Patent Grant
10041284
The present invention relates to a window regulator which moves a window glass of a vehicle up and down.
Window regulators which support a slider base, to which a window glass is fixed, in a manner to allow the slider base in the longitudinal direction of a guide rail and which make the window glass move up and down by pulling wires are widely used in vehicles. The slider base has guide portions which are slidably engaged with the guide rail. A pair of wires are routed along the guide rail to pull the slider base in the forward and reverse directions, and ends of the wires are respectively engaged with wire engaging portions provided on the slider base. Pulling the wires causes a force in the raising/lowering direction to act on a force application portion on the slider base to move the slider base.
Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2001-82027
The slider base of the window regulator disclosed in Patent Literature 1 is configured such that the wire engaging portions are positioned between the force application portion and the guide portions in the widthwise direction of the guide rail. This configuration causes an increase in the distance between the force application portion and the guide portions, so that the turning moment which acts on the slider base about the force application portion tends to be great when the slider base is pulled by each wire. In that case, the guide portions become likely to wear in the slider base, and there is a possibility of the load on movement of the slider base increasing to thereby decrease the operating efficiency of the window regulator.
The present invention has been made in view of the above described issues, and it is an object of the present invention to provide a window regulator which is superior in smoothness of operation and operating efficiency.
In a window regulator including: a guide rail which is fixed to a vehicle; a slider base which supports a window glass and is supported on the guide rail to be slidable in the longitudinal direction of the guide rail; and a pair of wires which are routed along the longitudinal direction of the guide rail and connected to the slider base, the present invention has the following features. The slider base includes: a guide portion the movement of which with respect to the guide rail in the widthwise direction of the guide rail is restricted and which is fitted to the guide rail to be movable in the longitudinal direction of the guide rail; first and second wire engaging portions with which ends of the wires are engaged, respectively; and first and second force application portions which receive a force to move the slider base in a pulling direction following contact of the wires with the first and second force application portions when the wires are pulled in the longitudinal direction of the guide rail, wherein the guide portion is positioned in at least one of the areas between the first force application portion and the first wire engaging portion and between the second force application portion and the second wire engaging portion in the widthwise direction of the guide rail.
More desirably, it is advisable that the guide portion be positioned in between the first force application portion and the first wire engaging portion and between the second force application portion and the second wire engaging portion in the widthwise direction of the guide rail.
The slider base can be provided with a plurality of guide portions arranged at different positions in the longitudinal direction of the guide rail. In this case, it is desirable that the first wire engaging portion and the second wire engaging portion be positioned between the plurality of guide portions in the longitudinal direction of the guide rail. In addition, it is desirable that the first force application portion and the second force application portion be positioned between the plurality of guide portions in the longitudinal direction of the guide rail.
It is desirable that the slider base be provided with a wire retaining portion which prevents the ends of the wires from being disengaged from the first wire engaging portion and the second wire engaging portion.
According to the prevent invention described above, the arrangement in which the guide portion, which is guided by the guide rail, is positioned between the force application portions, which receive a force to move the force application portions in the pulling direction from the wires, and the wire engaging portions, with which ends of the wires are engaged, suppresses the moment of rotation which acts on the slider base when the window glass is moved up and down, thus making it possible to obtain a window regulator which is superior in smoothness of operation and operating efficiency.
A window regulator 10 that is shown in
A slider base 14 which supports a window glass is supported by the guide rail 11 to be movable in the longitudinal direction thereof. One end of each of a pair of wires 15 and 16 (
The wires 15 and 16 that extend from the guide pulley 17 and the guide piece 18 are inserted into guide tubes 21 and 22, respectively, and wound around a winding drum that is provided inside a drum housing 20 to which the guide tubes 21 and 22 are connected. The drum housing 20 is fixed to the door panel (inner panel). The winding drum is driven to rotate by a motor 25. Forward and reverse rotations of the winding drum cause one of the wires 15 and 16 to increase the winding amount thereof around the winding drum and cause the other of the wires 15 and 16 to advance from the winding drum, thereby causing the slider base 14 to move along the guide rail 11 due to the pulling-loosening relationship between the pair of wires 15 and 16. In accordance with this movement of the slider base 14, the window glass moves up and down.
As shown in
The body member 30 is provided, at different positions in the upward and downward directions (the longitudinal direction of the guide rail 11) with a pair of guide portions 31 and 32, and is supported by the guide rail 11 to be slidable relative to the guide rail 11. More specifically, the guide rail 11 is provided on either side thereof with a pair of side walls 11b, from each of which a flange 11c is projected laterally, thus having a hat-shaped cross section (see FIGS. 1 through 3), and the guide portions 31 and 32 are provided with grooves 31a and 32a (
Each of the guide portions 31 and 32 is formed into a projecting portion; the guide portion 31 is provided on either side thereof with a pair of side surfaces 31b substantially parallel to each other which are spaced from each other in the widthwise direction of the guide rail 11, and the guide portion 32 is provided on either side thereof with a pair of side surfaces 32b substantially parallel to each other which are spaced from each other in the widthwise direction of the guide rail 11. The side surfaces 31b and 32b are each formed into a surface extending in the longitudinal direction of the guide rail 11. A retaining projection 41 is projected from the side surface 31b formed on one side of the guide portion 31 and a retaining projection 42 is projected from the side surface 32b formed on one side of the guide portion 32.
The body member 30 is provided between the guide portion 31 and the guide portion 32 in the upward and downward directions with wire guide grooves 33 and 34 (
The wire-end housing portions 35 and 36 are recessed portions which are greater in width than the wire guide grooves 33 and 34, respectively. The wire-end housing portion 35 lies on an extension of the wire guide groove 33 and projects obliquely downward from a side of the body member 30, while the wire-end housing portion 36 lies on an extension of the wire guide groove 34 and projects obliquely upward from a side of the body member 30. The wire-end housing portion 35 is provided, at the end thereof to which the wire guide groove 33 is connected, with a contact surface 35a. The end of the wire-end housing portion 35 on the opposite from the contact surface 35a is open, and the wire-end housing portion 35 is provided at this open end with a retaining projection 35b (wire retaining portion). Likewise, the wire-end housing portion 36 is provided, at the end thereof to which the wire guide groove 34 is connected, with a contact surface 36a. The end of the wire-end housing portion 36 on the opposite from the contact surface 36a is open, and the wire-end housing portion 36 is provided at this open end with a retaining projection 36b (wire retaining portion).
The wire guide grooves 33 and 34 and the wire end housing portions 35 and 36 are each open to a surface of the body member 30 on the vehicle exterior side (the side seen in
The body member 30 is further provided below the intersecting portion 45 with a fitting hole 46 and provided above the intersecting portion 45 with a fitting hole 47. The fitting holes 46 and 47 are substantially circular bottomed holes which are recessed on surfaces of the body member 30 on the vehicle exterior side.
The support member 50 is provided with a cover portion 51 in the shape of a flat plate and provided at either side of the cover portion 51 with glass mounting portions 52 and 53. The glass mounting portions 52 and 53 are fixed to a window glass using fastening means not shown in the drawings. The cover portion 51 is provided with a pair of first holding lugs 54 and 55 and a pair of second holding lugs 56 and 57. The first holding lugs 54 and 55 are separately arranged at upper and lower end sides of the cover portion 51 and arranged at different positions in the widthwise direction of the cover portion 51. Likewise, the second holding lugs 56 and 57 are separately arranged at upper and lower end sides of the cover portion 51 and arranged at different positions in the widthwise direction of the cover portion 51. More specifically, the first holding lug 54 and the second holding lug 56 are formed at the upper end side of the cover portion 51 to be positioned to face each other in the widthwise direction of the cover portion 51. The first holding lug 55 and the second holding lug 57 are formed at the lower end side of the cover portion 51 to be positioned to face each other in the widthwise direction of the cover portion 51. In addition, the first holding lug 54 and the second holding lug 57 are provided at positions close to the glass mounting portion 52 in the widthwise direction of the cover portion 51, while the first holding lug 55 and the second holding lug 56 are provided at positions close to the glass mounting portion 53 in the widthwise direction of the cover portion 51. Accordingly, in a state where the support member 50 is viewed in a plan view as shown in
The support member 50 is provided at different positions in the upward and downward directions with a pair of wire-end retaining lugs 58 and 59. As shown in
Before the body member 30 and the support member 50 are combined, the wire 15 and the wire 16 are installed to the body member 30. As shown in
At the time of the installation of the wire 15 and the wire 16, the wire end 70 and the wire end 72 are not pressed against the contact surfaces 35a and 36a sides in the corresponding wire-end housing portions 35 and 36, respectively, in a state where no tension is applied to either of the wires 15 and 16. The retaining projection 35b and 36b prevent the wire ends 70 and 72 from coming off the wire end housing portions 35 and 36 in that state.
The support member 50 is mounted to the body member 30 by placing the cover portion 51 on the body member 30 from the vehicle exterior side with the side of the support member 50 from which the first holding lugs 54 and 55, the second holding lugs 56 and 57, the wire-end retaining lugs 58 and 59 and the fitting projections 62 and 63 project facing toward the vehicle interior side. As shown in
Additionally, mounting the support member 50 to the body member 30 causes the wire-end retaining lug 58 to be inserted into the plug-in groove 37 and causes the wire-end retaining lug 59 to be inserted into the plug-in groove 38. The wire-end retaining lug 58 is inserted to lie on an extension of the wire 15 but does not interfere with the wire 15 by inserting the wire 15 into the wire insertion groove 58a. Likewise, the wire-end retaining lug 59 is inserted to lie on an extension of the wire 16 but does not interfere with the wire 16 by inserting the wire 16 into the wire insertion groove 59a. Additionally, mounting the support member 50 to the body member 30 causes the projecting portions 39 and 40 to be inserted into the engaging holes 60 and 61, respectively as shown in
The wire 15, the wire end 70 of which is connected at one end thereof to the slider base 14 that is made as described above, is extended upward along the guide rail 11, guided by the guide pulley 17 to be inserted into the guide tube 21 and wound around the winding drum provided in the drum housing 20. The wire 16, the wire end 72 of which is connected at one end thereof to the slider base 14, is extended downward along the guide rail 11, guided by the guide piece 18 to be inserted into the guide tube 22 and wound around the winding drum provided in the drum housing 20. The tension of each wire 15 and 16 increases as the winding amount of each wire 15 and 16 around the winding drum increases. As the tension of each wire 15 and 16 increases, the wire end 70 of the wire 15 (the end surface of the wire end 70 to which the wire 15 is connected) is pressed against the contact surface 35a of the wire-end housing portion 35 to thereby cause the compression spring 71, which is fitted on the wire end 70, to be compressed and deformed, and the wire end 72 of the wire 16 (the end surface of the wire end 72 to which the wire 16 is connected) is pressed against the contact surface 36a of the wire-end housing portion 36 to thereby cause the compression spring (not shown) which is fitted on the wire end 72 to be compressed and deformed.
In the window regulator 10 that is made as described above, when the slider base 14 is moved in the longitudinal direction of the guide rail 11 by pulling each wire 15 and 16, turning moment about one of the force application portions F1 and F2 which receives the pulling force acts on the slider base 14. The guide portions 31 and 32 are positioned between the force application portions F1 and F2 and the wire-end housing portions 35 and 36 in the widthwise direction of the guide rail 11. Therefore, it is possible to reduce the distance between the force application portions F1 and F2 and the guide portions 31 and 32 in the widthwise direction with no influence of the arrangement space for the wire-end housing portions 35 and 36 and the wire ends 70 and 72, thus making it possible to reduce the moment. Reducing the moment acting on the slider base 14 causes friction of the guide portions 31 and 32 against the guide rail 11 to decrease, thus making it possible to improve the operating efficiency in raising and lowering the window glass.
Additionally, in the slider base 14, the force application portions F1 and F2 and the wire-end housing portions 35 and 36 (specifically the contact surfaces 35a and 36a) are positioned between the guide portion 31 and the guide portion 32 in the upward and downward directions. According to this arrangement, the rotation of the slider base 14 relative to the slider base 14 can be suppressed by the guide portion 31 and the guide portion 32 that are great in distance therebetween in the upward and downward direction, and the slider base 14 can be made compact in size in the upward and downward directions by concentrating the support and connect structure for the wires 15 and 16 to the slider base 14 (the force application portions F1 and F2, which receive force in the raising and lowering directions from the wires 15 and 16, and the contact surfaces 35a and 36a of the wire-end housing portions 35 and 36, with which the wire ends 70 and 72 are engaged) in the vertical range between the guide portion 31 and the guide portion 32.
Additionally, in the slider base 14 of the window regulator 10, the support member 50 that is made of metal is fixed to the window glass, and the body member 30 that is made of synthetic resin is indirectly connected to the window glass via the support member 50, without being directly fixed to the window glass. Accordingly, the force acting on the window glass is received by the support member 50 that is high in rigidity, which makes it possible to prevent the concentration of stress on the body member 30. Since the body member 30 is a portion which takes charge of sliding on the guide rail 11 and connection of the wires 15 and 16, the performance of the window regulator 10 can be maintained by preventing the body member 30 from being warped or deformed by the concentration of stress on the body member 30. Specifically, by holding the guide portions 31 and 32 of the body member 30 in the widthwise direction with the pair of first holding lugs 54 and 55 and the pair of second holding lugs 56 and 57 that are provided on the support member 50, the rotational rigidity of the slider base 14 relative to the inclination of the window glass in the leftward and rightward directions with respect to
For instance, when a force tending to rotate the support member 50 in the clockwise direction with respect to
The guide portions 31 and 32 of the body member 30 are slidably engaged with the guide rail 11 and held by the first holding lugs 54 and 55 and the second holding lugs 56 and 57. In addition, the retaining projections 41 and 42, which are provided on the guide portions 31 and 32 of the body member 30, function as retaining portions which prevent the body member 30 and the support member 50 from moving away from each other in the thickness direction of the slider base 14 by engagement with the first holding lug 54 and the second holding lug 57 of the support member 50. Since multiple functions are given to the guide portions 31 and 32 and each holding lug 54, 55, 56 and 57 as just described, simplification of the structure of the slider base 14 has been achieved.
As shown in
The present embodiment of the window regulator 10 is provided with the two pairs of holding lugs: the first holding lugs 54 and 55 and the second holding lugs 56 and 57. This structure is desirable because the rotational rigidity can be enhanced also with respect to the inclination of the window glass in any direction; however, it is possible that the window regulator 10 be provided with only one pair of holding lugs. For instance, in the case where it is required mainly to improve the rotational rigidity of the slider base 14 against rotation of the window glass in the clockwise direction with respect to
Pulling each wire 15 and 16 by rotating the winding drum in the raising and lowering operation of the window glass in the window regulator 10 causes tensile force to act on the corresponding contact surface 35a or 36a from the wire end 70 or 72 of the wire 15 or 16 which is pulled. For instance, the tensile force which acts on the contact surface 35a from the wire end 70 acts on the body member 30, on which the contact surface 35a is formed, as a load in a direction toward the other end of the wire 15 along the wire guide groove 33. More specifically, the load imposed on the contact surface 35a of the body member 30 is received by the wire-end retaining lug 58 of the support member 50, which causes the wire-end retaining lug 58 to press the presses surface 43, thus causing the load to act on the body member 30. As shown in
The body member 30 and the support member 50 are further provided, at upper and lower positions on the vertically opposite sides of the intersecting portion 45, with a fitting portion consisting of the fitting hole 46 and the fitting projection 62 and a fitting portion consisting of the fitting hole 47 and the fitting projection 63. Engaging the body member 30 and the support member 50 with each other at upper and lower positions on the vertically opposite sides of the intersecting portion 45 in this manner makes it possible to disperse stress applied to the body member 30 when the wires 15 and 16, which are routed through the wire lead-in opening 33a of the wire guide groove 33 and the wire lead-in opening 34a of the wire guide groove 34, are pulled in the upward and downward directions (when the wire 15 is pulled in the upward direction and the wire 16 is pulled in the downward direction). This configuration further improves the load bearing of the slider base 14.
The projecting portions 39 and 40 are projections which are projected from a surface of the body member 30 which faces toward the vehicle exterior side and can be easily formed in molding the body member 30. In the body member 30, in particular, the wire guide grooves 33 and 34, the wire-end housing portions 35 and 36, the projecting portions 39 and 40 and the fitting holes 46 and 47 are all provided on a surface of the body member 30 which faces the vehicle exterior side as can be seen from
It is also possible to adopt a configuration in which pits corresponding to the engaging holes 60 and 61 and projections corresponding to the projecting portions 39 and 40 are formed on the body member 30 side and the support member 50 side, respectively; namely, the pit-and-projection relationship can be reversed compared with that in the above described embodiment. Likewise, it is also possible to adopt a configuration in which projections corresponding to the fitting projections 62 and 63 are formed on the body member 30 side and pits corresponding to the fitting holes 46 and 47 are formed on the support member 50 side.
As described above, the body member 30 and the support member 50 are provided with the plug-in grooves 37 and 38 and the wire-end retaining lugs 58 and 59 in addition to engaging portions consisting of the projecting portions 39 and 40 and the engaging holes 60 and 61. The plug-in groove 37 and the wire-end retaining lug 58 are positioned closer to the wire-end housing portion 35 than the projecting portion 39 and the engaging hole 60, while the plug-in groove 38 and the wire-end retaining lug 59 are positioned closer to the wire-end housing portion 36 than the projecting portion 40 and the engaging hole 61. The tensile force applied to the contact surface 35a from the wire end 70 is received by the wire-end retaining lug 58 that is positioned in the plug-in groove 37, the tensile force applied to the contact surface 36a from the wire end 72 is received by the wire-end retaining lug 59 that is positioned in the plug-in groove 38, and the stress on the body member 30 from the wire ends 70 and 72 can be dispersed to the support member 50 via the wire-end retaining lugs 58 and 59 together with the engaging portions consisting of the projecting portions 39 and 40 and the engaging holes 60 and 61. Each of the wire-end retaining lugs 58 and 59 when the slider base 14 is viewed in a plan view as shown in
As can be understood from
However, unlike the present embodiment, even in the case of an arrangement in which part of the contact area between the projecting portion 39 and the engaging hole 60 is positioned outside the range of the width of the extensions of the wire-end housing portion 35 and the wire-end retaining lug 58 or an arrangement in which part of the contact area between the projecting portion 40 and the engaging hole 61 is positioned outside the range of the width of the extensions of the wire-end housing portion 36 and the wire-end retaining lug 59, a certain effect for improvement of the load bearing of the slider base 14 can be obtained.
Although the present invention has been described based on the above illustrated embodiment, the present invention is not limited thereto; improvements and modifications may be made without departing from the gist of the invention.
For instance, in the above illustrated embodiment, the guide portions 31 and 32 are positioned between the two wire-end housing portions 35 and 36 and the two force application portions F1 and F2 in the widthwise direction of the guide rail 11. This arrangement makes it possible to obtain the effect of suppressing the turning moment of the slider base 14 also in the driving of the window glass in either the raising or lowering direction; however, a configuration which makes the guide portions 31 and 32 positioned only in one of the areas between the wire-end housing portion 35 and the force application portion F1 and between the wire-end housing portion 36 and the force application portion F2 is also possible as a modified embodiment. In this configuration, the effect of suppressing the turning moment of the slider base 14 in the operation of the window glass in either the raising or lowering direction is obtained.
Although the slide base 14 is provided at different positions in the upward and downward directions with the two guide portions 31 and 32 in the above illustrated embodiment, the number of the guide portions is not limited to this particular number; it is also possible to provide one or more than two guide portions.
As described above in detail, a window regulator according to the present invention is such that a slider base, which supports a window glass and is supported on a guide rail to be slidable in the longitudinal direction thereof, includes: a guide portion the movement of which with respect to the guide rail in the widthwise direction thereof is restricted and which is fitted to the guide rail to be movable in the longitudinal direction thereof; first and second wire engaging portions with which ends of the wires are engaged; and first and second force application portions which receive a force to move the first and second force application portions in the pulling direction following contact of the wires with the first and second force application portions when the wires are pulled in the longitudinal direction of the guide rail, wherein the guide portion is positioned in at least one of the areas between the first force application portion and the first wire engaging portion and between the second force application portion and the second wire engaging portion in the widthwise direction of the guide rail. This configuration makes it possible to provide a high-quality window regulator which is superior in smoothness of operation and operating efficiency when the slider base is driven.
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| WO2016/171267 | 10/27/2016 | WO | A |
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