JP7615428B2 - Vehicle door opening and closing device - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a vehicle door opening and closing device for automatically opening and closing a vehicle's sliding door.

Patent Document 1 discloses a vehicle door opening and closing device that includes a guide means (support member) extending in the vehicle longitudinal direction, a number of pulleys rotatably supported by the guide means, a drive belt wound around the pulleys, and a connection member (bracket) fixed to the drive belt, and the guide means has a holding portion formed by a notch for detachably holding the connection member. In this vehicle door opening and closing device, the connection member fixed to the drive belt and detachably held by the holding portion is connected to a guide roller unit attached to the sliding door by being removed from the holding portion. As a result, the drive belt moves in a circular motion along the longitudinal direction of the guide means in conjunction with the rotation of the drive pulley, thereby opening and closing the sliding door in the longitudinal direction.

The vehicle door opening and closing device disclosed in Patent Document 1 has a connecting member fixed to a drive belt that is detachably held in a holding portion provided on a guide means, thereby preventing the connecting member from moving relative to the guide means when the vehicle door opening and closing device is transported, thereby improving handling during transportation.

JP 2018-178696 A

However, in the vehicle door opening and closing device disclosed in Patent Document 1, when the connecting member is temporarily held in the holding portion of the guide means, the connecting member is held in a substantially horizontal position and in a position that protrudes significantly toward the outside of the vehicle. Therefore, for example, when the device is installed near a lower rail attached to the lower part of a vehicle body panel, sufficient installation space is ensured and the connecting member can be installed without hitting the sliding door or the vehicle body panel. However, for example, when the device is installed near a center rail attached to the top and bottom center of the vehicle body panel, it is difficult to ensure sufficient installation space, and there is a risk that the connecting member will come into contact with the sliding door when the device is assembled to the vehicle body panel, resulting in reduced ease of assembly.

In view of the above problems, the present invention aims to provide a vehicle door opening and closing device that improves assembly and handling by temporarily holding a connecting member in a suitable position so that it can be easily attached and detached to a guide means.

According to the present invention, the above problems are solved as follows.
A vehicle door opening and closing device includes a motor, a guide means fixed to a vehicle body along a direction in which a sliding door is opened and closed, a power transmission member that is hung around one end and the other end of the guide means in a longitudinal direction and that is movable in a circulating manner along the longitudinal direction as the motor is driven, a connection member that is connected to the power transmission member and is connected to the sliding door via a guide roller unit that is assembled so as to be movable in the longitudinal direction, and a holding means portion that is capable of detachably holding the connection member on the guide means in a temporary holding position inclined obliquely above the vehicle exterior. the holding means portion is provided in the guide means and has an engagement hole having a predetermined length in the longitudinal direction, a guide protrusion portion at an upper portion of the engagement hole and protruding downward, and a receiving portion at a lower portion of the engagement hole and protruding toward the outside of the vehicle, and the connecting member has a held portion that fits into the engagement hole and can move from a predetermined temporary holding position to a release position and vice versa by movement in the longitudinal direction, a guide recess that is movable in the longitudinal direction relative to the guide protrusion and fits into the guide protrusion so as to be immovable in the interior and exterior directions of the vehicle, and a received portion that is supported from below by the receiving portion.

In the present invention, the above-mentioned configuration allows the connecting member to be detachably held on the guide means in a temporary holding position inclined diagonally above the vehicle exterior, improving the handling of the vehicle door opening and closing device, and also improving the ease of assembly of the vehicle door opening and closing device to the vehicle body panel, since the amount of protrusion of the connecting member from the guide means is reduced. Furthermore, the holding means portion sandwiches the held portion from above and below with the receiving portion located on the lower side and the guide protrusion portion located on the upper side, so that the connecting member can be reliably held in the temporary holding position.

Preferably, the holding means is provided on the guide protrusion so as to protrude toward the outside of the vehicle, and has an upper holding portion that can abut from above against an upper held portion provided on the connecting member. In this way, the upper holding portion can hold the connecting member in the temporary holding position more reliably by preventing the connecting member from moving upward. Also, by providing the upper holding portion on the guide protrusion, the holding means can be made smaller.

Preferably, one end and the other end of the retained portion in the longitudinal direction are abutted against one end and the other end of the engagement hole, respectively, to form a stoppered portion that determines the temporary retaining position and the release position of the connecting member. This allows the connecting member to be reliably stopped at the temporary retaining position and the release position.

Preferably, the holding means portion has a clearance portion that allows the held portion to be removed downward when the connection member is in the released position. This allows the held portion to be easily removed from the holding means portion when the connection member is in the released position.

Preferably, the holding means has an alignment protrusion protruding from a part of the recess toward the outside of the vehicle, and the connecting member has an alignment recess that allows the connecting member to be removed downward from the recess by matching its position with the alignment protrusion at the release position and prevents the connecting member from being removed from the recess at positions other than the release position. This makes it possible to improve the efficiency of the connection operation to the guide roller unit stopped at a predetermined position on the connecting member.

Preferably, the receiving portion forms an inclined surface with an upward gradient toward the outside of the vehicle on the surface that the received portion abuts from above. This allows the connecting member to be reliably supported in a temporary holding position inclined diagonally upward toward the outside of the vehicle.

According to the present invention, the connecting member is detachably held in a temporary holding position inclined diagonally above the vehicle exterior in a holding means portion provided on the guide means, thereby improving the handling of the vehicle door opening and closing device, and since the protrusion of the connecting member from the guide means is reduced, the ease of assembly of the vehicle door opening and closing device to the vehicle body panel can be improved.

1 is a side view of a vehicle equipped with a vehicle door opening and closing device according to the present invention; 2 is a perspective view of a vehicle door opening and closing device and a center guide rail as viewed obliquely from the front. FIG. 3 is an enlarged side view of a main part as seen in the direction of arrow III in FIG. 2. 11 is a perspective view of a main part of the belt connecting member in a temporary holding position, as viewed obliquely from the front. FIG. 5 is an enlarged side view of a main part as seen from the direction of arrow V in FIG. 4. 1 is a perspective view of a vehicle door opening and closing device as viewed obliquely from the front; FIG. 2 is a plan view of the vehicle door opening and closing device; FIG. 2 is an exploded perspective view of the motor module. 4A to 4C are perspective views of a belt connecting member and a holding means portion, respectively, viewed from different directions. FIG. 4 is a perspective view of the belt connecting member and the retaining means portion as viewed from the vehicle interior side. FIG. 11 is an upper oblique side view as seen in the direction of the arrow X1 in FIG. 10. 4 is a perspective view of a main part when the belt connecting member is in a temporary holding position, as viewed from the inside of the vehicle. FIG. 13 is a side view of the main part as seen in the direction of the arrow XIII in FIG. 12. 13 is an upper oblique side view as seen in the direction of arrow XIV in FIG. 12. This is a vertical cross-sectional view taken along line XV-XV in Figure 13. 4 is a perspective view of the main part seen from the inside of the vehicle when the belt connecting member is in the release position. FIG. 17 is a side view of the main part as seen in the direction of the arrow XVII in FIG. 16. FIG. 18 is an upper oblique side view as seen from the arrow XVIII in FIG. 16 . This is a vertical cross-sectional view taken along line XIX-XIX in FIG. 20 is a vertical cross-sectional view of the same portion as in FIG. 19 when the belt connecting member is in a normal position.

One embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. Note that the present invention is not limited to the embodiment described below, and includes appropriate modifications of the embodiment described below within the scope obvious to those skilled in the art.

As shown in FIG. 1, the vehicle door opening and closing device 1 according to this embodiment is disposed inside a left-side body panel 7 of a small wagon-type vehicle 2, and automatically opens and closes a left-side sliding door 3 supported on the body panel 7 so as to be freely opened and closed in the fore-and-aft direction by the power of a motor 15, which will be described later.
In the following description, unless otherwise specified, the directions refer to the directions when the vehicle door opening and closing device 1 is attached to the vehicle body panel 7.

The sliding door 3 is supported so that it can be opened and closed in the front-to-rear direction by connecting the upper guide roller unit 4 attached to the upper front part to an upper guide rail 8 that extends in the front-to-rear direction and is fixed to the upper part of the vehicle body, the center guide roller unit 5 attached to the central rear part to a center guide rail 9 that extends in the front-to-rear direction and is fixed to the vertical center of the vehicle body, and the lower guide roller unit 6 attached to the lower front part to a lower guide rail 10 that extends in the front-to-rear direction and is fixed to the lower part of the vehicle body, so that they can be moved in the front-to-rear direction.

As shown in FIG. 2, the vehicle door opening and closing device 1 is disposed inside the vehicle body panel 7 and includes a motor module 11 that outputs power for automatically opening and closing the sliding door 3, and a guide module 12 to which the motor module 11 is attached and which transmits the power output from the motor module 11 to the sliding door 3 to open and close the sliding door 3.

As shown in FIG. 8, the motor module 11 includes a lower casing 13 and an upper casing 14 that are fixed to the belt guide 20 via a mounting plate 22 (described later) in the guide module 12, a motor 15 that is attached to the upper casing 14 so that its rotation axis faces downward, a synthetic resin cover 16 that is fixed to the top surface of the upper casing 14 and covers the entire top surface of the upper casing 14 including the motor 15, a first reduction gear 17 that reduces the rotation of the motor 15, and a second reduction gear 18 that meshes with the first reduction gear 17 and reduces the rotation of the first reduction gear 17.

The drive shaft 19, which rotates integrally with the second reduction gear 18, has a rotational center axis facing vertically and outputs the rotation of the motor 15, which has been reduced by the first reduction gear 17 and the second reduction gear 18, to the guide module 12 side, and is press-fitted and fixed to the center hole of a drive pulley 23 (described below) of the guide module 12 so that it cannot rotate relatively. As a result, the rotation of the motor 15 is transmitted to the drive pulley 23 via an electromagnetic clutch (not shown), the first reduction gear 17, the second reduction gear 18, and the drive shaft 19. The rotation of the drive pulley 23 is transmitted to the belt 21 of the guide module 12, as described below.

(Guide module 12)
As shown in Figure 2, the guide module 12 has a belt guide 20 made of synthetic resin that is arranged on the upper part of the center guide rail 9, a belt 21 that is guided in the longitudinal direction (front-to-back direction) by the belt guide 20, a mounting plate 22 fixed to the belt guide 20, a drive pulley 23 (see Figure 8) for circulating the belt 21 along the longitudinal direction of the belt guide 20, and a belt connecting member 24 for connecting the belt 21 to the sliding door 3.

The belt guide 20 has a shape that follows the longitudinal direction (front-rear direction) of the center guide rail 9 in the plan view shown in FIG. 7 and overlaps the upper surface of the center guide rail 9. It is fixed to the vehicle body panel 7 by bolts (not shown) via a front bracket 201 provided at the front end and a rear bracket 202 provided at the rear end.

A holding means portion 25 is provided on the rear side of the belt guide 20 for temporarily holding the belt connection member 24 on the belt guide 20 in a freely detachable manner, for example in a posture as shown in Figures 4 to 6. The holding means portion 25 temporarily holds the belt connection member 24, which is previously fixed to the belt 21, in a freely detachable manner until the belt 21 is connected to the center guide roller unit 5.

As shown in Figures 9 and 10, the retaining means 25 has a rectangular engagement hole 251 that penetrates the side wall 20a of the belt guide 20 in the vehicle interior/exterior direction (left/right direction) and has a predetermined opening width in the front/rear direction (opening/closing direction), a receiving portion 252 provided at the bottom of the engagement hole 251, an alignment protrusion 253, and an escape portion 254, a guide protrusion 255 and an upper holding portion 256 provided at the top of the engagement hole 251, and lower holding portions 257, 258 located at the bottom of the engagement hole 251 and protruding upward a predetermined amount.

The receiving portion 252 is located on the front side of the engagement hole 251, protrudes a predetermined amount from the lower portion of the engagement hole 251 toward the outside of the vehicle, and has an inclined surface 252a on the surface facing the inside of the vehicle that is inclined diagonally upward toward the outside of the vehicle.

The clearance portion 254 is located below the engagement hole 251 and to the rear of the receiving portion 252, recessed toward the vehicle interior side from the receiving portion 252, and has a predetermined length in the front-rear direction. The length of the clearance portion 254 in the front-rear direction is formed to be slightly larger than the width in the front-rear direction of the held portion 241 of the belt connection member 24 (described later).

The alignment protrusion 253 is located at approximately the center of the clearance 254 in the front-rear direction and is provided so as to protrude from the side end face of the clearance 254 toward the outside of the vehicle. The lower retaining portions 257 and 258 are located below the engagement hole 251 and are provided closer to the inside of the vehicle than the receiving portion 252 and the alignment protrusion 253.

The guide protrusion 255 is provided so as to protrude downward from approximately the upper center in the front-rear direction of the engagement hole 251. The upper retaining portion 256 is provided on the side surface of the guide protrusion 255 facing the exterior side of the vehicle, and is provided so as to protrude further outward than the guide protrusion 255. The lower end of the upper retaining portion 256 is provided so as to be positioned higher than the lower end of the guide protrusion 255.

The belt 21 is a flat, endless rubber belt, and as shown in FIG. 2, its front end is looped around a front reversing pulley 203 pivoted to the front of the belt guide 20, and its rear end is looped around a rear reversing pulley 204 pivoted to the rear of the belt guide 20. A part of the part that moves on the inside of the room is bypassed to the inside of the room and looped around the aforementioned drive pulley 23, so that it moves in a circular motion in the front-to-rear direction along the belt guide 20 as the drive pulley 23 rotates.

The belt connection member 24 has an upper portion connected to a part of the area of the belt 21 that moves on the outside of the vehicle, a retained portion 241 at the upper portion that is fixed to the belt 21, a claw portion 242 provided at the upper end of the retained portion 241 (the end facing the inside of the vehicle in the temporary retained position), a guide recess 243 provided on the side of the retained portion 241 facing the outside of the vehicle (the upper surface in the temporary retained position) and below the claw portion 242 (the outside of the vehicle in the temporary retained position), and an alignment recess 244 provided at the upper end of the retained portion 241. Until it is connected to the center guide roller unit 5, it is fitted into the retaining means portion 25 and is removably held in a temporary retaining position inclined obliquely upward at approximately 30 degrees toward the outside of the vehicle, as shown in Figures 4 to 6, for example, and is removed from the retaining means portion 25 when it is connected to the center guide roller unit 5.

The held portion 241 is located on the upper part of the belt connection member 24, and is fixed to the belt 21 by pinching the belt 21 from the thickness direction. In this embodiment, the width of the held portion 241 in the front-rear direction is formed to be about 2/3 of the opening width in the front-rear direction of the engagement hole 251 in the holding means part 25, and slightly smaller than the width in the front-rear direction of the escape portion 254. As a result, the belt connection member 24 can move a predetermined amount in the front-rear direction with the held portion 241 engaged with the engagement hole 251, and can move from a temporary holding position where the front end of the held portion 241 abuts against the front end of the engagement hole 251, as shown in Figures 12 to 14, to a release position where the rear end of the held portion 241 abuts against the rear end of the engagement hole 251, as shown in Figures 16 to 18, and vice versa. When the belt connection member 24 is in the release position, the held portion 241 matches the escape portion 254. This allows the held portion 241 to be removed from the holding means portion 25 by moving it downward through the recess 254.

15 , the side surface of the held portion 241 facing the vehicle exterior (the upper surface when the belt connecting member 24 is in the temporary held position) forms an upper held portion 245 that can abut from below against an upper holding portion 256 of the holding means portion 25 when the belt connecting member 24 is in the temporary held position. The upper holding portion 256 abuts against the upper held portion 245 from above, thereby preventing the belt connecting member 24 from moving upward from the temporary held position.

15 , the side surface of the held portion 241 facing the vehicle interior (the lower surface when the belt connecting member 24 is in the temporary held position) forms a received portion 246 that can ride up onto the inclined surface 252a of the receiving portion 252 of the holding means portion 25 when the belt connecting member 24 is in the temporary held position. The received portion 246 rides up onto the inclined surface 252a of the receiving portion 252, thereby reliably supporting the belt connecting member 24 in the temporary held position in which the outside of the vehicle faces diagonally upward.

The claw portion 242 is located at the upper end of the held portion 241 and is formed so as to protrude toward the outside of the vehicle (upward when the belt connecting member 24 is in the temporary held position), so that, as shown in Fig. 15 in particular, when the belt connecting member 24 is in the temporary held position, it abuts against the guide protrusion portion 255 of the belt guide 20 from the inside of the vehicle. This prevents the belt guide 20 from moving toward the outside of the vehicle (in the direction of removal) when in the temporary held position.

The guide recess 243 is provided on the side of the held portion 241 facing the exterior side of the vehicle, is recessed toward the interior side of the vehicle (downward when the belt connecting member 24 is in the temporary holding position), and is formed to have a predetermined length in the front-to-rear direction, so that, as shown in particular in Figure 15, when the belt connecting member 24 is in the temporary holding position, the guide recess 243 is able to move relative to the guide protrusion 255 on the belt guide 20 in the front-to-rear direction but is unable to move relative to the guide protrusion 255 in the interior and exterior directions, and when in the normal position, it comes off the guide protrusion 255.

The alignment recess 244 is located in the center of the width of the held portion 241 in the front-to-rear direction and is formed to be slightly wider than the front-to-rear width of the alignment protrusion 253, and matches the position of the alignment protrusion 253 when the belt connection member 24 is in the release position, allowing the held portion 241 to move downward from the escape portion 254. When the alignment recess 244 is in a position that does not match the alignment protrusion 253, i.e., when the belt connection member 24 is in a position other than the release position, a part of the held portion 241 abuts against the alignment protrusion 253, preventing removal from the engagement hole 251 of the held portion 241.

(Overview of the belt connecting member 24 and the holding means portion 25)
12 to 15, when the belt connecting member 24 is in the temporary holding position, the front end of the held portion 241 abuts against the front end of the engagement hole 251, the claw portion 242 is in an upward position and abuts against the guide protrusion 255 from the inside of the vehicle, the received portion 246 is supported in a state where it rides up on the inclined surface 252a of the receiving portion 252, the guide protrusion 255 is fitted into the guide recess 243 so as to be movable in the front-rear direction and immovable in the inside-outside direction of the vehicle, the upper holding portion 256 can abut against the upper held portion 245 from above, and the lower held portion 247 abuts against the lower holding portions 257, 258 from the outside of the vehicle. As a result, the belt connecting member 24 is held in a temporary holding position inclined obliquely upward at approximately 30 degrees toward the outside of the vehicle.

During the transportation period of the vehicle door opening and closing device 1 itself and during the period of assembly work to the vehicle body panel 7, the belt connecting member 24 is detachably held by the holding means portion 25, thereby preventing the belt 21 and the belt connecting member 24 from swinging due to slackness, twisting, etc. of the belt 21 and coming into contact with the vehicle body panel 7 or the sliding door 3, thereby causing damage to the vehicle body panel 7 or the sliding door 3. As a result, the handleability of the vehicle door opening and closing device 1 can be improved.

In this embodiment, the front end of the held portion 241 abuts against the front end of the engagement hole 251 to form a stopped portion 24a that restricts the belt connecting member 24 to the temporary held position, and the rear end of the held portion 241 abuts against the rear end of the engagement hole 251 to form a stopper portion 24b that restricts the belt connecting member 24 to the released position.

When the belt connecting member 24 is in the temporary holding position inclined at approximately 30 degrees in an upward diagonal direction toward the outside of the vehicle, the belt 21 is in a state where it is twisted at a predetermined angle in the thickness direction, and as shown in particular in Fig. 5, twisted portions 21a of the belt 21 are formed on the front and rear sides of the belt connecting member 24. As a result, a return force (a force that causes the belt 21 to return to its original state) from the twisted portions 21a acts on the belt connecting member 24 in the clockwise direction with the receiving portion 252 as a fulcrum in Fig. 15, so that the guide recess 243 is securely fitted into the guide protrusion 255, and the belt connecting member 24 is securely held in the temporary holding position by the holding means portion 25.

In addition, the twisted portion 21a absorbs the slack in the belt 21, more reliably preventing the belt 21 from rattling.

When the belt connection member 24 is in the temporary holding position, it is tilted diagonally upward toward the outside of the vehicle, so it can protrude less toward the outside of the vehicle compared to the conventional technology, which extends significantly in the horizontal direction. This improves the handleability of the vehicle door opening and closing device 1 and prevents the belt connection member 24 from interfering with and damaging other parts when it is installed on the vehicle body panel 7.

Furthermore, the belt connection member 24 is in a position that is retracted outside the movement path of the center guide roller unit 5. As a result, after the vehicle door opening and closing device 1 is assembled to the vehicle body panel 7, when the center guide roller unit 5 is assembled to the center guide rail 9, the center guide roller unit 5 does not interfere with the belt connection member 24, so the center guide roller unit 5 can be easily assembled to the center guide rail 9.

The belt connection member 24 is moved rearward from the temporary holding position to the release position. In this case, the stopper portion 24b of the belt connection member 24 abuts against the rear end of the engagement hole 251 to determine the release position of the belt connection member 24, so that the belt connection member 24 can be easily and reliably stopped at the release position.

When the belt connecting member 24 moves to the release position, as shown in Figs. 16 to 19, the stoppered portion 24b at the rear end of the held portion 241 abuts against the rear end of the engagement hole 251, the received portion 246 moves away from the inclined surface 252a of the receiving portion 252 to a position matching the relief portion 254, and the alignment recess 244 moves to a position matching the alignment protrusion 253. This allows the held portion 241 of the belt connecting member 24 to move downward through the relief portion 254. For example, when the held portion 241 is stopped just before the release position and is in a position other than the normal release position, the alignment recess 244 and the alignment protrusion 253 interfere with each other, preventing the held portion 241 from moving downward. Therefore, the belt connecting member 24 can be removed from the holding means portion 25 only when the belt connecting member 24 is in the normal release position. This makes it possible to easily connect the belt connecting member 24 to the center guide roller unit 5 at a predetermined position.

To remove the belt connecting member 24 from the holding means portion 25, the held portion 241 is moved slightly downward to release the mutual engagement between the guide protrusion 255 and the guide recess 243. This allows the belt connecting member 24 to rotate downward, and the belt connecting member 24 can be removed from the holding means portion 25 and returned to the normal position. In this case, the belt connecting member 24 rotates downward due to its own weight in addition to the restoring force of the twisted belt 21 at the timing when the guide protrusion 255 comes out of the guide recess 243, so that the belt connecting member 24 can be easily returned to the normal position.

The belt connection member 24 removed from the holding means portion 25 is connected in the correct position to the upper surface of the bracket 5a of the center guide roller unit 5, which is pre-assembled to the center guide rail 9, by a bolt.

When the belt connecting member 24 is temporarily held by the holding means portion 25 of the belt guide 20, as shown in Figs. 9 to 11, the belt connecting member 24 is rotated upward by approximately 120 degrees from the normal position, and the held portion 241 is inserted into the engagement hole 251 from the outside of the vehicle in alignment with the position of the relief portion 254 of the holding means portion 25 while being moved slightly upward. As a result, the guide protrusion 255 fits into the guide recess 243 of the belt connecting member 24 from above. Next, the belt connecting member 24 is moved forward to the temporary holding position. As a result, the received portion 246 of the belt connecting member 24 rides onto the inclined surface 252a of the receiving portion 252, and the lower held portion 247 of the held portion 241 abuts against the lower holding portions 257, 258 from the outside of the vehicle, so that the belt connecting member 24 is held in a temporary holding position inclined approximately 30 degrees obliquely upward toward the outside of the vehicle.

(Connection Work of Vehicle Door Opening and Closing Device 1 to Slide Door 3)
First, as shown in FIG. 2, the belt guide 20 is placed above the center guide rail 9 which has been fixed to the vehicle body panel 7 in advance, and the front bracket 201 and the rear bracket 202 of the belt guide 20 are fixed to the vehicle body panel 7 with bolts (not shown), thereby assembling the vehicle door opening and closing device 1 to the vehicle body panel 7.

When the vehicle door opening/closing device 1 is assembled to the vehicle body panel 7, the belt connection member 24 is temporarily held by the holding means portion 25 of the belt guide 20 as described above. This makes it possible to suppress unnecessary movement of the belt connection member 24 and the belt 21 during transportation of the vehicle door opening/closing device 1 and assembly to the vehicle body panel 7, thereby improving the handleability of the dual-use door opening/closing device 1. It also makes it possible to prevent the belt connection member 24 from coming into contact with and damaging the vehicle body panel 7 or the sliding door 3.

The vehicle door opening and closing device 1 may be assembled to the vehicle body panel 7 with the motor module 11 already assembled to the guide module 12, or the motor module 11 and the guide module 12 may be separated and the guide module 12 may be assembled to the vehicle body panel 7 first, and then the motor module 11 may be assembled to the guide module 12.

Next, the guide rollers (not shown) of each guide roller unit 4, 5, 6 attached to the sliding door 3 (for the center guide roller unit 5, the guide roller is shown as 5b in Figures 15, 19, and 20) are inserted into the corresponding rails 8, 9, 10 from the rear end. Then, the sliding door 3 is moved forward, i.e., in the closing direction, to align the center guide roller unit 5 with the position (predetermined position) of the belt connection member 24 temporarily held by the holding means portion 25. In this case, since the belt connection member 24 is in a temporarily held position and is in a position outside the movement trajectory of the center guide roller unit 5, it is possible to avoid a situation in which the center guide roller unit 5 collides with the belt connection member 24. This makes it possible to prevent damage to the center guide roller unit 5 and the belt connection member 24.

Next, a special jig is inserted into the gap between the vehicle body panel 7 and the rear end of the sliding door 3, and the belt connection member 24 is removed from the holding means portion 25 as described above, and the belt connection member 24 is placed in the correct position. Then, the lower portion of the belt connection member 24 is connected to the bracket 5a of the center guide roller unit 5. As a result, the belt 21 and the sliding door 3 are connected via the belt connection member 24 and the center guide roller unit 5.

(Function of vehicle door opening and closing device 1)
The motor 15 is driven in response to the operation of a wireless remote switch carried by a user or a door handle for opening the door provided on the sliding door 3. As a result, the rotation of the motor 15 is transmitted to the belt 21 via an electromagnetic clutch, a first reduction gear 17, a second reduction gear 18, a drive shaft 19, and a drive pulley 23. As a result, the belt 21 moves in a circular motion along the longitudinal direction of the belt guide 20, so that the sliding door 3 moves to open if it is in the closed position, and moves to close if it is in the fully open position.

Although one embodiment of the present invention has been described above, various modifications, changes, and combinations can be made to the above embodiment without departing from the spirit of the present invention, as follows:

(1) In the above embodiment, the center guide rail 9 and the belt guide 20 are separate, but instead, the center guide rail 9 and the belt guide 20 may be integrally formed, or the belt guide 20 may be pre-fixed to the center guide rail 9. In this case, the center guide rail 9 may be provided with a holding means portion 25 for temporarily holding the belt connection member 24. Therefore, in the present invention, the belt guide 20, or the combination of both the belt guide 20 and the center guide rail 9, is defined as a guide means.

(2) In the above embodiment, the power transmission member for transmitting the power of the motor 15 to the sliding door 3 is the belt 20. Instead, the power transmission member may be a cable such as a Bowden cable.

REFERENCE SIGNS LIST 1 Vehicle door opening/closing device 2 Vehicle 3 Sliding door 4 Upper guide roller unit 5 Center guide roller unit 5a Bracket 5b Guide roller 6 Lower guide roller unit 7 Vehicle body panel 8 Upper guide rail 9 Center guide rail (guide means) 10 Lower guide rail 11 Motor module 12 Guide module 13 Lower casing 14 Upper casing 15 Motor 16 Cover 17 First reduction gear 18 Second reduction gear 19 Drive shaft 20 Belt guide (guide means)
20a Side wall portion 201 Front bracket 202 Rear bracket 203 Front reversing pulley 204 Rear reversing pulley 21 Belt (power transmission member)
21a: Twisted portion 22: Mounting plate 23: Drive pulley 24: Belt connecting member (connecting member)
24a, 24b Stoppered portion 241 Retained portion 242 Claw portion 243 Guide recess 244 Alignment recess 245 Upper held portion 246 Received portion 247 Lower held portion 25 Holding means portion 251 Engagement hole 252 Receiving portion 252a Inclined surface 253 Alignment protrusion 254 Relief portion 255 Guide protrusion 256 Upper holding portion 257, 258 Lower holding portion

Claims (6)

A motor;
A guide means is fixed to a vehicle body so as to follow the opening and closing direction of the sliding door;
a power transmission member that is wound around one end and the other end of the guide means in a longitudinal direction and that is circulatively movable along the longitudinal direction as the motor is driven;
a connecting member connected to the power transmission member and connected to the sliding door via a guide roller unit assembled so as to be movable in the longitudinal direction;
a holding means portion capable of detachably holding the connecting member on the guide means in a temporary holding position inclined obliquely upward toward the outer side of the vehicle,
the holding means portion is provided in the guide means and has an engagement hole having a predetermined length in the longitudinal direction, a guide protrusion portion located at an upper portion of the engagement hole and protruding downward, and a receiving portion located at a lower portion of the engagement hole and protruding toward the exterior side of the vehicle,
The vehicle door opening and closing device is characterized in that the connecting member has a retained portion that fits into the engagement hole and can move from a predetermined temporary retaining position to a release position and vice versa by movement in the longitudinal direction, a guide recess that is movable in the longitudinal direction relative to the guide protrusion but is engaged with the guide protrusion so as to be unable to move in the interior and exterior directions of the vehicle, and a received portion that is supported from below by the receiving portion. The vehicle door opening and closing device according to claim 1, characterized in that the holding means portion is provided on the guide protrusion portion so as to protrude toward the outside of the vehicle, and has an upper holding portion that can abut from above against an upper holding portion provided on the connecting member. The vehicle door opening and closing device according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that one end and the other end of the retained portion in the longitudinal direction abut against one end and the other end of the engagement hole, respectively, to form a stoppered portion that determines the temporary retaining position and the release position of the connecting member. A vehicle door opening and closing device according to any one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that the holding means portion has a clearance portion that allows the held portion to be released downward when the connecting member is in the release position. the retaining means portion has an alignment protrusion protruding toward the outside of the vehicle from a part of the recess,
5. The vehicle door opening and closing device according to claim 4 , wherein the connecting member has an alignment recess that aligns with the alignment protrusion in the release position to allow the connecting member to disengage downward from the recess, and that prevents the connecting member from disengaging from the recess at positions other than the release position.
A vehicle door opening and closing device according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein the receiving portion forms an inclined surface with an upward gradient toward the outside of the vehicle on the surface that the received portion abuts against from above.

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