This application claims priority to Korean Patent Application No. 10-2019-0163399, filed in the Korean Intellectual Property Office on Dec. 10, 2019, which application is hereby incorporated herein by reference.
The present invention relates to a link type structure for preventing opposite sliding doors from swaying.
In general, a vehicle has an occupant compartment having a predetermined size in which a driver or an accompanied occupant may be seated, and occupant compartment opening/closing doors are installed on a vehicle body to open or close the occupant compartment.
Sliding type occupant compartment opening/closing doors include a front sliding door installed at a front side in a longitudinal direction of a vehicle and a rear sliding door installed at a rear side in the longitudinal direction of the vehicle. The front sliding door and the rear sliding door are typically installed to be moved along rails mounted on a vehicle body or the doors.
However, the sliding type occupant compartment opening/closing door in the related art requires three rails (an upper rail, a center rail, and a lower rail) that support an upper portion, a middle portion, and a lower portion of the door during the process of opening or closing the door, and the sliding type occupant compartment opening/closing door also requires components related to the rails. For this reason, the sliding type occupant compartment opening/closing door in the related art has a problem in that the weight of the vehicle and the number of components are increased and a degree of design freedom of the vehicle deteriorates.
Therefore, there has been developed a two-rail type door system for a vehicle in which a sliding door is slidably supported only with center and lower rails. For example, Korean Patent No. 10-1684536 (Sliding Door System for Vehicle) in the related art discloses that a door rail (i.e., a center rail) is mounted on a sliding door, a vehicle body rail (i.e., a lower rail) is mounted on a vehicle body, and the sliding door is opened or closed as a center slider coupled to the door rail and a lower slider coupled to the vehicle body rail are moved.
However, referring to
The present invention relates to a link type structure for preventing opposite sliding doors from swaying. Particular embodiments relate to a link type structure for preventing opposite sliding doors from swaying, the link type structure being capable of preventing the sway of the sliding door by means of supporting force generated by motions of two link members while the sliding door is opened or closed in a vehicle mounted with the sliding door and having only center and lower rails.
The present invention has been made in an effort to provide a new type of structure capable of preventing sway of a sliding door and supporting a load while the sliding door is opened or closed in a vehicle mounted with the sliding door and having only center and lower rails.
An exemplary embodiment of the present invention provides a link type structure for preventing opposite sliding doors from swaying, the link type structure including a lower rail mounted in a longitudinal direction at a lower side of a vehicle body, a lower rail roller unit rollably connected to the lower rail, a lower rail swing arm rotatably connected to the lower rail roller unit and the door, a first link member having one end rotatably connected to the door and the other end connected to a link hinge, and a second link member having one end rotatably connected to the lower rail roller unit and the other end connected to the link hinge. Here, a spring for applying elastic force is provided on the link hinge so that one end of the first link member applies force to the door in a direction toward the outside of the vehicle body.
According to embodiments of the present invention, since supporting force for supporting the door is generated by the operations of the two link members, the door is prevented from swaying in the width direction (L direction) of the vehicle body.
According to embodiments of the present invention, in the state in which the door is completely opened, it is possible to ensure a space between the two link members and a side outer member formed at the lower side of the vehicle body.
According to embodiments of the present invention, since the two link members have the first and second rigidity supplement members formed in the height direction (H direction) of the vehicle body, the two link members are prevented from being damaged by a load applied to the door.
Hereinafter, a link type structure for preventing opposite sliding doors from swaying according to embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. Terms or words used herein should not be interpreted as being limited to a general or dictionary meaning and should be interpreted as a meaning and a concept which conform to the technical spirit of the present invention based on a principle that an inventor can appropriately define a concept of a term in order to describe his/her own invention by the best method.
According to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, in a vehicle, there are only a lower rail 10 (a rail disposed at a lower side of the vehicle) and a center rail 20 (a rail disposed at a center of the vehicle), but there is no upper rail 30 (a rail disposed at an upper side of the vehicle). Here, the lower rail 10 is provided on a vehicle body 2, and the center rail 20 is provided on a sliding door 1.
The sliding doors 1 include a front door and a rear door, and the link type structure for preventing opposite sliding doors from swaying according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention is applied to the lower rail 10 of the front door or the rear door. Therefore, the link type structures for preventing opposite sliding doors from swaying, which are applied to the front door and the rear door, respectively, are identical in configuration and operational principle. However, in the present specification, for ease of description, an example in which the link type structure for preventing opposite sliding doors from swaying is applied to any one of the sliding doors 1 will be described.
For ease of description, a configuration of the vehicle body 2 is omitted from
Referring to
One end of the lower rail roller unit 12 is inserted into the lower rail 10 provided in a longitudinal direction of the vehicle body 2, such that the lower rail roller unit 12 is rollably coupled to the lower rail 10. Specifically, the lower rail roller unit 12 includes a slider 14, and rollers 15 provided on the slider 14 are inserted into the lower rail 10 and rollably coupled to the lower rail 10 (see
One end of the lower rail swing arm 18 is rotatably connected to a lower swing arm mounting bracket 16 fixedly mounted inside the door 1, and the other end of the lower rail swing arm 18 is rotatably connected to the lower rail roller unit 12. Therefore, when the door 1 moves, the lower rail swing arm 18 may rotate about the lower rail roller unit 12 and may rectilinearly move along the lower rail 10.
Meanwhile, as described above, in an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, the center rail 20 is fixed to the door 1. A center rail roller unit 22 is rollably connected to the center rail 20. The center rail roller unit 22 is rotatably connected to a center swing arm mounting bracket 26 fixedly connected to the vehicle body 2 through a center rail swing arm 28.
The first link member 100 is a member configured to support the door 1 and elongated in the longitudinal direction of the vehicle body 2, as illustrated in
A spring 120 is provided on the link hinge 110. The spring 120 according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention is a spiral spring formed in a direction in which the spiral spring surrounds the link hinge 110. The spiral spring is a spring that entirely has a coil shape and operates such that when a first end of the two ends is fixed and a second end is rotated in one direction, torque is generated in the other direction at the first end. Referring to
First rigidity supplement members 105a and 105b are provided at both sides of the first link member 100, and the first rigidity supplement members 105a and 105b are formed in a vertical direction (a height direction of the vehicle body 2) and in a longitudinal direction of the first link member 100. However, in an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, a part at one side of the first link member 100 is not provided with the first rigidity supplement member 105a. Here, the first rigidity supplement members 105a and 105b are auxiliary members that resist external force applied to the first link member 100 in the vertical direction.
The second link member 200 is a member connected to the first link member 100 to support the door 1. The second link member 200 has a length approximately similar to or smaller than a length of the lower rail swing arm 18. One end of the second link member 200 is rotatably connected to the lower rail roller unit 12. Specifically, a second guide bracket 201 is fixedly connected to one side of the lower rail roller unit 12, and the second guide bracket 201 and one end of the second link member 200 are connected with a second guide pin 203. Therefore, the second link member 200 may rotate about the second guide pin 203. The other end of the second link member 200 is rotatably connected to the link hinge 110. For example, a hole (not illustrated) is formed at the other end of the second link member 200 so that the link hinge 110 is inserted into the hole, and the hole may have a larger diameter than the link hinge 110.
As a result, the first link member 100 and the second link member 200 connect the door 1 and the vehicle body 2, and the first link member 100 and the second link member 200 are connected to be rotatable about a link rotation axis 112.
Meanwhile, the other end of the spring 120 is connected to a catching member 207 provided on the second link member 200. Referring to
A second rigidity supplement member 205 is provided at one side of the second link member 200, and the second rigidity supplement member 205 is formed in the vertical direction (the height direction of the vehicle body 2) and in a longitudinal direction of the second link member 200. No second rigidity supplement member 205 is provided at the other side of the second link member 200 because if the second rigidity supplement member 205 is provided at the other side of the second link member 200, the first and second rigidity supplement members 105a and 205 interfere with each other, which causes the rotations of the first and second link members 100 and 200 to be restricted when the first and second link members 100 and 200 rotate close to each other about the link hinge 110. Therefore, a part at one side of the first link member 100 is not provided with the first rigidity supplement member 105a. Similar to the first rigidity supplement members 105a and 105b, the second rigidity supplement member 205 is an auxiliary member that resists external force applied to the second link member 200 in the vertical direction.
Hereinafter, an operating process of the link type sway prevention structure according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to
The first link member 100 is elongated in the longitudinal direction of the vehicle body 2. One end of the first link member 100 is rotatably connected to the door 1 by means of the first guide bracket 101, and the other end of the first link member 100 is connected to the link hinge 110. One end of the second link member 200 is rotatably connected to one side of the slider 14 by means of the second guide bracket 201, and the other end of the second link member 200 is connected to the link hinge 110. Therefore, the first and second link members 100 and 200, together with the lower rail swing arm 18, may move along with the lower rail roller unit 12.
When the door 1 begins to be opened, the lower rail roller unit 12 begins to move toward the other side of the lower rail 10 (the right side in
The operating processes of the first and second link members 100 and 200 continue until the door 1 is completely opened. Referring to
A process reverse to the above-mentioned process is performed while the opened door 1 is closed. Even in this case, force F is generated in the direction toward the outside of the vehicle body 2 by the torque T generated by the spring 120.
Therefore, according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, the supporting force for supporting the door 1 is generated by the operations of the first and second link members 100 and 200. The supporting force continues to be generated while the door 1 moves.
According to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, in the state in which the door 1 is completely opened, it is possible to ensure a space between the first and second link members 100 and 200 and a side outer member (not illustrated) formed at the lower side of the vehicle body 2.
In the related art, in the vehicle having only the center rail 20 and the lower rail 10, the door 1 is supported at two support points A and B. For this reason, when the door 1 moves, the door 1 is eccentrically tilted by its own weight and sways in the width direction (L direction) of the vehicle body 2, and thus the door 1 cannot be stably supported.
Referring to
Since the first and second rigidity supplement members 105a, 105b, and 205 provided on the first and second link members 100 and 200 are formed in the height direction (H direction) of the vehicle body 2, the first and second link members 100 and 200 are prevented from being damaged by a load applied to the door 1.
The present invention has been described with reference to exemplary embodiments and the drawings, but the present invention is not limited thereto. The described exemplary embodiments may be variously changed or modified by those skilled in the art to which the present invention pertains within the technical spirit of the present invention and within the scope equivalent to the appended claims.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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10-2019-0163399 | Dec 2019 | KR | national |