Flush Door Handle Cover Alignment With Elastic Support Sealing
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing actuating mechanisms for flush door handles in vehicles face challenges in reliably and repeatably moving covers into a flush closed position, particularly in inwardly opening designs where dirt or ice can impair movement, and ensuring the cover lies flush with the vehicle's outer surface.
Innovation Solution
A support assembly with an elastic support layer and sealing lips is used to connect the cover to the kinematics, allowing for tolerance compensation and ensuring the cover aligns flush with the vehicle's outer skin, while also providing sealing against contaminants.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Manufacturing precision
If a support assembly with elastic support layer is introduced between the kinematics and the cover, then the manufacturing precision and alignment of the cover with the outer skin is improved, but the device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
An elastic support layer is introduced as an intermediary element between the kinematics and the cover. This support layer serves as a mediator that absorbs misalignments and tolerance deviations, ensuring that the cover aligns flush with the outer skin of the vehicle even when manufacturing tolerances exist in the kinematics or cover components.
Solution Approach 2:
The elastic support layer changes its physical state (deformation) in response to misalignments. By utilizing the elastic properties of the support layer, the system accommodates position and orientation deviations through material deformation rather than requiring precise mechanical adjustments, thereby improving alignment precision.
2Reliability
If sealing lips are added to prevent water and dirt ingress, then the reliability is improved, but the device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The sealing function is merged with the support assembly structure. The sealing lips are integrated into the elastic support layer, combining the support and sealing functions into a single component. This eliminates the need for separate sealing elements, thereby improving reliability against water and dirt ingress while minimizing the increase in device complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
The elastic support layer serves multiple functions: it provides mechanical support, compensates for alignment tolerances, and prevents contaminant ingress through integrated sealing lips. This multi-functionality improves reliability by addressing multiple protection needs simultaneously while avoiding the complexity of multiple separate components.
3Ease of operation
If the elastic support layer is designed to compensate for tolerance deviations, then the ease of operation is improved, but the manufacturing precision requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
The elastic support layer utilizes material parameter changes (elastic deformation) to compensate for manufacturing tolerance deviations. Instead of requiring high-precision manufacturing of all components, the elastic material absorbs positional and orientational deviations through controlled deformation, ensuring smooth cover operation while reducing the stringency of manufacturing precision requirements.
Solution Approach 2:
The elastic support layer is designed in advance to cushion and absorb potential misalignments and tolerance deviations. By pre-configuring the elastic properties and geometry of the support layer, the system is prepared to compensate for manufacturing variations before assembly, ensuring smooth operation without requiring post-assembly adjustments or extremely tight manufacturing tolerances.
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 ensures the cover is reliably aligned and sealed, compensating for installation deviations and preventing water and dirt ingress, with easy replacement and integration of a sensor apparatus for automatic operation.
Implementation Method 1
the support assembly comprises an elastic support layer. By providing an elastic support layer as portion of the support assembly, adjustment tolerances of the kinematics and the opening of the outer skin can be compensated
Implementation Method 2
the elastic support layer comprises sealing lips configured so as to seal the opening
Data Source
AI summary
The present disclosure relates to an apparatus (100) for aligning covers (102) for vehicles, in particular covers for flush door handles, wherein the cover (102) is reversibly movable, and in particular pivotable, between a closed position in which the cover (102) covers a door handle recess (106) and an open position in which the cover releases a door handle recess (106), and wherein the apparatus (100) comprises the following: a kinematics (108) configured so as to reversibly move, and in particular pivot, the cover (102) between the closed position and the open position; and a support assembly (200) configured so as to connect the cover (102) to the kinematics (108) in such a way that the cover (102), in its closed position, is arranged flush with an outer skin (104) of the vehicle.