Side Lock Rotor Mechanism for Smooth Glove Box Lid Operation
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Existing side lock apparatuses for motor vehicle glove boxes experience issues with smooth opening and closing due to interlinkage problems and play or looseness between rack grooves and pinion gears, leading to uneven operating strokes and operational difficulties.
Innovation Solution
A side lock apparatus featuring a rotor with point-symmetrically positioned rods, a return spring, and a pushable knob that rotates the rotor to engage or disengage the rods with the lid's edge, ensuring synchronized operation and reducing friction through arc-shaped contact surfaces, thereby facilitating smooth and secure opening and closing.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a pinion gear and rack groove interlinkage mechanism is used to connect sliding members, then the lid can be locked and unlocked, but the operation becomes rough and不平滑 due to play or looseness between the rack groove and pinion gear
Solution Approach 1:
The patent removes the pinion gear and rack groove interlinkage mechanism from the system. Instead of using a sliding member with rack groove that interlinks with another sliding member via pinion gear, the invention uses a rotor that directly rotates to drive both rods simultaneously, eliminating the source of play and looseness that caused rough operation.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent combines the functions of multiple sliding members into a single rotor component. The rotor rotates around its axial center and simultaneously drives both rods through point-symmetric engagement, merging what were previously separate interlinked sliding members into one integrated rotating component, thereby eliminating transmission play between separate parts.
2Reliability
If a pinion gear and rack groove mechanism is used to interlink sliding members, then the lid can be secured, but differential operating strokes occur due to play between components
Solution Approach 1:
The patent eliminates the pinion gear and rack groove components that created differential operating strokes. By removing these interlinkage mechanisms, both rods are driven directly by the rotor's rotation, ensuring they move through identical stroke distances without the play and looseness that previously caused uneven operation.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent employs point-symmetric positioning of the two rods relative to the rotor's axial center. This symmetric arrangement ensures that both rods are equidistant from the rotation axis and experience identical rotational forces, guaranteeing uniform operating strokes while maintaining reliable lock engagement.
3Reliability
If a conventional side lock mechanism with multiple interlinked components is used, then the lid can be locked, but the structure becomes complex and prone to operational issues
Solution Approach 1:
The patent removes unnecessary intermediate components such as the pinion gear, rack groove, and multiple independent sliding members. The simplified design uses a single rotor that directly engages both rods, reducing the total number of parts while maintaining the essential locking function through more direct mechanical engagement.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent merges multiple separate sliding members into a single rotor component. The rotor performs the function of what were previously multiple interlinked sliding members, reducing component count and simplifying the overall structure while maintaining reliable lock engagement through direct rotational drive.
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 apparatus allows for easy and secure operation of the lid by ensuring the rods follow the rotor's rotation, eliminating play and looseness, and reducing friction, resulting in smooth and reliable opening and closing without operational discrepancies.
Implementation Method 1
a return spring mounted on so as to rotationally bias the rods in a direction in which the rods are caused to protrude from both the ends of the lid
Implementation Method 2
at least one of respective contact surfaces of the pusher element on the knob and the bearing portion on the rotor is formed into the shape of an arc
Data Source
AI summary
A side lock apparatus comprises a retainer, a rotor rotatably supported on the retainer, a pair of rods which are brought into engagement with positions which are point symmetrical relative to an axial center of the rotor at proximal end portions thereof and are supported in such a manner that distal end portions thereof appear from and disappear into both ends of a lid so as to be brought into engagement with and disengagement from a circumferential edge of an opening, a knob supported on the retainer in such a manner as to be pushed and pulled on and a return spring mounted on the rotor. When the knob is pulled on, since a pusher element of the knob pushes on a bearing portion of the rotor, the rotor rotates against the biasing force of the return spring, whereby the rods are withdrawn into the inside of the lid.