JPH03172488A - Wire sag absorbing mechanism for window regulator - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To absorb the sag of a wire for a window regulator by providing a torsion coil spring, formed of a rotatable wire part and arm parts brought into contact with the wire in the tangential direction, in the vicinity of the shaft of a wire drum. CONSTITUTION:A sag absorbing mechanism is formed of a guide rail 1, a carrier plate 2, an upper and a lower rollers 3, 4, a motor 7, a wire drum 8, and the like, and a first wire 5 and a second wire 6 are stretched to form a closed loop. The wire drum 8 is provided with a torsion coil spring 12 formed of a rotatable coil part 12a and two arm parts 13, 14 brought into elastic contact with a wire extended in the tangential direction of the wire drum 8. When the first wire 5 is sagged, the second wire 6 presses the arm part 13 to rotate the torsion coil spring 12 downward, thus absorbing the sag. The sag can be thus absorbed utilizing the torque of the spring.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to a mechanism for absorbing slack in a wire for a window regulator. More specifically, the present invention relates to a mechanism for absorbing slack in a wire in a wire-driven window regulator used to raise and lower the window glass of an automobile or a building.

[Conventional technology]

A typical wire-driven window regulator includes a guide rail for guiding the raising and lowering of a window glass, and a wire for transmitting the raising and lowering operation force.

The wire extends tangentially from the wire drum that winds it up and sends it out, and in opposite directions to the rising side and the falling side of the window glass, and is oriented by guide members such as two rollers installed at both ends of the guide rail. It is turned around and is further secured to a carrier plate which is attached to the window pane and slides on a guide rail, thereby forming a substantially closed loop.

Although such wires are taken out of slack and provided with a constant and appropriate tension during assembly of the window regulator, permanent elongation occurs during repeated operations of raising and lowering the window glass.

When permanent elongation occurs, the wire becomes slack, and the wire cannot be properly driven. Therefore, various slack absorbing mechanisms have been proposed or implemented in the past in order to absorb the slack and restore appropriate tension to the wire. Examples of these are shown in FIGS. 7 to 11.

FIG. 7 shows a drive unit (53) equipped with a wire drum (52) for winding up wires (50) and (51).
” The wires (50) and (51) stretched in the upper direction of the dish
This figure shows a window regulator that raises and lowers the window glass through the window. This thing is window glass and wire (50),
Carrier plate (54) for connecting with (51)
Both ends of the wire are inserted into two holes provided in the carrier plate. And stoppers (55) and (56) provided at their tips
The wire and the carrier plate are connected with a pre-compressed coil spring (57L (58) interposed between the wire and the carrier plate.

Therefore, the return force of the springs (57) and (58) constantly applies tensile force to the wires (50) and (51).
Even if slack occurs, the slack can be absorbed within the amount of deflection of the spring.

Also, a conventional example using a coil spring is shown in FIG. In this case, the wire (59) is inserted into the outer casing (f30), (eD) and is configured as an inner cable of the control cable.Then, the pre-compressed coil springs (62), (63) are inserted into the outer casing ( 80), (81) on the drive unit side (64), (
65) and the housing (67>) of the drive unit (66), and the return force of the springs (62) and (63) applies tensile force to the wire (59). The slack of the wire (59) can be absorbed within the range of the deflection of the wire (59).

The one shown in FIG. 9 is equipped with a wire drum (69) in the center of the guide rail (72) for winding and feeding out the wire.
Attach the wire (7) to both ends of the guide rail (72) across the
0), (71) for changing direction.
3), (74).

and a wire drum (69) and two rollers (73),
(74) Two tension arms (75) and (7B) are provided between each of them for tensioning the wire. One end of these tension arms is rotatably supported by a guide rail (72), etc., and the other end is provided with tension rollers (77) and (78) for pressing the wire, and the middle part is a pre-stretched coil spring. (79
), (80), and the tension rollers (77), (78) press the wires (70), (71) in the lateral direction to absorb the slack.

Further, FIG. 10 shows one equipped with eccentric rollers (81) and (82). This thing is a wire (83),
Two rollers (81) for guiding (84), (
82) are each supported eccentrically and rotatably within a limited range. As shown in Fig. 11, the rollers (81) and (82) are always supported at the support point (87) by torsion coil springs (85) and (8G) which are bent in advance so that both arms open. The roller is biased by N1 so that the portion (88) where the distance from the roller to the outer periphery is maximum is located in a direction away from the drive section (towards each end of the guide rail). Therefore, if slack occurs, the wire (83) essentially forms a closed loop.
, (84) will be increased to take up the slack.

[Invention or problem to be solved]

In the case of the slack absorption mechanism using a pre-compressed coil spring as shown in Figure 7, the amount of slack absorbed is the same as the amount of restoring of the spring, so it is necessary to give the coil spring a compression deflection that is greater than the planned amount of slack to be absorbed. There is. However, if the coil spring is made larger, the carrier plate 1 containing the coil spring will also inevitably become larger, which is undesirable because the vertical stroke of the window glass will be limited by its dimensions.

This problem can be solved by installing a coil spring on the driving part side as shown in Fig. 8, but in the case of the mechanism shown in Fig. 8, it is necessary to provide an outer casing for the wire, which is subject to layout constraints. .

In addition, in the case of the tension arm using a pre-stretched coil spring shown in Fig. 9, the wire is tensioned by pressing it in the lateral direction to absorb the slack, so the pre-compressed coil as described above A larger spring is required than if the spring were to pull the wire directly in its axial direction.

On the other hand, when using the eccentric roller shown in Fig. 10 and Fig. 1J, the roller diameter and eccentricity are set to match the amount of slack to be absorbed, and the roller is always moved at the maximum distance from the support point to the outer circumference. It requires a mechanism to force the part away from the drive part using a spring or the like.
The entire device becomes larger.

In the second mechanism, the spring has a large deflection that matches the amount of slack in the wire that is to be absorbed! In addition, compressive force is repeatedly applied by raising and lowering the window glass, which places a large load on the springs.

An object of the present invention is to solve the problems of the conventional mechanism and to provide a mechanism for absorbing slack in a wire for lifting and lowering a window glass, which uses a simple mechanism and does not impose a high load on the spring provided therein. It is said that

[Means to solve the problem]

The wire slack absorbing mechanism of the present invention includes a guide rail having guide members at the upper and lower ends, a loop-shaped wire stretched between the guide members, and a wire loop that engages with the wire and moves the loop of the wire in both directions. A mechanism for absorbing the slack of the wire of a window regulator, which has a wire drum rotatably provided in the middle of the guide rail for circulation drive, and a wire drum parallel to the rotation axis near the rotation axis of the wire drum. A coil portion rotatably provided around an axis, and two arm portions that resiliently abut on a wire extending from both ends of the coil portion in a tangential direction of the wire drum in order to apply horizontal elastic deformation. It is characterized by having a torsion coil spring consisting of.

A guide shoe is provided at each of the ends of both arm portions of the torsion coil spring, and a part of the guide shoe is slidably in contact with the outer periphery of the wire drum, and the other part of the guide shoe is in contact with the wire drum. It is preferable that the wire be pressed in a direction away from the wire drum.

Further, it is preferable that the torsion coil spring has rollers instead of guide shoes at the ends of both arm portions, and these rollers press the wire in the direction of pressing the wire against the wire drum.

[For production]

In the slack absorption mechanism of the present invention, the torsion coil springs that simultaneously press the wires for raising and lowering the window glass in the lateral direction are rotatable. Therefore, for example, when the window glass is lowered, if the window glass raising wire (first wire) becomes slack, the window glass lowering wire (second wire), which is under tension, will move the arm of the torsion coil spring that comes into contact with the second wire. Press down to rotate the torsion coil spring downward. Then, the tip of the other arm presses the slack first wire and absorbs the slack. When the window glass is raised twice, the slack and tension of the first and second wires occur in the opposite way, but in the same way, the torsion coil spring -
1- Rotate in the direction.

In other words, this mechanism does not absorb the slack of the first wire and the second wire independently, but uses the rotation of the spring to apply the restoring force of the spring to the first wire and the second wire, respectively. In addition to this, the slack in the wire is absorbed by the elastic deformation of the entire torsion coil spring. Therefore, when assembling the window regulator,
Or, if permanent elongation has occurred in the wire, when the window glass is raised, the first wire becomes taut and the second wire becomes sagging. Most of the restoring force can be applied to the second wire without imparting . Therefore, the initial load of the spring may be small compared to the case where the slack of the first wire and the second wire is absorbed by independent springs as in the conventional mechanism.

In addition, when the window glass is raised and lowered alternately, and the slack and tension in the first wire and the second wire alternate, the slack and tension in the first wire and the second wire mutually form a closed loop, so the slack and tension will occur in one of the wires. The same amount of slack is removed from the other wire, and at the same time the torsion coil spring is continuously rotated from the tensioned wire side to the slack wire side. Therefore, unless the wire slack changes, theoretically the amount of deflection of the torsion coil spring will not change.

When guide shoes of a preferred shape are provided at the ends of both arms of the torsion coil spring, the guide shoe on the slack wire side presses the wire away from the wire drum and pushes between the wire and the wire drum. the result,
For sagging wire, the radius of the wire drum is effectively increased by the size of the guide shoe, thereby taking up the sag in the wire. Further, since a portion of the reaction force applied from the wire to the tension arm is borne by the wire drum that is in contact with one surface of the guide shoe, the load applied to the torsion coil spring is further reduced.

On the other hand, in the case where rollers are rotatably provided at the ends of both arms, as mentioned above, the tension of the tensioned wire is used to swing the torsion coil spring downward to remove the slack evenly. In addition, it has the advantage of reducing the sliding resistance between the wire and the roller.

〔Example〕

Next, the slack absorbing mechanism for a window regulator wire (hereinafter referred to as slack absorbing mechanism) of the present invention will be explained with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a front view showing an embodiment of a window regulator equipped with the slack absorption mechanism of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing the slack absorption mechanism of FIG. 1, and FIGS. 6 is a front view showing another embodiment of the slack absorbing mechanism of the present invention; FIGS. 7 to 10 are front views showing examples of the conventional slack absorbing mechanism, and FIG. The figure is a partially enlarged view showing the operating state of the mechanism in FIG. 10.

In FIG. 1, (1) is a guide rail, and a carrier plate (2) having a window glass fixed to a part thereof is slidably provided on the guide rail (1). There are two rollers (3) and (4) at the bottom end of the guide rail (1).
The rollers (3) and (4) are supported rotatably, and between the rollers (3) and (4) two wires (or one (5) and (6) are stretched.

Then, an electric motor (force (which may be manual) that generates the operating force to raise and lower the window glass, wires (5), (6)
) is provided with a drive unit connected to a wire drum (8) for winding up and sending out the wire drum (8). Note that the wire (5
L (6) may be a single wire that is wound once or twice around the wire drum (8), and both ends are wrapped around the wire drum (8).
). the roller (3);
(4) and the wire drum (8) are rotatably supported by brackets (9), 00), 01) provided on the guide rail (1).

The slack absorbing mechanism of the present invention is provided close to the wire drum (8). As shown in Fig. 2, this coil consists of a coil part (12a) coaxially and rotatably provided with the wire drum (8), and arm parts 03) and 04) extending from both ends of the coil part (12a). Coil spring (12
), and has an arm part (13+).

04) has, for example, a fan-shaped guide shoe opening, 0
■ is provided rotatably.

The opening angle of the arm part 03.04) is, for example, 100 to 1
The angle is preferably about 20°, and the spring torque is preferably about 6 to 9 kgcm.

The guide shoe opening, 00, has a cylindrical convex surface a force that slidably guides the wires (5) and (6), and a wire drum (
8), and has a cylindrical concave surface Oa that is slidably guided by the outer peripheral surface of 8), and is formed into a fan-shaped column as a whole.

In the device shown in Figures 1 and 2, the ends of the arm parts (13), 04) are bent inward by approximately 90 degrees, and the guide shoe openings and the Oe holes (15a), (1, 5b) are rotated at that part. It is fitted freely. Furthermore, arm parts 03), 04)
The tip of the guide shoe 6.0■ is bent to prevent it from falling out. A shaft (8a) for rotatably supporting the coil portion (12a) of the torsion coil spring 02) is provided on one end surface of the wire drum (8).

The torsion coil spring constructed as described above is rotatably attached concentrically to the wire drum (8) by fitting its coil portion (12a) onto the shaft (8a) J2. A stopper (8b) is provided at the end of the shaft (8a) to prevent the zero force of the torsion coil spring from being released.

Guide shoes 6.08 at the tips of arm parts 03) and 04)
is arranged so that its four surfaces 081 are in sliding contact with the outer peripheral surface of the wire drum (8), and the convex openings are in sliding contact with the wires (5) and (6). In addition, the opening angle of the arm parts 03) and 04) is wider than the free opening angle when attached, so that it is bent in the opening direction (elastically biased in the closing direction). As a result, the guide shoe opening, 0■, presses the wires (5) and (6) from the side,
Furthermore, it is urged to be pushed into a wedge-shaped gap formed between the wire and the wire drum.

Since the convex surface 07) has a cylindrical shape, even if the angle of the torsion coil spring O'2J or the arm portion 03) changes, the wires (5) and (6) are always attached with a smooth surface. Forced.

The convex zero force guiding the wire is such that as the guide shoe enters between the wire and the wire drum,
The distance from the center of the wire drum to the point of contact between the guide shoe and the wire increases continuously.

Next, the operation of the above-mentioned slack absorbing mechanism will be explained with reference to FIGS. 3 to 5.

FIG. 3 shows a state in which both the first and second wires (5) and (6) have no slack. In this state, the torsion coil spring 02), which has been bent in advance to open both arms (13) and (14), is evenly pressing the wire (5L (6)) with its guide shoes G and a61. Therefore, the torsion coil spring 02) hardly rotates to either side of the wire during the operation of raising and lowering the window.

On the other hand, Fig. 4 shows that when slack occurs in either wire (5) or wire (6) (which eventually extends to the entire loop),
Direction to lower the window glass (point the wire drum with the arrow (PI)
direction). In that case, the second wire (6) is tensed and the first wire (5) is slack, so the lower guide shoe Oe is pushed by the second wire (6) and the torsion coil spring (12) is directed downward, i.e. in the drawing. Rotating upward and to the right, the guide shoe zone enters between the slack first wire (5) and the wire drum (8).

As a result, the upper first wire (5) absorbs the slack and becomes taut.

FIG. 5 shows the case where the rotation operation is performed in the opposite direction (arrow (P2) direction) to that in FIG. 4 when there is slack. In that case, the direction of rotation of the torsion coil spring 02) is reversed.

FIG. 6 shows a slack absorption mechanism in which rollers 09 and (2) are rotatably provided at the tips of both arms 03) and 0Φ. In this case, the torsion coil spring (12) is bent in advance in the direction of closing both arms (04),
Due to the resulting spring force, the rollers OC4, (2) press the wires (5), (6) in the lateral direction. The solid line in the figure shows the state in which the slack of the first wire (5) is absorbed, and the two-dot chain line shows the state in which the slack of the second wire (6) is absorbed.

〔Effect of the invention〕

Since the mechanism of the present invention uses one torsion coil spring, it is more compact than conventional mechanisms, and has a simple structure and easy assembly.

In addition, the torsion coil spring, which is rotatably supported, also uses the tension of the wire on the tensioned side to absorb slack.
Compared to the springs installed in conventional mechanisms, it requires less load and has excellent durability because it does not require repeated force for each operation. Also, when using a guide shoe,
Furthermore, the spring load is reduced. On the other hand, when rollers are used, there is an advantage that the sliding resistance of the wire during operation is reduced.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a front view showing an embodiment of a window regulator equipped with the slack absorption mechanism of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing the slack absorption mechanism of FIG. 1, and FIGS. 6 is a front view showing another embodiment of the slack absorbing mechanism of the present invention, FIGS. 7 to 10 are front views showing examples of the conventional slack absorbing mechanism, and FIG. 11 is an explanatory diagram of the operation of the slack absorbing mechanism. 1A is a partially enlarged view showing the operating state of the mechanism of FIG. 1O; FIG. (Main symbols in the drawing) (5): 1st wire (6): 2nd wire (8): Wire drum 9 0ri: (+2a): Oa, 04): (to), 0■: 09, Head: Torsion coil spring Coil part Arm part Guide shoe roller 0 'A74 Figure Fang 3 Figure 16.14: Arm part 15.16: Guide shoe "f5 Figure O 6 times Off Figure O 90 10th mouth 11th

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. A guide rail having guide members at its upper and lower ends, a loop-shaped wire stretched between the guide members, and a wire loop that engages with the wire and drives the wire loop in both directions. A mechanism for absorbing the slack of the wire of a window regulator, which includes a wire drum rotatably provided in the middle of the guide rule, the wire drum having an axis parallel to the rotation axis near the rotation axis of the wire drum. A coil portion rotatably provided around the center; two arm portions elastically abutting against a wire extending from both ends of the coil portion in a tangential direction of the wire drum in order to apply horizontal elastic deformation; A wire slack absorption mechanism for a window regulator that has a torsion coil spring. 2. The torsion coil spring has a guide shoe at each end of both arm portions, a part of the guide shoe is slidably in contact with the outer periphery of the wire drum, and another part of the guide shoe is in contact with the wire drum. 2. The mechanism according to claim 1, wherein the mechanism presses the wire away from the wire drum. 3. The mechanism according to claim 1, wherein the torsion coil spring has a roller at each end of both arm portions, and the roller presses the wire in a direction to press the wire against the wire drum.