Windscreen Wiper End Cap and Spoiler Flush Alignment
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Prior art windscreen wiper devices lack durable and aerodynamic interconnection between end caps and wiper blades, leading to potential detachment and interference with vehicle components.
Innovation Solution
The windscreen wiper device features end caps and spoilers with flush interconnection, where the end cap's top surface aligns with the spoiler's top surface, ensuring a flat and aerodynamic design, and engaging members with retaining means to securely attach the wiper blade, utilizing elastomeric materials and precise molding operations for reliable assembly.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If the end cap extends beyond the top surface of the spoiler, then the wiper blade is securely retained, but the aerodynamic performance deteriorates and interference with vehicle components occurs
Solution Approach 1:
The end cap and spoiler are merged into a single integrated component, eliminating the need for separate parts that would interfere with each other. This integration ensures both secure retention and aerodynamic performance are achieved simultaneously through a unified design where the end cap's retaining function is combined with the spoiler's aerodynamic function in one piece.
Solution Approach 2:
The end cap is designed with differentiated local qualities: the main body extends sufficiently to provide secure retention of the wiper blade, while the portion interacting with the spoiler area is trimmed to be flush, creating a locally optimized structure that provides retention where needed while maintaining aerodynamic smoothness where it matters for airflow.
2Ease of manufacture
If the end cap is made non-flush with the spoiler, then manufacturing is simpler, but the wiper device interferes with vehicle components and aerodynamic performance suffers
Solution Approach 1:
The end cap and spoiler are merged into one integrated component manufactured as a single piece through injection molding. This eliminates the need for separate manufacturing and assembly steps, making the overall process simpler while achieving the flush appearance that prevents interference with vehicle components.
Solution Approach 2:
The flush trimming of the end cap is performed during the preliminary injection molding stage itself, rather than as a subsequent separate operation. The mold is designed to produce the end cap with the exact final dimensions needed for flush alignment, eliminating post-manufacturing intervention and simplifying the overall manufacturing process.
3Manufacturing precision
If the end cap top surface extends above the spoiler, then assembly tolerance compensation is easier, but aerodynamic performance and sleek appearance are compromised
Solution Approach 1:
The end cap and spoiler are merged into a single injection-molded component with integrated tolerance compensation features. The unified structure allows tolerances to be absorbed within the single molding process rather than requiring precise matching between separate parts, while the flush design is maintained through careful mold design that builds in tolerance buffers without compromising the aerodynamic profile.
Solution Approach 2:
The design parameters of the end cap are optimized during the molding process to achieve flush alignment. The mold incorporates parameter adjustments that allow the end cap dimensions to vary within acceptable ranges while maintaining the critical flush surface alignment, compensating for manufacturing tolerances without requiring the end cap to extend above the spoiler.
Data Source
Figure 1
Figure 2
Figure 3
AI summary
A windscreen wiper device (1) of the flat blade type comprising an elastic, elongated carrier element, as well as an elongated wiper blade (2) of a flexible material, which can be placed in abutment with a windscreen to be wiped, which wiper blade (2) includes at least one groove (3), in which groove (3) a longitudinal strip (4) of the carrier element is disposed, wherein free ends of said wiper blade (2) are connected to a respective end cap (8), which windscreen wiper device (1) comprises a connecting device (5) for an oscillating wiper arm (6), and wherein said wiper blade (2) is provided with a spoiler (7) at a side thereof facing away from said windscreen to be wiped, at least one end cap (8) comprises a top surface (9) abutting a top surface (10) of said spoiler (7), wherein said top surface (9) of said end cap (8) and said top surface of said spoiler (7) extend in the same plane.