Sliding door device for vehicle

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9475368-B2
Application number	US-201514824963-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 12, 2015
Priority date	Nov 6, 2014
Publication date	Oct 25, 2016
Grant date	Oct 25, 2016

Abstract

A sliding door device for a vehicle includes a front door or a rear door. A central rail is mounted on the front door or the rear door. A central slider is coupled to the central rail. A lower rail is mounted on a lower side of the vehicle. A lower slider is coupled to the lower rail to move along the lower rail. A central support structure has one end connected to the central slider and another end mounted on the vehicle to support the sliding movement of the central slider. A lower support structure has one end coupled to the lower slider and another end connected to a lower portion of the front door or the rear door to support the lower portion of the front door or the rear door. A hook locks and releases the central support structure to and from the central rail.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A sliding door device for a vehicle, comprising:
a front or a rear door configured to be open closed;
a central rail mounted on the front or the rear door and straightly extending in a sliding direction of the front or rear door;
a central slider coupled to the central rail to support the central rail and to move along the central rail;
a lower rail fixedly disposed below the front or rear door and straightly extending in the sliding direction of the front or rear door;
a lower slider coupled to the lower rail to move along the lower rail;
a central support structure having one end connected to the central slider and another end fixedly disposed to support the sliding movement of the central slider;
a lower support structure having one end coupled to the lower slider and another end connected to a lower portion of the front or the rear door to movably support the lower portion of the front door or the rear door; and
a hook locking and releasing the central support structure to and from the central rail,
wherein the lower support structure includes: a gear device mounted at the lower slider; and a linkage of which one end is connected to the gear device and another end is connected to the front or the rear door,
wherein the gear device includes: a rack gear mounted at the lower rail; a gear shaft; a planetary gear box through and into which the gear shaft penetrates and is inserted to be coupled thereto; an input gear coupled to an upper portion of the gear shaft to integrally rotate; an output gear coupled to a lower portion of the gear shaft to integrally rotate and meshed with the rack gear; and a transmission gear meshed with the input gear and mounted at the linkage, the transmission gear having an arc shape,
wherein the linkage includes: a first link having a “U”-shaped cross section and one end thereof engaged with the transmission gear; and a second link having one end is connected to another end of the first link and another end of the second link is engaged with the lower portion of the front or the rear door, and
wherein the first link and the second link include: a first upper flange and a first lower flange having a first penetrative assembling hole, respectively; and a first side flange connecting the first upper flange and the first lower flange and having a “U”-shaped cross section.

2. The sliding door device of claim 1 , wherein each of the central rail and the lower rail comprises:
a rail body having a rectangular plate shape; and
two guide rails extending longitudinally along both edges of the central and lower rails and perpendicularly protruding from the rail body toward an inner side of the front or rear door.

3. The sliding door device of claim 2 , wherein each of the two guide rails has a circular cross section.

4. The sliding door device of claim 3 , wherein the lower rail is fixedly disposed below the front or rear door through a rail supporter.

5. The sliding door device of claim 1 , wherein the central slider comprises:
a slider body having a rectangular block shape into and to which a guide rail of the central rail is inserted and coupled;
a roller rotatably inserted into the slider body and exposed to outside from one side of the slider body, the roller surface-contacting the guide rail of the central rail and moving the slide body along the guide rail.

6. The sliding door device of claim 5 , wherein the central slider is mounted at an upper portion and a lower portion of the central rail, respectively, and integrally moves with a central slider mounting bracket.

7. The sliding door device of claim 6 , wherein the central support structure includes:
a vehicle body mounting bracket; and
a swing arm of which one end is rotatably engaged to the vehicle body mounting bracket and another end is rotatably engaged to the central slider mounting bracket.

8. The sliding door device of claim 7 , wherein the swing arm includes:
an upper swing arm formed at an upper portion of the swing arm;
a lower swing arm formed at a lower portion of the swing arm; and
two flanges having a rectangular plate shape and connecting both edges of the upper swing arm and the lower swing arm;
one of the two flanges presses the hook down.

9. The sliding door device of claim 8 , wherein
the upper swing arm and the lower swing arm have an assembling hole formed at both ends thereof, respectively; and
the central slider mounting bracket has two fastening flanges inserted between and rotatably coupled to the upper swing arm and the lower swing arm.

10. The sliding door device of claim 8 , wherein:
the vehicle body mounting bracket has a “U”-shaped cross section formed by a second upper flange, a second lower flange, and a second side flange which connects the second upper flange and the second lower flange;
the second side flange of the vehicle body mounting bracket includes at least one penetrative assembling hole and is fixedly disposed through the at least one penetrative assembling hole; and
the second upper flange and the second lower flange of the vehicle body mounting bracket include a second penetrative assembling hole, respectively, such that a first pin is inserted into the second penetrative assembling holes of the second upper and lower flanges of the vehicle body mounting bracket and the assembling holes of the upper and lower swing arms to rotatably couple one end of the swing arm with the vehicle body mounting bracket.

11. The sliding door device of claim 7 , wherein an elastic spring is interposed between the vehicle body mounting bracket and the swing arm to return the swing arm to its original position after rotating on the vehicle body mounting bracket.

12. The sliding door device of claim 7 , wherein:
the hook includes a hook body and a hanger which is formed at one end of the hook body to removably hook onto the central rail; and
the hook is rotatably coupled to the swing arm and the central slider mounting bracket through a second pin.

13. The sliding door device of claim 1 , wherein the front door and the rear door have lower edges formed with an engaging boss fastened with the other end of the second link, respectively.

14. The sliding door device of claim 1 , wherein the other end of the first link and the one end of the second link are integrally fastened with a first drum;
the one end of the first link and the transmission gear are integrally fastened with a second drum; and
the first drum and the second drum are connected to each other via a belt or chain to transmit rotating movement.

15. The sliding door device of claim 14 , wherein the first link includes a third drum through which the belt or chain passes.

16. The sliding door device of claim 14 , wherein the first drum has a smaller diameter than that of the second drum; and
the planetary gear box configured to vary an output revolution of the output gear by increasing about 8 to 12 times of an input revolution of the input gear.

Assignees

• Hyundai Motor Co Ltd

Inventors

• Choi Jae Hong

Classifications

• E05D2015/1028

  with only the wing moving transversely · CPC title

• B60J5/0479 Primary

  without B-pillar or releasable B-pillar, i.e. the pillar is moving with door · CPC title

• E05B85/24

  Bolts rotating about an axis · CPC title

• E05C17/60

  holding sliding wings open {(E05C17/443, E05C17/54 take precedence)} · CPC title

• E05B83/40

  for sliding doors · CPC title