Sliding door structure

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10480232-B2
Application number	US-201715689233-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 29, 2017
Priority date	Oct 28, 2016
Publication date	Nov 19, 2019
Grant date	Nov 19, 2019

Abstract

A sliding door structure includes a door body, a vehicle body rail, a vehicle body rail support member, a door rail, and a door rail support member. The vehicle body rail support member includes a vehicle body-side end portion coupled to the vehicle body rail and capable of moving along the vehicle body rail, and a door-side end portion coupled to the door body. The vehicle body rail support member is capable of rotating about the vehicle body-side end portion, and of rotating about the door-side end portion. The door rail support member is configured to include a door-side end portion coupled to the door rail and capable of moving along the door rail, and a vehicle body-side end portion coupled to the vehicle body. The door rail support member is capable of rotating about the door-side end portion, and of rotating about the vehicle body-side end portion.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A sliding door structure comprising:
a door body;
a vehicle body rail that is provided to a vehicle body so as to extend along a door opening-and-closing direction in a straight line shape;
a vehicle body rail support member that is configured to include a vehicle body-side end portion coupled to the vehicle body rail and capable of moving along the vehicle body rail, and a door-side end portion coupled to the door body, the vehicle body rail support member being capable of rotating with respect to the vehicle body about the vehicle body-side end portion, and the vehicle body rail support member being capable of rotating with respect to the door body about the door-side end portion;
a door rail that is provided to the door body so as to extend along the door opening-and-closing direction in a straight line shape; and
a door rail support member that is configured to include a door-side end portion coupled to the door rail and capable of moving along the door rail, and a vehicle body-side end portion coupled to the vehicle body, the door rail support member being capable of rotating with respect to the door body about the door-side end portion, and the door rail support member being capable of rotating with respect to the vehicle body about the vehicle body-side end portion, wherein
the sliding door structure further comprises a column that is provided to a door-closing direction side end portion of the vehicle body rail, and an opening that is provided to the vehicle body-side end portion of the vehicle body rail support member,
in a fully closed state, the column intrudes into the opening such that the column is positioned at a rotation center of the vehicle body rail support member with respect to the vehicle body, and an opening direction of the opening faces in a direction angled toward a vehicle inner side with respect to a door-closing direction,
when a sliding door comprising the door body opens from the fully closed state, the vehicle body rail support member rotates about the column with respect to the vehicle body while the column remains in a state intruding into the opening,
when the sliding door opens from the fully closed state, until the opening direction comes into alignment with the door-closing direction, movement of the vehicle body-side end portion of the vehicle body rail support member along the vehicle body rail in a door-opening direction is restricted due to receiving a reaction force toward the door-closing direction from the column intruding into the opening, and
when the opening direction aligns with the door-closing direction, the restriction of movement of the vehicle body-side end portion of the vehicle body rail support member along the vehicle body rail in the door-opening direction is released due to no longer receiving the reaction force toward the door-closing direction from the column intruding into the opening.

2. The sliding door structure of claim 1 , wherein, when a sliding door comprising the door body opens from a fully closed state:
the door body swings so as to move away from the vehicle body by the vehicle body rail support member rotating with respect to the vehicle body about the vehicle body-side end portion of the vehicle body rail support member and the door rail support member rotating with respect to the vehicle body about the vehicle body-side end portion of the door rail support member while a position of the vehicle body-side end portion of the vehicle body rail support member with respect to the vehicle body rail and a position of the door-side end portion of the door rail support member with respect to the door rail remain fixed; and
after the door body has swung and the door body has moved away from the vehicle body by a predetermined separation, the door body slides in the door-opening direction with respect to the vehicle body by the vehicle body-side end portion of the vehicle body rail support member moving along the vehicle body rail, and the door-side end portion of the door rail support member moving along the door rail while an angle of the vehicle body rail support member with respect to the vehicle body and an angle of the door rail support member with respect to the vehicle body remain fixed.

3. The sliding door structure of claim 2 , wherein a length direction of the vehicle body rail support member and of the door rail support member runs in a direction perpendicular to the door opening-and-closing direction in a state in which the door body has moved away from the vehicle body by the predetermined separation.

4. The sliding door structure of claim 1 , wherein:
the sliding door structure further comprises a rotation restricting rail that is provided to the vehicle body so as to extend along the door opening-and-closing direction in a straight line shape, and a rotation restricting rail contact portion that is provided to the vehicle body-side end portion of the vehicle body rail support member;
in a state close to a fully open state, the vehicle body rail support member is restricted from rotating with respect to the vehicle body by the rotation restricting rail contact portion contacting the rotation restricting rail; and
when closing a sliding door comprising the door body, the restriction of the rotation of the vehicle body rail support member with respect to the vehicle body is released by the vehicle body-side end portion of the vehicle body rail support member moving along the vehicle body rail in a door-closing direction, and the rotation restricting rail contact portion reaching a door-closing direction side end portion of the rotation restricting rail.

5. The sliding door structure of claim 1 , further comprising:
a vehicle body-side winding roller that is attached to the vehicle body-side end portion of the door rail support member;
a door-side winding roller that is attached to the door-side end portion of the door rail support member;
a first wire having one end fixed to a door-closing direction side end portion of the door rail, and having an intermediate portion entrained around the door-side winding roller;
a second wire having one end fixed to a door-opening direction side end portion of the door rail, and having an intermediate portion entrained around the door-side winding roller; and
a drive device that is provided to the vehicle body, that is connected to another end side of the first wire and to another end side of the second wire, and that generates a force to cause the door body to perform a swing operation and a force to cause the door body to perform a slide operation at the same time.

6. The sliding door structure of claim 1 , further comprising:
a second door rail that is provided to the door body at a different vertical direction position to the door rail, and that extends along the door opening-and-closing direction in a straight line shape;
a second door rail support member that is configured to include a door-side end portion coupled to the second door rail and capable of moving along the second door rail, and a vehicle body-side end portion coupled to the vehicle body, the second door rail support member being capable of rotating with respect to the door body about the door-side end portion of the second door rail support member, and the second door rail support member being capable of rotating with respect to the vehicle body about the vehicle body-side end portion of the second door rail support member; and
a vertical coupling member that couples the door-side end portion of the door rail support member and the door-side end portion of the second door rail support member together in a vertical direction.

7. The sliding door structure of claim 1 , further comprising:
a second vehicle body rail support member that is configured to inclu

Assignees

• Toyota Motor Co Ltd

Inventors

• Ishikawa Hironari

Classifications

• E05D2015/1026

  accessories, e.g. sliding or rolling guides, latches · CPC title

• E05F15/646

  allowing or involving a secondary movement of the wing, e.g. rotational or transversal · CPC title

• E05D15/101 Primary

  specially adapted for vehicles (E05D15/1007 takes precedence) · CPC title

• E05D15/0686

  Tracks (E05D15/0665 - E05D15/0682 and E05D15/0691 take precedence) · CPC title

• B60J5/047

  characterised by the opening or closing movement · CPC title