JP4495571B2 - Cable insertion structure in sunroof equipment - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a sunroof device for a vehicle.

  As a general sunroof device of a vehicle, a roof panel that is attached to an opening of a fixed roof, a slider that is connected to the roof panel and opens and closes by sliding, and a slider that is connected to the slider and operated by push-pull operation. There is a configuration including a cable for sliding a slider, a guide groove for the slider, and a guide rail in which a cable groove for inserting the cable is formed (see, for example, Patent Document 1).

One conventional example of a structure for inserting a cable into a cable groove is shown in FIG. (A) is side sectional explanatory drawing, (b) is an external appearance perspective view. An end portion of the pipe 53 that performs the guide function of the cable 52 is formed outside the guide rail 51, and one end side of the joint member 54 is fitted and fixed to the expanded portion by caulking or the like. The pipe 53 is attached to a predetermined frame (not shown) by a fastener 56, a bolt 57, etc. with the other end side of the joint member 54 being concentrically fitted in the cable groove 55 at the end face of the guide rail 51. By being fixed, the cable 52 is linearly inserted into the cable groove 55.
Utility Model Registration Gazette No. 2528547 (Page 2, Page 3, Figures 2-4)

  The cable groove 55 has an inner diameter dimension D that is slightly larger than the diameter of the cable 52 in order to smoothly guide the push-pull operation of the cable 52. Therefore, when the other end side of the joint member 54 is fitted into the cable groove 55, a structure is conventionally adopted in which the diameter around the end of the cable groove 55 is expanded and the joint member 54 is fitted into the expanded diameter part 58. It was. In the conventional structure in which the formation of the enlarged diameter portion 58 is essential, particularly when the guide rail 51 is formed of an extruded shape such as an aluminum alloy, it is necessary to cope with counterbore processing. The manufacturing process of the sunroof device tends to increase due to the required processing steps.

  The present invention was created to solve the above problems, and an object thereof is to provide a cable insertion structure in a sunroof device that does not require the formation of an enlarged diameter portion in a cable groove of a guide rail. Yes.

In order to solve the above-described problems, the present invention provides a roof panel that is attached to an opening of a fixed roof, a slider that is connected to the roof panel and that opens and closes the roof panel by sliding, and a slider that is connected to the slider. A cable for sliding the slider by a push-pull operation, a guide groove for the slider and a guide rail formed with a cable groove for inserting the cable, and a pipe for guiding the cable outside the guide rail. The sunroof apparatus includes a structure in which the cable is inserted into the cable groove via a joint member, the joint member being fitted at a position different from the cable groove in the guide rail, Centering the cable with the cable groove Has-decided Me means, the joint member is made of a configuration for sandwiching fixing one end around the pipe, the positioning means, coaxially one end with the cable groove of the pipe which is located inside of the joint member The cable insertion structure in the sunroof device is characterized by having a function of being positioned in a shape .

  According to this structure, the centering of the cable between the joint member and the cable groove is achieved by fitting the joint member at a position different from the cable groove on the guide rail. There is no need to form an enlarged diameter portion for fitting the.

  The cable in the sunroof apparatus is characterized in that the inner diameter dimension of the cable insertion passage formed in the joint member and facing the cable groove is the same as or smaller than the inner diameter dimension of the cable groove. The insertion structure is as follows.

  According to this structure, it is possible to prevent interference between the cable and the opening edge portion of the cable groove without requiring any edge processing on the guide rail.

  The guide rail is made of an extruded profile, and has a cable insertion structure in a sunroof device.

  According to this structure, the countersunk process is not required for forming the enlarged diameter portion for the guide rail of the extruded profile having a constant cross section, so that the manufacturing process of the sunroof device can be reduced.

  According to the present invention, when the cable is centered between the joint member and the cable groove, it is not necessary to form an enlarged diameter portion for fitting the joint member to the cable groove as in the prior art. When it is made of a material, it is possible to reduce the manufacturing process of the sunroof device because it does not require spot facing.

  First, a schematic structure of a sunroof device to which the present invention is applied will be described. FIG. 1 is a plan view of the sunroof device 1 (shown as a state in which the roof panel 4 is moved rearward), and FIG. 2 is an explanatory side view showing an opening / closing operation of the roof panel 4. The sunroof device 1 according to the present embodiment is an outer slide type. In FIG. 1, the sunroof device 1 includes a roof panel 4 that closes the opening 3 of the fixed roof 2 when closed and tilts up to move rearward outside the vehicle. The roof panel 4 is configured as a glass panel, for example. A pair of symmetrical guide rails 5 extending in the front-rear direction of the vehicle, and a front end portion and a rear end portion of the guide rail 5 are provided at the lower peripheral edge of the opening portion 3 and in the vehicle width direction. A front frame 6 and a rear frame 7 to be connected are arranged.

  Each guide rail 5 is provided with a tilt slide mechanism portion for performing a tilt function and a slide function of the roof panel 4, and as an example, as shown in FIG. Part slider 8 and rear slider 9), and a panel support stay 10 interposed between the roof panel 4 and the front slider 8 and rear slider 9. Cam grooves 8a and 9a are formed in the front slider 8 and the rear slider 9, respectively. Engagement pins 10a and 10b are formed in the panel support stay 10 to be engaged with the cam grooves 8a and 9a. The roof panel 4 is attached to the panel support stay 10 via the panel support bracket 11. Connected to the rear slider 9 is a cable 14 (not shown in FIG. 2, see FIG. 1, FIG. 5, etc.) that performs a push-pull operation by a drive source such as a motor M (FIG. 1). The rear slider 9 slides back and forth, and the front slider 8 also slides in conjunction with the panel support stay 10.

  FIG. 2A shows a state in which the roof panel 4 is fully closed. At this time, the front slider 8 and the rear slider 9 are at the most advanced position. From this state, when the rear slider 9 is slightly slid rearward via the cable 14 (FIG. 1), as shown in FIG. 5 (b), the panel support is supported by the relationship between the cam grooves 8a and 9a and the engaging pins 10a and 10b. The stay 10 is tilted rearward and the roof panel 4 is tilted up. In this state, the front slider 8 has not yet slid and the roof panel 4 has not slid. When the rear slider 9 is further slid rearward, the front slider 8 is also slid rearward by the intervention of the panel support stay 10, and the roof panel 4 is tilted up as shown in FIG. Slide to.

  Next, the cross-sectional shape of the guide rail 5 will be described. As shown in FIG. 3 (enlarged perspective view of the portion A in FIG. 1), the guide rail 5 is formed on the flat bottom portion in order from the opening 3 toward the cable 14 ( The cable groove 5A through which FIG. 5) is inserted, the guide groove 5B for guiding the slide of the front slider 8 (FIG. 2) and the rear slider 9 (FIG. 2), and the drain groove 5C for draining rainwater and the like are defined. It is made. A guide for an anchor slider (not shown) that is connected to the front slider 8 (FIG. 2) and assists in pushing up and retracting the roof panel 4 (FIG. 2) at the top of the cable groove 5A. A groove 5D is defined. The guide rail 5 is placed and fixed around the front end of the guide rail 5 to the end of the front frame 6. The guide rail 5 is made of, for example, an extruded shape of an aluminum alloy.

  Now, the present invention is FIG. 4 (appearance perspective view of the periphery of the guide rail 5 and the joint member 12), FIG. 5 (descriptive view showing the connection structure of the guide rail 5 and the joint member 12, (a) Side cross-sectional explanatory view, (b) (BB cross-sectional explanatory view in (a)) In the structure in which the cable 14 is inserted from the outside through the joint member 12 into the cable groove 5A, the joint member 12 is: The main feature is that it has positioning means 15 for fitting the cable 14 in the guide rail 5 at a position different from the cable groove 5A to center the cable 14 in the joint member 12 and the cable groove 5A.

  Reference numeral 13 shown in FIGS. 4 and 5A indicates a pipe that performs the guide function of the cable 14 outside the guide rail 5, and one end side is connected to the joint member 12, and the other end side is as shown in FIG. It extends to the periphery of the motor M. The pipe 13 is piped between the guide rail 5 side and the motor M side through a through hole (not shown) formed in the front frame 6. Reference numeral 16 in FIG. 1 denotes an idling pipe that accommodates each extra length when the cable 14 corresponding to each guide rail 5 is pulled, and each end thereof is fixed to an appropriate portion of the front frame 6. Is done.

  4 and 5, the end of one end of the pipe 13 is formed as a widened flange portion 13a, and an annular protrusion 13b is formed on the outer peripheral portion spaced a predetermined distance from the flange portion 13a. The The joint member 12 has a function of fixing one end side of the pipe 13 to the guide rail 5. In this embodiment, the joint member 12 is divided into two parts as shown in FIG. 4 and is composed of an upper block 12a and a lower block 12b. ing. On the surfaces of the upper block 12a and the lower block 12b facing each other, there are formed semicircular inner peripheral surface portions 12c for the pipe 13 that fit on the upper outer peripheral surface side and the lower outer peripheral surface side of the pipe 13, respectively. A semicircular inner circumferential surface portion 12d for the cable that serves as a guide for the cable 14 extending from the end edge is formed. Grooves 12e and 12f are formed in the pipe inner peripheral surface part 12c for accommodating the flange part 13a and the protruding part 13b of the pipe 13 so as to be positioned.

As shown in FIG. 5A, the inner diameter D ₀ of the cable inner peripheral surface portion 12d (corresponding to “the inner diameter of the cable insertion path facing the cable groove” in the claims) is the diameter d of the cable 14. The size is slightly larger and is the same as the inner diameter D of the cable groove 5A of the guide rail 5 or smaller than the inner diameter D. That is, it is configured to have a relationship of “d <D ₀ ≦ D”. If the inner diameter dimension D ₀ is larger than the inner diameter dimension D, the cable 14 may interfere with the opening edge portion of the cable groove 5A. 5 requires separate edge processing. On the other hand, if the inner diameter dimension D ₀ is the same as the inner diameter dimension D or smaller than the inner diameter dimension D, the cable 14 and the opening edge portion of the cable groove 5A are not required without any edge processing. Interference can be prevented.

In consideration of the manufacturing accuracy and mounting accuracy of the joint member 12, the specification in which the inner diameter dimension D ₀ is set smaller than the inner diameter dimension D is more desirable than the specification in which both are the same dimension. In this case, interference between the cable 14 and the opening edge portion of the joint member 12 becomes a problem this time, but for the edge processing (such as a tapered surface indicated by reference numeral 12g) in the joint member 12, the joint member 12 is described later, for example. Thus, in the case of being made of aluminum die cast, it can be formed at the same time as the joint member 12 is formed, and can be dealt with without requiring separate edge processing. Further, the relationship between the inner diameter dimension Dp and the inner diameter dimension D ₀ of the pipe 13 is “D ₀ ≦ Dp”. In this case, the inner diameter dimension D ₀ is made smaller than the inner diameter dimension Dp than the specification in which both are the same dimension. Is preferable. In that case, a curved surface as indicated by reference numeral 12h is formed on the joint member 12 side in order to prevent interference with the cable 14. The curved surface 12h can also be formed at the same time as the joint member 12 is formed.

  As described above, as shown in FIG. 4, the upper block 12 a and the lower block 12 b are fitted so that the one end side of the pipe 13 is sandwiched from above and below, and both are fastened and fixed by the screws 17. The pipe 13 is attached, and the movement of the pipe 13 in the axial direction is restricted by the engagement between the flange portion 13a and the protruding portion 13b and the groove portions 12e and 12f. The material of the joint member 12 is not particularly limited, but aluminum is preferable from the viewpoints of strength, lightness, and rust prevention, and using aluminum die casting is advantageous in terms of design flexibility and manufacturing cost.

  Next, the “positioning means 15 for fitting the cable 14 in the guide rail 5 at a position different from the cable groove 5A and centering the cable 14 in the joint member 12 and the cable groove 5A” will be described. Examples of the “position different from the cable groove 5A in the guide rail 5” include the guide groove 5B, the drainage groove 5C (FIG. 3), and the guide groove 5D. The joint member is preferably positioned closer to the cable groove 5A. 12 can be reduced in size. In the present embodiment, the position is the guide groove 5D. An anchor slider (not shown) that slides in the guide groove 5D is not positioned around the front end of the guide groove 5D and thus does not interfere with the positioning means 15.

  The guide groove 5D has a vertically long rectangular cross-section in which an opening around the center of one side is formed. On the upper block 12 a of the joint member 12, a fitting portion 18 that is inserted into the guide groove 5 </ b> D from the front end of the guide rail 5 is integrally formed. The shape of the fitting portion 18 may be any form as long as positioning in the 360-degree direction in the cross section, that is, positioning in the X-axis and Y-axis directions in FIG. . In the present embodiment, a rectangular cross-sectional shape that is substantially similar to the rectangular cross-section of the guide groove 5D is formed, and an upper rib 18a and a lower rib 18b are formed on the upper surface and the lower surface, respectively, along the extending direction of the guide groove 5D. In addition, a pair of protrusions 18c spaced from each other in the extending direction of the guide groove 5D are formed on both side surfaces.

  That is, the upper rib 18a and the lower rib 18b are in contact with the upper and lower surfaces of the guide rail 5 constituting the guide groove 5D, whereby the joint member 12 is positioned in the Y-axis direction, and the protrusion 18c is formed in the guide groove 5D. The joint member 12 is positioned in the X-axis direction by abutting against the side surface of the guide rail 5 constituting the above. Thus, if it is set as the aspect which positions by local protrusion parts, such as the upper rib 18a, the lower rib 18b, and the protrusion part 18c, when the joint member 12 is made from aluminum die-casting as mentioned above, The positioning accuracy of the joint member 12 with respect to the guide groove 5D can be easily increased only by fine adjustment of the dimension of the protruding portion.

  When the fitting portion 18 is inserted into the guide groove 5D, the axis of the insertion path of the cable 14 formed by the cable inner peripheral surface portion 12d is coaxial with the axis of the cable groove 5A of the guide rail 5. To position. That is, the cable 14 is centered between the joint member 12 and the cable groove 5A. Thereafter, the end surface of the joint member 12 is abutted against the end surface of the guide rail 5 as shown in FIG. 5A, and the joint member 12 is fastened to the front frame 6 (FIG. 1) with the screws 19 shown in FIG. By fixing, the attachment of the joint member 12 to the guide rail 5 is completed.

  As described above, the joint member 12 includes the positioning means 15 that is fitted at a position different from the cable groove 5A in the guide rail 5 and performs centering of the cable 14 in the joint member 12 and the cable groove 5A. For example, since the centering of the cable 14 between the joint member 12 and the cable groove 5A is achieved by fitting at a place other than the cable groove 5A, it is not necessary to form the conventional enlarged diameter portion 58 (FIG. 6). . In particular, when the guide rail 5 is formed of an extruded shape such as an aluminum alloy, the countersunk process for forming the enlarged diameter portion 58 is not required, so that the number of assembling steps of the sunroof device 1 can be reduced and the manufacturing cost can be reduced. Can be reduced.

Further, the inner diameter dimension (inner diameter dimension D ₀ ) of the cable insertion passage formed in the joint member 12 and facing the cable groove 5A is set to be equal to or smaller than the inner diameter dimension D of the cable groove 5A. By doing so, it is possible to prevent interference between the cable 14 and the opening edge portion of the cable groove 5 </ b> A without requiring any edge processing on the guide rail 5.

  The preferred embodiments of the present invention have been described above. In the present invention, any fitting manner of the fitting portion 18 may be used as long as the cross-sectional shape of the guide rail 5 is used as it is. In the present embodiment, the joint member 12 is divided into two parts in the vertical direction. However, it is possible to adopt a mode in which the joint member 12 is formed as a single unit and is fixed by pressing the pipe 13 against the front frame 6 (FIG. 1) from above. is there. In addition, the present invention is not limited to the layout, shape, number, and the like relating to each component, and can be appropriately modified without departing from the spirit thereof.

It is a top view of a sunroof device. It is side surface explanatory drawing which shows the opening / closing operation | movement of a roof panel. It is an expansion perspective view of the A section in FIG. It is the external appearance perspective view of the edge part of a guide rail, and a joint member. It is explanatory drawing which shows the connection structure of a guide rail and a joint member, (a) is side sectional explanatory drawing, (b) is BB sectional explanatory drawing in (a). It is explanatory drawing of the conventional structure which lets a cable penetrate in a cable groove, (a) is side sectional explanatory drawing, (b) is an external appearance perspective view.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Sunroof apparatus 2 Fixed roof 3 Opening part 4 Roof panel 5 Guide rail 5A Cable groove 12 Joint member 13 Pipe 14 Cable 15 Positioning means 18 Fitting part

Claims (3)

A roof panel mounted in an opening of a fixed roof, a slider connected to the roof panel and opening and closing the roof panel by sliding, and a cable connected to the slider and sliding the slider by push-pull operation And a guide rail formed with a guide groove for the slider and a cable groove through which the cable is inserted , and a pipe for guiding the cable outside the guide rail. Through the cable groove through,
The joint member has positioning means for fitting at a position different from the cable groove in the guide rail to center the cable in the joint member and the cable groove;
The joint member is configured to sandwich and fix one end side of the pipe,
The cable insertion structure in the sunroof device , wherein the positioning means has a function of coaxially positioning one end of the pipe located in the joint member and the cable groove .   The inner diameter dimension of the cable insertion path formed in the joint member and facing the cable groove is the same as the inner diameter dimension of the cable groove or smaller than the inner diameter dimension of the cable groove. Cable insertion structure for sunroof equipment.   The cable guide structure in the sunroof device according to claim 1, wherein the guide rail is made of an extruded shape member.

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