Vehicular Lamp Cover Structure for Easy Access and Wire Clearance

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Solution Overview

Problem

Conventional vehicular lamps face difficulties in easily attaching and detaching cover members due to lack of gripping portions, and interference issues between the cover member and wiring cords due to space constraints and desiccant placement.

Innovation Solution

A vehicular lamp design featuring a cover member with recess and protrusion portions that facilitate easy attachment and detachment, and prevent interference with wiring cords by securing a space for routing.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Ease of manufacture

If a cover member is designed without gripping portions to maintain a simple structure, then manufacturing complexity is reduced, but ease of operation deteriorates because the cover member cannot be easily rotated or attached/detached

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvestructural simplicityVSAvoidattachment/detachment operation
Core Design Contradiction:
Ease of manufactureVSEase of operation

Solution Approach 1:

The cover member is segmented into distinct functional zones: a gripping portion with multiple finger-contact areas for easy handling, a sealing portion with a lip for sealing engagement, and a body portion. This segmentation allows each zone to be optimized independently - the gripping portion provides excellent operability while the sealing portion maintains simplicity, resolving the contradiction between ease of operation and manufacturing simplicity.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #1Segmentation

Solution Approach 2:

The invention adds a dimensional element by extending the cover member backward to include a gripping portion that protrudes from the main body. This extends the operational interface to a new spatial dimension, allowing users to grip and rotate the cover from the rear side without requiring complex mechanisms on the front sealing face, thus improving operability while maintaining sealing simplicity.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #17Another dimension (Dimensionality change)

2Reliability

If a desiccant is disposed inside the cover member to prevent moisture, then moisture protection is improved, but device complexity increases and wiring cord routing becomes difficult due to space constraints

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvemoisture protectionVSAvoidinternal space management
Core Design Contradiction:
ReliabilityVSDevice complexity

Solution Approach 1:

The desiccant is extracted from the interior space of the cover member and relocated to a dedicated desiccant holder that is separately mounted on the rear side of the housing. This extraction eliminates the conflict between desiccant placement and wiring cord routing - the desiccant remains effective for moisture protection while the wiring cords can freely pass through the work hole and bulb holder without interference from the desiccant packaging.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #2Taking out (Extraction)

Solution Approach 2:

A desiccant holder acts as an intermediary component between the desiccant and the housing interior. The holder provides a dedicated mounting location on the rear side, allowing the desiccant to be positioned away from the work hole area. This intermediary structure enables both moisture protection functionality and unobstructed wiring cord routing simultaneously.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #24Intermediary (Mediator)

3Volume of moving object

If the cover member is made compact to reduce overall size, then space efficiency is improved, but ease of operation deteriorates because sufficient space for gripping and rotating cannot be secured

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvecover member sizeVSAvoidgripping space
Core Design Contradiction:
Volume of moving objectVSEase of operation

Solution Approach 1:

The gripping portion is nested on the rear side of the housing, utilizing the available space behind the housing rather than extending the overall lateral dimensions. The gripping portion with its finger-contact areas is positioned in this nested rear space, allowing users to easily grip and rotate the cover member without increasing the lateral footprint of the lamp assembly, thus maintaining compactness while improving operability.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #7Nested doll (Nesting)

Data Source

PatentEP3572277B1Vehicular lamp
Publication Date: 2025.11.12 STANLEY ELECTRIC CO LTD
  • EP3572277B1 patent drawingFigure 1
  • EP3572277B1 patent drawingFigure 2~3

AI summary

A vehicular lamp is provided which can easily attach and detach a cover member and can prevent interference between an inner portion of the cover member and a wiring cord or the like. The vehicular lamp (100) includes: a light source unit (103); a housing (101) inside of which the light source unit (103) is disposed and which has a work hole (107) formed therein on a rear side thereof; and a cover member (1) detachably attached to the work hole (107) of the housing (101). The cover member (1) includes a cover main body (2) configured to close the work hole (107), a recess portion (3) formed by concaving an outer surface of the cover main body (2), and a protrusion portion (4) protruding from an inner surface of the cover main body (2) corresponding to the recess portion (3), and the protrusion portion (4) forms an inclined surface inclined in a diameter-expanding direction from an inner circumferential side toward an outer circumferential side of the cover main body (2) when the cover main body (2) is viewed in a cross-sectional view in an axial direction.