Pivoting Door Seal for Coiled Storage and Easy Installation
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing door seals, particularly for garage doors, face challenges in storage, packaging, and transportation due to their length and rigidity, making them difficult to manipulate into compact configurations.
Innovation Solution
A single-piece door seal design featuring a semi-rigid first arm and a flexible second arm that can be pivoted and connected to form a coiled or folded configuration, allowing easy installation and space-saving packaging.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If the door seal is made as a long rigid structure to maintain sealing effectiveness, then the sealing performance is improved, but the ease of storage and transportation deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The door seal is divided into multiple rigid arms connected by flexible joints, allowing the structure to be segmented for compact storage while maintaining rigidity during operation. The seal can be folded into a compact configuration for transportation and then extended to form a rigid sealing barrier when installed.
Solution Approach 2:
The door seal transitions from a static rigid structure to a dynamic configurable structure with movable joints. The flexible connections allow the seal to change between a compact folded state for storage and an extended rigid state for sealing, adapting to different operational requirements.
2Ease of operation
If the door seal is made flexible to allow folding and coiling, then the ease of packaging is improved, but the structural stability deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The seal consists of multiple rigid segments that maintain structural stability when assembled, while the segmentation itself enables flexible folding and coiling for packaging. Each rigid arm provides structural integrity, and the collection of segments can be compacted together.
Solution Approach 2:
The flexible connections between rigid arms act as flexible elements that enable folding and coiling while the rigid arms themselves maintain structural stability. This combination allows the structure to be both flexible for packaging and stable for sealing.
3Reliability
If the door seal is made as a single long piece to ensure continuous sealing, then the sealing continuity is improved, but the device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The continuous seal is achieved through multiple rigid arms connected in series, where each arm segment contributes to the overall continuous sealing barrier. The segmentation allows for easier manufacturing and assembly while maintaining sealing continuity through the connected structure.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
Enables efficient storage and transportation by allowing the door seal to be coiled or folded, while maintaining a secure seal against surfaces when installed, thereby reducing space requirements and installation complexity.
Implementation Method 1
The flexible portion deforms when in contact with the ground or other surface located below the door to create a seal against the surface
Implementation Method 2
a second arm or member pivotably coupled to the first arm
Data Source
AI summary
A door seal for attaching to a door includes an elongated body that has a first arm for attaching to the door and a second arm pivotably coupled to the first arm. The first arm has a first connection feature, and the second arm has a second connection feature that is configured to connect to the first connection feature of the first arm. The first arm is movable relative to the second arm to a folded configuration that allows the door seal to be rolled to a coiled configuration. The second arm is movable relative to the first arm to allow the second connection feature to connect to the first connection feature such that the door seal is in an installed configuration.