Vehicle Door Linkage With Variable Coupling Length for Obstacle Clearance
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing vehicle doors with double opening mechanisms are limited in door opening amount due to interference with obstacles, especially in vehicles without central pillars, restricting their ability to fully open without colliding with adjacent structures.
Innovation Solution
A vehicle door device featuring independent first and second link mechanisms for the front and rear doors, allowing them to open and close in different directions, with a coupling length variable mechanism for the rear door to adjust its opening trajectory, preventing interference and enhancing door opening capacity.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Length of moving object
If a swing door with rotary fulcrum is used to achieve large door opening amount, then the door opening amount increases, but the door protrudes in the opening direction causing interference with obstacles
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies a link mechanism with variable coupling length that dynamically adjusts the door's opening trajectory. The coupling length between link arms can be changed to modify the door's movement path, allowing the door to open in a trajectory that avoids protruding into obstacles while maintaining large opening amounts. This dynamic adjustment resolves the contradiction by making the door's movement adaptable to spatial constraints.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent changes the geometric parameters of the link mechanism, specifically the coupling length between link arms, to alter the door's opening characteristics. By adjusting this parameter, the door can achieve large opening amounts without excessive protrusion in the opening direction, thus resolving the contradiction between opening amount and obstacle interference.
2Ease of operation
If the door opening amount is increased to improve getting-on-and-off performance, then the door may collide with adjacent structures, but limiting the opening amount prevents collision
Solution Approach 1:
The variable coupling length mechanism allows the door system to dynamically adapt its opening trajectory based on spatial conditions. This enables the door to achieve large opening amounts for improved accessibility while simultaneously adjusting its path to avoid collisions with adjacent structures, thus resolving the contradiction between ease of operation and reliability.
3Adaptability or versatility
If independent link mechanisms are used for front and rear doors to enable different opening directions, then the door opening capacity improves, but the device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent divides the door opening system into independent link mechanisms for the front door and rear door. Each door has its own link mechanism with variable coupling length, allowing independent control of opening directions and trajectories. This segmentation enables versatile opening directions while managing complexity through modular, independent mechanisms rather than a single complex integrated system.
Data Source
AI summary
A vehicle door device includes a first link mechanism formed of first and second link arms having a first rotary coupling point with respect to a vehicle body and a second rotary coupling point with respect to a door of a vehicle, and a second link mechanism formed of the first and second link arms provided independently of the first and second link arms forming the first link mechanism. First and second doors respectively supported by the first and second link mechanisms open and close independently in different directions based on operations of the first and second link mechanisms. At least one of the first and second link arms forming the first link mechanism and the first and second link arms forming the second link mechanism is provided with a coupling length variable mechanism that allows a coupling length between the first and second rotary coupling points to vary.