Vehicle Door Armrest Segmentation for Side Impact Safety
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional door armrests in vehicles face a trade-off between providing sufficient rigidity to support an occupant's arm and preventing injury during a side impact, as excessive rigidity can lead to injury from the armrest striking the occupant, while making the armrest collapsible to absorb impact energy reduces its supportiveness under normal conditions.
Innovation Solution
A door armrest assembly with a trim panel and a door armrest that includes a protrusion and a pushing member, where the armrest is separable from the trim panel during a side impact, utilizing a buffer sheet with shock-absorbing material and a base panel with higher rigidity, allowing the armrest to absorb impact energy without compromising its supportiveness.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Strength
If the door armrest is designed with high rigidity to support the occupant's arm, then the support capability is improved, but the armrest may strike the occupant during a side impact causing injury
Solution Approach 1:
The door armrest is divided into multiple segments that can rotate relative to each other about hinge axes. During normal use, the armrest maintains a rigid supported position. During a side impact, the armrest segments can collapse or rotate away from the occupant, absorbing impact energy and preventing injury while maintaining support capability under normal conditions.
2Object-affected harmful factors
If the door armrest is made collapsible to absorb impact energy, then the safety during side impact is improved, but the rigidity for supporting the arm under normal conditions is reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The door armrest employs a dynamic hinge mechanism that allows the armrest to transition between a rigid supported position during normal use and a collapsed position during impact. The hinge axes are positioned such that the armrest naturally maintains its supported position under normal loads but can rotate away when subjected to side impact forces, providing both rigidity when needed and collapsibility for safety.
3Object-affected harmful factors
If grooves or through-holes are added to the door armrest to enable collapsibility, then the impact energy absorption is improved, but the rigidity for supporting the arm is reduced
Solution Approach 1:
Instead of using grooves or through-holes that permanently reduce structural integrity, the invention employs a hinge mechanism that enables dynamic collapse only when needed. The armrest maintains full rigidity during normal use but can rotate about the hinge axes during impact, achieving energy absorption without compromising normal support capability.
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 solution provides adequate support for the occupant's arm under normal conditions while ensuring the armrest separates from the trim panel during a side impact, minimizing injury by absorbing impact energy and preventing the armrest from causing harm to the occupant.
Implementation Method 1
a buffer sheet attached to the base panel... The buffer sheet may include a shock-absorbing material
Data Source
AI summary
A door armrest assembly for a vehicle, may include a trim panel covering an internal side of a vehicle door and having a pushing member; and a door armrest mounted on the trim panel and having a protrusion disposed adjacent to the pushing member, wherein at least a portion of the door armrest is separable from the trim panel in a side impact as the pushing member of the trim panel pushes the protrusion.