Vehicle Door Hinge Knuckles With Angled Bearing Surfaces
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Solution Overview
Problem
The existing false hinge connecting the chassis and door of a motor vehicle, used for painting, has excessive degrees of freedom, making it difficult to index and fix correctly during assembly, requiring manual intervention and hindering robotic precision.
Innovation Solution
A hinge member with a first part having an articulation sphere and a fixing plate, and a second part with a spherical housing, where the degrees of freedom are limited by angled supports, allowing precise indexing and robotic fixing by restricting movement beyond a predetermined angle, enabling automatic alignment and reduced operator assistance.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If spherical joints are used in the hinge to allow free movement, then the hinge can move freely in all directions, but the hinge cannot be precisely indexed and requires manual intervention during assembly
Solution Approach 1:
The hinge system dynamically transitions between two states: during assembly, the support surfaces limit movement to a predetermined angle for precise indexing; during operation, the hinge can move freely within the spherical joint's degrees of freedom. This dynamic constraint release resolves the contradiction between positioning precision and movement freedom.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent changes the parameter of degrees of freedom from unlimited (spherical joint) to limited (by support surfaces at predetermined angle) during assembly, then restores it during operation. This parameter change enables precise positioning during indexing while maintaining operational flexibility.
2Adaptability or versatility
If the hinge has all degrees of freedom, then it can accommodate various door positions, but it requires manual support and alignment during robotic assembly
Solution Approach 1:
The support surfaces on the spherical joint and housing automatically guide the hinge into the correct predetermined angle position during robotic assembly. The system self-indexes without requiring manual support or alignment, as the support surfaces passively constrain the hinge to the correct orientation when the door is in the closed position.
3Measurement precision
If supports are added to limit degrees of freedom, then precise indexing is achieved, but the device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The support surfaces are merged with the existing spherical joint structure rather than being separate components. The support surface on the joint and the corresponding support on the housing are integrated into the existing hinge and door assembly structures, minimizing additional complexity while achieving precise indexing.
Data Source
Figure 1~2
AI summary
The invention relates to hinge member comprising a first part provided with a hinge sphere and an attachment plate (3) located at a distance from said sphere, and a second part provided with a spherical hinge housing (5) that can surround the sphere and an attachment plate (6) located at a distance from said housing (5), characterised in that each part has a bearing surface (7, 7a; 8a) that can come into contact with the bearing surface (8a; 7,7a) of the other part within a determined angle sector in such a way that when said surfaces are in contact, the hinge movement is, for example, limited to a rotation about an axis (X) passing through the merged centers of the sphere and the housing and perpendicular to the plane (P) containing said bearing surfaces.