Sand-removing Seat Belt Buckle with Drainage Cavity
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Solution Overview
Problem
Seat belt buckles with spring members are ineffective in removing sand, mud, and crushed pebbles, leading to abnormal operation, damage, and safety concerns during beach, desert, or mud driving due to foreign matter accumulation.
Innovation Solution
A sand-removing seat belt buckle design featuring a hollow housing with specific openings and sand cavities, along with a latching assembly that creates a space for draining sand, mud, or pebbles through the openings, preventing them from entering and accumulating inside the buckle.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a conventional seat belt buckle design is used, then the structure is simple, but sand, mud and crushed pebbles accumulate inside the buckle causing abnormal operation and damage
Solution Approach 1:
The buckle is divided into separate functional components: a housing, a latching assembly, and a sand cavity. The sand cavity is segmented as a separate chamber that can be independently filled and emptied, allowing sand and debris to be contained in a specific area rather than accumulating throughout the entire buckle mechanism.
Solution Approach 2:
The sand cavity is extracted as a separate functional element from the main buckle structure. This extracted cavity can be independently accessed through openings in the housing, allowing sand and debris to be removed without affecting the operational components of the buckle mechanism.
2Adaptability or versatility
If sand and foreign matters are allowed to enter the buckle, then the buckle can operate in all environments, but the spring members are damaged and operation becomes abnormal
Solution Approach 1:
The housing is designed with different local qualities: certain areas are open to allow sand entry during normal operation, while other areas (such as the sand cavity) are specifically designed to collect and contain debris. The latching assembly has specific openings that allow controlled access to the sand cavity while protecting the spring members from direct contact with sand.
Solution Approach 2:
The sand cavity acts as an intermediary chamber between the external environment and the internal spring members. Sand and debris enter the sand cavity through openings in the housing, but the cavity itself serves as a barrier that prevents direct contact between the sand and the spring members, thereby protecting the operational components while still allowing environmental adaptability.
3Reliability
If the buckle is designed to prevent sand entry, then sand accumulation is prevented, but the buckle cannot function properly in beach and desert environments
Solution Approach 1:
The buckle design incorporates dynamic elements that allow it to adapt to sandy environments. The sand cavity can be filled with sand during normal operation, and the housing includes openings that allow the cavity to be accessed and emptied when needed. This dynamic design enables the buckle to function in beach and desert environments while still providing protection from sand damage to the spring members.
Data Source
AI summary
A sand-removing seat belt buckle has a housing and a latching assembly. The housing has a chamber, a first opening and a second opening formed through two ends of the housing, at least one sand cavity formed through a bottom of the housing and being adjacent to the second opening, and at least one support bump formed on an inner bottom of the housing. The latching assembly serves to latch and unlatch an insertion member, and is securely mounted in the housing and on top of the at least one support bump, so that a space is formed between the insertion member and the inner bottom of the housing and communicates with the first opening, the second opening and the sand cavity. Sand, mud and crushed pebbles entering from the first opening can be removed from the sand cavity and the second opening through the space without being deposited inside the seat belt buckle.