Abstract:
A sliding roof system includes at least one guide rail, a carriage that is shiftable in the guide rail, and a cover support which together with a cover can be adjusted by shifting the carriage between a closed position, a lifted venting position, and a lowered open position. The cover support is provided with studs that engage in the carriage. The carriage is located outside a contour of the cover as seen in a top view of the sliding roof system.

Description:
RELATED APPLICATIONS 
     The application claims priority to European Application No. 06 019 985.8, which was filed on Sep. 25, 2006. 
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     The invention relates to a sliding roof system that includes at least one guide rail, a carriage shiftable in the guide rail, a cover support that can be adjusted by shifting the carriage between a closed position, a lifted venting position, and a lowered open position, and where the cover support is provided with studs that engage in the carriage. 
     A cover is connected with the cover support of the sliding roof system and closes a roof opening in the closed position of the sliding roof system. In the lifted venting position, a rear edge of the cover, as seen in a traveling direction of a vehicle, is raised outwards relative to a roof. In the open position, the cover is shifted to lie underneath a roof sheet that is located behind the roof opening. 
     In general, an aim with such sliding roof systems is that an opening exposed by the cover, which does not necessarily have to be identical with the roof opening, is as large as possible. It is also desirable that a clear width of the opening, which is perceived by a vehicle occupant, i.e. transverse to a vehicle longitudinal axis, is as large as possible. 
     It is the object of the invention to further develop a sliding roof system of the type initially mentioned to the effect that a particularly large clear width of the opening will be produced. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     To this end, a sliding roof system is provided where a carriage is located outside a contour of a cover as seen in a top view of the sliding roof system. In one example, a clear space is provided between a cover support and the carriage, as measured along a longitudinal axis of studs that engage in the carriage, which is in the order of a width of the carriage. The invention is based on a fundamental idea of arranging guide rails and components received in the guide rails, such as the carriage, at a position further outside, so that a larger clear width is obtained. With such an arrangement, the studs of the cover support can be lengthened in a mechanically simple fashion such that the studs span the clear space that arises when the guide rails are arranged further outside, while the cover support remains unchanged. This is surprising as it was presumed that the studs on the cover support should be as short as possible and hence the carriage should be arranged on the cover support as close as possible in order to achieve a high stability. 
     According to one example embodiment of the invention, a guide rail is provided with a duct for a drive cable, with the duct being located behind the carriage as seen from the cover support. This measure also contributes to achieving a clear width of the opening, which is as large as possible. As such, the drive cables are no longer located in a region which is critical for the clear width, but instead are “outside” laterally of the carriage. 
     These and other features of the present invention can be best understood from the following specification and drawings, the following of which is a brief description. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         FIG. 1  shows a vehicle roof with a sliding roof system in a schematic view. 
         FIG. 2  shows a front end of a guide rail of the sliding roof system according to the invention. 
         FIG. 3  shows a perspective view of the sliding roof system according to the invention. 
         FIG. 4  shows a detail of a front end of the sliding roof system according to the invention, with a carriage having been omitted for better clarity. 
         FIG. 5  shows, in a view as seen obliquely from above, the sliding roof system according to the invention, where an adjoining rigid roof has been omitted. 
         FIG. 6  shows, in a perspective view, a cover support with a cover of the sliding roof system according to the invention. 
         FIG. 7  shows a comparison between a clear width with the sliding roof system according to the invention and a conventional sliding roof system. 
         FIG. 8  is a schematic side view of the sliding roof system according to the invention, with the cover being in the closed position. 
         FIG. 9  shows the sliding roof system of  FIG. 8 , where the cover is in a venting position. 
         FIG. 10  shows the sliding roof system of  FIG. 8 , where the cover is in an open position. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
       FIG. 1  shows a sliding roof system that is attached to a roof  5  of a vehicle. A roof opening  7  is provided in a roof sheet. The roof opening  7  can be closed or exposed by a cover  10 . In the illustration of  FIG. 1 , the cover  10  is in a nearly completely open position, in which the cover  10  is shifted rearwardly to lie underneath the roof sheet of the roof  5 . 
     Terms such as “top” or “rear” refer to a usual traveling direction and orientation of a vehicle. In this context, “front” corresponds to an x-direction, “top” corresponds to a z-direction, and “lateral” corresponds to a y-direction of an ordinary coordinate system. 
     Guide rails  12  extend along longitudinal edges of the roof opening  7  (see also  FIG. 2 ). One guiding slot  14  (see also  FIG. 8 ) is formed in each guide rail  12 . The guiding slot  14  initially extends vertically downwards, as viewed from front to rear. A curved transition portion follows, which in turn is adjoined by an approximately horizontally extending portion. The latter is followed by a portion that extends slightly obliquely downwards, and which in turn is adjoined by a very long portion that extends parallel to a direction of extension of the respective guide rail  12 . The guide rail  12  has an insert piece  16  (see  FIG. 2 ) at a front portion, which comprises all portions of the guiding slot  14  that are not parallel to the direction of extension of the guide rail  12 . This allows the guide rail  12  to be produced as a continuously extruded part. 
     Each guide rail  12  movably receives a carriage  18  (see in particular  FIGS. 3 and 5 ). The carriage  18  can be shifted in the respective guide rail  12  by a drive cable (not illustrated) that is received in a guide duct  20  of the guide rail  12 . The carriage  18  has a raising slot  22  at a front end (see in particular  FIG. 8 ) and a lifting slot  24  at a rear end. As seen from the front to the rear, the raising slot  22  has a first portion, which is a comparably steep upwardly extending portion, followed by a second portion, which is not as steep as the first portion, and finally an adjoining third portion that again is not as steep as the second portion. As seen from the front to the rear, the lifting slot  24  has a horizontal portion, a portion which extends obliquely upwards, a horizontal intermediate portion, another portion which extends obliquely upwards, and a horizontally extending end portion. The obliquely extending front portion has a higher gradient than the obliquely extending rear portion. 
     A cover support  26  (see in particular  FIGS. 3 ,  4  and  6 ) cooperates with the carriage  18  and the guiding slot  14  of each guide rail  12 . The cover  10  is fastened to both cover supports  26 . Each cover support  26  is provided with two studs, namely a front stud  28  and a rear stud  30 . The front stud  28  is long enough to penetrate into the raising slot  22  of the carriage  18 , and extends as far as into the guiding slot  14  of the guide rail  12  (see in particular  FIG. 3 ). The rear stud  30  is long enough to engage in the lifting slot  24  of the carriage  18 . 
     In a top view, i.e. as seen from above (cf.  FIG. 5 ), the carriage  18  is laterally spaced from an outer contour of the cover  10  and is located underneath the adjoining, firm roof sheet. 
     An important feature of the sliding roof system is that a clear space F is present between the cover support  26  and the carriage  18 . This clear space F is spanned by the front and rear studs  28 ,  30  and can be seen in  FIG. 5 . In  FIG. 5 , the roof  5  and seal  6  (cf.  FIG. 7 ) are omitted for clarification. 
       FIG. 7  shows the effect provided by the usage of the clear space F between the cover support  26  and the carriage  18 . The upper part of  FIG. 7  shows a conventional guide rail for a conventional sliding roof. The lower part of  FIG. 7  shows a cross-section of the sliding roof system according to the invention. It can be seen that with the sliding roof system according to the invention a clear width W, measured between the two guide rails  12  which are opposite to one another, is larger on each side by approximately 30 mm, i.e. in total by 60 mm. This represents a substantial benefit in terms of comfort for the vehicle occupants. In  FIG. 7  one can also see that the clear width W is not dictated by a width of the roof opening  7 , but of the guide rails  12  of the sliding roof system. 
     The mode of operation of the sliding roof system will now be described in reference to  FIGS. 8 to 10 . In a closed state (see  FIG. 8 ), the front stud  28  of the cover support  26  is located in the front, vertically extending portion of the guiding slot  14 , and is located approximately in a middle portion of the raising slot  22 . As the guiding slot  14  and raising slot  22  roughly intersect each other at an angle of 90°, the front stud  28  is fixed both in both the x and z directions. The rear stud  30  is located in the horizontally extending intermediate portion of the lifting slot  24 . In this way, the rear stud  30  is fixed in the z-direction. As two spaced points of the cover support  26  are fixed in the x-direction and the front stud  28  additionally is fixed in the z-direction, the cover  10  is precisely positioned in the closed position. 
     In order to get from the closed position to a venting position as shown in  FIG. 9 , the carriage  18  (starting from the position shown in  FIG. 8 ) is shifted to the front, i.e. to the left related to  FIGS. 8 to 10 . In this process, the rear stud  30  travels upward in the lifting slot  24 , while at the same time the front stud  28  is slightly moved upwards in the vertically extending portion of the guiding slot  14  by the raising slot  22 . These two movements superpose in such a manner that a rear edge of the cover  10  is raised outwards, while a front edge of the cover  10  is only slightly lowered. 
     The open position of the cover  10  shown in  FIG. 10  is reached starting from the closed position shown in  FIG. 8 . Starting from the position shown in  FIG. 8 , the carriage  18  is shifted to the rear in the guide rail  12 , i.e. to the right related to the  FIGS. 8 to 10 . In this process, the rear stud  30  travels downwards in the lifting slot  24 , and the front stud  28  travels in the raising slot  22  and, hence, in the guiding slot  14  downward such that the front stud  28  enters the approximately horizontally extending portion of the guiding slot  14 . In this position, the front stud  28 , the cover support  26  and the cover  10  in the guide rails  12  can be entrained to the rear position shown in  FIG. 10  by the carriage  18 , in which the cover  10  lies almost completely underneath the roof sheet of the vehicle roof  5 . 
     In order to close the cover  10 , the carriage  18  is again moved to the front until the situation of  FIG. 8  is achieved. 
     Although an embodiment of this invention has been disclosed, a worker of ordinary skill in this art would recognize that certain modifications would come within the scope of this invention. For that reason, the following claims should be studied to determine the true scope and content of this invention.