Motorized Dual Door Assembly for Independent Vertical Opening
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional vehicle rear door openings often rely on hinges, which limit the independent movement and orientation of multiple doors, restricting their ability to open and close without direct connection and vertical movement.
Innovation Solution
A vehicle door assembly featuring a support assembly with tracks and a motorized mechanism that allows the first and second doors to move independently along these tracks, enabling vertical and horizontal movement between closed, transitional, and open orientations, with seals ensuring a watertight closure.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If conventional hinges are used to connect doors to the vehicle body, then the doors can pivot between open and closed orientations, but the doors cannot move independently in vertical directions and cannot be disconnected from direct connection
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces the conventional hinge mechanical system with a motorized door mechanism that uses electrical motors to control door movement. This substitution enables independent vertical movement of each door panel while eliminating the need for traditional pivot hinges, directly resolving the technical contradiction between movement independence and mechanism complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
The door assembly is segmented into multiple independently controllable door panels, each with its own motorized support mechanism. This segmentation allows each door to move vertically independently along tracks, achieving the desired adaptability while distributing the mechanical complexity across separate modular units rather than a single complex hinge system.
2Ease of operation
If dual doors pivot about vertically oriented hinges, then the doors can swing from open to closed orientations, but the doors remain directly connected and cannot move independently
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces the shared hinge mechanism with individual motorized support devices for each door panel. These motorized devices operate independently along separate tracks, enabling each door to be controlled separately without mechanical coupling, thus achieving ease of independent operation while managing complexity through modular motorized units.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces motorized support devices as intermediary elements between the door panels and the vehicle body structure. These intermediaries translate rotational motor motion into vertical linear motion of the doors along tracks, enabling independent operation while isolating the complexity of the drive mechanism into separate modular components.
3Adaptability or versatility
If doors are directly connected to the vehicle body via hinges, then the door assembly structure is simple, but the doors cannot be independently moved or oriented
Solution Approach 1:
The door assembly is divided into independently manufactured modules, each comprising a door panel, motorized support device, and track system. This segmentation allows each module to be manufactured and tested separately, improving adaptability and orientation control while managing manufacturing complexity through standardized modular components that can be produced using conventional techniques.
Solution Approach 2:
The motorized support devices are designed as universal multi-functional components that provide both structural support and motion control functions. By integrating motor, gear mechanism, and mounting features into a single universal component, the patent achieves superior door orientation control while simplifying the manufacturing process through component consolidation and standardization.
Data Source
AI summary
A vehicle door assembly includes a vehicle body structure, a first door, a second door and a support assembly. The vehicle body structure has a wall portion that defines a door opening. The support assembly is fixed to the wall portion proximate the door opening and has at least one pair of tracks with door support devices and a motorized door mechanism. The door support devices independently support the first door and the second door for movement along the at least one pair of tracks and the motorized door mechanism is configured to raise and lower the door support devices along with the first door and the second door from respective closed orientations covering corresponding sections of the door opening and open orientations exposing the corresponding sections of the door opening.