Weather Strip Tip Projection for Panel Sealing
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing weather strips fail to effectively seal gaps between vehicle body panels due to the lip-like sealing portion's inability to conform to height differences, leading to water ingress and difficulties in attachment caused by increased elastic repulsive forces.
Innovation Solution
A long weather strip with a tip projection portion made of a deformable material that compressively deforms to broaden and stretch, allowing it to follow panel height differences and improve sealing performance while maintaining ease of attachment.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If the lip-like sealing portion is made long or made thick to increase contact force with the panel, then sealing performance improves, but elastic repulsive force increases making attachment difficult
Solution Approach 1:
The sealing portion is divided into two distinct parts: the lip-like sealing portion for general sealing and the tip projection portion for panel contact. This segmentation allows each part to have optimized dimensions - the tip projection can be thin and short for easy attachment while still providing effective sealing at the panel interface.
Solution Approach 2:
The tip projection portion is designed with locally different properties from the main sealing portion. It has a smaller cross-sectional dimension and different material characteristics (deforms more easily) specifically at the tip area where panel contact occurs, while the main body maintains sufficient thickness for structural integrity and attachment force.
2Ease of operation
If the lip-like sealing portion is made thin to reduce elastic repulsive force for easier attachment, then mountability improves, but sealing performance at panel joints deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
By separating the sealing function into the lip-like portion and the tip projection portion, the tip can be made thin for easy attachment while the overall sealing structure maintains adequate dimensions. The tip projection specifically targets panel contact with minimal thickness to reduce repulsive force during installation.
Solution Approach 2:
The tip projection portion uses different material parameters (deforms more easily) and dimensional parameters (smaller cross-section) compared to the main sealing portion. This parameter optimization allows the tip to be thin enough for easy attachment while still achieving effective sealing through elastic deformation at the panel interface.
3Reliability
If the weather strip is arranged to intersect panel joining portions, then comprehensive sealing coverage is achieved, but gap formation occurs due to height differences at panel joints
Solution Approach 1:
The tip projection portion is designed to dynamically adapt to panel height variations through elastic deformation. When the weather strip is installed, the tip projection compresses and deforms to follow the contour of the panel joining portions, maintaining continuous contact despite height differences caused by panel overlapping.
Solution Approach 2:
The tip projection uses material with different deformation characteristics that allow it to adapt to varying panel heights. The smaller cross-sectional dimensions and easier deformability enable the tip to conform to the panel surface profile at joining portions, ensuring uniform contact and sealing across areas with height variations.
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 deformable tip projection portion ensures effective sealing by adapting to panel joints, preventing water ingress and enhancing mountability by reducing elastic repulsive forces during attachment.
Implementation Method 1
the tip projection portion comes into contact with the panels from its tip, and compressively deforms gradually in the projecting direction so as to be broadened in the width direction of the attachment portion
Implementation Method 2
the tip projection portion stretches in the longitudinal direction of the attachment portion and comes into contact with the panels
Data Source
AI summary
A weather strip is provided. The weather strip is arranged so as to intersect a portion joined by overlapping a plurality of panels, and is provided with a tip projection portion which projects onto an extension line of the exterior side wall portion from the tip of an exterior side wall portion of an attachment portion. The tip projection portion is formed from a material which deforms easier than a material forming the sealing portion and is formed in a shape which becomes thin towards a projecting direction with a width dimension which does not exceed the thickness of the tip of the exterior side wall portion in a cross section along the width direction of the attachment portion, and when the attachment portion is attached to the flange, the tip projection portion stretches in the longitudinal direction of the attachment portion and comes into contact with the panels.