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INTERNATIONAL Research in Engineering and Technology (IJARET), ISSN 0976 International Journal of Advanced JOURNAL OF ADVANCED RESEARCH IN 6480(Print),

, ISSN 0976 6499(Online) Volume 3, Number 2, July-December (IJARET) ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY (2012), IAEME
ISSN 0976 - 6480 (Print) ISSN 0976 - 6499 (Online) Volume 3, Issue 2, July-December (2012), pp. 176-186 IAEME: www.iaeme.com/ijaret.asp Journal Impact Factor (2012): 2.7078 (Calculated by GISI) www.jifactor.com

IJARET
IAEME

DESIGN AND DEVELOPMENT OF AN AUTOMOTIVE VERTICAL DOORS OPENING SYSTEM (AVDOS)


A. Elfasakhany1, 2 *, J. A. Alarcn , D. O. S. Montes
1

Department of Mechanical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Taif University, Box 888, AlHaweiah, Taif, Saudi Arabia 2 Tecnolgico de Monterrey, Campus Ciudad Jurez, Av. Tomas Fernandez Campus 8945, Parque Industrial Bermudez, CP 32470, Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua, Mexico * Corresponding author Tel.: +966 (02) 7272020; Fax: +966(02)7274299 E-mail address: ashr12000@yahoo.com

ABSTRACT
Automotive vertical door opening system (AVDOS) refers to car or truck door that opens upward instead of outward like conventional cars on the road. Compared with conventional doors, the AVDOS provides easier access to the car in small spaces and, in turn, allows less parking area for cars. The main focus of this work was to propose a new design for the AVDOS. That design overcomes some drawbacks of the available vertical door design. It offers access/egress without the side movement that available design use. It also provides an easier access into a car that is in a tighter spot. It can also be able to open/close the doors without having to hard push or slam the doors. It is safer and less cost. In case of a rollover emergency egress may be easier and more secure than the available design. Keyword: Vertical doors, Design, Mechanism, Gas spring, Gear, Development.

I- INTRODUCTION
The term vertical doors (or scissor doors) refers to car or truck doors that open upward instead of outward like conventional cars on the road. The most famous companies that use those types of doors are the Italian Lamborghini company, which has become these doors with time bearing its name (Lambo doors) [1-2]. Those types of doors have firstly begun through car Alfa Romeo

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International Journal of Advanced Research in Engineering and Technology (IJARET), ISSN 0976 6480(Print), ISSN 0976 6499(Online) Volume 3, Number 2, July-December (2012), IAEME

Carabo in 1968. The idea came to the designer based on that the driver was suffering from lack of the possibility to see what behind the car because of wider car design. In order to reverse the car, the driver needs to open the door and lean his upper body out of the hatch in order to see behind. That gave the designer the idea of doors to open up [1]. In 1974, when the same designer worked on a car Lamborghini Countach's successor, the first commercial vehicle made those doors, due to facing the same problem of poor rear visibility, he designed it using the same idea of doors that open up. Currently, Lamborghini is keen to design the majority of such doors [1]. The vertical doors offer many advantages compared with the conventional doors. They offer the possibility of operating the car during door open, in a manner that would be difficult or impossible in a car with conventional doors. Because the vertical doors stay within the car's track throughout their range of movement, they are useful when parking in tight spaces. The hinges of AVDOS can be placed in a similar location to the conventional door, so a convertible version of the conventional car is possible with the same door style and, in turn, that reduces the dooring hazard to cyclists. However, there are some drawbacks for using the vertical doors. The door still impedes access/egress much more than a conventional door. The manufacture cost of the door hinge can be more than that of a conventional door. It is also important to consider the cost of repairing the doors if the mechanisms fail in any way [3]. If the height of the parking lot ceiling is insufficient, the door may come into contact with it when opened. For example, in case of the car rolling onto its roof, the doors would not be able to open. In the event of a rollover emergency egress may be more difficult than with conventional doors, if not impossible. In water or in situations such as the car exploding, this can be very dangerous. The lifting mechanism for the door could go out, and then the doors would not be able to open at all. According to the many drawbacks of the available vertical doors, this work aims at proposing a new design for the AVDOS. The system overcomes some of the short-comings of existing system by allowing larger access for ingress and egress than the available vertical door system. The proposed system can be installed simply and not costly. It can also be able to access/egress the car without having to hard push or slam the doors. The system can efficiently be an alternative to the existing hinge mechanism. This work is a part of different projects to design and develop different mechanical systems/machines, see e.g. [4-8].

II- SYSTEM DESIGN 1- Available Design


The available design of the automotive vertical door opening system (AVDOS) is worked based on that it is initially open outward before opening upward. The outward motion allows the top edge of the door to clear from the door frame [2]. Accordingly, drivers need to push the door two times, one horizontal for the outward and then one vertical for the upward opening. The AVDOS is shown in Fig. 1 and the detailed function is as follows. When inside: you will grab the door handle of the car. Pushing the door away from you and the door will open 12 - 18 inches like they do normally in the conventional doors. From there, the door will stop and not open horizontally any further. Once done, you will now grab the bottom of the door and lift vertically. The door will then reach a certain point which it will not lift anymore. At this point, the bottom back portion of the door will be higher than the roof of the vehicle, as shown in Fig. 2. Accordingly, you will be able to get out of the vehicle. On the other hand, when you outside the

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International Journal of Advanced Research in Engineering and Technology (IJARET), ISSN 0976 6480(Print), ISSN 0976 6499(Online) Volume 3, Number 2, July-December (2012), IAEME

car: you will grab the door handle of the car and pulling the door towards you; hence the door will open slightly (12 - 18 inches) then grab the edge of the door and lift vertically. The door will then reach a pre-determined point at which it will be able to get in. The second movement of the door (grab the bottom of the door and lift vertically) is difficult and unstable, especially when door is heavy. This makes the mechanism is inefficient and complicated to use. The design allows opening the door of 15 degrees outwards and then lifts it upwards for 75 to 90 degrees. Fig. 3 shows the AVDOS assembled in a car.

Fig. 1: Available design of automotive vertical door opening system (AVDOS) for two systems

2- Proposed Design
The main differences between the proposed design and the available one is that available design requires two movements to open the doors, the first one is horizontal and the second one is vertical, as discussed early. In some cases, doors are very heavy for the vertical push. However, the proposed design is based on moving the door upwards with only one small push using one finger. Generally, the door is mounted using two hinges, where one hinge is mounted onto the post of the car body and the other hinge is mounted onto a parallel door structure, as shown in Fig. 4. This allows the hinges to open the door by swinging away from the vehicle, thereby providing an adequate opening space to get in and out from the vehicle. Hence, our proposed mechanism is designed based on allowing the automotive door to open without the side push that available vertical door does. But, the side movement occurs by the swinging path of the mechanism. The proposed AVDOS, as shown in Fig. 4, consists of three main subsystems, mechanism structure (hinges), gears, and gas spring. Detailed of each subsystem is discussed in the coming sections.

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International Journal of Advanced Research in Engineering and Technology (IJARET), ISSN 0976 6480(Print), ISSN 0976 6499(Online) Volume 3, Number 2, July-December (2012), IAEME

Fig. 2: Overview of vertical door opened

Fig. 3: Available design of AVDOS assembled in car

2.1-Mechanism Design
Mechanism makeup with detailed dimensions, as shown in Fig 5, is designed to allow the automotive door moving in a bi-directional i.e., in one or diagonal direction. The dimensions are calculated based on a door weight of about 110 lb (appropriate for a sports car). The hinges were designed based on the shape of automotive doors. Since automobiles and trucks are essentially rectangular in shape, the most common method of providing doors is to mount the hinge on a forward vertical edge of the door, allowing the trailing edge of the door to swing easily. That gives more advantage for smaller vehicles, which have much smaller exit openings than the larger vehicles. Hence, such design provides wider opening of the door due to more swinging doors in this design configuration.

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International Journal of Advanced Research in Engineering and Technology (IJARET), ISSN 0976 6480(Print), ISSN 0976 6499(Online) Volume 3, Number 2, July-December (2012), IAEME

Mechanism structure (hinges)

Gears

Hinge mounted onto the door structure Gas spring

Hinge mounted onto the car body

Fig. 4: Proposed AVDOS

2.2-Gas Spring
A gas spring is a type of spring that, unlike a typical metal spring, uses a compressed gas, contained in a cylinder and compressed by a piston, to exert a force. Gas spring is more or less to be some kind of pneumatic striker. It pushes the door away from the car when being opened and vice versa in the closed condition. The gas spring, as a hydropneumatic adjusting element, consists of a pressure tube, a piston rod with piston and appropriate connection fittings, as shown in Fig. 6. It is filled with compressed nitrogen, which acts with equal pressure on differently dimensioned cross-sectional areas of the piston with same pressure in the both sides of piston. This produces a force in the extension direction. This extension force can be defined as follows.

P A = P ( A a) + F
F = Pa

(1) (2)

where A and a are the cross section area of the piston and the piston rod, respectively; P and F are pressure and force, respectively.

The extremely high pressure of the nitrogen gas inside cylinder is only applied to the net cross-sectional area of the piston without the piston rod, as shown in Fig. 6, keeping volumetric changes inside the cylinder small and, in turn, resultant force (F) near constant. This quality makes gas springs infinitely useful for providing opening and closing force for door, like moving mechanisms in machines.

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International Journal of Advanced Research in Engineering and Technology (IJARET), ISSN 0976 6480(Print), ISSN 0976 6499(Online) Volume 3, Number 2, July December (2012), IAEME July-December

Fig. 5: Detailed d dimensions of the proposed AVDOS

Nitrogen

F
Fig. 6: Working principle of gas spring system

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International Journal of Advanced Research in Engineering and Technology (IJARET), ISSN 0976 6480(Print), ISSN 0976 6499(Online) Volume 3, Number 2, July-December (2012), IAEME

Unlike a typical metal spring, gas springs provide a constant linear force over a defined stroke, as well as dynamic damping from the integral piston to smooth the action. The absorption or damping action for gas springs can be in both compression and extension working conditions. In a compression gas spring, the shock absorption or dampening occurs in the compression direction by the compressed gas, as shown in Fig 7. In an extension gas spring, the shock absorption or dampening occurs in the extension direction using oil since oil cannot be compressed, as shown in Fig 8. The gas spring locking function is made possible by a special piston-valve system which creates a leak-proof separation between the two pressure chambers in the gas spring, as shown in Figs 7-8. With the valve open, this will provide force assist, ensuring user-friendly motion sequences due to its predefined damping characteristics. When the valve is closed, the gas spring will lock with a slight bounce in the desired position. When door reach the extreme opening position, the gas spring will lock rigidly in the compressed state. By small push, the gas spring extends and the valve in the piston will open automatically and release the lock. The gas spring system has many advantages. As system components are not expensive, the costs of systems are quite low (20 USD) [9]. Moreover, as system is very durable, the cost of repair is significantly lower than that of other systems. Gas spring systems are safer than electromotive systems because they can work in inflammable environment without causing fire or explosion (nitrogen is not flammable). Apart from that, overloading in system will only lead to sliding or cessation of operation. Unlike electromotive components, gas spring components do not burn or get overheated when overloaded. The operation of gas spring systems does not produce pollutants. The system is light and powerful, lighter than equivalent pneumatic system. The door is raised with the help of a gas spring, thus opening requires minimum efforts (3-10 lb force, depending on application).

Valve

Fig. 7: Gas spring system at compression condition

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International Journal of Advanced Research in Engineering and Technology (IJARET), ISSN 0976 6480(Print), ISSN 0976 6499(Online) Volume 3, Number 2, July-December (2012), IAEME

The design limitations of the gas spring system are summarized as follows. The gas spring is filled with high-pressure nitrogen gas. For this reason, it may never be opened, exposed to high temperatures, mechanically damaged or exposed to forces beyond normal use. Mechanical damage, corrosion, colors or impurities can damage the sealing part of the gas spring. The gas spring operates at a temperature between -18 to +60C. The temperature change affects the output force up to approximately 5% for every 15C of temperature change. The oil viscosity will change as well.

2.3-Gears
Gears are ones of the most important parts of any machine or mechanism. The function of gears here is to convert the movement into a single bi-directional diagonal movement. The user only has to push the door in one direction, i.e. vertical push. By such push, the gas spring will be activated and vertically move the hinge; but we need a slight horizontal movement to clear the door from the door frame. The gears are used to provide that function, as shown in Fig 9. By moving the hinge, the gear 2 will rotate and, in turn, the gear 1. Hence, intermediate hinge will tilt outward from the fixed hinge where fixed hinge is supported in the door frame. The gear type used is bevel gears, as shown in Fig 10, and the prerequisite calculations and design considerations are available elsewhere, see e.g., [10-13].

Valve

Fig. 8: Gas spring system at extension condition

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International Journal of Advanced Research in Engineering and Technology (IJARET), ISSN 0976 6480(Print), ISSN 0976 6499(Online) Volume 3, Number 2, July-December (2012), IAEME

III- TESTING AND VALIDATION


The system is tested using the cad system and results proof that the system is reliable. Not only are our AVDOS easy to install but it is also easy to operate, basically open your door using one push. Figs. 9, 11, and 12 show the system tests at different operating positions.

Intermediate hinge Gear 1

Gear 2

Part of the moving hinge (a) Front View

(b) Side View

Fig. 9: Gas spring system in (a) front and (b) side views showing the bevel gears

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International Journal of Advanced Research in Engineering and Technology (IJARET), ISSN 0976 6480(Print), ISSN 0976 6499(Online) Volume 3, Number 2, July-December (2012), IAEME

Fig. 10: Bevel gears

Fig. 11: AVDOS at door closing

Fig. 12: AVDOS at door open

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International Journal of Advanced Research in Engineering and Technology (IJARET), ISSN 0976 6480(Print), ISSN 0976 6499(Online) Volume 3, Number 2, July-December (2012), IAEME

IV- CONCLUSIONS
A new design of the automotive vertical door opening system (AVDOS) was proposed. By the new design, we can overcome some drawbacks of the available design. The proposed design consists of three main systems, mechanism structure (hinges), gears, and gas spring. The systems were designed to provide a wider door opening by using more swinging configuration, which gives more advantage for smaller vehicles since they have much smaller exit openings than the larger vehicles. Compared the both designs, available one requires two movements to open the doors (outward and then upwards) and in some cases doors are very heavy for the vertical push. However, the proposed design is based on moving the door upwards with only one small push using one finger. Hence, we will be able to open/close the doors without having to hard push or slam the doors. Not only are our AVDOS easy to operate but it is also more secure and less cost. Testing and validation of the proposed system at different operating positions is carried out and results proof that the system is reliable.

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