Vehicle Drive Cable Recessed Tooth Tips for Quiet Operation
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing drive cables for sunroof arrangements face issues with noise behavior and flexibility, as the toothing slides on guide surfaces, leading to rattling and high wear, and the non-homogeneous circumference of pitch cables causes undesirable noise and misalignment.
Innovation Solution
A drive cable with a plastic cable body featuring tooth tips set back from the circumferential surface, a continuous reinforcement for alignment, and a tooth-free area forming a smooth profile, allowing low-friction contact and optimal engagement with the drive gear, while an eccentric reinforcement or axial recess ensures proper bending and alignment without special guide surfaces.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Stability of the object's composition
If the toothing slides on guide surfaces to provide stability, then the cable body gains stability, but noise and rattling increase due to contact friction
Solution Approach 1:
The invention extracts the harmful contact function from the toothing by setting the tooth tips recessed relative to the circumferential surface. The toothing is removed from the guide surface contact zone, leaving only the smooth circumferential surface to interact with the guide tube, thereby eliminating the source of noise and rattling while maintaining cable stability through the reinforcement element.
Solution Approach 2:
The cable structure is segmented into distinct functional zones: the circumferential surface for smooth guidance contact, the recessed toothing for drive engagement, and the internal reinforcement for structural stability. This segmentation allows each element to perform its specific function without interfering negatively with others.
2Reliability
If pitch cables with non-homogeneous circumference and flocking are used, then drive engagement is achieved, but misalignment and disturbing noises occur in guide tubes
Solution Approach 1:
The invention applies local quality by creating a homogeneous smooth circumferential surface specifically in the guide contact zone, while maintaining the toothing structure recessed for drive engagement. This localized differentiation ensures smooth passage through guide tubes without misalignment or noise, while preserving reliable drive engagement through the properly positioned toothing.
3Power
If tooth tips are flush with circumferential surface for maximum engagement, then drive force transmission is optimized, but contact with guide surfaces causes wear and noise
Solution Approach 1:
The tooth tips are extracted from the outer circumferential surface and positioned recessed relative to it. This extraction removes the toothing from the guide surface contact zone, eliminating wear and noise sources while the recessed positioning ensures optimal drive force transmission through proper engagement geometry with the drive gear.
Data Source
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AI summary
The invention relates to a drive cable for actuating a vehicle element that can move relative to a vehicle body, said drive cable comprising a cable body (26) which is made of a plastic material and has toothing (32), which extends in an axial direction, for engaging with a drive gear (24), a continuous reinforcement structure (30) extending, in an axial direction, through said cable body. The toothing (32) is formed by pocket-like recesses (34) which are spaced from each other at regular intervals in an axial direction and which are limited, in the longitudinal direction of the cable, by flanks of resulting tooth heads (36) and are each limited on both sides, in the transverse direction of the cable, by a pocket flank (38), said pocket-like recesses each being limited at the bottom by a tooth base (40) through which a continuous reinforcement structure extends (30).