Illumination – Supported by vehicle structure – Automobile
Reexamination Certificate
2001-09-28
2003-07-22
O'Shea, Sandra (Department: 2875)
Illumination
Supported by vehicle structure
Automobile
C362S479000, C362S488000, C362S549000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06595668
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a lamp unit assembling method and a lamp unit mounting structure for mounting a lamp unit, such as a room lamp, in a lamp mounting window of an interior wall member, such as a roof trim, which covers a vehicle body panel.
Generally, when lamp units, such as a room lamp and a courtesy lamp, are mounted on interior wall members, such as a roof trim and a door trim, each of the lamp units is mounted in a corresponding one of lamp mounting windows opened in the interior wall members.
FIGS. 23 and 24
are a perspective view and a sectional view illustrating a related automobile roof assembling method disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Utility Model Publication Hei. 4-57454 and a related lamp unit assembling structure disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication Hei. 5-131882, respectively. As shown in
FIG. 23
, a roof harness
37
is first mounted under a body roof
2
serving as a body panel of a vehicle body
1
. Subsequently, a roof trim
30
serving as an interior wall member for covering the body roof
2
is mounted thereunder.
Further, connectors
40
and
41
of the room harness
37
are temporarily and downwardly drawn together with cables
37
a
and
37
b
out of a room lamp mounting window
31
a
and a map lamp mounting window
31
b,
which serve as the lamp mounting windows opened in the roof trim
30
, and then connected to the lamp units, such as the room lamp
35
and the map lamp
36
, respectively. Subsequently, the cables
37
a
and
37
b
are placed on the roof trim
30
through a room lamp mounting window
31
a
and a map lamp mounting window
31
b.
Then, the room lamp
35
and the map lamp
36
are respectively mounted in the room lamp mounting window
31
a
and the map lamp mounting window
31
b
by screwing. Finally, non-electric components, such as a rearview mirror
38
and a sun visor
39
, are mounted on the roof trim
30
. Thus, an automobile roof is assembled.
For example, the room lamp
35
serving as the lamp unit mainly comprises a housing
34
, a bulb (that is, an electric bulb)
44
, and a cover lens
33
, as shown in FIG.
24
. The bulb
44
is inserted into between bus bars
43
,
43
serving as bulb contacts fixed to the housing
34
. One of the bus bars
43
,
43
is connected to a room-lamp-side connector
45
. A tapping screw
42
for fixing the room lamp
35
to the roof trim
30
is mounted to the housing
34
. A mounting hole
32
, into which the tapping screw
42
is inserted, is provided in the roof trim
30
.
Moreover, a switch unit (not shown), which accommodates a switch circuit connected to the bus bar
43
and is enabled to switch between ON and OFF states of the bulb
44
, is attached to the room lamp
35
. Furthermore, according to the specification of a vehicle, a reflector designed in consideration of the luminous intensity distribution of the bulb
44
may be attached to a vehicle body panel side portion of the housing
34
in addition to the aforementioned constituent elements.
FIG. 25
is a schematic view illustrating a mounting structure for related lamp units disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication Hei. 1-307108.
FIG. 26
is a sectional view illustrating a primary part of this structure. As illustrated in
FIGS. 25 and 26
, a room lamp
57
and a spotlight
58
are lamp units respectively mounted in lamp mounting windows
55
and
56
opened in a roof trim
53
serving as an interior wall member that covers a body roof
52
.
As shown in
FIG. 25
, a flat cable harness
51
fixed too circuit elements to an insulating sheet is wired between the room lamp
57
and the spotlight, so that the room lamp
57
and the spotlight
58
are integrally formed to constitute a roof harness
50
.
Thus, since the components to be roof-mounted, such as the room lamp
57
, the spotlight
58
, the rearview mirror (not shown), and a sun visor, on the roof trim
53
is preliminarily assembled to form a roof module and then the module is mounted on the body roof
52
, an operation of mounting components on the roof trim
53
can be omitted when a low-workability roof trim is mounted, thereby facilitating an assembling operation.
Meanwhile, according to the related automobile roof assembling method illustrated in
FIGS. 23 and 24
, for example, when the aforementioned related room lamp
35
is mounted onto the roof trim
30
, it is necessary to temporarily and downwardly draw the connector
40
connected to the cable
37
a
of the roof harness
37
from the room lamp mounting window
31
a
and to then connect the connector
4
to a room-lamp-side connector
45
of the room lamp
35
. Further, upon completion of connecting the connector
4
thereto, it is necessary to place the connectors
40
and
45
on the roof trim
30
together with the cable
37
a
of the roof harness
37
through the lamp mounting window
31
a
and to then fix the room lamp
35
to the lamp mounting window
31
a
by using the tapping screw
42
. This complicates the assembling operation that is overhead work performed in a narrow working space. Consequently, good workability is difficult to obtain.
Thus, the module is preliminarily formed by mounting the components to be roof-mounted, such as the room lamp
35
, the map lamp
36
, the rearview mirror
38
, and the sun visor
39
, onto the roof trim
30
. Then, the module is mounted on the body roof
2
. Consequently, the operation of mounting the components on the roof trim can be omitted. This facilitates the assembling operation.
However, when the module is mounted thereon, the body roof trim
30
covers and hermetically seals the bottom-side portion of the body roof
2
, so that an enclosed chamber is formed therein. Therefore, the connectors
40
and
41
placed in the enclosed chamber cannot be connected to the room lamp
35
and the map lamp
36
. Thus, the following method is considered. The connectors
40
and
41
at the side of the body roof
2
are fixed, as employing reception connectors, at places respectively portions corresponding to the room lamp
35
and the map lamp
36
at the side of the module, simultaneously with the mounting of the module thereon. However, the mounting accuracy of the module (or the roof trim
30
) is significantly low, as compared with the connecting accuracy of the connectors
40
and
41
. Actually, it is difficult to connect the connectors
40
and
41
to the connector portions with good accuracy. Especially because of the fact that the connection states of the connectors
40
and
41
cannot be visually checked by a worker, this conventional method has encountered a problem of poor connection reliability.
Further, the room lamp
35
has a lamp function portion, that is, comprises a portion that the housing
34
, the tapping screw
42
, the bus bar
43
, the bulb
44
, the connectors
40
,
45
and the switch unit, as described above. Thus, the number of components of the functional portion of the room lamp
35
is large. When the reflector is attached thereto, the number of components thereof increases still more.
Further, as the manufacturing costs of the components increase, the assembling thereof is complicated more and more. Consequently, it is difficult to reduce the manufacturing cost of the lamp unit.
On the other hand, in the case of the related lamp unit mounting structure illustrated in
FIGS. 25 and 26
, when a roof module obtained by preliminarily inserting the room lamp
57
and the spotlight
58
into the lamp mounting windows
55
and
56
of the roof trim
53
is mounted onto the body roof
52
, the roof trim
53
is assembled and fixed to the body roof
52
, as shown in FIG.
26
. Simultaneously, the room lamp
57
is screwed into and fixed to the body roof
52
. Moreover, the room lamp
57
is fitted into the opening formed in the body roof
52
. Thus, the lamp unit is mounted onto the roof trim.
Thus, in the case that the roof trim
3
, whose mounting accuracy is poor, causes positional displacement with respect to the body roof
52
when the roof trim (or roof module)
53
is asse
Hatagishi Yuji
Nagai Kentaro
Oishi Kenji
Okabe Toshiaki
Shiraki Kazuyuki
Amarantides John
O'Shea Sandra
Yazaki -Corporation
LandOfFree
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