Vehicle Front Cooling Opening Slats for Airflow and Impact Safety
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Solution Overview
Problem
Modern motor vehicles require larger cooling-air openings for increased heat dissipation and airflow to meet stringent exhaust-gas emission standards, while also needing to satisfy impact test requirements, which poses a challenge in designing the front end to prevent ingress of standardized bodies during collisions.
Innovation Solution
The motor vehicle front end incorporates cooling-air openings with a projecting edge region and adjustable or static cooling-air slats that divide the opening into separate parts, allowing for optimal airflow and impact safety by adjusting the slats based on vehicle speed to prevent damage during pendulum tests.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If cooling-air openings are made larger to increase airflow for heat dissipation, then cooling performance is improved, but the risk of standardized body ingress during impact tests increases
Solution Approach 1:
The cooling-air opening is divided into multiple partial openings by cooling-air slats that can be adjusted independently. This segmentation allows the opening to provide sufficient total airflow area while creating individual smaller openings that prevent standardized body ingress during impact tests.
Solution Approach 2:
The cooling-air slats are designed to be adjustable between different positions, allowing the opening configuration to be dynamically changed. The slats can be positioned to optimize airflow during normal operation and to prevent body ingress during impact tests, transforming a static structure into a dynamic safety mechanism.
2Temperature
If cooling-air openings are made larger to meet exhaust-gas emission requirements, then heat dissipation capability is improved, but impact test safety requirements become harder to satisfy
Solution Approach 1:
The large cooling opening required for heat dissipation is segmented into multiple smaller partial openings using cooling-air slats. This maintains the necessary total area for thermal management while ensuring that no single opening is large enough to allow standardized body ingress during pendulum impact tests.
Solution Approach 2:
The cooling-air slats act as intermediary elements between the large cooling opening and the impact safety requirement. These slats divide the opening and can be adjusted to create a configuration that satisfies both thermal management needs and impact test safety compliance.
3Reliability
If cooling-air slats are added to divide the opening into partial openings, then impact safety is improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The cooling opening is segmented into multiple partial openings using relatively simple cooling-air slats. While this does increase structural elements, the slats are designed to be straightforward components that can be adjusted to provide the required safety function without excessive complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
The cooling-air slats serve multiple functions: they divide the opening to prevent body ingress, allow adjustment to optimize airflow, and can be positioned to direct energy into the bodyshell structure during impacts. This multi-functionality reduces the need for separate components for each function.
Data Source
AI summary
A motor vehicle includes a motor vehicle front end with at least one cooling-air opening. The cooling-air opening is formed with an encircling edge which, at least at the two lateral side regions, has a projecting edge region. In the cooling-air opening, there is arranged at least one cooling-air slat which extends through the cooling-air opening and divides the cooling-air opening into at least two separate partial openings.