HK1095864B - Opening-closing device with lock - Google Patents

Description

Opening and closing device with locking mechanism

Technical Field

The present invention relates to a structure of an opening/closing device with a lock mechanism that can open and close a sliding door and lock the sliding door at a fully closed position.

Background

Such an opening/closing device with a lock mechanism is disclosed as embodiment 2 in patent document 1, for example. The structure of patent document 1 is as follows: the 2-piece sliding door is connected by a rack and pinion mechanism to form an opening/closing door with two open sides, and then a guide rail moving body suspending the sliding door and a movable element of a linear motor for driving the opening/closing of the sliding door are connected by a buffer body including a buffer spring. And a spring for driving the movable member in the linear motor to move the sliding door in the closing direction and driving the movable member to further elongate the buffer even if the sliding door reaches the fully closed position. Then, the push-fit member provided at the front end of the movable element pushes the slide cam device against the return spring to slide the slide cam device, and the lowered cam follower also lowers the latch lock pin accompanying this, so that the latch lock pin is locked in the hole portion provided in the rack of the rack-and-pinion mechanism, and the sliding door is locked at the fully closed position.

In this configuration, the driving force of the linear motor is normally distributed by the damper spring of the damper body for driving the sliding door to open and close, and when the sliding door reaches the fully closed position, the driving force of the linear motor is distributed to the slide cam device, and the latch is locked by the latch pin. That is, the structure in which the driving force of the single linear motor (actuator) is used by both the opening and closing driving and the locking operation of the sliding door has an advantage that the structure can be simplified.

[ patent document 1 ] Japanese patent application laid-open No. 2000-142392 (0040 to 0054, FIGS. 6 to 13, guide rail moving body 3b, movable element 6a, buffer body 12, spring (buffer spring) 12b, pressing metal fitting 14a, slide cam device 13b, spring (return spring) 13c, cam follower 13e, latch lock pin 13g, hole 7e provided in rack)

However, the structure of patent document 1 is configured such that the damper, which is a mechanism for distributing the driving force of the linear motor to the opening and closing drive of the sliding door and the pushing of the slide cam device in a switching manner, slides together with the sliding door. Therefore, the entire structure becomes complicated, and it is necessary to secure a space corresponding to the movable stroke of the buffer body, and a compact and compact structure of the sliding door opening and closing lock device cannot be realized.

Further, in the structure of patent document 1, since the slide cam device is pushed at the fully closed position of the sliding door so as to elongate the damper spring of the damper body, for example, when a load (resistance against the closing of the sliding door) due to wind pressure or the like is applied to the sliding door before the fully closed position, the damper spring is stretched before the sliding door reaches the fully closed position. As a result, the push metal fitting at the tip of the movable element pushes the slide cam device at an early stage, and the latch lock pin does not match the hole portion of the rack, but the latch lock pin also descends, and the latch lock pin or the hole portion is damaged, or the sliding door is restrained before reaching the fully closed position (in the open state).

Further, when the linear motor loses its driving force due to some circumstances such as a failure of the linear motor or a power failure caused by a power failure at the time of the closing and locking of the sliding door, the movable element and the push fitting are pulled by the buffer spring in a direction to release the pushing of the slide cam device, and the slide cam device is also pulled back by the return spring, so that the latch pin rises together with the cam follower to release the locking. This means that the closure lock is released in the event of a fault or power failure without anticipation.

Further, in the case where the cushion spring is made to be a high-strength cushion spring and the latch lock pin is prevented from being lowered early even if a small load is applied to the sliding door, the force applied in the direction of unlocking becomes strong when the driving force of the linear motor is lost due to a power failure or the like, so that the risk of unintentional unlocking increases. That is, the 2 problems described above are contradictory relationships, and a solution that can satisfy both problems at the same time has not yet been proposed.

Disclosure of Invention

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and an object thereof is to provide an opening and closing device with a lock mechanism that performs opening and closing locking of a sliding door by a single actuator, the opening and closing device having a compact and compact structure. Another object of the present invention is to provide a structure for preventing a sliding door driven in a closing direction from being locked before reaching a fully closed position, and preventing unintentional unlocking even if an actuator loses its driving force in a closed locked state.

The problems to be solved by the present invention are as described above, and then, a method for solving the problems and effects thereof are described.

According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided an opening/closing device with a lock mechanism configured as follows. The method comprises the following steps: the rack and pinion mechanism comprises a rack arranged on a sliding door capable of reciprocating and a pinion meshed with the rack; an actuator as an opening/closing drive source of the sliding door; a planetary gear mechanism to which a driving force of the actuator is input; and a lock mechanism capable of locking the sliding door at a fully closed position. When the sliding door is located at a position other than the fully closed position, the power of the actuator is distributed to the pinion gear via the planetary gear mechanism. When the sliding door is located at the fully closed position, the power of the actuator is distributed to a switching lever that switches between a locked state and an unlocked state of the lock mechanism via the planetary gear mechanism.

In this configuration, the power of the actuator is distributed by the planetary gear mechanism, one of which drives the rack and the pinion of the pinion mechanism, and the other of which drives the switching lever. Thus, since the structure for power transmission (distribution) from the actuator is housed in a compact space, the configuration can be simplified, and a compact opening and closing device with a lock mechanism can be provided.

Further, since the distribution of the driving force from the actuator is performed not by the cushion spring as in patent document 1 but by using the planetary gear mechanism, even when the actuator loses the driving force due to a failure or the like in a state where the sliding door is locked at the closed position, the force in the lock release direction is not applied to the switching lever or the like, and unintended lock release is prevented.

In the opening/closing device with a lock mechanism, it is preferable that the lock mechanism is configured to prevent the switching lever from moving when the sliding door is not in the fully closed position, and to allow the switching lever to move when the sliding door is in the fully closed position.

In this configuration, since the movement of the switching lever is stopped when the sliding door is located at a position other than the fully-closed position, the locking operation is performed after the sliding door reliably reaches the fully-closed position. That is, the following is prevented: when the sliding door is driven in the closing direction, the locking operation is performed at an early timing, and the locking mechanism is broken or the sliding door is restrained before the sliding door is fully closed.

In the opening/closing device with a lock mechanism described above, the following configuration is preferable. The lock mechanism includes a cam, and the cam includes a projection for preventing switching from the unlocked state to the locked state. The projection is allowed to pass over only when the sliding door driven in the closing direction by the actuator reaches the fully closed position or its vicinity in the unlocked state, and the switching lever is allowed to move by the passing over.

Thus, a compact structure capable of preventing premature locking when the sliding door is driven in the closing direction can be realized.

In the opening/closing device with a lock mechanism described above, it is preferable to configure as follows. The lock mechanism comprises: a rotating member that engages with the member on the side of the sliding door located in the vicinity of the fully closed position and rotates in accordance with the opening/closing movement of the sliding door; and a moving member coupled to the switching lever via the cam and movable between a lock position that restricts rotation of the rotating member at a position when the sliding door is at the fully closed position and a position deviated from the lock position. The switching lever is configured to realize the locked state by fixing the moving member at a locked position, and realize the unlocked state by releasing the fixing of the moving member at the locked position. The protrusion of the cam is configured to be capable of passing by rotation of the rotating member based on movement of the sliding door in the closing direction.

Thus, a double locking structure is realized as follows: the sliding door is locked by locking the rotation of the rotating member with the moving member, thereby fixing (locking) the moving member. Therefore, even if the actuator loses the driving force due to a failure or the like in the state where the sliding door is closed-locked, the unlocking of the sliding door contrary to the expectation is extremely reliably prevented.

Further, since the protrusion is moved over (i.e., the switching lever is allowed to move) by the rotation of the rotating member, the switching lever is surely moved in the vicinity of the fully closed position. I.e. to further reliably prevent premature locking.

Drawings

Fig. 1 is a front view of an entire embodiment in which an opening/closing lock device is provided in an opening/closing door for a vehicle.

Fig. 2 is a main part front view showing the structure of the lock mechanism and the planetary gear mechanism in the unlocked state.

Fig. 3 is a main part front view showing a case where the sun gear is driven in the door closing direction from the state of fig. 2, and the lock mechanism is switched to the locked state.

Fig. 4 is a main portion front view showing a state after the sun gear is further driven in the door closing direction to switch to the locked state.

Description of the symbols

1 opening and closing door

2 guide rail

7.7 rack

9 pinion

10 rack and pinion mechanism

11.12 sliding door

20 planetary gear mechanism

21 Sun gear

22 planetary gear carrier

23 ring gear

30 locking mechanism

31 locking connecting rod (rotating parts)

32 locking bar (moving parts)

33 locking plate (switching bar)

Detailed Description

Next, embodiments of the invention will be described. Fig. 1 is a front view showing an embodiment in which an opening/closing lock device is provided in an opening/closing door for a vehicle. Fig. 2 is a main part front view showing the structure of the lock mechanism and the planetary gear mechanism in the unlocked state.

The vehicle opening/closing door shown in fig. 1 is configured by an opening formed in a side wall of a vehicle such as a railway vehicle as an openable/closable side door, and includes a pair of left and right sliding doors 11 and 12 of a double-opening type. The 2-piece sliding doors 11 and 12 are provided so as to be capable of reciprocating along the guide rail 2 horizontally provided above the opening. More specifically, 2 suspensions 3 are fixed to the upper edges of the sliding doors 11 and 12, respectively, and door pulleys 4 are rotatably supported by the respective suspensions 3. The door pulley 4 is configured to be rollable on the guide rail 2.

The opening/closing door is opened/closed by the opening/closing device with a lock mechanism according to an embodiment of the present invention, and is automatically locked so as not to be opened unintentionally in a closed state. A door of a vehicle such as a railway vehicle may be opened during traveling, and therefore, it is required to be reliably locked in advance so as not to be opened inadvertently during traveling.

The following describes the details. A plate-like base body 5 is fixed to an upper portion of a side wall of the vehicle (a space above the opening), and 2 racks 7 and 7 are supported by rack brackets 6 and 6 fixed to the base body 5. The racks 7 and 7 are supported by the slide support portion 8 so that the longitudinal direction thereof is oriented horizontally (parallel to the guide rail 2) and slidable in the longitudinal direction (horizontal direction).

The 2 racks 7 and 7 are arranged in parallel with each other with an appropriate interval in the vertical direction, and the respective teeth portions are arranged to face each other. The pinion 9 is rotatably disposed so as to be simultaneously engaged with the teeth of both the 2 racks 7 and 7. The pinion gear 9 is disposed at a position which is located at the center of the left and right above the opening of the opening/closing door 1 and is sandwiched vertically by the 2 racks 7 and 7.

One end of each of the 2 racks 7 and 7 is connected to the corresponding sliding door 11 or 12 by an arm member 13 or 13 fixed to the suspension 3 on the door top side. The racks 7 and the pinion 9 form a rack-and-pinion mechanism 10, and the 2-piece sliding doors 11 and 12 are driven to open and close by the rack-and-pinion mechanism 10. The rack-and-pinion mechanism 10 also serves to achieve symmetrical opening and closing of the sliding doors 11 and 12 by coupling the left and right sliding doors 11 and 12.

A planetary gear mechanism 20 is supported by the base 5. As schematically shown in fig. 2, the planetary gear mechanism 20 includes: a sun gear 21 rotatably supported by the shaft; a plurality of planetary gears 24 disposed on the outer periphery of the sun gear 21, meshed with the sun gear 21, and capable of rotating and revolving; a carrier 22 for rotatably supporting the planetary gear 24; and a ring gear 23 having internal teeth meshing with the planetary gears 24 on the outside. The sun gear 21, the carrier 22, and the ring gear 23 are arranged on the same axis, and are arranged to be rotatable relative to the other two. The axes of the three elements coincide with the axis of the pinion 9 of the rack-and-pinion mechanism 10.

An output shaft of an electric motor (actuator) of a direct drive type, not shown, which is capable of rotating in the forward and reverse directions is coupled to the sun gear 21. Further, the connection may be made by an appropriate speed reduction mechanism. The ring gear 23 is coupled to the pinion gear 9 of the rack and pinion mechanism 10 by a bolt or the like, not shown. The carrier 22 is connected to a lock plate (switching lever) 33 constituting a lock mechanism 30 described later.

Next, the lock mechanism 30 of the opening and closing door 1 will be described in detail. As shown in fig. 1 or 2, the lock mechanism 30 mainly includes a flat plate-like lock link (pivot member) 31 pivotally supported on the base 5 so as to be rotatable, a flat plate-like lock lever (moving member) 32 pivotally supported on the base 5 so as to be similarly rotatable, the lock plate 33, and a brake roller (catch roller) 34. The lock mechanism 30 is located below the planetary gear mechanism 20.

As shown in fig. 2, the lock link 31 is pivotally supported at its center portion by a support shaft 41 with respect to the base 5, and includes an engaging portion 42 at one end side and a roller insertion portion 43 at the other end side. The engaging portion 42 is a concave cutout and is configured to be engageable with the brake roller 34 attached to one sliding door 11. The roller insertion portion 43 is also formed as a concave cutout, and a first roller 51 described later supported by the lock lever 32 is inserted therein. The roller insertion portion 43 is provided with a rotation stopper 49 which can be opposed to the first roller 51 on a side away from the support shaft 41.

The lock lever 32 is pivotally supported at one end thereof to the base 5 by a support shaft 44, and is provided with 2 rollers 51 and 52 at the other end. Specifically, the 1 st roller 51 is supported on one side (the back side of the sheet of fig. 2) of the tip of the lock lever 32, and the 2 nd roller 52 is supported on the other side (the front side of the sheet of fig. 2). The first roller 51 is inserted into the aforementioned roller insertion portion 43 of the lock link 31.

A restricting plate 45 is fixed to the lock lever 32, and the restricting plate 45 is positioned inside a substantially fan-shaped restricting hole formed in the base plate 5. The restricting plate 45 and the restricting hole 46 define a range of a swing angle of the lock lever 32. A torsion coil spring-like biasing spring (not shown) is disposed at the support shaft 44, and constantly applies a biasing force in the clockwise direction in fig. 2 to the lock lever 32.

The lock plate 33 is a wide rod-shaped member fixed to the carrier 22 of the planetary gear mechanism 20, and extends downward as viewed from the planetary gear mechanism 20. The locking plate 33 is formed with a curved hole (cam) 47 having a substantially vertically curved shape. The 2 nd roller 52 of the lock lever 32 is inserted into the curved hole 47.

The curved hole 47 is a hole having a constant width, which connects a rotation preventing portion 47a located on the proximal end side of the lock plate 33 and extending in the circumferential direction (substantially horizontal direction) and a rotation allowing portion 47b located on the distal end side of the lock plate 33 and extending substantially downward in the radial direction. In other words, a protrusion 47c is formed at a portion (a portion corresponding to the inner periphery of the curved portion) where the rotation preventing portion 47a and the rotation allowing portion 47b are connected, and the protrusion 47c is configured to prevent the movement from the rotation preventing portion 47a of the 2 nd roller 52 to the rotation allowing portion 47 b.

In fig. 2 to 4, the lock plate 33 and the curved hole 47 are illustrated in a perspective view of a chain line for easy understanding of the configuration.

As shown in fig. 1, a bracket 35 is fixed to the arm member 13 of the side-1 sliding door 11, and a front end of the bracket 35 is drawn downward and toward the center side, and the brake roller 34 is rotatably supported at the front end. The brake roller 34 is configured to move along the guide rail 2 together with the sliding door 1, and is located near the engagement portion 42 of the lock link 31 when the sliding doors 11 and 12 are located near the closed position.

The above is the structure of the sliding door opening and closing lock device, and the opening and closing and locking operations of the sliding doors 11 and 12 of this structure will be described with reference to fig. 2 to 4. Fig. 3 is a main part front view showing a state in which the sun gear is driven in the door closing direction from the state of fig. 2, and the lock mechanism is switched to the locked state. Fig. 4 is a main-part front view showing a state after the sun gear is further driven in the door closing direction and switched to the locked state.

Fig. 2 shows an unlocked state of the lock mechanism 30 in which the engagement portion 42 of the lock link 31 is not engaged with the brake roller 34. The lock lever 32 is slightly inclined downward by the biasing spring as shown in fig. 2. Further, the lock link 31 is also in an inclined posture as shown in fig. 2 because the bottom of the roller insertion portion 43 is pushed downward by the 1 st roller 51 of the lock lever 32. In addition, reference numeral 48 in fig. 2 is a stopper fixed to the base 5 to limit one side of the rotational angle range of the lock link 31.

Further, in the unlocked state, the 2 nd roller 52 of the locking lever 32 is positioned at the end of the locking plate 33 on the rotation preventing portion 47a side of the curved hole 47. In the released state, as shown in fig. 2, a line connecting the center of the 2 nd roller 52 of the lock lever 32 and the center of the support shaft 44 substantially coincides with the tangential direction of the revolution circle of the planetary gear 24. I.e. becomes the dead point. Therefore, in the unlocked state shown in fig. 2, when the sun gear 21 of the planetary gear mechanism 20 is driven by the electric motor, the planetary gears 24 do not revolve but rotate only, so that the entire driving force of the sun gear 21 is transmitted (distributed) to the pinion gears 9 by the ring gear 23, and the sliding doors 11 and 12 are driven to open and close.

In particular, even if the sliding doors 11 and 12 are driven in the closing direction, the 2 nd roller 52 cannot pass over the projection 47c in the curved hole 47, and therefore, the rotation of the lock plate 33 is prevented, and as a result, the rotation of the carrier 22 connected to the lock plate 33 is also prevented. Therefore, the driving force of the sun gear 21 is entirely distributed to the pinion gear 9 at the stage when the sliding doors 11 and 12 do not reach the vicinity of the fully closed position. In other words, except when the sliding doors 11 and 12 are located near the fully closed position, the projection 47c prevents switching from the unlocked state to the locked state. This means that premature locking, which is feared in the structure of the aforementioned patent document 1, can be reliably prevented in the structure of the present embodiment.

Next, the sun gear 21 is driven in a direction to close the sliding doors 11 and 12, and as a result, the sliding doors 11 and 12 approach the fully closed position, and the brake roller 34 attached to the sliding door 11 approaches the engaging and disengaging portion 42 of the lock link 31 as shown by a thick line arrow in fig. 2. When the sun gear 21 (sliding doors 11 and 12) is further driven in the closing direction from the state shown in fig. 2, the brake roller 34 moving in the direction of the thick line arrow presses the engagement portion 42 while engaging with the engagement portion 42 (while braking by the engagement portion 42), thereby rotating the lock link 31 as shown in fig. 3.

When the lock link 31 is rotated, the bottom surface of the roller insertion portion 43 lifts the 1 st roller 51 of the lock lever 32, so that the lock lever 32 is rotated upward against the biasing spring to be in a substantially horizontal posture as shown in fig. 3. At the same time, the lock link 31 also rotates in the rising direction. When the respective sliding doors 11 and 12 reach the fully closed position, the lock link 31 is in a substantially vertical posture, and the rotation stopper 49 provided in the roller insertion portion 43 faces the 1 st roller 51 of the lock lever 32 (fig. 3 shows a state immediately before facing). After this, since the counterclockwise rotation of the lock link 31 is restricted by the first roller 51 and the rotation stopper 49, the lower brake roller 34 is also fixed by the engagement and disengagement portion 42 so as not to be movable. Thus, the sliding door 11 and the sliding door 12 coupled to the other side of the sliding door 11 by the rack and pinion mechanism 10 are held at the fully closed position and cannot move (1 st lock).

As shown in fig. 3, as the lock lever 32 is turned upward, the 2 nd roller 52 of the lock lever 32 moves over the projection 47 from the rotation preventing portion 47a toward the rotation allowing portion 47b in the curved hole 47. As a result, the lock plate 33 allows the rotation of the planetary gear mechanism 20 about the axial center, and also allows the rotation of the carrier 22 (in other words, the revolution of the planetary gear 24) coupled to the lock plate 33. On the other hand, since the sliding door 11 cannot move in the closing direction after reaching the fully closed position, the ring gear 23 coupled to the sliding door 11 by the rack-and-pinion mechanism 10 is also prevented from rotating. Therefore, the driving force of the sun gear 21 continuing to rotate is transmitted (distributed) to the carrier 22 at this time, and the lock plate 33 rotates counterclockwise in the drawing as shown in fig. 4, and the aforementioned 2 nd roller 52 reaches the end portion of the curved hole 47 on the rotation allowable portion 47b side. In this state, the downward rotation of the lock lever 32 is stopped by the 2 nd roller 52 being positioned on the rotation allowing portion 47b (2 nd lock).

As described above, as shown in fig. 2 → 3 → 4, after the sliding doors 11 and 12 are moved to the fully closed position, the locking mechanism 30 is automatically switched to the locked state, and the sliding doors 11 and 12 are locked in the closed state. Therefore, the sun gear 21 of the planetary gear mechanism 20 is driven by a single actuator, and the locking interlocking with the closing of the sliding doors 11 and 12 can be realized, and the driving structure can be simplified.

In the state of fig. 4, the 1 st lock is performed in which the rotation of the lock link 31 is restricted by the lock lever 32, and the 2 nd lock is performed in which the swing of the lock lever 32 is restricted by the lock plate 33. That is, since the double lock can be performed, even when the electric motor fails to supply power due to a power failure or a malfunction of the vehicle, and the output shaft (the sun gear 21) thereof is freely rotated, the opening of the sliding doors 11 and 12 is extremely reliably prevented by the double lock. This means that the sliding doors 11 and 12 can be prevented from being opened unintentionally by wind pressure or the like even if the vehicle is powered off or the like.

The switching from the locked state to the unlocked state and the opening of the sliding doors 11 and 12 described above may be performed by driving the sun gear 21 in the opposite direction to the closing time by the electric motor described above. That is, in fig. 4 in the locked state, the lock link 31 locks the sliding door 11 to prevent the ring gear 23 from rotating, while the 2 nd roller 52 is positioned in the rotation allowing portion 47b to allow the rotation of the lock plate 33, in other words, the rotation of the carrier 22. Therefore, when the sun gear 21 is driven in the opposite direction to the arrow in the state of fig. 4, the driving force of the sun gear 21 is entirely transmitted (distributed) to the carrier 22, the lock plate 33 swings in the opposite direction to the arrow, and the 2 nd roller 52 of the lock lever 32 is disengaged from the rotation allowing portion 47b, so that the 2 nd lock is released, and the lock lever 32 is rotated downward by the action of the biasing spring.

When the lock lever 32 is turned downward, the 1 st roller 51 is disengaged from the rotation stopper 49, and therefore the rotation restriction of the lock link 31 is released. This means that the lock (first lock) of the sliding door 11 is released and the rotation of the ring gear 23 is allowed. On the other hand, since the 2 nd roller 52 enters the rotation preventing portion 47a of the curved hole 47 as the lock lever 32 rotates downward, the rotation of the lock plate 33 and the carrier 22 is prevented by the protrusion 47c of the curved hole 47. As a result, the driving force of the sun gear 21 of the planetary gear mechanism 20 is transmitted (distributed) to the ring gear 23 side at this time, and therefore the sliding doors 11 and 12 are driven in the opening direction by the rack and pinion mechanism 10. Then, the brake roller 34 moves to the open side while rotating the lock link 31 to some extent, finally disengages from the engaging and disengaging portion 42, and moves to the open side.

As described above, the sliding door opening/closing lock device for a vehicle according to the present embodiment includes: a rack and pinion mechanism 10 including racks 7 and 7 attached to sliding doors 11 and 12 capable of reciprocating and pinions 9 engaged with the racks 7 and 7; an electric motor as a drive source for opening and closing the sliding doors 11 and 12; a planetary gear mechanism 20 to which the driving force of the electric motor is input; and a lock mechanism 30 capable of locking the sliding doors 11 and 12 at a fully closed position. When the sliding doors 11 and 12 are located at positions other than the fully closed position, the driving force of the electric motor is distributed from the ring gear 23 of the planetary gear mechanism 20 to the pinion gear 9. When the sliding doors 11 and 12 are located at the fully closed position, the driving force of the electric motor is distributed from the carrier 22 of the planetary gear mechanism 20 to the lock plate 33 that switches between the locked state and the unlocked state of the lock mechanism 30.

Thus, the power of the electric motor is distributed by the planetary gear mechanism 20, one of which drives the pinion 9 of the rack and pinion mechanism 10, and the other of which drives the lock plate 33. Further, since the output of the planetary gear mechanism 20 (specifically, the output of the ring gear 23) is coupled to the pinion gear 9 of the rack and pinion mechanism 10, the structure for power distribution is housed in a compact space together with the rack and pinion mechanism 10. Therefore, the driving force transmission (distribution) structure from the electric motor can be simplified, and the opening/closing lock device with good space saving can be provided.

Further, since the distribution of the driving force from the electric motor is performed not by using the damper spring as in patent document 1 but by using the planetary gear mechanism 20, even when the electric motor loses the driving force due to a failure or the like in a state where the sliding doors 11 and 12 are locked at the closed position, the force in the unlocking direction is not applied to the lock plate 33 or the like, and the unintentional unlocking is prevented. Further, by the configuration in which the lock plate 33 and a lever, not shown, provided at a position accessible from the inside or outside of the vehicle are connected by a connecting member such as a cable, not shown, it is possible to manually open the sliding doors 11 and 12 after the lock plate 33 is swung in a direction to be in the unlocked state by a person operating the lever in an emergency.

In the present embodiment, the lock mechanism 30 is configured to prevent the lock plate 33 from rotating when the sliding doors 11 and 12 are not located at the fully closed position (fig. 2), and to allow the lock plate 33 to rotate when the sliding doors 11 and 12 are located at the fully closed position (fig. 3 or 4).

Thus, the sliding doors 11 and 12 are surely brought to the fully closed position and then locked. That is, the following is prevented: when the sliding doors 11 and 12 are driven in the closing direction, the locking mechanism 30 is broken or the sliding doors 11 and 12 are restrained before being fully closed.

In the present embodiment, the lock mechanism 30 includes a cam formed of a curved hole 47, and the cam (the curved hole 47) includes a projection 47c for preventing switching from the unlocked state to the locked state. The 2 nd roller 52, which is a follower of the cam mechanism, can get over the projection 47c as shown in fig. 2 only when the sliding door 11 driven in the closing direction by the electric motor reaches the vicinity of the fully closed position in the unlocked state. The switch lever 33 is allowed to rotate by passing over the projection 47 c.

Thus, a compact structure is achieved that prevents the locking at a too early moment described above.

The lock mechanism 30 includes a lock link 31, and the lock link 31 is engaged with a brake roller (a member on the sliding door side) 34 provided on the sliding door 11 and located in the vicinity of the fully closed position, and rotates in accordance with the opening and closing movement of the sliding door 11. The lock mechanism 30 is provided with a lock lever 32, and the lock lever 32 is connected to the lock plate 33 by a cam formed by a curved hole 47. Further, the lock lever 32 is movable between a position (position in fig. 4; corresponding to a lock position) in which the horizontal posture of the lock link 31 is restricted from being rotated and a position (position in fig. 2) in which the lock lever is inclined from the horizontal posture, at a position when the sliding doors 11 and 12 are at the fully closed position. The lock plate 33 is configured to realize the locked state by fixing the lock lever 32 at a position in a horizontal posture (a position in fig. 4), and to realize the unlocked state by releasing the fixing at the position in the horizontal posture. As shown in fig. 2, the locking lever 32 is lifted by the rotation of the lock link 31 due to the movement of the sliding door 11 in the closing direction (the 1 st roller 51 is lifted by the roller insertion portion 43), so that the 2 nd roller 52 can get over the projection 47c of the curved hole 47.

Thus, the following automatic double locking structure is realized: the sliding doors 11 and 12 are locked by locking the rotation of the lock link 31 by the lock lever 32 (1 st lock), and the lock lever 32 is fixed by the lock plate 33 (2 nd lock). Therefore, even if the electric motor loses its driving force due to a failure or the like in a state where the sliding doors 11 and 12 are locked at the fully closed position, the unlocking of the sliding doors 11 and 12 contrary to the expectation is extremely reliably prevented.

Further, the latch lock pin of the related art is locked to a hole portion provided in a rack of a rack and pinion mechanism. Therefore, since the hole portion must be larger than the lock pin, there are problems as follows: a gap is generated in a state where the locking pin is inserted into the hole portion, and the sliding door is shaken by wind pressure or the like, which not only gives annoyance to passengers, but also affects the life of the locking device. On the other hand, since there is no gap in the locked state of the present invention, such a problem is not caused.

Since the protrusion 47c of the 2 nd roller 52 is caused to pass by the rotation of the lock link 31 (in other words, the rotation of the lock plate 33 is allowed), the rotation of the lock plate 33 is ensured to be performed in the vicinity of the fully closed position of the sliding door 11. That is, the locking operation is more reliably prevented from being performed at an early timing.

Although the preferred embodiments of the present invention have been described above, the above embodiments may be modified as follows, for example.

(1) In the above embodiment, the sun gear 21 is coupled to the output shaft of the electric motor, the ring gear 23 is coupled to the pinion gear 9, and the carrier 22 is coupled to the lock plate 33, but the present invention is not limited to this, and various modifications are conceivable, such as coupling the sun gear 21 to the pinion gear 9, and coupling the ring gear 23 to the electric motor.

(2) In the above embodiment, the cam between the lock plate 33 and the lock lever 32 is configured by using the curved hole 47 and the 2 nd roller 52, but the cam is not limited thereto, and various known configurations and forms of cams may be adopted. For example, a lock mechanism composed of a link and a pin may be employed. The present invention is not limited to the lock mechanism that realizes the double lock as in the above embodiment.

(3) In the above embodiment, the sliding doors 11 and 12 are opened on both sides, but the structure of the present invention can be applied to the case of the one-side opening type.

Claims (4)

1. An opening/closing device with a lock mechanism, comprising:

a rack and pinion mechanism including a rack mounted on the sliding door capable of reciprocating and a pinion engaged with the rack;

an actuator as an opening/closing drive source of the sliding door;

a planetary gear mechanism to which a driving force of the actuator is input;

a lock mechanism having a switching lever and capable of locking the sliding door at a fully closed position;

a plate-like base body is fixed to an upper portion of a side wall of a vehicle, 2 racks are supported by a rack holder fixed to the base body, the racks are supported by a slide support portion so that a longitudinal direction thereof is horizontally arranged and can slide in the longitudinal direction,

a planetary gear mechanism is supported by the base, and the planetary gear mechanism includes: a sun gear rotatably supported by the shaft; a plurality of planetary gears disposed on the outer periphery of the sun gear, meshed with the sun gear, and capable of rotating and revolving; a planetary carrier for rotatably supporting the planetary gear; and a ring gear having internal teeth externally meshed with the planetary gear, wherein three of the sun gear, the carrier, and the ring gear are disposed on the same axis and are each disposed so as to be rotatable relative to the other two, and the axes of the three coincide with the axes of the rack and the pinion of the pinion mechanism,

an output shaft of a direct drive type actuator capable of rotating forward and reverse is coupled to the sun gear, the ring gear is coupled to the pinion gear of the rack and pinion mechanism by a bolt, the carrier is coupled to the switching lever,

when the sliding door is located at a position other than the fully closed position, the power of the actuator is distributed to the pinion gear via the planetary gear mechanism,

when the sliding door is located at the fully closed position, the power of the actuator is distributed to the switching lever for switching between the locked state and the unlocked state of the lock mechanism via the planetary gear mechanism.

2. The opening-closing device with a lock mechanism according to claim 1,

the lock mechanism is configured to prevent movement of the switching lever when the sliding door is located at a position other than the fully closed position, and to allow movement of the switching lever when the sliding door is located at the fully closed position.

3. The opening-closing device with a lock mechanism according to claim 2,

the lock mechanism includes a cam having a projection for preventing switching from the unlocked state to the locked state,

the projection is allowed to pass over only when the sliding door driven in the closing direction by the actuator reaches the fully closed position or its vicinity in the unlocked state, and the switching lever is allowed to move by the passing over.

4. The opening-closing device with a lock mechanism according to claim 3,

the lock mechanism comprises:

a rotating member that engages with the member on the side of the sliding door located in the vicinity of the fully closed position and rotates in accordance with the opening/closing movement of the sliding door;

a moving member coupled to the switching lever via the cam and movable between a lock position for restricting rotation of the rotating member at a position when the sliding door is at the fully closed position and a position deviated from the lock position,

the switching lever is configured to realize the locked state by fixing the moving member at the locked position, and realize the unlocked state by releasing the fixing of the moving member at the locked position,

the protrusion of the cam is configured to be capable of being passed by rotation of the rotating member based on movement of the sliding door in the closing direction.