Variable-Link Vehicle Door Motion for Flexible Opening Paths
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional vehicle door apparatuses with link mechanisms for opening and closing motions become complex when incorporating guide rails to enhance flexibility, leading to a need for a simpler configuration that can change the opening and closing motion tracks.
Innovation Solution
Incorporating a coupling length variable mechanism on the link arms, allowing the distance between pivot coupling points to be adjusted, enabling the door to move along both arc-shaped and linear tracks by changing the posture of the door during opening and closing motions.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If a guide rail is combined with the link mechanism to increase flexibility of opening and closing motions, then the flexibility of opening and closing motions is improved, but the configuration of the vehicle door apparatus becomes complicated
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies the dynamics principle by making the link arm length adjustable through a telescopic mechanism. The link arm can dynamically change its effective length between a first length and a second length, enabling the door to follow different motion tracks (arc-shaped or linear-shaped) without requiring additional guide rails. This dynamic adjustment resolves the contradiction by providing motion flexibility through a single, adaptable component rather than through complex combinations of multiple components.
2Adaptability or versatility
If the link arms are made telescopic to enable variable coupling length, then the opening and closing motion track can be changed between arc-shaped and linear-shaped, but the structure of the link arm becomes more complex
Solution Approach 1:
The link arm is segmented into multiple sections that can extend and retract relative to each other. This segmentation allows the link arm to change its effective length while maintaining a relatively simple overall structure. The telescopic mechanism divides the link arm into modular components that work together to achieve variable coupling length, resolving the contradiction by implementing complexity in a distributed, manageable way rather than through a monolithic complex structure.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent changes the physical parameter of the link arm length from fixed to variable. By enabling the link arm to adjust its length between two distinct states, the system can switch between different motion tracks (arc-shaped when extended, linear-shaped when retracted). This parameter change approach resolves the contradiction by achieving versatility through a single adjustable parameter rather than through multiple fixed components.
Data Source
AI summary
A vehicle door apparatus includes first and second link arms each having a first pivot coupling point with respect to a vehicle body and a second pivot coupling point with respect to a door of a vehicle. The vehicle door apparatus includes a coupling length variable mechanism provided on at least one of the first and second link arms and configured such that a coupling length serving as a distance between the first and second pivot coupling points is variable. The coupling length variable mechanism is configured to change an opening and closing motion track of the door.