CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is the U.S. National Stage entry of International Application No. PCT/JP2020/024984 filed under the Patent Cooperation Treaty and having a filing date of Jun. 25, 2020, which claims priority to Japanese Patent Application No. 2019-154292 having a filing date of Aug. 27, 2019, both of which are incorporated herein by reference.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present disclosure relates to an outer slide type sunroof unit configured to be mounted to a roof of a vehicle such that a front panel slides over a rear panel.

BACKGROUND ART

There is known an outer slide type sunroof device which includes a front cover and a rear cover constituting a part of a vehicle roof such that the front cover slides over the rear cover (see Patent Document 1). In this sunroof device, a roof seal is attached to the roof to surround the roof opening peripherally and a cover seal is attached to the side edge of the rear cover so as to contact the roof seal, whereby the gap between the roof and the rear cover is sealed. When the front cover slides rearward over the rear cover, a lever (support member) of the mounting device of the front cover moves between the roof seal and the cover seal, so that the front cover is allowed to slide a large distance in the rearward direction.

In the sunroof device having such a structure, when installing the sunroof unit to the roof, it is necessary to attach the roof seal to the roof, which is a part of the vehicle body, and thus, the installation work is cumbersome. In other words, a structure in that the all seal members are provided on the sunroof unit is desirable. As an outer slide type sunroof unit having such a structure, a sunroof unit is known in which weather strips (seal members) each including a first seal portion for resiliently contacting an outer peripheral edge of the movable panel (front panel) or the fixed panel (rear panel) and a second seal portion for resiliently contacting an edge of the roof opening are fitted to respective vertical walls formed to stand upwardly from a guide rail or from a front housing or the like, which are part of the sunroof unit (see Patent Document 2). In this sunroof unit, a link member supporting the front panel moves in the fore-and-aft direction between the vertical wall and the rear panel by resiliently deforming the first seal portion.

However, in the sunroof unit disclosed in Patent Document 2, the seal members and the vertical walls supporting them need to be provided along the entire circumference of the front and rear panels so as to surround these panels, and thus, the seal structure is complex. Further, in a case where there is a manufacturing error in the roof, it is necessary to adjust the heights of the fixed panel and the seal members such that they are aligned with the roof, but in the sunroof unit disclosed in Patent Document 2, it is not possible to adjust the heights of the seal members.

To address such problems, the Applicant has proposed a sunroof unit in which a rear seal portion of the rear panel includes a first seal member mounted to a side edge of the rear molded part, a second seal member mounted to a rear edge of the rear molded part, and a third seal member provided on an outboard side of the first seal member, and the third seal member includes a first portion that has a rear end joined to a lateral end of the second seal member and resiliently contacts an inner edge of the opening of the roof and a second portion that resiliently contacts an outer side of the first seal member and cooperates with the first seal member to define a passage for a stay that supports the front pane (Patent Document 3). In this sunroof unit, the third seal member is supported by the frame of the sunroof unit via a support bracket and the support bracket is fixed to the frame on an outboard side of the rear panel (namely, below the roof), whereby the slider can move below the side edge of the rear panel without being obstructed by the support bracket.

PRIOR ART DOCUMENT(S)

Patent Document(s)

[Patent Document 1] U.S. Pat. No. 9,114,689B2[Patent Document 2] US2013/0307296A1[Patent Document 3] WO2018/079159A1

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Task to be Accomplished by the Invention

However, in the sunroof unit described in Patent Document 3, when the flange portion depending from the side edge of the opening of the roof of the vehicle has a large height, the height dimension of the support bracket also becomes large in accordance with the height of the flange portion. As a result, an overall thickness of the sunroof unit becomes large.

In view of such background, an object of the present invention is to provide a sunroof unit that can suppress increase of the overall thickness even when the flange portion depending from the side edge of the opening of the roof has a large height.

Means to Accomplish the Task

To achieve such an object, one embodiment of the present invention provides a sunroof unit (10) for at least partially opening and closing an opening (3) formed in a roof (2) of a vehicle (1), the sunroof unit comprising: a frame (20) configured to be disposed below the roof so as to be aligned with the opening; a rear panel (12) secured to the frame to close a rear portion of the opening; and a front panel (11) that includes a stay (63) depending from a side portion thereof and is supported by the frame via the stay so as to be slidable between a closed position to close a front portion of the opening and an open position where the front panel overlaps on top of the rear panel to open the front portion of the opening. The rear panel includes a rear panel main body (16) and a rear molded part (17) provided on an outer peripheral edge of the rear panel main body and contacts an edge of the opening via a rear seal portion (18). The rear seal portion includes a first seal member (31) mounted to the rear molded part in a rear portion of the opening and a second seal member (32) extending in a fore and aft direction and supported by the frame via a support bracket (33) to form a passage (64) for the stay between the second seal member and the rear molded part in a side portion of the opening. The frame includes a pair of guide walls (41A,41B) disposed more inboard than a side edge of the opening and slidably guiding a slider (40), which supports the stay, in the fore and aft direction below the passage and a vertical wall (43) formed to stand upright at a position more outboard than the side edge of the opening, the frame being fixed to the roof such that a flange portion (4) depending from the side edge of the opening is received between the vertical wall and an outboard one (41A) of the guide walls. The support bracket has a U-shaped cross section opened upward, is disposed to receive the flange portion, supports the second seal member on an inboard side thereof, and is attached to the vertical wall on an outboard side thereof.

According to this configuration, since the first seal member is mounted to the rear molded part in the rear portion of the opening, it is unnecessary to provide the frame with a vertical wall in the rear portion of the opening in order to support the first seal member. Also, the second seal member is supported by the frame via the support bracket in the side portion of the opening. Thus, the all seal members are provided on the sunroof unit side with a simple configuration. Further, the support bracket is disposed to receive the flange portion, whereby the support bracket can be disposed so as not to interfere with the flange portion of the roof or the slider, and even when the flange portion has a large height, increase of the overall thickness of the sunroof unit can be suppressed.

Preferably, the vertical wall (43) is formed with an elongated hole (61) that extends in a vertical direction, and the support bracket (33) is fastened to the vertical wall in a height adjustable manner by a fastening member (62) penetrating through the elongated hole.

According to this configuration, with a simple configuration in that the vertical wall of the frame is formed with an elongated hole, the support bracket can be attached to the vertical wall such that the height thereof can be adjusted continuously. Therefore, the height of the second seal member can be adjusted in the side portion of the opening to remove a step between the second seal member and the roof.

Preferably, the frame (20) has a drainage groove (44) formed below the side edge of the opening by the vertical wall (43) and the outboard one (41A) of the guide walls, and a lower portion of the support bracket (33) is disposed in the drainage groove.

According to this configuration, a drainage groove is formed on an outboard side of the part where the slider slides and below the flange portion, whereby even if water intrudes between the second seal member and the side edge of the opening, the water is drained forward or rearward by the drainage groove. Therefore, it is possible to prevent water from accumulating in the part where the slider slides.

Preferably, the support bracket (33) includes an outer vertical wall (56) attached to the vertical wall (43), an inner vertical wall (57) supporting the second seal member, and a connecting wall (58) that connects a lower end of the inner vertical wall and a lower end of the outer vertical wall to each other, and a position of a lower end of the elongated hole (61) is set such that the connecting wall is spaced upward from the frame (20) in a state in which the support bracket is attached to the vertical wall at a lowermost position.

According to this configuration, even when the support bracket is attached to the vertical wall at the lowermost position, a space is formed below the support bracket, and this space functions as a drainage groove. Therefore, water is drained smoothly without being obstructed by the support bracket.

Preferably, the connecting wall (58) includes multiple lateral ribs (66) extending in a width direction and multiple drainage holes (67) formed between the lateral ribs.

According to this configuration, the multiple lateral ribs allow the connecting wall to be formed with the multiple drainage holes while suppressing reduction of stiffness of the connecting wall. Due to the formation of the multiple drainage holes in the connecting wall, the water that has intruded from the side edge of the opening is discharged from the drainage holes without flowing within the support bracket with a U-shaped cross section over the entire length thereof and is smoothly drained by the drainage groove located below.

Preferably, the outer vertical wall (56) includes two fastening portions (68) respectively disposed at a front portion and a rear portion, a protruding portion (69) that protrudes in an inboard direction between the two fastening portions, and multiple vertical ribs (70) formed on the protruding portion so as to protrude in the inboard direction and to extend in the vertical direction.

According to this configuration, the outer vertical wall contacts the vertical wall of the frame only at the two fastening portions. Thereby, when the vehicle vibrates, the parts other than the fastening portions are prevented from generating abnormal noise by contacting or sliding along the vertical wall. Also, the multiple vertical ribs formed on the protruding portion suppress reduction of stiffness of the outer vertical wall fastened to the vertical wall at the two fastening portions.

Effect of the Invention

Thus, according to the above configuration, it is possible to provide a sunroof unit that can suppress increase of the overall thickness even if the flange portion depending from the side edge of the opening of the roof has a large height.

