Foldable Door Seal Design for Compact Storage and Installation
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing door seals, particularly for garage doors, face challenges in storage, packaging, and transportation due to their length and rigidity, making them difficult to manipulate and install efficiently.
Innovation Solution
A single-piece door seal design featuring a semi-rigid arm and a flexible arm that can be folded or coiled for compact storage and transportation, allowing easy installation by pivoting and connecting the arms into an installed configuration.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If the door seal is made as a long rigid structure to maintain sealing effectiveness, then sealing reliability is improved, but ease of storage and transportation deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The door seal is divided into multiple rigid arms connected by flexible joints, allowing the structure to be segmented for storage while maintaining rigidity during operation. Each arm can be independently positioned, enabling compact folding configurations without compromising the overall sealing function when installed.
Solution Approach 2:
The door seal incorporates flexible joints that allow the rigid arms to move relative to each other, transforming the structure from a static rigid form to a dynamic system that can adapt between extended sealing configuration and compact folded configuration for storage and transportation.
2Stability of the object's composition
If the door seal is made rigid to maintain structural stability, then stability is improved, but ease of installation deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The seal is segmented into rigid arms that maintain structural stability when installed, while the segmentation allows the arms to be handled and installed separately or in manageable sections, improving installation ease compared to a single long rigid piece.
Solution Approach 2:
The flexible joints between rigid arms allow the structure to be manipulated into the installed configuration during installation, then maintain structural stability once positioned, providing both ease of installation and structural integrity.
3Adaptability or versatility
If the door seal is made flexible to allow deformation for sealing, then adaptability to surface irregularities is improved, but structural strength deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The door seal employs different material properties in different locations: rigid arms for structural strength and stability, and flexible joints or sealing portions for adaptability to surface irregularities. This local differentiation allows each part to perform its specific function optimally without compromising overall strength.
Solution Approach 2:
The door seal combines rigid and flexible materials or structures within a single system, creating a composite structure where rigid components provide strength and flexible components provide adaptability to surface variations, achieving both structural strength and sealing adaptability simultaneously.
Data Source
AI summary
A door seal for attaching to a door includes an elongated body that has a first arm for attaching to the door and a second arm pivotably coupled to the first arm. The first arm has a first connection feature, and the second arm has a second connection feature that is configured to connect to the first connection feature of the first arm. The first arm is movable relative to the second arm to a folded configuration that allows the door seal to be rolled to a coiled configuration. The second arm is movable relative to the first arm to allow the second connection feature to connect to the first connection feature such that the door seal is in an installed configuration.