1. Field of the Invention
The invention is based on a priority patent application EP 09171880.9 which is hereby incorporated by reference.
The invention discloses a solution for a rear view mirror with cover elements. The inventional rear view mirror has cover elements that allows other cover elements to move and has a built in flexibility to allow the mirror to fold away from driving position.
2. Description of the Related Art
Rear view mirror for vehicles is designed with two main parts: the mirror base and the mirror head. These two main parts of a rear view mirror assembly are covered with plastic elements for a nice appearance and a reduction of turbulent air flow. In addition the cover elements smooth the rigid edges of the functional parts and reduce the risk for persons colliding with a rear view mirror.
It is also known to combine the functional elements of a rear view mirror with the covers as in molding mirror bases in plastic so that they appear with a smooth surface.
For security reasons rear view mirrors pass a security test according ECE regulations for example. In these tests the impact of a pedestrian's head is simulated and the rear view mirror must hinge away with a dedicated force in traveling direction and against traveling direction of vehicle. Rear view mirrors that have a pivot axis that lays not in the plane of mirror head and mirror base cover joints. When the rear view mirror assembly is folded the cover elements move out of the pivot center and can block the movement. For this type of rear view mirror the security parameters will not be fulfilled and the rear view mirror would not be legally approved.
The problem of a mirror to be hinged away is described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,340,231 wherein an electrical actuator is used and has features to easily fold away for security reasons. U.S. Pat. No. 6,361,178 disclosed a rear view mirror attached to a bearing arm and a holding rod which pivot about the swivel axis in a plane extending in a direction substantially parallel to a direction of travel of the vehicle. The housings in the prior art are not blocking the pivot motion.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,712,891 discloses a solution where the rear view mirror is moulded in an undercut moulding process that combines a rigid material and a soft material. The core of the housing is made of a rigid material while the surface is made of a soft material. Both mirror head and mirror base have a part that is rigid and a surface part of an elastic material. If the mirror is folded versus the vehicle contour the two main parts of the minors pivot around an axis. The two parts of the mirror housing come into abutment. The forces when the components are in abutment compress the elastic parts of the mirror.
The invention is shown in the figures and shortly described thereafter. The inventional solution is useful in designs wherein the housing parts of the rear view mirror could block the pivot motion or could break after an impact folding away the mirror. This would increase the risk to injure somebody and the invention gives a way to have a design with a smooth surface of a rear view mirror and the security aspect that the mirror is folded away without destroying parts.
The invention provides at least one part of the mirror housings or covers that has a designed-in-flexibility to move versus other cover parts and to move back to the working position without distortions.
To avoid the blocking of mirror head the end stop design is also adapted to allow the mirror head to move over the end stop in the folding mechanism. For this purpose the end stop elements in the manual folding design has a structure with a first step for the normal fold back stop end and a second step for the final end stop before the mirror crashed at the vehicle's body. The two step solution of stop end cam 20 is schematically shown in
The first step can be overridden by an impact as it is applied in the pendulum impact test. The overlap of the cams is only around 1 mm, so that an impact can move the blocking cam up, see arrow, and allow the pivotable means to slide over the surface of the cam. The additional distance is marked with an arrow too.
The power fold version as seen in
In
A harness 9 connects the electrical devices with the vehicle board system. In another embodiment the mirror base is molded as one part in plastic and the mirror base cover is not necessary. In this application the mirror base cover includes a solution with a full plastic mirror base comprising the cover surface too.
The detail of the solution is visible in
The housing part have to move against each others with the result that they cant.
The rear view mirror assembly doe not cant and move without distortion to the fold away position that is necessary for security reasons. The rear view mirror assembly is not disturbed, no parts of the mirror housing are breaking away resulting in sharp edges.
After impact the mirror head can be moved back into working position and the flexible bar 14 snaps back into the unstressed conditions.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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09171880 | Sep 2009 | EP | regional |