Flat-blade windscreen wiper blade comprising an aerodynamic deflector

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10919499-B2
Application number	US-201916291461-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 4, 2019
Priority date	Apr 7, 2004
Publication date	Feb 16, 2021
Grant date	Feb 16, 2021

Abstract

A windscreen wiper blade including: a monolithic support frame that includes an inner housing formed within a body of the support frame; a wiping strip with a wiping edge able to engage with a surface of a window and a top heel that engages with the support frame; a pair of ribs that: extend from a bottom face of the support frame, and latch onto the top heel of the wiping strip; a central spine disposed within the inner housing; and an aerodynamic deflector that extends from a top face of the support frame.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A windscreen wiper blade comprising:
a monolithic support frame that comprises an inner housing formed within a body of the support frame;
a wiping strip with a wiping edge able to engage with a surface of a window and a top heel that engages with the support frame;
a pair of ribs that:
extend from a bottom face of the support frame, and
latch onto the top heel of the wiping strip;

a central spine disposed within the inner housing; and
an aerodynamic deflector that extends from a top face of the support frame,
wherein the aerodynamic deflector comprises a convex semi-circular shaped top-most edge, and
wherein a first side surface of the aerodynamic deflector that connects a top-most edge of the aerodynamic deflector to a base of the aerodynamic deflector is longer than a second side surface of the aerodynamic deflector that connects the top-most edge to the base.

2. The windscreen wiper blade of claim 1 , wherein the body of the support frame is tubular and the inner housing extends from a first terminal end of the support frame to a second terminal end of the support frame along a main longitudinal axis of the support frame.

3. The windscreen wiper blade of claim 1 , wherein the aerodynamic deflector is detachable from the support frame.

4. The windscreen wiper blade of claim 1 , wherein the aerodynamic deflector is co-molded with the support frame.

5. The windscreen wiper blade of claim 1 , wherein the aerodynamic deflector is co-extruded with the support frame.

6. The windscreen wiper blade of claim 1 , wherein the aerodynamic deflector, in a cross-section according to a vertical plane, has a contour with an overall triangular shape comprising a bottom horizontal side forming the base, the first side surface that delimits the side of the aerodynamic deflector that faces the wind, and the second side surface with an overall vertical orientation that delimits the side behind the wind of the aerodynamic deflector.

7. The windscreen wiper blade of claim 6 , wherein the rear side of the aerodynamic deflector is connected to the front side by the top-most edge of the aerodynamic deflector.

8. The windscreen wiper blade of claim 6 , wherein the first side surface of the aerodynamic deflector comprises a bottom section, an intermediate section substantially forming a concave arc of circle, and a top end section.

9. The windscreen wiper blade of claim 6 , wherein the bottom section is rectilinear and forms an acute angle with the base of the aerodynamic deflector.

10. The windscreen wiper blade of claim 9 , wherein the acute angle is between 5 to 30 degrees.

11. The windscreen wiper blade of claim 1 , wherein the support frame and the pair of ribs are a monolithic structure.

12. The windscreen wiper blade of claim 1 , wherein a ratio (H/L) of a total height (H) of the windscreen wiper blade from a top-most point of the aerodynamic deflector to a bottom-most wiping edge of the wiping strip to an overall transversal width (L) of the windscreen wiper blade measured on a plane of the central spine is between 1.5 and 2.

13. The windscreen wiper blade of claim 1 , wherein a material of the aerodynamic deflector is different from a material of the support frame.

14. The windscreen wiper blade of claim 13 , wherein the material of the aerodynamic deflector is a flexible synthetic material and the material of the support frame is a rigid plastic material.

15. The windscreen wiper blade of claim 1 , wherein the support frame comprises ridges that protrude from side faces of the support frame that connect the top face to the bottom face.

16. The windscreen wiper blade of claim 1 , wherein the support frame has a rectangular contour limited by an upper horizontal wall, a lower horizontal wall, and two vertical longitudinal side walls.

17. The windscreen wiper blade of claim 1 , wherein the support frame is hollow and the inner housing is delimited by a top inner surface of the support frame, a bottom inner surface of the support frame, and two side surfaces of the support frame that connect the top inner surface with the bottom inner surface.

18. The windscreen wiper blade of claim 1 , wherein a width of a base of the aerodynamic deflector is longer than a distance between the pair of ribs that latch on the wiping strip.

19. A motor vehicle comprising:
a windscreen wiper blade that comprises:
a monolithic support frame that comprises an inner housing formed within a body of the support frame;
a wiping strip with a wiping edge that engages with a surface of a window and a top heel that engages with the support frame;
a pair of ribs that:
extend from a bottom face of the support frame, and
latch onto the top heel of the wiping strip;

a central spine disposed within the inner housing; and
an aerodynamic deflector that extends from a top face of the support frame,
wherein the aerodynamic deflector comprises a convex semi-circular shaped top-most edge, and
wherein a first side surface of the aerodynamic deflector that connects the top-most edge of the aerodynamic deflector to a base of the aerodynamic deflector is longer than a second side surface of the aerodynamic deflector that connects the top-most edge to the base.

20. A support frame of a windscreen wiper blade, the support frame comprising:
an inner housing formed within a body of the support frame that receives a central spine;
a pair of ribs that:
extend from a bottom face of the support frame, and
latch onto a top heel of a wiping strip that engages with a surface of a window;

an aerodynamic deflector that extends from a top face of the support frame,
wherein the support frame is monolithic
wherein the aerodynamic deflector comprises a convex semi-circular shaped top-most edge, and
wherein a first side surface of the aerodynamic deflector that connects a top-most edge of the aerodynamic deflector to a base of the aerodynamic deflector is longer than a second side surface of the aerodynamic deflector that connects the top-most edge to the base.

Assignees

• Valeo Systemes Dessuyage

Inventors

• Jarasson Jean-Michel
• Jallet Sébastien
• Dubief Flavien

Classifications

• B60S1/38 Primary

  Wiper blades {(provided with liquid spreading means B60S1/524; provided with gas spreading means B60S1/546)} · CPC title

• B60S2001/382

  the backing strip being an essentially planar reinforcing strip, e.g. vertebra · CPC title

• B60S1/381

  Spoilers mounted on the squeegee or on the vertebra · CPC title

• B60S1/3848

  Flat-type wiper blade, i.e. without harness · CPC title

• B60S1/3881 Primary

  in additional element, e.g. spoiler · CPC title