U.S. patent application number 09/780838 was filed with the patent office on 2001-08-16 for sunroof driving device.
Invention is credited to Ochiai, Takao, Oota, Masayuki, Yoshida, Yasushi.
Application Number | 20010013714 09/780838 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 27342324 |
Filed Date | 2001-08-16 |
United States Patent
Application |
20010013714 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Ochiai, Takao ; et
al. |
August 16, 2001 |
Sunroof driving device
Abstract
The sunroof driving device includes an electric motor, a worm
gear provided on an armature shaft of the electric motor, a worm
wheel gear meshing with the worm gear, an output shaft coupled with
the worm wheel gear, and a drive gear which is provided on the
output shaft and which meshes with a wire for driving a roof panel.
A panel-position detecting mechanism for detecting the position of
the roof panel and a tool hole for manually driving the roof panel
in emergency are disposed coaxially with the output shaft. The tool
hole is formed in the main shaft of the panel-position detecting
mechanism. Also, the armature shaft is constituted so as to slide
from the output shaft side, thus coupling the worm wheel gear and
the output shaft with each other without any clutch interposed
therebetween. The output shaft is provided with a fitting hole
which provides the body-side manual operation section for manually
driving the roof panel in emergency. The panel-position detecting
mechanism is formed on the output shaft as a unit detachable
therefrom and also has a tool hole as the unit-side manual
operation section.
Inventors: |
Ochiai, Takao;
(Ashikaga-shi, JP) ; Yoshida, Yasushi; (Kiryu-shi,
JP) ; Oota, Masayuki; (Seta-gun, JP) |
Correspondence
Address: |
DONALD K. HUBER
McCORMICK, PAULDING & HUBER LLP
CityPlace II
185 Asylum Street
Hartford
CT
06103-4102
US
|
Family ID: |
27342324 |
Appl. No.: |
09/780838 |
Filed: |
February 9, 2001 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
296/223 ;
310/75R; 74/467 |
Current CPC
Class: |
E05Y 2900/55 20130101;
B60J 7/0573 20130101; Y10T 74/19991 20150115; E05Y 2900/542
20130101; E05F 15/692 20150115; E05F 15/697 20150115; E05Y 2800/112
20130101 |
Class at
Publication: |
296/223 ; 74/467;
310/75.00R |
International
Class: |
B60J 007/057; H02K
007/10; F16H 057/04 |
Foreign Application Data
Date |
Code |
Application Number |
Feb 10, 2000 |
JP |
2000-33474 |
Feb 10, 2000 |
JP |
2000-33475 |
Jun 19, 2000 |
JP |
2000-182815 |
Claims
What is claimed is:
1. A sunroof driving device comprising: an electric motor; a worm
gear provided on an armature shaft of said electric motor; a worm
wheel gear meshing with said worm gear; an output shaft coupled
with said worm wheel gear; and a drive output section which is
provided on said output shaft and which meshes with a wire for
driving a roof panel to open/close an opening in a roof of a
vehicle; wherein panel-position detecting means for detecting a
position of said roof panel and a manual operation section for
driving said roof panel manually are disposed coaxially with said
output shaft.
2. The sunroof driving device according to claim 1, wherein said
manual operation section is formed on a main shaft of said
panel-position detecting means coupled with said output shaft.
3. The sunroof driving device according to claim 1, wherein said
worm gear and said worm wheel gear are constituted in such a way
that said armature shaft can be driven from a side of said output
shaft.
4. The sunroof driving device according to claim 1, wherein said
panel-position detecting means includes a first driven member which
rotates integrally with said output shaft, a second driven member
to which a rotation of said output shaft is transmitted through a
speed reduction and which rotates, and signal producing means which
outputs signal only when rotational-position detecting sections
provided respectively on said first and second driven members come
to the same position with each other.
5. A sunroof driving device comprising: an electric motor; a worm
gear provided on an armature shaft of said electric motor; a worm
wheel gear meshing with said worm gear; an output shaft coupled
with said worm wheel gear; and a drive output section which is
provided on said output shaft and which meshes with a wire for
driving a roof panel to open/close an opening in a roof of a
vehicle; said sunroof driving device further comprising: a
body-side manual operation section provided on said output shaft
for driving said roof panel manually; panel-position detecting
means formed as an independent unit for detecting a position of
said roof panel; and a unit-side manual operation section disposed
in said panel-position detecting means and interlocked with said
body-side manual operation section, for allowing drive of said roof
panel manually.
6. The sunroof driving device according to claim 5, wherein said
panel-position detecting means is formed as attachable/detachable
to and from said output shaft.
Description
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0001] 1. Field of the invention
[0002] The present invention relates to a driving device for
opening/closing a sunroof of an automobile, more particularly,
technologies which can be applied effectively to a sunroof driving
device having a manual opening/closing mechanism.
[0003] 2. Description of the Related Art
[0004] Conventionally in a vehicle with a sunroof thereon, an
opening is provided in a roof so that in this opening a roof panel
formed by a roof material such as a steel plate or a glass material
is arranged in a sliding manner. In this case, guide rails are
provided at both edges of the opening, and shoes are mounted so as
to slide along the guide rails. A roof panel and an end of a
driving cable are fixed to the shoes. With this, by pushing/pulling
the driving cable with an electric motor, opening/closing of the
roof panel can be performed within the opening.
[0005] An armature shaft of the electric motor (hereinafter
abbreviated as motor) is provided with a worm gear, and a worm
wheel gear is arranged so as to mesh with the worm gear. The worm
wheel gear is provided with an output shaft via a clutch mechanism
such as a friction clutch. This clutch mechanism reduces cut-off
torque and also prevents damage of the meshing portion with the
worm gear in case of that the worm wheel gear is rotated during
manual operation. The output shaft is provided with a driving gear,
with which a driving cable is engaged, so that, by driving the
motor, the driving cable is pushed and pulled, thus the roof panel
is moved.
[0006] The full-closed and full-opened positions of the roof panel
are both determined by a detection switch such as a limit switch.
Japanese Patent Publication No. 61-46027 and Japanese Patent
Publication No. 4-40213 disclose therein a configuration for
turning this limit switch ON/OFF by using a certain type of K-H-V
(S-C-P) planetary gear mechanism, so-called drunken gear mechanism.
That is, the output shaft is provided with an eccentric external
gear, to the outside of which is combined an internal gear having a
large number of gear teeth than the eccentric gear. On the outer
periphery of the internal gear is formed a cam in such a
configuration that the cam may contact with the limit switch
according to the turning angle of the output shaft. With this, when
the output shaft turns by a predetermined angle, the external gear
slides accordingly, thus causing the internal gear to rotate by as
much as a difference in the number of gear teeth between the two
gears. Therefore, when the output shaft rotates by a predetermined
number of revolutions, the cam crest moves to turn the limit switch
ON/OFF, thus controlling the motor. Also, when the roof panel has
to be tilted, it can be controlled in its tilt-up operation by
appropriately changing the cam shape, the number of the limit
switches, the switch configuration, and the like.
[0007] A configuration for detecting the position of the roof panel
on the side of the output shaft is suggested also in Japanese
Utility Model Laid-open No. 2-23216. By this utility model, on the
side of the output shaft, an idle gear for detection is provided
besides a driving device and has a cam formed thereon. With this,
this cam is used to operate the limit switch, to detect the
rotational position of the output shaft. Alternatively, there is
given another configuration using an intermittent gear in place of
the cam, where an intermittent gear is provided on the side of the
output shaft besides the drive gear for detecting the position.
[0008] Further, recently, besides simple opening/closing
operations, fine control is conducted such as
full-opening/full-closing or tilting by one-shot operation or
reverse driving of the roof panel in the case of catching-in of
foreign materials. Such fine control has to be conducted such that
the roof panel is not only opened or closed fully but also its
current position is sensed in opening/closing. With this, in
addition to the roof-panel position detection by use of the drunken
gear mechanism, and the like, pulse control is also conducted by
means of motor rotational detection.
[0009] In this case, to improve the accuracy of the pulse control,
an armature shaft which has more large number of revolutions than
other means among the driving devices is utilized to obtain pulses
in such a way, for example, that the armature shaft is provided
with a magnet to detect its proximity by a sensor such as a Hall
IC, thus obtaining controlling pulses. With this, the limit switch
signal and the pulse count are used to obtain the current position
of the roof panel, to enable fine control based on the position of
the roof panel. Also, when the number of motor revolutions dropped
rapidly at a position other than the full-opened and full-closed
positions, it is assumed that catching has occurred and, for
example, such a control as reverse rotation of a motor can be
performed.
[0010] On the other hand, in said sunroof and the like, if the roof
panel cannot be opened or closed due to a failure of the motor or
any other driving mechanism, the roof panel can be opened or closed
manually as an emergency operation. For example, according to said
Japanese Patent Publication No. 4-40213, in emergency, a tool is
inserted into the shaft for manual operation, to enable manual
opening/closing of the roof panel. That is, when the tool is
inserted into the manual-operation shaft and pressed upward, the
connection is cut off between the motor and the driving device to
enable rotation only of the gear by the tool, in order to easily
open or close the roof panel.
[0011] An opening/closing driving device according to such a
configuration, however, has on the output shaft side an idle gear,
an intermittent gear, a manual-operation shaft, and the like,
besides the output shaft. As the result of this arrangement, there
is a drawback that the gear configuration is too complicated with
an increased projection area thereof to satisfy the requirements
for miniaturization and light weight. Also, as the number of parts
become numerous, there is another that the steps for assembling the
gear become too complicated and increased, thus increasing the
costs problematically.
[0012] Also, in detection of the position of the roof panel, for
example, when the full-closed position is detected in a series of
operations performed in the order of tilting-up, tilting-down,
full-opening, full-closing, and tilting-up, the state where the
roof panel stays in a full-closed state lasts only short as
compared to the total travel of the roof panel driving cable. That
is, in that state, the rotation angle of the driving device is very
small when it is engaging with the cable, much less is the rotation
angle of the drunken gear while it is decelerating that.
[0013] Although, on the other hand, deceleration by the drunken
gear can be made efficient, when a predetermined rotation angle of
the dependent member after being decelerated is to be detected,
that rotation angle, even if it is small, is a wide one as the
rotation angle of the output shaft before it is decelerated. To
permit the output shaft to rotate by a wide angle, however, the
range must be larger for detecting the full-closed position, thus
enlarging and complicating the device.
[0014] Further, in the case of the opening/closing driving device
having such a configuration, as a manual operation for emergency,
and the like, only the output shaft side is rotated with the clutch
mechanism to limit the rotation of the worm wheel gear. That is,
the clutch mechanism is disposed between the worm wheel gear and
the output shaft side, to limit by that much the position of
providing the panel-position detecting means, thus giving rise to
many restrictions in layout problematically.
[0015] Also, the panel-position detection means must often be
arranged opposite the clutch mechanism with the body housing
therebetween, in which case the clutch mechanism and the
panel-position detecting means are assembled on the opposite side
with the housing therebetween. Therefore, those components cannot
be assembled as stacked one on the other in the same direction,
thus deteriorating the workability of assembly problematically.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0016] It is an object of the present invention to provide a
small-sized sunroof driving device which has a small projection
area and good assembling easiness.
[0017] It is another object of the present invention to improve the
accuracy of detecting the roof panel position in such a sunroof
driving device.
[0018] It is further another object of the present invention to
provide a sunroof driving device which has a high degree of freedom
in layout of its components and good assembling easiness, thus
being easily applicable to various specifications.
[0019] The sunroof driving device according to the present
invention is a sunroof driving device which comprises a motor, a
worm gear provided on the armature shaft of said motor, a worm
wheel gear which meshes with said worm gear, an output shaft
coupled with said worm wheel gear, and a drive output section which
is provided on said output shaft and which meshes with a wire for
driving the roof panel for opening/closing an opening in the roof
of a vehicle, characterized in that on the same axis with said
output shaft are disposed a panel position detecting means for
detecting the position of said roof panel and a manual operation
section for driving said roof panel manually.
[0020] According to the present invention, the output shaft, the
panel position detecting means, and the manual operation section
are disposed on the same axis, to enable efficient and compact
mounting of the panel position detecting means, the manual
operation section, and the like. With this, the device has a
smaller projection area and so can be miniaturized. Also, as those
components are disposed on the same axis, each part can be stacked
one on another in assembly, thus improving assembling easiness.
[0021] Also, said manual operation section may be formed on the
main shaft of said panel position detecting means coupled with said
output shaft, to thus enable assembling also the manual operation
section only by attaching said panel position detecting means.
[0022] Further, said worm gear and worm wheel gear may be
configured so that said armature shaft may be slid from the side of
said output shaft. That is, the worm side may be driven from the
wheel side by adjusting the lead angle and the friction angle of
the worm wheel gear and the worm gear. With this, the clutch can be
eliminated between the worm wheel gear and the output shaft, thus
maintaining a correlation in terms of rotation angle between the
output shaft and the armature shaft.
[0023] In addition, the sunroof driving device according to the
present invention is characterized in that said panel position
detecting means thereof includes a first dependent member which
rotates integrally with said output shaft, a second dependent
member which rotates when a rotation of said output shaft is
decelerated and transmitted thereto, and a signal generating means
which outputs a signal only when two rotational-position detecting
sections respectively provide don said first and second dependent
members come at a same position.
[0024] Thereby, the first dependent member with a higher rotation
speed can be used to regulate an output time for the signal output
from the signal generating means based on operations of the second
dependent member with a lower rotation speed, thus setting the
signal output time more accurately than a case using the second
dependent member alone. Therefore, the accuracy can be improved of
the detection signal indicating the position of the roof panel,
thus sensing the current position of the roof panel more
accurately.
[0025] Further, the sunroof driving device according to the present
invention comprises a motor, a worm gear provided on an armature
shaft of said motor, a worm wheel gear meshing with said worm gear,
an output shaft coupled with said worm wheel gear, and a drive
output section which is provided on said output shaft and which
meshes with a wire driving a roof panel for opening/closing an
opening in the roof of a vehicle, characterized in that it further
has a body- side manual operation section provided on said output
shaft for driving said roof panel manually, a panel-position
detecting means formed as an independent unit for detecting the
position of said roof panel, and a unit-side manual operation
section which is disposed in said panel-position detecting means
and interlocked with said body-side manual operation section to
thereby enable manual sliding of said roof panel.
[0026] According to the present invention, the panel-position
detecting means is formed as an independent section and there is
provided the unit-side manual operation section interlocking with
the body-side manual operation section provided on the output
shaft, so that only by mounting the panel-position detecting means
on the gear body, provisions for manual operation can be disposed
on the driving device. Also, the panel-position detecting means is
formed as a unit and, at the same time, the body-side manual
operation section is provided on the output shaft, so that by
attaching and detaching the panel-position detecting means, the
driving device can easily accommodate such specifications that need
no detection of the panel position, thus reducing the man-hour
requirements in design and sharing the number of parts.
[0027] On the other hand, the panel-position detecting means and
the output shaft may be formed detachable, to thereby improve the
assembly performance of the panel-position detecting means
further.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0028] Other characteristics and advantages of the present
invention will become apparent from referring the detailed
description given below, and the attached drawings wherein:
[0029] FIG. 1 is a plan view showing a configuration of a first
embodiment of a sunroof driving device according to the present
invention;
[0030] FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view taken along line A-A of
FIG. 1;
[0031] FIG. 3 is a plan view showing a roof of a vehicle provided
with a sunroof;
[0032] FIG. 4 is an exploded perspective view showing a
configuration of a panel-position detecting mechanism of the
sunroof driving device according to the a second embodiment of the
present invention;
[0033] FIG. 5 is a side view of the panel-position detecting
mechanism of FIG. 4;
[0034] FIG. 6 is a plan view showing a state where a driven plate
is detached in the panel-position detecting mechanism of FIG.
4;
[0035] FIG. 7 is a time chart explaining a state where a
position-detection signal is output in the panel-position detecting
mechanism of FIG. 4, wherein FIG. 7A shows the output signal when
both of cams are respectively provided independently and FIG. 7B
shows the output signal when both of the cams are used in
combination;
[0036] FIG. 8 is a plan view showing a configuration of the sunroof
driving device according to a third embodiment of the present
invention; and
[0037] FIG. 9 is a cross-sectional view taken along B-B of FIG.
8.
DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
[0038] First Embodiment
[0039] The following will describe in detail the embodiments of the
present invention with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a plan
view showing a configuration of a first embodiment of the sunroof
driving device according to the present invention, FIG. 2 is a
cross-sectional view taken along A-A of FIG. 1, and FIG. 3 is a
plan view of a roof of a vehicle provided with a sunroof.
[0040] As shown in FIG. 3, a roof 1 of a vehicle has an opening 2
formed therein. The opening 2 is provided with a roof panel 3
attached therein in a sliding manner so that the opening can be
opened and closed. Note here that the roof panel 3 may be formed
with a steel plate like in the case of the roof material or with
glass.
[0041] Around the opening 2 is provided an attaching frame 4 for
the roof panel 3. The attaching frame 4 has a guide rail 5 attached
thereto. The roof panel 3 is fixed to a shoe 6, which slides along
the guide rail 5. To the shoe 6 is fixed one end of a driving cable
7. The driving cable 7 engages at around the middle thereof with a
drive gear (drive output section) 11 of a sunroof driving device
(hereinafter abbreviated as driving device) 10. Then, when the
drive gear 11 rotates, the driving cable 7 is pushed or pulled, to
thereby move the shoe 6 along the guide rail 5, then
opening/closing the roof panel 3.
[0042] The driving device 10 comprises in configuration an electric
motor (hereinafter abbreviated as motor) 12, a transmitting
mechanism 13, and a panel-position detecting mechanism
(panel-position detecting means) 14. The motor 12 is provided with
an armature shaft 15, which is a rotation output shaft of the motor
12, and has a worm gear 16 formed thereon.
[0043] Also, the motor 12 is provided with a motor-pulse detecting
section 43. In this case, the armature shaft 15 is mounted with a
magnet 44 and also has a Hall IC 45 as a sensor in its vicinity.
Then, when the armature shaft 15 rotates, the magnet 44 comes near
and goes off from the Hall IC 45, thus generating a pulse signal.
Therefore, by accurately detecting the number of rotations of the
armature shaft 15 and synchronizing this shaft with the
panel-position detecting mechanism 14, the current position of the
roof panel 3 can be determined to thereby provide accurate and
precise control.
[0044] The transmitting mechanism 13 has such a configuration as to
house and arrange in a gear housing 41 a worm gear 16, a work wheel
gear 17, and a driven plate 19. Also, as shown in FIG. 2, at the
left end thereof a gear case 42 is attached and, on the outside
thereof the panel-position detecting mechanism 14 is dispose.
[0045] The worm wheel gear 17 meshes with the worm gear 16, to thus
obtain a large reduction gear ratio against the motor 12. Also, the
worm wheel gear 17 is connected via a damper mechanism 18 to the
driven plate 19, which is in turn fixed to an output shaft 20
having a drive gear 11.
[0046] The damper mechanism 18 comprises engaging protrusions 21
and 23 and a damper rubber 35 fitted thereto. In this
configuration, on the left side surface of the worm wheel gear 17
in FIG. 2 are evenly spaced the three engaging protrusions 21 with
an angular spacing of 120 degrees therebetween. Also, the driven
plate 19 comprises a disc-shaped base 22 and the engaging
protrusion 23, which is evenly spaced as many as three at an
angular spacing of 120 degrees and protruded from the base 22.
Also, between the worm wheel gear 17 and the driven plate 19 is
interposed the damper rubber 35 having six holes therein and to
which the engaging protrusions 21 and 23 are fitted, thus
constituting the damper mechanism 18.
[0047] With this configuration, when the motor 12 is actuated to
rotate the wormgear 16, at first the wormwheel gear 17 meshing
therewith rotates. Then, its rotation is transmitted through the
engaging protrusion 21, the damper rubber 35, and the engaging
protrusion 23 to the driven plate 19, thus rotating the output
shaft 20.
[0048] At the end opposite to the drive gear 11 of the output shaft
20 is disposed the panel-position detecting mechanism 14. In this
case, as the panel-position detecting mechanism 14 utilizes a
planetary gear mechanism consisting of a so-called drunken gear,
thus making up a compact configuration. Therefore, the
panel-position detecting mechanism 14 can be integrated into the
present device without largely changing the layout of the motor
size. Also, the mechanism itself is formed as a single unit, thus
enabling appropriate detaching and attaching of the panel-position
detecting mechanism 14 without changing the other components.
[0049] As shown in FIG. 2, at the left end of the output shaft 20
is formed a fitting hole 24 with a hexagonal section. To the
fitting hole 24 is fitted an end of a main shaft 25 of the
panel-position detecting mechanism 14. And, the output shaft 20 and
the main shaft 25 are coupled with each other on the same axis,
thus rotating integrally with each other.
[0050] The main shaft 25 has a disc-shaped eccentric section 26,
formed integrally therewith, having a central axis eccentric from
the main shaft 25, and to which an external gear 27 is mounted. The
external gear 27 has a fitting hole 28 therein, to which a pin 29
protruded on a gear case 42 is fitted with a desired play margin.
That is, the external gear 27 is restricted from self-rotating by
the pin 29. Then, when the main shaft 25 rotates, the external gear
27 deviates in motion by as much as an eccentricity quantity of the
eccentric section 26, thus swinging according to said play
margin.
[0051] Outside of the external gear 27, a cam gear 30 having a
larger number of gear teeth than n (for example, 1) number of
external gear teeth 27 is disposed in a rotary manner with the main
shaft 25 as a center of rotation. Further, at the outer periphery
of the cam gear 30 is formed a cam crest 31. Also, to the outside
of the cam gear 30 are attached a cover 32 and a limit switch 33 as
facing against the cam crest 31.
[0052] In the panel-position detecting mechanism 14, when the main
shaft 25 rotates, the external gear 27 swings correspondingly. The
external teeth of the external gear 27 mesh with the internal teeth
of the cam gear 30, so that the cam gear 30 rotates by as much as n
number of teeth for each swinging movement of the external gear 27.
In this embodiment, it is so set that when the main shaft 25
rotates 16 times, the cam gear 30 rotates one time. Then, when this
cam gear 30 rotates, its cam crest 31 abuts against the limit
switch 33, to turn it ON/OFF. Note here that in the driving device
10, the switch and the cam crest 31 are so set that the limit
switch 33 is turned ON when the roof panel 3 is closed full.
[0053] At the end of the main shaft 25 of the panel-position
detecting mechanism 14, on the other hand, a tool hole (a unit-side
manual operating section) 34 is formed for inserting a tool for
manual operation. That is, in the driving device 10 according to
the present invention, on the same axis as the output shaft 20 are
disposed the panel-position detecting mechanism 14 and the tool
hole 34 in configuration. Note here that the tool hole 34 is formed
so as to have the same diameter as the fitting hole 24.
[0054] In a later described driving device 60 according to a third
embodiment of the present invention, the unit of the panel-position
detecting mechanism 14 is omitted, so that this fitting hole 24
functions as a manual operating section for emergency. In this
driving device 10, on the other hand, the unit-side manual
operating section is interlocked with the body-side manual
operating section, thus permitting manual operation through the
tool hole 34.
[0055] In said prior art driving device, the clutch mechanism is
interposed between the worm wheel gear 17 and the output shaft 20
to reduce cut-off torque and prevent damage, and the like, of the
worm gear 16. Therefore, the clutch mechanism runs idly if the
motor 12 will continue rotation when the system is restricted in a
full-closed or full-opened state. In this state, the armature shaft
15 would rotate despite that the output shaft 20 and the
panel-position detecting mechanism 14 are stopped. Therefore, a
correlation between the armature shaft 15 and the output shaft 20
is lost, thus disabling synchronization between the two
components.
[0056] Also, during manual operation, as mentioned above, only the
output shaft 20 rotates with the armature shaft 15 in the stopped
state. Therefore, despite no pulse is output from the motor-pulse
detecting section 43, the output shaft 20 rotates, so that in this
case also a correlation between the two components is lost, thus
disabling synchronization between them.
[0057] In such an event, the current position of the roof panel 3
cannot be determined on the basis of a pulse count, thus disabling
accurate opening/closing control problematically. To correct this,
also, zero resetting must be once performed at the full-opened and
full-closed positions, thus making opening/closing operations
troublesome problematically. Further, said idle running cannot be
predicted on where in a travel of the roof panel 3 it may occur, so
that in order to conduct control by taking it into account, a very
complicated control mechanism is necessary.
[0058] To guard against this, in this driving device 10, the clutch
mechanism used in the prior art one is omitted, to make setting so
that the worm gear 16 can be driven from the side of the worm wheel
gear 17. That is, the lead angle and the friction angle of the worm
wheel gear 17 and the worm gear 16 are adjusted and, at the same
time, the size, the material, the grease, and the like, of thrust
bearings supporting the armature shaft 15 are adjusted, to enable
reverse rotation from the side of the worm wheel gear 17. Also,
although the damper rubber 35 is interposed, the worm wheel gear 17
is directly coupled with the output shaft 20 and no clutch
mechanism is interposed between them. Therefore, during manual
operation also, the armature shaft 15 rotates together with the
output shaft 20, thus preventing the correlation between them from
being lost.
[0059] That is, during manual operation, when a tool is inserted
through the tool hole 34 in the main shaft 25 to rotate it, the
drive gear 11 rotates to operate the driving cable 7, thus
opening/closing the roof panel 3. In this case, when the
panel-position detecting mechanism 14 is operative, the armature
shaft 15 rotates together with the output shaft 20, thus causing
the motor-pulse detecting section 43 also output the pulse signal.
Therefore, during manual operation also, it is possible to
synchronize the signal from the panel-position detecting mechanism
14 and the pulse signal from the motor-pulse detecting section 43.
Therefore, in following control also, it is possible to control the
system accurately while determining the current position of the
roof panel 3.
[0060] The driving device 10 is assembled roughly as follows. That
is, at first, the motor 12 and the motor-pulse detecting section 43
are attached to the gear housing 41. Next, with the right side of
the gear housing 41 as placed downward in FIG. 2, the output shaft
20 is inserted into the gear housing 41 from its lower side. After
this output shaft 20 is thus inserted, the worm wheel gear 17, the
damper rubber 35, and the driven plate 19 are sequentially fitted
and inserted into the gear housing 41 from the upper side (left
side in FIG. 2). At that time, the engaging protrusions 21 and 23
are alternately fitted into the six holes in the damper rubber 35,
to dispose the damper rubber 35 between the worm wheel gear 17 and
the driven plate 19.
[0061] After these components are mounted to the output shaft 20, a
C-ring 36 is attached from the upper side of the gear housing 41 to
prevent removal of the driven plate 19, and the like. Then, a gear
case 42 is attached to the gear housing 41 at its end from its
upper side.
[0062] The panel-position detecting mechanism 14, on the other
hand, is given in a unit beforehand and assembled separately. With
this, the unit of the panel-position detecting mechanism 14 is
attached on the gear case 42. When the panel-position detecting
mechanism 14 is attached, the end of the main shaft 25 is inserted
into the fitting hole 24 in the output shaft 20 to integrate them
with each other, thus assembling the output shaft 20 and the main
shaft 25 so that they may be interlocked with each other. Thereby,
manual operation is possible through the tool hole 34 in the main
shaft 25. At that time also, the limit switch 33 is attached to the
gear case 42.
[0063] Thus, in the driving device 10, after the output shaft 20 is
inserted, the following assembly jobs can all be conducted in one
direction, i.e. from the upper side of the gear housing 41. Also,
as the panel-position detecting mechanism 14 is given in a unit
and, the output shaft 20 is on the same axis as the main shaft 25,
the panel-position detecting mechanism 14 can be assembled
easily.
[0064] Further, at the end of the main shaft 25 of the
panel-position detecting mechanism 14 is formed the tool hole 34
for manual operation, so that only by attaching the panel-position
detecting mechanism 14, a manual operating section can be provided.
Also, since the panel-position detecting mechanism 14 and the tool
hole 34 are disposed on the same axis as the output shaft 20, the
projection areas of the panel-position detecting mechanism 14 and
the manual operating section can be reduced. Therefore, the
panel-position detecting mechanism 14 and the manual operating
section can be contained within the projection area of the driving
device 10, thus enabling its miniaturization.
[0065] Second Embodiment
[0066] The following will describe a second embodiment of a sunroof
driving device according to the present invention which is improved
in terms of accuracy for detecting the position of the roof panel
in the panel-position detecting mechanism. FIG. 4 is an exploded
perspective view showing a configuration of the panel-position
detecting mechanism of the sunroof driving device according to the
second embodiment of the present invention and FIG. 5 is a side
view of the panel-position detecting mechanism of FIG. 4. In these
figures, the same elements and components as those in the first
embodiment are indicated by the same reference numerals and their
description is omitted here.
[0067] A panel-position detecting mechanism (panel-position
detecting means) 51 shown in FIG. 4 is formed by stacking the
external gear 27, the cam gear (second driven member) 30, and the
driven plate (first driven member) 52 on the gear case 42 with the
main shaft 25 as a center and placing the cover 32 thereon. In this
case also, the main shaft 25 is provided with the eccentric section
26 formed eccentrically thereto. And, the external gear 27 is
mounted in a relatively rotating manner. With one of a plurality of
long-groove shaped engaging holes 28 formed in the external gear 27
is engaged the pin 29 of the gear case 42 in a sliding manner.
Also, on the gear case 42 is disposed the limit switch (signal
producing means) 53 similar to that in the first embodiment.
[0068] As shown in FIG. 6, outside the external gear 27, the cam
gear 30 having a larger number of internal teeth than the external
gear 27 is disposed in a rotary manner with the main shaft 25 as a
center. The external gear 27 and the cam gear 30 are formed as a
drunken gear mechanism like in the case of the first embodiment in
such a configuration that the can gear 30 rotates when a rotation
of the main shaft 25 coupled to the output shaft 20 is decelerated
and transmitted thereto. Note here that FIG. 6 is a figure as
viewed from the above with the driven plate 52 and the cover 32 as
removed, thus giving the same configuration as the panel-position
detecting mechanism 14 of the first embodiment.
[0069] On the outer periphery of the cam gear 30 is formed the cam
54. This cam 54 is provided with a notch (rotational-position
detecting section) 55. The cam 54 except the notch 55 comes in
contact with a switch section 53a of the limit switch 53, to turn
it ON. At the notch 55, on the other hand, the cam 54 is separated
from the switch section 53a, to turn the limit switch 53 OFF.
[0070] On the upper side of the cam gear 30 is disposed the driven
plate 52. In the inner periphery of an axial hole 52a of the driven
plate 52 is formed a fitting hole 52b. This fitting hole 52b is
fitted with an engaging protrusion 25a formed on the outer
periphery of the main shaft 25. Thereby, the driven plate 25
rotates integrally with the main shaft 25. In this case, the main
shaft 25 is coupled with the output shaft 20 as in the case of FIG.
2, so that the driven plate 52 rotates integrally with the output
shaft 20. In this panel-position detecting mechanism 51, the cam
gear 30 and the driven plate 52 are thus supported by the single
main shaft 25, thus providing such a configuration that the
positional accuracy of both components with a positional
correlation therebetween can be easily obtained.
[0071] On the outer periphery of the driven plate 52 also, the cam
56 having a notch (rotational-position detecting section) 57 is
formed. In this case, the switch section 53a of the limit switch 53
extends vertically in FIG. 5 so as to come in contact with both of
the cams 54 and 56. Therefore, except at the notch 57, the cam 56
of the driven plate 52 also comes in contact with the switch
section 53a of the limit switch 53, while at the notch 57, the cam
56 is separated from the switch section 53a in configuration.
[0072] With these cams 54 and 56, the switch section 53a goes free
only when the notch 55 or 57 is superposed thereon, thus turning
the limit switch 53 OFF. That is, unless the notch 55 or 57 is not
superposed, the switch section 53a is pushed in by either one of
the cams, thus holding the limit switch 53 in ON state. Note here
that the notches 55 and 57 are so set that the limit switch 53 is
turned OFF when the roof panel 3 is closed full.
[0073] In the panel-position detecting mechanism 51 also, when the
main shaft 25 rotates, the external gear 27 swings correspondingly,
so that for each swinging of the external gear 27, the cam gear 30
rotates by as much as a difference in the number of gear teeth. In
this second embodiment, a reduction gear ratio is set in such a
manner that the cam gear 30 makes one revolution each time the main
shaft 25 rotates thirteen times.
[0074] In contrast thereto, the driven plate 52 rotates integrally
with the main shaft 25. That is, the driven plate 52 and the cam
gear 30 rotate at a speed ratio of 13:1. Therefore, both cams 54
and 56 also rotate at this speed ratio, so that the notches 55 and
57 coincide with each other each time the driven plate 52 rotates
thirteen times.
[0075] FIG. 7 is a time chart explaining the output state of the
position-detection signal in the panel-position detecting mechanism
51, FIG. 7A indicates a timing of the output signal in a case where
the cams 54 and 56 are provided alone respectively and FIG. 7B
indicates a timing of the output signal in a case where the cams 54
and 56 are both used simultaneously. As shown in FIG. 7, when the
cam 54 of the cam gear 30 is used alone, each time the output shaft
20 rotates thirteen times, the notch 55 moves to the position of
the switch section 53a, to turn the limit switch 53 OFF. That is,
when the output shaft 20 rotates thirteen times, the roof panel 3
is closed fully, which is detected when the limit switch 53 is
turned OFF at the notch 55. When the cam 56 of the driven plate 52
is used alone, on the other hand, each time the output shaft 20
makes one revolution, the notch 57 moves to the position of the
switch section 53a, to turn the limit switch 53 OFF.
[0076] In this case, when the cam 54 is used alone, as shown in
FIG. 7A, the cam gear 30 rotates slowly due to the reduction gear
ratio, thus prolonging the switch-OFF time (t.sub.1). Therefore, as
mentioned above, when the cam 54 is used alone in detection of the
position of the roof panel, the accuracy of detecting the
full-closed position is deteriorated. In contrast thereto, when the
cam 56 of the driven plate 52 is used alone, its rotation speed is
high, so that although the switch-OFF time (t.sub.2) is short, a
signal is output each time when the output shaft 20 makes one
revolution.
[0077] Then, therefore, this panel-position detecting mechanism 51
uses both cams 54 and 56, so that the limit switch 53 may be turned
OFF only when the notches 55 and 57 of the respective cams 54 and
56 coincide with each other. That is, by taking logical-AND of both
OFF-times, the OFF-time (t.sub.1) by the cam 54 is regulated on the
basis of the OFF-time (t.sub.2) by the cam 56. Thereby, as shown in
FIG. 7B, the position-detection signal can be output only in the
time t.sub.2 (t.sub.3) contained in the time t.sub.1, to narrow the
time range of the detecting signal as compared to the case where
the cam 54 is used alone (t.sub.3<t.sub.1; t.sub.2=t.sub.3).
Therefore, the accuracy can be improved of the detecting signal
indicating the full-closed position of the roof panel 3, thereby
determining the current position of the roof panel 3 more
accurately.
[0078] Also, the output time (t.sub.3) of the position-detection
signal is determined by the OFF-time (t.sub.2) of the driven plate
52, thus enabling relatively generous setting the accuracy of
meshing between the external gear 27 and the cam gear 30.
Therefore, the gears 27 and 30 can both be formed with roughly
triangular teeth, thus simplifying the device configuration and
reducing its costs.
[0079] Third Embodiment
[0080] The following will describe a third embodiment of the
sunroof driving device having no panel-position detecting mechanism
14. FIG. 8 is a plan view showing a configuration of the third
embodiment of the sunroof driving device according to the present
invention and FIG. 9 is a cross-sectional view taken along B-B of
FIG. 8. In these figures, the same elements and components as those
of the driving device 10 of the first embodiment are indicated by
the same reference numerals and so their description is omitted
here.
[0081] A driving device 60 of this embodiment has omitted the
panel-position detecting mechanism 14 from the driving device 10
shown in FIGS. 1 and 2. That is, the panel-position detecting
mechanism 14 assembled as a unit and formed separately from the
device body is omitted in configuration according to the desired
specifications.
[0082] In this case, at the left end of the gear housing 41 in FIG.
2 is attached a cover 61. Also, at the middle of the cover 61 is
formed an opening 62, through which are viewed the output shaft 20
and the fitting hole 24 as the body-side manual operation section.
And, in manual operation, a tool can be inserted through the
opening 62 and fitted to the fitting hole 24, thus directly
rotating the output shaft 20.
[0083] In such a manner, the driving device according to the
present invention can easily accommodate the specifications of
"position detection not required" only by removing the unit of the
panel-position detecting mechanism 14. That is, without separate
designing according to the specifications, the gear housing 41 and
other device body-side components can be used as they are, thus
accommodating a variety of specifications. Therefore, the design
man-hour requirements can be reduced and the elements can also be
shared in use, thus reducing product costs thereof.
[0084] Also, like in said embodiments, in this embodiment also,
assembly jobs after the output shaft 20 is inserted can all be
performed from the upper side of the gear housing 41. Therefore, in
this case also, the assembly jobs are easy to do, thus reducing the
man-hour requirements for assembly.
[0085] Note here that in the driving devices 10 and 60, the
motor-pulse detecting section 43 can also be detached appropriately
and determined whether it is necessary or not according to required
specifications. Therefore, the driving device according to the
present invention is capable of appropriately selecting any of the
following four types of specifications:
[0086] (1) The panel-position detecting mechanism 14 and the
motor-pulse detecting section 43 are attached;
[0087] (2) The panel-position detecting mechanism 14 is provided
(the motor-pulse detecting section 43 is not provided);
[0088] (3) The motor-pulse detecting section 43 is provided (the
pulse-position detecting mechanism 14 is not provided); and
[0089] (4) No panel-position detecting mechanism 14 and motor-pulse
detecting section 43 are provided.
[0090] Although the present invention has been specifically
described with reference to its embodiments, the present invention
is not limited to these embodiments but may be modified in various
manners within the scope thereof.
[0091] For example, in contrast to said embodiment where said
panel-position detecting mechanism 14 has such setting that each
time the main shaft 25 rotates thirteen times, the cam gear 30
makes one revolution, the number of the gear teeth may be changed
appropriately. Also, as the detection section of the panel-position
detecting mechanism 14, in place of the cam crest 31 and the limit
switch 33, a stop ring may be disposed on the outer periphery of
the cam gear 30, to slide an electric contact, thereby detecting
the position.
[0092] Further, although the second embodiment has employed such a
configuration that the panel-position detecting mechanism 51 uses
one limit switch 53, it may be provided one for each cam so that
its output signal maybe taken AND in electrical processing. Also,
the length of the notches 55 and 57 need not always be the same but
may be formed as small as possible within an operative range of the
limit switch 53, thus improving the signal accuracy.
[0093] Further, although said embodiment has formed the tool hole
34 on the same axis as the main shaft 25 of the panel-position
detecting mechanism 14 in said driving device 10, the two
components need not always be provided on the same axis but another
axis may be provided for manual operation. Also, as the
panel-position detecting mechanism 14, not only said so-called
drunken gear mechanism but also an intermittent gear or any other
detecting means may be applied appropriately.
[0094] According to the sunroof driving device of the present
invention, the output shaft, the panel-position detecting
mechanism, and the manual-operation tool hole are disposed on the
same axis, thus enabling efficient and compact mounting of the
panel-position detecting mechanism and the manual operating
section. With this, the projection area of the gear as whole can be
made small, thus miniaturizing it. Also, since those components are
provided on the same axis, they can be stacked one on another, thus
improving the assembling easiness.
[0095] The tool hole which provides the manual-operation section,
on the other hand, is formed on the main shaft of the
panel-position detecting mechanism coupled with the output shaft,
to enable assembling also the manual operation section only by
attaching the panel-position detecting mechanism, thus further
improving the assembling easiness.
[0096] In addition, the panel-position detecting mechanism is
constituted by the driven plate which rotates integrally with the
output shaft and the cam gear which rotates when a rotation of the
output shaft is decelerated and transmitted thereto, both of which
are each provided with a cam having a notch thereon, so that only
when these notches coincide with each other, the limit switch may
output a signal to cause the driven plate with a lower rotation
speed to regulate the output time for the position-detection signal
from the limit switch. Therefore, the accuracy of the detection
signal indicating the position of the roof panel can be improved,
thus determining the current position of the roof panel more
accurately.
[0097] Further, in the sunroof driving device according to the
present invention, the panel-position detecting mechanism is formed
as an independent unit, to which is provided a unit-side manual
operation section interlocked with the body-side manual operation
section provided on the output shaft, thus enabling providing the
driving device with various provisions for manual operation only by
mounting the panel-position detecting mechanism to the device
body.
[0098] Also, the panel-position detecting means is given as a unit
and the output shaft is provided with a fitting hole as the
body-side manual operation section, so that the specifications
which does not require panel position detection can be accommodated
easily by detaching and attaching the panel-position detecting
mechanism, thus reducing the man-hour requirements in design and
sharing the element in use.
[0099] Further, the panel-position detecting mechanism is formed
detachable from the output shaft, thus enabling further improving
the assembling easiness of the panel-position detecting
mechanism.
* * * * *