Housing assembly and method
AssigneeFord Global Technologies, LLC
InventorWilliam John Mallard
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A cover for a housing of a vehicle and a method of sealing a cover to the housing, where in at least one example, the cover comprises a cover body configured to cover an opening of the housing and to engage the housing at an interface around the opening. The cover may comprise a heating element embedded within the cover body and operable to at least partially melt a portion of the cover body as a part of a process for sealing the cover to the housing. The portion of the cover body may deform and conform to an interface feature at the mating surface of the housing due to the at least partial melting of the portion of the cover body, and, in some examples, the heating element may be configured to fail and be inoperable.
Claims10
A cover for a housing within a vehicle, wherein the cover comprises:
- a cover body which covers an opening of the housing and engages with the housing at an interface around the opening, the cover body having a mating surface that engages a corresponding mating surface of the housing so as to form the interface;
- and
- a heating element comprising a resistive wire embedded within the cover body and operable to at least partially melt a portion of the cover body, such that the portion of the cover body deforms and conforms to an interface feature at the mating surface of the housing;
- wherein the resistive wire comprises a first portion having a first diameter and a second portion having a second diameter, wherein the first diameter is different from the second diameter.
A method of sealing a cover to a housing, comprising:
- aligning a cover mating surface and a corresponding housing mating surface;
- heating a heating element embedded within the cover, wherein the heating element comprises a first resistive wire embedded within the cover body;
- at least partially melting the cover mating surface;
- and
- deforming the cover mating surface to conform to the corresponding housing mating surface;
- wherein the heating element further comprises a second resistive wire, and wherein heating the heating element further comprises applying a second electric current to the second resistive wire, wherein a magnitude of the second electric current is different from that of a first electric current.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.