Glass run channel and glass run channel assembly

Abstract

To provide a glass run channel and a glass run channel assembly which suppress the increasing of a reaction force with respect to bending deformation of the root side of a lip part while securing slidability of the lip part with respect to the window plate and the slidability of a portion manually pushed into the window plate by an operator upon attachment operation.SOLUTION: Lip parts 25, 26 are formed so that a bending point 29 which is bent when the lip parts 25, 26 slide with a window plate 14 and are elastically deformed upon rise and fall of the window plate 14 is located on the root side of the lip parts 25, 26. On the tip side of the lip parts 25, 26 from the bending point 29, of surfaces of the lip parts 25, 26, a first coated part 31 having a friction coefficient smaller than those of the lip parts 25, 26 is formed and, over surfaces of design parts 27, 28 from a position of the tip side of the lip parts 25, 26 from the bending point 29 of the lip parts 25, 26, or the bending point 29, a second coated part 32 having a friction coefficient smaller than those of the lip parts 25, 26 is formed. The first coated part 31 is formed so as to get harder than the second coated part 32.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 3

Description

[Technical field]

[0001] The present invention relates to a glass run channel and a glass run channel assembly that are attached along a window frame of a door panel of a vehicle. [Background technology]

[0002] The glass run channel is attached to a channel (groove) in the window frame of a vehicle door panel, guides the periphery of the window plate (window glass) as it moves up and down, and serves to seal between the window plate and the door panel when the window plate is closed. For example, the glass run channel described in Patent Document 1 (JP Patent Publication No. 2000-185558) has an elastically deformable inner lip portion and outer lip portion that protrude toward the inside of the main body portion from the respective ends of the inner side wall portion and the outer side wall portion of a main body portion that has a U-shaped cross section and is made of an elastic polymer material, and a soft synthetic resin coating layer containing a lubricant is formed on the surface of each lip portion that slides against the window plate to improve sliding. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0003] [Patent Document 1] JP 2000-185558 A Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0004] In recent years, due to reasons such as the change in the window plate lifting mechanism from an arm type to a wire type, it is desired that the lip portion of the glass run channel be able to slide easily against the window plate, and as in Patent Document 1 mentioned above, a coating layer with good sliding properties is sometimes formed on the surface of the lip portion.

[0005] However, a coating layer with good sliding properties is often harder than the lip, and if the coating layer is formed up to the base of the lip, the reaction force against bending deformation on the base side of the lip increases, making it difficult to raise and lower the window pane. If a coating layer is not formed at the base of the lip, the reaction force against bending deformation on the base side of the lip can be prevented from increasing, but when attaching the glass run channel to the window frame, the worker presses the base side of the lip in a sliding manner along the longitudinal direction, so slidability is also required at the base of the lip to improve the ease of attachment of the glass run channel.

[0006] Therefore, the problem that the present invention aims to solve is to provide a glass run channel and a glass run channel assembly that can suppress an increase in reaction force against bending deformation at the base side of the lip portion while ensuring the slidability of the lip portion against the window plate and the slidability of the base side of the lip portion, which is the part that the worker presses in during installation. [Means for solving the problem]

[0007] In order to solve the above problems, the invention according to claim 1 provides a glass run channel made of an elastic polymer material that is attached along a window frame of a door panel of a vehicle and is formed in a long length so as to guide the movement of a window pane, the glass run channel having a U-shaped cross section and including a side wall portion on an interior side of the vehicle and a side wall portion on an exterior side of the vehicle, and a bottom wall portion that integrally connects both side wall portions, an elastically deformable lip portion on an interior side of the vehicle and a lip portion on an exterior side of the vehicle that protrude from an end of each side wall portion toward the inside of the body portion, and an elastically deformable design portion on an interior side of the vehicle and a design portion on an exterior side of the vehicle that protrude from an end of each side wall portion toward the outside of the body portion, At least one of the lip portions on the vehicle exterior is formed so that a bending point at which the lip portion bends when it slides against the window plate and elastically deforms as the window plate is raised and lowered is located on the base side of the lip portion, and a first covering portion having a smaller friction coefficient than the lip portion is formed on the surface of the lip portion that slides against the window plate, closer to the tip of the lip portion than the bending point, and a second covering portion having a smaller friction coefficient than the lip portion is formed from the bending point of the lip portion or a position closer to the tip of the lip portion than the bending point to the surface of the design portion, and the first covering portion is formed so as to be harder than the second covering portion.

[0008] In this configuration, the first covering portion, which has a smaller coefficient of friction than the lip portion, is formed on the surface of the lip portion that slides against the window plate, so that the sliding properties required for the raising and lowering movement of the window plate can be ensured. Moreover, the first covering portion formed on the surface of the lip portion is harder than the second covering portion formed on the surface of the design portion, so that the sliding properties are even higher and the sliding properties against the window plate can be further improved. Furthermore, the second covering portion, which has a smaller coefficient of friction than the lip portion, is formed from the bending point of the lip portion or from a position on the lip portion tip side from the bending point to the surface of the design portion, so that the portion from the base side of the lip portion to the surface of the design portion, where the worker slides his / her hand along the longitudinal direction when pushing the glass run channel into the window frame to install it, can be made more slippery by the second covering portion, so that the workability of installing the glass run channel can be improved. Furthermore, the first covering portion, which is harder than the second covering portion, is formed closer to the tip of the lip portion than the bending point on the root side of the lip portion, and the bending point on the root side of the lip portion is not covered by the hard first covering portion, so that bending deformation on the root side of the lip portion is not hindered and an increase in the reaction force against the bending deformation on the root side of the lip portion can be suppressed.

[0009] As in claim 2, the durometer hardness (type D) defined in JIS K7215 of the first covering portion, which is the covering portion of the lip portion, is desirably set to HDD40 or more and 60 or less. If the hardness of the first covering portion is within this range, it is possible to prevent a decrease in flexibility of the lip portion while ensuring a predetermined sliding property of the lip portion against the window plate.

[0010] Furthermore, it is desirable that the durometer hardness (Type A) of the second covering part, which is the covering part of the design part, as specified in JIS K7215 be not less than HDA80 and not more than 95. If the hardness of the second covering part is within this range, it is possible to prevent the lip part from becoming difficult to bend at the bending point while ensuring the necessary sliding properties of the design part during the installation work of the glass run channel.

[0011] It is desirable that the first covered portion and the second covered portion are formed so as to be in contact with each other, as in claim 3. This allows the first covered portion and the second covered portion to be formed continuously without any gaps from the lip portion to the design portion, ensuring continuous slidability from the lip portion to the design portion.

[0012] As in claim 4, it is desirable to make the thickness of the second covering portion thinner than the thickness of the first covering portion. This not only ensures that the bending deformation of the design portion where the second covering portion is formed is not hindered, but also ensures that the bending deformation of the base side of the lip portion is not hindered even if the bending point of the lip portion is covered with the second covering portion.

[0013] As in claim 5, the thickness of the first covering portion is desirably 0.1 mm or more and 0.4 mm or less. By making the thickness of the first covering portion 0.1 mm or more, it is possible to leave the first covering portion on the surface of the lip portion even if the first covering portion wears away due to repeated raising and lowering of the window plate, and it is possible to always keep the lip portion easily sliding against the window plate. Furthermore, by making the thickness of the first covering portion 0.4 mm or less, it is possible to prevent the lip portion itself from becoming difficult to elastically deform due to the first covering portion.

[0014] In addition, it is desirable that the thickness of the second covering portion is 0.01 mm or more and less than 0.1 mm. When attaching the glass run channel to the window frame of the door panel of the vehicle, when a worker presses his / her hand along the root side of the lip portion of the glass run channel or the surface of the design portion adjacent thereto in a sliding manner along the longitudinal direction, the root side of the lip portion and the surface of the design portion adjacent thereto are easily slippery, which improves workability. In addition, by making the thickness of the second covering portion less than 0.1 mm, it is possible to prevent the lip portion from being difficult to bend and deform at the bending point even if the bending point of the lip portion is covered by the second covering portion.

[0015] When the glass run channel of the above configuration is applied to a glass run channel assembly having an upper side glass run channel attached along the upper side of a window frame of a vehicle door panel and a vertical side glass run channel attached along the vertical side of the window frame, as in claim 6, the glass run channel of the above configuration may be applied to both the upper side glass run channel and the vertical side glass run channel, or the glass run channel of the above configuration may be applied only to the upper side glass run channel or only to the vertical side glass run channel. Note that if the glass run channel of the above configuration is applied to the vertical side glass run channel, a first covering portion is formed on the lip portion which frequently slides when the window pane is raised and lowered, so that the slidability when the window pane is raised and lowered is high, and the effect of applying the present invention is great. [Brief description of the drawings]

[0016] [Figure 1] FIG. 1 is a side view of a front door of a vehicle. [Diagram 2] FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of the glass run channel taken along line II-II in FIG. 1 with the window plate open. [Diagram 3] 3 is a cross-sectional view of the glass run channel with the window plate closed, taken along the line II-II in FIG. [Figure 4] FIG. 4 is an enlarged cross-sectional view of the root side and surrounding area of ​​the lip portion on the vehicle interior side. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0017] DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment in which the present invention is applied to a front door of a vehicle will be described below.

[0018] First, the schematic configuration of the front door 11 will be described with reference to FIG. A window frame 12 is integrally formed in the upper half of the door 11, and a long glass run channel assembly 13 made of an elastic polymer material is attached to the window frame 12 so as to guide the upward and downward movement of a window pane 14 (window glass) along the window frame 12.

[0019] This glass run channel assembly 13 is mainly composed of an upper edge glass run channel 15 that is attached to the upper edge portion 12a of the window frame 12, a front vertical edge glass run channel 16 that is attached to the front vertical edge portion 12b of the window frame 12, a rear vertical edge glass run channel 17 that is attached to the rear vertical edge portion 12c of the window frame 12, a front side molded corner portion 18 that connects the upper edge glass run channel 15 and the front vertical edge glass run channel 16 and is attached to the front corner portion 12d of the window frame 12, and a rear side molded corner portion 19 that connects the upper edge glass run channel 15 and the rear vertical edge glass run channel 17 and is attached to the rear corner portion 12e of the window frame 12.

[0020] Each of the glass run channels 15-17 on the top side and the front and rear vertical sides of the glass run channel assembly 13 is formed by extrusion molding with an elastic polymer material into a uniform cross-sectional shape. The front and rear molded corner portions 18, 19 are formed between the ends of adjacent glass run channels by injection molding (insert injection molding) using an elastic polymer material so as to connect the ends to each other.

[0021] The elastic polymer material forming the glass run channel assembly 13 may be vulcanized elastic rubber [typically a material mainly composed of ethylene-propylene-diene rubber (EPDM)], olefin-based thermoplastic elastomer (TPO), etc. The elastic polymer material forming the front and rear molded corner portions 18, 19 is preferably one that is compatible with and chemically bonds to the adjacent glass run channels so that the ends of the adjacent glass run channels are connected when injection molded.

[0022] Next, the structure of rear vertical side glass run channel 17 will be described with reference to Figures 2 to 4. Note that front vertical side glass run channel 16 has the same structure as rear vertical side glass run channel 17, except that the front-to-back orientation is reversed, so a description of each part of front vertical side glass run channel 16 will be omitted.

[0023] As shown in Figure 2, the vertical side glass run channels 16, 17 have a main body 24 with a U-shaped cross section consisting of a side wall portion 21 on the inside of the vehicle and a side wall portion 22 on the outside of the vehicle, and a bottom wall portion 23 that connects both side wall portions 21, 22 together, an inner lip portion 25 on the inside of the vehicle and a lip portion 26 on the outside of the vehicle that are elastically deformable protruding from the ends of each of the side wall portions 21, 22 toward the inside of the main body portion 24, and an inner design portion 27 on the inside of the vehicle and a design portion 28 on the outside of the main body portion 24 that are elastically deformable protruding from the ends of each of the side wall portions 21, 22 toward the outside of the main body portion 24.

[0024] The lip portions 25, 26 on the vehicle interior side and exterior side are formed so that a bending point 29 at which the lip portions 25, 26 bend when they slide against the window pane 14 and elastically deform as the window pane 14 rises and falls is located on the base side of the lip portions 25, 26. In this embodiment, the thickness of the lip portions 25, 26 is thinner near the base than other portions, and the center of the thinnest portion near the base is the bending point 29. As shown in Figure 3, when the window pane 14 rises and enters the main body portion 24 of the rear vertical side glass run channel 17, the lip portions 25, 26 bend at the bending point 29 and elastically deform.

[0025] A first covering portion 31 having a smaller friction coefficient than the lip portions 25, 26 is formed on the surface of the lip portions 25, 26 that slides against the window plate 14, closer to the tip of the lip portions 25, 26 than the bending point 29.

[0026] Furthermore, a second covering portion 32 having a smaller friction coefficient than the lip portions 25,26 is formed from the bending point 29 of the lip portions 25,26 or from a position on the tip side of the bending point 29 of the lip portions 25,26 to the surfaces of the design portions 27,28.

[0027] In this embodiment, the dynamic friction coefficient of the first covering portion 31 measured by the test method of ASTM D-1894 is μ1=0.2 or less, and the dynamic friction coefficient of the second covering portion 32 is μ2=0.4 or less.

[0028] The first covering portion 31 which covers the lip portions 25, 26 is formed to be harder than the second covering portion 32 which covers the design portions 27, 28.

[0029] Specifically, the durometer hardness (type D) of the first covering portion 31 which is the covering portion of the lip portions 25, 26 is set to be equal to or greater than 40 and equal to or less than 60 as defined by JIS K7215.

[0030] The durometer hardness (type A) of the second covering portion 32, which is the covering portion of the design portions 27, 28, is set to be HDA80 or more and 95 or less, as defined in JIS K7215.

[0031] Furthermore, the thickness of the second covering portion 32 which covers the design portions 27, 28 is made thinner than the thickness of the first covering portion which covers the lip portions 25, 26. For example, the thickness of the first covering portion 31 is set to 0.1 mm or more and 0.4 mm or less, and the thickness of the second covering portion 32 is set to 0.01 mm or more and less than 0.1 mm.

[0032] The first covered portion 31 and the second covered portion 32 are formed so as to be in contact with each other with no gap therebetween. As shown in Fig. 4, the boundary between the first covered portion 31 and the second covered portion 32 is set at a position away from the bending point 29 toward the lip portions 25, 26 by a predetermined distance A (e.g., 0.5 mm). In this way, even if the position of the boundary between the first covered portion 31 and the second covered portion 32 shifts due to manufacturing variations, the bending point 29 will not be covered by the first covered portion 31, and elastic deformation of the lip portions 25, 26 will not be hindered.

[0033] When attaching the vertical side glass run channels 16, 17 to the window frame 12 having a U-shaped cross section, the worker slides the root side of the lip parts 25, 26 of the vertical side glass run channels 16, 17 and the surface of the design parts 27, 28 adjacent thereto in the longitudinal direction with a hand wearing a work glove, and pushes them into the groove of the window frame 12. Therefore, when the worker pushes the vertical side glass run channels 16, 17 into the window frame 12 to attach them, the part from the root side of the lip parts 25, 26 to the surface of the design parts 27, 28, which is the part that the worker pushes in, can be made slippery by the second covering part 32. In this case, the second covering part 32 may be formed on the entire surface of the design parts 27, 28, but the second covering part 32 may not be formed on the tip side of the design parts 27, 28 where the worker's hand does not slip during the installation work, even if it is on the surface of the design parts 27, 28.

[0034] In this embodiment, as shown in Fig. 4, the second covering portion 32 is formed on the surface of the design portion 27 on the vehicle interior side in a portion where the worker's hand may slip during installation (a region from the boundary of the first covering portion 31 to a position a predetermined distance B away from the design portions 27, 28 side). On the other hand, as shown in Figs. 2 and 3, the second covering portion 32 is formed up to the tip side of the design portion 28 on the surface of the design portion 28 on the vehicle exterior side in consideration of the fact that the portion where the worker's hand may slip from the vehicle exterior during installation is greater than that of the design portion 27 on the vehicle interior side.

[0035] The top-side glass run channel 15 may have the same configuration as or a different configuration from the vertical-side glass run channels 16, 17. The top-side glass run channel 15 does not necessarily have to have the same configuration as the vertical-side glass run channels 16, 17 because the lip portion of the top-side glass run channel 15 slides less frequently against the window pane 14 when the window pane 14 moves up and down compared to the vertical-side glass run channels 16, 17; however, it is desirable to form a covering portion with a smaller friction coefficient than the lip portion on the surface of the lip portion of the top-side glass run channel 15 that slides against the window pane 14 and on the surface of the design portion, at least on the portion where the worker's hand may slip during installation work, in order to improve slipperiness.

[0036] According to the present embodiment described above, the first covering portion 31, which has a smaller coefficient of friction than the lip portions 25, 26, is formed on the surfaces of the lip portions 25, 26 which slide against the window pane 14, thereby ensuring the sliding performance required for the raising and lowering movement of the window pane 14. Moreover, the first covering portion 31 formed on the surfaces of the lip portions 25, 26 is harder than the second covering portion 32 formed on the surfaces of the design portions 27, 28, and therefore has even higher sliding performance, thereby further improving the sliding performance against the window pane 14.

[0037] Furthermore, second covering portion 32, which has a smaller friction coefficient than lip portions 25, 26, is formed from bend point 29 of lip portions 25, 26 or from a position closer to the tip of lip portions 25, 26 than bend point 29 to the surface of decorative portions 27, 28.This makes it possible to make the portion from the base side of lip portions 25, 26 to the surfaces of decorative portions 27, 28, which is the portion that an operator pushes in by hand in a sliding manner along the longitudinal direction when attaching vertical side glass run channels 16, 17 to window frame 12, more slippery, thereby improving the ease of installation of vertical side glass run channels 16, 17.

[0038] Furthermore, the first covering portion 31, which is harder than the second covering portion 32, is formed closer to the tip of the lip portions 25, 26 than the bending point 29 on the root side of the lip portions 25, 26, and the bending point 29 on the root side of the lip portions 25, 26 is not covered by the hard first covering portion 31, so that the bending deformation on the root side of the lip portions 25, 26 is not hindered and an increase in the reaction force against the bending deformation on the root side of the lip portions 25, 26 can be suppressed.

[0039] Furthermore, in this embodiment, the durometer hardness (type D) defined in JIS K7215 of the first covering portion 31 which is the covering portion of the lip portions 25, 26 is HDD40 or more, so that the first covering portion 31 can obtain a predetermined sliding property with respect to the window plate 14. Also, since the durometer hardness of the first covering portion 31 is HDD60 or less, a decrease in the flexibility of the lip portions 25, 26 due to the first covering portion 31 can be prevented.

[0040] In addition, the durometer hardness (Type A) of the second covering portion 32, which is the covering portion of the design portions 27, 28, as defined in JIS K7215, is HDA80 or more, thereby ensuring the necessary sliding properties of the design portions 27, 28 when installing the vertical side glass run channels 16, 17. In addition, the durometer hardness of the second covering portion 32 is HDA95 or less, so even if the bending point 29 on the base side of the lip portions 25, 26 is covered by the second covering portion 32, the second covering portion 32 can prevent the lip portions 25, 26 from being easily bent and deformed at the bending point 29.

[0041] In this embodiment, the first covered portion 31 and the second covered portion 32 are formed to be in contact with each other, and the first covered portion 31 and the second covered portion 32 are formed continuously without any gaps from the lip portions 25, 26 to the design portions 27, 28, which has the advantage of ensuring continuous slidability from the lip portions 25, 26 to the design portions 27, 28. However, the present invention may also be configured such that the first covered portion 31 and the second covered portion 32 are not in contact with each other and there is a gap between them, and even in this case the intended object of the present invention can be achieved.

[0042] Furthermore, since the thickness of the second covering portion 32 is thinner than the thickness of the first covering portion 31, not only is the bending deformation of the design portions 27, 28 in which the second covering portion 32 is formed not hindered, but even if the bending point 29 of the lip portions 25, 26 is covered by the second covering portion 32, the bending deformation of the base side of the lip portions 25, 26 is not hindered.

[0043] In this embodiment, the thickness of the first covering portion 31 which is the covering portion of the lip portions 25, 26 is set to 0.1 mm or more, so that even if the first covering portion 31 wears down due to repeated raising and lowering of the window plate 14, the first covering portion 31 can be left on the surfaces of the lip portions 25, 26, and the lip portions 25, 26 can always be kept easily slidable against the window plate 14. Furthermore, the thickness of the first covering portion 31 is set to 0.4 mm or less, so that the first covering portion 31 can be prevented from making it difficult for the lip portion itself to elastically deform.

[0044] In addition, the thickness of second covering portion 32, which is the covering portion for design portions 27, 28, is set to 0.01 mm or more, thereby ensuring the necessary sliding properties of design portions 27, 28 when installing vertical side glass run channels 16, 17. In addition, the thickness of second covering portion 32 is set to less than 0.1 mm, so that even if bending points 29 of lip portions 25, 26 are covered with second covering portion 32, it is possible to prevent lip portions 25, 26 from becoming difficult to bend at bending points 29.

[0045] Furthermore, the present invention is not limited to the configuration of the above-described embodiment, and for example, the cross-sectional shape of the lip portions 25, 26 and the decorative portions 27, 28 may be changed, the cross-sectional shape of the main body portion 24 may be changed, or the first covering portion 31 (second covering portion 32) may not be formed on either the lip portion 25 (decorative portion 27) on the inside of the vehicle or the lip portion 26 (decorative portion 28) on the outside of the vehicle.

[0046] In addition, the present invention is not limited to the glass run channel of a front door, but may be applied to the glass run channels of other doors such as a rear door, and can be implemented in various modifications without departing from the spirit of the present invention. [Explanation of symbols]

[0047] 11...door, 12...window frame, 13...glass run channel assembly, 14...window plate, 15...upper edge glass run channel, 16...front vertical edge glass run channel, 17...rear vertical edge glass run channel, 21...inner side wall portion, 22...outer side wall portion, 23...bottom wall portion, 24...main body portion, 25...inner side lip portion, 26...outer side lip portion, 27...inner side design portion, 28...outer side design portion, 29...bending point, 31...first covering portion, 32...second covering portion

Claims

1. A glass run channel made of an elastic polymer material and attached along a window frame of a vehicle door panel and formed in an elongated shape to guide the movement of a window pane, The glass run channel is A side wall portion on an inner side of the vehicle and a side wall portion on an outer side of the vehicle; a main body having a U-shaped cross section and a bottom wall portion that integrally connects the two side walls; a lip portion on an inner side of the vehicle and a lip portion on an outer side of the vehicle that are elastically deformable and protrude from an end of each side wall portion toward an inside of the main body portion; a vehicle interior side design portion and a vehicle exterior side design portion which are elastically deformable and protrude from the ends of the side walls toward the outside of the main body portion; having At least one of the lip portions on the vehicle interior side and the vehicle exterior side is a bending point at which the lip portion bends when the lip portion slides against the window plate and elastically deforms during lifting and lowering of the window plate is located on a base side of the lip portion, a first covering portion having a smaller friction coefficient than the lip portion is formed on a surface of the lip portion that slides against the window plate and is located closer to a tip end of the lip portion than the bending point; a second covering portion having a smaller friction coefficient than the lip portion is formed from the bend point of the lip portion or from a position on the lip portion's tip side relative to the bend point to a surface of the design portion; The glass run channel according to claim 1, wherein the first covering portion is formed to be harder than the second covering portion.

2. The durometer hardness (type D) of the first covering portion as defined in JIS K7215 is equal to or greater than 40 and equal to or less than 60 for HDD, 2. The glass run channel according to claim 1, wherein the second covering portion has a durometer hardness (type A) defined in JIS K7215 of HDA80 or more and HDA95 or less.

3. The glass run channel according to claim 1 , wherein the first covering portion and the second covering portion are formed so as to be in contact with each other.

4. The glass run channel according to claim 1 , wherein the second covering portion is thinner than the first covering portion.

5. The thickness of the first covering portion is equal to or greater than 0.1 mm and equal to or less than 0.4 mm, The glass run channel according to claim 4, wherein the second covering portion has a thickness of 0.01 mm or more and less than 0.1 mm.

6. A glass run channel assembly having an upper edge glass run channel attached along the upper edge of a window frame of a vehicle door panel, and a vertical edge glass run channel attached along the vertical edge of the window frame, wherein at least one of the upper edge glass run channel and the vertical edge glass run channel is composed of a glass run channel as described in any one of claims 1 to 5.

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