MXPA00006425A - Automatic system to open/close a sliding door - Google Patents

Abstract

An integrated components system transporting an automotive sliding door throughout its movement range while provides an adequate security to the user:an automatic system to open/close a sliding door, comprising a transmission system by means of a continuous energized band, located in a vehicle and a distribution of braces having the capacity of adhering firmly a vehicle door to the system of band transmission, so that it will be guided by liberation under predetermined conditions. The energized band transmission system is located in a way that it will be combined with one of the three rails of the body of the standard hinges system of a van door. The brace distribution could be a rotatory inclined apparatus with a contraction action over the band throughout a cam and a spring distribution.

Description

AUTOMATIC SYSTEM TO OPEN / CLOSE A SLIDING DOOR Field of the Invention The present invention relates to the field of automotive door opening and closing system, and particularly to an integrated system of components that transport an automotive sliding door through its range of motion while providing safety to the user.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Sliding doors are widely used in the type of vehicles generally referred to as pickup trucks. Trucks usually have normal swinging front doors and one or more sliding side doors. This type of sliding doors translate into the lateral opening in the vehicle to facilitate the entry or exit instead of oscillating, as is the most common movement in the closures of automotive doors. The most common and widely used sliding door system consists of three (3) body-mounted rails and three corresponding roller / hinge assemblies (15) mounted on the door, as illustrated in Figures 4 and 5. The rails mounted on the body are generally located on the roof, floor and middle positions of the side of the vehicle, the components of the position of the roof and the position of the floor being arranged in line with the rail for opening the door and the position middle (center) located backwards from the lateral opening. It is normal practice to use the lower and center rails to carry the vertical weight of the door. The path of the door travel is therefore defined by the shape of the rail and the articulation of the hinge / roller assembly. The systems for closing and opening energized automotive sliding doors have become a popular feature. The current state of the art involves the use of systems operated by electricity that energize the door through the range of motion defined by the conventional hinge / roller / rail system. Most of these systems act on the central hinge / roller / rail assembly although some are integrated with the lower hinge / roller / rail assembly. Both band and cable transmissions are used. In addition to energizing the door through its range of motion, these systems should provide protection against injuries when they are obstructed during energized movement and the ability to operate normally when required. Opening and closing systems of energized sliding doors of the current art use sophisticated hardware and software electronic algorithms to achieve acceptable levels of obstruction detection. The most common protection method uses electric current sensors operated by the motor to indicate when a person or other object is in the path of the closing door. The associated software algorithms are becoming increasingly sophisticated to coordinate insurance to stop the door open, potential insurance to adjust the door and other additional features. A major disadvantage of all existing art is that it does not provide the operation of manual operation equal to the passive system, because some additional energy related components are always engaged even when the sliding door is operated manually. The most common manual mode of operation is the deactivation of the countercurrent clutch of the cable or belt transmission, which adds a significant operating load due to the friction associated with said mechanisms and operations.

Summary of the Invention Accordingly, it would be advantageous to create a sliding door opening / closing system, which does not suffer from the drag and friction associated with the engagement of the energy-related components, even when the door is in manual operation. The purpose of this invention is to reduce the complexity of automatic sliding door opening / closing systems. It specifically eliminates the electronic detection of the obstruction using a mechanical distribution and additionally provides manual non-compromised operation, completely decoupling the energizing system.

In a main aspect of the present invention, an automatic opening and closing system of a sliding door comprises a system of transmission by energized continuous band located in the body of a vehicle, and a distribution of the clamp with capacity to adhere in a fixed manner the vehicle door to the belt transmission system so that it is automatically operated along a predetermined path and capable of being released under predetermined conditions. In a further aspect, the energized band transmission system is located so that it is combined with one of the three body rails of the standard hinge system. In a further aspect, the clamp distribution is adhered directly to one of the standard door hinge / roller assemblies in the door. In a further aspect, the clamp arrangement is a rotary apparatus inclined in a contraction action on the web by means of a cam and spring distribution, and the rotary apparatus is accommodated so as to be released from the web at a force threshold previously determined. In a further aspect, the energized band transmission system incorporates two band tensioning devices, located on opposite sides of the clamp distribution, with the capacity to produce the required loosening of the band to facilitate the movement of the rotary clamping apparatus in a contraction hook with the band.

From reading the following description, additional aspects of the present invention will be appreciated.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS Figure 1 is a cross-sectional plan view of the complete automatic sliding door opening / closing system of the present invention. Figure 2 is a partial cross-sectional plan view of the hinge / roller and clamp assembly of the present invention. Figure 3 is a cross-sectional plan view of the clamp distribution of the present invention in a deactivated position. Figure 4 is a perspective view in partial cross section illustrating a typical automotive sliding door system in the closed configuration. Figure 5 is a perspective view in partial cross-section illustrating a typical automotive sliding door system in the open configuration.

Detailed Description of the Invention With reference to Figure 1, in a preferred embodiment of the present invention, a continuous belt transmission system (1) is positioned to be combined with one of the three rails mounted on the body (3) (see also Figures 2, 4 and 5) used in conventional automotive sliding door systems. This transmission system comprises a continuous circuit band (5), an electric motor (7) and a transmission pulley (9), two band tensioning devices (11) and a number of separating rollers (13) used for guide the band. The separating rollers are generally rotating pulleys, without energizing. The belt drive system is configured in such a way that the belt (5) is mounted on a roller (21) and is exposed on the outer side of the rail (3) so that it is adjacent to the assembled hinge / roller assembly. in the corresponding door (15). The band transmission system is configured to be operated by the electric motor (7) in both directions. A clamp (17), mounted on the hinge / roller assembly (15), interacts with the rail (3) that contains the belt transmission system (1). This clamp is configured so that it can be inclined to contract the band within the clamping conditions against the roller (21) so that when the band is operated by the motor (7) the door (19) is driven along the the path defined by the hinge / roller / rail configuration. The clamp (17) is tilted so that it is held in the contracted condition until a previously determined load of the band is exceeded, at which point, the contracted condition is exited and the gate (19) of the band transmission system (1) is released. When the clamp (17) is in the non-contracted condition, the door (19) can be moved along the path defined by the hinge / roller / rail configuration without interaction with the web transmission system (1). A power driver (not shown) is configured to move the clamp (17) back to the condition contracted with the band (5). The belt drive system has the ability to adjust the door to the first position of the main door lock (for example, the secondary secured position) and a power adjustment lock (not shown) is used to achieve the main insurance full. In order to coordinate and activate the band transmission motor (7), the clamp actuator and the main lock, use an electronic control system and associated perception transducers (not shown). Referring to Figure 3, in a preferred embodiment, the clamp (17) comprises a rotary apparatus, which is inclined in the contracted position of the band by means of a cam (22) that interacts with a ball (25) and a compression spring (27). The compression spring (27) pushes the ball (25) inside the cam pocket (23), integral with the rotary clamp which keeps the apparatus in the contracted position. The surface of the clamp (17) that engages with the band (5) in the contracted position incorporates the grooves (29) which improve the contraction action and minimize the possibility of sliding between the band (5) and the clamp ( 17). The rotary clamp (17) disengages from the band (5) when an obstruction in the path of the door (19) causes the load of the band to exceed a predetermined threshold. The load of the threshold is defined by the profile of the cam, the force of the spring and the previous compression of the spring. An energy activator is adhered to the hinge / roller assembly, which rotates the clamp (17) back to its contracted condition with the band (5) upon receiving a command communicated electromagnetically, such as from a contact button located inside the truck, or from a pocket switch button. The belt drive system must have the ability to produce the necessary loosening of the belt to allow the rotary clamp (17) to fully rotate to the contracted position. Loosening of the band is produced by two band tensioning devices (11), located on opposite sides of the clamp distribution, which have the capacity to cause loosening of the band when the system is not operating. door, but can be closed when it is required to transmit the load of the band. An additional function of these tensioners is to compensate the stretching of the band as the system is subjected to prolonged use. The rotary clamp system can also be used in conjunction with an adjustable power setting, the electronic control system and the associated perception transducers. The clamp system is designed to disengage when the door reaches the fully open or fully closed positions, reacting to the overload condition in the same way as in the case of an obstruction. The system remains in manual mode until it receives a signal to operate automatically. This signal initially causes the main latch to disengage (when in the closed position) followed by the engagement of the belt clamp activator within the contracted position and finally operating the belt transmission motor until, either an obstruction or full movement, cause the clamp to release.

Claims (9)

R E I V I N D I C A I N N E S Having described the present invention, it is considered as a novelty and, therefore, the content of the following CLAIMS is claimed as property.

1. An automatic sliding door opening / closing system, which comprises: (a) a continuous system of energized band transmission located in a body of a vehicle; and (b) a clamp distribution capable of permanently adhering a door of a vehicle to the transmission system by band, so that it is automatically operated along a predetermined path and capable of being released under previously determined conditions. .

2. The opening / closing system of an automatic sliding door, as described in Claim 1, further characterized in that the energized band transmission system is located so that it is combined with one of the three rails of the body of the system standard hinge.

3. The opening / closing system of an automatic sliding door, as described in Claim 2, further characterized in that, the clamp distribution is adhered directly to one of the standard door hinge / roller assemblies on the door.

4. The opening / closing system of an automatic sliding door, as described in Claim 1, further characterized in that, the clamp distribution is a rotary apparatus inclined in a contraction action on the band by means of a cam distribution and spring, and the rotating apparatus is accommodated so that it is released from the band at a predetermined force threshold.

5. The opening / closing system of an automatic sliding door, as described in Claim 2, further characterized in that the clamp distribution is a rotary device inclined in a contraction action in the band by means of a cam and a spring distribution, and the rotating apparatus is accommodated so that it is released from the band at a predetermined force threshold.

6. The opening / closing system of an automatic sliding door, as described in Claim 3, further characterized in that, the clamp distribution is a rotary apparatus inclined in a contraction action in the band by means of a cam and a spring distribution, and the rotating apparatus is accommodated so that it is released from the band at a predetermined force threshold.

7. The opening / closing system of an automatic sliding door, as described in Claim 4, further characterized in that, the system of transmission by energized band incorporates two band tensioning devices, located on opposite sides of the clamp distribution , capable of producing the required loosening of the band to facilitate the movement of the rotary clamp apparatus in a contraction hitch with the band.

8. The opening / closing system of an automatic sliding door, as described in Claim 5, further characterized in that, the system for transmission by energized band incorporates two band tensioning devices, located on opposite sides of the clamp distribution , capable of producing the required loosening of the band to facilitate the movement of the rotary clamp apparatus in a contraction hitch with the band.

9. The opening / closing system of an automatic sliding door, as described in Claim 6, further characterized in that, the system for transmission by energized band incorporates two band tensioning devices, located on opposite sides of the clamp distribution , capable of producing the required loosening of the band to facilitate the movement of the rotary clamp apparatus in a contraction hitch with the band. SUMMARY An integrated component system that transports an automotive sliding door through its range of motion while providing adequate user safety. An automatic system for opening / closing a sliding door, comprising a system of transmission by continuous energized band, located in a vehicle and a distribution of clamps that has the ability to permanently adhere a door of the vehicle to the transmission system by band , so that it will be automatically driven along a certain trajectory and with releasing capacity under predetermined conditions. The energized belt drive system is located so that it will be combined with one of the three body rails of the standard door hinge system of a truck. The distribution of the clamp can be a tilting rotary device in a contraction action on the band through a cam and spring distribution.