Recent Patents in Automotive Gull-Wing Door Hinge Mechanisms

In comparison with vertical hinge doors which they are attached at the front-facing edge of the door to the vehicle's pillars, gull-wing doors are hinged at the roof enabling the passenger to egress and ingress into the vehicle far easier. This is due to the increased area created by the upward motion of the door. By using the gull-wing doors, the need for extra space between parallel-parked cars also decreases. The use of gull-wing doors for vehicles is born out of its necessity rather than an innate desire to use this type of door feature. This could be for a variety of reasons. The most common reason being that the cooling ducts and radiators are found in the sills left and right of the vehicles doors, which is why gull-wing doors are used primarily in racing cars. The location of the ducts and radiators eliminate the use of conventional opening mechanisms and create the need for gull-wing doors. The door hinges act as a means of pivoting a door from an open and closed position, but must also withstand sufficient loads to protect passenger against injury during collision. In this paper, a review of various design possibilities for gull-wing door hinges specifically for automotive applications from available patents has been discussed and the advantage and disadvantage of each design highlighted.