Opening and closing device for pull-cable type sunroof

Land vehicles: bodies and tops – Tops – Roof structure

Reexamination Certificate

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Reexamination Certificate

active

06709049

ABSTRACT:

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a pull-cable type opening and closing device for sunroofs and the like, and to a cable drive mechanism for use in the same.
2. Description of the Related Art
Typically, so-called a geared-cable type opening and closing device has been used for opening and closing an opening in the ceiling of an automobile, such as a sunroof and the like. This opening and closing device has such a construction that, as shown in
FIG. 13
, it converts a driving force of a motor M via a gear
101
into a reciprocating motion of a right-and-left pair of geared cables
102
, to reciprocally drive a roof lid
103
fixed at the tips or the front ends of these geared cables
102
along roof rails
104
in a front and rear directions of the automobile, thus opening and closing an opening
106
in the roof
105
. The right-and-left geared cables
102
are guided by guide pipes
107
in a sliding manner.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. Hei 3-11924, on the other hand, discloses therein a pull-cable type opening and closing device. As shown in
FIG. 14
, this type of opening and closing device comprises a pair of drums
110
which are rotary-driven in the right-and-left directions by the motor M, a closed-loop shaped right-and-left pair of pull-cables (wires)
111
which are wound onto these respective drums and sent out to be driven reciprocally and circularly, lid brackets
112
which are coupled somewhere along these respective pull-cables, and rails
113
for guiding these lid brackets back and forth in a sliding manner. To the lid brackets
112
is attached a lid
115
for opening and closing an opening
114
. At the tip of each of the rails
113
is attached in a rotating manner a pulley
116
for reversing the direction of the pull-cables
111
.
With this, when the drum
110
rotates in an arrow direction, one end of the corresponding pull-cable
111
is wound onto that drum, feeding out the other end. When the right and left pull cables
111
are thus circularly driven in a synchronous manner, the right and left lid brackets move in an arrow direction, to retract the lid
111
, thus opening the opening the
114
. When the motor M rotates in a reverse direction, the opening is closed similarly.
In the above-mentioned geared-cable type opening and closing device, the guide pipes
107
for guiding the geared cables
102
have rigidity and the motor M for evenly driving the right and left geared cables
102
and the gear
101
need to be provided at a center position between the rails
104
, so that the layout has a low degree of freedom. Also, a reaction force of the geared cables
102
is put into the motor M, thus giving rise to a force to cause it to rotate with the gear
101
as a center. This leads to need for providing a motor bracket strong enough to stand that force, thus making the device heavy and expensive in terms of manufacturing cost. Further, sliding sound is raised when the geared cables
102
slide in the guide pipe
107
, striking sound is raised when the geared cables return to strike the inner surface of the guide pipe
107
, creaking sound is raised at the linking portion between the geared cables
102
and the gear
101
, and other working noise is raised loud.
The above-mentioned pull-cable type opening and closing device, on the other hand, has the motor M and the drums
110
provided at the center position between the right and left rails
113
, so that it has a low degree of freedom. Moreover, it needs to have the two drums
110
for winding cables onto themselves and driving respective right and left pull-cables
111
, so that its drive unit becomes large-sized, thus making it heavy and expensive in manufacturing cost.
In view of the above, it is an object of the present invention to provide an opening and closing device for sunroofs and the like that has a high degree of freedom of the layout of the drive unit and the like, and that is light in weight and inexpensive in manufacturing cost.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
According to the present invention, there is provided a pull-cable type opening and closing device for sunroofs and the like which comprises a pair of rails running in parallel with each other, a lid reciprocating along these rails for opening and closing an opening in a ceiling and the like, right and left pull-cables having ends engaged to the lid and arranged along the rails, and a drive mechanism for reciprocally driving these pull cables, wherein the pull-cables are arranged in a closed loop in which one of pull-cable coming out of the above-mentioned drive mechanism is arranged from the base end side of the first rail to its tip side along the rail, with engaging to the lid at a middle portion thereof, furthere beeing arranged from another end of the first rail to the base end side of the second rail along a route bypassing the opening, then beeing arranged from the base end side of that second rails to its tip side along the rail with beeing engaged to the lid at middle portion thereof, and further beeing arranged from the tip side of the second rail along a route bypassing the opening back to the drive mechanism.
In the case of such an opening and closing device, the pull-cable may be arranged from the tip side of the first rail to the base end side of the second rail along any route as far as they bypass the opening. For example, the pull-cables may be arranged from the tip side of the first rail using a conduit to the tip side of the second rail and then along the second rail to its base end and turned back there, then to the tip side as mentioned above. Also, the route along which the pull-cables are turned back from the tip side of the second rail to the drive mechanism is not limited to the above-mentioned one, so that these pull-cable may be turned back from the tip side of the second rail to the tip side of the first rail using a conduit and then further turned back along the first rail to its base end side, then to the drive mechanism Further, preferably, these bypass routes are combined so that these two pull-cables may be guided between the base end side of the first rail and the drive mechanism using flexible conduits.
Also, as for the bypass route, the above-mentioned pull-cable may be turned back at the tip portion of the first rail and arranged along the first rail to the base end side and then, using a conduit, to the base end side of the second rail or they may be turned back at the tip side of the second rail and, along the second rail, to the end side and then back to the drive mechanism. Further, more preferably, these routes are combined so that the pull-cables may be guided between the base end side of each of these rails and the drive mechanism using conduits having flexibility.
In the case where two pull-cables are to be arranged reciprocally along one rail in any of the above-mentioned constructions, that first rail or second rail is preferably provided with an open cross-sectional portion for passing one of the pull-cables that is engaged with a lid and a closed cross-sectional portion for guiding in a sliding manner the other pull-cable that is not engaged with the lid. In the case of an opening and closing device in which the cables are turned back at the end portion of the rail, preferably, a pulley is provided in a rotary manner at the end portion of the first or second rail for rotating the pull-cables and, near the pulley, a guide is provided for making a spacing between the pull-cables engaged at the pulley smaller than the diameter of the pulley. Further, preferably, at the end portion of the first or second rail, the pulley for turning back the pull-cables is provided in a rotary manner as well as in such a manner as to be adjusted in the rail direction. Also, preferably, the above-mentioned rail having the open cross-sectional portion is provided with an elastonomer-made lip for preventing the chord oscilation or chord vibration of the pull-cable.
A cable drive mechanism according to the invention is a mechanism for driving a pull-ca

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