Resin Support Member Integrating Belt-Side Bracket for Vehicle Slide Door
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Solution Overview
Problem
The existing door opening and closing apparatus for vehicles experiences instability in the belt-side bracket's posture due to its separate components, leading to decreased assembly performance when assembled on a vehicle body.
Innovation Solution
A door opening and closing apparatus with a guide roller unit that includes a guide member and a belt-side bracket connected to it, where the support member, made of resin, has a rail portion and pulleys, and an engagement portion to hold the belt-side bracket, ensuring the belt-side bracket's stability and alignment during assembly.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of manufacture
If the belt-side bracket and lower rail are separate components assembled beforehand on the step member, then the assembly process can proceed with pre-assembled units, but the belt-side bracket becomes deflected by its own weight causing unstable posture and decreased assembly performance
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges the belt-side bracket with the support member (step member) into a single integrated component. The bracket is formed as an integral part of the resin-molded support member, eliminating the need for separate assembly and preventing deflection caused by the bracket's own weight during the assembly process.
Solution Approach 2:
The support member is designed with functionally segmented regions: a main body portion, a rail portion extending from it, and a belt-side bracket portion also extending from it. This segmentation allows each region to perform its specific function while maintaining structural integrity as a single molded part.
2Adaptability or versatility
If the belt-side bracket is made as a separate component, then manufacturing and assembly flexibility is improved, but the bracket's posture becomes unstable due to weight deflection
Solution Approach 1:
The belt-side bracket is combined with the support member as a single integral component formed by resin molding. This integration ensures precise positioning and stable posture while maintaining the adaptability of the overall door opening/closing system through the modular design of the support member itself.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention changes the material parameter from metal (traditional bracket material) to resin (for the integrated support member and bracket). This material change enables the bracket to be formed as part of a molded component, providing both stability and design flexibility.
3Ease of repair
If separate components are used for belt-side bracket and lower rail, then component replacement and maintenance become easier, but assembly performance decreases due to unstable bracket posture
Solution Approach 1:
The belt-side bracket is integrated with the support member as a single molded part, eliminating assembly errors related to bracket deflection. The guide roller unit remains a separate replaceable component, maintaining ease of repair while improving assembly efficiency through the stable integrated bracket structure.
Solution Approach 2:
The system is segmented into the integrated support member with bracket, the separate guide roller unit, and the belt. This segmentation allows the bracket to be stable and integrated, while still permitting replacement of the guide roller unit for maintenance without affecting the bracket's positioning.
Data Source
AI summary
A door opening and closing apparatus opens and closes a slide door by cooperating with a guide roller unit fixed to the slide door of a vehicle. The guide roller unit includes a guide member and a belt-side bracket connected to the guide member. The door opening and closing apparatus includes a support member made of resin, plural pulleys supported at the support member, and a transmission belt engaged at the plural pulleys. The support member is fixed to a body of the vehicle and includes a rail portion at which the guide member is mounted. The belt-side bracket is fixed to the transmission belt. An electric drive source moves the transmission belt for opening and closing the slide door in a state where the guide member is guided along the rail portion. The support member includes an engagement portion configured to hold the belt-side bracket.