Automotive vehicle roof system having multiple sunroofs

• US 20020158491A1
• Filed: 03/25/2002
• Published: 10/31/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 03/14/2000
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Specialty Vehicle Acquisition Corp. (Specialty Vehicle Holding Corp.)
• Original Assignee: ASC Incorporated
• Inventors: Patelczyk, Jeffrey S., Beauprez, Gregory M., Dowdey, Christopher C., Schaller, Bernard W.
• Granted Patent: US 6,669,278 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 296/220.01
• CPC Class Codes: B60J 7/047 movable to overlapping or nested relationship B60J7/041 takes precedence

Abstract

A preferred embodiment of an automotive vehicle roof system includes first, second and third movable sunroof panels. A further aspect of the present invention provides a pair of sunroof panels that are slidable toward each other in a cross-car direction and a third movable sunroof located rearward of at least one of the pair of sunroof panels.

Claims

1. An automotive vehicle roof system having a fore-and-aft longitudinal direction and a substantially perpendicular cross-car direction, the system comprising:

a roof having a first opening, a second opening and a third opening, the first and second openings being located adjacent to each other in the cross-car direction, the third opening being located rearward of both the first and second openings in such a manner that the longitudinal centerline of the third roof opening substantially coincides with a point located midway between the first and second openings;

a first sunroof panel movable from a closed position, covering the first opening, to a moved position;

a second sunroof panel movable from a closed position, covering the second opening, to a moved position; and

at least a third sunroof panel movable from a closed position, covering the third opening, to a moved position.

2. The system of claim 1 wherein the first panel is movable toward a longitudinal centerline of the roof when the first panel is moved from its closed position to its moved position.

3. The system of claim 2 wherein the second panel is movable toward the longitudinal centerline of the roof when the second panel is moved from its closed position to its moved position.

4. The system of claim 3 wherein the first and second panels are located below a plane of the roof when in their moved positions.

5. The system of claim 2 further comprising a scissors linkage and a rotatable link, which together are operable to lower the entire first panel when the first panel is moved from a closed position to its moved position.

6. The system of claim 5 further comprising a pivoting link operable to lower an inboard edge of the second panel without substantially lowering an outboard edge of the second panel, when the second panel is moved from its closed position to its moved position.

7. The system of claim 2 wherein the panels are all preassembled to the roof as a modularized unit prior to assembly of the roof to a vehicle.

8. The system of claim 1 further comprising:

a first automatically powered actuator;

a first mechanism operably moving the first panel when driven by the first actuator;

a second automatically powered actuator; and

a second mechanism operably moving the second panel when driven by the second actuator.

9. The system of claim 8 further comprising:

the third sunroof panel having an aft peripheral edge;

a third automatically powered actuator;

a rotating member that is driven by the third powered actuator;

a link having two ends, the first end of the link being pivotally attached to the rotating member, the second end being pivotally attached to the third sunroof panel at a location along the rear periphery of the third panel, the link operably moving the third panel when the rotating member is driven by the third powered actuator.

10. The system of claim 1 wherein the third panel has a cross-car dimension substantially the same as a cross-car dimension of the combined closed first and second panels, and the third panel is located behind both the first and second panels when all of the panels are in their closed positions.

11. The system of claim 10 further comprising an externally visible and stationary roof section located between the panels when the panels are all in their closed positions, the stationary roof section having a T-shape when viewed from above with an exterior surface of the stationary roof section being substantially co-planar with the panels when in their closed positions.

12. The system of claim 1 wherein the panels are all movable independently of each other.

13. The system of claim 1 wherein the moved position of the third panel is a pivoted venting position with one edge of the third panel remaining substantially unmoved from its orientation in the closed position and with an opposite edge of the third panel being vertically offset from its orientation in the closed position.

14. The system of claim 1 wherein the third panel has a rear edge with a partially circular periphery when viewed from above.

15. The system of claim 1 further comprising a roof rack that is attached to the roof system outboard of the first, second and third sunroof panels.

16. The system of claim 1 further comprising electric motors and mechanisms operably moving the first, second and third panels, wherein the roof is stationary and substantially rigid, and the panels are substantially transparent.

18. The system of claim 17 wherein the panels are all operable to positions below a plane defined by the closed panels.

19. The system of claim 18 wherein the first and second panels substantially overlap each other when the first and second panels are in their open positions.

20. The system of claim 17 wherein the first mechanism is operable to lower the entire first panel when the first panel is moved from its closed position to its open position.

21. The system of claim 21 wherein the first mechanism includes a scissors linkage arrangement and a rotatable link.

22. The system of claim 17 further comprising:

a fifth sunroof panel;

a fifth automatically powered mechanism operable to move the fifth panel toward the centerline when the fifth panel is driven from a closed position to an open position;

a sixth sunroof panel; and

a sixth automatically powered mechanism operable to move the sixth panel toward the centerline when the sixth panel is driven from a closed position to an open position.

23. The system of claim 17 wherein the second mechanism pivotably lowers an inboard edge of the second panel without substantially lowering an outboard edge of the second panel, when the second panel is moved from its closed position to its open position.

25. The system of claim 24 wherein the panels are slid toward each other when they are moved from their closed positions to their open positions.

26. The system of claim 25 wherein the panels are adjacent to each other in a cross-car direction when in their closed positions and are moved toward a vehicular longitudinal centerline when moved from their closed positions to their open positions, the cross-car direction is oriented substantially perpendicular to the longitudinal centerline.

27. The system of claim 24 wherein the panels substantially overlap each other when both are in their open positions.

28. The system of claim 27 wherein the open positions of the panels are below a plane defined by the closed positions of the panels.

30. The sunroof of claim 29 wherein contact of the hook with the finger acts to disengage an end of the finger from the aperture of the track.

31. The sunroof of claim 30 wherein the finger is flexible.

32. The sunroof of claim 29 further comprising a trailing pivot coupling the linkage assembly to the trailing block, wherein the arm is slidable between the finger of the trailing block and the trailing pivot.

33. The sunroof of claim 29 further comprising an elongated leading link pivotably coupled to the leading block, and a pivot coupling the leading link to the sunroof panel assembly.

34. The sunroof of claim 29 wherein the member is a flexible cable and the first direction is defined as a cross-car vehicular direction.

17. An automotive vehicle roof system having a longitudinal centerline, the system comprising:

a stationary roof panel having a first side segment, middle segment and second side segment;

a first sunroof panel having an inboard peripheral edge and an outboard peripheral edge, the outboard peripheral edge being positioned adjacent to the first side segment of the stationary roof panel and the inboard peripheral edged being positioned adjacent to the middle segment of the stationary roof panel when the first sunroof panel is in a closed position;

a first automatically powered mechanism operable to move the first panel away from the first side segment of the stationary roof panel and toward the middle segment of the stationary roof panel when the first panel is driven from a closed position to an open position;

a second sunroof panel having an inboard peripheral edge and an outboard peripheral edge, the outboard peripheral edge being positioned adjacent to the second side segment of the stationary roof panel and the inboard peripheral edged being positioned adjacent to the middle segment of the stationary roof panel when the second sunroof panel is in a closed position;

a second automatically powered mechanism operable to move the second panel away from the second side segment of the stationary roof panel and toward the middle segment of the stationary roof panel when the second panel is driven from a closed position to an open position;

a third sunroof panel having an inboard peripheral edge and an outboard peripheral edge, the outboard peripheral edge being positioned adjacent to the first side segment of the stationary roof panel and the inboard peripheral edged being positioned adjacent to the middle segment of the stationary roof panel when the third sunroof panel is in a closed position;

a third automatically powered mechanism operable to move the third panel away from the first side segment of the stationary roof panel and toward the middle segment of the stationary roof panel when the third panel is driven from a closed position to an open position;

at least a fourth sunroof panel having an inboard peripheral edge and an outboard peripheral edge, the outboard peripheral edge being positioned adjacent to the second side segment of the stationary roof panel and the inboard peripheral edged being positioned adjacent to the middle segment of the stationary roof panel when the fourth sunroof panel is in a closed position; and

at least a fourth automatically powered mechanism operable to move the fourth panel away from the second side segment of the stationary roof panel and toward the middle segment of the stationary roof panel when the fourth panel is driven from a closed position to an open position.

24. An automotive vehicle sunroof system comprising:

a first sunroof panel having an inboard peripheral edge and an outboard peripheral edge;

a first mechanism coupled to the first panel, the first mechanism including a scissor linkage being operable to lower the inboard peripheral edge of first panel and a pivoting link being operable to lower the outboard peripheral edge of the first panel when the first panel is slid from a closed position to an open position;

a second sunroof panel located adjacent the first panel, the second sunroof panel having an inboard peripheral edge and an outboard peripheral edge; and

a second mechanism coupled to the second panel, the second mechanism including a pivoting link, the second mechanism being operable to pivotably lower the inboard peripheral edge of the second panel without substantially lowering the outboard peripheral edge of the second panel when the second panel is operably slid in a substantially linear manner from its closed position to its open position.

29. A sunroof comprising:

a track having a channel defined in part by an upstanding wall with an aperture, the track being elongated in a first direction;

a leading block slidable in the channel;

a member operably pushing and pulling the leading block;

an arm projecting from the leading block, the arm having a hook projecting in a second direction substantially facing the upstanding wall;

a trailing block slidable in the channel, the trailing block having a finger substantially projecting in the second direction;

a linkage assembly coupling the leading block to the trailing block; and

a sunroof panel assembly coupled to the linkage assembly;

the hook being slidable relative to the trailing block when the scissor linkage operably lowers the sunroof panel assembly and when the finger of the trailing block engages the aperture of the track;

the hook operably engaging the trailing block and causing simultaneous movement of the leading and trailing blocks when the sunroof panel assembly is moved from a closed position to an open position, and the finger operably disengaging the aperture of the track when the blocks move together.

35. An automotive vehicle roof system having a fore-and-aft longitudinal direction and a substantially perpendicular cross-car direction, the system comprising:

a roof having a first opening, a second opening and a third opening, the first and second openings being located adjacent to each other in the cross-car direction, the third opening being located rearward of at least one of the first and second openings;

a first sunroof panel movable from a closed position, covering the first opening, to a moved position, the first panel being movable toward a longitudinal centerline of the roof when the first panel is moved from its closed position to its moved position;

a mechanism comprising a scissors linkage and a pivoting link operable to lower the entire first panel when the first panel is moved from its closed position to its moved position;

a second sunroof panel movable from a closed position, covering the second opening, to a moved position; and

at least a third sunroof panel movable from a closed position, covering the third opening, to a moved position.