Vehicle Door Molding With Selective LED Illumination
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing vehicle door moldings lack the ability to provide controlled visual aesthetics and lighting effects, particularly for decorative purposes, and do not allow for selective illumination of desired areas while preventing light from undesired areas.
Innovation Solution
A decorative exterior trim for vehicles featuring a lighting unit with LED elements, a light-blocking layer, and a retaining apparatus that allows for fixed positioning and controlled light transmission, enabling selective illumination and aesthetic designs.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Illumination intensity
If a lighting unit with LED elements is integrated into the door molding, then visual aesthetics and lighting effects are enhanced, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines the lighting unit, light-blocking layer, and retaining apparatus into an integrated door molding assembly. The LED elements are embedded within the existing door molding structure, merging the decorative lighting function with the protective trim function, thereby enhancing visual aesthetics while minimizing additional structural complexity
Solution Approach 2:
The door molding is designed to serve multiple functions: it provides protective trim, decorative aesthetics, and integrated lighting effects. The lighting unit can be configured for various purposes including brand logos and warning functions, making the single component multi-functional and reducing the need for separate decorative elements
2Ease of operation
If a light-blocking layer with decorative shapes is used to control light transmission, then selective illumination is achieved, but manufacturing precision requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
The light-blocking layer features decorative shapes with varying light transmission properties in different regions. Areas requiring illumination have transparent or translucent characteristics, while other areas remain opaque to block light. This local variation in optical properties enables selective illumination control without requiring high precision across the entire component
Solution Approach 2:
The light-blocking layer utilizes variations in transparency and translucency (optical properties similar to color changes) to control light transmission. By incorporating transparent, translucent, and opaque regions within the same layer, the design achieves selective illumination while using standard manufacturing tolerances for the decorative shapes
3Reliability
If LED elements are fixed inside the door molding using a retaining apparatus, then lighting stability is improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The retaining apparatus is nested within the door molding structure, with the LED elements positioned inside a dedicated compartment. The retaining apparatus itself is integrated into the molding body, creating a nested arrangement that secures the lighting components while utilizing the existing structural space, thereby improving stability without significantly increasing overall complexity
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
The solution provides enhanced visual aesthetics and controlled lighting effects on vehicle door moldings, allowing for selective illumination and dynamic lighting configurations, including brand logos and warning functions.
Implementation Method 1
A decorative exterior trim for vehicles featuring a lighting unit with LED elements
Data Source
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AI summary
The invention is an exterior trim element that is used for functional or decorative purposes on vehicles, more particularly a molding (M) that is used on vehicle doors (D), characterized by having a translucent body (10) consisting of one piece, comprising at least a lighting unit (20) in said body (10) that is positioned on to the exterior of the door plate (DP) such as to radiate light in a direction, and a light preventing layer (60) provided at least in one area, that provides regional opacity by limiting the radiation of the light that is initially radiated from said lighting unit (20), from being radiated from the surface of the body (10).