Motor Vehicle Door Seal Lip Retention via Trim Extension
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Solution Overview
Problem
The repeated opening and closing of motor vehicle doors causes the seal and frame trim to move, revealing the junction between the double seal and the frame trim, leading to an unsightly appearance and potential for poor quality impressions, as the positioning variations during manufacture and assembly affect the seal's integration.
Innovation Solution
A motor vehicle door design featuring a frame with an internal rabbet and a trim element with a free edge that engages with a lip from the seal, where the lip's free end rests on the trim element's extension, ensuring improved retention and masking of the seal, using a sole with a flat edge and a bead with a lateral lip, and a heel extension for uniform contact and flexibility.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Shape
If a double sealing gasket is used to conceal the junction between the painted door frame and the frame trim, then the aesthetic appearance is improved, but the seal and frame trim move during repeated door opening and closing, revealing the junction and creating an unsightly appearance
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies the dynamics principle by making the trim element's free edge extensible (dynamic) to accommodate relative movements between the trim element and door frame during door operation. The extension allows the trim to adapt its position while maintaining continuous coverage of the junction area, preventing the seal from becoming visible despite dynamic movements.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent uses parameter changes by modifying the geometry of the trim element's free edge, extending it backward toward the junction between the seal and door frame. This geometric parameter change creates an extension that maintains contact with the seal's lip during relative movements, ensuring continuous masking of the junction regardless of position variations.
2Reliability
If the free edge of the trim element is extended back toward the junction between the sole and the bead, then the retention of the lip on the free edge is improved, but the device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies segmentation by dividing the trim element's free edge into distinct functional zones: the main free edge portion and the backward extension. This segmentation allows each portion to serve a specific function - the main edge provides the primary contact surface while the extension provides additional retention and masking, simplifying the overall design by assigning clear roles to each segment.
3Reliability
If the flat edge of the free edge extends towards the junction between the sole and the bead over a length of between 1 mm and 2 mm, then the retention of the lip on the free edge is optimized, but the manufacturing precision requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent uses parameter changes by specifying an optimized length range (1-2 mm) for the flat edge extension. This parameter optimization balances retention performance with manufacturing feasibility - the extension is long enough to provide adequate retention contact during movements but short enough to be easily manufactured within standard tolerances, avoiding excessive precision requirements.
Data Source
Figure 1~3
AI summary
The invention relates to a door (1) for a motor vehicle including a frame (2) and a seal (2.0) having a pad (21) applied flat to the bearing channel (6) and a weather strip (22) topping said pad (21), and a lip (24) projectingly extending sideways from a junction (26) between the pad (21) and the weather strip (22), said free edge (5) of the trim element (4) having an extension (40) leading back to a junction (26) between the pad (21) and the weather strip (22) such that said return edge (40) is engaged between the pad (21) and the lip (24).