Title of Invention

AN OVERSTROKE PREVENTING STRUCTURE FOR A VEHICLE DOOR

Abstract

A vehicle door (1) includes a door outer panel (2) and a door irmer panel (3), both of which are integrally provided with a sash portion (11) defining a window opening (10) and joined together in the periphery thereof The overstroke preventing structure comprises an elastomeric stopper (6) attached to the door inner panel for preventing overstroke due to closing operation of the door and an inner reinforcement (4) extending in the up and down direction inside of the sash portion at the side of the window opening. The inner reinforcement has a lower end portion extending downward from the window opening so as to provide a support surface (45) which is in contact with the back surface of a stopper attachment portion (35) of the door iimer panel. Therefore, deformation or cracks in the stopper attachment portion caused by the repeated opening and closing of the door can be restrained.

Full Text

OVERSTROKE PREVENTING STRUCTURE FOR VEHICLE DOOR Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an overstroke preventing structure for closing operation of a vehicle door. Background of the Invention A stopper made of a flexible elastic material, such as a rubber, has been provided on a vehicle body or a door inner panel to prevent the door edge contacting the door opening portion of the vehicle body when the door is closed (refer to JP07 257188A and JP3173337B). However, since the door inner panel, which provides the portion for receiving the stopper or attaching the stopper, has a hollow construction and a relatively small sheet thickness, in an endurance test conducted under a conditions more severe than an assumed usage condition, there is recognized a problem in that the receiving portion of the body panel is deformed by repeated receiving the stopper, or the stopper attached portion of the body panel is cracked by repeated bumping of the stopper. Brief Summary of the Invention The present invention was made in view of the above circumstances, and accordingly, an object thereof is to provide an overstroke preventing structure for a vehicle door, which can effectively restrain deformation and cracking of a stopper attached portion caused by repeated opening and closing operations of the door. To solve the problem with the conventional art, the present invention provides an overstroke preventing structure for a vehicle door, the door including a door outer panel and a door inner panel both which are integrally provided with a sash portion defining a window opening and joined together in the periphery thereof, the structure comprising: an elastomeric stopper attached to the door inner panel for preventing overstroke due to closing operation of the door; and an inner reinforcement extending in the up and down direction inside of the sash portion at the side of the window opening; wherein the inner reinforcement has a lower end portion extending downward from the window opening so as to provide a support surface which is in contact with the back surface of a stopper attachment portion of the door inner panel. Since the overstroke preventing structure for a vehicle door in accordance with the present invention is configured as described above, the strength of the stopper attachment portion can be improved without increasing the sheet thickness of the door inner panel or adding a reinforcing plate separately. In particular, the strength of the inner reinforcement itself extended in the sash portion of door is high, and additionally the door panel is firmly integrated over a relatively wide region to reinforce a portion near the cormecting portion between a door body portion and the sash portion. Thereby, a stress applied to the stopper at the overstroke time can be distributed over a wide range, which is advantageous in increasing the overstroke preventing effect. Also, in the present invention, in a mode in which the stopper attachment portion is formed with an attachment hole for fitting the stopper; a hole corresponding to the attachment hole is provided in the support surface of the inner reinforcement; and the inner reinforcement is spot welded to the door inner panel at a position adjacent to the through hole in the support surface, the support surface is arranged around the attachment hole in which the stopper is fitted, so that a high support strength is obtained, and also by the welding portion close to the attachment hole, an influence on the stopper attachment portion can be avoided even if temporary deformation such as torsion occurs in the inner reinforcement. In the present invention, in a mode in which the stopper attachment portion is disposed in a depressed portion of the door inner panel, and the support surface is in contact with the back surface of the depressed portion, good contact between the support surface of inner reinforcement and the stopper attachment portion is achieved, and additionally, a sufficient thickness (height) is given to the stopper by the depressed portion, which is advantageous in increasing the cushioning effect. In the present invention, in a mode in which the inner reinforcement has an inner periphery-side flange portion joined to an edge portion provided along the window opening of the door inner panel and an outer periphery-side flange portion joined to a stepped portion provided along the peripheral edge portion to the door inner panel, and the support surface is disposed between the inner periphery-side flange portion and the outer periphery-side flange portion, the support surface of the stopper is arranged in the middle portion of the inner reinforcement joined to the inner and outer peripheries of the sash portion, by which a stress applied to the stopper at the overstroke time can be distributed effectively, which is advantageous in increasing the overstroke preventing effect. hi the present invention, in a mode in which the door outer panel is provided with an outer reinforcement extending along the lower edge of the window opening, the end portion of an outer reinforcement extends across the outside of a vehicle compartment of the inner reinforcement with respect to vehicle compartment, and is spot welded to the door inner panel in a portion in which the end portion of the outer reinforcement is overlapped on the flanges of the inner reinforcement, the stopper attachment portion is reinforced directly by the support surface of the inner reinforcement and indirectly by the end portions of the outer reinforcement, so that a very high strength is obtained in the stopper attachment portion, and also the stress applied to the stopper is distributed in the belt line direction, which is a direction different from the direction of the sash portion, via the outer reinforcement, which is advantageous in increasing the overstroke preventing effect. Brief Description of the Drawings FIG 1 is a side view of a vehicle door to which an overstroke preventing structure in accordance with the present invention is applied, being viewed from the interior side; FIG 2 is a perspective view showing a disassembled state of the vehicle door shown in FIG 1; FIG. 3 is a side view of an essential portion of the vehicle door shown in FIG. 1, being viewed from the outside of vehicle compartment in a state in which a door outer panel is removed; FIG. 4 is a sectional view taken along the line A-A of FIG. 3; FIG 5 is a sectional view taken along the line B-B of FIG. 3; and FIG. 6 is a sectional view taken along the line C-C of FIG 3. Detailed Description of the Invention The present invention will now be described in detail based on an embodiment shown in the accompanying drawings. FIG. 1 is a side view of a vehicle door to which an overstroke preventing structure in accordance with the present invention is applied, being viewed from the interior side. In FIG. 1, a door 1 shows a rear door, disposed at the side of the rear seat, of doors arranged at the side of a vehicle. As shown in an exploded perspective view (FIG. 2) and sectional views (FIGS. 4 and 5), the door 1 is mainly made up of a door panel having a hollow construction in which a door outer panel 2 forming the outside surface of vehicle compartment and a door inner panel 3 forming the inside surface of vehicle compartment are joined integrally by hemming or the like process in a peripheral edge portion thereof, whereas the middle portions of the door outer panel 2 and the door inner panel 3 are separated from each other. The door 1 is a window sash integrated door in which a sash portion 11 defining a window opening 10 is integrally formed in the upper portion of the door panel. The window opening 10 is partitioned into front and rear portions by a partition sash 12 (center sash). In the front portion thereof, an elevatable glass 13 capable of being closed and opened by being moved in the up and down direction is disposed, and on the other hand, in the rear portion thereof, a fixed glass 14 is disposed. The surface on the vehicle compartment side of the door inner panel 3 under the window opening 10 in which the elevatable glass 13 and the fixed glass 14 are provided (in a door body portion) is covered with a door trim 15 formed by a resin or the like. The door 1 is attached to a door opening portion of a vehicle body via hinge mechanisms 16 in the edge end portion on the vehicle front side so as to be openable and closable. In the closed position, a lock mechanism 17 disposed in the edge end portion on the vehicle rear side, which is located on the side opposite to the hinge mechanism 16, is engaged with a striker, not shown, provided on the vehicle body side, by which the door 1 is held in a closed state. On the surface on the vehicle compartment side of the door inner panel 3 that is adjacent to the upper portion of the lock mechanism 17 and positioned under a belt line at the lower end of the window opening 10 (the fixed glass 14), a stopper 6 for preventing overstroke at the time of closing operation of the door 1 is disposed. The stopper 6 is formed by a molded product of an elastic material having flexibility, such as a rubber, hi the stopper 6, as shown in FIGS. 2 and 6, a tapered cylindrical attachment portion 66 having a diameter smaller than the body portion thereof and having a substantially truncated conical shape is projectingly provided in the center of the bottom surface of the body part, a seal lip is circumferentially provided in the peripheral edge portion of the bottom surface of the body portion, and a locking protrusion is projectingly provided on the side surface on the base end side of the attachment portion 66. On the other hand, in the attachment portion of the door iimer panel 3, a depressed portion 35 (an attachment seat surface) that is open to the door rear end side is provided, and an attachment hole 36 is formed in the depressed portion 35. The attachment portion 66 of the stopper 6 is inserted into the attachment hole 36, and the locking protrusion on the side surface of the attachment portion 66 is locked to the edge portion of the attachment hole 36, by which the stopper 6 is fitted in the attachment hole 36 in the state in which the seal lip is pressed onto the attachment seat surface. The contact condition and arrangement of the stopper 6 are set so that an influence is not exerted on the engagement operation of the lock mechanism 17. Also, the depressed portion 35 extends downward with respect to the installation space necessary for the stopper 6 to secure a space for performing spot welding, described later. FIG 2 is a perspective view showing a disassembled state of the rear portion of the door 1. In FIG 2, the door outer panel 2 is provided with an outer reinforcement 5 on the back surface side of a belt line portion 20 to reinforcement the belt line portion 20 provided along the lower edge of the window opening 10. Since welding cannot be performed in the middle portion of the door outer panel 2 forming the outer surface of vehicle, a front end portion 51 and rear end portions 52 and 53 of the outer reinforcement 5 have been welded to the door umer panel 3 side in advance (described later), and when the door outer panel 2 is joined to the door inner panel 3, an upper edge portion 50 of the outer reinforcement 5 is joined to the belt line portion 20 by hemming, and a lower edge portion 54 thereof is bonded to the back surface of the door outer panel 2 via a sealant material (not shown) having adhesive properties. On the other hand, for the door inner panel 3, since the surface thereof on the interior side is covered with the aforementioned door trim 15, molding including a bead having a reinforcing effect is allowed, so that in a belt line portion 30, reinforcement using a reinforcement and the like can be omitted. However, a portion near the lower end of the sash portion 11 connected to the door body portion is reinforced by an inner reinforcement 4 provided so as to extend in the up and down direction along the sash portion 11 because this portion assumes a heavy structural burden. In FIG. 2, only the inner reinforcement 4 on the rear side of the door 1 is shown. However, a reinforcement is also provided extendingly on the front side of the sash portion 11. In the present invention, the lower end portion of the rear-side inner reinforcement 4 is extended to the attachment seat surface of the stopper 6 (the depressed portion 35), and forms a support surface 45. In a overlapped portion of the attachment seat surface (the depressed portion 35) and the support surface 45, a spot welding location is set. As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, the inner reinforcement 4 has a flange portion 41 joined to an edge portion 31 provided along the window opening 10 of the door inner panel 3 and a flange portion 42 joined to a stepped portion 32 provided along the peripheral edge portion of the door inner panel 3. Since the flange portion 42 on the outer periphery side is positioned on the outside of a vehicle compartment as compared with the flange portion 41 on the window opening 10 side, the lower portion of the inner reinforcement 4 has a crank-shaped transverse cross section, and on the other hand, the upper portion thereof has a hat-shaped transverse cross section because the middle portion projects to the outside of vehicle compartment. The support surface 45 of the stopper attachment seat surface is positioned in the middle of the lower end portion, and is arranged on an approximately equal level to the flange portion 41 and a flange portion 43 extending from the lower end of the flange portion 41 along a belt line part 33. In a portion close to the upper portion of the support surface 45, a hole 46 having a slightly larger diameter than that of the stopper attachment hole 36 in the door inner panel 3 is provided so as to correspond to the stopper attachment hole 36. The above-described inner reinforcement 4 is spot welded to the door inner panel 3 at six places indicated by symbol (-) in FIG. 3, the six places being the flange portions 41, 42 (including two places 42' positioned in the upper portion with a non-flat portion being held therebetween), and 43 plus the support surface 45. Furthermore, spot welding is performed at three places indicated by symbol (+) in FIG. 3 in the state in which the rear end portions 52 and 53 of the aforementioned outer reinforcement 5 are overlapped so as to cross the fixed inner reinforcement 4, by which these three members are integrated. By the above-described construction, the strength of the stopper attachment portion 36 can be improved without increasing the sheet thickness of the door inner panel 3 or adding a reinforcing plate separately. In particular, as a matter of course, the inner reinforcement 4 itself has a high strength, and the spot welding portions at nine places including the spot welding portion adjacent to the lower side of the stopper attachment portion 36 are arranged so as to surround the periphery of the inner reinforcement 4, and the stopper attachment portion 36 is located therein, so that a very high fixing strength can be achieved. Since the support surface 45 is provided on the inner reinforcement 4 firmly integrated with the door inner panel 3 over a wide range as described above, a stress applied to the stopper 6 by an overstroke at the time of closing operation of the door 1 can be distributed in a wide range. Furthermore, the stopper attachment portion is reinforced directly by the support surface 45 of the inner reinforcement 4 and indirectly by the end portions 51 and 52 of the outer reinforcement 5, and also the stress applied to the stopper 6 is distributed in the belt line direction, which is a direction different from the direction of the sash portion 11, via the outer reinforcement 5. Therefore, the load of the whole of the door 1 can be received efficiently, and the interference of the door 1 caused by the overstroke can be prevented reliably. Also, since the spot welding portion on the stopper attachment seat surface (35) is disposed on the same plane as the attachment hole 36 of the stopper 6, the propagation of deformation to a portion near the stopper attachment hole 36 due to the deformation caused by the opening and closing of the door 1 is restrained, and also the burden on the fixing portion of the stopper 6 caused by the separation of the inner reinforcement 4 fi-om the door inner panel 3 can be prevented. The above is a description of the embodiment of the present invention. The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and various modifications and changes can be made based on the technical concept of the present invention. For example, in the above-described embodiment, the case is shown in which the stopper 6 is attached to the door inner panel 3 and is hit against a vehicle body panel 7 at the time of overstroke. However, the configuration may be such that the stopper is provided on the vehicle body panel 7 side, and the stopper is hit against a position corresponding to the attachment hole 36 in the door irmer panel 3 (hole is not needed). In this case, the spot welding portion may be set at the aforementioned position corresponding to the attachment hole 36. What is claimed is: 1. An overstroke preventing structure for a vehicle door, the door including a door outer panel and a door inner panel both which are integrally provided with a sash portion defining a window opening and joined together in the periphery thereof, the structure comprising an elastomeric stopper attached to the door inner panel for preventing overstroke due to closing operation of the door; and an inner reinforcement extending in the up and down direction inside of the sash portion at the side of the window opening; wherein the inner reinforcement has a lower end portion extending downward from the window opening so as to provide a support surface which is in contact with the back surface of a stopper attachment portion of the door inner panel. 2. The overstroke preventing structure for a vehicle door according to claim 1, wherein the stopper attachment portion is formed with an attachment hole for fitting the stopper; a through hole corresponding to the attachment hole is provided in the support surface of the inner reinforcement; and the inner reinforcement is spot welded to the door inner panel at a position adjacent to the through hole in the support surface. 3. The overstroke preventing structure for a vehicle door according to claim 2, wherein the stopper attachment portion is disposed in a depressed portion of the door inner panel, and the support surface is in contact with the back surface of the depressed portion. 4. The overstroke preventing structure for a vehicle door according to claim 1, wherein the inner reinforcement has an inner periphery-side flange portion joined to an edge portion provided along the window opening of the door inner panel and an outer periphery-side flange portion joined to a stepped portion provided along the peripheral edge portion to the door inner panel, and the support surface is disposed between the inner periphery-side flange portion and the outer periphery-side flange portion. 5. The overstroke preventing structure for a vehicle door according to claim I, wherein the door outer panel is provided with an outer reinforcement extending along the lower edge of the window opening, the end portion of the outer reinforcement extends across the outside of the inner reinforcement with respect to vehicle compartment, and is spot welded to the door inner panel in a portion in which the end portion of the outer reinforcement is overlapped on the flanges of the inner reinforcement.

Documents:

2651-CHE-2008 AMENDED PAGES OF SPECIFICATION 19-11-2013.pdf

2651-CHE-2008 AMENDED CLAIMS 19-11-2013.pdf

2651-CHE-2008 CORRESPONDENCE OTHERS 29-07-2013.pdf

2651-CHE-2008 ENGLISH TRANSLATION 19-11-2013.pdf

2651-CHE-2008 EXAMINATION REPORT REPLY RECEIVED 19-11-2013.pdf

2651-CHE-2008 FORM-1 19-11-2013.pdf

2651-CHE-2008 FORM-3 19-11-2013.pdf

2651-CHE-2008 FORM-3 29-07-2013.pdf

2651-CHE-2008 POWER OF ATTORNEY 19-11-2013.pdf

2651-che-2008 abstract.pdf

2651-che-2008 claims.pdf

2651-che-2008 correspondence others.pdf

2651-che-2008 correspondence-others.pdf

2651-che-2008 description (complete).pdf

2651-che-2008 drawings.pdf

2651-che-2008 form-1.pdf

2651-che-2008 form-18.pdf

2651-che-2008 form-26.pdf

2651-che-2008 form-3.pdf

2651-che-2008 form-5.pdf

2651-che-2008 others.pdf