JP4101168B2 - Power supply device for sliding door - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a sliding door power supply device for constantly supplying power and transmitting signals to a device in a sliding door from a vehicle body side of an automobile.

  Sliding doors are used in one-box cars and wagon cars. In order to operate the equipment in the sliding door (power window motor, switch, speaker, etc.), the equipment on the vehicle body (power supply, control device, etc.) and the equipment in the sliding door are always connected regardless of whether the sliding door is opened or closed. Must be electrically connected. Such a constant connection function is required for the sliding door power supply device.

  Conventionally, as a power supply device for this type of sliding door, a slide rail is attached to the sliding door in the door opening / closing direction, a slider is attached to the sliding rail, and a flexible arm is provided between the slider and a predetermined portion on the vehicle body side. A flat cable is accommodated in the slide rail in a U-turn state, a round electric wire harness is accommodated in the flexible arm, and the flat cable and the round electric wire harness are connected on a slider. (See Patent Document 1).

Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 11-342807

However, the conventional sliding door power supply apparatus has the following problems.
(1) Because the end of the flexible arm on the slider side is connected to the slider via the rotating shaft, the portion of the round wire harness that enters the flexible arm from the slider is It will be subject to tight torsion and will be easily damaged.
(2) The rail-side surface of the slide rail faces downward, and the rotating shaft protrudes downward from the slider mounted on the slide rail, and the flexible arm extends horizontally from the rotating shaft. Since the structure extends to the side, when a tensile force is applied to the flexible arm by opening and closing the door, the slider is pulled to the vehicle body side with the rotary shaft portion as a power point, and the sliding resistance of the slider increases.
(3) Since it is necessary to connect the flat cable and the round wire harness on the slider, the number of parts is large, and it takes time and effort to assemble.

A first object of the present invention is to provide a power supply device for a slide door that is less susceptible to damage to the wiring material even when the opening and closing of the slide door is repeated, and that has a low sliding resistance of the slider.
A second object of the present invention is to provide a sliding door power supply apparatus that does not require a wiring member to be connected on a slider.

One form of the power supply device for a sliding door according to the present invention is:
A fixed unit fixed to the vehicle body, a slide rail fixed to the slide door with the rail side surface facing the vehicle body side, a slider slidably attached to the slide rail, and between the slider and the fixed unit And a wiring material that is routed from the vehicle body side to the sliding door side through the flexible tube,
The slider is formed with a tube end clamp for gripping the end of the flexible tube toward the rear of the slide door. One end of the tube is clamped by the tube end clamp, and the other end is When the slide tube is closed, the flexible tube gripped by the fixed unit extends linearly from the tube end clamp part to the rear of the slide door along the slide rail, and close to the vehicle body side near the fixed unit. Arranged to bend into the fixed unit,
It is characterized by this.

Moreover, the other form of the power supply device for a sliding door according to the present invention is as follows:
A fixed unit fixed to the vehicle body, a slide rail fixed to the slide door with the rail side surface facing the vehicle body side, a slider slidably attached to the slide rail, and between the slider and the fixed unit And a wiring material that is routed from the vehicle body side to the sliding door side through the flexible tube,
The slider is formed with a tube end clamp for gripping the end of the flexible tube toward the front of the slide door. One end of the tube is clamped by the tube end clamp, and the other end is When the flexible tube gripped by the fixed unit is in a state in which the slide door is closed, it makes a U-turn near the tube end clamp portion and extends to the rear of the slide door, and is bent and fixed to the vehicle body near the fixed unit. Arranged to enter the unit ,
A U-turn box that accommodates a U-turn portion of a flat cable from the slider to the inside of the slide door is installed on the slide rail, and the slider has a rising duct portion that guides the flat cable in the U-turn box. Yes,
It is characterized by this.

In the one form of the power supply device for a sliding door according to the present invention, a U-turn box that accommodates a U-turn portion of a flat cable extending from the slider to the inside of the sliding door is installed on the slide rail. It is preferable that the turn box has a rising duct portion for guiding the flat cable.

  In the sliding door power supply device according to the present invention, the flat cable enters the flexible tube from the vehicle body side, passes through the flexible tube, the slider, the U turn box, and then exits the U turn box. It is preferable that it is composed of a continuous one having no part.

  According to one aspect of the present invention, when the slide door opens, the flexible tube extending linearly along the slide rail gradually bends toward the vehicle body side, and when the slide door closes, the bent flexible tube Gradually grows linearly. According to another aspect of the present invention, when the sliding door is opened, the bending of the flexible tube is gradually loosened, and when the sliding door is fully opened, the flexible tube is almost fully extended. When is closed, the flexible tube that has been almost extended gradually returns to the original bent state. Therefore, it is possible to provide a highly reliable sliding door power supply device in which the wiring member is not twisted or bent tightly by opening and closing the sliding door, and the wiring member and the flexible tube are hardly damaged.

  Also, the slider is pulled by the flexible tube mainly in the sliding direction of the slider, and even when pulled to the vehicle body side, the slider is held almost evenly by a pair of upper and lower rail portions facing the vehicle body side. Therefore, the sliding resistance of the slider is small, and a smooth sliding operation can be ensured.

  Furthermore, since there is no place where the wiring material is twisted, it can be configured with a continuous flat cable from the vehicle body side through the slider to the place where it exits the U-turn box, eliminating the need to connect the wiring material inside the slider. The number of parts can be reduced, and the cost can be reduced.

Embodiment 1 FIGS. 1 and 2 show an embodiment of the present invention. In the figure, 10 is a vehicle body side fixing unit fixed under a step (not shown) of the vehicle body, 12 is a slide rail attached horizontally to a lower portion of a slide door (not shown), and 14 is a slide rail 12. The slider 16 is movable in the opening and closing direction of the slide door guided by the slider 16, the flexible tube 16 is gripped at one end by the slider 14 and the other end is gripped by the fixed unit 10, and 18 is from the vehicle body side to the slide door side. A wired flat cable 20 is a U-turn box that accommodates the U-turn portion 18 a of the flat cable 18. 1A and 1D show a state when the sliding door is closed, FIG. 1B shows a state in the middle of opening the sliding door, and FIGS. 1C and 1E show a state when the sliding door is opened. .

  The slide rail 12 has a pair of upper and lower rail portions 12a for guiding the slider 12, and is attached to the slide door with the surface on the rail portion 12a side facing the vehicle body. The U-turn box 20 is a molded body that is elongated in the same direction as the slide rail 12, and is mounted on the slide rail 12. As shown in FIG. 2, the portion of the U-turn box 20 that accommodates the flat cable 18 protrudes toward the vehicle body side from the surface on the rail portion 12 a side of the slide rail 12.

  The slider 14 includes a main body portion 22 formed with a groove 21 into which the rail portion 12a of the slide rail enters vertically, a pipe end clamp portion 24 protruding from the main body portion 22 toward the rear of the slide door (the rear of the vehicle body), and a flat cable 18. The guide portion 26 that restricts the minimum bending radius of the guide portion 26 and the duct portion 28 that rises from the main body portion 22 into the U-turn box 20 are integrally formed. The slider 12 is divided into a plurality of parts so that the end of the flexible tube 16 can be gripped by the tube end clamp portion 24 and the flat cable 18 can be passed through the duct portion 28. It is assembled by combining the parts.

  The flexible tube 16 is an oval corrugated tube whose cross section is long in the vertical direction. The lower portion of the flexible tube 16 is split (not shown) in the longitudinal direction. One end portion of the flexible tube 16 is gripped by the tube end clamp portion 24 of the slider 14, and the other end portion is gripped by the vehicle body side fixing unit 10. A trumpet-shaped guide surface 30 that restricts the minimum bending radius of the flexible tube 16 is formed on the surface of the vehicle body side fixing unit 10 facing the slide door. Further, the vehicle body side fixing unit 10 can regulate the pulling direction of the flexible tube 16 into the vehicle body by the pressing member 32. As shown in FIG. 1A, the fixed unit 10 and the slide rail 12 are configured so that the flexible tube 16 that protrudes from the tube end clamp portion 24 of the slider toward the rear of the slide door slides with the slide door closed. It is installed so as to extend linearly along the rail 12 and bend toward the vehicle body side without having an inflection point near the fixed unit 10 and enter the fixed unit 10.

  The flat cable 18 is composed of a continuous cable having no connection part on the way from the vehicle body side to the inside of the slide door. That is, the flat cable 18 that has entered the flexible tube 16 from the vehicle body side passes through the flexible tube 16 with the width direction thereof being directed in the vertical direction, enters the slider 14, and enters the slider main body 22. It bends to the duct part 28 side, is bent upward at the lower part in the duct part 28, rises in the duct part 28, bends horizontally to the vehicle body side at the upper part in the duct part 28, and is then bent to the rear side of the slide door. After entering the turn box 20 and making a U-turn in the U-turn box 20, it is routed so as to be led out from the front end of the U-turn box 20 into the slide door. A connector 34 is attached to the end of the flat cable 18 on the vehicle body side, and is connected to wiring or equipment on the vehicle body side by the connector 34. A connector 36 is also attached to the end of the flat cable 18 on the slide door side, and the connector 36 is connected to wiring or equipment on the slide door side. The connector 36 may be fixed to the U-turn box 20.

  The above is the configuration of the sliding door power supply apparatus. Next, the operation of this apparatus will be described. 1A and 1D show a state in which the slide door is closed. In this state, the flexible tube 16 extends linearly from the tube end clamp portion 24 of the slider 14 to the rear of the slide door, and is disposed so as to bend toward the vehicle body and enter the fixed unit 10 near the fixed unit 10. When the slide door moves from this state in the opening direction (backward obliquely), first, the slide rail 12 moves rearward together with the slide door, and the slider 14 stays almost in the same position (the slider 14 is relative to the slide rail 12). To go to). When the slide rail 12 moves by a predetermined distance, the slider 14 comes to a position near the front end of the slide rail 12, hits a stopper (not shown) provided on the front end side of the slide rail 12, and the slider 14 also moves together with the slide rail 12. The sliding door moves in the opening direction. In the middle of this, the flexible tube 16 bends as shown in FIG. When the sliding door is further opened and the sliding door is fully opened, the flexible tube 16 is bent as shown in FIGS.

  When the sliding door closes, the process is almost reversed. First, the slide rail 12 moves forward together with the slide door. When the slide rail 12 moves a predetermined distance, a stopper (not shown) provided on the rear end side of the slide rail 12 hits the slider 14 and moves the slider 14 in the closing direction. Let In the middle of this, the flexible tube 16 bends substantially as shown in FIG. When the sliding door is fully closed, the flexible tube 16 returns to the state shown in FIGS.

  When the slider 14 moves relative to the slide rail 12 from the position shown in FIGS. 1A and 1D to the position shown in FIGS. 1C and 1E, the U-turn portion 18a of the flat cable is also shown in FIG. ) To the position (E). When the slider moves in the reverse direction, the U-turn portion 18 also moves in the reverse direction. Thereby, the expansion and contraction of the flat cable 18 accompanying the movement of the slider 14 is absorbed.

  In this sliding door power supply device, when the sliding door is opened and closed, the angle at which the flexible tube 16 bends at the mouth of the tube end clamp portion 24 and the mouth of the fixed unit 10 is small. The bending stress applied to can be small. In addition, the flexible tube 16 is an oval corrugated tube having a long cross section in the vertical direction, and the flat cable 18 is accommodated in the flexible tube 16 with the width direction directed in the vertical direction. The flexible tube 16 and the flat cable 18 are very easily bent in the horizontal direction. For this reason, excessive bending stress is not applied, and durability against repeated bending of the flexible tube and the wiring material is improved.

In addition, the flexible tube 16 is bent to the vehicle body side by opening and closing the slide door, and the bent portion is simply returned to the vehicle body side, so that the slider 14 is pulled to the vehicle body side by the flexible tube 16. Therefore, there is little increase in sliding resistance of the slider 12, and a smooth sliding operation can be ensured.
Further, since the flat cable 18 can be constituted by a continuous cable having no connection portion from the vehicle body side to the inside of the slide door, reliability is improved and cost can be reduced.

[Embodiment 2] In Embodiment 1, the portion of the U-turn box 20 that accommodates the flat cable 18 is formed so as to protrude from the slide rail 12 toward the vehicle body as shown in FIG. The portion that accommodates the 20 flat cables 18 can also be formed directly above the slide rail 12, as shown in FIG. In this case, the upper end of the rising duct portion 28 of the slider 14 may be bent toward the side opposite to the vehicle body. If it does in this way, it will become possible to make thickness of the electric power feeder for slide doors thinner, and the installation space in a slide door can be made small.

Embodiment 3 FIG. 4 shows still another embodiment of the present invention. 4A to 4E correspond to FIGS. 1A to 1E. 4, the same parts as those in FIG. 1 are denoted by the same reference numerals, and redundant description is omitted. In addition, the positional relationship among the slide rail 12, the U-turn box 20, and the slider 14 is as shown in FIG.

The sliding door power supply apparatus differs from that of the first embodiment in the following two points.
(1) The tube end clamp portion 24 is formed on the slider 14 toward the front of the slide door (in practice, the tube end clamp portion 24 is formed so as to protrude forward and rearward of the slider body 22. In this embodiment, the tube end clamp part 24 protruding forward is used (the same applies to the guide part 26).
(2) When the flexible tube 16 having one end gripped by the tube end clamp portion 24 and the other end gripped by the fixed unit 10 is in a state where the slide door is closed, FIG. As shown in A), it is arranged so that it makes a U-turn in the vicinity of the tube end clamp portion 24 and extends to the rear of the slide door, bends to the vehicle body side in the vicinity of the fixed unit 10 and enters the fixed unit 10.

  With such a configuration, when the slide door is closed, as shown in FIG. 4A, the slider 14 is in front of the fixed unit 10 and the flexible tube 16 is bent, When the sliding door moves from this state to the opening direction (backward obliquely), the bending of the flexible tube 16 becomes loose as shown in FIG. When the slide door is fully opened, the slider 14 comes to the rear of the fixed unit 10 and the flexible tube 16 is almost extended as shown in FIG. When the sliding door closes, the process is almost reversed. Therefore, also in this embodiment, the same effect as that of the first embodiment can be obtained.

[Other Embodiments] In the above embodiment, the wiring material from the vehicle body side to the inside of the slide door is constituted by a continuous flat cable, but the flat cable is formed from the slider to the exit of the U-turn box. It is also possible to use a round electric wire harness extending from the flexible tube to the vehicle body side, and providing a connection portion between the flat cable and the round electric wire harness in the slider. In this case, a corrugated tube having a circular cross section can be used as the flexible tube.

1 shows an embodiment of a power supply device for a sliding door according to the present invention, in which (A) is a partially cut plan view when the door is closed, (B) is a partially cut plan view while the door is being opened, and (C). Is a partially cutaway plan view when the door is open, (D) is a view taken along line DD of (A), and (E) is a view taken along line EE of (A). FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of the apparatus of FIG. The cross-sectional view which shows other embodiment of the electric power feeder for sliding doors which concerns on this invention. FIG. 5 shows still another embodiment of the power supply device for a sliding door according to the present invention, in which (A) is a partially cut plan view when the door is closed, (B) is a partially cut plan view in the middle of opening the door, (C) is a partially cutaway plan view when the door is open, (D) is a view taken along line DD of (A), and (E) is a view taken along line EE of (A).

Explanation of symbols

10: Car body side fixing unit 12: Slide rail 14: Slider 16: Flexible tube 18: Flat cable 18a: U-turn part 20: U-turn box 21: Groove 22: Slider main body part 24: Pipe end clamp part 26: Guide part 28: Rise duct part

Claims (4)

A fixed unit fixed to the vehicle body, a slide rail fixed to the slide door with the rail side surface facing the vehicle body side, a slider slidably attached to the slide rail, and between the slider and the fixed unit And a wiring material that is routed from the vehicle body side to the sliding door side through the flexible tube,
The slider is formed with a tube end clamp for gripping the end of the flexible tube toward the rear of the slide door. One end of the tube is clamped by the tube end clamp, and the other end is When the slide tube is closed, the flexible tube gripped by the fixed unit extends linearly from the tube end clamp portion to the rear of the slide door along the slide rail, and close to the vehicle body near the fixed unit. Arranged to bend into the fixed unit,
A power supply device for a sliding door characterized by that. A fixed unit fixed to the vehicle body, a slide rail fixed to the slide door with the rail side surface facing the vehicle body side, a slider slidably attached to the slide rail, and between the slider and the fixed unit And a wiring material that is routed from the vehicle body side to the sliding door side through the flexible tube,
The slider is formed with a tube end clamp portion for gripping the end portion of the flexible tube toward the front of the slide door. One end portion is gripped by the tube end clamp portion, and the other end portion is held. When the flexible tube gripped by the fixed unit is in a state in which the slide door is closed, it makes a U-turn near the tube end clamp portion and extends to the rear of the slide door, and is bent and fixed to the vehicle body near the fixed unit. Arranged to enter the unit ,
A U-turn box that accommodates a U-turn portion of a flat cable from the slider to the inside of the slide door is installed on the slide rail, and the slider has a rising duct portion that guides the flat cable in the U-turn box. Yes,
A power supply device for a sliding door characterized by that. The power supply device for a sliding door according to claim 1 Symbol placement, on top of the slide rail, the U-turn box is installed to accommodate the U-turn portion of the flat cable extending from the slider in the sliding door, the slider in this U-turn box A power supply device for a sliding door having a rising duct portion for guiding a flat cable therein. The power supply device for a sliding door according to claim 2 or 3, wherein the flat cable enters the flexible tube from the vehicle body side, passes through the flexible tube, the slider, the U turn box, and then exits the U turn box. A power supply device for a sliding door, characterized in that the power supply device is composed of a continuous device having no connection part on the way.

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