BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
FIG. 1 shows a schematic top view of a vehicle roof with two sandwich components;
FIG. 2 shows a schematic section taken along the plane II-II of FIG. 1;
FIG. 3 shows a schematic section taken through a further embodiment;
FIG. 4 shows a further embodiment in section; and
FIG. 5 shows yet another embodiment in section.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT
FIG. 1 schematically shows a vehicle roof 5 in a top view, which is shown in this example as a panoramic roof. The panoramic roof consists of a cover 10 that is adapted to be slid rearwardly, and a firmly mounted pane element 12. Both the cover 10 and the pane element 12 are transparent.
As can be seen in FIG. 2, the pane element 12 is composed of a first pane 14 and a second pane 16, which are both made of glass. Both float glass and tempered glass may be used. As an alternative, panes made of a plastic material may be employed.
An adhesive layer 18 made of an expandable material is provided between the first and second panes 14, 16. The expandable material is PU foam. Foamed into an edge region of the adhesive layer 18 is a carrier part 20 that serves to attach the pane element 12 to a holding bar 22, and also allows a seal carrier 24 provided with a water gutter to be fitted.
FIG. 3 shows a further embodiment. Unlike in the embodiment shown in FIG. 2, the sandwich component of FIG. 3 is a cover 10 that has two panes 14, 16 and an adhesive layer 18 of an expandable material. Also in this example, a carrier part 20 is foamed in the adhesive layer 18. In the region of the carrier part 20, a recess 25 is provided in the lower pane 16 and in the adhesive layer 18. The carrier part 20 extends as far as on both sides of the recess 25. A tongue is bent out downward in the center, which serves to connect the cover 10 with a schematically indicated sliding roof system 26.
FIG. 4 shows, in section, an edge portion of a cover 10. Here, the carrier part 20 is an anchoring extension that is formed in one piece with a seal 30 and is foamed into the adhesive layer 18 made of the PU foam.
Similar to FIG. 4, FIG. 5 shows an edge portion of a cover 10. In this case, the carrier part 20 is made in one piece with a seal carrier 32 and is again foamed into the adhesive layer 18.
A feature that all of the embodiments have in common is that the carrier part 20 is firmly connected with the sandwich component at minimum expense. It is not required to bolt the carrier part to, for instance, a reinforcement frame later. Instead, the carrier part 20 is directly foamed in between the first and second panes 14, 16 during the manufacture of the sandwich component.
The necessary stiffness of the sandwich component can be attained by suitably shaping the first and second panes 14, 16 and, hence, the adhesive layer 18 made of the PU foam.
Although an embodiment of this invention has been disclosed, a worker of ordinary skill in this art would recognize that certain modifications would come within the scope of this invention. For that reason, the following claims should be studied to determine the true scope and content of this invention.
Patent Application
20070275216
