JPH0719871Y2 - Sunroof slide mechanism - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION (Industrial Application Field) The present invention relates to a sunroof sliding mechanism for an automobile.

(Prior Art) In an automobile in which an opening is provided in the roof and the opening can be opened and closed by a sunroof, the sunroof is lifted up at a position where the roof opening is closed so that the sunroof does not interfere with the vehicle body when sliding. However, various slide mechanisms for sliding backward have been proposed.

The first conventional example shown in FIG. 15 is a fixed arm type in which the upper end portion of the support arm b is fixedly attached to the sunroof a, and the main body portion c is horizontally linear and the front end portion d faces downward. A guide f capable of moving in the curved front and rear roof rail e is provided at the lower end of the support arm b.

A second conventional example shown in FIG. 16 is an inverted T-shaped arm type known from Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 63-242720, and has a bracket g attached to the sunroof a and an inverted T-shaped support. A front guider i and a rear guider j, which are pivotally attached to the upper end of the arm b and are movable in the roof rail e, are provided on the lower side of the support arm b. According to this conventional example, the arm movement amount Ht in the vertical direction of the center point Q of the lower side (the center point between the two guides i and j) and the support arm b are undulated and rotated around the center point Q. The lift-up amount L can be obtained by the vertical displacement of the pivot point P (the pivot point of the support arm b with respect to the bracket g) thus obtained.

(Problems to be solved by the invention) However, in the first embodiment, the lift-up amount L of the sunroof a becomes the vertical arm movement amount Hk as it is, as shown in FIG. There is also a problem that the sink amount Sk of the front end portion d of the roof rail also becomes large, the ceiling in the passenger compartment becomes low, and the passenger compartment space is narrowed.

In the second conventional example, as shown in FIG. 16, when the support arm b is located on the main body c of the roof rail e, the line segment connecting the pivot point P with respect to the bracket g and the lower center point Q is substantially vertical. Therefore, even if the support arm b is turned up and down at the front end portion d, the vertical displacement of the pivot point P is small,
There is a problem that the contribution to the increase of the lift-up amount L is small. Also, as the lower part of the support arm is enlarged in the front-rear direction by the two front and rear guides, the front end of the roof rail must be extended to guide and support the front guide. The amount increases,
As a result, there is no great difference from the first conventional example. If the bending of the front end of the roof rail is increased, the amount of ups and downs of the support arm can be increased, and the amount of displacement can be increased to greatly contribute to the increase in the lift-up amount. The frictional resistance against the child becomes large, which causes a problem that it is difficult to smoothly open and close the sunroof.

In view of the above problems, it is a first object of the present invention to provide a sunroof slide mechanism capable of increasing the lift-up amount of the sunroof without increasing the sinking amount of the front end of the roof rail.

Further, in order to achieve the first object of the present invention, the pivot point of the support arm with respect to the bracket is offset from the center point between the two guides. A second object is to provide a sunroof slide structure that solves the problem of increased frictional resistance due to increased pressure contact force and that enables smooth movement of the sunroof.

(Means for Solving the Problems) In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, the present invention pivots the upper part of a support arm to a bracket attached to a sunroof, and the body part is substantially linear in the horizontal direction and has one end part. In a sunroof sliding mechanism in which two front and rear guides movable in a roof rail bent downward are provided in the lower part of the support arm, a pivot point of the support arm with respect to the bracket is a center point between the guides. It is characterized in that biasing means is provided between the bracket and the support arm, which is offset toward the end portion side of the roof rail, and biases the bracket and the support arm in a direction in which they deviate from each other.

(Operation) The operation of the present invention for the first purpose is as follows.

In the above configuration, by offsetting the pivot point to the end portion of the roof rail bent downward from the center point,
Since the line segment connecting the pivot point and the center point can be tilted in advance in the fall direction of the support arm, it is necessary to increase the vertical displacement of the pivot point when the support arm is raised and lowered at the end portion. You can Therefore, the lift-up amount can be increased even if the amount of sinking of the end portion of the roof rail and the size of its bending are the same. Further, since the position of the lower part of the support arm in the roof rail direction with respect to the pivot can be shifted in the direction opposite to the end portion by the offset, it is possible to avoid the extension of the roof rail end portion as in the second cited example. You can

As a result, it is possible to increase the lift-up amount of the sunroof without increasing the sink amount of the front end portion of the roof rail.

Next, the operation of the present invention for the second purpose will be described.

When the pivot point is offset to the one end side which is bent downward from the center point of the roof rail, as shown in FIG. 1, if the gravity W of the sunroof 3 acts directly on the pivot point P, the front of the roof rail 34 is assumed. Reaction force acting on the part guide 42
The reaction force w ₂ ′ acting on the w ₁ ′ rear guide is expressed by the following equations, respectively.

For example, w ₂ ′ becomes equal to W when a = b, w ₁ ′ is larger than W and becomes 2W when a = b. By the way second
When the pivot point P is located above the center point Q as in the conventional example, the reaction forces acting on the respective guides are both (W / 2). Compared with these, both w ₁ ′ and w ₂ ′ are Grows very large. As a result, merely by offsetting the pivot point P from the center point Q, the pressure contact force of the roof rails acting on the respective guides becomes large, so that the frictional force also becomes large and the smooth back and forth movement of the support arm occurs. A new problem arises that is easily damaged.

On the other hand, the present invention, as shown in FIG.
Since the urging means 39 is interposed between the support arm 35 and the support arm 35, the downward force W acting on the pivot point P to act the gravity W of the sunroof 3 on the support arm 35 and the support arm 35 are provided. FIG. 2 can be replaced with a combination with a moment M for rotating clockwise. In response to the force W and the moment M, the front guide 42 is pressed downward and the rear guide 42 is pressed upward to balance with the roof rail 34, respectively, and the front guide 42 has an upward reaction force w by the roof rail 34. Along with ₁ acting, a downward reaction force w ₂ acts on the rear guide 42.

Then, the front-rear dimension between the pivot point P and the front guider 42 is a,
When the dimension between the two guides 42, 42 is represented as b, the following formula is established.

W + w ₂ = w ₁ ... w ₁ × a = w ₂ (a + b) + M ..., and w ₁ and w ₂ are obtained from the following equation.

When the gravity W of the sunroof 3 is directly applied to the pivot point P without the biasing means 39, the reaction forces w ₁ ′ and w ₂ ′ acting on the guides 42 and 42 are as described above. Therefore, in comparison with these, in the case of the present invention, each reaction force
w ₁ and w ₂ can be reduced by (M / b) each, and the biasing means 39
The frictional resistance between the guide 42 and the roof rail 34 can be made smaller than that without the support arm 35.
It is possible to smoothly move back and forth. By increasing the moment M, the balance of the reaction forces w ₁ and w ₂ acting on the front and rear guides 42 can be improved.

(Embodiment) An embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 to 14.

As shown in FIG. 3, an opening 2 is provided substantially at the center in the front-rear direction of the vehicle body roof portion 1 so as to extend largely from the roof portion 1 toward both sides of the vehicle body. 3 is this opening 2
It is a glass sunroof that opens and closes. A frame-shaped roof housing 4 is attached to the peripheral portion of the opening 2. Both sides of the roof housing 4 are assembled to a roof side rail 5 via a retainer 6 having an inverted L-shaped cross section. The front slide mechanism of the sunroof 3 is previously incorporated in the roof housing 4 to form an assembly.

Rail portions 7 are arranged on both side edges of the roof housing 4. The rail 7 is made of extruded aluminum and has bolts 8
The nut 9 and the side edge portion of the housing 4 fasten the retainer 6 together. The rail portion 7 and the bolt holes of the side edge portions are formed as long holes in the vehicle width direction, and the position of the roof side rail 5 in the vehicle width direction can be adjusted when the housing is assembled.

The rail portion 7 includes a front rail main body portion 11a for guiding and supporting a front arm 10 for supporting the front portion of the sunroof 3, and a drive rail 13 for guiding and supporting a slider 12 for moving the front arm 10 back and forth. And are integrally molded. As shown in FIGS. 2 to 4, the front end portion 11b of the front rail 11 which is bent downward is a substantially linear body of a rail member having a U-shaped cross section, which is a member different from the rail portion 7. It is formed by smoothly connecting to the portion 11a.

As shown in FIGS. 5 to 7, the front arm 10 has a vertically long plate shape, has a bolt hole 14 for mounting the sunroof 3 at the upper end, and has the front rail on the outer surface of the cabin at the lower end. A shoe 15 made of synthetic resin slidable inside 11 is rotatably attached by a pin 28. still,
As shown in FIG. 8, the front arm 10 is attached to the sunroof 3 via a curved holder 16 fastened in the bolt hole 14, and a place where the holder 16 is attached is covered with a holder cover 17. It is being appreciated.

On the other hand, the slider 12 has a substantially rectangular parallelepiped shape and has a guide piece 18 hanging from the upper edge of the inner periphery of the drive rail 13 on the upper surface thereof.
A concave groove 19 into which (see FIG. 8) is fitted is formed.
A groove 21 is formed on the side surface of the slider 12 in the vehicle compartment, into which a guide piece 20 protruding from the lower edge of the inner periphery of the drive rail 13 to the outside of the vehicle compartment is fitted. At the lower end of the slider 12,
A front end portion of a push-pull toothed cable 22 for moving the slider 12 back and forth along the drive rail 13 is connected and fixed. An insertion hole 23 for the toothed cable 22 is integrally formed in a portion of the rail portion 7 below the drive rail 13. The drive source of the toothed cable 22 is a motor 24 (see FIG. 3) installed in the rear portion of the opening portion 2 of the rail portion 7.

The front arm 10 and the slider 12 are connected by a link 25 in the front-rear direction. The rear end of the link 25 is pivotally supported on the slider 12 by a pin 27 in a state of being sandwiched between the slider 12 and an auxiliary member 26 integrated with the outer surface of the passenger compartment. The front end of the link 25 is the front arm 10
Is pivotally supported by a pin 28 at the lower end of the. The pin 28 also serves as a support for the shoe 15.

In FIG. 8, 29 is a heat insulating cover member for covering the upper surface of the rail portion 7, 30 is a roof side panel, 31 is a positioning clamp attached to the roof side panel 30, and the rail portion 7 is used when the housing is assembled. It is used for positioning the roof housing 4 with respect to the roof side panel 30 in the vehicle width direction by abutting on the outer surface of the vehicle compartment. 32 is the opening 2
Is a weather strip attached to the periphery of the.

Next, regarding the rear slide mechanism of the sunroof 3,
A description will be given with reference to FIGS. 9 and 14.

As shown in FIG. 9, two recesses 33 are formed in the front-rear direction on the rear side of the opening 2 of the roof part 1 in the front-rear direction.
A rear rail (roof rail) 34 having a substantially U-shaped cross section is attached to the. A main body portion 34a of the rear rail 34 has a substantially linear shape, and a front end portion (one end portion) 34b thereof is bent downward. In FIG. 9, reference numeral 44 denotes the recess 33 and the rear rail 34 of the roof portion 1.
It is a garnish that covers the rear end face and smoothly connects the reference surface of the roof portion 1 and the outer surface of the back door (not shown).

A rear arm (support arm) 35 guided and supported by the rear rail 34 is shown in FIGS. 1, 2, and 10 to 10.
As shown in FIG. 12, the bracket 36 is fastened to the rear portion of the sunroof 3 by a pivot 37. The bracket 36 is provided with a bolt hole 38 for fastening. pivot
37 is equipped with a torsion spring (biasing means) 39,
Bracket 36 and rear arm 35 that extend rearward with respect to 37
And are urged in a direction to deviate from each other. Rear arm 35
A stopper 41 is provided on one side of the bracket 36 to prevent the bracket 36 and the rear arm 35 from being separated from each other by a contact angle 40 provided on one side of the bracket 36 by a predetermined rotation angle or more. . The abutment portion 40 and the stopper 41 prevent the bracket 36 from standing up relative to the rear arm 35 more than necessary and hindering the assembly work of the sunroof 3.

The rear arm 35 is a pivotal support portion 35a that pivotally supports the bracket 36.
And an arm portion 35b. A shoe (guider) 42 fitted in the rear rail 34 is provided on the lower side of the arm portion 35b.
Are attached to the front and back. The shoe 42 is made of synthetic resin and is rotatably attached by a pin 43. An elastic protrusion 42a is formed on a side portion of the shoe 42 so as to elastically contact the side wall surface of the rear rail 34 to regulate the position of the rear arm 35.

As shown in FIG. 1, the rear arm 35 offsets the front and rear positions of the pivot 37 (pivot point P) forward of the center point Q between the shoes 42, 42. Gravity W of sunroof 3
Is added to the bracket 36 as shown by the phantom line in FIG. 1, but since the bracket 36 and the rear arm 35 are pivotally attached and a torsion spring 39 is interposed therebetween, the gravity W with respect to the rear arm 35 is provided. The action can be replaced with a combination of a downward force W acting on the pivot point P and a moment M for rotating the rear arm 35 clockwise in FIG. For such forces W and moments M, the front side of the shoe 42 is a shoe 42 of the rear downward attached to upwardly respectively rear rails 34 balance, the reaction force w ₁ upward by rear rails 34 on the front side of the shoe 42 And a downward reaction force w ₂ acts on the rear shoe 42.

When the front-rear dimension between the pivot point P and the front shoe 42 is represented by a and the dimension between the shoes 42, 42 is represented by b, the following equation is established.

W + w ₂ = w ₁ ... w ₁ × a = w ₂ (a + b) + M ..., and w ₁ and w ₂ are obtained from the following equation.

It should be noted that the gravity W of the sunroof 3 does not have the torsion spring 39.
When is directly applied to the pivot point P, the reaction forces w ₁ ′ and w ₂ ′ acting on the shoes 42, 42 are Therefore, in comparison with these, in the case of this embodiment, each reaction force
w ₁ and w ₂ can be reduced by (M / b) each, and shoes 42 and rear rails are compared to those without torsion spring 39.
It is possible to reduce the frictional resistance between the rear arm 35 and the rear arm 35 and smoothly move the rear arm 35 back and forth. By increasing the moment M, the balance between the reaction forces w ₁ and w ₂ acting on the front and rear shoes 42 can be improved.

The operation of the sunroof slide mechanism configured as described above will be described.

When the opening 2 of the vehicle body roof portion 1 is closed by the sunroof 3 as shown by the solid line in FIG. 14, the front arm 10 of the sunroof 3 is in the position indicated by A in FIG. The shoe 15 of the front arm 10 is the front end 11 of the front rail 11.
It is at the lowest position of b, lower than the slider 12 and in front of it. At this time, the front arm 10 and the slider
The link 25 connecting 12 and 12 is inclined (phantom line in FIG. 4).

When the toothed cable 22 is driven rearward by the motor 24, the slider 12 moves rearward in the drive rail 13 and pulls the front arm 10 rearward via the link 25. The front arm 10 can be lifted up while sliding the sunroof 3 rearward by moving to the position B shown by the solid line in FIG. 4 as the shoe 15 is pulled up along the slope of the front end 11b.

At this time, the slider 12 is moved substantially linearly rearward by the drive rail 13 and the insertion path of the toothed cable 22 is also maintained in a substantially linear state, so that a large resistance due to the bending of the toothed cable 22 is generated. Absent. Therefore, the front portion of the sunroof 3 can be smoothly lifted up without increasing the output of the motor 24.

On the other hand, in the rear portion of the sunroof 3, the rear arm 35 is in the position indicated by A in FIG. 13 when the opening 2 is closed. At this time, the shoes 42, 42 of the rear arm 35 are located inside the inclined front end portion 34b of the rear rail 34, and the rear arm 35 is lying forward.

From this state, when the rear arm 35 moves rearward to the position B shown by the solid line in FIG. 13 according to the rearward sliding of the sunroof 3, the shoes 42, 42 on the front and rear of the rear arm 35 are moved to the rear rail 34.
In response to being pulled up along the front end portion 34b of the rear arm 35, the rear arm 35 moves upward and gradually stands up from the lying posture to lift up the rear portion of the sunroof 3.

At this time, as shown in FIG. 1, the lift-up amount L of the sunroof 3 is, as described in the operation section,
Arm movement H in the vertical direction of the center point Q between 2 and 42
Is added to the vertical displacement of the pivot point P due to the standing of the rear arm 35. That is, according to this embodiment,
Since the lift-up amount L of the sunroof 3 can be increased without increasing the sinking amount S of the roof rail front end portion 34b, the ceiling of the passenger compartment can be set high and the passenger compartment space can be expanded.

In this way, the sunroof 3 is lifted up at the front portion and the rear portion, and then slides backward to the position shown by the phantom line in FIG. 14 in accordance with the rearward movement of the slider 12 at the front portion, and the roof opening portion. 2 can be opened.

Next, the operation of closing the roof opening 2 will be described.

When the toothed cable 22 is reversely driven forward by the motor 24, the front arm 10 moves forward along the main body portion 11a of the front rail 11 to slide the sunroof 3 forward. The rear arm 35 follows the main body 34a of the rear rail 34.

When the shoe 15 of the front arm 10 enters the front end portion 11a of the front rail 11, as the front arm 10 is pushed forward by the slider 12 via the link 25, the shoe 15 of the front arm 10 is It is pushed down by receiving a component force in a diagonally downward direction along the front end portion 11a. Therefore the sunroof 3
Is pressed against the weather strip 32 by the above-mentioned component force, so that the roof opening 2 can be reliably closed and closed.

On the other hand, in the rear portion of the sunroof 3, when the rear arm 35 moves forward along the main body portion 34a of the rear rail 34 and enters the front end portion 34b, the rear arm 35 moves downward and the front and rear shoes are attached.
42, 42 can be laid down forward and the pivot 37 can be pulled down to reliably close the rear portion of the sunroof 3.

The present invention can be constructed in various modes other than the above-mentioned embodiments.

For example, in the above-described embodiment, the guide is composed of shoes, but it can be composed of rollers or the like. Of course, the shape of the support arm and the offset amount of the pivot point are not limited to those shown in the above embodiment.

(Effects of the Invention) Since the present invention has the above-described configuration and operation, the lift-up amount can be increased without increasing the sinking amount of the front end of the roof rail by offsetting the pivot point forward from the center point. The vehicle interior space can be expanded.

Further, an increase in frictional resistance between the guide and the roof rail due to the offset can be reduced, and the support arm can be smoothly moved back and forth.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is an operation explanatory view showing a force balance of an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is an operation explanatory view showing a lift-up amount thereof, FIG. 3 is an exploded perspective view showing an entire structure, and FIG. 4 is a front view. Side views of the slide mechanism, FIGS. 5 to 7 show the main parts of the front slide mechanism, and FIG. 5 is its front view and FIG.
Figure is its plan view, Figure 7 is its right side view, and Figure 8 is its fourth view.
FIG. 8 is a sectional view taken along the line VIII-VIII, FIG. 9 is an exploded perspective view showing an arrangement state of a roof rail in a rear portion of an opening of a roof portion, and FIGS. 10 to 12 are main portions of a sunroof sliding mechanism in the present embodiment. Fig. 10 shows its perspective view,
11 is a plan view thereof, FIG. 12 is a right side view thereof, FIG. 13 is a side view of the sliding mechanism, FIG. 14 is a perspective view showing an opening / closing operation of a sunroof, and FIG. 15 is an operation of the first conventional example. Explanatory drawing, 16th
The figure is an explanatory view of the operation of the second conventional example. 3 …… Sunroof 34 …… Roof rail 34a …… Main body 34b …… One end 35 …… Support arm 36 …… Bracket 39 …… Biasing means 42 …… Guidator P …… Pivot point Q …… Center point

 ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (72) Inventor Chikako Oba 2-1-1 Asahi-machi, Kariya city, Aichi Prefecture Aisin Seiki Co., Ltd. (56) References: SHO 64-37726 (JP, U) 3-33714 (JP, U) Actually open 3-33715 (JP, U)

Claims (1)

[Scope of utility model registration request] 1. A front and rear two brackets, each of which has a support arm pivotally attached to a bracket attached to a sunroof, and is movable in a roof rail whose main body is substantially linear in a horizontal direction and whose one end is bent downward. In a sunroof sliding mechanism in which a guide is provided at a lower portion of the support arm, a pivotal fulcrum of the support arm with respect to the bracket is offset toward a side of the roof rail from a center point between the guides, and A sliding mechanism for a sunroof, characterized in that an urging means for urging the bracket and the support arm in a direction separating them from each other is provided.