JP2002193052A - Power feeder system for slide door - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a power feeder system for a slide door without deteriorating its operability and without generating inferiority of contact, deterioration of workability, etc. SOLUTION: In this power feeder system for a slide door, either one of a plurality of female type connectors 30 provided with a plurality of contact terminals 36 or a plurality of male type connectors 50 provided with a plurality of contact terminals 56 is fixed to a car body side and the other is oppositely fixed to a slide door side, to bring the fellow contact terminals into contact for electric connection, when a slide door is closed. A freely extending/ contracting bellows-shaped seal member 60 abutting to either the other one of the female or male type connector with accompaniment of a sufficient deflection amount, when the slide door is completely closed, and surrounding the contact terminal 36, 56 is fixedly provided in either of the female or male type connector 30, 50.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a slide door in which a contact provided on a body of an automobile and a contact provided on a slide door are brought into contact with each other when the slide door is closed so that power can be supplied to equipment on the door. The present invention relates to a power supply device for use.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A conventional power supply device for a sliding door is disclosed in, for example, Japanese Patent No. 2763264.

In this connector, a female connector provided with a plurality of contact terminals is fixed to a vehicle body with screws, and a plurality of contact terminals which are in contact with and electrically connected to the contact terminals are provided. Also disclosed is an automobile power supply device in which a male connector is similarly fixed to the slide door side with a screw. Then, when the sliding door is closed, when the female connector and the male connector are fitted together, for the purpose of preventing infiltration of rainwater or the like into the above-mentioned electrically connected contact terminal portion, a foam rubber is used. Is adhered around the protrusion of the male connector and is interposed between the two connectors.

[0004]

However, in such a conventional power supply device, a sealing member made of foamed rubber is interposed between the female connector and the male connector. Depending on the attachment error, the repulsive force due to the collapse of the foam rubber seal member increases, thereby deteriorating the door closing performance of the slide door, or the handle operation force when opening the slide door (the force required to release the latch).
For example, there is a problem that the operability of the slide door deteriorates, and conversely, the sealability deteriorates.

[0005] Further, since the above-mentioned problem occurs even if the sticking position of the foamed rubber seal member is displaced or the like, the sticking of the foamed rubber seal member must be carefully performed at a correct position. In order to avoid such a problem, a supporting means for supporting at least one of the female connector and the male connector movably in the vertical and horizontal directions may be provided. However, the increase in the number of parts leads to an increase in cost. The problem exists.

An object of the present invention is to provide a power supply device for a sliding door which does not deteriorate the operability of the sliding door and does not cause a decrease in workability.

[0007]

In order to achieve the above object, a power supply device for a sliding door according to the present invention comprises a female connector provided with a plurality of contact terminals and a male connector provided with a plurality of contact terminals. One is fixed to the vehicle body side and the other is fixed to the slide door side so that the contact terminals are in contact with each other when the slide door is closed, and are electrically connected. In the power supply device, one of the female connector and the male connector abuts on the other of the female connector and the male connector with a sufficient amount of bending when the slide door is completely closed, and Surrounding the contact terminals,
A telescopic seal member is fixedly provided.

[0008] In a preferred embodiment of the present invention,
The sealing member has a bellows shape.

Further, a plurality of engagement holes are provided in one of the female connector and the male connector, and a plurality of engagement claws formed at one end of the seal member are provided in the plurality of engagement holes. It is preferable that the sealing member is fixedly provided by being inserted.

The free end of the seal member is at least near the half latch state of the slide door.
It is preferable to start contact with either the female connector or the male connector.

[0011]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

First, an outline of a power supply device for a sliding door according to the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2. FIG. FIG. 2 shows the manner of attachment of the connector, and the form is slightly different from that described in FIG. 3 and thereafter.

1 and 2, reference numeral 10 denotes a vehicle provided with a slide door 12, and an opening 14 is provided on a side surface of the vehicle body.
Are formed. A guide rail 16 is provided at a lower edge of the opening 14, and the guide bracket 1 provided at a lower end of the slide door 12 along the guide rail 16 is provided.
8 is slidably guided, and the sliding door 12 moves for opening and closing. The front side edge of the opening 14 is provided with a pillar panel 20 which is constituted by a pillar of a vehicle body and has a plane substantially perpendicular to the front-rear direction of the vehicle. The front end face 22 of the slide door 12 is also a plane substantially orthogonal to the front-rear direction of the vehicle, and the pillar panel 20 and the door front end face 22 have openings to which one of the connectors constituting the power supply device of the present invention is attached. 20A and 22A are formed.

The connector in the present embodiment is composed of a combination of a female connector 30 and a male connector 50, as shown in detail in FIG.

The female connector 30 basically includes a substantially hexagonal mounting substrate portion 32 having four chamfered corners and a concave portion 34 having a bottom surface inclined from the substrate portion 32. A plurality of contact terminals 36 are arranged in the recess 34. Here, the plurality of contact terminals 36 are connected to the male connector 5.
As will be described later in connection with 0, it is composed of a combination of fixed and movable contact terminals. At the upper and lower ends of the substrate 32, mounting holes 32A are formed. In addition,
The recessed portion 34 and the substrate portion 32 may be formed separately and joined together with an adhesive or the like, but it is desirable to integrally form the female connector 30 together with the terminal 36 using an insulating resin.

Next, the male connector 50 is provided with a substantially long hexagonal mounting board portion 52 also having four chamfered corners,
A plurality of contact terminals having a top surface inclined from 2 and having a raised portion 54, the plurality of contact terminals having a number and a positional relationship corresponding to the number of contact terminals 36 of the female connector 30. 56 are provided. At the upper and lower ends of the substrate 52, mounting holes 52A are formed. Further, a plurality of engagement holes 58 (in this embodiment, four at the left and right and one at the top and bottom in the present embodiment) are provided around the top surface of the raised portion 54.
) Are formed. It is desirable that the male connector 50 is also integrally formed with the mounting board portion 52 and the raised portion 54 with resin.

Here, a plurality of contacts in this embodiment are described.
Point terminals 36 and 56 are fixed respectively as described above.
And a combination of movable contact terminals.
An example of the combination will be described. Connection of female connector 30
In FIG. 3, the first to sixth terminals are connected in order from the top in FIG.
36 contact points₁, 36_Two, 36_Three, 36_Four, 36 _Five
And 36₆The contact end of the male connector 50
The terminal 56 is also used as the first to sixth contact terminals,
6₁, 56_Two, 56_Three, 56_Four, 56_FiveAnd 56₆Call
You. Here, in the present embodiment, the female connector 30 side
The second, third and sixth contact terminals 36_Two, 36_Three
And 36₆Are fixed, whereas the first, fourth and
And the fifth contact terminal 36₁, 36_FourAnd 36_FiveIs fixed
Movable with its end set one step higher in its free state
It is an expression. On the other hand, on the male connector 50 side, the fourth
Contact terminal 56_FourOnly the fixed type, the other first and second
Second, third, fifth and sixth contact terminals 56₁, 56_Two, 5
6_Three, 56_FiveAnd 56₆Is movable.

Here, a plurality of contact terminals are constituted by a combination of fixed and movable contact terminals, and the movable type is set one step higher than a device provided in a sliding door (for example, a door closure). This is to ensure a difference in power supply start timing between the power supply and the door lock actuator, or to use the switch as a slide door state (half latch or full latch state) detection switch. The half-latched state refers to a state in which the latch of the door lock is not completely engaged with the striker. When the door closure is operated from this state, the door is in a fully latched (fully closed) state.

Each of the above-mentioned movable contact terminals is
As is well known, a spring is urged in a protruding direction so as to be movable in the axial direction, and each can be independently moved in the axial direction.

Next, FIG. 5 is a sectional view showing a stretchable sealing member 60 according to the present invention. The sealing member 60 is formed into a bellows-like member by an elastic body made of rubber, resin, or the like. As described above, when the sliding door 12 is completely closed, the sliding door 12 is dimensioned so as to come into contact with the female connector 30 with a sufficient amount of bending. A plurality of engagement claws 62 are formed at one end of the bellows-shaped seal member 60 and are fixed to the engagement claws 62 in a state surrounding the contact terminals by being inserted into the plurality of engagement holes 58 described above. It is possible. As described above, the seal member 60 is positioned and fixed by simply inserting the engagement claw 62 into the engagement hole 58, so that the workability is significantly improved.

The assembling of the power supply device for a sliding door having the above configuration is performed as follows. First, female connector 3
0 is applied to the pillar panel 20 so that the lead wire or the like connected to the contact terminal 36 passes through the opening 20A of the pillar panel 20, and is fixed to the vehicle body side with the screw 80 through the mounting hole 32A of the mounting substrate 32. I do. On the other hand, the male connector 50 is applied to the slide door front end face 22 such that a lead wire or the like connected to the contact terminal 56 passes through the opening 22A of the slide door front end face 22 and the mounting hole of the mounting board part 52 is provided. It is fixed to the slide door 12 by screws 80 via 52A (see FIG. 2). After that, the sealing member 60 inserts the plurality of engaging claws 62 into the plurality of engaging claws 62 of the male connector 50, whereby the male connector 5
0 fixed.

After the slide door 12 is mounted on the vehicle, the door is adjusted for installation.
Some variation may occur in the dimension between the surfaces between the female connector 30 and the male connector 50.

However, even if the slide door 12 is closed in such a state, according to the embodiment of the present invention, the state of the slide door shown in FIG. When the closing proceeds near the half-latch state, the tip of the bellows-shaped seal member 60 abuts against the bottom surface of the concave portion 34 of the female connector 30, and the closing further proceeds.
When the slide door 12 is completely closed, the seal member 60 comes into contact with the female connector 30 with a sufficient amount of bending as shown in FIG.

FIG. 9 is a graph showing the reaction force P of the seal member when the slide door is closed in comparison with the conventional foamed rubber. The description will be made based on the inter-dimensions). In FIG. 9, point F on the horizontal axis is a fully closed (full latch) state position of the sliding door in design and point H is a half latch state position, and V is a variation in door installation. As can be seen from FIG.
When the door installation variation dimension V exists, the increase amount P ₀ ′ of the reaction force of the expandable and contractible seal member 60 of the present invention is compared with the increase amount P ₀ of the reaction force of the seal member of the conventional foamed rubber.
(P ₀ ′ <P ₀ ), and the use of the expandable and contractible seal member 60 of the present invention makes it possible to reduce the amount of increase in the reaction force of the seal member even when the door installation varies.

Further, according to the present embodiment, the sealing member 60 is in the vicinity of the half latch state,
0, so that the contact terminal portions 36, 56 of both connectors
Is sealed from an early stage to prevent rainwater or the like from entering the terminal contact portion.

In the above-described embodiment, the female connector 30 is provided on the pillar panel 20 on the vehicle body side, and the male connector 50 is provided on the front end face 22 of the slide door 12, but this is reversed. Alternatively, the male connector 50 may be provided on the pillar panel 20, and the female connector 30 may be provided on the front end surface of the slide door 12.

[0027]

As is apparent from the above description, according to the present invention, when the slide door is closed, the sealing member is provided with a sufficient amount of flexure when the slide door is completely closed. Since it is in contact with the other of the male connector and the male connector, the repulsive force is small, and the operability of the slide door is not deteriorated, and the sealing performance is not deteriorated. If the sealing member is a bellows-shaped sealing member, the above effect is more remarkable.

Further, a plurality of engagement holes are provided in one of the female connector and the male connector, and a plurality of engagement claws formed at one end of the seal member are inserted into the plurality of engagement holes. By fixing the seal member, it is possible to obtain a power supply device for a sliding door in which positioning is facilitated and workability is improved.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a side view of a sliding door type vehicle to which the present invention is applied.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing an attached state of a connector;
(A) and (B) correspond to A and B in FIG.
It is a figure from the arrow direction.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing an example of a female connector according to one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing an example of a male connector according to one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view showing an example of a bellows-shaped seal member according to one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view showing the power supply device according to the embodiment of the present invention in a door open state;

FIG. 7 is a cross-sectional view illustrating a door half-latched state of the power supply device according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a cross-sectional view showing a door full latch (fully closed) state of the power supply device according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 9 is a reaction force characteristic diagram showing how the reaction force P of the seal member changes when the slide door is closed.

[Explanation of symbols]

 Reference Signs List 30 female connector 50 male connector 58 engagement hole 60 seal member 62 engagement claw

Claims (4)

[Claims] At least one of a female connector provided with a plurality of contact terminals and a male connector provided with a plurality of contact terminals is fixed to a vehicle body, and the other is opposed to a slide door. And the contact terminal is brought into contact with each other when the slide door is closed to electrically connect the contact terminals, wherein one of the female connector and the male connector includes When fully closed, abuts against the other of the female connector and the male connector with a sufficient amount of bending, and
A power supply device for a sliding door, wherein a stretchable seal member surrounding the contact terminal is fixed. 2. The power supply device for a slide door according to claim 1, wherein the seal member has a bellows shape. 3. A plurality of engagement holes are provided in one of the female connector and the male connector, and a plurality of engagement claws formed at one end of the seal member are provided in the plurality of engagement holes. The power supply device for a slide door according to claim 1, wherein the seal member is fixedly provided by being inserted. 4. The seal member according to claim 1, wherein a free end of said seal member starts abutting on one of said female connector and male connector at least near a half latch state of said slide door. The power supply device for a sliding door according to any one of 1 to 3.