Seal Cover Clearance Design for Assembly Tolerance Management
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Solution Overview
Problem
The existing seal covers for electrical devices in vehicles face issues with reduced sealing capability due to local compression of the sealing member when position tolerances and rotational movements occur during assembly, leading to potential misorientation and interference between the engaging protrusion and hole.
Innovation Solution
The seal cover design incorporates a larger second clearance between the engaging protrusion and hole, preventing contact and rotation, thus maintaining the sealing capability by ensuring the engaging protrusion does not contact the hole even when the covering member rotates, thereby absorbing assembly tolerances without reducing the seal's effectiveness.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of manufacture
If a bolt insertion hole is provided with a first clearance to absorb position tolerances, then the ease of assembly is improved, but the covering member may rotate together with the bolt, causing the engaging protrusion to contact the edge of the engaging hole and reducing sealing capability
Solution Approach 1:
The patent changes the parameter of the second clearance size to be larger than the first clearance. This parameter change ensures that even when the covering member rotates due to the first clearance, the engaging protrusion cannot contact the edge of the engaging hole, thus preventing cover body rotation and maintaining sealing capability
Solution Approach 2:
The patent provides beforehand cushioning by designing the second clearance to be sufficiently large before any rotation occurs. This pre-established clearance buffer prevents the engaging protrusion from contacting the engaging hole edge during bolt tightening, even when the covering member rotates, thereby protecting the sealing capability from reduction
2Reliability
If the second clearance between the engaging protrusion and engaging hole is made larger, then the sealing capability is maintained during rotation, but the precision of the engaging structure is reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The patent optimizes the parameter relationship between the first and second clearances, specifically setting the second clearance to be larger than the first clearance. This parameter configuration allows the engaging structure to tolerate rotation while maintaining sealing, balancing reliability with acceptable precision requirements
Data Source
AI summary
A seal cover (40) is mounted on a shield connector (20) of a device case (10) and includes a cover body (41), a second sealing member (43), a shield shell (51) and shell fixing bolts (B) that are inserted through third bolt insertion holes (55) of the shield shell (51) with clearances (C1) between the shell fixing bolts (B) and edges of the third bolt insertion holes (55). The cover body (41) includes a restricting protrusion (48) that is inserted through a restricting hole of the shield shell (51) with a clearance (C2) defined between the restricting protrusion (48) and an edge of the restricting hole (58). The size of the clearance (C2) is such that the restricting protrusion (48) does not contact the edge of the restricting hole (58) even if the shield shell (51) rotates as the shell fixing bolt (B) is tightened.