Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
Canadian Serial No. 2,031,616
POWER SLIDING DOOR CLOSER
The invention relates to a motorized
mechanism for opening and closing a sliding vehicle
closure such as a door or window and more particularly
provides improved closing and latching of the closure.
Backqround of the Invention
It is known in motor vehicles to provide a
closure such as a side door slidably mounted on tracks
for fore and aft sliding movement between open and
closed positions. As the door reaches the closed
position a weatherstrip is compressed to provide
weather tight sealing, and a door latch is latched to
retain the door in the closed position. In order to
obtain such latching of the door and compression of
the weatherstrip, the vehicle user slides the door
rapidly toward the closed position.
It is also known to provide a motorized
mechanism for moving such a sliding door. In
particular it is known to use motor driven pulleys to
wind and unwind cables attached to the door, with one
cable for pulling the door forward, and another cable
for pulling the door rearward.
It is necessary and desirable that such
power door closing systems control the closing speed
of the door. The vehicle user wishes the door to move
at a rapid speed which expedites vehicle ingress and
egress, and yet without slamming the door. It is also
necessary to control the closing force of the door so
that the door is closed with force sufficient to latch
the door latch and compress the weatherstrip.
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Summary of the Invention
A sliding door in a van is conventionally
mounted on tracks for sliding movement between open
and closed positions. When the door reaches the
closed position a weather strip is compressed and a
door latch is latched. A cable is attached to the
door and routed through the vehicle body via pulleys
so that pulling the first end of the cable slides the
door toward the open position and pulling the second
end of the cable pulls the door towards the closed
position. A motorized drive mechanism for pulling the
cables includes first and second reels mounted
concentrically and having the cable ends wrapped
respectively about the reels in opposite directions.
The motor drives in one direction rotating the first
reel in the cable winding direction to open the door
and is reversible to rotate the second reel in the
cable winding direction to close the door. Each of
the reels has a large diameter portion for winding the
cable to provide relatively high speed and low force
door movement over the greatest portion of travel and
a small diameter portion for winding the cable to
provide relatively low speed and high force movement
of the door during the lesser portion of travel of the
door closest to the closed position. Thus the door
closes and opens at high speed over the greatest
portion of travel but then travels with high force to
effectively compress the weather strip and latch the
latch. The large diameter portion and small diameter
portion of the reels have cable seat grooves to
receive the cable and a spiral ramp groove to connect
the large and small diameter portions so that the
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point of exit of the cable from the reels transit from
the one portion to the other during reel rotation. A
tension retaining spring acts between the two reels to
always maintain the cable under tension.
Accordingly, the object, feature, and
advantage of the invention resides in the provision of
sliding door closer in which the cable is wound upon a
reel having a large diameter portion winding the cable
to provide high speed and low force door movement over
a greater portion of the door travel and a small
diameter portion for winding the cable to provide
relatively low speed and high force movement of the
door during the portion of travel closest to the
closed position to thereby effectively latch and seal
the door.
Another object, feature, and advantage of
the invention resides in the provision of a door
closer having cable ends mounted on cable winding
reels with a spring acting between the reels to
maintain tension on the cables.
These and other objects, features, and
advantages of the invention will become apparent upon
consideration of the description of the preferred
embodiment and the appended drawings in which:
Brief Description of the Drawinqs
Figure 1 is a perspective view of a vehicle
interior showing the general arrangement of the
sliding door and the closing mechanisms;
Figure 2 is a exploded view of the door
closing mechanism;
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Figure 3 is a sectional view taken through
the motor drive mechanism of the invention having
parts broken away and in section;
Figure 4 is a view of the door latch showing
the door latch in the unlatched position;
Figure 5 is a view of the door latch of
Figure 4 as shown in the secondary latched position;
Figure 6 is a view of the door latch shown
in the primary latched condition; and
Figure 7 is a plot of door travel versus
force.
Description of the Preferred Embodiment
Figure 1 is a partial perspective view of a
van type body 10 in which a door 12 is mounted for
fore and aft sliding movement. An arm 14 reaches
inboard at the bottom of the door and carries a roller
which rides in a lower track 16 concealed beneath the
floor 18. As best seen in Figure 2, an upper arm 22
reaches inboard from the door 12 and carries rollers
24, 26, and 28 which roll in an upper track 30 mounted
on the side of the van 10. Figure 1 shows the door in
the open position. Forward sliding movement of the
door is enabled by the travel of the door mounted
rollers within the lower track 16 and the upper track
30. Each of these tracks is curved inwardly at the
forward end thereof, as shown in Figure 2 at 32 with
respect to the upper track 30, so that the door glides
inwardly to close the door opening as the door reaches
the fully closed position. A weatherstrip 34 is
carried on the door and compresses against the body
when the door reaches the closed position. A door
latch 36 is carried by the door and latches with a
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striker mounted on the body to latch the door 12 in
the closed position. The door latch 36 and striker 37
are shown in Figures 4, 5, and 6.
As seen in Figure 4, the latch 36 includes a
housing 38 having a throat 40 which captures the
striker 37 as the door approaches its closed position.
A fork bolt 42 is mounted on the housing 38 by pivot
44.
As seen in Figure 5 the entry of striker 37
into the throat 40 causes fork bolt 42 to rotate
clockwise to the secondary latched position of Figure
5 in which a detent 48 mounted on housing 38 by pivot
50 has a detent tooth 52 which engages a latch hook 54
of the fork bolt 42.
Figure 6 shows the position of the door
latch 36 with the door 12 in the fully closed position
in which the striker 37 has rotated the fork bolt 42
further clockwise to the primary latched position in
which the detent tooth 52 has become engaged with a
primary hook 55 of the fork bolt 52.
The door latch 36 includes an electrical
switch 56 which having a follower 58 which senses the
position of the fork bolt 42 and an electrical switch
60 having a follower 62 which senses the position of
the detent 48.
Referring to Figures 2 and 3, the motor
drive mechanism generally indicated at 70 is shown. A
cable 72 has an end 75 connected to the door arm 22
and extends through the curved forward end 32 of the
track 30 and is threaded through grommets 73 and into
a guide 31eeve 74 mounted on the side wall of the
vehicle body as shown in Figure 1. The guide sleeve
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carries a pulley 76 mounted on axle 78 and a pulley 80
mounted on axle 82 which route the cable 72 rearwardly
to a first reel 84 which may be rotated in the
clockwise direction to wind-up cable 72 and thereby
pull the door forwardly towards the closed position.
A cable 88 has an end 90 connected to the
door arm 22 and extends through the track 30 and
around a pulley 94 mounted on axle 95 to route the
cable 88 to a second reel 96 which may be rotated
counterclockwise to wind the cable 80 and thereby pull
the door 12 rearwardly to open the door.
The reels 84 and 96 are mounted on the
vehicle via a mounting bracket 98 bolted to the body
and having a spindle 100 staked thereto. A drive gear
102 is seated on the spindle. The reel 84 is
rotatably supported on the drive gear 102. The reel
96 rests atop the reel 84 and rotatably seats on the
spindle 100 and reel 84. A housing 106 is suspended
from beneath the bracket 98 and supports an electric
motor 108 which drives a pinion gear 110 seated upon a
stationary spindle 112 staked to bracket 98. An
electromagnetic clutch assembly 114 is seated on the
spindle 112 and has an input gear, not shown, which
meshes with the pinion gear 110, and an output gear
116 which meshes with internal gear teeth 120 carried
on the drive gear 102. The output gear 116 carries a
slotted disc 122 which underlies a stationary sensor
124 for connection to an electrical circuit.
A lost motion drive connection is provided
between the drive gear 102 and reel 84. The lost
motion connection includes a drive lug 126 carried by
the drive gear 102, as seen in Figure 2, and a
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complementary drive lug 128, which is carried by the
reel 84, as seen in Figure 3. A lost motion
connection is also provided between the drive gear 102
and the reel 96. A drive lug 132 is carried on the
upper face of the drive gear 102, as seen in Figure 2,
and is engageable with a complementary drive lug 134
carried on the pulley 96 as seen in Figure 3.
As seen in Figures 2 and 3, a tension
retaining spring 140 is a coil spring and is seated in
an annular opening in the reels 84 and 96. An upper
spring end 142 is anchored on the reel 96 and a lower
spring end 144 is anchored on the reel 84. The
tension retaining spring 140 acts to urge reel 96 in
the counterclockwise winding direction and urge reel
84 in the opposite clockwise cable winding direction
so that the cables 72 and 88 are maintained in tension
at all times.
As best seen in Figures 2 and 3, the reel 84
has a large diameter portion 150 which has a spiral
cable groove 156 and a small diameter portion 158
which has a spiral cable groove 160. A ramp groove
162 connects the large diameter cable groove 156 with
the small diameter cable groove 160. The end of cable
72 is anchored on the outer diameter portion of the
reel 84.
Furthermore, as seen in Figures 2 and 3, the
reel 96 is constructed similar to the reel 84 and has
a large diameter portion 170 with spiral cable groove
172 and a small diameter portion 174 with a spiral -
cable groove 176. A ramp groove 180 connects the
large diameter cable groove 172 and the small diameter
cable groove 176. As shown in Figure 2, the end of
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the cable 88 is attached to the reel 96 on the small
diameter portion 174.
As best seen in Figure 2 a cover 186 is
installed over the reels 84 and 96 and is retained by
a nut 188. The cable 88 exits housing 86 through a
grommet 190 supported by outlet 192.
Operation
In the drawings, the door 12 is shown in the
open position. Cable 88 i9 fully wound up on the reel
96. The cable 72 is fully unwound from the reel 84.
The tension retaining spring 140 acts between the
reels 84 and 96 urging reel 96 counterclockwise and
urging reel 84 clockwise so that the cables 72 and 88
are both retained in tension.
When the vehicle user wishes to close the
door, an electrical circuit i8 actuated to energized the
drive gear 126 via pinion gear 110, electromagnetic clutch
114, and output gear 116. Clockwise rotation of the
drive gear 102 will cause its drive lug 126 to engaged
the complementary drive lug 128 of reel 84 and rotate
reel 84 in the clockwise direction to wind up cable
72, which in turn pulls the door 12 forward toward to
the closed position. The cable is progressively wound
upon the spiral groove 156 of the large diameter
portion 170 of the reel 84. As the door nears the
closed position, the cable 72 traverses the ramp
groove 162 and further rotation of the reel 84 causes
the cable to be wound in the cable groove 160 of the
small diameter portion 158 of the reel 84.
Accordingly, assuming that the motor turns
at a constant speed, the winding of the cable 72 on
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the large diameter portion 150 of the reel 84 causes
the door 12 to travel at a relatively high speed over
a large distance, and then as the door approaches the
closed position, the winding of the cable 72 on the
small diameter portion 158 causes the door 12 to move
at a slow speed but with a greater force being applied
to the cable 72. This relatively greater force
effectively compresses the weatherstrip 34 carried by
the door 12 and to engage the door latch 36 with the
striker 37 as shown in Figures 4, 5 and 6.
It will be understood that the forward
movement of the door extracts the cable 86 from the
reel 96 against the bias of the tension retaining
spring 140. The tension retaining spring 140 acts
between the two reels so that the spring works to
constantly maintain a predetermined level of tension
in the cable 88 as it is unwound from the reel 96.
Figure 7 is a plot showing the travel of the
door versus the force imposed on the door 12 by the
drive mechanism. Accordingly, it is seen that the
travel of the door 12 from the open position toward
the closed position occurs at relatively low force but
high speed until the door traveled 90~ of the distance
toward the closed position. Then the cable begins to
wind on the small diameter portion so that final
travel occurs in conditions of high force and low
speed as the secondary latching function and the
primary latching functions of the latch 36 are
performed.
When it is decided to open the door, the
door latch 36 is unlatched and motor 108 energized so
that drive gear 102 rotates in the counterclockwise
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direction and drive lug 132 engages the complementary
drive lug 134 of reel 96 to rotate the reel 96 in
counterclockwise direction and wind cable 88. The end
of cable 88 is attached to the small diameter portion
of the reel 96 so that the initial movement of the
door occurs with high force at low speed. As winding
continues the cable 88 traverses the ramp groove 180
and then continues to wind on the large diameter
portion 170 of the reel 96 so that the door movement
progresses at high speed and relatively low force.
Thus it is seen that the invention provides
a new and improved closure for a sliding door in a van
type vehicle in which a cable is wound on a reel
having a large diameter portion winding the cable to
provide high speed and low force door movement over a
greater portion of the door travel and a small
diameter portion for winding the cable to provide
relatively low speed and high force movement of the
door during the portion of the travel closest to the
closed position to thereby latch and seal the door.
Although the Description of the Preferred
Embodiment relates to the closure being a door which
slides fore and aft, the invention is also applicable
to a closure which is a window panel which slides
either fore and aft or up and down.
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