A Research on Kinematic Optimization of Auto Flush Door Handle System

Today, many car manufacturers and their suppliers are very interested in power-operated door handles, known as auto flush door handles. These handles have a distinguishing feature in terms of the way they operate. They are hidden in door skins and deployed automatically when users need to open the door. It is obvious that it is a major exterior styling point that makes customers interested in the vehicles that apply it. To make this auto flush door handle, however, there lie difficulties. First, because there is no sufficient space inside a door, applying these handles can be a constraint in exterior design unless the structures of them are kinematic optimized. The insufficient space can also cause problems in appearance of the handles when they are deployed. The purpose of this study is to establish the kinematic system of auto flush door handle to overcome the exterior handicaps such as the excessive exposure of the internal area on the deployed position. In order to resolve these issues, the Scott-Russell mechanism is applied to the auto flush handle system, and the key parameters are optimized by the methodology of DFSS dynamic characteristics method. Therefore, the engineering solutions are given to resolve the finger jamming in the handle due to the high speed retraction and the incongruity of the relative retraction speed between the handle and outside mirror. Thus, in this paper, the engineering solutions and optimized criteria to resolve all related issues are introduced to enhance the values of vehicles for customers.