The invention relates to a vehicle roof with at least one cover element which optionally closes or at least partially opens up a roof opening, according to the preamble of patent claim 1.
A vehicle roof of this type is known, for example, from U.S. Pat. No. 6,695,398 B2 and comprises a cover element which, along both lateral edges thereof with respect to the vehicle longitudinal center plane, is provided with a carrier element which constitutes a pivoting or deployment arm. Guide rails, in each of which one of the carrier elements is displaceably guided, are arranged along the lateral edges of the roof opening. The carrier elements each interact with an adjustment device which comprises a carriage element which is provided with a claw which interacts with a guide track or control track of the particular carrier element. Movement of the carriage elements in the guide rails triggers a pivoting movement of the carrier elements and therefore of the cover element.
Furthermore, it is known from practice, in the case of carriage elements according to the type described above, to form a guide section on which the lower side of the particular carrier element rests and which consists of an elastically mounted steel roller which is formed from a rolling bearing steel tube in which a damper forming the elastic mounting is embedded. Such a guide section which is formed from a steel roller is also highly cost-intensive. Adequate compensation for tolerances in the vertical direction of the vehicle may possibly not be possible because of the small dimensions of the damper. Also, high surface pressure prevails because of the linear contact, which is predetermined by the steel roller, with the guide web formed on the particular carrier element. This may in turn lead, when the adjustment device is actuated, to undesirable noises occurring because of the “stick-slip effect”.
The invention is based on the object of providing a vehicle roof of the generic type mentioned at the beginning which is distinguished by favorable production costs with optimized compensation for tolerances of the carriage element.
This object is achieved according to the invention by the vehicle roof with the features of patent claim 1.
The core of the invention consequently consists in that the guide section is formed by a wall of a plastics structural member, which wall can yield in an elastically deformable manner into a cavity formed by the plastics structural member. The guide section is consequently formed by a structural member which can be produced cost-effectively and, with the wall thereof bearing against the carrier element, forms a sliding surface which can be designed in an optimized manner with regard to the respective kinematic requirements. The guide section formed by the wall of the plastics structural member can in particular form a contact surface, leading to optimized sliding properties between the particular carrier element and the carriage element. However, it is also conceivable for the guide section formed by the wall to bear against the relevant carrier element via a contact line.
In a particularly cost-effectively producible embodiment of the vehicle roof according to the invention, the carriage element is a plastics injection molded part. In contrast to carriage elements according to the prior art, which elements are produced from painted steel, an increased variability with regard to the shaping of the carriage element is thereby also possible.
In a preferred embodiment of the vehicle according to the invention, the plastics part which has the wall forming the guide section is formed integrally with the carriage element. The guide section and the carriage element are therefore produced in a shaping process without further assembly steps.
In order to be able to confer respectively optimized properties on the carriage element in the various functional regions thereof, it may be advantageous to design the carriage element as a two-component injection molded part, wherein a carriage element body is formed by a first plastics component, and the plastics structural member which has the wall forming the guide section is formed by a second plastics component. A claw section engaging over the guide link or the guide web can also be formed from the second plastics component which, in cooperation with the material of the insert molding of the guide web of the carrier element, forms an optimized sliding pairing.
In an alternative embodiment of the vehicle roof according to the invention, the plastics structural member is an insert of a body of the carriage element. The carriage element therefore then has a carriage element body which is provided with a recess for receiving the plastics structural member which has the wall forming the guide section.
In the two-part embodiment consisting of the carriage element body and plastics structural member, the plastics structural member is preferably latched to the carriage element body and is therefore connected captively to the latter.
However, it is also conceivable for the plastics structural member to be inserted loosely into the recess in the carriage element body and then to be supported, for example, with a base surface on the guide rail and to be guided at right angles to the base surface in the recess.
In order to prestress that wall of the plastics structural member which forms the guide section in the direction of the carrier element and also to damp the forces introduced into said wall by the carrier element, in a special embodiment of the vehicle roof according to the invention, an elastically deformable damping element, on which the wall forming the guide section is supported, is arranged in the cavity. The damping element is manufactured, for example, from a spring-elastic plastic, such as EPDM, TPE, NBR or the like.
In order to increase the prestressing of the wall forming the guide section in the vertical direction, i.e. in the direction of the relevant carrier element, that side of the damping element which bears against the wall forming the guide section can be of curved design transversely with respect to the extent of the guide rail.
To secure the damping element in the cavity, the carriage element can have a projection which engages in a cutout in the damping element and holds the latter in position.
An expedient embodiment of the carriage element has a lateral opening for the insertion of the damping element, said opening leading to the cavity which is bounded by the wall forming the guide surface.
The damping element can protrude out of the lateral opening in the carriage element in order to form a rest surface, which in particular is also a damping surface and therefore counteracts annoying noises, for an otherwise customary locking lever of the control mechanism.
In order to increase the prestressing of that wall of the plastics part which acts on the carrier element, said wall can be of curved design at least on one side transversely with respect to the extent of the carrier element. For example, that surface of the wall which faces the cavity or else the surface facing the carrier element is curved transversely with respect to the extent of the carrier element.
In a further alternative embodiment of the vehicle roof according to the invention, the guide web of the carrier has an operative surface which bears against the guide section and is curved in the transverse direction such that prestressing is also applied here as compensation for tolerances in the vertical direction of the vehicle, and the forces introduced are introduced into adjacent structural members with a reduction in stress.
For the optimized adaptation of the guide section to the various adjustment regions of the relevant carrier element, the guide section is preferably formed by two guide surfaces which are each assigned to a pivoting phase of the cover element, are tilted with respect to each other and are arranged consecutively in the longitudinal direction of the guide rail.
Furthermore, it may be expedient for the wall forming the guide section to be of double-walled design. The two individual walls of the double wall can be connected to each other via transverse webs.
By forming the carriage element as a plastics injection molded part, it is possible to form spring tabs integrally thereon, said spring tabs, in assigned guide tracks of the respective guide rails, bearing against a guide track wall.
The invention also has a vehicle roof with at least one cover element which optionally closes or at least partially opens up a roof opening which has a carrier element on both sides with respect to the vehicle longitudinal center plane, said carrier element being provided with a guide link and interacting with an adjustment device. The adjustment device is guided in a guide rail arranged in the longitudinal direction of the vehicle and comprises a carriage element which interacts with the guide link of the particular carrier element, at least for pivoting the cover element, and comprises a guide section on which the carrier element rests. The carriage element is supported on the relevant guide rail via a centrally arranged spring on the underside. Upon occurrence of high forces in the vertical direction of the vehicle, said spring can introduce the forces directly into the guide rail. Said spring, which rests on the guide rail outside guide tracks for sliding elements of the carriage element, can replace springs which could otherwise be formed on the sliding elements and act in the vertical direction of the vehicle.
The spring is, for example, a leaf spring which bears against a sliding surface of the guide rail via a sliding section, said sliding surface lying between guide tracks of the guide rail, in which the lateral sliding elements of the carriage element are guided.
The spring is expediently designed as an insert of the carriage element which may be inserted during the production of the carriage element or else may be inserted retrospectively into a slot in the carriage element. However, it is also conceivable to design the spring from plastic and to form the spring integrally during the production of the carriage element which is designed in particular as an injection molded structural member.
Further advantages and advantageous refinements of the subject matter of the invention can be gathered from the description, the drawing and the patent claims.
Exemplary embodiments of a vehicle roof according to the invention are illustrated in a schematically simplified manner in the drawing and are explained in more detail in the description below. In the drawing:
The adjustment device 22, which is illustrated in detail in
By means of the adjustment device 22 illustrated in the present case, the cover element 12 can be pivoted between a closed position, which is illustrated with reference to
The adjustment device which is arranged on the right in the direction of travel and to which the cover element 12 is attached via its fastening tabs 18, which are formed on the right-hand edge, is designed mirror-symmetrically to the adjustment device illustrated on the left in the direction of travel in the drawing and is therefore not explained in more detail.
The carrier element 26 is formed from a punched sheet and constitutes a pivoting or deployment arm for the cover element 12. The lower edge of the carrier element 26 has a substantially T-shaped guide web 30 which serves as a guide link, has a substantially downwardly sloping profile, as viewed from the vehicle rear, and interacts with the drive carriage 24. The guide web 30 is insert molded with an insert molding made from a plastic having favorable sliding properties.
The drive carriage 24, which engages with a claw section 32, which optionally forms an upper sliding surface for the guide web 30, around the guide web 30 of the carrier element 26 is a plastics injection molded part which is provided on both sides with a sliding section 34 via which the drive carriage 24 is guided in guide tracks of the relevant guide rail 20. That side of the sliding section 34 which is on the outside with respect to the longitudinal center plane of the drive carriage 24 has spring tabs 36 which are formed integrally, serve to compensate for tolerances in the transverse direction of the vehicle and are illustrated in
As can be gathered from
The drive carriage 24 can be designed as a two-component injection molded part, wherein a first component which forms the guide section 38 and the claw section 32 is designed in an optimized manner with respect to the sliding pairing with the plastic which surrounds the guide web 30 of the carrier element 26.
The guide section 38 is divided into three subregions 42, 44 and 46 which are arranged consecutively in the longitudinal direction of the vehicle, are each inclined in relation to one another and of which the subregion 42 is assigned a section 48 assigned to the closed position of the cover element 12, the subregion 44 is assigned to a section 50 assigned to the ventilation position, and the subregion 46 is assigned to a subregion 52 of the guide web 30 of the carrier element 26, which subregion is assigned to the lowered displacement position. By means of the subregions 42, 44 and 46 which are tilted with respect to one another, optimized contact behavior between the guide section 38, which is formed on the drive carriage 24, and the lower side or active surface of the guide web 30 of the carrier element 26 can be achieved in each pivoting phase of the cover element 12.
In order to fix the damping element 60 in the cavity 40, a groove 64 is arranged on the lower side of the damping element 60, said groove running in the longitudinal direction of the vehicle and a web-like projection 66 of the drive carriage 44 engaging in said groove in the installed position.
The damping element 60 which consists, for example, of EPDM, TPE, NBR or the like, is illustrated in the installed position thereof, in which it is arranged in the cavity 40, with reference to
The embodiment, which is illustrated in
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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102009005133.3 | Jan 2009 | DE | national |
Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind | 371c Date |
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PCT/DE2009/001748 | 12/10/2009 | WO | 00 | 6/29/2011 |