Vehicle roof comprising a shading arrangement and guide rails

Abstract

A vehicle roof having a plate-shaped body-shell element and a shading arrangement which has a shading element and guide rails for laterally guiding the shading element. At least one fixing element is formed integrally on each of the guide rails at an upper side facing the body-shell element, said fixing element being in engagement with at least one molded portion which is molded to the body-shell element and has at least one fixing counterpart.

Claims

1. A vehicle roof, comprising: a plate-shaped body-shell element and a shading arrangement which has a shading element and guide rails for laterally guiding the shading element, wherein at least one fixing element is formed integrally on each of the guide rails at an upper side facing the body-shell element, said fixing element being in engagement with at least one molded portion which is molded to the body-shell element and comprises at least one fixing counterpart, wherein for two said fixing elements, each guide rail comprises two ribs which are aligned parallel to each other across the rail and each of which has a T-shaped or mushroom-shaped cross-section; and wherein the two ribs are each engaged into a recess of the molded portion being the fixing counterpart.

2. The vehicle roof according to claim 1 wherein the fixing counterpart is provided with an undercut.

3. The vehicle roof according to claim 1, wherein the molded portion is molded to the body-shell element by foaming or by injection molding.

4. The vehicle roof according to claim 1, wherein the body-shell element forms a first component and the molded portion forms a second component of a two-component injection-molded part.

5. The vehicle roof according to claim 1, wherein the two ribs each engage into a recess of the respective molded portion in a manner alternating along the longitudinal extension of the guide rails, and the recesses for one rib and the recesses for the other rib are offset from each other in the longitudinal direction of the roof.

6. The vehicle roof according to claim 1, wherein the two ribs engage into recesses of the respective molded portion which are located next to each other in the transverse direction of the guide rails.

7. The vehicle roof according to claim 1, wherein across their length, the two ribs are each at least almost entirely accommodated in a respective recess of the respective molded portion.

8. The vehicle roof according to claim 1, wherein the shading element is a roller blind web.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTIONS OF THE DRAWINGS

(1) In the drawing, embodiments of a vehicle roof according to the invention are illustrated in a schematically simplified manner and will be explained in more detail in the following description.

(2) FIG. 1 shows a schematic top view of a vehicle roof having guide rails attached to a fixed roof element;

(3) FIG. 2a shows a section through the vehicle roof of FIG. 1 along line II-II in FIG. 1;

(4) FIG. 2b shows a section corresponding to FIG. 2a through the vehicle roof, but with a guide rail in a pre-installation position;

(5) FIG. 3a shows a section through the vehicle roof of FIG. 1 along line III-III in FIG. 1;

(6) FIG. 3b shows a section corresponding to FIG. 3a through the vehicle roof, but with the guide rail in a pre-installation position;

(7) FIG. 4 shows a schematic top view of an alternative embodiment of a vehicle roof having guide rails attached to a fixed roof element;

(8) FIG. 5a shows a perspective bottom view of a front-side section of the vehicle roof of FIG. 4 with a guide rail in a pre-installation position; and

(9) FIG. 5b shows a bottom view, corresponding to FIG. 5a, of the vehicle roof of FIG. 4, but during installation of the guide rail.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

(10) FIGS. 1 to 3b illustrate a vehicle roof 10 which is configured as a panoramic roof which has a fixed roof element 14 made of glass and rigidly connected to the vehicle body.

(11) The fixed roof element 14, which constitutes a body-shell element, is a glass pane which is provided with a shading arrangement 16 at its underside. The shading arrangement 16 comprises a roller blind panel 18, which constitutes a shading element and can be wound onto a winding shaft 20 disposed in a rear-side edge portion of the fixed roof element 14 and extending in the transverse direction of the roof. The roller blind panel 18, which has a pull bar 22 at its front-side edge facing away from the winding shaft 20, is guided in a guide rail 24A, 24B at each of its lateral edges extending in the longitudinal direction of the vehicle.

(12) The guide rails 24A and 24B are each attached to the underside of the fixed roof element 14. For this purpose, at its underside, the fixed roof element 14 is provided with a molded portion 26A, 26B on either side of a vertical longitudinal center plane of the roof, the molded portions 26A and 26B being made of a polyurethane material and molded to the glass pane by foaming. At its underside, the molded portion 26 has fixing counterparts 28 and 30, each of which is formed by a protrusion and in each of which a groove-like recess 32 provided with an undercut is formed. The fixing counterparts 28 and their recesses 32 serve to receive a first rib 34, which is formed integrally on the upper side of each guide rail 24A, 24B, and the fixing counterparts 30 and their recesses 32 serve to receive a second rib 36, which is formed integrally on the upper side of the respective guide rail 24A, 24B. The ribs 34 and 36, which constitute fixing elements, each have a T-shaped or mushroom-shaped cross-section which corresponds to the cross-section of the recesses 32. Additionally, the fixing counterparts 28 and 30, which are formed by protrusions in a manner alternating in the longitudinal direction of the roof, each have a plane contact surface for a counterface of the respective guide rail 24A, 24B.

(13) As can be seen in FIGS. 2a, 2b, 3a, and 3b, the guide rails 24A and 24B are installed from below at right angles to the plane of the fixed roof element 14 in such a manner that the ribs 34 and 36, one by one or simultaneously, are pushed into the groove-like to recesses 32 of the fixing counterparts 28 and 30 from below, as indicated by arrow Z. Thus, a secure and stable attachment of the guide rails 24A and 24B to the fixed roof element 14 is achieved via the ribs 34 and 36.

(14) FIG. 4 shows another embodiment of a vehicle roof 10′ according to the invention, which differs from that of FIG. 1 in that molded portions 26A and 26B for attaching the guide rails 24A and 24B are formed on the underside of the fixed roof element 14, each molded portion 26A, 26B having two fixing counterparts 28 and 30 which are disposed next to each other in the transverse direction of the vehicle and which are formed on both ends of the guide rails 24A and 24B and in a middle portion of the guide rails 24A and 24B. As can be seen in FIGS. 5a and 5b, the fixing counterparts 28 and 30 each have a groove-like recess 32 having a T-shaped or mushroom-shaped cross-section, i.e. having an undercut, which is engaged by a rib 34, 36 whose cross-section corresponds to the respective recess 32 formed on the upper side of the respective guide rail 24A, 24B, which is an extruded aluminum profile.

(15) In the vehicle roof 10′ illustrated in FIG. 4, the guide rails 24A and 24B are installed on the fixed roof element 14 in that the ribs 34 and 36 are inserted into the recesses 32 of the fixing counterparts 28 and 30 of the molded portions 26A and 26B in the longitudinal direction, as indicated by arrow X.

(16) In a special embodiment which is not shown, the vehicle roof can be additionally provided with a front-side transparent roof element which is part of a sunroof system and which can be displaced in the longitudinal direction of the roof in order to open and close a corresponding roof opening. Then, above a backseat area of the vehicle in question, the vehicle roof has the fixed roof element which is rigidly connected to the vehicle body and which is made of glass and which is disposed to the rear of the displaceable roof element and which is provided with a shading arrangement of the aforementioned type.

REFERENCE SIGNS

(17) 10, 10′ vehicle roof 14 fixed roof element 16 shading arrangement 18 roller blind panel 20 winding shaft 22 pull bar 24A, B guide rail 26A, B molded portion 28 fixing counterparts 30 fixing counterparts 32 recess 34 rib 36 rib