Wiper Blade Locking Mechanism with Segmented Pins and Teeth
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing motor vehicle wiper blades with 'flat blade' designs experience clearance issues and progressive shape loss due to tolerances and manufacturing defects, leading to reduced efficiency.
Innovation Solution
The wiper blade incorporates both longitudinal and angular locking means, featuring pins and holding teeth with associated pads, which ensure secure positioning and prevent clearance, allowing for robust locking in all directions.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of manufacture
If teeth and notches are used for locking the vertebra in the connecting element, then the locking mechanism is simple to manufacture, but clearances appear between components due to tolerances and the positioning reference cannot ensure precise alignment
Solution Approach 1:
The locking mechanism is divided into two independent functional pairs: one pair of teeth and notches for angular positioning, and another pair of pins and notches for longitudinal locking. This segmentation allows each subsystem to be optimized independently, eliminating the interference between positioning reference and locking function that caused clearance issues.
Solution Approach 2:
Pins are introduced as intermediary elements that work in conjunction with dedicated notches to provide precise longitudinal locking. The pins act as mediators between the connecting element and vertebra, ensuring accurate positioning without relying on the teeth-notch positioning reference, thereby eliminating clearance caused by tolerance accumulation.
2Device complexity
If a single locking mechanism is used to secure the vertebra both longitudinally and angularly, then the device complexity is reduced, but the locking reliability decreases because the same mechanism cannot effectively prevent clearance in all directions
Solution Approach 1:
The locking function is segmented into two independent directional controls: angular locking through teeth-notch engagement and longitudinal locking through pin-notch engagement. This segmentation allows each locking mechanism to specialize in one direction, ensuring reliable locking in all directions while maintaining relatively simple device complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
The connecting element is designed with multi-functionality, incorporating both angular locking (teeth) and longitudinal locking (pins) within a single component structure. This universal design achieves reliable multi-directional locking without requiring separate locking devices, balancing device complexity and reliability.
3Strength
If teeth are positioned to engage with notches for locking, then the locking mechanism provides structural support, but the contact area is localized at square corners causing progressive shape loss and reduced efficiency
Solution Approach 1:
Different locking mechanisms are applied to different locations and directions: teeth provide angular locking at specific angular positions, while pins provide longitudinal locking at centralized locations. This local quality approach ensures that each locking point bears appropriate loads, preventing localized stress concentration and progressive deformation.
Solution Approach 2:
The locking contact is segmented into multiple independent contact points: tooth-notch contacts for angular direction and pin-notch contacts for longitudinal direction. This segmentation distributes mechanical stresses across multiple locations, preventing localized overload and shape loss at any single contact point.
Data Source
AI summary
A motor vehicle wiper blade includes a support mount extending in a longitudinal main direction, and including a support for a wiping blade and a tubular body having a longitudinal main axis, a structural element in the form of a longitudinal horizontal strip which is accommodated inside the tubular body, and an element for connecting the blade to a drive arm which is mounted on the support mount and which includes a locking mechanism for locking the structural element in a position in the connecting element. The locking mechanism of the connecting element includes, on the one hand, a longitudinal mechanism for locking the structural element in said position, and on the other hand, an angular mechanism for locking the structural element in said position.