Automotive Door Weather Strip Venting for Low Closing Force
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing door weather strips face issues with increased compressive load, shavings during drilling of air vents, and degradation in door closability due to the use of sponge materials with higher specific gravity, leading to imperfect hole shapes and reduced work efficiency.
Innovation Solution
A door weather strip design featuring a hollow seal member with air vents and drainage holes, accompanied by a sponge layer of lower specific gravity than the walls, strategically positioned to avoid drilling shavings and reduce compressive load, ensuring perfect circular hole shapes and improved noise insulation.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Object-affected harmful factors
If sponge material with higher specific gravity is used to improve noise insulation, then noise insulation performance is improved, but compressive load increases and door closability deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The sponge layer is applied selectively only to specific regions of the inner peripheral surface of the hollow seal member, rather than uniformly across the entire surface. This localized application provides noise insulation in areas where it is most effective while avoiding excessive compressive load generation, thereby resolving the contradiction between noise insulation performance and door closability.
2Object-affected harmful factors
If sponge material is present during drilling of air vents, then noise insulation is maintained, but shavings are generated and work efficiency decreases
Solution Approach 1:
The sponge layer is strategically omitted from specific regions where air vents are to be drilled. This extraction of the sponge material from drilling areas eliminates the generation of shavings and cutting blade clogging, significantly improving work efficiency while maintaining noise insulation performance in the regions where the sponge layer is retained.
Solution Approach 2:
The design pre-plans the positioning of the sponge layer to anticipate future drilling operations. By deliberately leaving sponge-free zones at predetermined locations before drilling begins, the process avoids the harmful effects of drilling through sponge material, thereby improving productivity without compromising the overall noise insulation function.
3Ease of manufacture
If sponge material is softer than ordinary material, then ease of molding is improved, but shavings cling to cutting blades and hole shape precision deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The softer sponge material is completely removed from the regions where air vents and drainage holes are to be drilled. This extraction eliminates the problem of shavings clinging to cutting blades, allowing for precise circular hole shapes to be achieved while still utilizing the molding advantages of softer sponge material in other regions of the seal member.
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 design enhances noise insulation, maintains door closability, and improves work efficiency by preventing shavings and reducing compressive load, while maintaining the integrity of hole shapes and sealing functionality.
Implementation Method 1
The door weather strip makes elastic contact with an automobile body of the automobile, to seal a gap between an interior and an exterior of the automobile when the door is in a closed position.
Implementation Method 2
The air vents H are provided at intervals, which are used to release air from the hollow seal member 12 and to suppress increase in closing force required for closing the door 100.
Implementation Method 3
the drainage holes S are provided on part that couples to a lower side part of the door 100
Implementation Method 4
a sponge material 13, which is highly foamed and has a lower specific gravity, provided on an inner peripheral surface of the hollow seal member 12, to improve noise insulation performance
Data Source
AI summary
A door weather strip for an automobile couples to a flange of a door of the automobile. The door weather strip includes an installation base member, a hollow seal member, an air vent, and a sponge layer. The installation base member couples to the flange. The hollow seal member is integrally molded with the installation base member, and makes elastic contact with an automobile body of the automobile when the door is in a closed position. The hollow seal member includes a first wall, a second wall, a third wall, and a fourth wall. The air vent is provided on the hollow seal member, and is used to release air from the hollow seal member. The sponge layer is provided on an inner peripheral surface of the hollow seal member except the air vent, and has a specific gravity lower than the first, second, third, and fourth walls.