JPH0514657B2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed description of the invention] [Industrial application field]

This invention relates to an upper support mechanism for a sliding door that slides open and close in the longitudinal direction along the outer surface of the vehicle body, and eliminates the bulge of the roof side rail due to the bending of the end of the upper guide rail toward the passenger compartment. This invention relates to an improved vehicle that improves the aesthetic appearance of a vehicle interior and makes effective use of vehicle interior space.

[Conventional technology]

As a support mechanism for this type of sliding door, for example, as shown in Japanese Utility Model Application Publication No. 57-121321, an atsupa guide rail is installed along the upper edge of the door opening, and along the bottom edge of the door opening. A center guide rail is provided along the side of the vehicle body from the middle height of the rear end of the door opening to the rear, and is attached to these guide rails via an inward arm at a predetermined location on the sliding door side. By slidingly fitting and supporting the guided rollers,
It is configured.

[Problems to be solved by the invention]

By the way, such a sliding door is guided to slide between an open position where it overlaps the outer wall of the vehicle body behind the door opening and a closed position where it fits into the door opening in the vehicle width direction and is flush with the exterior surface of the vehicle body. Conventionally, each guide rail has generally been largely curved toward the passenger compartment at its end on the closed position side. As a result, the roof side rail to which the Atsupa guide rail is attached has no choice but to bulge out toward the passenger compartment at a portion corresponding to the above-mentioned curved part of the Atsupa guide rail, which impairs the aesthetic appearance of the passenger compartment. There was a problem of constricting the space. Note that the center guide rail and lower guide rail are located inside the vehicle body side wall or side sill, so even if their ends are curved toward the passenger compartment, this will cause a bulge to form in the passenger compartment. There is no problem that it will be done. In addition, in order to solve the problem regarding the above-mentioned Atsupa guide rail, for example, as described in Japanese Patent Publication No. 43-30326, a guide roller that is slidably fitted and supported by the above-mentioned guide rail,
The sliding door is supported via an arm rotatably supported at a fixed point inside the sliding door, and the sliding door is configured to be accommodated in the door opening by bending and rotating the arm near the door opening. A support structure for a sliding door has been proposed. However, in the invention described in the above publication, since the arm is rotatably supported at a fixed point on the sliding door, the arm is rotatably supported at a fixed point on the sliding door. You will get stuck in it. For this reason, a male and female fitting means is adopted between the front edge of the door opening and the front edge of the sliding door to fit each other in the front and rear direction, so that the peripheral edge of the door opening and the outer periphery of the sliding door when the door is closed. There is a problem in that it is not possible to maintain good installation performance in the vehicle width direction between the two parts. In addition, when the sliding door fits into the door opening, the linear movement of the door in the longitudinal direction of the vehicle body is suddenly converted into rotational movement inward in the vehicle width direction, so the impact when the door closes is extremely large. It is also necessary to increase the strength of the arm supporting the guide roller and the peripheral edge of the door opening. Further, there is a problem in that a large amount of noise is generated when the door is closed. Furthermore, in Japanese Patent Publication No. 56-23809, in order to make the sliding door fit into the door opening of the car body at an acute angle, a slider of the arm is installed between the arm supporting the guide roller and the sliding door. A structure has been proposed in which the rotation of the arm is restricted while the fulcrum position relative to the door is displaced in a direction opposite to the moving direction of the sliding door. However, in this configuration, firstly,
The arm supporting the roller extends obliquely from the sliding door toward the closing direction, and as the sliding door moves toward the closed position, the arm extends along the door toward the closing direction of the sliding door. Since the sliding door is configured to be folded up, as the sliding door moves in the closing direction, the position of the tip guide roller relative to the base end of the arm moves forward. Therefore, the length of the Atsupa guide rail becomes extremely long, and even though the fulcrum position of the arm shifts in the door opening direction as the door opens, the length of the Atsupa guide rail There are naturally limits to how much you can shorten. Second, the structure for displacing the rotational fulcrum of the arm relative to the sliding door was created by slidingly fitting a guide pin provided at the base end of the arm into a guide groove provided on the sliding door side, and at the same time A guide pin provided on the sliding door side is slidably fitted into a guide groove formed to extend in the longitudinal direction. Therefore, the larger the amount of change in the fulcrum position of the arm relative to the sliding door, the longer the arm must be, which increases the weight of the vehicle and increases the weight of the atsupa guide rail. It becomes an obstacle to shortening the length. This invention was devised under the above-mentioned circumstances, and solves the problems of each of the above-mentioned conventional examples.
In vehicles equipped with sliding doors, it simply eliminates the bulge of the Atsupa guide rail or roof side rail toward the interior of the vehicle, improving the aesthetics of the interior of the vehicle, and thereby enabling effective use of interior space. In addition to increasing the length of the Atsupa guide rail,
The object of the present invention is to provide an upper support mechanism for a sliding door that can improve ease of installation between the door opening of the vehicle body and the sliding door while effectively avoiding an increase in the weight of the arm that supports the guide roller. It is said that

[Means to solve the problem]

In order to solve the above problem, the sliding door upper support mechanism of the present invention takes the following measures. In other words, the upper support of the sliding door is constructed by slidingly fitting and supporting a guide roller supported on the inside upper part of the sliding door via an inward arm to the upper guide rail provided along the upper edge of the door opening. The mechanism is such that the upper guide rail extends linearly in the longitudinal direction of the vehicle body, and is provided with a stop portion at the end on the door closing position side to prevent movement of the roller, while the inward arm is Via a pivot provided on the sliding door, it can be rotated between an upright state in which it stands up against the sliding door and a folded state in which it faces in the opening direction of the sliding door and folds along the sliding door. and is attached to the pivot portion so that when the inward arm rotates, the pivot point of the inward arm relative to the sliding door is set according to the amount of rotation of the inward arm.
The present invention is characterized in that a fulcrum position correcting means is formed for displacing the sliding door in a direction opposite to the sliding direction of the sliding door.

[Effect]

In the state where the arm stands in an inwardly protruding manner with respect to the sliding door, the upper part of the sliding door is maintained at a predetermined distance from the vehicle body, and the sliding door can be slid and guided to the open position overlapping the outer wall of the vehicle body without any problem. When the door is slid from the open position toward the closed position, the guide roller hits a stop on the top guide rail near the closed position. As a result, a bending force is applied to the inward arm, and the inward arm is rotated from an upright position so as to face in the opening direction of the sliding door and fold along the sliding door.
At this time, the upper part of the door does not move along an arcuate trajectory centered on the guide roller. That is, in the present invention, when the inward arm rotates, the pivot portion of the arm relative to the sliding door has a
A fulcrum position correcting means is formed for displacing the pivot point of the inward arm relative to the sliding door in a direction opposite to the sliding direction of the sliding door in accordance with the amount of pivoting of the inward arm. If you look at this when the sliding door moves in the closing direction, as the inward arm rotates to fold as the sliding door moves in the closing direction,
The pivot point for the sliding door moves in the opening direction of the sliding door. In other words, when the sliding door moves in the closing direction, the inward arm is folded and rotated, and at the same time, the sliding door exhibits a behavior in which the sliding door is further extended in the closing direction in accordance with the displacement of its rotational fulcrum. It is. Therefore, when the inward arm moves to fold when the sliding door moves in the closing direction,
The sliding door does not move relative to the vehicle body in an arcuate trajectory centered on the guide roller, but rather in a gentler trajectory similar to a cycloid curve. Finally, the sliding door is guided to the closed position where it is flush with the outer wall of the vehicle body relative to the door opening on the vehicle body side.

【effect】

As described above, in the present invention, after the roller hits the stop part of the straight upper guide rail, the arm to which the roller is attached is moved from the upright state to face the opening direction of the sliding door and move along this direction. By being folded and rotated, the sliding door is displaced and guided in the vehicle width direction, so there is no need to curve the guide rail into the vehicle interior as in the conventional example. The roof side rails to which the roof side rails are attached will no longer bulge out toward the passenger compartment. As a result, the aesthetic appearance of the vehicle interior is improved, and by keeping the distance between the left and right roof side rails constant, it is possible to effectively utilize the vehicle interior space. Furthermore, in the support structure according to the present invention, the sliding door fits into the door opening not in a direction perpendicular to the door opening, but in a smooth curve with a small displacement in the vehicle width direction relative to the longitudinal movement distance. It's crowded. In the present invention, such behavior is achieved by causing a pivot point provided on the sliding door to pivot the inward arm to move the pivot point of the arm in a direction opposite to the moving direction of the sliding door according to the amount of rotation thereof. This is because the fulcrum position correction means is formed. This makes it possible to employ male and female fitting means that fit each other in the front-rear direction between the door opening edge and the sliding door front edge, thereby improving the ease of installation between the door opening and the sliding door. can be significantly improved. Furthermore, when the door is closed, if the linear direction of the sliding door in the longitudinal direction of the vehicle body is suddenly converted into a rotational movement inward in the vehicle width direction, the sliding door will no longer move in the vehicle width direction. Since the pressure is gentle, the impact when the door closes is alleviated, and there is no need to increase the strength of the edge of the door opening. Also,
The problem of loud noises occurring when the door is closed is also alleviated. Furthermore, the inward arm is supported so as to be rotatable between a standing state with respect to the sliding door and a folding position where the arm faces in the opening direction of the sliding door and is folded by the sliding door. Since the fulcrum is corrected as described above, the front and back length of the upper guide rail can be significantly shortened compared to the conventional one, and the length of the arm can also be kept at the minimum required length. For this reason,
Increase in vehicle weight can be suppressed to a minimum.

[Explanation of Examples]

Preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a partial perspective view of a vehicle body equipped with a sliding door 3. FIG. As shown in this figure, an upper guide rail 4 is provided at the upper end of a door opening 2 provided on the side of the vehicle body 1, a lower guide rail 5 is provided at the bottom edge of the door opening 2, and a lower guide rail 5 is provided at the bottom edge of the door opening 2. Center guide rails are provided along the outer surface of the vehicle body from the middle height of the edge to the rear, and the slide door 3 has rollers attached via arms to the respective guide rails 4, 5, 6 at corresponding positions. It is supported by a sliding fit. This invention particularly improves a door upper support mechanism consisting of an upper guide rail 4, a roller slidably fitted thereto, or an arm supporting the upper guide rail, and will be described below. First, as shown in FIGS. 3 to 5, the Atsupa guide rail 4 is composed of a downward groove-shaped member attached to the outer lower surface of the roof side rail 7, and is linear in the front-rear direction. It has been extended to As shown in FIG. 5, a stop portion 4a is formed at the end of the upper guide rail 4 on the side of the door closed position, that is, the normal front end. On the other hand, the roller 1 to be provided on the sliding door 3 side
In the present invention, the arm 9 provided with the arm 9 is particularly supported in a horizontal plane so as to be rotatable from an upright state to a folded state in which it is folded along the sliding door facing the door opening direction, and also supports the arm 9 to be formed on the sliding door. The pivot point is provided with pivot point position correction means for displacing the pivot point of the arm relative to the sliding door in a direction opposite to the moving direction of the sliding door 3 in response to the rotation of the arm 9 that occurs when the sliding door is opened and closed. It is formed,
In this example, this is configured as follows. That is, a rack 10 having teeth facing inward and extending a predetermined length in the front-rear direction, and elongated holes 11 extending parallel to the rack 10 inward at a predetermined interval.
A bracket 8 with
A pin 16 which is meshed with the gear part 12 and protrudes from the center of the gear part 12 is slidably fitted into the elongated hole 11. The pin 16 is attached by caulking the rear end of a rivet with a head inserted into the elongated hole 11 and the gear part 12 of the arm in communication with the central hole 15.
The arm 9 is restricted to move only in a plane parallel to the bracket 8, that is, in a horizontal plane. With the above configuration, the arm 9 can rotate between an upright state shown by a solid line in FIG. 5 and a folded state shown by a phantom line. However, in this example, the trajectory of the end of the arm 9, that is, the roller 14, is not a circular arc, but is a trajectory close to a cycloid curve due to the action of the pivot point position correction means described above. That is, as schematically shown in FIG. 6, the trajectory of the roller 14 is the trajectory of the point A on the pitch circle of the gear portion 12 rolling on the rack 10, expanded in the radial direction of the pitch circle. . As a result, although the length of the arm 9 is relatively short, as shown in FIG. In contrast, the curve is smooth with a small displacement in the vehicle width direction. In the above configuration, when the arm 9 is in an upright state as shown in FIG. can be moved to the open position without any problem, overlapping with the side wall of the vehicle body. On the other hand, when the sliding door 3 is slid from the open position to the closed position, that is, normally forward, the roller 14 of the arm 9 hits the stop 4a of the Atsupa guide rail 4, and then the sliding door 3 moves forward, the arm 9 is bent backward, that is, facing the opening direction of the sliding door and bending along the sliding door. At this time, the sliding door 3 is guided to the closed position shown by the imaginary line in FIG. 5 along a smooth curved trajectory corresponding to the trajectory of the roller 14 explained with reference to FIG. Another embodiment of the arm rotation fulcrum position correcting means provided at the pivot portion of the arm 9 will be described with reference to FIGS. 7 and 8. In this example, the bracket 8 attached to the sliding door 3 has an elongated hole 18 parallel to the sliding door 3.
and two of the elongated holes 19 that are inclined with respect to the elongated holes 18.
Two long holes are provided, and two pins 23 and 24 protruding from the arm 9 at regular intervals are inserted into each of the long holes.
8 and 19, respectively, so as to be slidably fitted. As in the previous embodiment, the pins 23 and 24 are attached by inserting headed rivets into the elongated holes 18 and 19 and the holes 21 and 22 of the arm 9 so as to communicate with each other, and caulking the ends. This allows arm 9 to move only in a plane parallel to bracket 8. By configuring as above, arm 9
As shown in FIG. 8, the arm 9 begins to rotate backward while shifting backward, and as a result, even though the length of the arm 9 is relatively short, the arm 9
The locus of movement of the sliding door 3 around the rollers 14 during folding and rotation is a smooth curve with a small displacement in the vehicle width direction relative to the longitudinal movement distance. As described above, in the sliding door upper support mechanism of the present invention, the top guide rail is linear, but when the sliding door is closed, it changes from the open state where it overlaps the side wall of the vehicle body to the closed state where it is flush with the exterior surface of the vehicle body. position in the vehicle width direction. Therefore, the bulge of the roof side rail caused by the curve of the conventional top guide rail is eliminated. In addition, in the support mechanism according to the present invention, due to the action of the fulcrum position correction means provided in the support portion of the inward arm, the sliding door is not moved in a direction perpendicular to the door opening, but compared to the movement distance in the front and back direction. It fits into the door opening while drawing a smooth curve with a small variation in the vehicle width direction. Therefore, it is possible to employ male-female fitting means between the front edge of the door opening and the front edge of the sliding door, and the ease of installation between the door opening and the sliding door is greatly improved. Ru. Furthermore, when the door is closed, the sliding door's linear movement in the longitudinal direction of the vehicle body is suddenly converted into a rotational movement inward in the vehicle width direction, eliminating the impact of the door closing. There is no need to increase the strength. It also solves the problem of loud noises when the door is closed. Of course, the scope of the invention is not limited to the embodiments described above. The configuration of the pivot point position correcting means provided on the support part of the inward arm for the sliding door is also included in the scope of the present invention as long as the function understood from the above-described embodiments is realized.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Fig. 1 is a partial external perspective view of an automobile with a sliding door, Fig. 2 is an exploded perspective view of the first embodiment of the present invention, and Figs. 3 and 4 are sectional views taken along the - line in Fig. 1. FIG. 3 is a diagram showing when the sliding door is open, FIG. 4 is a diagram showing when the sliding door is closed,
Fig. 5 is a plan view of the first embodiment, Fig. 6 is a schematic diagram explaining the principle of the first embodiment, Fig. 7 is a divided perspective view of the second embodiment of the present invention, and Fig. 8 is a plan view thereof. be. 1...Vehicle body, 2...Door opening, 3...Sliding door,
4...Atsupa guide rail, 4a...stop part, 9...
Arm, 14...roller.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. Consisting of a guide roller supported by an inward arm at the upper part of the inside of the sliding door, which is slid and supported by a top guide rail provided along the upper edge of the door opening. The upper guide rail, which is an upper support mechanism for a sliding door, extends linearly in the longitudinal direction of the vehicle body, and is provided with a stop portion at an end on the door closed position side to prevent movement of the roller; The inward arm has two states via a pivot provided on the sliding door: an upright state in which it stands up against the sliding door, and a folded state in which it faces in the opening direction of the sliding door and folds along the sliding door. and the pivot portion is configured such that when the inward arm rotates, the pivot point of the inward arm relative to the sliding door is set such that the inward arm pivots according to the amount of rotation of the inward arm.
An upper support mechanism for a sliding door for an automobile, characterized in that a fulcrum position correcting means for displacing the sliding door in a direction opposite to the sliding direction of the sliding door is formed.