DOOR-ASSEMBLY

Abstract: A door-assembly for a vehicle, comprising an outer panel (22), and an inner panel (2), connected thereto to form a self-supporting unit open at the lockside, a unit-carrier (30), comprising at least two reinforcement girders (32, 34) connected to a closure plate (36) carrying the lock, being installed by insertion into the assembly from the lockside thereof.

Description: The invention relates to a door-assembly as described in the preamble of Claim 1. A similar door-assembly is known from the German DE-A1-3209052 and 3217640. According to this state of the art the unit-carrier is constructed in a very special manner: the unit-carrier in fact constitutes the inner panel of the door. The implementation of the idea, as described in the above mentioned publications, therefore results in a construction which differs completely from the known door-­ constructions. This alternative construction indeed elimina­ tes the disadvantage of poor accessibility of the door inner room with regard to automated component installation but is, due to the absence of a window guide, only suitable for cardesigns with doors without window frames (e.g. cabrio's). The invention aims, starting from abovementioned state of the art, to provide a door-assembly which makes farreach­ ing use of already, existing components, used in certain carstructures. This objective is according to the invention attained with the measures as described in the characterizing clause of the main Claim. The invention makes advantageously use of the reinfor­ cement girders which are already present in the collision-­ proof doorconstructions to construct, in combination with the closure plate, a unit-carrier that can simply be in­ stalled in the door from the locking side thereof. It is not necessary to create another new construction and consequen­ tially the costs of the door-assembly will hardly be higher than the same of the above mentioned assembly. It is observed that FR-A-1 597 263 discloses a dooras­ sembly, an inner panel of plastics, with an outer panel and in one piece formed by reaction molding, using a mold which contains a metal plate or rod to obtain the necessary hard plastics surface configuration at the inner surface of the door. This plate or rod can also be used as a kind of aggregate carrier because it can carry an armrest, the windowoperating mechanism and the hinges. Preferred embodiments are described in the Claims 2 till 5 inclusive, while the method of assembly as described in Claim 6 can be incorporated without problems in the operations to be performed in an existing assembly-line. The invention will be explained with reference to the drawing. Herein is: Figure 1 a perspective view of the inner panel of a door-assembly according to the invention; Figure 2 a perspective view of the outer and the inner panel of this assembly; Figure 3 a perspective representation of the applied unit-carrier, without units however; Figure 4 a perspective representation of this unit-car­ rier with various units; Figure 5 a perspective representation as explanation for the method in which the unit-carrier is installed into the door-assembly. gure 1 shows the inner panel of a leftside door-assem­ bly, indicated in its entirety by the reference numeral 2 and as seen from the outside in the direction of the arrow 4. The panel has the usual windowguides 6, 8 while also the openings 10a-10e, as employed in the usual panels, are maintained although they are no more functional in the door-assembly according to the invention; their presence however results in a useful weight reduction. On the front side of the doorpanel 2 there is the usual hinge reinforce­ ment 12, while the back rim 14 of the panel has a recess 16. Its purpose will be explained more fully later. Furthermore there is the usual frieze section 18, while the bottom rim 20 of the panel also has been designed in the known and usual manner. Figure 2 shows in general the outer panel of the door-assembly, indicated in its entirety by the reference numeral 22. This panel mainly has been designed in the usual way and forms together with the inner panel the external door-assembly without unit-carrier. recess 16 has been shown - with dashed lines - again. Figure 3 shows the unit-carrier according to the invention, indicated in its entirety with the reference numeral 30. This unit-carrier 30 consists of a number of, in this case two, reinforcement girders 32 and 34 and a closure plate 36, which is fitted between inner panel and outer panel at the final assembly of the door-assembly. The upper girder 32 and the lower girder 34 are ending at their front-end in an anchoring part 38 respectively 40 with which the girders are finally fastened to the hinge reinforcement plate 12 of the inner panel 2; on the back end no separate anchoring organs are necessary. The closure plate 36 carries a prefabricated mounting element 44 for the lock and a mounting element 46 for a lock actuating motor - used when a central door-locking system is employed. The upper girder 32 carries the front window guide 48 and between upper girder 32 and lower girder 34 the rear window guide 50 has been fitted. Also on the lower and upper girder fixing organs 52, 60 and respectively 54, 62 have been fitted. Figure 4 shows the unit-carrier in a later stage of assembly. Between the upper girder 32 and the lower girder 34, is, by way of the fixing organs 52 and 54, a support 56 for the window actuating motor 58 is mounted, while by means of the fixing organs 60 and 62 between the girders 32 and 34 is mounted a guide 64 for the window actuating cable 66 which passes over the guide rollers 68, 70 and 72 and which is driven by the motor 58. The window 74 is coupled to this cable 66 by way of a catcher 76 and is guided in the window guides 48 and 50. Figure 4 also shows how the closure plate 36 carries the lock 78 and the lockmotor 80 of the central door-locking system; schematically are shown the actuating rods 82 and 84 for respectively the locklatching and unlat­ ching knobs to be operated from the inside and not shown in the drawing, and also mounted on the closure plate 36 is the inner part 86 of the outer handle cooperating with the later to be mounted intermediate plate 88 and handle 90, while also is indicated lock 92 with key 94 to be mounted after­ wards from the outside. After attaching the inner panel and the outer panel to one another, which can be done in the usual manner by folded jointing or adhesive bonding, the completed unit-carrier is, as is shown in figure 5, inserted in the direction of the arrow 96 into the door-assembly and the closure plate 36 is sealingly fastened between inner panel and outer panel. By means of the anchorings 38 and 40 the upper girder 32 and lower girder 34 are attached to the hinge reinforcing plate 12. The assembly and the mounting of the door-assembly can be carried out as follows: Inner panel and outer panel are built up in the usual way from the various components, joined together by adhesive bonding and folded jointing and are subjected in combination to the heat treatment necessary for adhesive bonding. Separately from this the unit-carrier is built up to the configuration as shown in figure 3 and provisionally mounted in the door, constituted by the inner and outer panel which have been interconnected. The thus obtained entirety is mounted on the vehicle body and adjusted, and is subjected with the rest of the vehicle to the usual painting treatment in the painting line. Thereafter the door is taken out again - which is also necessary to provide accessibility to the interior of the vehicle for the various assembly operations - and the unit-carrier is completed with the components shown in figure 4. When this has been done the now completed unit-carrier is inserted into the door (figure 5), the closure plate 36 is connected with inner and outer panel and the anchoring organs 38 and 40 of the reinforcement girders 32 and 34 are fastened and the door is finished with uphol­ stery, handles etcetera. When this has been effected the door is mounted in the usual manner in the vehicle.

Claims: 1. Door-assembly for a vehicle, constructed from discrete parts, to wit an outer panel (22), a unit-carrier (30) provided with reinforcement girders (32, 34) and an inner panel (2), characterized in that the inner panel (2) is fixed to the outer panel (22), and constitutes with it a self-supporting unit which is closed on the hingeside and open on the lockside and in that at least two reinforcement girders spaced above one another are connected on the one hand to a closure plate (36), located between outer and inner panel, and are connected on the other hand after insertion from the lock (78) side to the hingeside (12) of the door-assembly, the unit-carrier (30) being formed by the combination of the reinforcement girders (32, 34) and the closure plate (36). 2. Door-assembly according to Claim 1, characterized in that the vertical front (48) - as well as rear window-guide (50) of the door is connected to at least one of the rein­ forcement girders (32). 3. Door-assembly according to Claims 1 or 2, characterized in that a support (56) for a drive motor (58) for a window operating mechanism is fitted between the reinforcement girders (32, 34). 4. Door-assembly according to Claims 1-3, characterized in that the door-locking mechanism (78, 80) is fitted on the closure plate (36). 5. Door-assembly according to Claim 4, characterized in that the lock-operating mechanism (82, 84, 86) is also fitted on the closure plate (36). 6. Method for assembling a door-assembly according to Claims 1-5, characterized in that an outer doorpanel and an inner doorpanel are intercon­ nected to form a self-supporting entirety, which is closed on the hinging side and open on the locking side; a unit-carrier is formed, consisting of at least two reinforcement girders, spaced above one another, connected with a closure plate, orientated transversely thereto and unit mounting elements; the unit-carrier is provisionally mounted in the door, the door is mounted in the vehicle body and thereupon the entirety is subjected to the usual painting treatment(s); the unit-carrier is removed from the door and provided with the necessary units; the unit-carrier is connected in the door the junctions between closure plate and door inner- and outerpanels are closed, the reinforcement girders area fastened on the hinging side and the door is finished; the door is mounted in the vehicle body.

Inventors: HOUTZAGER, KEES
Applicants: VOLVO CAR B.V.
Application year: 1988
Main classification: B60J5
IPC codes: B60J5