaced apart bellow piles may be provided along each apron. The bellow strip and bellow piles have accordion sidewalls which facilitate the bellow strip or pile being urged between a uninflated condition and an expanded condition for absorbing impact.