Technical Field The present invention relates to a drive mechanism for a sunroof of a vehicle. The present invention also relates to a sunroof apparatus including such a drive mechanism.

Background

Conventionally, the drive mechanism for a sunroof of a vehicle comprises two parts, one being a rotating arm 100 and the other being a driving slider 200 for driving the rotating arm 100, as shown in fig. 1. During opening or closing process of the sunroof, the driving slider 200 moves forward or backward to drive the rotating arm 100 to tilt up or down. Figs. 1 to 3 show the sunroof in the closed, opened and tilted up states respectively.

The rotating arm 100 is rotatable around a rotating axis X which is arranged at one end thereof, as shown in figs. 1 to 3. Thereby, the other end of the rotating arm 100 may be rotated up or down. The driving slider 200 itself is slidable in a guide rail of the sunroof. There is a sliding pin at one end of the driving slider 200, which is slidable in a slot 101 in the rotating arm 100. The slot 101 extends longitudinally along the rotating arm 100. When the driving slider 200 slides in the guide rail and thereby the sliding pin slides in the slot 101, the rotating arm 100 is driven to rotate up or down. The disadvantage of the conventional drive mechanism is that the glass panel of the sunroof is in a declined position when it is rotated down, as shown in fig. 2. It occupies more space in the opening process.

Further, as shown in figs. 1 to 3, since the rotating axis X is far from the glass panel, the glass panel in the tilted up position will cause significant interfere between a seal for the glass panel

l and the roof BIW (body in white). In order to solve this problem, a guiding part is provided for the drive mechanism to make the latter move backward during the rotating up process. However, such a solution is complicated and potentially deteriorates an anti-pinch function of the sunroof since it will cause friction force which is unstable. There is a need to improve the above-mentioned drive mechanism so that less pressure is applied to the seal of the glass panel.

SUMMARY

In view of the above-mentioned problems, an object of the present invention is to improve the performance of the drive mechanism so that less space in the vertical direction is needed for its motion.

Accordingly, the present invention proposes a drive mechanism for a sunroof of a vehicle comprising:

a base slidable in a guide rail of the sunroof;

a first rotating arm with one end thereof rotatably connected to the base and the other end adapted to be connected to the front side of a panel of the sunroof;

a second rotating arm with one end thereof rotatably connected to the base and other end provided with a link to be connected to the rear side of the panel;

driving members connected to the first and second rotating arms to drive them to rotate up or down respectively; and

a fixing member adapted to lock the drive mechanism to the guide rail releasably.

According to one embodiment of the present invention, the driving members include a first and a second sliding member to be moved in the guide rail synchronously.

According to one embodiment of the present invention, the first and second sliding members each include a sliding pin, the first rotating arm is provided with a first sliding slot and the second rotating arm is provided with a second sliding slot, the sliding pins of the first and second sliding members are slidable in the first and second sliding slots respectively, so that the first and second rotating arms may be tilted up or down simultaneously or successively. According to one embodiment of the present invention, the first and second sliding slots each include an inclined portion, wherein in the normal position of the drive mechanism in which the panel is closed, the inclined portions of the first and second sliding slots extend in substantially the same direction.

According to one embodiment of the present invention, the first and/or second sliding slots further include a substantially horizontal portion connected to the inclined portion so that the first and second rotating arms may be tilted up or down successively.

According to one embodiment of the present invention, the first sliding slot further includes a substantially horizontal portion connected to the inclined portion thereof which is inclined from the rear end of the horizontal portion in the up-rear direction, and the inclined portion of the second sliding slot includes a front and a rear inclined portion connected to each other and each inclined in the up-rear direction.

According to one embodiment of the present invention, in the normal position of the drive mechanism in which the panel is closed, the first sliding slot is substantially horizontal and the second sliding slot includes an inclined portion.

According to one embodiment of the present invention, the base is a single component, to which the first and second rotating arms are connected via respective pivots.

According to one embodiment of the present invention, the base is connected to the first rotating arm at the rear end thereof and to the second rotating arm at the front end thereof.

According to one embodiment of the present invention, the base includes two components connected to each other rigidly, with one component connected to one of the first and second rotating arms while the other component connected to the other one of the first and second rotating arms. According to one embodiment of the present invention, the fixing member suspends from the first rotating arm and the lower end thereof is adapted for protruding into a notch in the guide rail to limit movement of the drive mechanism in the longitudinal direction of the guide rail. According to one embodiment of the present invention, the fixing member is formed integrally with the first rotating arm.

With the above-mentioned construction, the drive mechanism of the present invention will save more overhead space for passengers and enhance the sealing durability of the sunroof. In addition, since the rotating axis of the panel is closer to the panel during tilting up of the sunroof, it will significantly reduce the interfere value between the seal and Roof BIW. Therefore, guide parts which are necessary in the prior art to reduce such interfere in the front side of the sunroof may be omitted. It makes the drive mechanism of the present invention simple and reliable. The present invention also proposes a sunroof apparatus of a vehicle, comprising a guide rail and the drive mechanism mentioned above.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Preferred embodiments of the present disclosure are described herein below with reference to the drawings, wherein: FIGS. 1-3 show the conventional drive mechanism for the sunroof, with the sunroof in the closed, opened and tilted up states respectively;

FIG. 4a is a front view of the drive mechanism in its normal position according to one embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 4b is the drive mechanism in FIG. 4a with the glass panel of the sunroof shown in a closed state;

FIG. 5a is a front view of the drive mechanism in FIG. 4a in its tilted up position;

FIG. 5b is the drive mechanism in FIG. 5a with the glass panel shown in a tilted up state;

FIG. 6a is a front view of the drive mechanism in FIG. 4a in its tilted down position;

FIG. 6b is the drive mechanism in FIG. 6a with the glass panel shown in a tilted down state; FIG. 7 is a perspective view of the drive mechanism according to the embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 7a is an enlarged view of the portion marked with a square A in FIG. 7; FIG. 8a is a variation of the base of the drive mechanism; FIG. 8b is a variation of the rotating arms of the drive mechanism; and

FIGS. 9 to 12 show various shapes of the sliding slots in the drive mechanism schematically. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

In the following description, the front, rear, up and down directions are those viewed from a driver seated in a driver's seat of the vehicle. This is for convenience of description and in no way to limit the invention.

Figs. 4a and 4b show the drive mechanism for a sunroof in the sate that the sunroof is closed. The drive mechanism may be mounted to a guide rail 8 of the sunroof, one in each lateral side of the sunroof, in order to drive the panel 10, for example, a glass panel, of the sunroof to move. As shown in fig. 4a, the drive mechanism comprises a base 1 , a first rotating arm 2, a second rotating arm 3 with a link 4, a first sliding member 5, a second sliding member 6 and a fixing pin 7.

The base 1 is slidable in the guide rail 8 of the sunroof. According to one embodiment of the present invention, the base 1 is a single component. The first and second rotating arms 2, 3 are rotatably connected to the base 1 by respective pivots. Alternatively, the two rotating arms 2, 3 are connected to the base 1 by a common shaft which is fixed to the base 1. In this case, the two rotating arms 2, 3 are rotatable relative to the shaft independently from each other. To sum up, the first and second rotating arms 2, 3 should be rotatable independently from each other in either case. In addition, the base may include two components 11, 12 which are connected together by a rigid member 13, as shown in fig. 8a, in order to adapt to the sunroofs of different longitudinal sizes. With such a rigid connection, the two components 11, 12 may move in the guide rail 8 synchronously. To that end, it is also contemplated that the two rotating arms 2, 3 are interleaved with each other with respect to the base 1 , as shown in fig. 8b. That is to say, the first rotating arm 2 which is to be connected to the front side of the sunroof is connected to the rear end of the base 1 while the second rotating arm 3 which is to be connected to the rear side of the sunroof is connected to the front end of the base 1. The two rotating arms 2, 3 may be connected to the base 1 including the two components 11, 12 in a similar way. That is, the first rotating arm 2 is connected to the component 12 while the second rotating arm 3 is connected to the component 11. The first rotating arm 2 is rotatably mounted to the base 1 at one end 21 thereof, specifically to the front end of the base 1. At the other end 22, the first rotating arm 2 is fixed to the front lateral side of the glass panel 10 via a securing member 9. The securing member 9 has already been known in the art. The first rotating arm 2 is formed with a first sliding slot 23 in which a first sliding member 5 which will be described later may slide. The sliding slot 23 includes a substantially horizontal portion 231 and an inclined portion 232 connected to each other. The horizontal portion 231 extends substantially horizontally in the front to rear direction along the rotating arm 2, while the inclined portion 232 is inclined from the rear end of the horizontal portion 231 in the up-rear direction.

Similarly, the second rotating arm 3 is rotatably mounted to the base 1 at one end 31 thereof, specifically to the rear end of the base 1. The difference from the first rotating arm 2 lies in that the second rotating arm 3 is connected to a link 4 at the other end 32 thereof. The link 4 is fixed to the rear lateral side of the glass panel 10 via a similar securing member 9. With such a link 4, the distance between the two securing members 9 may be kept constant during operation of the sunroof. The second rotating arm 3 is also formed with a second sliding slot 33 in which a second sliding member 6 which will be described later may slide. The sliding slot 33 includes a front inclined portion 331 and a rear inclined portion 332 connected to each other. The front inclined portion 331 is inclined in the up-rear direction along the rotating arm 3, and the rear inclined portion 332 is also inclined in the up-rear direction from the rear end of the front inclined portion 331.

The first sliding member 5 and the second sliding member 6 may have similar structures. Specifically, as shown in fig. 7, the first sliding member 5 has a sliding shoe 51 which is slidable in the guide rail 8 and a sliding pin 52 which is slidable in the first sliding slot 23. The sliding shoe 51 and the sliding pin 52 are connected via a bar 53. The sliding shoe 51 may be driven by a driving cable of the sunroof. Similarly, the second sliding member 6 has a sliding shoe (not shown in the fig.) and a sliding pin 62 connected via a bar 63. The sliding shoe of the second sliding member 6 may also be driven by the driving cable of the sunroof. Moreover, the first and second sliding members 5, 6 are movable in the guide rail 8 synchronously. Thereby, the first and second rotating arms 2, 3 may be driven synchronously when the first and second sliding pins 52, 62 are sliding in the respective sliding slots 23, 33.

The fixing pin 7 is substantially L shaped, as shown in fig. 7a. The fixing pin 7 suspends from the first rotating arm 2 vertically and turns horizontally at its lower end to protrude into a notch 81 in the guide rail 8. With interference between the fixing pin 7 and the guide rail 8 in the longitudinal direction of the guide rail 8, the drive mechanism is locked in the same direction. When necessary to unlock the drive mechanism in the longitudinal direction, the fixing pin 7 is moved vertically along with the first rotating arm 2 to escape from the notch 81.

The operation of the drive mechanism will be described below with reference to figs. 4a, 4b, 5a, 5b, 6a and 6b.

Initially, as shown in figs. 4a and 4b, the drive mechanism is in its normal position and maintains the glass panel 10 of the sunroof in a closed state. At this time, the first sliding pin 52 of the first sliding member 5 rests at the connecting portion of the horizontal portion 231 and the inclined portion 232 of the first sliding slot 23. Similarly, the second sliding pin 62 of the second sliding member 6 rests at the connecting portion of the front inclined portion 331 and the rear inclined portion 332 of the second sliding slot 33. The fixing pin 7 is locked in the notch 81 of the guide rail 8. When it is desired to tilt up the sunroof to ventilate the vehicle, the first and second sliding members 5, 6 may be driven by the driving cable to move forward. Specifically, the first sliding pin 52 slides in the horizontal portion 231 to the front end thereof in the forward direction while the second sliding pin 62 slides in the front inclined portion 331 to the front end thereof, as shown in figs. 5a and 5b. During movement of the sliding pins 52, 62, the first rotating arm 2 keeps stationary while the second rotating arm 3 rotates upward, i.e., in the anticlockwise direction. Thereby, the rear side of the glass panel 10 moves upward to tilt up the sunroof, as shown in fig. 5b. When it is desired to close the sunroof, the sliding pins 52, 62 move in the opposite direction, i.e., in the rearward direction, to the middle position of respective sliding slots 23, 33.

When it is desired to open the sunroof, the first and second sliding members 5, 6 may be driven by the driving cable to move rearward. Specifically, the first sliding pin 52 slides in the inclined portion 232 to the rear end thereof in the rearward direction while the second sliding pin 62 slides in the rear inclined portion 332 to the rear end thereof, as shown in figs. 6a and 6b. During movement of the sliding pins 52, 62, both the first and second rotating arms 2, 3 rotate downward, thereby bringing the glass panel 10 downward as shown in fig. 6b. At this time, the fixing pin 7 is moved out of the notch 81 of the guide rail 8 and thereby the drive mechanism is unlocked from the guide rail 8. Subsequently, the drive mechanism is driven to move rearward continuously along with the glass panel 10 to a position in which the sunroof is partially or totally opened. To close the sunroof again, the drive mechanism is driven to move forward to be directly below the sunroof opening. Then, the sliding pins 52, 62 slide in respective sliding slots 23, 33 in the forward direction to rotate the rotating arms 2, 3 upward. Thereby, the glass panel 10 is moved upward to close the sunroof opening.

During operation of the sunroof, the fixing pin 7 is always locked in the guide rail 8 unless the drive mechanism is to be moved rearward to open the sunroof opening partially or totally. In other words, in the normal position of the rotating arms 2, 3, the fixing pin 7 is locked in the guide rail 8. In the tilted up position, the second rotating arm 3 will be tilted up and the fixing pin 7 is still locked in the guide rail 8. Only when both rotating arms 2, 3 are tilted down, the fixing pin 7 loses constraint of the guide rail 8 and the drive mechanism can move away to realize the opening function of the sunroof. With the above-mentioned construction, the drive mechanism of the present invention is connected to the guide rail 8 at three points, i.e., at the base 1, and the first and second sliding members 5, 6. Therefore, it enhances the rigidity of the whole mechanism which is particularly advantageous for the sunroof of large size. In addition, the drive mechanism is preferably made of steel to prolong its life time.

Further, with synchronous motion of the first and second sliding members 5, 6, the two rotating arms 2, 3 are rotated down at the same time so that the glass panel 10 is moved down without rotating. As a result, the glass panel 10 will occupy smaller space in the vertical direction in contrast to the prior art. This will save more space for passengers in the opening process. It is also better for sealing durability of the sunroof.

In addition, since the rotating axis of the glass panel is closer to the glass panel during tilting up of the sunroof, it will significantly reduce the interfere value between the glass seal and Roof BIW (body in white). Therefore, guide parts which are necessary in the prior art to reduce such interfere in the front side of the sunroof may be omitted. It makes the drive mechanism of the present invention simple and reliable.

According to the embodiment mentioned above, the first and second rotating arms 2, 3 are driven by the first and second sliding members 5, 6 respectively. However, it should be noted that other driving members for the rotating arms may be employed. The alternative driving members may be connected to the first and second rotating arms to drive them to rotate up or down to operate the sunroof. In this case, there is no need to arrange sliding slots in the rotating arms.

In addition, it is not intended to limit the sliding slots of the two rotating arms to be those mentioned above. That is to say, the sliding slots may be changed in size and/or shape. For example, the height of the inclined portion 232 of the first sliding slot 23 may be same as that of the rear inclined portion 332 of the second sliding slot 33, so that the glass panel 10 will not rotate during its downward movement. However, the heights may be designed as different. In this case, the glass panel 10 may be moved down with slight rotating. Figs. 9 to 1 1 show various shapes of the sliding slots schematically. In these variations, both the first and second sliding slots 23, 33 include an inclined portion. In the normal position of the drive mechanism, the respective inclined portions are substantially parallel to each other so that the first and second rotating arms may be tilted up or down in the same direction. Further, the sliding slots may also have a substantially horizontal portion so that the first and second rotating arms may be tilted up or down successively, since when the sliding pin is sliding in the horizontal portion, the corresponding rotating arm will not move while the other rotating arm is rotating. Specifically, as shown in fig. 9, the first sliding slot 23 includes a substantially horizontal portion and an inclined portion extending from the rear end of the horizontal portion in the down-rear direction, and the second sliding slot 33 includes an inclined portion and a substantially horizontal portion extending from the rear end of the inclined portion. With such a shape, the front and rear sides of the glass panel will be tilted up successively and finally the glass panel will be opened with both sides tilted up. As shown in fig. 10, both the first and second sliding slots 23, 33 include an inclined portion extending in the down-rear direction. With such a shape, the glass panel will be opened with both sides tilted up. As shown in fig. 11, both the first and second sliding slots 23, 33 include an inclined portion extending in the up-rear direction. With such a shape, the glass panel will be opened with both front and rear sides dropped down. However, a substantially horizontal portion may be added to the inclined portions in figs. 10, 11 as desired, so that both sides of the glass panel will be tilted at different times.

Fig. 12 further shows another shape of the sliding slots schematically. Specifically, the first sliding slot 23 is substantially horizontal and the second sliding slot 33 is or includes an inclined portion. In this case, only the second rotating arm will be tilted up or down while the first rotating arm 23 will be kept stationary or slightly moved so that the sealing performance may be improved.

Further, the fixing pin 7 may be shaped differently as long as it may be locked to the guide rail 8. It may also be formed integrally with the first rotating arm 2. In addition, it can be contemplated that the fixing pin 7 is formed onto the second rotating arm 3. The present invention also relates to a sunroof apparatus of a vehicle. The sunroof apparatus includes the guide rail 8 and the drive mechanism arranged in the guide rail 8.

Although the illustrative embodiments of the present disclosure have been described herein with reference to the accompanying drawings, the above description, disclosure, and figures should not be construed as limiting, but merely as exemplifications of particular embodiments. It is to be understood, therefore, that the invention is not limited to those precise embodiments, and that various other changes and modifications may be effected therein by one skilled in the art without departing from the scope or spirit of the invention.