Door Hinge Standoff Structure for Vehicle Body
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current vehicle body structures face challenges in attaching doors due to narrow platforms with wide styling, leading to hard-to-form geometry in outer stiffeners and unnecessary material addition, which complicates the alignment and consistency of the side sill cross-section.
Innovation Solution
The introduction of a standoff structure between the outer pillar stiffener and panel, featuring a cup-shaped body with a flange and weld collars, allows for the attachment of door hinges, distributing forces and enabling consistent side sill geometry without excessive material, thus providing design flexibility and efficient assembly.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If the outer stiffener is made line on line with the side panel to accommodate wide styling on a narrow platform, then the styling flexibility is improved, but the geometry becomes hard to form and unnecessary material is added
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces an intermediary component (the stiffener with formed shapes and reinforcement) between the side panel and the door hinge mounting structure. This intermediary allows the side panel to maintain a narrow, easy-to-form geometry while the stiffener provides the necessary structural support and mounting surfaces for wide styling door hinges, thus resolving the contradiction between styling flexibility and manufacturing ease.
2Strength
If geometry is added to make the outer stiffeners meet up to the side panel, then the structural connection is improved, but the side sill cross-section becomes varying which is not preferred
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies local quality by concentrating the structural reinforcement only where needed - specifically in the outer stiffener and at the door hinge mounting location - rather than uniformly increasing the side sill cross-section throughout. This allows the side sill to maintain its consistent cross-sectional shape in most areas while providing localized strength and connectivity where the door hinge must be mounted, thus resolving the contradiction between structural connection and cross-section consistency.
Data Source
AI summary
A system for attaching a door to the body of a vehicle includes an inner pillar stiffener, an outer pillar stiffener laterally outward from the inner pillar stiffener, and an outer panel laterally outward from the outer panel stiffener. The system has a standoff structure located between the outer pillar stiffener and the outer panel, a door hinge, hinge bolts for fastening the door hinge to the standoff structure, the hinge bolts received through holes in the outer panel, the holes in the standoff structure, the holes in the outer pillar stiffener, and plate nuts for securing the hinge bolts to the outer pillar stiffener. The standoff structure includes a cup-shaped body having a bottom portion, a sidewall portion, and an edge, a flange extending around the edge of the cup-shaped body, holes in the cup-shaped body, and weld collars extending inward from the holes to the outer pillar stiffener.