JP7589401B2 - Vehicle door opening and closing device - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a vehicle door opening and closing device for automatically opening and closing a vehicle's sliding door.

Patent Document 1 discloses a vehicle door opening and closing device that includes a guide means (support member) extending in the vehicle's fore-and-aft direction, a number of pulleys rotatably supported by the guide means, a drive belt wound around the pulleys, and a belt connection member (bracket) fixed to the drive belt, and the guide means has a holding portion formed by a notch for detachably holding the belt connection member. In this vehicle door opening and closing device, the belt connection member fixed to the belt and detachably held by the holding portion is connected to a guide roller unit attached to the sliding door by being removed from the holding portion. As a result, the drive belt moves in a circular motion along the longitudinal direction of the guide means in conjunction with the rotation of the drive pulley, thereby opening and closing the sliding door in the fore-and-aft direction.

The vehicle door opening and closing device disclosed in Patent Document 1 detachably holds the belt connection member fixed to the drive belt in a holding portion provided on the guide means, thereby preventing the belt connection member fixed to the drive belt from moving relative to the guide means when the vehicle door opening and closing device is transported, thereby improving handling during transportation.

JP 2018-178696 A

However, in the vehicle door opening and closing device disclosed in Patent Document 1, the belt connection member is held removably by the holding portion of the guide means, so that when the vehicle door opening and closing device is transported and when it is assembled to the vehicle body panel, the belt may loosen and wobble laterally, coming into contact with other parts or the sliding door, and in the worst case scenario, damaging other parts. The reason why the drive belt wobbles laterally is thought to be that when the drive belt is wound around the drive pulley and other driven pulleys, tension is applied to the drive belt by a tension pulley or the like to the extent that power can be transmitted from the drive pulley to the drive belt, but a certain amount of slack is left in the drive belt to reduce the load when the drive belt rotates.

In view of the above problems, the present invention aims to provide a vehicle door opening and closing device that reduces belt rattling during transportation and assembly work, thereby improving handling.

According to the present invention, the above problems are solved as follows.
A vehicle door opening and closing device includes a motor, guide means fixed to a vehicle body along the opening and closing direction of a sliding door, a belt that is looped around one end and the other end of the longitudinal direction of the guide means and that can move in a circular motion along the longitudinal direction of the guide means as the motor is driven, and a belt connection member that is fixed to the belt and connected to the sliding door via a guide roller unit that is assembled to the guide means so as to be movable in its longitudinal direction, wherein the guide means has a holding portion that holds the belt connection member in a twisted state and detachably at a predetermined position of the guide means when the belt connection member is fixed to the belt and not connected to the guide roller unit.

Preferably, the belt connection member is removably held in the holding portion in a position inclined diagonally upward outside the vehicle or facing vertically.

Preferably, the holding portion is an opening hole provided in the side wall portion of the guide means.

Preferably, the belt connection member has a clamping portion that clamps the belt in the thickness direction, a connecting portion that is lower than the clamping portion and is connected to the guide roller unit, and an engaging portion that is higher than the clamping portion and engages by being inserted into the opening hole.

Preferably, the guide means has a stopper portion located below the opening hole for regulating the amount of insertion of the engagement portion of the belt connecting member into the opening hole .

Preferably, when the belt connection member is held by the holding portion, it is held in a position that is retracted outside the movement path of the guide roller unit.

According to the present invention, the belt connection member fixed to the belt is removably held in the holding portion of the guide means with the belt twisted at a predetermined angle, so that the twisted portion absorbs the slack in the belt, preventing the belt from rattling, and the belt connection member can be securely held in the holding portion, thereby improving the handling of the vehicle door opening and closing device.

1 is a side view of a vehicle equipped with a vehicle door opening and closing device according to the present invention; 2 is a perspective view of a vehicle door opening and closing device and a center guide rail as viewed obliquely from the front. FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a vehicle door opening and closing device as viewed obliquely from the front; 1 is a side view of a vehicle door opening and closing device as viewed from the vehicle exterior side. FIG. 2 is a plan view of the vehicle door opening and closing device; FIG. 2 is an exploded perspective view of the motor module. FIG. 7 is an enlarged vertical end view taken along line VII-VII in FIG. 5 . 8 is an enlarged vertical end view taken along line VIII-VIII in FIG. 5 . 9 is an enlarged cross-sectional view taken along line IX-IX in FIG. 4. 11 is an enlarged perspective view of a main part of the belt connecting member in a temporary holding position, as viewed obliquely from behind; FIG. 4 is an enlarged perspective view of a main portion of the belt guide as viewed obliquely from behind; FIG. 11 is a perspective view of a main part of the belt connecting member when viewed from diagonally front in a state in which the belt connecting member is in a temporary holding position. FIG. 4 is a side view of a main part seen from the vehicle exterior side with the belt connecting member in a temporary holding position. FIG. 11 is a perspective view of a main part of a state in which the belt connecting member is connected to a center guide roller unit, as viewed obliquely from behind. FIG. 4 is a side view of the main part as seen from the vehicle exterior side in a state in which the belt connecting member is connected to the center guide roller unit. FIG. 16 is a vertical end view taken along line XVI-XVI in FIG. 13. 17 is a vertical end view taken along line XVII-XVII in FIG. 15. 14 is a horizontal end view taken along line XVIII-XVIII in FIG. 13.

One embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. Note that the present invention is not limited to the embodiment described below, and includes appropriate modifications of the embodiment described below within the scope obvious to those skilled in the art.

As shown in FIG. 1, the vehicle door opening and closing device 1 according to this embodiment is disposed inside a left-side body panel 4 of a small wagon-type vehicle 2, and automatically opens and closes a left-side sliding door 3 supported on the body panel 4 so as to be freely opened and closed in the fore-and-aft direction by the power of a motor 10, which will be described later.
In the following description, unless otherwise specified, the directions refer to the directions when the vehicle door opening and closing device 1 is attached to the vehicle 2.

The sliding door 3 opens and closes in the front-to-rear direction by being supported so that it can move freely in the front-to-rear direction by the upper guide roller unit 31 attached to the front-top part, the upper guide rail 41 that extends in the front-to-rear direction and is fixed to the upper part of the vehicle body, the center guide roller unit 32 attached to the central rear part, the center guide rail 42 that extends in the front-to-rear direction and is fixed to the center of the vehicle body in the up-down direction, and the lower guide roller unit 33 attached to the front-to-rear lower part is supported by the lower guide rail 43 that extends in the front-to-rear direction and is fixed to the lower part of the vehicle body, so that it can open and close in the front-to-rear direction.

As shown in Figures 2 to 5, the vehicle door opening and closing device 1 is disposed inside the vehicle body panel 4 and includes a motor module 5 that outputs power for automatically opening and closing the sliding door 3, and a guide module 6 that is connected to the motor module 5 and transmits the power output from the motor module 5 to the sliding door 3 to open and close the sliding door 3. Note that Figure 2 shows the vehicle door opening and closing device 1 and center guide rail 42 in a state in which a belt connection member 24 (described later) of the guide module 6 in the vehicle door opening and closing device 1 is connected to the center guide roller unit 32, and Figures 3 to 5 show only the vehicle door opening and closing device 1.

The vehicle door opening and closing device 1 will now be described.
(Motor module 5)
As shown in Figures 6 to 9, the motor module 5 includes a casing 7 fixed to the belt guide 20 via a mounting plate 22 in the guide module 6, which will be described later, a metal base plate 8 fixed to the top of the casing 7, a motor 10 fixed to the upper surface of the metal base plate 8 so that the rotating shaft 9 faces in the vertical direction (the rotating shaft 9 faces in a direction perpendicular to one side of the metal base plate 8), a synthetic resin cover 11 fixed to the upper surface of the casing 7 and covering the entire upper surface of the casing 7 including the motor 10, an electromagnetic clutch 12 arranged within the casing 7, a first gear 13 arranged below the electromagnetic clutch 12 and rotatable about a rotation center axis CL1 facing in the vertical direction of the rotating shaft 9 of the motor 10, a second gear 14 that reduces the rotation of the first gear 13, and a third gear 15 that further reduces the rotation of the second gear 14.

The casing 7 is composed of a lower casing 7A that is fixed directly to the mounting plate 22 of the guide module 6, and an upper casing 7B that is fixed to the upper part of the lower casing 7A. The lower casing 7A has front and rear mounting parts 71A on the lower side that protrude toward the outside of the vehicle, and a mounting part 72A on the inside bottom surface that protrudes downward. Each mounting part 71A, 72A is fastened and fixed to the mounting plate 22 by bolts 25.

The metal base plate 8 is fixed to the upper casing 7B. The motor 10 is directly fixed to the upper surface of the metal base plate 8 with the rotating shaft 9 facing up and down, and the annular electromagnetic coil section 121, which is one of the components of the electromagnetic clutch 12, is directly fixed to the lower surface of the metal base plate 8 with the central axis of rotation CL1 of the rotating shaft 9 as a reference. This allows the metal base plate 8 to double as a heat sink for the electromagnetic coil section 121 with a reduced projected area, suppressing heat generation from the electromagnetic coil section 121 and suppressing a decrease in the operating efficiency of the electromagnetic clutch 12.

In this embodiment, as shown particularly in Figures 7 and 8, the metal base plate 8 is divided into a first metal plate 8A having a generally hat-shaped cross section, and a lower plate 8B fixed to the underside of the first metal plate 8A. A gap 81 is formed between the underside of the first metal plate 8A and the upper surface of the lower plate 8B to prevent them from contacting each other. This increases the overall surface area of the metal base plate 8, and further enhances the effect of the metal base plate 8 as a heat sink.

In addition, in this embodiment, as described above, the metal base plate 8 is divided into a first metal plate 8A to which the motor 10 is fixed, and a second metal plate 8B to which the electromagnetic coil portion 121 is fixed . However, the present invention is not limited to this, and the first metal plate 8A and the second metal plate 8B may be formed integrally.

The motor 10 is fixed to the upper surface of the first metal plate 8A so that the rotating shaft 9 faces up and down. A rotating body 16 that rotates integrally with the rotating shaft 9 is fixed to the lower end of the rotating shaft 9 that penetrates downward through the center of the metal base plate 8.

The cover 11 is fixed to the top surface of the upper casing 7b, thereby covering the motor 10, the second gear 14, and the third gear 15 from above. The motor cover portion 11a of the cover 11 that covers the motor 10 has a gap 11A that forms an air layer between it and the motor 10 so as not to come into contact with the motor 10. This allows the operating noise of the motor 10, especially operating noise in the high frequency band, to be attenuated by the air layer, thereby improving soundproofing.

The electromagnetic clutch 12 includes an electromagnetic coil portion 121, a rotor 122, and an armature 123 as basic components.

The electromagnetic coil section 121 is an annular member based on the central axis CL1 of the rotating shaft 9 of the motor 10, and is composed of a field core fixed to the lower surface of the second metal plate 9B and an electromagnetic coil wound around the field core, and generates an electromagnetic force when energized. The rotor 122 is a magnetic body, and is attached to the outer circumferential surface of the rotating body 16 so as to rotate integrally with the rotating body 16. The armature 123 is located opposite to the attraction surface (lower surface) of the rotor 122, and rotates together with the rotor 122 by being attracted to the attraction surface of the rotor 122 by the electromagnetic force of the electromagnetic coil section 121. The armature 123 is a disk-shaped magnetic body based on the central axis CL1 of the rotating shaft 9, and is attached to the upper surface of the first gear 13 so as to be allowed to move in the direction of the central axis CL1 of the rotating shaft 9 and to be restricted from rotating relative to the rotor 122.

When electricity is applied to the electromagnetic coil portion 121 , the electromagnetic clutch 12 attracts the armature 123, which rotates integrally with the first gear 13, to the adsorption surface of the rotor 122, which rotates integrally with the rotating body 16, thereby connecting the power transmission path between the rotating shaft 9 of the motor 10 and the first gear 13, making it possible to transmit the rotation of the rotating shaft 9 to the first gear 13.In addition, when electricity is cut off from the electromagnetic coil portion 121 , the power transmission path between the rotating shaft 9 and the first gear 13 is cut off.

The rotor 16 is generally cylindrical with a flange, and is fixed to the lower end of the rotor shaft 9 so that the rotor 16 is allowed to rotate about the rotation center axis CL1 of the rotor shaft 9 relative to the electromagnetic coil portion 121. A first shaft 161 extending downward is provided at the center of the lower surface of the rotor 16. The first shaft 161 has a rotation center that coincides with the rotation center axis CL1, and its lower end is rotatably supported by a bearing 17 supported by the lower casing 7A. As a result, the electromagnetic clutch 12 is disposed around the rotation center axis CL1 of the rotor shaft 9, and the rotation center axis of the first gear 13 coincides with the rotation center axis CL.

The first gear 13 has an enlarged diameter portion 131 facing the attraction surface of the rotor 122, and is pivotally supported on the first shaft 161 of the rotating body 16 so as to be relatively rotatable. The armature 123 is attached to the upper surface of the enlarged diameter portion 131 so as to be allowed to move in the direction of the rotation central axis CL1 but restricted from moving in the rotation direction. A small diameter gear 132 extending downward is provided at the center of the lower surface of the first gear 13. In this embodiment, an upper portion of the shaft portion of the small diameter gear 132 is rotatably supported by the upper casing 7B via a bearing 18.

The second gear 14 is a two-stage gear with a large diameter gear 14a at the bottom and a small diameter gear 14b at the top, and is rotatably supported by a second shaft 141 that faces up and down and is located in front of the first shaft 161 in the space between the lower casing 7A and the upper casing 7B. The large diameter gear 14a meshes with the small diameter gear 132 of the first gear 13, thereby slowing down the rotation of the first gear 13.

The third gear 15 has a large diameter gear 15a at its upper portion, and is rotatably supported together with a drive shaft 151 that faces up and down and is located in front of the second shaft 141 in the space between the lower casing 7A and the upper casing 7B, and the large diameter gear 15a meshes with the small diameter gear 14b of the second gear 14 , thereby slowing down the rotation of the second gear 14. The drive shaft 151 is firmly inserted into the center hole of the third gear 15 so as to rotate integrally with the third gear 15.

In this embodiment, a shaft portion 15b is provided at the center of the lower surface of the large diameter gear 15a of the third gear 15, the shaft portion 15b is rotatably supported by the lower casing 7A via a bearing 19A, and the upper end portion of the drive shaft 151 is rotatably supported by the upper casing 7B via a bearing 19B. Furthermore, serrations extending in the vertical direction are formed on the outer circumferential surface of the drive shaft 151, and the serrations are press-fitted into the center hole of the third gear 15 so that the drive shaft 151 and the third gear 15 rotate integrally. Furthermore, in the plan view shown in FIG. 9 , the second shaft 141 forming the center of rotation of the second gear 14 is positioned on a straight line X (see FIG. 9 ) connecting the rotation central axis CL1 of the rotation shaft of the motor 10 and the rotation central axis CL2 in the vertical direction of the drive shaft 151, and the first shaft 161, the second shaft 141 and the drive shaft 151 are each arranged so that the direction of the straight line X is parallel to the longitudinal direction of the belt guide 20 (the front-rear direction, the opening and closing direction of the sliding door 3).

The drive shaft 151, whose rotation center axis CL2 faces the vertical direction perpendicular to the moving direction of the belt 21, outputs the rotation of the motor 10, which has been decelerated by the first gear 13, the second gear 14, and the third gear 15, to the guide module 6 side. As shown in FIG. 8 in particular, it penetrates the bottom of the lower casing 7A and is pressed and fixed in the center hole of the drive pulley 23 (described later) of the guide module 6 so that it cannot rotate relatively. As a result, the rotation of the rotating shaft 9 of the motor 10 is transmitted to the drive pulley 23 via the connected electromagnetic clutch 12, the first gear 13, the second gear 14, the third gear 15, and the drive shaft 151. The rotation of the drive pulley 23 is transmitted to the belt 21 of the guide module 6, as described later.

The first gear 13, second gear 14, and third gear 15 in this embodiment are the basic components of the reduction mechanism of the present invention, but the reduction mechanism of the present invention is not limited to this embodiment, and the second gear 14 may be omitted and the third gear 15 may be directly meshed with the first gear 13, or other reduction gears may be added.

(Guide Module 6)
As shown in Figures 2 to 5, the guide module 6 has a synthetic resin belt guide 20 arranged on the upper part of the center guide rail 42, a belt 21 guided by the belt guide 20 along the longitudinal (front-to-back) shape of the center guide rail 42, a mounting plate 22 fixed to the belt guide 20, a drive pulley 23 (see Figures 6, 8 and 9) for circulating the belt 21, and a belt connecting member 24 for connecting the belt 21 to the sliding door 3.

The belt guide 20 has a shape that follows the longitudinal direction (front-rear direction) of the center guide rail 42 in the plan view shown in FIG. 5 and overlaps the upper surface of the center guide rail 42. The belt guide 20 is fixed to the vehicle body panel 4 by fastening the front bracket 201 at the front end and the rear bracket 202 at the rear end to the vehicle body panel 4 with bolts (not shown).

As shown in Figs. 10, 11, 16, and 18, the rear side of the belt guide 20 is provided with a retaining portion 203 for temporarily retaining the belt retaining member 24 on the belt guide 20 in a detachable manner. As shown in Fig. 11, the retaining portion 203 is formed by a rectangular opening hole that penetrates the side wall portion 20a of the belt guide 20 facing the up-down direction in the left-right direction (inside-outside direction of the vehicle) and has a predetermined opening width in the front-rear direction. The belt connecting member 24 that is pre-fixed to the belt 21 is temporarily held in the retaining portion 203 until the belt 21 is connected to the center guide roller unit 32. The belt connecting member 24 is temporarily held on the belt guide 20 in a detachable manner by being partially inserted into and engaged with the retaining portion 203.

In particular, as shown in Figures 11 and 16, an upwardly protruding stopper portion 203a is provided below the holding portion 203 of the belt guide 20. The stopper portion 203a abuts against a corner of an engaging portion 241a (described later) of the belt connecting member 24, thereby restricting the amount of penetration of the engaging portion 241 into the holding portion 203 so that the belt connecting member 24 is securely and temporarily held in the holding portion 203.

As can be seen particularly from FIG. 6, the mounting plate 22 has a connecting portion 22a facing diagonally upward and fixed to the vehicle interior side of the belt guide 20 by a bolt (not shown), and a horizontal support portion 22b extending from the lower portion of the connecting portion 22a toward the vehicle interior. The connecting portion 22a and the support portion 22b are provided with mounting portions 22c and 22d to which the mounting portions 71A and 72A of the lower casing 7A in the motor module 5 are respectively fixed. In this embodiment, as shown in FIGS. 6 and 7, a cylindrical cushioning member 26 made of rubber is interposed between the mounting portions 71A and 72A of the lower casing 7A and the mounting portions 22c and 22d, and the mounting portions 71A and 71B are fixed to the mounting portions 22c and 22d, respectively. This makes it possible to reduce the transmission of vibrations generated during vehicle travel to the motor module 5.

As shown in Figures 6 and 8, a drive pulley 23 that can rotate together with the drive shaft 151 is disposed on the support portion 22b. The drive pulley 23 rotates about the central axis CL2 of the rotation of the drive shaft 151 by pressing the lower portion of the drive shaft 151 into the drive pulley 23. A part of the belt 21 is wound around the drive pulley 23. As a result, the rotation of the drive pulley 23 is transmitted to the belt 21, and the belt 21 moves in a circular motion along the belt guide 20.

The belt 21 is a flat, endless rubber belt, and as shown in FIG. 2, its front end is looped around a front reversing pulley 204 pivoted to the front of the belt guide 20, and its rear end is looped around a rear reversing pulley 205 pivoted to the rear of the belt guide 20. As shown in FIG. 9, part of the part that moves on the inside of the room is bypassed to the inside of the room and looped around a drive pulley 23 rotatably supported on the mounting plate 22, so that it circulates back and forth along the belt guide 20 as the drive pulley 23 rotates.

The upper part of the belt connection member 24 is fixed to the area of the belt 21 that moves on the outside of the vehicle, and is temporarily held in a detachable state while engaged with the holding portion 203, as shown in Figures 3 and 4, until it is connected to the center guide roller unit 32. Finally, as shown in Figure 2, the lower part is connected to the connected portion 32a of the center guide roller unit 32, thereby connecting the belt 21 and the sliding door 3 to each other.

The belt connection member 24 is temporarily held by the belt guide 20 while the vehicle door opening and closing device 1 is being transported and while it is being assembled to the vehicle body panel 4. This prevents the belt 21 and the belt connection member 24 from vibrating due to slackness, twisting, etc. of the belt 21 and coming into contact with and damaging other parts or the sliding door 3, and also improves the handling properties of the vehicle door opening and closing device 1.

When the belt connection member 24 is temporarily held by the holding portion 203, it is temporarily held by the belt guide 20 in a temporary holding position inclined at approximately 30 degrees toward the outside of the vehicle, as shown in Figures 10, 12, 13, and 16. Therefore, when the belt connection member 24 is held in the temporary holding position, the belt 21 is twisted by a predetermined angle from the normal position (for example, the position shown in Figure 17) in which the thickness direction faces the inside and outside of the vehicle. Therefore, when the belt connection member 24 is held in the temporary holding position, the twisted portion 21a of the belt 21 is formed on the front and rear sides of the belt connection member 24. The twisted portion 21a absorbs the slack of the belt 21, suppresses the rattling of the belt 21, and improves the handling properties when the vehicle door opening and closing device 1 is transported and assembled to the vehicle body panel 4.

When the belt connection member 24 is in the temporary holding position, it is in a position retracted outside the movement trajectory of the center guide roller unit 32. As a result, after the vehicle door opening and closing device 1 is assembled to the vehicle body panel 4, when the center guide roller unit 32 is assembled to the center guide rail 42, the center guide roller unit 32 does not interfere with the belt connection member 24, so the center guide roller unit 32 can be easily assembled to the center guide rail 42.

To temporarily hold the belt connection member 24 in the holding portion 203 of the belt guide 20, as shown in FIG. 16, the belt connection member 24 is rotated upward by approximately 120 degrees from the normal position shown by the two-dot chain line, and in this state, the engagement portion 24c is inserted and engaged into the holding portion 203 from the outside of the vehicle. As a result, the belt connection member 24 is temporarily held in a temporary holding position tilted upward by approximately 30 degrees toward the outside of the vehicle, particularly as shown by the solid line in FIG. 16. To remove the belt connection member 24 from the holding portion 203, in FIG. 16, the belt connection member 24 is pulled out toward the outside of the vehicle in a state in which it is rotated slightly upward. This allows the belt connection member 24 to be easily removed from the holding portion 203. After this, the belt connection member 24 is connected to the center guide roller unit 32 assembled to the center guide rail 42.

In this embodiment, as can be seen particularly from Figures 16 and 17, the belt connection member 24 includes a first plate 24A on the vehicle exterior side and a second plate 24B on the vehicle interior side that sandwich the belt 21 in the thickness direction (inside/outside of the vehicle).

As shown in Figures 14 to 18, preferably, the belt connection member 24 has a clamping portion 24a that is fixed to the belt 21 by clamping the belt 21 in the thickness direction, a connecting portion 24b that is lower than the clamping portion 24a and is connected to the connected portion 32a of the center guide roller unit 32, and an engaging portion 24c that is higher than the clamping portion 24a and engages with the holding portion 203.

In particular, as shown in Figures 15 and 18, the engagement portion 24c is formed so that the width W1 in the front-rear direction is slightly smaller than the opening width W2 in the front-rear direction of the holding portion 203. Furthermore, as shown in Figure 16, the engagement portion 24c has a claw portion 24d that protrudes diagonally upward when the belt connection member 24 is in the temporary holding position.

16 and 18, when the belt connection member 24 is held in the temporary holding position, the engaging portion 24c engages with the opening of the holding portion 203 in the width direction (front-rear direction) so as to restrict the movement of the belt connection member 24 in the front-rear direction. The corner portion of the engaging portion 24c abuts against the stopper portion 203a located below the holding portion 203 so as to restrict the amount of penetration (insertion amount) of the engaging portion 24c into the holding portion 203 into the vehicle interior. The claw portion 24d engages with the upper edge of the opening of the holding portion 203 from the vehicle interior side so that the belt connection member 24 does not easily come out of the holding portion 203. The belt connection member 24 is subjected to a return force (a force that returns the belt 21 to the normal position, a force in the clockwise direction in FIG. 16) due to the twisted portion 21a formed in the belt 21.

As described above, the belt connection member 24 is temporarily held in the holding portion 203 of the belt guide 20 so that the twisted portion 21a is formed in the belt 21 at the front and rear sides of the belt connection member 24, and the slack of the belt 21 can be reliably absorbed by the twisted portion 21a. This allows the belt connection member 24 to be temporarily held reliably in the holding portion 203. Furthermore, by providing the engagement portion 24c above the clamping portion 24a fixed to the belt 21 and providing the connecting portion 24b below the clamping portion 24a, in the temporarily held position of the belt connection member 24, a moment acts on the belt connection member 24 in the clockwise direction with the engaging portion 24c as the fulcrum in FIG. 16 due to the return force of the twisted portion 21a of the belt 21 and the action of the mass of the connecting portion 24b located at the tip end of the engaging portion 24c, so that the engaging portion 24c can be reliably engaged with the holding portion 203. Furthermore, when the belt connection member 24 is in the correct position, the connecting portion 24b is located at the lowest position, so the connecting portion 24b can be easily connected to the connected portion 32a of the center guide roller unit 32.

(Connection Work of Vehicle Door Opening and Closing Device 1 to Slide Door 3)
First, the belt guide 20 is placed above the center guide rail 42 which has been preliminarily fixed to the vehicle body panel 4, and the front bracket 201 and rear bracket 202 of the belt guide 20 are fixed to the vehicle body panel 4 with bolts not shown, thereby assembling the vehicle door opening and closing device 1 to the vehicle body panel 4.

When the vehicle door opening/closing device 1 is assembled to the vehicle body panel 4, the belt connection member 24 is temporarily held in the holding portion 203 of the belt guide 20. By temporarily holding the belt connection member 24 in the holding portion 203, unnecessary movement of the belt connection member 24 and the belt 21 can be suppressed during transportation of the vehicle power slide device 1 and assembly to the vehicle body panel 4, improving the handling of the dual-use power slide device 1. This prevents the belt connection member 24 from coming into contact with and damaging the vehicle body panel 4 or the slide door 3.

The vehicle door opening and closing device 1 may be assembled to the vehicle body panel 4 with the motor module 5 already connected to the guide module 6, or the motor module 5 and guide module 6 may be separated and the guide module 6 may be assembled to the vehicle body panel 4 first, and then the motor module 5 may be connected to the guide module 6.

Next, the guide rollers (not shown) of each guide roller unit 31, 32, 33 attached to the sliding door 3 (for the center guide roller unit 32, the guide roller is shown as 32b in FIG. 17) are inserted into the corresponding rails 41, 42, 43 from the rear end. Then, the sliding door 3 is moved forward, i.e., in the closing direction, to align the center guide roller unit 32 with the position of the belt connection member 24 temporarily held by the holding portion 203. In this case, since the belt connection member 24 is in a temporarily held position and is in a position outside the movement trajectory of the center guide roller unit 32, it is possible to avoid a situation in which the center guide roller unit 32 collides with the belt connection member 24. This makes it possible to prevent damage to the center guide roller unit 32 and the belt connection member 24.

Next, a special jig is inserted into the gap between the vehicle body panel 4 and the rear end of the sliding door 3, and the belt connection member 24 is removed from the holding portion 203 to return the belt connection member 24 to the correct position. Then, the connecting portion 24b of the belt connection member 24 is connected to the connected portion 32a of the center guide roller unit 32. As a result, the belt 21 and the sliding door 3 are connected via the belt connection member 24 and the center guide roller unit 32.

(Function of vehicle door opening and closing device 1)
The motor 10 is driven in response to the operation of a wireless remote switch carried by a user or a door handle for opening the door provided on the sliding door 3. In response to this, the electromagnetic clutch 12 is brought into an engaged state. As a result, the rotation of the rotary shaft 9 of the motor 10 is transmitted to the belt 21 via the electromagnetic clutch 12, the first gear 13, the second gear 14, the third gear 15, the drive shaft 151, and the drive pulley 23. As a result, the belt 21 moves in a circular motion along the longitudinal direction of the belt guide 20, so that the sliding door 3 moves to open if it is in the closed position, and moves to close if it is in the fully open position.

When the sliding door 3 is opened or closed manually, the motor 10 and the electromagnetic clutch 12 are in a disconnected state. Therefore, the opening and closing operation of the sliding door 3 is transmitted to the belt 21 and the reduction mechanism, but is not transmitted to the motor 10. This allows the sliding door 3 to be opened and closed manually with little force.

Although one embodiment of the present invention has been described above, various modifications, changes, and combinations can be made to the above embodiment without departing from the spirit of the present invention, as follows:

(1) In the above embodiment, the belt guide 20 and the center guide rail 42 of the guide module 6 are separate entities. Alternatively, the belt guide 20 and the center guide rail 42 may be integrally formed, or the belt guide 20 may be pre-fixed to the center guide rail 42. In this case, the center guide rail 42 may be provided with a holding portion 203 for temporarily holding the belt connection member 24. Therefore, in the present invention, the belt guide 20 or a combination of both the belt guide 20 and the center guide rail 42 is defined as a guide means.

(2) The temporary holding position of the belt connection member 24 is changed from facing diagonally upward toward the outside of the vehicle to facing vertically or horizontally.

(3) Instead of an opening that penetrates the retaining portion 203 from the inside to the outside of the vehicle, the opening is made to face up and down or diagonally.

(4) The holding portion 203 is made into a circular or elliptical opening hole instead of a rectangular opening hole.

(5) The casing 7 of the motor module 5 is formed integrally with the lower casing 7A and the upper casing 7B.

(6) The vehicle door opening and closing device 1 is installed on the lower part of the vehicle body, and the belt 21 is connected to the lower guide roller unit 33.

REFERENCE SIGNS LIST 1 Vehicle door opening/closing device 2 Vehicle 3 Sliding door 31 Upper guide roller unit 32 Center guide roller unit 32a Connected portion 32b Guide roller 33 Lower guide roller unit 4 Vehicle body panel 41 Upper guide rail 42 Center guide rail 43 Lower guide rail 5 Motor module 6 Guide module 7 Casing 7A Lower casing 71A, 72A Mounting portion 7B Upper casing 8 Metal base plate 8A First metal plate 8B Second metal plate 81 Gap 9 Rotating shaft 10 Motor 11 Cover 11A Gap 11a Motor cover portion 12 Electromagnetic clutch
121 Electromagnetic coil portion 122 Rotor
123 Armature 13 First gear (reduction mechanism)
Reference Signs List 131 Enlarged diameter portion 132 Small diameter gear 14 Second gear (reduction mechanism) 14a Large diameter gear 14b Small diameter gear 141 Second shaft 15 Third gear (reduction mechanism) 15a Large diameter gear 15b Shaft portion 151 Drive shaft 16 Rotating body 161 First shaft 17, 18 Bearings 19A, 19B Bearings 20 Belt guide 20a Side wall portion 201 Front bracket 202 Rear bracket 203 Holding portion 203a Stopper portion 204 Front reversing pulley 205 Rear reversing pulley 21 Belt 21a Twisted portion 22 Mounting plate 22a Connection portion 22b Support portion 22c, 22d Mounted portion 23 Drive pulley 24 Belt connecting member 24a Clamping portion 24b Connecting portion 24c Engagement portion 24d Claw portion 24A First plate 24B Second plate 25 Bolt 26 Cushioning member

Claims (5)

A motor;
A guide means is fixed to a vehicle body so as to follow the opening and closing direction of the sliding door;
a belt that is wound around one end and the other end of the guide means in the longitudinal direction and that is movable in a circulating manner along the longitudinal direction of the guide means as the motor is driven;
a belt connecting member that is fixed to the belt and is connected to the sliding door via a guide roller unit that is assembled to the guide means so as to be movable in the longitudinal direction thereof;
the guide means has a holding portion that, in a state in which the belt connecting member is fixed to the belt and is not connected to the guide roller unit, holds the belt connecting member in a twisted state and detachably holds the belt connecting member at a predetermined position of the guide means,
The vehicle door opening and closing device , wherein the belt connecting member is detachably held by the holding portion in a position inclined obliquely upward outside the vehicle or in a position facing upward . 2. The vehicle door opening and closing device according to claim 1 , wherein the holding portion is an opening hole provided in a side wall of the guide means. 3. The vehicle door opening and closing device according to claim 2, wherein the belt connecting member has a clamping portion that clamps the belt from its thickness direction, a connecting portion that is lower than the clamping portion and is connected to the guide roller unit, and an engaging portion that is higher than the clamping portion and engages by being inserted into the opening hole. 4. The vehicle door opening and closing device according to claim 3 , wherein the guide means has a stopper portion located below the opening hole for regulating an insertion amount of the engagement portion of the belt connecting member into the opening hole . The vehicle door opening and closing device according to any one of claims 1 to 4 , characterized in that when the belt connecting member is held in the holding portion, it is held in a position retracted outside the movement trajectory of the guide roller unit.

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