The present disclosure, in general, relates to a sealing structure for a vehicle. In particular, the present disclosure relates to a dust seal structure for a rear wheel arch of a vehicle.
BACKGROUND
[0002] Conventional dust seals are provided between a side door and an outer side body to prevent entrance of rainwater or mud or fine particles flung up by a rear wheel. The side door is on a side of a vehicle adjacent to the rear wheel.
[0003] In case a lower end edge of the side door of the vehicle substantially overlaps a rear wheel arch, the dust seal formed to operably couple to an edge of the rear wheel arch makes contact with the side door to prevent entrance of rainwater or mud or fine particles flung up by the rear wheel. The rear wheel arch is a cutout, which corresponds to an outer circumferential shape of the rear wheel. The rear wheel arch is designed to face the side door.
[0004] The dust seal is generally provided with a single sealing lip that directly makes contact with an inner panel of the side door. One such dust seal is described in Japanese Patent JP6416843B2. However, such dust seal has limited capabilities and does not take care of multi-point sealing of rainwater or mud or fine particles intrusion.
[0005] For instance, with the single sealing lip contacting the inner panel of the side door, the rainwater or mud or fine particles adhered to the dust seal may damage coating on the inner panel while opening or closing the side door.

Such damage to the coating of the inner panel may degrade appearance of the side door or cause rust on the side door. In addition, in case the side door is having a door cladding, the dust seal with single sealing lip is not provisioned to take care of rainwater or mud intrusion from a gap between a lowermost point of the door cladding and the rear wheel arch.
[0006] Further, the conventional dust seal with the single sealing lip is not balanced in an amount of an elastic deformation when subjected to a pressure from the side door. Specifically, the amount of the elastic deformation tends to be less on a part of the single sealing lip close to a base end of the dust seal than a part close to atop end of the dust seal. Because of non-balanced elastic deformation of the single sealing lip during opening or closing the side door, the dust seal may gradually lose its grip or mounting from the rear wheel arch.
[0007] Therefore, there is a requirement of modification in the design of the dust seal mounted at the rear wheel arch.
OBJECTS OF THE DISCLOSURE
[0008] Some of the objects of the present disclosure, which at least one embodiment herein satisfy, are listed herein below.
[0009] It is a general or primary object of the present disclosure to provide a dust seal structure for a rear wheel arch of a vehicle.
[0010] Another object of the present disclosure is to provide a dust seal structure that avoids water and mud entry through a gap between the wheel arch area and a side door of the vehicle.
[0011] Another object of the present disclosure is to provide a dust seal structure that prevents the sagging of the dust seal during opening and closing of the side door of the vehicle.

[0012] Another object of the present disclosure is to provide a dust seal structure that provides a two-point sealing of mud or water intrusion between the wheel arch area and the side door of the vehicle.
[0013] These and other objects and advantages of the present disclosure will be apparent to those skilled in the art after a consideration of the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in which a preferred form of the present disclosure is illustrated.
SUMMARY
[0014] This summary is provided to introduce concepts related to a dust seal structure for a vehicle that avoid mud and water entry inside the vehicle. The concepts are further described below in the detailed description. This summary is not intended to identify key features or essential features of the claimed subject matter, nor is it intended to be used to limit the scope of the claimed subject matter.
[0015] In accordance with an embodiment, the present disclosure provides a dust seal structure for a vehicle, comprising a main body portion mounted on a rear wheel arch of the vehicle, a primary lip protruding from the main body portion towards a side door of the vehicle and rests on a door panel lower end, and a secondary lip protruding from the main body portion towards the side door of the vehicle and rests on a door cladding lower end.
[0016] In an aspect, the main body portion is metal reinforced seal.
[0017] In an aspect, the metal reinforced seal includes a steel strip co-extruded with a flexible material.
[0018] In an aspect, the flexible material can be any one or a combination of ethylene propylene diene monomer (EPDM) rubber, soft polyvinyl chloride

(soft PVC), thermoplastic olefin (TPO), thermoplastic elastomer (TPE) and thermoplastic vulcanizate (TPV)..
[0019] In an aspect, an upper end of the main body portion has a step section fixed between a rear wheel arch cladding and an outer side body .
[0020] In an aspect, a lower end of the main body portion has a mounting mould for establishing a positive connection with the rear wheel arch of the vehicle.
[0021] In an aspect, the positive connection is established behind a side sill cladding .
[0022] The dust seal structure for the vehicle proposed herein can be manufactured without incurring additional cost to the vehicle and avoids sealing structure sag. The proposed dust seal structure can be used for multiple purposes. The proposed dust seal structure is simple to manufacture and is light weight and cost effective as well.
[0023] To further understand the characteristics and technical contents of the present subject matter, a description relating thereto will be made regarding the accompanying drawings. However, the drawings are illustrative only but not used to limit the scope of the present subject matter.
[0024] Various objects, features, aspects, and advantages of the inventive subject matter will become more apparent from the following detailed description of preferred embodiments, along with the accompanying drawing figures in which like numerals represent like components.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0025] The illustrated embodiments of the subject matter will be best understood by reference to the drawings, wherein like parts are designated by like numerals throughout. The following description is intended only by way of

example, and simply illustrates certain selected embodiments of devices, systems, and methods that are consistent with the subject matter as claimed herein, wherein:
[0026] FIG.1A illustrates a rear wheel arch area of a vehicle in a side door closed condition, in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure;
[0027] FIG.1B illustrates a cross-sectional view of a dust seal structure along a section A-A shown in FIG.1A, in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure;
[0028] FIG.2A illustrates the rear wheel arch area of the vehicle in a side door open condition, in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure;
[0029] FIG.2B illustrates a cross-sectional view of the dust seal structure supported in a rear wheel arch cladding along a section B-B shown in FIG.2A, in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure; and
[0030] FIG.2C illustrates a cross-sectional view of the dust seal clip provided at a lower end of the dust seal structure along a section C-C shown in FIG.2A, in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure.
[0031] The figures depict embodiments of the present subject matter for illustration only. A person skilled in the art will easily recognize from the following description that alternative embodiments of the structures and methods illustrated herein may be employed without departing from the principles of the disclosure described herein.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
[0032] The following is a detailed description of embodiments of the disclosure depicted in the accompanying drawings. The embodiments are in

such detail as to clearly communicate the disclosure. However, the amount of detail offered is not intended to limit the anticipated variations of embodiments; on the contrary, the intention is to consider all modifications, equivalents, and alternatives falling within the spirit and scope of the present disclosure as defined by the appended claims.
[0033] As used in the description herein and throughout the claims that follow, the meaning of "a", "an", and "the" includes plural reference unless the context clearly dictates otherwise. Also, as used in the description herein, the meaning of "in" includes "in" and "on" unless the context clearly dictates otherwise.
[0034] The conventional sealing provision provided in a wheel arch sealing structure generally does not take care of two intrusion points such as a gap between a door panel and a wheel arch, and a gap between the lowermost point of a door cladding and the wheel arch. Various approaches to take care of the mentioned two intrusion points are proposed in the state of the art. One such approach provides a dust seal having one end with a bubble tube instead of a primary single lip to seal the gap between door panel and wheel arch, and having another end with an anti-falling, metal, reinforced. The bubble tube poses a problem of an extra force which is to be applied by a user while closing a side door of a vehicle. Also, since the dust seal sags down on repeated washing of the vehicle due to lack of positive mounting, the anti-falling, metal, reinforcement is supported with a holding clip, which may lead to bad appearance of the vehicle.
[0035] To overcome the issues related to the existing sealing provision, the present disclosure herein proposes a dust seal structure which enhances sealing capabilities of the dust seal between the rear wheel arch and the side door of the vehicle. The proposed dust sealing structure not only takes care of

the mentioned two intrusion points but also provides a positive mounting of the dust seal with the vehicle without compromising on vehicle aesthetics.
[0036] FIG. 1A shows a concerned area in which a dust seal structure (112; FIG. 1B) is assembled in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure during a closed condition of a side door 104 of the vehicle. The concerned area is a rear wheel arch area of the vehicle. The rear wheel arch area may include an outer panel of a side body 102 and the side door 104. The outer panel of the side body 102 includes a rear wheel arch cladding 106 and a side sill cladding 108. Further, the side door 104 includes a door cladding 110 at lower end of its outer panel 104-O (shown in FIG. 1B).
[0037] FIG. 1B illustrates a cross-sectional view of the dust seal structure 112 along a section A-A shown in FIG. 1A, in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure. The dust seal structure 112 includes a main body portion 112-B. The main body portion 112-B is mounted on the rear wheel arch area formed by joining the end edges of an inner panel 102-1 and an outer panel 102-O of the side body 102 of the vehicle.
[0038] In an aspect, the main body portion 112-B may be a metal reinforced seal. The metal reinforced seal includes a steel strip co-extruded with a flexible material. The flexible material can be selected from ethylene propylene diene monomer (EPDM) rubber, soft polyvinyl chloride (soft PVC), thermoplastic olefin (TPO), thermoplastic elastomer (TPE) and thermoplastic vulcanizate (TPV).
[0039] From the main body portion 112-B, a primary lip 112-P is protruding towards a side door inner panel 104-1 of the vehicle and rests on a lower end of the side door inner panel 104-1. Also, from the main body portion 112-B, a secondary lip 112-S is protruding towards the side door inner panel 104-1 of the vehicle and rests on a lower end of the door cladding 110.

[0040] In other words, during the closed condition of the side door 104, the primary lip 112-P comes in contact with the lower end of the side door inner panel 104-1 and the secondary lip 112-S comes in contact with the lower end of the door cladding 110. Because of such multiple contact points between the dust seal structure 112 and the side door inner panel 104-1, sufficient sealing force is achieved to avoid dust/mud and water entry through the gap between the side door inner panel 104-1 and the side body 102.
[0041] Further, although the dust seal structure 112 proposed herein is designed with only two lips, those skilled in the art can appreciate that one further lip can be provided between the primary lip 112-P and the secondary lip 112-S without deviating from the scope of the present disclosure. By having a plurality of lips in the dust seal structure 112, the sufficient sealing is ensured in all the possible tolerances of parts and assembly.
[0042] FIG. 2A illustrates the rear wheel arch area of the vehicle in an open condition of the side door 104, in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure. The dust seal structure 112 implemented in the rear wheel arch area has an extrusion profile which can have tendency to sag/dislocate during regular cleaning, vehicle driving, or during regular operation of side doors.
[0043] To avoid these issues, the main body portion 112-B of the dust seal structure 112 is supported at both the ends.
[0044] In an upper end of the main body portion 112-B, the primary lip 112-P and the secondary lip 112-S are notched and the main body portion 112-B is formed with a step section for being encased behind adjoining rear arch cladding 106. FIG. 2B shows a detailed section B-B of support shape provided within the rear arch cladding 106.

[0045] FIG. 2C shows a detailed section C-C of the clip mounting at a lower end of the dust seal structure 112, in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure.
[0046] Further, in the lower end of the main body portion 112-B, the extrusion profile of the dust seal structure 112 is end moulded to form a mounting mould 116 for establishing a positive connection with the rear wheel arch of the vehicle. The positive connection is established behind the side sill cladding 108 using a clip 118. This clip 118 is used for locating and to restrict movement of the dust seal structure 112. The clip 118 is very aesthetically covered by the side sill cladding 108 and thus would not be visible from outside the vehicle. The clip 118 is either made of plastic, metal or other materials.
[0047] The dust seal structure 112 proposed herein restricts water and mud entry from the wheel arch area of the side body 102 of the vehicle as well as overcomes the problem related to the sagging of the dust seal structure 112 on repeated washing of the vehicle and regular door operations. The proposed dust seal structure 112 can be manufactured without incurring additional cost to the vehicle. Further, the additional advantages of the present disclosure are listed herein below.
TECHNICAL ADVANTAGES
[0048] There is a plurality of features which are listed as technical advantages below:
[0049] The present disclosure provides the dust seal structure that avoids water and mud entry in the wheel arch area of the side body of the vehicle.
[0050] The present disclosure provides the dust seal structure having a plurality of lips that take care of the variation in tolerances in width and height tolerance issue between the door panel and the rear wheel arch area.

[0051] The present disclosure provides the clip that is covered by the side sill cladding and thus would not be visible from the vehicle outside and placing of the clip helps to establish a positive connection of the dust seal structure with the rear wheel arch without compromising in the aesthetically look of the vehicle.
[0052] The present disclosure provides the dust seal structure for the vehicle which is having simple design, light weight, and cost effective.
[0053] It should be noted that the description and figures merely illustrate the principles of the present subject matter. It should be appreciated by those skilled in the art that conception and specific embodiment disclosed may be readily utilized as a basis for modifying or designing other structures for carrying out the same purposes of the present subject matter.
[0054] It should also be appreciated by those skilled in the art that by devising various arrangements that, although not explicitly described or shown herein, embody the principles of the present subject matter. Furthermore, all examples recited herein are principally intended expressly to be for pedagogical purposes to aid the reader in understanding the principles of the present subject matter and the concepts contributed by the inventor(s) to furthering the art and are to be construed as being without limitation to such specifically recited examples and conditions. The novel features which are believed to be characteristic of the present subject matter, both as to its organization and method of operation, together with further objects and advantages will be better understood from the following description when considered in connection with the accompanying figures.


WE CLAIM:

1. A dust seal structure (112) for a vehicle, comprising
a main body portion (112-B) mounted on a rear wheel arch of the vehicle;
a primary lip (112-P) protruding from the main body portion (112-B) towards a side door (104) of the vehicle and rests on a door panel (104) lower end; and
a secondary lip (112-S) protruding from the main body portion (112-B) towards the side door (104) of the vehicle and rests on a door cladding (110) lower end.
2. The dust seal structure (112) as claimed in claim 1, wherein the main body portion (112-B) is metal reinforced seal.
3. The dust seal structure (112) as claimed in claim 1, wherein the metal reinforced seal includes a steel strip co-extruded with a flexible material.
4. The dust seal structure (112) as claimed in claim 3, wherein the flexible material is selected from ethylene propylene diene monomer (EPDM) rubber, soft polyvinyl chloride (soft PVC), thermoplastic olefin (TPO), thermoplastic elastomer (TPE) and thermoplastic vulcanizate (TPV).
5. The dust seal structure (112) as claimed in claim 1, wherein an upper end of the main body portion (112-B) has a step section fixed between a rear wheel arch cladding (106) and an outer side body (102-O).

6. The dust seal structure as claimed in claim 1, wherein a lower end of the main body portion (112-B) has a mounting mould for establishing a positive connection with the rear wheel arch of the vehicle.
7. The dust seal structure (112-B) as claimed in claim 1, wherein the positive connection is established behind a side sill cladding (108).