Automatic opening and closing device

Details Automatic opening and closing device Automatic opening and closing device

2000-06-22

2002-01-15

Nappi, Robert E. (Department: 2837)

Electricity: motive power systems

Automatic and/or with time-delay means

C318S466000, C318S282000, C049S026000, C049S027000

Reexamination Certificate

active

06339305

ABSTRACT:

TECHNICAL FIELD
The present invention relates to an automatic opening-and-closing device applied, for example, as an electric sliding door of a vehicle or the like.
BACKGROUND ART
In a vehicle such as a caravan, a van, a recreational vehicle or the like, a so-called sliding door is sometimes adopted, in which a door panel is slid for opening/closing along the forward and backward direction of the vehicle. Some of these sliding doors are automatic sliding doors wherein the opening/closing operation (that is, sliding of the door panel) is automated by means of a driving force of driving means such as a motor or the like, and for example, a driver can open or close the rear seat door panel while sitting on a driver's seat.
Incidentally, with a conventional automatic sliding door device, when sliding speed of the door panel decreases due to a foreign object caught in a door panel while closing the door panel, the foreign object caught therein has been detected by detecting overload acting on a motor. That is to say, catching of a foreign object has conventionally been detectable by means of a change in engine speed of the motor corresponding to a change in the sliding speed of the door panel.
Generally, however, if somebody tries to slide a door panel that is in a stopped state or to stop the door panel during sliding, since the door panel tries to maintain its state (that is, the stopped state if it is in a stopped state, or the sliding state if it is in the middle of sliding) due to inertia based on its own weight, overload acts on the motor. Therefore, it is not possible to detect that a foreign object is caught just after starting sliding (that is, just after starting to drive the motor or during acceleration of the driving speed), or just before stopping sliding (that is, during deceleration of the driving speed of the motor or just before stopping driving), and normally, in a state of just after starting sliding or just before stopping sliding, a mask processing is effected in which even if overload acting on the motor is detected, it is not judged that a foreign object is caught. Hence, if a thin foreign object or a foreign object having an overall small size is caught in the door panel just before being completely closed, for example, the detection of this caught foreign object is very difficult.
Moreover, in a state in which a vehicle inclines forward or backward, as for the door panel, a component of the sliding speed is separated into a horizontal direction and a vertical direction, and the component in the vertical direction of the sliding speed is, needless to say, affected by the influence of gravity. Therefore, for example, in lower-front state where a front portion of the vehicle is lower than a rear portion of the vehicle, gravity tends to pull the door panel forward, hence if someone tries to close the door panel in this state, the sliding speed of the door panel is accelerated. On the contrary, in a lower-rear state where the front portion of the vehicle is higher than the rear portion of the vehicle, gravity tends to pull the door panel backward, hence if someone tries to close the door panel in this state, the sliding speed of the door panel is decelerated. Therefore, in such states, there is a possibility that though a foreign object is not caught, overload acts on the motor, and it is erroneously detected as a caught state, or that though a foreign object is caught, overload is not caused and catching of a foreign object is not detected. Thus, it is required to provide correction means for correcting the influence of gravity depending upon the slanting state of the vehicle, resulting in cost increase.
In view of the above situation, it is an object of the present invention to obtain an automatic opening-and-closing device which can prevent a foreign object from becoming caught, by detecting a foreign object, even when the opening/closing speed of a moving body such as a door panel or the like changes, or even when a foreign object is small.
DICLOSURE OF THE INVENTION
To attain the above object, an automatic opening-and-closing device according to claim
1
comprises: a moving body which moves for opening/closing substantially horizontally by means of a driving force from driving means; a pressure sensitive sensor provided along the vertical direction on a moving direction side end portion of the moving body, for detecting a pressure in the direction opposite to the moving direction; control means for controlling drive of the driving means in a state in which the pressure sensitive sensor detects the pressure in the direction opposite to the moving direction; and connection means connected to a lower end portion of the pressure sensitive sensor for connecting the pressure sensitive sensor to the control means.
The present invention according to claim
2
is characterized in that in the automatic opening-and-closing device according to claim
1
, the connection means is passed through the inside of the moving body, and is connected to a lower end portion of the pressure sensitive sensor, passing through a through hole formed towards a lower end of a moving direction side end portion of the moving body.
The present invention according to claim
3
is characterized in that in the automatic opening-and-closing device according to claim
2
, the moving body is provided with a window glass, and the lower end portion of the pressure sensitive sensor is located at a position lower than a lower end portion of the window glass.
The present invention according to claim
4
is characterized in that in the automatic opening-and-closing device according to claim
1
, the lower end portion of the pressure sensitive sensor is curved toward the moving direction side end portion of the moving body, and the curved portion is passed through a through hole formed towards a lower end of the moving direction side end portion of the moving body to thereby be disposed within the moving body, and is connected to the connection means within the moving body.
The present invention according to claim
5
is characterized in that in the automatic opening-and-closing device according to claim
4
, the moving body is provided with a window glass, and the lower end portion of the pressure sensitive sensor is located at a position lower than a lower end portion of the window glass.
The present invention according to claim
6
is characterized in that in the automatic opening-and-closing device according to claim
1
, the pressure sensitive sensor comprises: a hollow cover portion elastically deformable due to an external force having a predetermined size or more, longitudinal along the vertical direction of the moving body; and a plurality of lengthy electrodes disposed within the cover portion, along the longitudinal direction of the cover portion, separated from each other in the direction orthogonal to the longitudinal direction of the cover portion, and connected to each other in series, and deformed with the elastic deformation of the cover portion.
The present invention according to claim
7
is characterized in that in the automatic opening-and-closing device according to claim
6
, the connection means is passed through the inside of the moving body, and is connected to at least two electrodes of the plurality of electrodes pulled out from a lower end portion of the cover portion, passing through a through hole formed towards a lower end of the moving direction side end portion of the moving body.
The present invention according to claim
8
is characterized in that in the automatic opening-and-closing device according to claim
7
, the moving body is provided with a window glass, and the lower end portion of the pressure sensitive sensor is located at a position lower than a lower end portion of the window glass.
The present invention according to claim
9
is characterized in that in the automatic opening-and-closing device according to claim
6
, the lower end portion of the cover portion is curved toward the moving direction side end portion of the moving body, and is passed

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