Vehicle Sealing Assembly With Overlapping Flanges for Water Ingress
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Solution Overview
Problem
Water ingress into vehicles poses significant challenges, and existing sealing technologies fail to effectively prevent water entry, particularly at transitions between vehicle components like door frames, division posts, and quarter panels.
Innovation Solution
A sealing assembly is designed with overlapping flanges, tapered portions, and compressible sealing patches, where fasteners bring the flanges together to compress the patches and a continuous seal is applied over the flanges and fasteners, ensuring a watertight seal by using a combination of flanges, tapered surfaces, and sealing patches to create a continuous seal around vehicle openings.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If existing sealing technologies are used at transitions between vehicle components, then the sealing structure is simple, but water ingress prevention is insufficient
Solution Approach 1:
The sealing assembly is divided into multiple functional segments: overlapping flanges for structural connection, tapered portions for water diversion, compressible sealing patches for gap sealing, and continuous seals for perimeter protection. Each segment addresses specific sealing challenges at component transitions, collectively providing comprehensive water ingress prevention while maintaining manageable complexity through modular design.
Solution Approach 2:
The sealing assembly combines multiple materials with different properties: rigid flanges for structural support, tapered portions (likely rigid or semi-rigid) for water diversion, compressible sealing patches for conformal sealing, and continuous seal materials for perimeter sealing. This composite approach leverages the strengths of each material type to achieve reliable water ingress prevention across diverse sealing scenarios.
2Reliability
If flanges are overlapped and compressed with sealing patches, then sealing efficacy is enhanced, but load-carrying capability requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
The load-carrying function is segmented from the sealing function. The overlapping flanges and fasteners are designed to bear structural loads, while the compressible sealing patches are dedicated to providing the sealing action. This segmentation allows each component to be optimized for its primary function without compromising the other.
Solution Approach 2:
The compressible sealing patch acts as an intermediary between the rigid flange structure and the sealing requirement. It translates the mechanical compression from the fastened flanges into effective sealing pressure, protecting the sealing interface from direct structural loads while maintaining sealing efficacy.
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 effectively prevents water ingress by creating a continuous, compressible seal around vehicle openings, enhancing the sealing efficacy and load-carrying capability of the assembly, while minimizing interruptions from uneven structures.
Implementation Method 1
the fastener brings the first flange and the second flange together to compress the sealing patch
Implementation Method 2
a seal that prevents water from entering the vehicle
Data Source
AI summary
A scaling assembly includes a first structure having a first flange, a second structure having a second flange that partially overlaps the first flange, a fastener that attaches the first flange to the second flange at a region where the first flange and the second flange overlap, and a seal disposed over the first flange and the second flange.