Back door lock mounting structure

Abstract

To provide a mounting structure of a back door lock which enables further reduction of a thickness of a door internal space.SOLUTION: A mounting structure of a back door lock 30 includes: a back door 10 having a front wall 18, a rear wall 20, and a bottom wall 22; the back door lock 30 disposed in a door inner space 16 between the front wall 18 and the rear wall 20; and a bracket 40 mounted on the back door lock 30 and fastened to the front wall 18. The bracket 40 has a fastening portion 41 which is overlapped with the front wall 18 and fastened to the front wall 18 at the outer side of the door inner space 16.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 2

Description

Technical Field

[0001] This specification discloses an attachment structure of a backdoor lock for locking a backdoor of a vehicle.

Background Art

[0002] A backdoor lock for locking the backdoor of a vehicle in a closed state is attached to the backdoor. The backdoor lock locks the backdoor by engaging an engagement mechanism with a striker on the vehicle body side. Such a backdoor lock is usually disposed in the internal space of the backdoor (hereinafter referred to as the "door internal space") and fastened to the bottom wall and the front wall of the backdoor. Patent Document 1 discloses such a backdoor lock.

[0003] When assembling the backdoor lock, an operator causes the backdoor lock to enter the door internal space through an assembly opening formed in the front wall. Then, inside the door internal space, the operator positions the backdoor lock while changing its posture.

Prior Art Documents

Patent Documents

[0004]

Patent Document 1

Summary of the Invention

Problems to be Solved by the Invention

[0005] In this case, the back door lock has a bracket attached to it that extends forward from the back door lock. The end of this bracket is fastened to the front wall of the back door. In the case of conventional back door locks, this bracket is fastened to the front wall while completely contained within the interior space of the door. In this case, there is a problem that the bracket is likely to interfere with the front or rear wall when changing the position of the back door lock within the interior space of the door. To avoid this problem, the thickness of the interior space of the door was increased in the past. However, if the interior space of the door is thicker, the passenger compartment space becomes narrower.

[0006] Therefore, this specification discloses a mounting structure for a back door lock that allows for a thinner interior space inside the door. [Means for solving the problem]

[0007] The mounting structure for a back door lock disclosed herein comprises a back door having a front wall, a rear wall, and a bottom wall; a back door lock disposed in the door interior space which is the space between the front wall and the rear wall; and a bracket attached to the back door lock and fastened to the front wall, wherein the bracket has a fastening portion that overlaps with the front wall and fastens to the front wall on the outside of the door interior space.

[0008] With this configuration, when installing the back door lock, the worker can pull the back door lock forward of the vehicle to a position where its rear end does not interfere with the rear wall of the back door. As a result, the back door lock can be easily installed even if the thickness of the interior space of the door is reduced.

[0009] In this case, the front wall has an assembly opening through which the back door lock can pass, the bracket is fastened to the front wall at the periphery of the assembly opening, and the fastening position between the bracket and the back door lock may be closer to the center of the assembly opening than the fastening position between the bracket and the front wall.

[0010] This configuration makes it less likely for the bracket to interfere with the front wall, allowing workers to install the back door lock more easily.

[0011] Furthermore, the front wall has a door-side fastening hole through which a fastening bolt is inserted, and the fastening portion has a bracket-side fastening hole through which the fastening bolt is inserted, and the bracket-side fastening hole may be larger than the door-side fastening hole.

[0012] With this configuration, both the door-side fastening hole and the bracket-side fastening hole are visible when viewed from the front of the vehicle. As a result, workers can install the back door lock more easily.

[0013] Furthermore, the back door lock may be fastened to the bottom surface of the back door at a position below the vertical center of the back door lock, and the bracket may be fastened to the front wall at a position above the vertical center of the back door lock.

[0014] This configuration separates the upper fastening point from the lower fastening point. As a result, rotation of the back door lock, and consequently vibration, is effectively prevented. [Effects of the Invention]

[0015] The technology disclosed herein allows for a thinner interior space inside the door. [Brief explanation of the drawing]

[0016] [Figure 1] This is a schematic diagram of the vehicle's rear door as seen from inside the vehicle. [Figure 2] This is a cross-sectional view AA in Figure 1. [Figure 3] This diagram shows the assembly process for the back door lock. [Figure 4] This diagram shows the assembly process of the back door lock in the comparative example. [Figure 5]This is a schematic diagram showing how the back door lock is assembled. [Modes for carrying out the invention]

[0017] The mounting structure of the back door lock 30 will be described below with reference to the drawings. Figure 1 is a schematic diagram of the vehicle's back door 10 as seen from inside the vehicle. Figure 2 is a cross-sectional view of AA in Figure 1. As shown in Figure 2, the back door 10 is composed of an inner panel 12 and an outer panel 14. The inner panel 12 forms the front wall 18 and bottom wall 22 of the back door 10, and the outer panel 14 forms the rear wall 20 of the back door 10. Between the front wall 18 and the rear wall 20, there is an internal door space 16 with a predetermined thickness D1. Naturally, the smaller the thickness D1 of this internal door space 16, the larger the cargo space of the vehicle.

[0018] As shown in Figure 1, an assembly opening 24 is formed in the lower part of the front wall 18. The assembly opening 24 is an opening that allows the back door lock 30, which will be described later, to pass through. In addition, a bottom opening (not shown) is formed in the bottom wall 22. The bottom opening is an opening into which a part of the back door lock 30 is inserted. The larger these assembly openings 24 and bottom opening are, the lower the strength of the back door 10 becomes. Therefore, the assembly openings 24 and bottom opening are small enough to allow the assembly work of the back door lock 30 to be carried out.

[0019] The backdoor lock 30 is a device that locks the backdoor 10 in a closed state. The backdoor lock 30 has an engagement mechanism (not shown) that engages with a striker (not shown) provided on the vehicle body. When this engagement mechanism engages with the striker, the backdoor 10 is locked in the closed state. The engagement mechanism is incorporated into a main body 36 provided at the lower part of the backdoor lock 30. A part of the main body 36 protrudes below the bottom wall 22 through the bottom opening. Also, on the upper side of the main body 36, a motor 34 that outputs power, a gear case 32 incorporating a plurality of gears, etc. are arranged. A fastening plate (not shown) extends in the vehicle width direction from the main body 36. This fastening plate is screwed and fastened to the bottom wall 22 of the backdoor 10 by a lower fastening bolt 38. As is clear from FIG. 2, the lower part of the main body 36, that is, the backdoor lock 30, protrudes significantly forward of the vehicle compared to the gear case 32, that is, the upper part of the backdoor lock 30.

[0020] A bracket 40 is attached to the front surface of the gear case 32. The bracket 40 is an arm-shaped member that extends forward from the front surface of the gear case 32. The end of the bracket 40 becomes a fastening portion 41 that is fastened to the front wall 18 of the backdoor 10. As shown in FIG. 2, a bracket-side fastening hole 42 is formed in the fastening portion 41. Also, a door-side fastening hole 26 is formed in the front wall 18 of the backdoor 10. Further, a weld nut 28 that is concentric with the door-side fastening hole 26 is fixed to the back surface of the front wall 18. The bracket 40 is fastened to the front wall 18 by an upper fastening bolt 46 in a state where the bracket-side fastening hole 42, the door-side fastening hole 26, and the washer 44 are concentric. As is clear from FIG. 2, in this example, the fastening portion 41 of the bracket 40 protrudes outside the door inner space 16. In other words, the fastening portion 41 of the bracket 40 is located forward of the vehicle compared to the front wall 18 of the backdoor 10. With such a configuration, the thickness D1 of the door inner space 16 can be reduced, which will be described later.

[0021] Here, as is clear from the previous description, the lower part of the backdoor lock 30 is vertically fastened to the bottom wall 22 of the backdoor 10 by the lower fastening bolt 38. The upper part of the backdoor lock 30 is fastened to the front wall 18 of the backdoor 10 in the front-rear direction by the upper fastening bolt 46. If the distance from the lower fastening position to the upper fastening position is short, the backdoor lock 30 is likely to rotate, and as a result, vibrations are likely to occur. Therefore, the upper fastening position is set far apart from the lower fastening position. Thereby, the rotation of the backdoor lock 30 is effectively suppressed, and vibrations can be effectively prevented. As shown in FIG. 2, when the backdoor lock 30 is fastened to the backdoor 10, the backdoor lock 30 takes a slightly tilted forward posture. Hereinafter, the posture of the backdoor lock 30 in this fastened state will be referred to as the "fastened posture".

[0022] When assembling the backdoor lock 30 to the backdoor 10, the operator allows the backdoor lock 30 to enter the door internal space 16 through the assembly opening 24. Then, the operator moves the backdoor lock 30 downward inside the door internal space 16 so that the main body 36 passes through the bottom opening. At this time, the size of the bottom opening is limited. Therefore, when the backdoor lock 30 is in the fastened posture, the main body 36 cannot pass through the bottom opening. Thus, the operator allows the backdoor lock 30 to enter the door internal space 16 in a state tilted more toward the front side of the vehicle than the fastened posture. Then, the operator moves the backdoor lock 30 downward while finely adjusting the posture of the backdoor lock 30.

[0023] Here, as described above, in this example, the fastening portion 41 of the bracket 40 is located outside the door internal space 16. With such a configuration, it is possible to prevent interference between the backdoor 10 and the backdoor lock 30 during the assembly work while suppressing the thickness of the backdoor 10. This will be described. FIG. 3 is a diagram showing the state of the assembly work of the backdoor lock 30. FIG. 4 is a diagram showing the state of the assembly work of the backdoor lock 30* of the comparative example.

[0024] When assembling the back door lock 30 to the door lock, as described above, it is necessary to change the orientation of the back door lock 30 within the door interior space 16. In this example, the fastening portion 41 of the bracket 40 is ultimately located outside the back door lock 30. Therefore, as shown in Figure 3, it is not a problem if most of the bracket 40 protrudes outside the door interior space 16 during the assembly process. This allows the worker to pull the back door lock 30 towards the front of the vehicle until its rear end does not hit the rear wall of the back door 10.

[0025] On the other hand, as shown in Figure 4, the comparative example's back door lock 30* has almost the same configuration as the back door lock 30 in this example. However, the fastening portion 41* of the comparative example's back door lock 30* is located inside the door interior space 16 and fastened to the front wall 18. In other words, in the case of the comparative example's back door lock 30*, the fastening portion 41* is located behind the front wall 18.

[0026] When assembling such a back door lock 30* to the back door 10, it is necessary to ensure that the bracket 40* does not protrude outside the door interior space 16 during the assembly process. If the front end position of the bracket 40* is restricted, the rear end position of the back door lock 30* will move backward by the same amount. As a result, the rear end of the back door lock 30* becomes more likely to interfere with the rear wall 20 of the back door 10. Consequently, in the case of the back door lock 30* of the comparative example, it becomes necessary to increase the thickness D1 of the door interior space 16 in order to enable the assembly of the back door lock 30*.

[0027] This will be further explained using a schematic diagram. Figure 5 is a schematic diagram showing the assembly of the back door lock 30. During the assembly of the back door lock 30, the back door lock 30 changes from its initial position Ps, shown by the dashed line, to its fastened position Pe, shown by the solid line. The black circle in Figure 5 indicates the rotation center Rc of this position change.

[0028] As described above, when the fastening portion 41 is positioned outside the door interior space 16, as in this example, it is not a problem if the fastening portion 41 protrudes significantly outside the door interior space 16 in the initial position Ps. Therefore, in this example, the required thickness of the door interior space 16 is D1a in Figure 5. On the other hand, when the fastening portion 41 is positioned inside the door interior space 16, as in the comparative example, the fastening portion 41 must be located inside the door interior space 16 even in the initial position Ps. Therefore, in the case of the back door lock 30* of the comparative example, the required thickness of the door interior space 16 is D1b in Figure 5. As is clear from Figure 5, by positioning the fastening portion 41 outside the door interior space 16, the required thickness of the door interior space 16 can be significantly reduced.

[0029] In the comparative example, the required thickness D1b can be reduced by shortening the distance from the rotation center Rc to the bracket 40. However, when the bracket 40 is brought closer to the rotation center Rc, the distance from the upper fastening position (i.e., the upper fastening bolt 46) to the lower fastening position (the lower fastening bolt 38) decreases accordingly. As mentioned above, when this distance decreases, the back door lock 30 becomes more prone to rotation and vibration. Therefore, it is difficult to reduce the distance from the rotation center Rc to the bracket 40, and in the comparative example's back door lock 30*, it was difficult to reduce the required thickness D1b.

[0030] On the other hand, in this example, as repeatedly stated, a portion of the bracket 40 is positioned outside the door interior space 16. Therefore, the thickness of the door interior space 16 can be reduced while ensuring sufficient distance from the upper fastening portion to the lower fastening portion. For example, in this example, the thickness D1 of the door interior space 16 is 1.2 times or less the thickness D2 of the lower part of the back door lock 30. Note that "thickness D1 of the door interior space 16" is the shortest distance from the front wall 18 to the rear wall 20 at the bottom of the door interior space 16, as shown in Figure 2. Also, "lower part of the back door lock 30" is the portion below the vertical center of the back door lock 30. Furthermore, "thickness D2 of the lower part of the back door lock 30" is the first-direction dimension of the lower part of the back door lock 30, when the thickness direction of the door interior space 16 is considered the first direction.

[0031] Incidentally, the assembly of the back door lock 30 is performed from the front of the vehicle. As shown in Figure 2, in this example, the bracket-side fastening hole 42 is larger than the door-side fastening hole 26. Therefore, even when the bracket-side fastening hole 42 and the door-side fastening hole 26 are overlapped, both can be easily seen from the front of the vehicle. This makes the fastening work of the bracket 40 easier.

[0032] Furthermore, as is clear from Figure 1, the fastening position between the bracket 40 and the back door lock 30 is closer to the center of the assembly opening 24 than the fastening position between the bracket 40 and the front wall 18. In other words, the fastening portion 41 of the bracket 40 is close to the periphery of the assembly opening 24, while the rest is further away from that periphery. This effectively prevents interference between the bracket 40 and the front wall 18.

[0033] It should be noted that the configurations described so far are all examples, and as long as the mounting structure of the back door lock 30 has the configuration described in claim 1, other configurations may be changed. For example, the shapes of the back door lock 30 and the bracket 40 may be changed as appropriate. Also, in the above description, the thickness D1 of the door interior space 16 is set to be 1.2 times or less the thickness D2 of the lower part of the back door lock 30. However, naturally, the thickness D1 of the door interior space 16 may be D1 > 1.2 × D2. [Explanation of Symbols]

[0034] 10 Back door, 12 Inner panel, 14 Outer panel, 16 Door interior space, 18 Front wall, 20 Rear wall, 22 Bottom wall, 24 Assembly opening, 26 Door side fastening hole, 28 Weld nut, 30, 30* Back door lock, 32 Gear case, 34 Motor, 36 Main body, 38 Lower fastening bolt, 40, 40* Bracket, 41, 41* Fastening part, 42 Bracket side fastening hole, 44 Washer, 46 Upper fastening bolt.

Claims

1. A back door having a front wall, a rear wall, and a bottom wall, A back door lock is positioned in the door interior space, which is the space between the front wall and the rear wall. A bracket attached to the back door lock and fastened to the front wall, The bracket is provided with a fastening portion that overlaps with the front wall on the outside of the interior space of the door and fastens to the front wall. The aforementioned back door lock is fastened to the bottom wall of the back door at a position below the vertical center of the back door lock. The bracket is fastened to the front wall at a position above the vertical center of the back door lock. A mounting structure for a back door lock characterized by the following features.

2. A mounting structure for a back door lock according to claim 1, The front wall has an assembly opening through which the back door lock can pass. The bracket is fastened to the front wall at the periphery of the assembly opening. The fastening position between the bracket and the back door lock is closer to the center of the assembly opening than the fastening position between the bracket and the front wall. A mounting structure for a back door lock characterized by the following features.

3. A mounting structure for a back door lock according to claim 1, The front wall has a door-side fastening hole through which a fastening bolt is inserted. The fastening portion has a bracket-side fastening hole through which the fastening bolt is inserted. The fastening hole on the bracket side is larger than the fastening hole on the door side. A mounting structure for a back door lock characterized by the following features.

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