Slanted Back Soft Top Assembly for SUVs
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing soft top designs for SUVs often require a trade-off between a sporty look and open-air features, as slanted back designs typically necessitate a framed structure, limiting the adoption of frameless designs that offer both styling and open-air amenities.
Innovation Solution
A sliding/folding slanted back soft top assembly for SUVs with an articulatable frame that includes forward and rearward fabric support bow members, allowing the soft top to clear sport bars and provide a lower profile while maintaining a slanted back window feature, enabling both open-air functionality and sporty styling.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Shape
If a framed structure with bows is used to achieve a slanted back design, then the sporty look is improved, but the device complexity and weight increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent removes the traditional framed structure (bows, crossbars, and rigid support elements) from the soft top assembly, extracting only the essential fabric support functions. This allows the slanted back design to be achieved through fabric tensioning and mounting geometry rather than rigid framing, significantly reducing device complexity while maintaining the sporty aesthetic.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent uses flexible fabric materials to replace rigid framed structures. The soft top fabric is engineered to maintain the slanted back shape through tensioning systems and strategic mounting points, demonstrating how flexible films can provide structural form without the complexity of rigid frames.
2Shape
If a framed structure is used to achieve a slanted back design, then the sporty look is improved, but the weight of the soft top increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts and removes all heavy framed components (metal bows, crossbars, and rigid support structures) from the soft top assembly. The slanted back design is achieved solely through fabric construction and mounting geometry, eliminating the weight penalty associated with traditional framed structures while preserving the sporty aesthetic.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent employs lightweight flexible fabric materials to replace heavy rigid framed structures. The fabric is engineered to maintain the slanted back shape through tensioning and strategic mounting, demonstrating how thin flexible films can provide structural form without the weight of traditional framing materials.
3Ease of operation
If a frameless design is used to achieve open air features, then the ease of operation and open air amenities are improved, but the ability to achieve a slanted back design deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges the advantages of frameless designs (open air features, ease of operation) with the aesthetic benefits of slanted back designs. By using strategically positioned mounting points on sport bars and engineered fabric tensioning, the patent achieves both the sporty slanted appearance and the operational flexibility of frameless tops, allowing full articulation and open air functionality.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent creates a universal soft top system that can achieve multiple functions: the slanted back aesthetic, open air operation, and ease of articulation. The mounting system designed to attach to sport bars provides both structural support for the slanted shape and flexibility for open air features, making the system multi-functional rather than requiring separate framed and frameless designs.
4Shape
If the rearward fabric support bow member is positioned to clear sport bars in closed position, then the slanted back styling is achieved, but the risk of interference with sport bars during rotation increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent employs dynamic articulation mechanisms that allow the soft top to adapt its configuration during rotation. The fabric and mounting system are designed to flex and reposition during the transition from closed to open positions, ensuring clearance from sport bars throughout the entire range of motion rather than only in the closed position, thereby eliminating interference while maintaining slanted back styling.
Data Source
AI summary
A retractable sliding/folding slanted back soft top assembly for 4-door and 2-door SUVs. A fabric cover is supported by a frame that is at least partially articulatable from at least a closed position to an open air position. The frame includes at least one forward fabric support bow member and at least one rearward fabric support bow member. The rear fabric support bow member being positioned when in the closed position in a manner which allows the fabric to clear a sport bar or “roll bar” member of a vehicle in the closed position such that a rear portion of the top is angled from the vertical when viewing the vehicle from the side.