SI26324A2 - A vehicle, especially a motorhome, with sliding doors - Google Patents

Abstract

The invention relates to a vehicle, in particular a motorhome (1), with a sliding door (2) which is movable between a closed position and an open position, for closing and opening a body opening (3) in the body (4) of the vehicle, the sliding door being power to move substantially parallel to the plane of the opening of the body opening (3) and at the end of the closing process by means of the electric closing device substantially perpendicular to the plane of the opening in the direction of the interior (5) of the vehicle, which is characterized by being in the region of the rear edge ( 18) and/or the front edge (8) of the sliding door (2), a spacer element (9) is placed, which extends from the sliding door (2) in the direction of the interior of the vehicle (5).

Description

A vehicle, especially a motorhome, with sliding doors

The present invention relates to a vehicle, in particular a motor home, having a sliding door that moves between a closed position and an open position for closing and opening a body opening in the vehicle body, wherein the sliding door is movable substantially parallel to the plane of the opening in the body and at the end of the closing process with the help of an electric closing device, they are movable essentially perpendicular to the plane of the opening in the direction of the interior of the vehicle.

In order to reduce the noise generated when closing the sliding doors of the vehicle as much as possible, in modern motor vehicles, such as e.g. motorhomes, electric closing devices more and more widespread. To transfer from the open position to the closed position, the sliding door known in the art is first manually or automatically moved parallel to the plane of the opening in the body until the sliding door substantially completely covers the opening in the body. At the end of the closing process, the sliding door moves in the direction of the body. If the sliding door then passes a certain distance to the body, the electric closing aid is activated.

Such a closure device creates large, function-dependent forces which, if a part of the body, such as a hand, is trapped, can cause serious injury, and if an object is trapped, it can cause significant damage to that object or to the vehicle.

To prevent this danger, various electronically controlled devices are known from the state of the art. DE 10 2013 018 628 Al describes a method for protection against entrapment, in which during the closing movement of the vehicle door, the movement area in front of the vehicle door is monitored for the presence of an obstacle with the help of a proximity sensor, whereby the closing movement is stopped or restricted if an obstacle is detected in the movement area an obstacle. Such procedures or devices are complex and expensive. In addition, there is a risk that, for example, in the event of a power failure or other functional disturbances, protection against entrapment is not guaranteed.

The task of the presented invention is to eliminate the described shortcomings from the state of the art. In particular, it is an object of the invention to develop a simple, inexpensive and safe anti-pinch protection for a sliding door for a vehicle with an electric closing device.

According to the invention, this task is solved with a vehicle of the type mentioned in the introduction, in which a spacer element is placed in the area of the front edge and/or the rear edge of the sliding door, which extends from the sliding door in the direction of the interior of the vehicle. This spacer element is usually placed on the inside, i.e. on the side of the sliding door facing the interior of the vehicle.

With the spacer element according to the invention, which is placed on the sliding door, it is possible, for example, safely and effectively prevents the hand from being trapped when closing the sliding door. If during the closing process the arm is located in the area between the rear edge or the front edge of the sliding door and the vehicle body, the spacer touches the arm and only slightly pushes it towards the body. In this position, the sliding door of the vehicle according to the invention is not yet located close enough to the body for the electric closing device to be activated. This prevents serious entrapment and thus injury to the hand. Details about this are available in the description of the images.

According to a particularly preferred embodiment of the vehicle according to the invention, the spacer element is a spacer bar which preferably extends from the upper edge of the sliding door to the lower edge of the sliding door and is preferably adapted to the contour of the sliding door. The advantage of such a spacer bar is that protection against entrapment is ensured in the entire area of the front edge of the sliding door.

The front edge of the sliding door is understood as the edge that forms the front edge during the closing process. In contrast, the trailing edge is the edge that forms the trailing edge during the closing process. The edge of the sliding door opposite the front edge is the rear edge of the sliding door.

Preferably, the spacer element, especially the spacer strip, is made of an elastic material, especially rubber. Such elastic material protects even better against injuries when a part of the body is trapped, for example the hand.

As a rule, the sliding door is closed by an electric closing device, starting from a manually achieved door position, in which the sliding door already completely or almost completely covers the body opening, so that the sliding door moves completely perpendicular to the plane of the opening, and this closing process is carried out only when when the minimum distance between the sliding door and the vehicle body is reached.

Preferably, reaching the minimum distance is registered by the control and regulation unit, which activates the electric motor for driving and moving the sliding door in the direction of the interior of the vehicle.

Further features of the invention can be seen from the following description of preferred embodiments of the invention in conjunction with the drawings and dependent claims. In this case, individual characteristics are implemented individually or in combination with each other.

The pictures show:

Figure 1: schematic representation of the vehicle according to the invention in the form of a motor home;

Figure 2: a detailed view of the vehicle according to the invention in the region of the rear edge of the sliding door;

Figure 3: the vehicle from Figure 2 in the closed position.

In the following, the same or functionally identical elements are indicated by the same reference symbols.

Figure 1 shows a schematic representation of a motorhome 1 according to the invention with a sliding door 2 which is movable between a closed position and an open position, for closing and opening an opening 3 in the body 4 of the vehicle. Opening 3 provides access to the interior 5 of the vehicle. The sliding door 2 is movable essentially parallel to the plane of the opening 3. In this case, the sliding door 2 is arranged movably on the body 4 of the motor home 1 in the opening direction 6 and the closing direction 7. At the end of the closing process, the sliding door 2 can be moved with an electric closing device substantially perpendicular to the plane of the opening 3 in the direction of the interior 5 of the vehicle.

When moving the sliding door from the open position shown in Figure 1 to the closed position, first the automatic or manual movement of the sliding door 2 is carried out essentially parallel to the plane of the opening 3 until the sliding door reaches a position in which the sliding door is almost completely they cover the opening 3 in the body 4. Such a position of the door is also shown in figure 2. Just before the sliding door 2 reaches this position, it already moves slightly in the direction of the body 4. After the minimum distance between the sliding door 2 and the vehicle body 4 is reached , the second and final closing step is performed, in which the opening 3 is completely closed by moving the sliding door 2 perpendicular to the plane of the opening. This final closing step is performed only after the minimum distance between the sliding door 2 and the body 4 of the vehicle is reached. When the minimum distance is reached, this is registered by the control and regulation unit (not shown here), which activates the electric motor for the drive and movement of the sliding door 2 in the direction of the interior 5 of the vehicle.

In the second closing step, in which the movement of the sliding door is carried out in the direction of the interior 5 of the vehicle and thus in the direction of the body 4, there is an increased risk of trapping parts of the body, such as e.g. hands, if, for example, a passenger who is already sitting inside the vehicle 5 accidentally puts his hand in this sensitive area between the sliding door 2 and the body 4. In order to eliminate this danger, a spacer element in the form of rubber strip 9, which extends from the sliding door 2 in the direction of the interior of the vehicle 5. This rubber strip 9 extends from the upper edge 10 of the sliding door 2 to the lower edge 11 of the sliding door 2. As can be seen in particular from Figures 2 and 3, the rubber strip 9 adapted to the contour of the sliding door 2. The rubber strip 9 is placed on the inner side 12 of the sliding door 2, i.e. on the side of the sliding door 2 that faces the interior 5 of the vehicle, and expands along its width B in the direction of the interior 5 of the vehicle. In the embodiment shown in Figure 2, the rubber strip 9 slightly protrudes beyond the front edge 8 of the sliding door 2.

In the embodiment shown in Figure 2, the rubber strip is arranged in the region of the rear edge 18 of the sliding door 2.

If the hand 13 of the person shown in Fig. 2 is located in the gap 14 between the sliding door 2 and the body 4 during the closing process, the rubber strip 9 causes the fingers of the hand 13 to push in the direction of the body 4 and lightly touch it. There is a certain distance between the sliding door 2 and the body 4, which is determined by the sum of the width B of the rubber strip 9 and the thickness of the fingers 13. However, this distance does not yet correspond to the minimum distance between the sliding door 2 and the body 4, which would be necessary to activate the electronic device to close. This prevents the electronic closing device from moving the sliding door 2 in the direction of the body 4 and fingers being trapped between these two elements. In this way, injuries to the hand or fingers.

The front edge 8 of the sliding door 2 faces the front of the vehicle, and the rear edge 18 (not shown in Figure 1) faces the rear of the vehicle.

As can be seen in particular from figure 3, the rubber strip 9 in the closed state also acts as a seal in the area between the sliding door 2 and the body 4.

Claims (5)

Patent claims 1. A vehicle, in particular a motorhome (1), with a sliding door (2) movable between a closed position and an open position for closing and opening a body opening (3) in the body (4) of the vehicle, the sliding door being movable in essentially parallel to the plane of the opening (3) in the body, and at the end of the closing process are movable by means of an electric closing device essentially perpendicular to the plane of the opening in the direction of the interior (5) of the vehicle, typically in the region of the rear edge (18) and /or the front edge (8) of the sliding door (2) a distance element (9) is placed, which extends from the sliding door (2) in the direction of the interior (5) of the vehicle. 2. Vehicle according to claim 1, characterized in that the spacer element is a spacer bar (9), which preferably extends from the upper edge (10) of the sliding door (2) to the lower edge (11) of the sliding door (2) and is preferably adapted the contours of the sliding door (2). 3. Vehicle according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the spacer element (9) is made of elastic material, especially rubber. 4. A vehicle according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the electric closing device completely closes the sliding door (2), starting from a manually or automatically achieved door position in which the sliding door already completely or almost completely covers the body opening (3 ), so that the sliding door (2) moves perpendicular to the plane of the body opening (3), whereby this closing process is carried out only when the minimum distance between the sliding door (2) and the body (4) of the vehicle is reached. 5. Vehicle according to claim 4, characterized in that the achievement of the minimum distance is registered with the help of the control and regulation unit, which activates the electric motor for driving and moving the sliding door (2) in the direction of the interior (5) of the vehicle.