Patent ID: 8667646

Claim:
A magnetic bumper apparatus for constraining a vehicle closure to a vehicle closure interface, the magnetic bumper apparatus comprising: a first magnetic member attached to one of a vehicle closure and a vehicle closure interface and defining a first plurality of spatially modulated magnetic field (SMMF) producing elements in a first pattern; a second magnetic member attached to the other of the vehicle closure and the vehicle closure interface and defining a second plurality of spatially modulated magnetic field (SMMF) producing elements in a second pattern; wherein: the first and second patterns are arranged such that each one of the first plurality of SMMF producing elements corresponds to a respective one of the second plurality of SMMF producing elements to form a corresponding pair of SMMF producing elements, the first and second patterns defining a plurality of corresponding pairs of SMMF producing elements; the first and second patterns are arranged such that concurrently at least one of the plurality of corresponding pairs of SMMF producing elements is magnetically attractive when at least another of the plurality of corresponding pairs of SMMF producing elements is magnetically repulsive; the first and second magnetic members in magnetic proximity to each other generate a cumulative SMMF attractive force and a cumulative SMMF repulsive force determined by the at least one of the plurality of corresponding pairs of SMMF producing elements which is magnetically attractive in combination with the at least another of the plurality of corresponding pairs of SMMF producing elements which is magnetically repulsive; the cumulative SMMF attractive force and the cumulative SMMF repulsive force at magnetic equilibrium define a separation reference, an alignment reference, and an equilibrium distance relative to the first and second magnetic member such that at magnetic equilibrium the first and second magnetic members are not in contact and are separated by the equilibrium distance; and the first magnetic member and the second magnetic member in magnetic proximity to each other constrain the vehicle closure to the vehicle closure interface with respect to the separation reference and the alignment reference.