Side Door Stop Geometry for Side Impact Intrusion Control
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing passenger motor vehicles face challenges in providing effective side impact protection without significantly increasing weight, as side doors can be pulled over the side sill during collisions, leading to potential failure of door hinges and locks, and increased risk of injury from objects entering the vehicle interior.
Innovation Solution
A passenger motor vehicle design featuring a side door fixing element and a body stop element with a vertical and transverse offset, allowing the side door to reshape and engage with the body stop element during impact, preventing excessive displacement and maintaining the door's closed position, while avoiding excessive wear or damage to door components.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If the side door is reinforced with strengthening elements to prevent intrusion during side impact, then the side impact protection is improved, but the total weight of the passenger motor vehicle increases significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The side impact protection system is segmented into multiple functional elements: a side door fixing element attached to the side door, a body stop element attached to the body, and a reinforcing element on the side sill. This segmentation allows each component to be optimized independently and distributed throughout the structure, providing effective protection without concentrating excessive weight in one location.
Solution Approach 2:
Reinforcement is applied locally at critical positions rather than uniformly across the entire side door. The reinforcing element is specifically positioned on the side sill at the location where the side door fixing element may contact the body stop element during impact. This localized reinforcement provides necessary structural support while minimizing overall weight increase.
2Reliability
If the side door is designed to reshape during impact to engage with the body stop element, then the side impact protection is improved, but the door structure becomes more complex
Solution Approach 1:
The side door is designed with dynamic characteristics that allow it to reshape during impact. The door structure includes elements that can deform in a controlled manner to enable engagement between the side door fixing element and the body stop element. This dynamic behavior provides effective impact protection while using relatively simple structural elements compared to rigid fixed-position systems.
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 design effectively limits side door intrusion and maintains the integrity of door components, reducing the risk of injury and ensuring the door remains closed by absorbing crash energy through reshaping without increasing vehicle weight.
Implementation Method 1
If the side door fixing element is reshaped as a result of an impact of a collision partner on the side door
Implementation Method 2
absorbing crash energy through reshaping
Data Source
AI summary
A passenger motor vehicle includes a body, a side door movable between a closed position and an open position, a side door fixing element, and a body stop element. The side door fixing element is disposed on the side door and the body stop element is disposed above the side door fixing element in a vertical direction of the passenger motor vehicle when the side door is in the closed position. The side door fixing element and the body stop element have an offset relative to each other in a transverse direction of the passenger motor vehicle when the side door is in the closed position. The side door is reshapeable as a result of an impact on the side door such that the side door fixing element is displaceable against the body stop element.