Lightweight Hole Plug with Arcuate Locking Frame
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing hole plugs are often too heavy, inflexible, and prone to inadvertent removal, with excessive material usage increasing costs and negatively impacting vehicle fuel economy, particularly in automotive applications.
Innovation Solution
A lightweight hole plug design featuring a cap and securing frame with arcuate support legs, connectors, and a lock body with teeth and a stopper leg, allowing for adjustable insertion and extraction forces, and reduced material usage.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If traditional hole plugs are used to securely cover holes, then reliability is improved, but weight increases and fuel economy deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The hole plug is divided into a cap portion and a securing frame portion with separate functions. The cap provides the sealing surface while the securing frame with multiple legs provides the locking mechanism. This segmentation allows optimization of each part's weight and function independently, reducing overall weight while maintaining reliability.
Solution Approach 2:
The securing frame incorporates resilient legs that can flex during installation and then lock into place. The legs are designed to be resilient enough to allow insertion but rigid enough to provide secure locking. This dynamic behavior allows the structure to transition from a flexible insertion state to a rigid locked state, maintaining reliability with reduced material.
2Reliability
If resilient material is used to fit tightly in holes, then reliability is improved, but material usage increases and manufacturing cost increases
Solution Approach 1:
The hole plug separates the sealing function (cap portion) from the locking function (securing frame portion). This allows the cap to be optimized for minimal material while providing adequate sealing, and the securing frame to provide locking with minimal additional material, reducing total material usage while maintaining tight fit and reliability.
Solution Approach 2:
The cap portion is designed as a thin-walled structure that provides adequate sealing through its geometry and elastic deformation during installation, rather than requiring thick resilient material. The thin-walled design reduces material usage while maintaining the tight fit necessary for reliability.
3Manufacturing precision
If known hole plugs are designed for specific hole sizes, then manufacturing precision is improved, but adaptability deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The securing frame is designed with adjustable parameters including leg length, leg spacing, and connector configurations that can be modified to accommodate different hole sizes and panel thicknesses. This parametric design allows the same basic structure to be adapted to various applications while maintaining manufacturing precision through standardized components.
Solution Approach 2:
The hole plug design incorporates universal features that allow it to serve multiple applications across different hole sizes and panel types. The modular securing frame with adjustable legs and connectors can be configured for various installations, providing both precision for specific applications and adaptability for different uses.
4Strength
If excess material is used in hole plugs, then strength is improved, but weight increases and fuel economy deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The hole plug divides structural requirements between the cap portion and securing frame portion. The cap provides structural strength for sealing while the securing frame provides structural strength for locking. This segmentation allows each part to be optimized for its specific structural requirement with minimal material, rather than over-engineering the entire component.
Solution Approach 2:
The hole plug combines different material properties in the cap and securing frame portions, using materials optimized for their specific functions. This allows strength to be achieved where needed while minimizing weight in non-critical areas, improving the strength-to-weight ratio and fuel economy.
Data Source
AI summary
A hole plug includes a cap and a securing frame. The securing frame extends from the cap. The securing frame includes first and second support legs, first and second connectors, and a lock body. The first connector is engaged with the first support leg. The second connector is engaged with the second support leg. The lock body is engaged with the first and second connectors.