JPH0752741Y2 - Ruibe fixing structure of guide rail in vehicle sunroof device - Google Patents

Description

Description: TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to a sunroof device provided in a vehicle such as an automobile, and more particularly to a sliding body that is slidable in the front-rear direction for opening and closing an opening formed in a vehicle body roof. The present invention relates to a guide rail fixing structure used for fixing a sliding roof guide rail to a sunroof frame in a sunroof device including a roof.

(Prior Art) In an automobile, an opening is often provided in a vehicle body roof in order to improve comfort. In that case, in general,
The opening is opened and closed by a sliding roof that slides in the front-rear direction of the vehicle body.

In a vehicle equipped with such a sunroof device,
A sunroof frame is attached to the lower surface of the vehicle body roof at intervals. A pair of left and right guide rails extending in the front-rear direction are attached to the upper surface of the frame, and the sliding roof is guided and supported by the guide rails.

In that case, in order to allow the sliding roof to slide smoothly, the left and right guide rails need to be installed in parallel at regular intervals. Therefore, the guide rail is required to be attached to the sunroof frame so that the installation position can be adjusted. In addition, the guide rail is required to be removable for maintenance of the sunroof device. Further, in such a guide rail, it is inevitable that a length error will occur in processing, and therefore it is also required to absorb the error.

Therefore, as shown in Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 51-41693, it may be possible to fit and support the end portion of the guide rail to the end cap fixed to the sunroof frame by welding or the like. Has been. The fitting portion of the end cap is wider than the guide rail in order to adjust the position of the guide rail in the left-right direction.

(Problems to be solved by the invention) By the way, in such a sunroof device, in order to prevent traveling wind from being caught or wind noise from being generated from the roof opening of the vehicle body roof, In many cases, a deflector that guides traveling wind upward is provided at the front edge of the roof opening. The deflector is attached to the front end of a deflector arm that is vertically rotatable. The arm is supported by deflector bases installed below the front portions of both sides of the roof opening. Therefore, the deflector arm and the deflector base are located near the front end of the guide rail.

A drain seal is provided below the peripheral edge of the roof opening for receiving water falling through the gap between the vehicle body roof and the sliding roof. Therefore, the drain seal is also located near the front end of the guide rail.

During maintenance of the sunroof device, it may be necessary to inspect and replace the deflector base and drain seal. Therefore, when the front end portion of the guide rail is fixed to the sunroof frame via the end cap, it is desired that the end cap is also removable. For that purpose, the end cap may be fastened and fixed to the frame with bolts and nuts. In that case, in order to facilitate the attachment / detachment, it is desirable that the end cap be fixed by a set of bolts and nuts.

However, in the case of an end cap in which the width of the fitting part is wider than the width of the guide rail as in the conventional case,
If the end cap is tightened with a set of bolts and nuts in this way, the tightening torque causes the end cap to rotate. When the end cap rotates in this way, the drain seal is pushed up by the end cap, and the parallelism between the left and right guide rails cannot be obtained.

The present invention has been made in view of such a problem, and an object thereof is to allow the end cap to be detachably fixed by a set of bolts and nuts, and also to adjust the end cap by the tightening torque. It is necessary to prevent the guide rail from being displaced and the drain seal from being distorted so as not to rotate.

(Means for Solving the Problems) In order to achieve this object, in the present invention, an end cap attached to a sunroof frame by a set of bolts and nuts is provided with a guide portion for guiding the supporting legs of the sliding roof. At a position adjacent to the guide portion, there is provided a box-shaped fitting portion having an open one end surface to which the end portion of the guide rail is fitted.
The fitting portion has an inner surface with which the upper and lower and left and right outer surfaces of the guide rail contact.

(Operation) With such a configuration, when the end portion of the guide rail is fitted into the fitting portion of the end cap, the relative rotation of the end cap with respect to the guide rail is prevented by the guide rail. Therefore, if the other end of the guide rail is temporarily fixed with a bolt or the like, even if the end cap is tightened with a set of bolts and nuts, the end cap is accurately fixed at that position.

Embodiment An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 shows an example of a sunroof device for an automobile to which the present invention is applied. FIG. 1 is a schematic plan view of the sunroof device, and FIG. 2 is an enlarged plan view of a main part thereof excluding a roof part of a vehicle body. Is. Further, FIG. 3 is a vertical sectional side view of the main part thereof.

As is clear from FIG. 1, an opening 2 having a relatively large area is formed in the front part of a vehicle body roof 1 of an automobile. A substantially rectangular sunroof frame 3 is provided on the lower surface side of the vehicle body roof 1 and extends from below the peripheral portion of the roof opening 2 to below the rear portion of the vehicle body roof 1. An opening 4 having a slightly smaller area than the roof opening 2 is formed in the frame 3 at a position substantially corresponding to the roof opening 2.

On the upper surface of the frame 3, a pair of left and right guide rails 5, 5 extending in the vehicle front-rear direction from both sides of the frame opening 4 to below the rear part of the vehicle body roof 1 are installed. Then, by the guide rails 5, 5, the sliding roof 6
Is supported so that it can slide back and forth. Roof opening 2
Is opened and closed by the sliding roof 6. The sliding roof 6 is flush with the vehicle body roof 1 when it is slid forward to close the roof opening 2, and is stored below the rear part of the vehicle body roof 1 when slid backward to open the roof opening 2. Has been

At the front edge of the roof opening 2, a deflector 7 is arranged extending along the front edge in the vehicle body left-right direction. The deflector 7 is attached to the front ends of a pair of left and right deflector arms 8 and 8 provided outside the guide rails 5 and 5.

Sunroof frame 3 as shown in Figs.
A drain seal 9 is provided on the upper surface of the peripheral edge of the. The drain seal 9 has a channel shape that opens upward and is disposed below the peripheral edge of the roof opening 2. The drain seal 9 receives water that falls from the gap between the vehicle body roof 1 and the sliding roof 6, and It is said to be a drainage passage that guides. The outer wall 9a of the drain seal 9 is supported by the rising wall 3a around the frame 3.
The upper end of the outer wall 9a is pressed against the lower surface of the vehicle body roof 1 to seal the space between the vehicle body roof 1 and the frame 3. The inner wall 9b of the drain seal 9 is located outside the guide rail 5. On the inner side walls 9b at the left and right corners of the drain seal 9, there are provided fixing lips 9c projecting inward, that is, toward the frame opening 4 side.

Drain seal 9 located outside the front end of the guide rail 5
A deflector base 10 is arranged in the channel. As shown in FIG. 3, the rear end of the deflector arm 8 is supported on the rear end of the deflector base 10 so as to be vertically rotatable. The intermediate portion of the deflector arm 8 and the front end portion of the deflector base 10 are connected by a support link 11 so as to be vertically rotatable. And
A deflector arm 8 is constantly urged to rotate upward by a spring 12 provided between the deflector arm 8 and the support link 11. Thus, when the sliding roof 6 is stowed rearward and the roof opening 2 is open, the deflector arm 8 pivots upward, and the deflector 7 at the front end thereof projects upward from the front edge of the roof opening 2 to raise the traveling wind. I will guide you to. Further, when the sliding roof 6 is moved forward to close the roof opening 2, the deflector arm 8 is pressed downward by the sliding roof 6, and the deflector 7 descends to be stored on the lower surface side of the sliding roof 6. Has become.

The rear end of the deflector base 10 is fixed to the sunroof frame 3 with bolts and nuts 13 outside the drain seal 9. A fixing rod 14 is provided at the front end of the deflector base 10.

The guide rail 5 is adapted to be fixed to the sunroof frame 3 at the rear end portion thereof with bolts and nuts (not shown). On the other hand, an end cap 15 is attached to the front end thereof, and the end cap 15 is fixed to the frame 3 by fastening a nut 17 to a bolt 16 welded to the frame 3.

As shown in FIG. 4, the end cap 15 has
A box-shaped portion 18 whose rear end face is open is provided. On the upper wall 18a of the box-shaped portion 18, a notch 19 is formed as a guide portion through which the front support legs of the sliding roof 6 can pass. A short flange 20 that hangs from the upper wall 18a is provided in a portion adjacent to the cutout 19. Further, a step portion 21 is formed on the bottom wall 18b of the box-shaped portion 18 at a position substantially facing the flange 20. On the other hand, the front end portion of the upper wall 5a of the guide rail 5 is notched at the inner end portion corresponding to the flange 20 of the box-shaped portion 18. Thus, as shown in FIG. 5, the front end portion of the guide rail 5 having a U-shaped cross section is fitted to the fitting portion 22 formed inside the box-shaped portion 18. Then, when fitted in such a manner, the inner end of the upper wall 5a of the guide rail 5 engages with the flange 20, the inner end of the lower wall 5b engages with the step portion 21, and the side wall.
5a is in contact with the outer wall 18c of the box-shaped portion 18 so that the rotation of the guide rail 5 with respect to the end cap 15 in the horizontal plane is restricted. At that time, the upper surface of the upper wall 5a of the guide rail 5 contacts the lower surface of the upper wall 18a of the box-shaped portion 18,
The lower surface of the lower wall 5b is in contact with the upper surface of the lower wall 18b of the box-shaped portion 18, whereby the vertical rotation of the guide rail 5 is also restricted. In this way, the relative rotation of the fitted guide rail 5 is restricted by the flange 20, the step portion 21, the upper and lower walls 18a, 18b, and the outer wall 18c of the box-shaped portion 18 forming the fitting portion 22. . That is, the fitting portion 22 has a substantially box-like shape with one side open, but its inner surface is in contact with the upper, lower, left, and right outer surfaces of the front end portion of the guide rail 5, thereby restricting rotation. The department is composed.

The outer wall 18c of the box-shaped portion 18 has an inner wall 9b of the drain seal 9
A flange 23 straddling the is integrally provided. And
The flange 23 is integrally provided with an arm 24 extending outward. The arm 24 has a deflector base
A fitting hole 25 into which the fixing rod 14 at the front end of 10 is fitted is formed. Thus, the fixing rod 14 is inserted into the fitting hole 25.
The front end of the deflector base 10 is fixedly supported by the sunroof frame 3 via the end cap 15 by fitting the above. That is, its arm 24
Is the front end fixing part of the deflector base 10.

The outer circumference of the end cap 15 is formed along the inner wall 9b at the corner of the drain seal 9. And.
On the lower surface of the outer peripheral edge of the drain seal 9, there is formed a seal pressing portion 26 which is inserted between the inner side wall 9b of the drain seal 9 and the fixing lip 9c.

Next, a procedure for fixing the guide rail 5 using such an end cap 15 will be described.

First, the front end portion of the guide rail 5 is fitted into the fitting portion 22 of the end cap 15. Then, the welding bolt 16 of the sunroof frame 3 is inserted into the bolt insertion hole of the end cap 15. At this time, the seal pressing portion 26 on the outer circumference of the end cap 15 presses the fixing lip 9c of the drain seal 9. In this state, the sliding roof 9 is positioned at the rearmost position, the rear end portion of the guide rail 5 is positioned, and temporarily fixed with bolts and nuts.

Next, the sliding roof 6 is moved forward, and while sliding in the front-rear direction, the front end portions of the left and right guide rails 5, 5 are positioned so that the sliding is smoothly performed. Since there is play in the bolt insertion hole of the end cap 15, such fine adjustment is performed by changing the position of the end cap 15.

After adjusting the position of the end cap 15 in this way,
Tighten the nut 17 on the welding bolt 16 and attach the end cap 15
To fix. At this time, the guide rail 5 is fitted into the fitting portion 22 of the end cap 15, and the front end portion of the guide rail 5 is engaged with the end cap 15 over a relatively long range. It is no longer possible to rotate with respect to. The rear end of the guide rail 5 is temporarily fixed. Therefore, the nut
The rotation of the end cap 15 due to the tightening torque of 17 is restricted by the guide rail 5, and the end cap 15 is tightened and fixed as it is. Then, the corner portion of the drain seal 9 is pressed by the seal pressing portion 26 on the outer circumference of the end cap 15.

After fixing the end cap 15 in this manner, the rear end of the guide rail 5 is tightened with bolts and nuts, whereby the guide rail 5 is accurately positioned and fixed.

Then, the fixing rod 14 at the front end of the deflector base 10 is fitted into the fitting hole 25 of the arm 24 of the end cap 15, and the rear end of the deflector base 10 is fixed to the sunroof frame 3 by the bolts and nuts 13. As a result, the deflector base 10 is fixed to the frame 3 at both front and rear ends thereof.

As described above, in the fixing structure of the guide rail 5, the front end portion of the guide rail 5 is fitted to the end cap 15, and the end cap 15 is fastened and fixed to the sunroof frame 3 by the set of bolts 16 and nuts 17. Therefore, the parallelism of the guide rail 5 can be adjusted and the guide rail 5 can be attached and detached. Therefore, the maintenance of the sunroof device becomes easy. Furthermore, since the fitting portion 22 of the end cap 15 into which the guide rail 5 is fitted is provided with the rotation restricting portion that restricts the relative rotation of the guide rail 5, the end is set by the set of bolts 16 and nuts 17. Even if the cap 15 is tightened, the end cap 15 does not rotate due to the torque when the cap 15 is tightened. Therefore, the drain seal 9 will not be lifted by the end cap 15, and the sliding roof 6
Notch in the end cap 15 that guides the front support leg of the
The 19 does not deviate from its guiding direction. Furthermore,
Since the guide rail 5 is held at the correct position, its assembly is also easy.

By using such an end cap 15, the front end fixing portion of the deflector base 10 and the pressing portion 26 of the drain seal 9 can be provided on the end cap 15. Therefore, it is not necessary to fix the front end of the deflector base 10 to the sunroof frame 3 with bolts and nuts, or to separately use a member for pressing the seal, which reduces the number of parts and simplifies the assembly work. Can be planned.

In the above embodiment, the upper wall of the guide rail 5 is used as the rotation restricting portion that restricts the relative rotation of the guide rail 5.
Although the flange 20 with which the side end surface on the 5a side engages and the step portion 21 with which the side end surface of the lower wall 5b engages are provided, it is not necessary to provide both of them, and only one of them may be provided.

Further, in the above embodiment, the rear end of the guide rail 5 is directly fixed to the sunroof frame 3 by bolts and nuts, but the rear end is also fixed by the end cap having the same fitting portion as the front end. You can In that case, needless to say, it is not necessary to provide the end cap with the arm 24 for locking and fixing the front end of the deflector base 10 or the seal pressing portion 26 for pressing the drain seal 9.

(Effect of the Invention) As is apparent from the above description, according to the present invention, the end cap to which the end portion of the guide rail is fitted has the one end surface having the inner surface where the upper and lower and left and right outer surfaces of the guide rail contact. Since an open box-shaped fitting part is provided to prevent the end cap from rotating relative to the fitted guide rail, not only the guide rail length error is absorbed. Alternatively, even if the end cap is tightened with a set of bolts and nuts, the rotation of the end cap due to the tightening torque is restricted by the guide rail. Therefore, the end cap can be fixed accurately, and the guide rail can be reliably positioned. And
As a result, the guide rail can be easily attached and detached, and the inspection and replacement thereof can be facilitated.

Further, since the end cap can be attached and detached, maintenance of the deflector device, the drain seal and the like becomes easy. Furthermore, by using such an end cap, it becomes possible to provide a guide portion for the supporting legs of the sliding roof on the end cap. Further, by providing such a guide portion, the sliding roof can be stably held at the fully closed position or the fully open position. Further, the locking portion of the deflector base and the pressing portion of the drain seal can be provided on the end cap, so that it is possible to reduce the number of parts and the number of assembling work steps.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic plan view showing an example of a sunroof device for an automobile to which a guide rail fixing structure according to the present invention is applied, and FIG. 2 is an enlarged view of a main part of the sunroof frame device excluding a vehicle body roof part. A plan view and FIG. 3 are vertical cross-sectional side views of the main part of the sunroof device viewed from the line III-III in FIG. 2, and FIG. 4 shows the end caps used in the sunroof device with the front end of the guide rail. FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line VV of FIG. 1 …… Vehicle roof 2 …… Roof opening 3 …… Sunroof frame 5 …… Guide rail 6 …… Sliding roof 7 …… Deflector, 8 …… Deflector arm 9 …… Drain seal, 9c …… Fixing lip 10… … Deflector base 14 …… Fixing rod 15 …… End cap 16 …… Bolt, 17 …… Nut 20 …… Flange (rotation restricting part) 21 …… Step part (rotation restricting part) 22 …… Mating part 24 …… Arm (fixed part of the front end of the deflector base) 26 …… Seal retainer

Claims (3)

[Scope of utility model registration request] 1. A sunroof frame installed below a vehicle body roof having an opening, a pair of left and right guide rails attached to the frame in the vehicle front-rear direction, and supported by the guide rails so as to be slidable forward and backward,
A sunroof device for a vehicle comprising: a sliding roof that opens and closes an opening of the vehicle body roof; an end portion of the guide rail has a guide portion that guides a supporting leg of the sliding roof, and is adjacent to the guide portion. The guide rail is fitted in an end cap having a box-shaped fitting portion whose one end surface has an inner surface in contact with the upper and lower and left and right outer surfaces of the guide rail, and the end cap is a set of bolts. And an end fixing structure for a guide rail in a sunroof device of a vehicle, which is tightened and fixed to the sunroof frame by a nut. 2. A guide rail end fixing structure for a vehicle sunroof device according to claim 1, wherein the end cap is provided with a seal pressing portion for pressing a drain seal attached to a peripheral portion of the sunroof frame. 3. The sunroof device for a vehicle according to claim 1, wherein the end cap is provided with a front end fixing portion of a deflector base which supports an arm of a deflector that moves up and down at a front edge portion of an opening of the vehicle body roof. Guide rail end fixing structure.