Flush Glazed Vehicle Door Sealing Integration
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Existing vehicle door designs with flush-mounted glazed panels face challenges in sealing due to complex shapes and require numerous parts, making them difficult to assemble, maintain, and replace, while also increasing weight and bulk.
Innovation Solution
A glazed device with guide rails and an upper cross member that includes single-piece sealing means, which are welded, overmolded, or clipped onto the cross member and guide rails, ensuring effective sealing between the panel, frame, and vehicle body, simplifying production and assembly.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If separate sealing means are used for the mobile panel and the vehicle body, then sealing effectiveness is improved, but device complexity and assembly difficulty increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines two separate sealing means into a single integrated sealing element. The first sealing means contacts the mobile glazed panel while the second sealing means contacts the vehicle body, and both are produced as one piece. This merging maintains effective sealing at both interfaces while reducing the number of separate components, simplifying the overall device structure and assembly process.
2Shape
If multiple parts are assembled to achieve flush-mounted appearance, then aesthetic quality is improved, but assembly complexity and production time increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent integrates the frame structure with the sealing means into a unified component. The frame includes guide rails and a cross member that are produced together with the integrated sealing element, reducing the total number of parts that need to be assembled while maintaining the flush-mounted aesthetic appearance where the glazing surface is level with the vehicle body.
Solution Approach 2:
The sealing means are pre-integrated into the frame structure during manufacturing, rather than being assembled separately during vehicle door assembly. This preliminary integration of sealing functions into the frame reduces assembly steps and time on the production line while achieving the desired flush-mounted appearance.
3Reliability
If complex sealing means are used to accommodate tolerances, then sealing reliability is improved, but manufacturing complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent produces both sealing functions in a single molded or formed operation. The integrated sealing element is designed with appropriate geometries to contact both the mobile panel and vehicle body, accommodating manufacturing tolerances through its unified structure rather than requiring complex multi-component assemblies.
Solution Approach 2:
The sealing element is designed with specific geometric parameters and material properties that allow it to deform and adapt to tolerance variations in both the mobile panel and vehicle body interfaces. This parameter optimization enables reliable sealing with a simpler single-piece structure rather than requiring complex adjustable mechanisms.
Data Source
AI summary
The invention concerns a glazed device (11) intended to be assembled to a door shell (10) for forming a door (1) of a motor vehicle, comprising at least one movable glazed panel (110) and guide rails (112A, 112B) for guiding said movable glazed panel (110) in a sliding manner between a sealed position and at least one open position, said movable glazed panel (110) carrying, on the face of same facing the inside of the vehicle, at least one guide shoe (116, 117, 118) mounted sliding relative to one of said guide rails (112A, 112B), said guide rails (112A, 112B) being linked at the top part of same by an upper cross-member (111), said upper cross-member (111) carrying first sealing means (115d) intended to come into contact with the bodywork of the vehicle when the door (1) is closed, and said upper cross-member (111) and said guide rails (112A, 112B) carry second sealing means (115) intended to come into contact with the movable glazed panel (110). According to the invention, the first sealing means (115d) and the second sealing means (115) are produced as a single part.