Automobile weatherstrip

Abstract

To provide a weather strip for a vehicle which can restrain a tip part of a hollow seal part from being collapsed and deformed when being folded by enhancing rigidness of circumference of a connection part of a welt part by a projection part.SOLUTION: A weather strip for a vehicle comprises a welt part 12 with a cross section which is formed in almost U-shape by connecting a pair of leg parts 14, 15 with each other by a connection part 16, and having a core material 17 buried inside and a hollow seal part 13 which is provided integrally on a top face of the connection part. A welt part is fit and held on a flange part 04 on a peripheral edge of a trunk room opening 01 and at the same time the trunk room opening is sealed by pressing a trunk lid 02 against the hollow seal part. A projection part where rigidness is at least the same as or higher than the connection part is provided on the top face of the connection part and then a tip part 13a of the hollow seal part is restrained from being collapsed and deformed when attached to a folded part.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 4

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to an automotive weatherstrip that is attached to a trunk lid opening or a back door (tailgate) opening that is an opening on the vehicle body side, and elastically contacts a trunk lid or a back door, etc., which are opening and closing bodies, to seal the inside and outside of the vehicle cabin.

Background Art

[0002] As a conventional automotive weatherstrip (hereinafter simply referred to as a weatherstrip) in this type of trunk lid opening or back door opening, the one described in Patent Document 1 previously filed by the applicant is known.

[0003] FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a trunk lid opening of an automobile to which the weatherstrip of the present invention and a conventional weatherstrip are attached, FIG. 2 shows the conventional weatherstrip, and is a cross-sectional view of a portion A in FIG. 1.

[0004] As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the weatherstrip 1 described in this publication is attached to the periphery of a trunk lid opening 01 that is opened and closed by a trunk lid 02, for example, and a pair of legs 3a and 3b on the inner side and the outer side of the vehicle are connected by a connecting portion 4 straddling the two to form a welt portion 2 having a substantially U-shaped cross-section, a hollow seal portion 5 integrally provided on the outer surface of the connecting portion 4, and a pair of seal lips 6a and 6b integrally provided on the lower outer surfaces of the respective legs 3a and 3b of the welt portion 2.

[0005] As shown in FIG. 2, the welt portion 2 has a core material 7 made of, for example, a metal material embedded therein, and four holding lips 8a, 8b, 9a, and 9b that elastically contact and fit and hold both side surfaces of a flange portion 04 of a vehicle body panel 03 provided on the periphery of the trunk lid opening 01 are provided on the opposing inner surfaces of the respective legs 3a and 3b.

[0006] The hollow seal portion 5 is formed in a substantially rhombic circular cross-section, and is integrally joined to the upper surface of the connecting portion 4 by a pair of joining portions 5b, 5b having a fixed end at both ends of a circular cross-section. A protrusion 5c protruding outwardly and obliquely is provided on the outer surface of the tip portion 5a.

[0007] The weatherstrip 1 is attached such that the welt portion 2 is fitted and held to the flange portion 04 of the trunk opening 01 via the holding lips 7a, 7b, 8a, 8b. When the trunk lid 02 is closed, the tip portion 5a of the hollow seal portion 5 is crushed and deformed by elastic contact and seals between the periphery of the trunk opening 01 and the trunk lid 02 by a predetermined reaction force (surface pressure).

Prior Art Documents

Patent Documents

[0008]

Patent Document 1

Summary of the Invention

Problems to be Solved by the Invention

[0009] By the way, as shown in FIG. 1, the flange portion 04 provided at the periphery of the trunk opening 01 is bent in a curved shape in the longitudinal direction or the lateral direction with a radius of curvature of approximately 90° in the vehicle front-rear direction or the vehicle width direction due to the shaping of the trunk. Therefore, the welt portion 2 of the weatherstrip 1 is also attached while being bent along the bent shape of the flange portion 04. At this time, the welt portion 2 has poor followability with respect to the bent portion, and the tip portion 5a of the hollow seal portion 5 may be crushed and deformed toward the welt portion 2 as shown by the two-dot chain line in FIG. 2. Although there are a plurality of portions A and B in FIG. 1, only one portion is shown in the drawing.

[0010] FIG. 5(a) is a schematic view showing the position of the neutral axis of a conventional weatherstrip.

[0011] That is, as shown in Fig. 5(a), when the hollow seal portion 5 of the conventional weather strip 1 is bent in a curved shape along the bending shape of the flange portion 04, a neutral axis P, where no stress is generated within the cross-section when a bending moment occurs due to this bending, is located on the lower side of the welt portion 2. It is considered that the reason for the neutral axis P being located on the lower side of the welt portion 2 is due to the low rigidity of the connecting portion 4 where the hollow seal portion 5 of the welt portion 2 is provided.

[0012] Therefore, when the welt portion 2 of the weather strip 1 is bent along the shape of, for example, portion A, the perimeter difference between the welt portion 2 side and the hollow seal portion 5 side increases, and a tensile force acts on the tip portion 5a of the hollow seal portion 5 in the direction of the neutral axis P. As a result, the tip portion 5a of the hollow seal portion 5 is deformed so as to approach the neutral axis P as shown by the two-dot chain line in Fig. 2, and it becomes easier to be crushed and deformed in the direction of the connecting portion 4 of the welt portion 2.

[0013] As a result, when the trunk lid 02 is closed, sufficient surface pressure of the hollow seal portion 5 against the trunk lid 02 cannot be obtained. As a result, the sealing performance between the periphery of the trunk opening 01 and the trunk lid 02 may deteriorate, and there is a risk that sufficient watertightness cannot be ensured.

[0014] The present invention has been devised in view of the above-described technical problems of the conventional automotive weather strip, and by increasing the rigidity of the connecting portion of the welt portion with a protrusion, the neutral axis of the weather strip is moved upward in the direction of the hollow seal portion of the welt portion, and an object thereof is to provide an automotive weather strip capable of suppressing the crushing deformation of the tip portion of the hollow seal portion during bending.

Means for Solving the Problems

[0015] The invention according to claim 1 of the present application is formed in a substantially U-shaped cross-section by connecting a pair of leg portions on the vehicle interior side and the vehicle exterior side with a connecting portion, entirely made of solid rubber material a welt portion, and on the outer surface of the connecting portion twoIntegrally provided by a joint sponge rubber material a hollow seal part, and is provided with An automotive weatherstrip that fits and holds the welt part to a flange part having a peripheral edge of a vehicle body opening, and seals between the vehicle body opening and an opening / closing body by pressing the opening / closing body that opens and closes the vehicle body opening against the hollow seal part, On the outer surface of the connecting portion, two convex portions made of solid rubber material are integrally provided and respectively connected to the two connecting portions, and between the two convex portions on the outer surface of the connecting portion A protrusion having the same rigidity as or higher than that of the connecting part is provided, the base fixed to the connecting portion of the two convex portions and the base fixed to the connecting portion of the protruding portion are joined on the connecting portion which is characterized by this. The invention according to claim 2 of the present application is formed in a substantially U-shaped cross-section by connecting a pair of leg portions on the vehicle interior side and the vehicle exterior side with a connecting portion, and includes a welt portion entirely made of solid rubber material, and a hollow seal portion made of sponge rubber material integrally provided by two connecting portions on the outer surface of the connecting portion. An automotive weatherstrip that fits and holds the welt portion to a flange portion having a peripheral edge of a vehicle body opening, and seals between the vehicle body opening and an opening / closing body by pressing the opening / closing body that opens and closes the vehicle body opening against the hollow seal portion, On the outer surface of the connecting portion, two convex portions to which the two connecting portions are respectively connected are provided, and On both outer shoulders on the vehicle interior and exterior sides of the connecting portion, a pair of protruding portions having the same rigidity as or higher than that of the connecting portion are integrally provided, characterized in that the base fixed to the connecting portion of the two convex portions and the base fixed to the connecting portion of the pair of protruding portions are joined on the connecting portion.

Advantages of the Invention

[0016] According to the invention described in claim 1 of the present application, it is possible to suppress the crushing deformation of the tip of the hollow seal part at the bending part and increase the surface pressure of the hollow seal part, thereby suppressing a decrease in the sealing performance between the vehicle body opening and the opening / closing body and ensuring sufficient watertightness.

Brief Description of the Drawings

[0017]

Figure 1

Figure 2

Figure 3

Figure 4

Figure 5

Figure 6

Figure 7

Mode for Carrying Out the Invention

[0018] Hereinafter, embodiments of the automotive weatherstrip according to the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. This weatherstrip is applied to the same thing as the conventional one, which is attached to the periphery of the trunk lid opening as a vehicle body opening.

[0019] FIG. 3 shows the weatherstrip according to the first embodiment of the present invention, a perspective view showing a cross-section of the bent portion A in FIG. 1, and FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view of the weatherstrip of this embodiment shown in FIG. 3.

[0020] As described above, around the trunk lid opening 01 on the vehicle body side shown in FIG. 1, as shown by the two-dot chain line in FIG. 3, the flange portion 04 of the vehicle body panel 03 is formed to stand up or be upright, and the weatherstrip 11 is attached to this flange portion 04. In FIG. 3, the right side of the flange portion 04 is the outside of the vehicle, and the left side is the inside of the vehicle.

[0021] The weatherstrip 11 includes a welt portion 12 having a substantially U-shaped cross-section that functions as a mounting base, and a hollow seal portion 13 formed integrally with the welt portion 12. The trunk lid 02, which is an opening and closing body, elastically contacts the hollow seal portion 13, so that the inside and outside of the trunk are sealed.

[0022] The welt part 12 is integrally formed of a solid rubber material and has an inner leg part 14 on the vehicle interior side, an outer leg part 15 on the vehicle exterior side, and an upper connecting part 16 that connects the pair of leg parts 14 and 15 across both of them, and is formed into a substantially U-shaped cross section with these. Further, a predetermined core material 17 made of metal or resin and having a similar shape is buried in the welt part 12 along the longitudinal direction. On the opposing inner surfaces of the respective leg parts 14 and 15 of the welt part 12, a pair of holding lips 18 and 19 are respectively formed to protrude. By inserting the welt part 12 into the flange part 04, the holding lips 18 and 19 sandwich the flange part 04 from both sides while being bent, and thereby, the welt part 12 having a substantially U-shaped cross section is fitted and held by the flange part 04.

[0023] The connecting part 16 is formed in a substantially flat plate shape, and a pair of convex parts 16a and 16a are provided along the longitudinal direction of the welt part 12 on both shoulders inside and outside the vehicle.

[0024] The hollow seal part 13 is formed of a sponge rubber material into a substantially rhombic circular cross section, and a pair of connecting parts 13b and 13b which are fixed ends at both ends of the circular cross section are integrally connected to the upper surface of the connecting part 16. Further, a protrusion 13c that protrudes outward in an inclined shape is provided on the outer surfaces of both the connecting parts 13b and 13b and the tip part 13a located above on the opposite side in the radial direction. Each of the connecting parts 13b and 13b is connected to the upper surfaces of the pair of convex parts 16a and 16a provided on the upper surface of the connecting part 16.

[0025] Further, as shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, a high seal portion 20 made of, for example, butyl sponge rubber is adhesively fixed to the lower surface (inner surface) of the plate-shaped connecting portion 16 of the welt portion 12. The high seal portion 20 is formed in a substantially oval cross-section that is long in the width direction of the connecting portion 16 and extends along the longitudinal direction at a substantially central position in the inner surface width direction of the connecting portion 16. Further, the high seal portion 20 is formed with a relatively large thickness so that when the welt portion 12 is inserted and fitted into the flange portion 04, the tip portion 04a of the flange portion 04 is inserted inside. Thereby, the sealing function between the inside and outside of the vehicle is further improved. Note that the high seal portion 20 can also be formed of other sponge rubber materials.

[0026] Further, a cover lip 21 protrudes from the lower end portion of the outer surface of the leg portion 14 on the vehicle interior side in the welt portion 12. This cover lip 21 is used, for example, when concealing or providing continuity to the terminal portion of a trim component (not shown) such as a finisher mounted on the vehicle interior side.

[0027] A seal lip 22 is integrally formed at the lower end portion of the outer surface of the leg portion 15 on the vehicle exterior side in the welt portion 12. The seal lip 22 exerts a sealing function by abutting the flat panel surface of the vehicle body panel 03 other than the flange portion 04 in the normal mounting state of the tip surface 22a to the flange portion 04. Note that the cover lip 21 and the seal lip 22 are formed of a sponge rubber material.

[0028] Then, as shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, at the central position of the upper surface of the welt portion 12, that is, at the central position of the upper surface between the two convex portions 16a, 16a and between the two coupling portions 13b, 13b of the hollow seal portion 13, a protrusion 23 is integrally provided. This protrusion 23 is formed simultaneously with the welt portion 12 when the weatherstrip 11 is formed by extrusion molding, and is formed of a solid rubber material like the material of the welt portion 12. Further, the protrusion 23 is formed in a substantially trapezoidal cross-section, the height H from the upper surface of the connecting portion 16 to the tip surface 23a is formed higher than the two convex portions 16a, 16a, and the formation range in the longitudinal direction is not the entire longitudinal direction of the connecting portion 16, but only the curved portions such as portion A and portion B in FIG. 1 described above. Operation and Effect of this Embodiment Hereinafter, the operation and effect of the weatherstrip 11 according to this embodiment will be described.

[0029] FIG. 5(b) is a schematic view showing the position of the neutral axis of the weatherstrip of the embodiment of the present invention.

[0030] Since the connecting portion 16 of this weatherstrip 11 has increased rigidity due to the protrusion 23, when the welt portion 12 is attached to the flange portion 04 of the vehicle body panel 03 of the trunk opening 01 shown in FIG. 1 via the welt portion 12, in, for example, portion A that is bent in a curved shape, the neutral axis P1 of the weatherstrip 11 is at a higher position than the neutral axis P (see FIG. 5(a)) of the conventional weatherstrip 1, as shown in FIG. 5(b). As a result, excessive crushing deformation of the tip portion 13a of the hollow seal portion 13 at portion A when the weatherstrip 11 is attached to the flange portion 04 is suppressed.

[0031] FIG. 6 is a comparison table showing the positions of the neutral axes of the conventional weatherstrip and the weatherstrip of this embodiment measured experimentally by the inventor of the present application, and showing the actual lengths at each measurement position of the weatherstrip in FIG. 2.

[0032] In this experiment, two samples were prepared: one was the same as the conventional weatherstrip 1, and the other was the same as the weatherstrip 11 of this embodiment having the protrusions 23. The reference length in the longitudinal direction of each was set to 150 mm. Further, each of these weatherstrips 1, 11 was attached to a longitudinal bending jig and bent in a curved shape with the same radius of curvature (an angle of approximately 90°) as the A part of the flange part 04.

[0033] As the measurement positions, if shown by a plurality of black dots using the conventional weatherstrip 1 described in FIG. 2, the positions of the protrusions 5c, 13c at the tip portions 5a, 13a of the hollow seal portions 5, 13 of the weatherstrips 1, 11 (1), the joining positions of the hollow seal portions 5, 13 to the welt portions 2, 12 (2), the substantially central position in the vertical direction of the welt portions 2, 12 (3), and the positions of the lower end portions of the welt portions 2, 12 (4) were measured for length at four locations.

[0034] According to this experiment, as shown in FIG. 6, at the measurement position (1), the conventional one showed an elongation of 173 mm, while the one of this embodiment was 169 mm, and the amount of elongation was about 4 mm smaller for the one of this embodiment than the conventional one.

[0035] At the measurement position (2), the conventional one was 160 mm and the one of this embodiment was 159 mm, and the amount of elongation was about 1 mm smaller for the one of this embodiment than the conventional one.

[0036] At the measurement position (3), the conventional one was 154 mm and the one of this embodiment was 150 mm, and also at this position, the amount of elongation was about 3 mm smaller for the one of this embodiment than the conventional one.

[0037] Furthermore, at the measurement position (4), the conventional one was 150 mm and the one of this embodiment was 145 mm, and also at this position, the amount of elongation was about 5 mm smaller for the one of this embodiment than the conventional one.

[0038] Thus, it has been found that at any of the measurement positions (1) to (4), the amount of elongation is smaller for the weatherstrip 11 of the present embodiment than for the conventional weatherstrip 1.

[0039] This is presumably because the position of the neutral axis P of the conventional weatherstrip 1 is at the measurement position (4), while the position of the neutral axis P1 of the weatherstrip 11 of the present embodiment is at the higher measurement position (3) closer to the hollow seal portion 13 than (4). The reason why the neutral axis P1 of the weatherstrip 11 of the present embodiment is higher is that the rigidity of the connecting portion 16, which is the joint portion of the hollow seal portion 13, has been increased by the protrusion 23.

[0040] Therefore, in the present embodiment, when the weatherstrip 11 is attached to the flange portion 04, the amount of crushing deformation of the tip portion 13a of the hollow seal portion 13 at portion A shown in FIG. 1 is sufficiently suppressed as compared with the amount of crushing deformation of the tip portion 5a of the conventional hollow seal portion 5 shown by the two-dot chain line in FIG. 4, as shown by the two-dot chain line in FIG. 2.

[0041] As a result, when the trunk lid opening 01 is closed with the trunk lid 02, the surface pressure of the tip portion 13a of the hollow seal portion 13 against the trunk lid 02 becomes sufficiently high, so that a decrease in the sealing performance between the peripheral edge of the trunk room opening 01 and the trunk lid 02 can be suppressed, and sufficient watertightness can be ensured.

[0042] Further, in the present embodiment, since the two convex portions 16a, 16a provided on the upper surface of the connecting portion 16 contribute to the improvement of the rigidity of the connecting portion 16 together with the protrusion 23, it becomes possible to further suppress the crushing deformation of the tip portion 13a of the hollow seal portion 13 during bending at the portion A.

[0043] Furthermore, in the present embodiment, since the formation position of the protrusion 23 in the longitudinal direction is only at the bending portions of the weatherstrip 11 at portions A and B, rather than the entire longitudinal direction of the weatherstrip 11, an increase in material cost and manufacturing cost can be suppressed. 〔Second Embodiment〕 FIG. 7 shows a second embodiment of the weather strip according to the present invention, in which a pair of protrusions 24, 25 are integrally provided on both outer shoulders of the connecting portion 16 of the welt portion 12, on the inner and outer sides of the vehicle.

[0044] These two protrusions 24, 25 are formed of the same solid rubber material as the welt portion 12, and are each formed in a substantially trapezoidal cross-section. Also, the longitudinal forming region is formed only at the bending portions such as portion A and portion B shown in FIG. 1, which are the same as those in the first embodiment, and is not formed over the entire longitudinal direction of the weather strip 11.

[0045] In addition, the heights H from the upper surfaces of both shoulders of the connecting portion 16 to the respective tip surfaces 24a, 25a of the two protrusions 24, 25 are the same, and are set higher than the heights of the convex portions 16a, 16a of the connecting portion 16. Also, the inner side surfaces 24b, 25b of the two protrusions 24, 25 are arranged to face each other in a proximate state with a minute gap from the respective outer surfaces near the coupling portions 13b, 13b of the hollow seal portion 13.

[0046] Therefore, according to this embodiment, since the connecting portion 16 of the welt portion 12 is made rigid by the two protrusions 24, 25, when the weather strip 11 is bent and attached along the bending portion of, for example, portion A in FIG. 1 as in the first embodiment, the neutral axis P1 is at a high position near the hollow seal portion 13 of the welt portion 12. For this reason, the crushing deformation of the tip portion 13a of the hollow seal portion 13 is sufficiently suppressed.

[0047] As a result, when the trunk lid 02 is closed, the surface pressure of the tip portion 13a of the hollow seal portion 13 against the trunk lid 02 becomes sufficiently high, and a decrease in the sealing performance between the peripheral edge of the trunk opening 01 and the trunk lid 02 can be suppressed.

[0048] In particular, in the present embodiment, when the weather strip 11 is attached along the bending portion of the part A or part B in FIG. 1, since the outer surfaces of the joint portions 13b, 13b of the hollow seal portion 13 are in contact with and supported by the inner side surfaces 24b, 25b of the both protrusion portions 24, 25, it becomes possible to further suppress the crushing deformation of the tip portion 13a of the hollow seal portion 13 in combination with the stiffening of the connecting portion 16.

[0049] The present invention is not limited to the configurations of the first and second embodiments, and the applicable location of the weather strip 11 can be applied not only to the periphery of the trunk lid opening 01 but also to the periphery of the back door opening and the like.

[0050] Further, the protrusion portions 23 to 25 can be further changed in shape, size, height, etc. according to the attachment location and specifications of the weather strip 11. Also, the material of the protrusion portions 23 to 25 is the same as the solid rubber material of the welt portion 12 in each embodiment, but it is also possible to separately use other hard rubber materials, hard resin materials, etc.

[0051] Furthermore, for example, the hollow seal portion 13, the sikabari lip 21, the seal lip 22, etc. can be formed of rubber or resin materials other than sponge rubber materials.

Explanation of Reference Numerals

[0052] 01…Trunk lid opening (body opening) 02…Trunk lid (opening / closing body) 03…Body panel 04…Flange portion 11…Weather strip 12…Welt portion 13…Hollow seal portion 13a…Tip portion 13b·13b…Joint portion 14…Inner side leg portion 15…Outer side leg portion 16…Connecting portion 16a·16a…Convex portion 17…Core material 18·19…Retention lip 23·24·25…Protrusion

Claims

1. A welt portion formed in a substantially U-shaped cross-section by connecting a pair of leg portions on the vehicle interior side and the vehicle exterior side with a connecting portion, the welt portion being entirely made of a solid rubber material, and a hollow seal portion made of a sponge rubber material integrally provided on the outer surface of the connecting portion by two connecting portions, The welt portion is fitted and held on a flange portion provided at the periphery of the vehicle body opening, and the hollow seal portion is pressed against an opening / closing body that opens and closes the vehicle body opening, thereby sealing between the vehicle body opening and the opening / closing body. The automotive weatherstrip is characterized in that, On the outer surface of the connecting portion, two convex portions made of a solid rubber material are integrally provided, each of which is connected to the two connecting portions, Between the two convex portions on the outer surface of the connecting portion, a protrusion having the same rigidity as or higher than that of the connecting portion is provided, The automotive weatherstrip is characterized in that a base portion fixed to the connecting portion of the two convex portions and a base portion fixed to the connecting portion of the protrusion are joined on the connecting portion.

2. A welt portion formed in a substantially U-shaped cross-section by connecting a pair of leg portions on the vehicle interior side and the vehicle exterior side with a connecting portion, the welt portion being entirely made of a solid rubber material, and a hollow seal portion made of a sponge rubber material integrally provided on the outer surface of the connecting portion by two connecting portions, The welt portion is fitted and held on a flange portion provided at the periphery of the vehicle body opening, and the hollow seal portion is pressed against an opening / closing body that opens and closes the vehicle body opening, thereby sealing between the vehicle body opening and the opening / closing body. The automotive weatherstrip is characterized in that, On the outer surface of the connecting portion, two convex portions made of a solid rubber material are provided, each of which is connected to the two connecting portions, On both outer shoulder surfaces on the vehicle interior and exterior sides of the connecting portion, a pair of protrusions having the same rigidity as or higher than that of the connecting portion are integrally provided, The automotive weatherstrip is characterized in that a base portion fixed to the connecting portion of the two convex portions and a base portion fixed to the connecting portion of the pair of protrusions are joined on the connecting portion.

3. The automotive weatherstrip according to Claim 1 or 2, The protrusion is provided only at a portion where the welt portion is bent along the vehicle body front-rear direction or the vehicle body width direction of the flange portion of the vehicle body opening on the outer surface of the connecting portion. The automotive weatherstrip is characterized in that.

4. The automotive weatherstrip according to Claim 1 or 2, The weatherstrip for an automobile is characterized in that the protrusion is formed of the same material as the welt part or is formed of a hard rubber or resin material having higher rigidity than the welt part.

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