Vehicle Door Seal Alignment via Projection Abutment
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Vehicle door seals often become misaligned during assembly, leading to ineffective sealing against moisture and wind due to deflection of seal portions, resulting in a defective seal.
Innovation Solution
A two-part seal system where the lower seal member includes a projection to prevent movement and a receptacle with sloped sides to align with the upper seal member's projection, ensuring proper contact and alignment during assembly, and a cover ledge to seal any gaps.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a seal is provided along the seam between upper and lower door portions, then moisture and wind exclusion is improved, but seal misalignment occurs during assembly causing defective sealing
Solution Approach 1:
The lower seal member includes a projection that abuts the lower door portion to preliminarily position the seal in the correct orientation before final assembly. This preliminary positioning prevents misalignment during the sealing engagement process, ensuring the seal maintains its optimal sealing position throughout assembly.
Solution Approach 2:
The projection on the lower seal member acts as an intermediary element between the seal and the door portion. It mediates the positioning relationship by providing a mechanical stop that prevents the seal from deflecting out of alignment, thereby ensuring accurate seal alignment without requiring complex adjustment mechanisms.
2Ease of operation
If the seal is designed to flex during assembly, then engagement is facilitated, but the seal deflects out of optimum positioning reducing sealing quality
Solution Approach 1:
The projection on the lower seal member provides a preliminary counteracting force against deflection by abutting the lower door portion. This anti-action is built into the seal design itself, preventing the seal from deflecting out of position during the engagement process, thereby maintaining sealing accuracy while still allowing necessary flexibility for assembly.
3Ease of manufacture
If a single-piece seal design is used, then manufacturing is simplified, but alignment control during assembly becomes difficult
Solution Approach 1:
The seal system is segmented into upper and lower seal members, with the lower seal member including an integrated projection feature. This segmentation allows the projection to be designed specifically for alignment control purposes, while the rest of the seal maintains its sealing function. The projection acts as a separate functional element that provides alignment control without requiring a completely complex multi-piece seal design.
Data Source
AI summary
A seal for a vehicle door. The seal includes a lower seal member structured to be mounted to a lower vehicle door portion and an upper seal member structured to be mounted to an upper vehicle door portion. The upper seal member sealingly contacts the lower seal member when the upper vehicle door portion is mounted to the lower vehicle door portion. The lower seal member includes a projection structured to abut a portion of the lower vehicle door portion when the lower seal member is mounted to the lower vehicle door portion, so as to prevent a movement of the lower seal member and resulting misalignment between the upper and lower seal members during movement of the seal members into sealing contact with each other.