Sliding door module structure for a vehicle

Abstract

A sliding door module structure for a vehicle, comprising: a module holding part (20) to which a component associated with a door is attached, and a door rail (30) formed integrally with the module holding part (20) and coupled to a runner (50) adapted to be connected to a vehicle body to be movable, wherein the door rail (30) is attached to a door inner panel (12) by an attachment retaining part (40), wherein the door rail (30) has a rail body (32), an upper guide rail (34) formed integrally in the rail body (32) and arranged at an upper portion in the vertical direction of the vehicle, and a lower guide rail (36) arranged at a lower portion in the vertical direction of the vehicle, and wherein the attachment holding part (40) comprises: two support grooves (42) having an arc shape into which the corresponding one of the lower and upper guide rails (34, 36) is inserted to be supported, a support flange (44) disposed between the two support grooves (42) and supporting the rail body (32) while surface-contacting the rail body, and a mounting flange (46) extending from each of the support grooves (42) to be secured to the door inner panel (12).

Description

Background of the inventionField of the invention

[0001] The present invention relates to a sliding door module structure (e.g., a structure of a sliding door module) for a vehicle (e.g., an automobile), and more particularly, to a sliding door module structure for a vehicle in which a center rail attached to a sliding door is attached to a door inner panel and, at the same time, is integral with a door module holding member to improve assemblability / mountability and strength (e.g., rigidity) of a sliding door. Description of the technology used

[0002] In general, a vehicle compartment (e.g., a passenger compartment) which has a predetermined size and which can be entered by a driver or a passenger accompanying the driver is formed in a vehicle, and a vehicle compartment opening / closing door is installed on a vehicle body to open / close the vehicle compartment.

[0003] In the case of a car, the vehicle compartment opening / closing door includes a front door installed on a front side of the car in a longitudinal direction of the vehicle and a rear door installed on a rear side of the car in the longitudinal direction of the vehicle, and the front door and the rear door are generally installed on the vehicle body so as to be pivotable by means of a hinge.

[0004] In the case of a minibus (e.g. also called a "van") in which many people can ride, the vehicle compartment opening / closing door is designed to open / close the vehicle compartment while moving forward and backward in the longitudinal direction of the vehicle.

[0005] In the case of a sliding type vehicle compartment opening / closing door of a van, the vehicle compartment opening / closing door opens the vehicle compartment by moving rearward in the longitudinal direction of the vehicle and closes the vehicle compartment by moving forward in the longitudinal direction of the vehicle, and thus, a space necessary for opening / closing the door is smaller than that of the hinge type vehicle compartment opening / closing door of the car, and a door opening formed in the vehicle body can be fully opened for opening / closing even in a small space (e.g., when there is an obstacle immediately adjacent to the vehicle, such as another vehicle in the case of a parking space).

[0006] However, the sliding door vehicle compartment opening / closing door in the related art requires three support and guide rails that support an upper portion, a middle portion, and a lower portion of the door while the door is opened / closed, and related components, which increases a weight and a number of components of the vehicle and deteriorates a degree of freedom in a design of the vehicle.

[0007] As a result, in recent years, a sliding door device for a vehicle has been developed which guides and supports a sliding door only by a central rail attached to a sliding door and a lower rail attached to the vehicle body, in order to reduce the number of sliding door rails and associated components, thereby increasing productivity and fuel efficiency, and assemblability / assemblability and productivity (e.g., in manufacturing) of the sliding door need to be improved and strength (e.g., rigidity) of the sliding door needs to be increased by designing / tuning the central rail in the sliding door device for the vehicle.

[0008] The information disclosed in this "Background of the Invention" section is provided for the sole purpose of facilitating an understanding of the general background of the invention and is not intended as an acknowledgement or any form of suggestion that this information constitutes prior art already known to those skilled in the art.

[0009] For example, from DE 10 2006 019 381 A1 a sliding door module structure for a vehicle is known, comprising a module holding part to which a component associated with a door is attached, and comprising a door rail formed integrally with the module holding part and coupled to a runner adapted to be connected to a vehicle body to be movable.

[0010] Further sliding door module structures are known, for example, from JP 4 753 039 B2 and US 9 050 878 B2. Furthermore, door reinforcement structures are known, for example, from CN 201972544 U and US 5 599 057 A. Explanation of the invention

[0011] It is an object of the present invention to provide a sliding door module structure (e.g., a structure of a sliding door module / sliding door assembly) for a vehicle (e.g., an automobile) which improves assemblability and producibility of a two-rail type sliding door device for the vehicle and increases strength (e.g., rigidity) of a sliding door to effectively cope with a side crash / side impact.

[0012] The object is achieved by a sliding door device having the features according to claim 1. Further embodiments of the sliding door device are described in the dependent claims.

[0013] That is, a sliding door module structure for a vehicle includes: a module support member (e.g., supporting the sliding door) to which (e.g., at least) one component associated with a door (e.g., a door speaker, a window lift mechanism, etc.) is attached; and a door rail integrally molded with the module support member and coupled to a slider (e.g., a sliding shoe) configured to be connected to a vehicle body so as to be movable. The door rail is attached to a door inner panel through an attachment support member. The door rail includes: a rail body, an upper guide rail integrally molded in the rail body and disposed at an upper portion in the vehicle vertical direction, and a lower guide rail disposed at a lower portion in the vehicle vertical direction.The attachment support member includes: two support grooves having an arc shape into which the corresponding one of the lower and upper guide rails is inserted to be supported, a support flange disposed between the two support grooves and supporting the rail body while surface-contacting the rail body, and a fixing flange extending from each of the support grooves to be fixed to the door inner panel.

[0014] The door rail can be permanently attached to an inside door panel (e.g. an inside door wall).

[0015] The module holding part and the door rail, which can be made of a plastic material, are, for example, integrally / one-piece injection-molded.

[0016] The door rail may be shaped to protrude to an inside of a vehicle compartment instead of the door inner panel, and may be shaped to extend in a longitudinal direction of the vehicle to have each of a front outermost end and a rear outermost end, the front outermost end and the rear outermost end being attached to the door inner panel by an attachment bracket.

[0017] The attachment support member may have a rectangular plate shape, and both extreme ends in the longitudinal direction thereof may be fixed to a lower and an upper portion of the door inner panel in a vehicle height direction (e.g., both extreme ends, ie, the front extreme end and the rear extreme end of the door rail may be fixed by the attachment support member to the door inner panel), and each of the front extreme end and the rear extreme end of the door rail may be supported while being inserted between the attachment support member and the door inner panel (e.g., fixed jointly by both of them).

[0018] The rail body can have a rectangular block shape.

[0019] A runner (e.g., a sliding shoe, a roller runner, etc.) may be coupled to the door rail to move along the door rail, a first end of a pivot arm may be rotatably attached to the runner relative to the door rail, and a second end of the pivot arm may be configured to be rotatably attached to the vehicle body relative to the vehicle body.

[0020] A reinforcing element (e.g. a steel bar) can be inserted into each of the upper guide rail and the lower guide rail.

[0021] The slider may comprise: two slider blocks into which the upper guide rail and the lower guide rail are inserted, respectively, a plurality of rollers which are inserted into the two slider blocks and which roll while contacting the upper guide rail and the lower guide rail, respectively, and a support holding part which connects the two slider blocks to each other and is fixed (e.g. to a swing arm) and which is rotatable relative to one end of the swing arm and is fixed thereto (end of the swing arm).

[0022] According to various embodiments of the present invention, a sliding door module structure for a vehicle attaches a door rail that guides a sliding movement of a sliding door to a door inner panel while being integral with a module holding part to improve assemblability and productivity of the sliding door.

[0023] The door rail is attached to the sliding door to extend forward / rearward in a width direction of the sliding door, that is, the longitudinal direction of the vehicle, and is arranged substantially at a central portion in the height direction of the sliding door, that is, the height direction of the vehicle, to increase a structural strength (e.g., rigidity) of the sliding door, and thus, an impact beam attached to a door for coping with a side impact in the related art is not necessary, thereby reducing a number of components, a weight, and a manufacturing cost of the sliding door.

[0024] Further, two guide rails, i.e., a lower and an upper guide rail having a circular bar shape that guides a runner, are provided on the door rail, and the runner can therefore stably / safely move (e.g., slide and / or roll) on the two guide rails, thereby improving an opening / closing operation of the sliding door.

[0025] It is to be understood that the term "vehicle" or "vehicle-..." or any other similar terms used herein includes motor vehicles in general, such as passenger vehicles, including so-called sport utility vehicles (SUVs), buses, trucks, numerous commercial vehicles, and e.g., watercraft, including a variety of boats and ships, as well as e.g., aircraft and the like, and further includes hybrid vehicles, electric vehicles, plug-in hybrid electric vehicles, hydrogen-powered vehicles, and other alternative fuel vehicles (e.g., fuels produced from resources other than petroleum). A so-called hybrid vehicle, as referred to herein, is a vehicle that has two or more power sources, e.g., vehicles that are powered by both gasoline and electricity.

[0026] The devices of the present invention have other advantages which will be apparent from, or pointed out in more detail in, the accompanying drawings incorporated herein and the following detailed description, which together serve to explain certain principles of the present invention. Short description of the drawings Fig. 1 is a front view of an exemplary sliding door module structure for a vehicle according to the present invention. Fig. 2 is a perspective, partially cutaway rear view of the exemplary sliding door module structure for the vehicle according to the present invention. Fig. 3 is a perspective, partially cutaway front view of the exemplary sliding door module structure for the vehicle according to the present invention. Fig. 4 is a side view of a door rail of the exemplary sliding door module structure for the vehicle according to the present invention

[0027] It should be understood that the attached drawings are not necessarily to scale and represent a somewhat simplified representation of various features illustrating the basic principles of the invention. The specific constructional features of the present invention, including, for example, specific dimensions, directions, positions, and shapes disclosed herein, will be dictated in part by the particular intended application and usage environment. Detailed description

[0028] Referring to the Fig. 1, in a sliding door 10 for a vehicle (e.g., a motor vehicle, e.g., a van) implementing a sliding door module structure for the vehicle according to various embodiments of the present invention, a door inner panel 12 and a door outer panel 14 are combined to form a door shape.

[0029] The sliding door module structure for the vehicle according to various embodiments of the present invention may include: a module holding part 20 in which components associated with the door, such as a door speaker or a door window regulator, are installed and which is fixed to and supported on the door inner panel 12, and a door rail 30 which is integrally formed in the module holding part 20.

[0030] The module holding part 20 and the door rail 30 may be integrally injection molded using, for example, a plastic material.

[0031] When the module holding part 20 and the door rail 30 are integrally designed / matched to be provided on a production line of the vehicles, assemblability / mountability and productivity of the sliding door can be improved.

[0032] The door rail 30 may be shaped to protrude instead of the door inner panel 12 to / toward the inside of a vehicle compartment, and may be shaped to extend in a width direction of the door, that is, the longitudinal direction of the vehicle, and each of a front outermost end 31 and a rear outermost end 33 in the longitudinal direction of the vehicle may be attached and supported to the door inner panel 12 by an attachment support member 40 (e.g., associated).

[0033] The attachment support member 40 has a substantially rectangular plate shape, and both extreme ends 31, 33 in the longitudinal direction thereof are fixed to an upper and a lower portion of the door inner panel 12 in the door upright direction, that is, the vehicle upright direction, and each of the front extreme end 31 and the rear extreme end 33 of the door rail 30 can be inserted and supported between the attachment support member 40 and the door inner panel 12.

[0034] The door rail 30 is shaped to extend forward and rearward in the longitudinal direction of the vehicle and is mounted substantially around the central portion in the vertical direction of the door. Consequently, the support rigidity of the sliding door 10 is increased to effectively cope with a side impact of the vehicle. Therefore, a side impact beam mounted on the door in the related art for coping with the side impact is not necessary, thus reducing the number of components, weight, and manufacturing cost of the door.

[0035] A runner 50 may be coupled to the door rail 30 to move along the door rail 30, one end of a pivot arm 60 may be relatively rotatably attached to the runner 50 by means of a pin / pivot, and the other end of the pivot arm may be relatively rotatably attached to the vehicle body by means of a pin / pivot.

[0036] Consequently, the sliding door 10 is rotatably supported (e.g., swingable) on the vehicle body by the swing arm 60 and moves forward and backward in the longitudinal direction of the vehicle by the door rail 30 coupled to the slider 50 to open / close a door opening formed in the vehicle body.

[0037] Referring to the Fig. 2 and Fig. 3, the door rail 30 may include: a rail body 32 having a substantially rectangular block shape, an upper guide rail 34 formed integrally with the rail body 32 and disposed at an upper portion in the vertical direction of the door, and a lower guide rail 36 disposed at a lower portion.

[0038] Each of the upper guide rail 34 and the lower guide rail 36 may have a circular rod shape, and, as shown in the Fig. 4, for example, an iron core 38 (e.g., also a steel profile, such as a steel bar) may be inserted as a reinforcing element into each of the upper guide rail 34 and the lower guide rail 36 to increase the rigidity.

[0039] The slider 50 may include two slider blocks 52 into which the upper guide rail 34 and the lower guide rail 36 are respectively inserted, a plurality of rollers 54 which are inserted into two slider blocks 52 and rotate while contacting the upper guide rail 34 and the lower guide rail 36, respectively, and a support holding part 56 which connects and fixes the two slider blocks 52 and which is fixed to one end of the swing arm 60 by means of a pin 62.

[0040] As described above, the two guide rails, ie, the lower and upper guide rails 34 and 36, which have a circular bar shape and which guide the slider 50, are provided on the door rail 30 (e.g., as an integral part thereof), and thus the slider 50 can stably / safely move along the two guide rails 34, 36, thereby improving an opening / closing operation of the sliding door.

[0041] Referring to the Fig.4, the attachment holding part 40 may include: two support grooves 42 having a substantially arcuate shape and into which the upper guide rail 34 and the lower guide rail 36 are respectively inserted to be supported and not move, a support flange 44 disposed between the two support grooves 42 and supporting the rail body 32 so that it does not move while the rail body 32 is surface-contacted (e.g., by the support flange), and a fixing flange 46 extending from each of the support grooves 42 to be fixed to the door inner panel 12.

[0042] The support grooves 42 and the support flange 44 of the attachment holding part 40 can support the door rail 30 to attach (e.g., the support rail) stably / securely to the door inner panel 12 so that it does not move.

[0043] For ease of explanation and to accurately define the appended claims, the terms "upper" or "lower", "inner" or "outer", etc., are used to describe features of the exemplary embodiments with reference to positions of those features shown in the drawings.

[0044] The foregoing descriptions of certain exemplary embodiments of the present invention have been presented for purposes of illustration and description. They are not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the invention to the precise forms disclosed, and obviously many changes and modifications are possible in light of the above teachings. The exemplary embodiments were chosen and described in order to explain certain principles of the invention and their practical applicability to thereby enable those skilled in the art to make and use various exemplary embodiments of the present invention, as well as various alternatives and modifications thereof. It is intended that the scope of the invention be defined by the appended claims and their equivalents.

Claims

[1] A sliding door module structure for a vehicle, comprising: a module holding part (20) to which a component associated with a door is attached, and a door rail (30) formed integrally with the module holding part (20) and coupled to a runner (50) adapted to be connected to a vehicle body to be movable, wherein the door rail (30) is attached to a door inner panel (12) by an attachment retaining part (40), wherein the door rail (30) has a rail body (32), an upper guide rail (34) formed integrally in the rail body (32) and arranged at an upper portion in the vertical direction of the vehicle, and a lower guide rail (36) arranged at a lower portion in the vertical direction of the vehicle, and wherein the attachment holding part (40) comprises: two support grooves (42) having an arc shape into which the corresponding one of the lower and upper guide rails (34, 36) is inserted to be supported, a support flange (44) disposed between the two support grooves (42) and supporting the rail body (32) while surface-contacting the rail body, and a mounting flange (46) extending from each of the support grooves (42) to be secured to the door inner panel (12). [2] The sliding door module structure according to claim 1, wherein the door rail (30) is fixedly attached to a door inner panel (12). [3] The sliding door module structure according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the module holding part (20) and the door rail (30), which are made of a plastic material, are integrally injection-molded. [4] The sliding door module structure according to claim 2 or 3, wherein the door rail (30) is shaped to protrude to an inside of a vehicle compartment instead of the door inner panel (12), and is shaped to extend in a longitudinal direction of the vehicle to have each of a front outermost end and a rear outermost end, and wherein the front outermost end and the rear outermost end are attached to the door inner panel (12) by the attachment holding member (40). [5] The sliding door module structure according to claim 4, wherein the attachment support member (40) has a rectangular plate shape and both extreme ends in the longitudinal direction are fixed to an upper and a lower portion of the door inner panel (12) in a vehicle up-down direction thereof, and each of the front and rear extreme ends of the door rail (30) is inserted and supported between the attachment support member (40) and the door inner panel (12). [6] The sliding door module structure according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the rail body (32) has a rectangular block shape. [7] The sliding door module structure according to claim 6, wherein a runner (50) is coupled to the door rail (30) to move along the door rail (30), a first end of a pivot arm (60) is rotatably attached to the runner (50) relative to the latter, and a second end of the pivot arm (60) is adapted to be rotatably attached to the vehicle body relative to the latter. [8] The sliding door module structure according to claim 6 or 7, wherein a reinforcing member (38) is inserted into each of the upper and lower guide rails (34, 36). [9] The sliding door module structure according to claim 7, wherein the runner (50) comprises: two runner blocks (52) into which the corresponding lower and upper guide rails (34, 36) are inserted, a plurality of rollers (54) inserted into the two slider blocks (52) and rolling while contacting the corresponding one of the upper and lower guide rails (34, 36), and a support holding part (56) which connects and fixes the two runner blocks (52) together and which is rotatable relative to one end of the pivot arm (60) and is connected thereto.

Images