FR2805495A1 - Screen, e.g. sun blind for motor vehicle sun roof, has supporting ribs which separate from the screen when retracted - Google Patents

Abstract

The screen consists of a fabric panel (11) deployed from a roll (12) or pleats to cover a window or opening in a motor vehicle, e.g. a sun roof. The panel is supported by a series of ribs (15) with studs which engage with holes in the edges of the panel as it is deployed and separate from it when retracted. The ribs lie perpendicular to the direction in which the panel is deployed, and their ends run in guide rails (131, 132).

Description

Device for concealing a window and / or a bay of a vehicle, using whales, and corresponding vehicle.

The field of the invention is that of motor vehicles, and in particular vehicles having a large glass surface, particularly at the flag. More specifically, the invention relates to the concealment of such glazed surfaces, in particular to protect themselves from the sun's rays.

The current trend, in terms of motor vehicle, is to offer more and more glass surfaces. Thus, in particular, vehicles with a roof equipped with one or more glazed elements have been proposed. In some cases, the entire pavilion is made of glass or a similar material that lets in the sun's rays.

It has also been proposed multiple glazed surfaces, for example under the force of two or three elements, some of which may form sunroofs. In the same way, large glass surfaces can be provided on other parts of the vehicle, for example at the rear, especially when the vehicle is equipped with a tailgate.

It is easy to understand that it is then necessary to provide occultation means to protect the passenger compartment and its occupants from the sun. When the roof is equipped with a sunroof, it was thought to equip it with a rigid flap, which can slide in the roof. This solution could possibly be extended to the case where several glazed areas exist, provided that there is sufficient space in the roof to hide the flaps when they are not used to hide the corresponding glazed surface. Clearly, however, such a solution can not be considered when the pavilion is entirely, or essentially, glazed.

For reduced glass surfaces, and vertical or substantially vertical, such as the rear or side windows of the vehicle, is also known roller blinds, which can be deployed to protect the sun. It is unfortunately not possible to transpose this technique of the roller blind, and more generally of all types of blackout cloths, to a large, non-vertical surface, and moreover generally not flat, as are for example, current or future vehicle pavilions.

Indeed, if one developed horizontally a blind whose dimensions could be approximately 2 m in length, and 1.5 m in width, to hide a glazed flag, the painting "pocherait", that is to say to say that its lateral edges would approach slightly one from the other, which would provoke a hollow in the center of the canvas, folds or frownings, and / or yawn, under the effect of gravity. This would of course be unacceptable, as regards the simple visual and ergonomic aspect as for the effectiveness of the occultation, the light then being able to pass along the edges.

In addition, the pavilions of the vehicles are most often not flat but on the contrary curved or curved, at least in the direction of the length (in particular if the glass part extends towards the rear of the vehicle) and also sometimes in the direction of the width. Again, the deployment of a blackout canvas would be neither effective nor ergonomic or aesthetic.

The invention particularly aims to overcome these disadvantages of the state of the art.

More specifically, an object of the invention is to provide a device for concealing one or more glazed surfaces and / or bays in a motor vehicle, including the flag of the latter (or more generally on all surfaces having a significant inclination relative to the vertical), to obtain an effective concealment, well adjusted to the surface to be hidden, while being non-visible, or at the very least very discreet, when the occultation is not desired.

Another object of the invention is to provide such a concealment device which has a visual appearance of good quality, when deployed, in particular without "pocket" or other defects due to the effect of gravity.

The invention also aims to provide such a device occultation, which is ergonomic, that is to say on the one hand easy to handle, and on the other hand that does not cause any inconvenience to the occupants of the vehicle.

Another object of the invention is to provide such an occulting device, which allows, if necessary, to provide partial occlusion of the glass surface, if desired.

The invention also aims to provide such a shading device, whose size is as small as possible, especially when folded, so that it can be easily mounted in the vehicle.

Another object of the invention is to provide such a concealment device, which is simple and fast to mount in a vehicle.

Yet another object of the invention is to provide such a concealment device, which is inexpensive to produce and mount.

These objectives, as well as others that will appear later, are achieved by means of a device for concealing at least one window and / or at least one bay of a vehicle, implementing a movable shade cloth between a folded position and an extended position. According to the invention, the occultation device comprises at least one support and / or holding whale in a predetermined form of said fabric, when the latter is deployed.

Thus, it is possible to exploit the advantages associated with a flexible blanking cloth, without the disadvantages or problems due to the fact that a relatively large canvas is horizontally extended. The presence of whales (that is to say elements extending preferably substantially perpendicular to the direction of deployment and folding of the fabric, and placed in suitable places to support the fabric and prevent it from deforming under the effect of gravity), allows to print to the canvas the desired shape (for example following substantially the shape of the pavilion).

Advantageously, said one or more whales are separated from said fabric, at least when the latter is folded. Thus, the folding of the fabric is easy (undisturbed by the whales), and can be very compact. According to an advantageous aspect of the invention, the ends of the one or more whales circulate in guide rails. These rails can also carry a draw bar of the canvas.

Preferably, said fabric is mounted on a roller tube. The folding and deployment are then simple and effective. Other techniques can however be envisaged without departing from the scope of the invention, based for example on a suitable folding of the fabric.

According to a first advantageous embodiment of the invention, each of said whales has at least one first attachment element designed to cooperate with at least one second complementary attachment element associated with said fabric, during deployment, and detach when folding.

In particular, it can be provided that at least one end of each of said whales has at least one pin provided to register in a corresponding slot in the edge of said fabric, or vice versa.

More generally, any positive gripping means cooperating with a corresponding negative gripping means can be adapted, as well as any other suitable means of securing / detaching.

According to an advantageous aspect of the invention, said first attachment element, or said pin, also forms a guide element in a rail for holding and / or guiding the fabric and / or whales.

Advantageously, when they are detached from said fabric, said whales are stored in a magazine provided for this purpose in the vicinity of the folding zone of said fabric.

In this case, the occultation device preferably comprises means for successively bringing into contact with said fabric each of said whales, during deployment. Said means for bringing into contact may in particular comprise at least one ascent finger on which a restoring force is applied.

Advantageously, said magazine is formed in the same room as means for supporting a winding tube of said part. The same assembly may further comprise the guide rails, so that the complete device can be easily mounted before it is placed in the vehicle.

Preferably, the spacing between two successive whales remains substantially constant during deployment and refolding (except in the vicinity of the rest position of said whales).

According to another advantageous approach of the invention, said whales are connected to each other and to a draw bar of said fabric, so that the displacement of said draw bar during deployment of the fabric causes the progressive introduction of said whales .

Thus, it is advantageously provided that a first whale is connected to said pull bar and each of the other whales is connected to the previous one, with the aid of a flexible connecting element (such as a cable).

Advantageously, said whales have complementary shapes, at least at their ends, so that they can at least partially fit into each other in the folded position.

In particular, said whales may be designed so that they fit, at least partially, to form a nesting stack. The invention also relates to motor vehicles in themselves, comprising at least one occulting device as described above, and in particular motor vehicles in which said occultation device extends at least partially opposite the flag .

Other characteristics and advantages of the invention will emerge more clearly from the following description of various preferred embodiments of the invention, and from the appended drawings, among which - FIG. 1a presents a first embodiment of the invention. , illustrating the general principle of the latter; - Figure lb shows, in section, a folded blind according to the invention, when the ribs are integral with the fabric; FIG. 2 illustrates a variant of FIG. 1 in which the guide rails and the ribs are curved; - Figure 3 shows, in section, a first embodiment of whale detachable web; FIGS. 4a to 4e illustrate the principle of a mode of operation of the system of FIG. 3; FIGS. 5a and 5b show two variants of the guidance of the whales of FIGS. 2a to 2e; FIGS. 6a to 6d illustrate a second embodiment of whales independent of the fabric, in which the whales are connected to each other by flexible elements; - Figure 7 is an example of a profile adapted for the ends of whales, facilitating their stacking; - Figure 8 gives an example of whales made so that they can form a stack stack.

The general principle of the invention is therefore based on the implementation of a removable occlusion device for concealing when necessary a large surface of a vehicle. It may especially be a pavilion fully or largely glazed, a pavilion equipped with several windows and / or sunroofs, or a large tailgate and steeply inclined.

Indeed, as already mentioned, the deployment of a shade screen does not pose a problem when it is made vertically or substantially vertically, as is the case for side windows.

There is in general no problem either when the surface of the deployed fabric is relatively small, the tension applied to the fabric by the return means of the winding tube being sufficient for the fabric to remain flat. On the other hand, it is clear that this is not the case if one deploys such a canvas to hide the pavilion of an automobile. For this reason, the techniques currently proposed are based on rigid elements.

The solution proposed by the invention, as shown in Figure la, is to provide a number of whales, which support a canvas, when deployed.

The device illustrated in FIG. 1 therefore comprises a fabric 11 mounted, conventionally, on a winding tube of a roller blind. This can be equipped with the fabric reminder means, identical or similar to those found in conventional roller blinds, or be motorized.

Rails 131 and 132 define the trajectory of a draw bar 14, secured to the free end of the fabric.

According to the invention, the device further comprises whales 15, which are positioned under the deployed fabric, so as to support it and prevent it from being deformed, and that the lateral edges approach one another. These whales 15 are guided by the rails 131 and 132, as well as the draw bar 14. They are made in the form of a bar or a rod, sufficiently rigid to support the fabric. It can also be a more flexible element, such as a plastic element (or a cable) when the latter is sufficiently tight.

The number and spacing of the whales are chosen according to the characteristics of the web and its surface. Conventionally, in the case of a flag, a spacing of between 15 and 25 cm will be provided.

Although the illustrated system is a winding tube, it is clear that other ways of folding the fabric can be envisaged, such as a stack of successive layers. In the latter case, it can provide preformed folds on the fabric, facilitating folding and unfolding.

Figure la illustrates a simplified embodiment, wherein the fabric extends in a plane. It is clear, however, that this approach can be generalized to more complex shapes, adapted to current vehicles, as is illustrated in the example of Figure 2. In this example, it is expected that the rails 13, and 132 are notincurved to follow the profile of the pavilion. Note that according to this approach, it is easy to extend the rails to the rear window of the vehicle, and thus conceal simultaneously the flag and the rear window with the same blind.

The whales 15 and the draw bar 14 are also curved, always with the objective of following the flag.

Finally, it is possible that the guide rails 13, and 132 are not quite parallel. In this case, there will be provided means for automatically adjusting the length of the draw bar 14 and the ribs 15, for example by making them in the form of two elements slidable in one another. It will also be necessary, of course, to adapt the fabric, for example by giving it a trapezoidal shape or by limiting its width to the smallest width defined by the device.

According to a simplified embodiment, the ribs 15 are secured to the web 11. However, this approach has a disadvantage when the fabric is folded, as is very clearly apparent in the sectional view of Figure lb. Indeed, the whales prevent effective winding, and the folded set occupies a significant space, generally not available in the roof of a vehicle or in its vicinity.

In addition, the presence of these whales may deteriorate the canvas, or at least to mark it. These problems are even more important in the case where the whales are curved, as illustrated in Figure 2. The winding then takes the form of an elongated barrel.

According to an advantageous aspect of the invention, it has been provided that the ribs 15 are separated from the fabric 11, at least when the latter is folded. A first embodiment of this technique is illustrated by the sectional view of FIG.

In this figure 3, there is a portion 31 of the glazed roof of the vehicle, and a portion 32 of the vehicle interior lining. Between these two elements is mounted the device 30 of the invention.

This device is advantageously made in the form of a monobloc element, ready to be mounted in the vehicle. The armature of the device therefore comprises the rails 13 and 132, which extend through a magazine 302 whose use is discussed in more detail later, then by means 303 for supporting the winding tube 12. At the other end of the guide rails 13, and <B> 132, </ B> there can be provided an element 16 (see FIG. 1) keeping the distance between the two rails constant.

The occulting device 30 is secured to the vehicle, and for example to the lining 32, by means of a hook 304 cooperating with fastening means 34.

According to this advantageous aspect of the invention, the whales 15 are housed in a magazine 302, and thus not secured to the fabric Il, when the latter is folded (or not completely deployed). During deployment of the fabric, the whales 15 are automatically secured and successively to the fabric, for example according to the technique illustrated in Figures 4a to 4e.

In these figures, each whale comprises, at least one of its ends (but preferably at both ends) a finger, or pin, 41 which can cooperate with a light 42 formed for this purpose in the edge of the fabric (see Figure 5a) or in a guide band 51 deploying simultaneously with the fabric (see Figure 5b). When the whale is in the training zone 305 of the rail, it is secured to the fabric 11, and performs its role of support.

Advantageously, the finger 42 circulates in a housing 52 provided for this purpose in the rail. It thus ensures, in addition, a guiding function of the whale.

If the fabric 11 is being folded (arrow 43), the whale is directed towards the magazine 302 (arrow 44). It is then in the exhaust position of Figure 4b, wherein the finger 41 has disengaged from the light 42 and therefore the web 11. The latter continues to wind around the tube 12, regardless of the whale. Continuing the folding (43) of the web arrives the next whale 45, driven in the same way, as is illustrated in Figure 4c. Again, this whale 45 will be in the exhaust position, as shown in Figure 4d, and push the first whale into the store.

When deploying the canvas (arrow 46), the same mechanism is implemented in the other direction. The whales 45 are guided out of the store, to come together one after another to the canvas.

A finger 47 of the whale is provided to guide his last out of the store, so that they come automatically cling to the canvas. Reminder means (not shown) act on this rise.

Of course, other mechanisms can be implemented to ensure the same function. In particular, the shape of the store and the ends of the whales can be adapted. The means ensuring the recovery and hooking of these whales can be of any suitable type (motorized or not).

In addition, the attachment means can be reversed, the gripping fingers being provided on the fabric, and the lights (which will then be blind holes) being made on the whales, which facilitates their stacking. More generally, the fastening between the web, or the training band, and the whales may be of any suitable type (cooperation between or less a male coupling element and at least one female coupling element, device type to Velcro tape (trademark), magnet, <B> ... </ B>).

According to another embodiment of the invention, the whales may never be directly attached to the fabric, but simply deployed parallel to it, so as to support it. An exemplary embodiment in this sense is illustrated in Figures 6a to 6d in this case, each whale 61 is simply secured to the whale which precedes by a flexible element 62 (cable, chain, plastic element, ...) to at least one of its ends. The first whale 63 is in turn secured in the same way to the draw bar 64.

When the blind is in the folded position (Figure 6a) all the whales and the pull bar are in contact with each other (or close, or nested).

During the deployment of the fabric (arrow 65, FIG. 6b), the draft bar moves, causing on the one hand the fabric 11, and on the other hand the flexible link 62 connecting it to the bar 63.

When this flexible link 62 is stretched (FIG. 6c), it drives the whale 63, then progressively in the same way, the following whales. When folding the fabric (Figure 6d, arrow 66), the operation is symmetrical.

Other drive systems, not rods and / or cables, can of course be considered to ensure the deployment and folding of whales.

So as to reduce the overall size of the device, when the blind is in the folded position, it is advantageously provided that the whales, or at least the ends thereof, can fit at least partially into each other .

Thus, particularly in the case discussed with reference to FIGS. 4a to 4e, the whales will advantageously be configured so that the end has a housing 71 in which the pin 72 of the preceding whale is embedded, according to the principle illustrated in FIG. figure 7.

One can also advantageously provide that the ends of the whales are configured so as to fit integrally, or at least largely, in the others so as to form a stacking stack, for example according to the principle illustrated in FIG. .

Claims (19)

1. Device for occultation of at least one window and / or at least one bay of a vehicle, implementing an occulting screen (21) movable between a folded position and an extended position, characterized in that it comprises at least one whale (24) for supporting and / or maintaining in a predetermined form of said fabric, when the latter is deployed. 2. Device for concealment according to claim 1, characterized in that said one or more ribs are disengaged from said web (21), at least when the latter is folded. 3. occultation device according to any one of claims 1 and 2, characterized in that said one or more ribs (24) extend substantially perpendicularly to the axis of deployment of said fabric. 4. Device for concealment according to any one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that the ends of said one or more whales circulate in guide rails. 5. A concealment device according to any one of claims 1 to 4, characterized in that said fabric is mounted on a winding tube (22). 6. Device for concealment according to any one of claims 1 to 4, characterized in that each of said ribs (24) has at least one first attachment element provided to cooperate with at least one second complementary attachment element to said web (21), during deployment, and disengage during folding. 7. Device for concealment according to claim 6, characterized in that at least one end of each of said ribs (24) has at least one pin (24l) provided to register in a corresponding lumen (211) formed in the edge of said web (21), or vice versa 8. A concealment device according to any one of claims 6 and 7, characterized in that said first attachment element, or said pin (24l), also forms a guide element in a rail (25) for holding and / or guide the web (21) and / or whales (24). 9. Device for concealment according to any one of claims 2 to 8, characterized in that, when they are detached from said fabric (21), said ribs (24) are stored in a magazine (26) provided for this effect in the vicinity of the folding zone of said fabric. 10. Device for concealment according to claim 9, characterized in that it comprises means for successively bringing into contact with said web (21) each of said whales (24) during deployment. 11. Device for concealment according to claim 10, characterized in that said means for bringing into contact comprise at least one ascent finger (27), on which is applied a restoring force. 12. Device for concealment according to any one of claims 9 to 11, characterized in that said magazine (26) is formed in the same room as support means (23) of a winding tube (22) of said room. 13. Device for concealment according to any one of claims 1 to 12, characterized in that the spacing between two successive whales remains substantially constant during deployment and refolding (except in the vicinity of the rest position of said whales). 14. Device for concealment according to any one of claims 2 to 13, characterized in that said ribs are connected to each other and to a draw bar (41) of said web (21), so that the displacement of said draw bar during the deployment of the canvas causes the gradual introduction of said whales. 15. Device for concealment according to claim 14, characterized in that a first whale (24) is connected to said draw bar (41) and each of the other whales (24) is connected to the previous one, using a flexible connecting element (42). 16. Device for occultation according to any one of claims 2 to 13, characterized in that said whales (24) have complementary shapes, at least at their ends, so that they can at least partially s' fit into each other, in the folded position. 17. Occulting device according to claim 14, characterized in that said ribs (24) are interlocked so as to form a nesting stack. 18. Motor vehicle, characterized in that it comprises at least one occultation device according to any one of claims 1 to 17. 19. Motor vehicle according to claim 18, characterized in that said occulting device extends at least partially facing the flag.