JP7059748B2 - Cover mounting structure - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a mounting structure for a cover of a vehicle door latch device.

Conventionally, as a mounting structure of a cover of this type of vehicle door latch device, a base member that supports a lever for operating a latch that engages with a striker and a cover that is connected to the base member by a connecting portion having a claw portion. And, have been proposed (see, for example, Patent Document 1). When attaching the cover to the base member, the connecting portion of the cover is aligned with the guide surface of the base member, and the cover is moved with respect to the base member to engage the connecting portion of the cover with the guide surface of the base member. The claw portion of the connecting portion is guided to the guide surface with elastic deformation, and when the cover is further moved with respect to the base member, the claw portion gets over the guide surface and returns to the initial shape. As a result, the cover and the base member are connected.

Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2006-322197

In the cover mounting structure described above, by providing a plurality of claws on the cover, it is possible to prevent the cover attached to the base member from coming off, but the larger the number of claws provided on the cover, the worse the mountability. It ends up. Further, in the vehicle door latch device, since the mounting space is limited, it is often not possible to provide a sufficient number of claws at a position where a cover is required.

The main object of the cover mounting structure of the present invention is to provide a cover mounting structure that is easy to mount and difficult to remove.

The cover mounting structure of the present invention has adopted the following means in order to achieve the above-mentioned main object.

The mounting structure of the cover of the present invention is
It is a cover mounting structure that is mounted on the base member that supports the actuator of the vehicle door latch device.
The cover has a bottom plate portion, a side wall portion that stands up from the outer edge of the bottom plate portion, a claw portion provided on the side wall portion, and a claw portion that protrudes inward from the claw portion of the bottom plate portion in the same direction as the claw portion. Has a butt part and
The base member includes a fitted portion provided on the outer edge of the base member and fitted to the claw portion, and the claw of the abutting portion in a state where the claw portion is fitted to the fitted portion. It has an abutting portion provided so that the surface facing the portion abuts.
The gist is that.

In the cover mounting structure of the present invention, the cover is mounted on the base member that supports the actuator of the vehicle door latch device. The cover has a bottom plate portion, a side wall portion that stands up from the outer edge of the bottom plate portion, a claw portion provided on the side wall portion, and a butt portion that protrudes inward from the claw portion of the bottom plate portion in the same direction as the claw portion. Have. The base member is provided so that the fitted portion provided on the outer edge thereof and fitted to the claw portion abuts against the surface of the abutting portion facing the claw portion with the claw portion fitted to the fitted portion. It has an abutted portion that has been struck. As a result, even if a load acts on the cover in the direction in which the claw portion comes off, the load can be received by the abutted portion, so that the cover can be suppressed from being displaced and the cover can be made difficult to come off. As a result, the number of claws can be reduced, so that the attachability of the cover to the base member can be improved. As a result, it is possible to provide a cover mounting structure that is easy to mount and difficult to remove.

In such a mounting structure of the cover of the present invention, the cover may be made of a member softer than the base member. By doing so, the cover can be deformed and attached to the base member, and the attachability to the base member can be further improved.

Further, in the cover mounting structure of the present invention, the abutting portion may be a rib provided so that the side surface faces the claw portion. In this case, the cover reinforcing rib may be connected to the side surface of the rib opposite to the side surface facing the claw portion. In this way, the cover reinforcing rib can receive the load acting on the rib in the direction opposite to the direction toward the claw portion.

Further, in the cover mounting structure of the present invention, the base member may have a base reinforcing rib projecting toward the cover side, and the abutted portion may be the base reinforcing rib. In this way, it is not necessary to provide a dedicated rib on the base member.

Further, in the cover mounting structure of the present invention, the vehicle door latch device operates by operating the motor, the first lever that closes the latch that engages with the striker by the driving force of the motor, and the door handle. It has a second lever that cuts off the transmission of a driving force from the motor to the first lever, and the cover is formed so as to cover the first lever and the second lever, and is abutted against the first lever. The portion may be provided between the first lever and the second lever. Since such a vehicle door latch device is generally large in size and has a large limitation on the mounting space, it is often not possible to provide a claw portion at a required place. However, by adopting the cover mounting structure of the present invention, the cover can be firmly fixed to the base member with a small number of claws.

It is a schematic diagram of the vehicle door 10 on which the vehicle door latch device 20 is mounted. It is sectional drawing which shows the AA cross section of FIG. It is a front view and the side view of the door latch device 20 for a vehicle. It is a front view and the side view of the door latch device 20 for a vehicle. It is an external perspective view of a closer unit 40. It is an exploded perspective view of the closer unit 40. It is sectional drawing of the closer unit 40. It is a perspective view which looked at the worm wheel member 45 from the inner surface side. It is explanatory drawing explaining the operating state of a closer unit 40. It is an external perspective view of the closer unit 40 including the protector cover 60. It is an external perspective view of the protector cover 60. It is a top view of the closer unit 40 including the protector cover 60. 12 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line BB of FIG.

A mode for carrying out the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

1 is a schematic view of a vehicle door 10 equipped with a vehicle door latch device 20, FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view showing a cross section taken along the line AA of FIG. 1, and FIGS. 3 and 4 are views of the vehicle door latch device 20. It is a front view and a side view. 5 is an external perspective view of the closer unit 40, FIG. 6 is an exploded perspective view of the closer unit 40, and FIG. 7 is a cross-sectional view of the closer unit 40. Further, FIG. 8 is a perspective view of the worm wheel member 45 as viewed from the inner surface side. As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the vehicle door latch device 20 is arranged in a space defined by the outside panel 11 and the inside panel 12 of the vehicle door 10.

As shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, the vehicle door latch device 20 includes a latch unit 30, a closer unit 40, and a cancel unit 50. The latch unit 30 engages with a striker (not shown) fixed to the vehicle body to hold the vehicle door 10 in a half-door state (also referred to as "half-latch state") or a fully closed state (also referred to as "full latch state"). It is a thing. The latch unit 30 includes a body 31 for accommodating a latch mechanism (not shown) including a latch and a pole, and an open lever 32. The open lever 32 is linked to the inside door handle 13 via the cable 14 (see FIG. 1) and is linked to the outdoor side door handle (not shown) via a transmission member (not shown) such as a rod. The latch unit 30 is in a state where the door 10 for a vehicle can be opened by disengaging the engagement with the striker when the operating force is transmitted from any of the door handles to the open lever 32 (also referred to as an "open state"). And.

As shown in FIGS. 5 and 6, the closer unit 40 transmits the power of the motor 43 to the latch unit 30 (latch) to bring the vehicle door 10 from a half-door state (half-latch state) to a fully closed state (full-latch state). ). The closer unit 40 is a worm reducer that reduces and outputs the power of the body 41, the closer lever 42 linked to the latch via the cable 33 (see FIGS. 3 and 4), the motor 43, and the motor 43. 44 is provided with a planetary gear mechanism 46 that further decelerates the power output from the worm reducer 44 and outputs the power to the closer lever 42. In the present embodiment, the body 41 is made of a hard resin such as PBT resin, and the motor 43, the worm reducer 44, and the planetary gear mechanism 46 are housed in a sealed state by the body cover 48.

As shown in FIG. 7, the worm reducer 44 includes a worm (screw gear) 44a coaxially fixed to the rotation shaft of the motor 43, and a worm wheel member 45 having a worm wheel 44b that meshes with the worm 44a. As shown in FIG. 8, the worm wheel member 45 has a short and cylindrical outer cylinder portion 45a and a short and cylindrical inner cylinder portion 45b extending concentrically inside the outer cylinder portion 45a. A worm wheel 44b, which is an external tooth gear, is formed on the outer peripheral surface of the outer cylinder portion 45a. Further, the sun gear 46s of the planetary gear mechanism 46, which is an external tooth gear, is integrally formed on the outer peripheral surface of the inner cylinder portion 45b.

As shown in FIG. 7, the planetary gear mechanism 46 is composed of a sun gear 46s, which is an external tooth gear formed on the inner cylinder portion 45b of the worm wheel member 45, and an internal tooth gear formed on the inner peripheral surface of the ring gear member 47. It has a certain ring gear 46r, a plurality of pinion gears 46p that mesh with the sun gear 46s and the ring gear 46r, and a carrier 46c that holds the plurality of pinion gears 46p in a rotatable and revolving manner. A closer lever 42 is fixed to the carrier 46c, and the closer lever 42 rotates coaxially and integrally with the carrier 46c. In the planetary gear mechanism 46, as shown in FIG. 9A, the ring gear 46r is usually formed by meshing the external tooth gear 47g formed on the outer peripheral surface of the ring gear member 47 with the meshing piece 54 of the cancel unit 50 described later. It is fixed so that it cannot rotate, and the power input from the worm reducer 44 to the sun gear 46s is decelerated and output from the carrier 46c. As a result, the closer unit 40 operates the latch by the pulling operation of the cable 33 by the closer lever 42 to shift the latch unit 30 from the half latch state to the full latch state. That is, the closer unit 40 shifts the vehicle door 10 from the half-door state to the fully closed state.

The cancel unit 50 cuts off the transmission of power from the motor 43 to the closer lever 42 to cancel the transition from the half-latch state to the full-latch state. As shown in FIG. 6, the cancel unit 50 is brought close to and separated from the ring gear member 47 by the cancel lever 52 (see FIGS. 3 and 4) linked to the open lever 32 via the cable 34 and the body 41. (Slide) A meshing piece 54 that is supported as possible, a conversion member 53 that rotates coaxially and integrally with the cancel lever 52 and converts the rotation motion of the cancel lever 52 into a slide motion of the meshing piece 54, and a conversion member. It includes a torsion spring 55 provided on the rotation shaft 53a of the 53, and a stopper 56 that is abutted against the conversion member 53 by the urging force of the torsion spring 55.

The meshing piece 54 has a meshing tooth 54g formed in a sawtooth shape or a wedge shape, and a pin 54p protruding in parallel with the rotation shaft 53a of the conversion member 53. The conversion member 53 has a rotation shaft 53a to which the cancel lever 52 is fixed, and a guide groove 531 that engages with the pin 54p of the meshing piece 54. As shown in FIG. 9, the guide groove 531 has a first arc groove portion 531a formed in an arc shape centered on the rotation shaft 53a and an arc shape centered on the rotation shaft 53a. It has a second arc groove portion 531b having a radius smaller than that of the first arc groove portion 531a, and a communication groove portion 531c connecting the ends of the first arc groove portion 531a and the second arc groove portion 531b. As shown in FIG. 9A, the conversion member 53 is normally urged counterclockwise in the drawing by the torsion spring 55, and the pin 54p of the meshing piece 54 is the first arc of the guide groove 531. Engage in the groove 531a. As a result, the meshing piece 54 is pressed toward the ring gear member 47, and the meshing teeth 54g mesh with the external tooth gear 47g of the ring gear member 47 to fix the ring gear 47r so as not to rotate. That is, the closer unit 40 can transmit the power of the motor 43 to the closer lever 42 to shift the latch unit 30 from the half-latch state to the full-latch state.

Further, as described above, the cancel lever 52 is linked to the open lever 32 via the cable 34, and the open lever 32 is linked to the inside door handle 13 via the cable 14 and via a transmission member. It is linked with the outside door handle. Therefore, when the inside door handle 13 or the outside door handle is operated, the operating force is transmitted to the cancel lever 52 via the open lever 32 as shown in FIG. At this time, the cancel lever 52 rotates clockwise together with the conversion member 53 against the urging force of the torsion spring 55, and the pin 54p of the meshing piece 54 engages with the second arc groove portion 531b of the guide groove 531. It fits. As a result, as shown in FIG. 9B, the meshing piece 54 is separated from the ring gear member 47 and the meshing with the external tooth gear 47g of the ring gear member 47 is released. It becomes a state where it can rotate freely. As a result, the transmission of power from the motor 43 to the closer lever 42 is cut off, and the transition from the half-latch state to the full-latch state is cancelled. That is, if the inside door handle 13 or the outside door handle is operated by the operator during the transition from the half-latch state to the full-latch state by the closer unit 40, the shift to the full-latch state is canceled by the cancel unit 50. , The operator can immediately open the vehicle door 10.

Since the closer unit 40 rotates the closer lever 42 and operates the latch unit 30 (latch) by the pulling operation of the cable 33 by the closer lever 42, the motor 43 is required to output a relatively large torque. The body 41 rotatably supports the worm wheel member 44, the planetary gear mechanism 46, and the ring gear member 47, and receives a relatively large thrust load due to the torque output from the motor 43. In the present embodiment, as shown in FIG. 5, the body 41 has a reinforcing rib (butting) so as to surround the circumference of the cancel lever 52 between the support portion of the closer lever 42 and the support portion of the cancel lever 52. The contact rib 41r) is integrally provided, and has a structure that can withstand a relatively large load.

FIG. 10 is an external perspective view of the closer unit 40 including the protector cover 60, and FIG. 11 is an external perspective view of the protector cover 60. Further, FIG. 12 is a plan view of the closer unit 40 including the protector cover 60, and FIG. 13 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line BB of FIG. As shown in FIG. 10, a protector cover 60 is attached to the body 41 so as to cover the closer lever 42 and the cancel lever 52 on the surface opposite to the surface attached from the body cover 48. The protector cover 60 is made of a resin softer than the body 41 such as PP resin, and has a bottom plate portion 61 and a side wall portion 62 that rises from the outer edge of the bottom plate portion 61. The side wall portion 62 is provided with locking claws 63, 64, locking holes 65, and fitting claws 66 for attaching and fixing the protector cover 60 to the body 41. However, as shown in FIG. 2, since the vehicle door latch device 20 is arranged close to the end surface of the inside door panel 12, in order to prevent interference with the inside door panel 12, the side wall portion 62 of the protector cover 60 Of these, locking claws and fitting claws are not provided on the end face side of the inside door panel 12. In the present embodiment, the locking claws 63 and 64 are provided on the side wall portion 62 of the portion covering the closer lever 42, and are hooked on a locking groove (not shown) provided at a corresponding position on the outer edge of the body 41. The locking hole 65 is provided at a position close to the locking claw 65 of the side wall portion 62 of the portion covering the closer lever 42, and is inserted into a protrusion (not shown) provided at the corresponding position of the body 41. Further, the fitting claw 66 is provided on the side wall portion 62 of the portion covering the cancel lever 52, and is fitted to the fitting claw 41d provided at a corresponding position on the outer edge of the body 41.

As shown in FIG. 11, the bottom plate portion 61 of the protector cover 60 is provided with a butt rib 67 projecting in the same direction as the fitting claw 66. As shown in FIG. 13, the abutting rib 67 has a contact surface 67s facing the fitting claw 66, and when the protector cover 60 is attached to the body 41, the contact surface 67s protrudes from the body 41. It is designed to hit the abutting rib 41r. As a result, even if a load is applied to the cover 50 in the direction in which the fitting claw 66 is disengaged, the load can be received by the abutting rib 41r, so that the cover 50 is formed of a member softer than the body 41. Even so, it is possible to satisfactorily suppress the displacement of the cover 50 and make it difficult to disengage from the body 41. The bottom plate portion 61 of the protector cover 60 is provided with a plurality of (three) reinforcing ribs 68 that are vertically connected to the surface of the abutting rib 67 opposite to the contact surface 67s and extend in parallel with each other. Reinforcing ribs 69 having a lower protruding height than the abutting ribs 41r and being connected in a substantially triangular shape so as not to interfere with the abutting ribs 41r and the cancel lever 52 at both ends on the contact surface 67s side. The protector cover 60 has a structure capable of withstanding the load received by the abutting rib 67.

In the cover mounting structure of the embodiment described above, the protector cover 60 as a cover is mounted on the body 41 of the closer unit 40 so as to cover the closer lever 42. The protector cover 60 is fitted inside the bottom plate portion 61, the side wall portion 62 rising from the outer edge of the bottom plate portion 61, the fitting claw 66 provided on the side wall portion 62, and the fitting claw 66 of the bottom plate portion 61. It has an abutting rib 67 projecting in the same direction as the claw 66. The body 41 has a fitting groove 41d provided on the outer edge thereof and fitted to the fitting claw 66, and a fitting claw 66 of the abutting rib 67 in a state where the fitting claw 66 is fitted to the fitting groove 41d portion. It has an abutting rib 41r provided so that a surface facing the surface (contact surface 67s) abuts against the surface. As a result, even if a load is applied to the cover 50 in the direction in which the fitting claw 66 is disengaged, the load can be received by the abutting rib 41r, so that the cover 50 is satisfactorily displaced and the cover 50 is disengaged from the body 41. It can be difficult. As a result, the number of claws can be reduced, so that the attachability of the protector cover 60 to the body 41 can be improved. As a result, it is possible to provide a cover mounting structure that is easy to mount and difficult to remove.

Further, in the cover mounting structure of the embodiment, since the protector cover 60 is made of a member (PP resin or the like) softer than the body 41, the protector cover 60 can be deformed and mounted on the body 41. The mountability to the body 41 can be further improved.

Further, in the cover mounting structure of the embodiment, the abutting rib 67 is provided so that the contact surface 67s faces the fitting claw 66, and the reinforcing rib 68 is connected to the surface opposite to the contact surface 67s. Therefore, the load acting on the abutting rib 67 can be appropriately received by the reinforcing rib 68, and the durability of the protector cover 60 can be improved.

Further, in the cover mounting structure of the embodiment, since the abutting rib 41r provided on the body 41 also serves as a reinforcing rib for reinforcing the body 41, it is not necessary to provide a dedicated rib on the body 41. ..

Further, since the body 41 that supports the closer lever 42 and the cancel lever 52 has a large physique and a large restriction on the mounting space, it is often impossible to provide a claw portion at a position originally required for the cover 60. However, by adopting the cover mounting structure of the present embodiment, the protector cover 60 can be firmly fixed to the body 41 with a small number of claws (locking claws 63, 64, fitting claws 66).

In the embodiment, the protector cover 60 is provided with reinforcing ribs 68, 69 connected to the abutting ribs 67, but may not be provided with such reinforcing ribs 68, 69.

In the embodiment, the protector cover 60 is formed of a member softer than the body 41, but the protector cover 60 is not limited to this, and the protector cover 60 is formed of a member having the same hardness as the body 41. May be done.

In the embodiment, the cover mounting structure of the present invention is applied to the vehicle door latch device 20 including the closer unit 40 and the cancel unit 50, but the present invention is not limited to this, and the cancel unit 50 is not provided (ring gear). It may be applied to the vehicle door latch device 20 (where the member 47 is always fixed). Further, in the vehicle door latch device in which the cover mounting structure of the present invention is changed from the full latch state to the half latch state or the open state by disengaging the engagement between the pole and the latch by the power from the actuator (motor), the actuator is used. It may be applied to a cover attached to a body (base member) that supports. The body (base member) may support at least a part of the actuator of the vehicle door latch device.

The correspondence between the main elements of the embodiment and the main elements of the invention described in the column of means for solving the problem will be described. In the embodiment, the motor 43, the worm reducer 44, the planetary gear mechanism 46, and the closer lever 42 correspond to the "actuator", the protector cover 60 corresponds to the "cover", and the bottom plate portion 61 corresponds to the "bottom plate portion". The side wall portion 62 corresponds to the "side wall portion", the fitting claw 66 corresponds to the "claw portion", the abutting rib 67 corresponds to the "butting portion", and the body 41 corresponds to the "base member". The fitting groove 41d corresponds to the "fitted portion", the abutting surface 67s corresponds to the "surface facing the claw portion", and the abutting rib 41r corresponds to the "butting portion". Further, the reinforcing rib 68 corresponds to the “cover reinforcing rib”. Further, the abutted rib 41r corresponds to the "base reinforcing rib". Further, the motor 43 corresponds to the "motor", the closer lever 42 corresponds to the "first lever", and the cancel lever 52 corresponds to the "second lever".

As for the correspondence between the main elements of the embodiment and the main elements of the invention described in the column of means for solving the problem, the invention described in the column of means for solving the problem in the embodiment is carried out. Since it is an example for specifically explaining the mode for solving the problem, the elements of the invention described in the column of means for solving the problem are not limited. That is, the interpretation of the invention described in the column of means for solving the problem should be performed based on the description in the column, and the embodiment is the invention described in the column of means for solving the problem. It is just a concrete example.

Although the embodiments for carrying out the present invention have been described above with reference to the embodiments, the present invention is not limited to these embodiments and may be in various forms without departing from the gist of the present invention. Of course it can be done.

The present invention can be used in the manufacturing industry of vehicle door latch devices and the like.

10 vehicle doors, 11 outside door panels, 12 inside door panels, 13 inside door handles, 14 cables, 20 vehicle door latching devices, 30 latch units, 31 bodies, 32 open levers, 33,34 cables, 40 closer units, 41 bodies. , 41r abutting rib, 42 closer lever, 43 motor, 44 worm reducer, 44a worm, 44b worm wheel, 45 worm wheel member, 46 planetary gear mechanism, 46s sun gear, 46r ring gear, 46p pinion gear, 46c carrier, 47 ring gear Member, 47g external tooth gear, 48 body cover, 50 cancel unit, 52 cancel lever, 53 conversion member, 53d guide groove, 54 meshing piece, 54p pin, 54g meshing tooth, 55 torsion spring, 56 stopper, 60 cover, 61 bottom plate , 62 Side wall, 63,64 locking claw, 65 locking hole, 66 fitting claw, 67 abutment rib, 67s abutment surface, 68,69 reinforcing rib, 513 guide groove, 513a 1st arc groove, 531b first 2 Arc groove part, 513c communication groove part.

Claims (5)

It is a cover mounting structure that is mounted on the base member that supports the actuator of the vehicle door latch device.
The cover has a bottom plate portion, a side wall portion that stands up from the outer edge of the bottom plate portion, a claw portion provided on the side wall portion, and a claw portion that protrudes inward from the claw portion of the bottom plate portion in the same direction as the claw portion. Has a butt part and
The base member includes a fitted portion provided on the outer edge of the base member and fitted to the claw portion, and the claw of the abutting portion in a state where the claw portion is fitted to the fitted portion. It has an abutting part provided so that the surface facing the part abuts,
The abutting portion is a rib provided so that the side surface faces the claw portion.
A cover reinforcing rib is connected to the side surface of the rib opposite to the side surface facing the claw portion.
Cover mounting structure. The cover mounting structure according to claim 1.
The cover is made of a member that is softer than the base member.
Cover mounting structure. The cover mounting structure according to claim 1 or 2 .
The base member has a rib for reinforcing the base protruding toward the cover side.
The abutted portion is a rib for reinforcing the base.
Cover mounting structure. The cover mounting structure according to any one of claims 1 to 3 .
The vehicle door latch device has a motor, a first lever that closes a latch that engages with a striker by the driving force of the motor, and a driving force from the motor to the first lever that is operated by operating the door handle. Has a second lever, which blocks the transmission of
The cover is formed so as to cover the first lever and the second lever.
The abutting portion is provided between the first lever and the second lever.
Cover mounting structure. It is a cover mounting structure that is mounted on the base member that supports the actuator of the vehicle door latch device.
The cover has a bottom plate portion, a side wall portion that stands up from the outer edge of the bottom plate portion, a claw portion provided on the side wall portion, and a claw portion that protrudes inward from the claw portion of the bottom plate portion in the same direction as the claw portion. Has a butt part and
The base member includes a fitted portion provided on the outer edge of the base member and fitted to the claw portion, and the claw of the abutting portion in a state where the claw portion is fitted to the fitted portion. It has an abutting part provided so that the surface facing the part abuts,
The vehicle door latch device has a motor, a first lever that closes a latch that engages with a striker by the driving force of the motor, and a driving force from the motor to the first lever that is operated by operating the door handle. Has a second lever, which blocks the transmission of
The cover is formed so as to cover the first lever and the second lever.
The abutting portion is provided between the first lever and the second lever.
Cover mounting structure.

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