Patent Application
20090295194
The present invention relates to a door frame for a vehicle.
Patent Document 1 describes an example of a door frame for a vehicle in the prior art. The vehicle door frame includes a door frame body (1), which is formed by bending a metal plate, and an exterior design member (17), which is formed by bending another metal plate. The vehicle door frame has a cross-section including a door weather strip fitting portion (31), to which a door weather strip (12) is attached, a glass channel (30), to which a glass run (8) is attached, and a parting weather strip fitting portion (32), to which a parting weather strip (21) is attached.
Patent Document 1: Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 11-334367 (FIG. 1)
The vehicle door frame 80 includes many folded portions and has a complicated cross-sectional shape. This increases the number of steps required in the rolling process. As the number of processing steps increases, the number of roll molds used in these steps and the number of roll mold pieces that form each of the roll molds (roll stages) increases accordingly. This may affect the production preparation period and the precision management for the points described below:
the cost of the molds increases as the processing steps (roll stages) increases;
the factory space for the rolling process increases as the processing steps in the rolling process (roll stages) increases; and
time is required for obtaining the required precision and making the necessary adjustments as the processing steps in the rolling process (roll stages) increases, and operators (maintenance crew and the like) that obtain the required precision and make the necessary adjustments are required to have high skill.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a vehicle door frame having a high sealing capacity and superior ornamentality while preventing the number of processing steps in the rolling process from increasing.
To achieve the above object, the present invention provides a vehicle door frame formed by rolling a metal plate so that the door frame has a cross-section including a first fitting portion, a second fitting portion, a first seal surface, a second seal surface, a glass channel, and an exterior ornamental portion that are formed integrally. The first fitting portion is formed to enable attachment of a bending-type door weather strip including a lip thereto. The second fitting portion is formed to enable attachment of a parting weather strip thereto. The first seal surface is formed to enable the lip to be pressed thereagainst. The second seal surface is formed to enable attachment of an opening weather strip thereto. The opening weather strip is attached to a vehicle body inward relative to the vehicle from the door weather strip. The glass channel is formed to enable attachment of a glass run thereto. The second fitting portion includes a bottom wall portion and an engagement piece that is folded back from the bottom wall portion at one side end of the bottom wall portion. The parting weather strip is engageable with the engagement piece. The first fitting portion includes the side end and a wall that is arranged at a rear side of the bottom wall portion, and the wall is formed so that the side end projects toward the wall.
A preferred embodiment of the present invention will now be described with reference to the drawings.
The first fitting portion 11 extends from an outer side of the vehicle toward an inner side of the vehicle. The first fitting portion 11 has a C-shaped cross-section. An outer end of the first fitting portion 11 is bent to form a first engagement portion 11a. An inner end of the first fitting portion 11 is folded back to form a second engagement portion 11b. The first fitting portion 11 opens toward the vehicle body 20 (to the left in
A compression-type door weather strip has an unstable form (elastic deformation) when pressed against the vehicle body. Thus, the compression-type door weather strip has lower sealing capacity. To compensate for this drawback, the compression-type door whether strip needs to be accurately attached to the vehicle body. The compression-type door weather strip typically tends to be larger than the bending-type door weather strip. This increases the material cost.
The first seal surface 12 extends continuously from an open end of the first fitting portion 11 at the outer side of the vehicle and is then folded back to the outer side of the vehicle. The door weather strip 21 has a first lip 21a. The first lip 21a is pressed against the first seal surface 12 by a repulsion force generated when the door weather strip 21 is bent and pressed against the contact surface 20a.
The second seal surface 13 extends continuously from an open end of the first fitting portion 11 at the inner side of the vehicle and is then folded so as to straightly extend away from the vehicle body 20 (to the right in
The interior ornamental portion 14 extends continuously from the second seal surface 13 and straightly from the inner side toward the outer side of the vehicle. The interior ornamental portion 14 forms an ornamental interior surface of the vehicle body 20.
The glass channel 15 has a channel-shaped cross-section that opens in a direction opposite the vehicle body 20 (to the right in
The exterior ornamental portion 16 has a cross-section that extends straightly continuous to an open end of the glass channel 15 at an outer side of the vehicle. The exterior ornamental portion 16 forms an exterior ornamental surface.
The second fitting portion 17 has a C-shaped cross-section. The second fitting portion 17 has two ends at the outer side and inner side of the vehicle that are folded back, and the second fitting portion 17 opens toward the vehicle body 20 (toward the left in
The door frame 2 is formed by a single metal plate that has the first end piece 2a and a second end piece 2b. The first end piece 2a, which is arranged between the glass channel 15 and the second fitting portion 17, extends from the outer side toward the inner side of the vehicle. A wall 31, which forms part of the first fitting portion 11, extends continuously from an inner end of the first end piece 2a. The wall 31 includes an inclined portion 31a and a first bottom wall portion 31b, which extends continuously from the inclined portion 31a and from the outer side toward the inner side of the vehicle. The first bottom wall portion 31b extends continuously to the second engagement portion 11b. The inclined portion 31a is bent from the first end piece 2a and extends from the outer side toward the inner side of the vehicle and away from the vehicle body 20 (toward the interior ornamental portion 14, or to the right in
The second fitting portion 17 includes a second bottom wall portion 32 and an engagement piece 33. The second bottom wall portion 32 extends from the outer side toward the inner side of the vehicle in contact with the first end piece 2a. The engagement piece 33 is folded back at one side end 32a of the second bottom wall portion 32, which is the end located at the inner side of the vehicle. The engagement piece 33 corresponds to the second end piece 2b of the metal plate forming the door frame 2. The side end 32a of the second bottom wall portion 32 projects toward the wall 31 located of the first end piece 2a (toward the inner side). More specifically, the wall 31 arranged at the rear side of the second bottom wall portion 32 is formed so that the side end 32a projects from the inclined portion 31a. As a result, the first engagement portion 11a of the first fitting portion 11 is formed by the inclined portion 31a and the side end 32a. The rear surface of the second fitting portion 17 refers to the side facing away from the vehicle body 20 with respect to the second bottom wall portion 32 (right side in
The parting weather strip 24 is held by the engagement with the engagement piece 33. The engagement piece 33 has the first seal surface 12, against which the first lip 21a of the door weather strip 21 is pressed.
The preferred embodiment has the advantages described below.
(1) The first engagement portion 11a, which is part of the first fitting portion 11, is formed by the inclined portion 31a of the wall 31 and the side end 32a of the second bottom wall portion 32 that projects toward the inner side of the vehicle with respect to the inclined portion 31a. More specifically, part of the first fitting portion 11 (the first engagement portion 11a) is formed by the second fitting portion 17. This simplifies the cross-sectional shape of the door frame 2 as compared with when the first fitting portion 11 is formed independently, and reduces the number of processing steps in the rolling process.
The door frame 2 includes the first fitting portion 11 and the second seal surface 13. The door frame 2 uses the bending-type door weather strip 21 having a high sealing capacity. Further, the door frame 2 has a double seal structure formed by the door weather strip 21 and the opening weather strip 22, which is arranged inward from the door weather strip 21. This improves the sealing capacity of the door frame 2.
The door frame 2 includes the door weather strip 21 and the parting weather strip 24, which are substantially separate members and arranged independently of each other. The door weather strip 21 and the parting weather strip 24 are arranged next to each other in the vertical direction as viewed in
(2) The engagement piece 33 includes the first seal surface 12. In other words, the engagement piece 33 also functions as the first seal surface 12. This eliminates the need to independently form the first seal surface 12, simplifies the cross-sectional shape of the door frame 2, and reduces the processing steps in the rolling process.
(3) The third engagement portion 15a of the glass channel 15 is arranged at the rear side of the wall 31 (the inclined portion 31a), which forms the first fitting portion 11. The rear side of the wall 31 is the side facing away from the vehicle body 20 (to the right in
Further, for example, the glass run fitting portion 89 is arranged separately from the glass channel 90 in the prior art structure (refer to
(4) The inclined portion 31a is continuous with the first end piece 2a and the first bottom wall portion 31b at obtuse angles. This enables the door frame 2 to be formed with fewer stages (roll stages).
(5) The reduction in the rolling steps (roll stages) improves the productivity of the door frame 2 and lowers the cost (cost for molds) of the door frame 2. This enables production preparation to be performed smoothly within a shorter period of time.
The above embodiment may be modified in the following forms.
In the above embodiment, the engagement piece 33 of the second fitting portion 17 may be formed by a middle part of a metal plate.
In the above embodiment, the inclined portion 31a may be folded with respect to the first end piece 2a or the first bottom wall portion 31b at a right angle or at an acute angle.
The cross-sectional shape of the door frame 2 may be changed without departing from the scope of the present invention.
The present invention is applicable to a front door or a rear door for a vehicle.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2005-126929 | Apr 2005 | JP | national |
| Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind | 371c Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| PCT/JP2006/307803 | 4/13/2006 | WO | 00 | 10/23/2007 |
