Patent Application
20230399886
The present disclosure relates to a vehicle sliding door system with a door portal and a door opening, at least one sliding door with an, in the closing direction of the sliding door, vertical front lateral edge and an, in the closing direction of the sliding door, vertical rear lateral edge, and a door driving unit for displacing the sliding door.
Door driving units for a motor vehicle or a rail-bound vehicle are generally known. By means of the known door driving units, a sliding door arranged in a rail-bound vehicle can preferably be automatically displaced between an opening position and a closing position, wherein a passage is open in the opening position and the passage is blocked in the closing position.
For example, an automatic sliding door with a driving unit and at least one displaceable door leaf is known from DE 10 2014 101 036 A1. The door leaf can be moved between an open and a closed position. The driving unit has at least one electric drive motor with a transmission and a continuous toothed belt to which the door portal is attached by means of lugs on a strand. The sliding door has a locking device with which the displaceable door leaf can be locked or unlocked, with the locking device acting on the motor shaft of the drive motor.
In most cases, the door driving units are placed in the upper region of the portal and most frequently consist of toothed belts or spindle drives. Thus, the usable space above the door openings is considerably reduced, which is disadvantageous. The combination of a locking device with door driving units arranged there is often also difficult and does not work reliably in the long run.
The present disclosure provides a vehicle sliding door system which requires as little construction space as possible above or below the door portal. In this case, the vehicle sliding door system is supposed to have a structure that is as simple and rugged as possible, so that, in particular, the effort for maintenance and service is also minor. Finally, the vehicle sliding door system is supposed to be suitable for being combined with a rugged locking device that works reliably.
According to the disclosure, this advantage is achieved by providing a vehicle sliding door system having the features of claim 1.
The disclosure is substantially based on the arrangement of the door driving unit laterally of, and not above or below, the door portal. The wording “laterally of the door portal”, which is used below and also in the patent claims thus merely relates to an arrangement in the horizontal direction laterally of the door portal, and not above or below it. Substantially, this is achieved by using a cable, which, with its first end is attached to the sliding door in the region of a, in the closing direction, front vertical lateral edge, and with its second end in the region of the, in the closing direction, rear vertical lateral edge. The cable can be moved by means of a door driving unit, which is connected via a coupling member to the cable, so that the sliding door moves in the opening or closing direction due to pulling forces applied, depending on the direction of movement of the coupling member. The coupling member is firmly connected to the cable and thus cannot be displaced relative to the cable, and always pulls it along when moving along a longitudinal direction of the cable. In turn, the coupling member can be moved by means of a motor, particularly an electric motor.
The movement of the coupling member acts on the sliding door in such a manner that the latter is moved out of or into the door opening along its displacement path, i.e. in the horizontal direction. For this purpose, in a first embodiment according to the disclosure, the cable extends in a first portion from the front vertical lateral edge in the horizontal direction to a first roller arranged on the door portal. In a second portion, the cable then extends in the vertical direction from the first roller to a second roller, which is also arranged on the portal and below the first roller, is redirected about the second roller, and then extends in a third portion in the vertical direction from the second roller back to a third roller. The third roller is located in the immediate vicinity of the first roller and is also rotatably mounted on the door portal. Starting from the third roller, the cable then again extends in a fourth portion in the horizontal direction, i.e. in the direction of the displacement path, to the rear vertical lateral edge of the sliding door. The rollers, the coupling member and the driving unit are not located above or below the door opening, but rather laterally thereof. Depending on the arrangement, only the first and third rollers may be arranged, with respect to the vertical direction, above or below the door opening, but nevertheless laterally thereof in the horizontal direction. Only the cable runs above or below the door opening, whereby construction space for other uses is obtained in these regions.
Advantageously, the coupling member is fixed to one of the two vertically extending cable portions, i.e. to the second portion or the third portion. If the coupling member firmly connected to the cable is now moved upwards or downwards in the vertical direction, the cable is moved along accordingly and, depending on the direction of movement of the coupling member, pulls on the sliding door either by means of the attaching means on the front vertical lateral edge or the attaching means on the rear vertical lateral edge. The sliding door can thus be opened and closed by means of the coupling member.
For example, the coupling member may be configured as a spindle nut, which can be displaced on a spindle extending parallel to the second and third portions of the cable. By means of the motor, the spindle is made to rotate and thus displaces the coupling member and the sliding door connected therewith by means of the cable.
It is also conceivable that the cable, in at least some portions, is configured like a kind of toothed belt driven by a driven pinion gear. For example, one or several of the above-described rollers may be configured as a driven pinion gear meshing with a toothed region of the cable. Accordingly, the cable is configured in a similar manner as a toothed belt across a longitudinal section of suitable length. In this case, the toothed belt portion may be formed from the cable itself, but may also be formed by an additional element connected to the cable. In principle, the entire cable may even be replaced with a toothed belt, which is moved via one or several rollers.
In another embodiment of the disclosure, it is also possible to configure the coupling member as a cable pulley with a corresponding cable strand. Depending on the direction of rotation, the cable can be spooled up or unspooled on the cable pulley in both directions. Thus, by rotating the cable pulley, the sliding door may be pulled either by means of the first attaching means on the front vertical lateral edge or second attaching means on the rear vertical lateral edge. The rotation of the cable pulley is in this case also caused by the motor. Preferably, the cable pulley is positioned such that a redirection of the cable by means of additional rollers can be dispensed with. For this purpose, the cable pulley is preferably located on the door portal laterally of the door opening, at the same height in the vertical direction as the two attachment points of the cable on the sliding door. The motor is arranged above or below that.
Advantageously, all of the components of the door driving unit, i.e. the motor, the coupling member, possibly the rollers and possibly the cable pulley, are thus fixed to the door portal; the connection with the sliding door is effected exclusively by means of the cable. However, it is also conceivable that individual components are attached to the sliding door itself.
The vehicle sliding door system is particularly suitable for use with an advantageous locking unit. For this purpose, the motor housing is rotatably mounted, relative to the motor itself, on the door portal. Thus, the rotation required for driving the cable pulley and the cable, and thus the drive torque of an output shaft of the motor, as well as the rotation of the motor housing may be used. In the event a spindle nut is used as a coupling member, for example, if the spindle nut has reached the end of the spindle and cannot be moved any further in the closed final position of the sliding door, the rotatably mounted motor housing rotates and acts on a locking lever. The locking lever moves into a recess or depression in the sliding door or abuts against a corresponding counter bearing and thus blocks the sliding door against being displaced in the opening direction.
In a particularly advantageous embodiment, another joint lever which, with one free end, is pivotably connected to the motor housing and, with its other end, is pivotably connected to the locking lever, is disposed between the locking lever and the motor housing. If the locking lever is located in the recess or on the counter bearing, the locking lever, the joint lever and the motor housing form an over-dead-center position blocking the sliding door against being displaced in the opening direction. In order to open the sliding door, the motor housing first has to be rotated in the opposite direction, and the over-dead-center position has to be passed.
The combination of the door driving unit according to the disclosure with the locking unit is particularly advantageous because the motor housing is arranged on the door portal laterally of the sliding door anyway. Thus it is possible, using only two levers, to securely lock the sliding door.
The disclosure is explained further with reference to the following Figures. The depicted exemplary embodiments are not to be understood as limiting but rather as examples, and are supposed to enable the person skilled in the art to carry out the disclosure. The applicant reserves the right to make individual ones or several of the features disclosed in the exemplary embodiment the subject matter of claims, or to incorporate such features into existing claims. The Figures are to be understood merely as schematic illustrations; in particular, dimensions and shapes may vary.
In the Figures:
The sliding door 22 has an, in the closing direction, front vertical lateral edge 26 and an, in the closing direction, rear vertical lateral edge 28.
The door driving unit according to the disclosure has a cable 30 which, by means of a first attaching means 32 in the region of the front vertical lateral edge 26, and by means of a second attaching means 34 in the region of the rear vertical lateral edge 28, is attached to the sliding door. In the depicted exemplary embodiment, the cable 30 is connected to the sliding door 22, in each case with free ends on the two attaching means 32, 34.
Moreover, a first roller 36, a second roller 38 and a third roller 40, via which the cable 30 is redirected, are rotatably mounted on the door portal. This results in the following four portions of the cable 30:
In the vertical direction, the first roller 36 and the third roller 40 are arranged at approximately the same height, preferably at the same height as the two attaching means 32, 34 on the sliding door 22. In the depicted exemplary embodiment, the second roller 38 is located underneath the two other rollers 36, 40 in the vertical direction (between the two rollers 36, 40 preferably centrally in the horizontal direction).
The cable 30 is firmly connected with a coupling member 50; a movement of the coupling member 50 results in a movement of the cable 30. In the depicted exemplary embodiment, the coupling member 50 is connected in the second portion 44 with the cable 30; alternatively, however, it may also be connected therewith in the region of the third portion 44. The door driving unit causes a movement of the coupling member 50 in the vertical direction, i.e. parallel to the second portion 44 or third portion 46. In the depicted exemplary embodiment, this is accomplished by means of a spindle 52 driven by a motor 54. In the depicted exemplary embodiment, the coupling member 50 is configured as a displaceable spindle nut.
The locking device 58 is activated when the sliding door 22 is located in the closed final position and the coupling member 50 cannot be displaced any further on the spindle 52. Thus, a rotation of the motor housing 60 is caused, which pivots the joint lever 60 or the locking lever 62 into its locking position. The motor housing 60 rotates, as it were, about the motor 54 located in the interior.
The illustration in
Alternatively, it is also possible to configure one or several of the rollers 36, 38, 40 as a motor-driven cable pulley 56 in the embodiment according to the
It is also conceivable that one of the rollers 36, 38, 40 is configured as a driven pinion gear meshing with a toothed region of the cable 30. Accordingly, the cable 30 has a configuration similar to a toothed belt across a longitudinal section of suitable length. In this case, the toothed belt portion may be formed from the cable 30 itself, but may also be formed by an additional element connected to the cable 30. In principle, the entire cable 30 may even be replaced with a toothed belt, which is driven or moved via one or several rollers 36, 38, 40.
The disclosure is not limited to the exemplary embodiment shown, but also includes other useful deviations from the illustrated design. For example, it would be possible to provide a toothed-belt drive instead of the spindle 52.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 20 2020 106 072.4 | Oct 2020 | DE | national |
This application is a 35 U.S.C. § 371 National Stage patent application of PCT/EP2021/078466, filed on 14 Oct. 2021, which claims the benefit of German patent application 20 2020 106 072.4, filed on 23 Oct. 2020, the disclosures of which are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety.
| Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| PCT/EP2021/078466 | 10/14/2021 | WO |
