Sealing Plug With Flexible Lamellae For Diameter Adaptation
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing sealing plugs for vehicle body components require precise adaptation to different opening diameters, leading to the need for a large inventory of pre-fabricated plugs in various sizes.
Innovation Solution
A sealing plug design featuring a base body with flexible lamellae that can adjust to different diameters, combined with a heat-expanding sealing material to ensure a watertight seal, allowing for use across a range of diameters from 30 to 35 mm.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Manufacturing precision
If sealing plugs are precisely adapted to different opening diameters, then sealing precision is improved, but device complexity and inventory requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
The sealing plug incorporates flexible lamellae that can dynamically adjust their configuration based on the opening diameter. The lamellae are designed to be deformable in the circumferential direction, allowing the sealing body to adapt its outer diameter to match different opening sizes while maintaining a single universal design, thereby eliminating the need for multiple pre-fabricated sizes.
Solution Approach 2:
The sealing body's effective diameter is changed by deforming the flexible lamellae in the circumferential direction. This parameter change allows the same sealing plug to fit openings with different diameters (e.g., 30-35 mm range) by adjusting the lamellae's curvature and spacing, providing adaptability without requiring multiple fixed-size plugs.
2Adaptability or versatility
If flexible lamellae are added to enable diameter adjustment, then adaptability is improved, but structural complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The sealing body is segmented into a ring portion and multiple flexible lamellae protruding from it. This segmentation allows the lamellae to independently deform in the circumferential direction while remaining connected to the rigid ring portion, enabling diameter adjustment through a relatively simple modular structure rather than a completely complex mechanism.
Solution Approach 2:
The lamellae are designed as flexible elements that can bend and deform in the circumferential direction. This flexibility is achieved through material selection and geometric design, allowing the lamellae to adapt to different opening diameters while maintaining structural integrity, thus providing adaptability with minimal added complexity.
3Reliability
If heat-expanding material is used for sealing, then sealing reliability is improved, but energy consumption increases
Solution Approach 1:
The sealing body utilizes thermal expansion of its material when exposed to heat during the painting process. This phase-related physical change causes the sealing material to expand and fill the opening completely, ensuring a reliable watertight seal. The energy input is minimal and coincides with the existing heating process, so additional energy consumption is negligible.
Solution Approach 2:
The sealing body is made of material that expands when heated. During the vehicle body painting process, the heat applied to the component also heats the sealing plug, causing the sealing material to expand and fully fill the opening. This thermal expansion ensures complete sealing without requiring additional energy input beyond the existing painting process heat.
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
The plug can be easily adapted to various diameters due to its elastic lamellae and expands to fill the opening completely when heated, providing a secure, watertight seal with high pull-out force and preventing corrosion.
Implementation Method 1
The lamellae are preferably designed to be elastic and thus exert a restoring force in the circumferential and radial direction, which ensures that the sealing plug is clamped in the opening and also causes the sealing plug to be centered in the opening.
Implementation Method 2
A section of the sealing plug is made of a material that melts or expands under the influence of temperature, so that when the component is heated, e.g. when painting, the sealing plug is firmly bonded to the edge of the opening.
Data Source
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AI summary
A sealing plug (10) for closing an opening in a component, in particular a body part of a motor vehicle, has a base body (12) designed to cover the opening and engage behind its edge. A sealing element (14) is arranged on the base body (12), comprising an annular section (24) and several circumferentially flexible (U) lamellae (26) projecting from the annular section (24) with free radial ends (28). The sealing plug (10) is inserted into the opening such that the rear locking lip (18) engages behind the edge of the opening (34), whereby the lamellae (26) of the sealing element (14) are deformed circumferentially (U) and center the sealing plug (10) in the opening (34).After heating the sealing plug (10), a sealing material of the sealing body (14), which expands under the influence of heat, surrounds the inner edge of the opening as well as radially adjoining areas of the front and back of the component over the entire circumference of the opening and completely fills the space formed between the support lip (16), the locking lip (18) and the component.