Patent Application
20150368936
The present disclosure relates to door handle assemblies that may be used on motor vehicles and more particularly to door handle assemblies having an attachment mechanism that does not cause localized distortion.
Motor vehicles typically include one or more doors providing access to the interior of the vehicle. At least one door handle assembly is mounted on an interior and/or exterior surface or skin of each door to permit selective opening and closing of the door. The door handle assemblies are typically attached to an associated door utilizing suitable fasteners and tools. Depressions are formed in the door adjacent the handle location to allow a hand to grasp the handle.
However, formed door handle depressions, such as in high strength steel or aluminum materials, often cause undesirable surface distortion on the door outer skin if connected directly to the outer panel. One proposed solution to address this issue has been to place the door handle depression in a plastic bezel, which only requires a shallow depression in the door surface. However, this proposed solution requires either a floating reinforcement to be positioned behind the handle or a connection positioned between the door handle bezel and an already existing component of the door structure. To avoid the complexity of a floating reinforcement, typically, the door handle bezel is attached to an existing component. For ease of assembly, such a connection is typically done with the fasteners' axis set in the y-axis of the vehicle (i.e., cross-car). However, tying the handle depression bezel to any inner component in the y-axis direction ties the door outer surface to that inner component. Accordingly, the door outer surface is subject to the variability of the assembly process.
Indeed, the distance between the outer door panel and an inner reinforcement attached to the inner door varies due to tolerances. As a result, when attaching the outer door panel to the inner component, such tolerances get translated to surface distortion as the outer panel may be deformed to securely fix the bezel to the existing inner component. Thus the variability experienced in the assembly process still results in unacceptable surface distortions.
A door handle arrangement is needed that addresses surface distortion issues by providing a connection method not subject to assembly tolerances issues discussed above.
In one example, an automotive door panel is disclosed. The automotive door panel comprises an outer panel, a bezel, a handle and an inner reinforcement. The outer panel has a depression formed on an outside surface surrounding a handle opening. The bezel seats within the depression of the door panel. The handle is mounted to the bezel and includes an attachment member in a YZ plane so as to be generally perpendicular to an XZ plane in which an outer door panel lies. The inner reinforcement member has a mounting flange oriented in the YZ axis. A fastener extends through the mounting flange in an X-direction and connects to the attachment member.
In another example, a door handle assembly for a vehicle is disclosed. The door handle assembly comprises a bezel assembly and an inner reinforcement member. The bezel assembly receives a handle sub-assembly. The handle sub-assembly further comprises an attachment member that is oriented in a YZ plane so as to be generally perpendicular to an XZ plane in which the bezel assembly is oriented. The inner reinforcement member has a mounting flange oriented in the YZ plane. A fastener extends through the mounting flange in an X-direction and connects to the attachment member of the bezel.
In a further example, an automotive door panel is disclosed. The automotive door panel comprises an outer panel, a bezel, a handle and an inner reinforcement member. The outer panel includes a depression formed on an outside surface thereof such that the depression surrounds a handle opening. An inwardly extending wall member extends from an edge of the handle opening. At least one locating and attachment tab extends from an outer edge of the inwardly extending wall member.
The bezel seats within the depression and includes at least one fastening element that is configured to engage with the locating and attachment tab in a Y-direction with respect to the outer door panel. The handle is mounted to the bezel and includes an attachment member positioned in a YZ plane, which is generally perpendicular to an XZ plane in which the outer door panel lies. The inner reinforcement member has a mounting flange oriented in the YZ plane. The fastener extends through the mounting flange in an X-direction and connects to the attachment member.
The illustrated embodiments are disclosed with reference to the drawings. However, it is to be understood that the disclosed embodiments are intended to be merely examples that may be embodied in various and alternative forms. The figures are not necessarily to scale and some features may be exaggerated or minimized to show details of particular components. The specific structural and functional details disclosed are not to be interpreted as limiting, but as a representative basis for teaching one skilled in the art how to practice the disclosed concepts.
Referring to
In one example, the door handle assembly 14 (best seen in
The bezel assembly 26 includes first and second support sections 36a and 36b that are separated by an inwardly extending depression surface 38. The grip section 33 is positioned over the depression surface 38. The depression surface 38 serves to enable a handle to easily grasp around grip section 33 of handle member 30. First support section 36a and the second support section 36b may have exterior surface faces 40a, 40b that are substantially aligned along a common plane. In one example, the first support section 36a has a length (along the X axis) that is longer than a length of the second support section 36b.
The bezel assembly 26 is configured to be received in a handle opening 42 formed through an outer door panel 44 that partially makes up door 10. In one example, outer door panel 44 is formed with an outline depression 46 about the handle opening 42. Depression 46 extends inwardly from an outer surface of the outer door panel 44 and is connected to an inwardly extending wall member 48. A pair of locating and attachment tabs 50a, 50b extend orthogonally from wall member 48. In one example, a first locating and attachment tab 50a is connected to a bottom edge 52 of wall member 48. A second locating and attachment tab 50b is connected to a top edge 54 of wall member 48 opposite of the first locating and attachment tab 50a. As shown in
Referring to
Once fastener element 56a, 56b are positioned to extend through the openings 60 of the locating and attachment tabs 50a, 50b, a securing element 68a, 68b, such as a nut, secures the fastener element 56a, 56b directly to the outer door panel 44. With this configuration, the relationship between the handle assembly 14 and the outer door panel 44 is maintained.
Turning to
The mounting opening 72 of the mounting flange 70 is configured to overlie an attachment member 74 formed in the door handle assembly 14 (see
In the configuration described above, a tie point is created between the outer door panel 44 and the inner reinforcement member 28 in the YZ plane, such that the fastener 76 extends in an X direction, as opposed to a Y axis connection. With this configuration, any tolerances between in the Y direction between the bezel assembly 26 and the reinforcement member 28 will not result in surface distortion, as the connection is made in the X direction. During initial assembly, the fastener 76 may not be fully seated in the attachment member 74 such that the connection is loose fitting during initial assembly and painting operations.
However, during final securement of the door handle assembly 14 to the door 12, the bezel assembly 26 is positioned within the opening 42 formed in the outer door panel 44 and secured within the opening via fastener elements 56a, 56b that extend in the Y-axis through the openings 60 formed in the locating and attachment tabs 50a, 50b. The fastener elements 56a, 56b are introduced from a latch face side of the bezel assembly 26. A securing member 78, such as an attachment nut operates to secure the bezel assembly 26 directly to the outer door panel 44. However, because the attachment takes place while the bezel assembly 26 is sitting naturally on the outer surface of the outer door panel 44 due to the outline depression 46 into which the bezel assembly 26 fits, as demonstrated in
The configuration of the present disclosure also allows all fastening operations to take place in direct view of the operator. For example, the fastener elements 56a, 56b are secured on inside of the outer door panel 44, in easy view of the operator. Further, the fastener 76 may be secured in the Y axis direction through opening 77 formed through an inner door panel 69. This same opening 77 also permits access to the fastener 76.
The embodiments described above are specific examples that do not describe all possible forms of the disclosure. The features of the illustrated embodiments may be combined to form further embodiments of the disclosed concepts. The words used in the specification are words of description rather than limitation. The scope of the following claims is broader than the specifically disclosed embodiments and also includes modifications of the illustrated embodiments.
