Vehicle Door Strut Grooves for Controlled Failure
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing vehicle door strut assemblies are prone to structural failures due to excessive transverse and lateral forces, leading to potential safety risks and scattering of assembly parts, as the spring can be released from the assembly during failure, compromising containment and safety.
Innovation Solution
A spring assembly with a cylindrical hollow cover and end caps, featuring grooves on the damper sections outside the cover, and connection fittings at opposing ends, allows for controlled failure at predetermined locations, preventing spring release during excessive forces by securing the spring within the assembly.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If the spring assembly is designed without predetermined failure points, then the structural integrity is maintained under normal operation, but the assembly may fail uncontrollably at any location when subjected to excessive forces, causing spring release and part scattering
Solution Approach 1:
The damper is segmented into multiple sections with grooves at predetermined locations, creating designated failure points that divide the assembly into manageable segments. This allows controlled failure at specific locations rather than random failure throughout the structure.
Solution Approach 2:
Grooves are pre-formed at specific locations on the damper sections during manufacturing, establishing predetermined failure points before the assembly is put into service. These pre-prepared weak points ensure that when excessive forces occur, failure happens at known, contained locations.
2Reliability
If the end caps are positioned to contain the spring within the outer tube, then the spring containment is improved, but the assembly may still fail catastrophically if the failure occurs within the tube containing the spring
Solution Approach 1:
The failure points (grooves) are extracted from the critical containment zone and placed on damper sections that extend outside the outer tube. This ensures that when failure occurs, it happens outside the spring containment area, preserving the integrity of the spring housing.
Solution Approach 2:
The damper sections with grooves act as intermediary elements between the spring containment system and the external forces. These sections absorb the failure energy outside the tube, protecting the spring containment system from catastrophic failure.
3Reliability
If grooves are added to the damper sections outside the outer tube, then controlled failure at predetermined locations is enabled, but the manufacturing complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The grooves are applied only to specific local regions of the damper sections that extend outside the outer tube, rather than modifying the entire assembly. This localized approach minimizes manufacturing complexity while achieving the controlled failure function.
Data Source
AI summary
A vehicle spring assembly includes a cylindrical hollow cover defining an opening at each end. A spring is disposed within the cover, and fittings disposed at each end of the cover are configured to contain the spring within the cover. Each fitting defines an aperture. An elongated damper extends in part within the spring along a direction of elongation. The damper includes a pair of opposing end sections each extending through and projecting from the aperture of one of the fittings. Each end section defines a groove. One end section is connectable to a vehicle tailgate, and the other end section is connectable to a vehicle body. Fasteners securing the fittings to the cover are disposed adjacent the grooves defined in the damper end sections.