WO2008010243A1

WO2008010243A1 - Sun visor device for vehicles

Info

Publication number: WO2008010243A1
Application number: PCT/IT2006/000545
Authority: WO
Inventors: Remo Meccola
Original assignee: Marker Italia, S.R.L.
Priority date: 2006-07-18
Filing date: 2006-07-18
Publication date: 2008-01-24

Abstract

A device (1) for shielding from solar irradiation and/or irradiation from generic light sources, which can be installed on means of transport typically comprising a compartment (100) having a viewing protective panel (20), commonly called windshield, mounted frontally to said compartment (100); and side view openings (30), commonly called windows, wherein the shielding device (1) comprises a first front shielding flap (2) that can be anchored to the roof (50) of the compartment (100) of a means of transport, and that can be lowered from a resting position adjacent to the roof (50) to an operative position adjacent to the windshield (20); characterized in that it further comprises a second side shielding flap (3), rotatably coupled to said front shielding flap (2), that can be housed in a seat (4) integrated by the first front shielding flap (2) when in resting position and by the seat (4) unfoldable sideways with respect to said compartment (100) until positioning at the windows (30); the configuration being such that the shielding device (1) offers protection from irradiation by a light source when the light source is positioned with regard to the means of transport so as to concomitantly irradiate it frontally and sideways with respect to the path followed.

Description

SUN VISOR DEVICE FOR VEHICLES

DESCRIPTION

The present invention refers to a deύice for shielding from solar irradiation and the like, which can be installed on means of transport, and in particular to a sunshield flap for the safety and comfort of passengers and/or of a driver of a means of transport.

The present invention relates to the field of the manufacturing of accessories for means of transport, more specifically to the production of systems for protecting from solar or artificial irradiation, by shielding, intended to improve the travel conditions of passengers and/or driver of vehicles, particularly motor vehicles, as well as to increase their safety thanks to the optimization of the visibility.

The present invention generally finds useful employ in all means of transport, like e.g. the motor vehicles, which have driver's compartments and/or passenger areas integrating substantially see-through regions, for controlling the route and/or opening up the view on the outside environment, in a front and side position with respect to the means of transport.

At present, the sunshield flaps typically provided on means of transport and motor vehicles are composed of a shielding surface that is lowered from a resting position, adjacent to the compartment roof, to an operative position, adjacent to the windshield mounted frontally to the compartment, apt to offer protection from solar or artificial irradiation when the light source is located frontally to the path followed.

According to an evolutionary solution commonly adopted by now, a sunshield flap of the above-illustrated type can be designed so as to allow also the uncoupling thereof from the anchoring spot located on the compartment roof, and therefore the rotation to a side window, so as to offer protection from the irradiation coming on the side of the means of transport, when the light source is located sideways with respect to the path followed.

Therefore, a sunshield flap according to the current state of the art is structured so as to offer effective protection from the inconvenience caused by a light irradiated by a light source only when the light comes, at a given instant, substantially from a single direction, front or side with respect to the path followed by the concerned means of transport.

It is common experience how, when e.g. traveling aboard a car, the solar radiation and the corresponding heat can cause inconvenience from a plurality of directions and anyhow concomitantly from a front direction and a side direction with respect to the direction of travel.

Therefore, the conventional sunshield flaps protect merely alternatively from front or side irradiation with respect to the direction of travel of the means of transport to which they are applied and tend to leave wide zones uncovered, so that no effective shielding from light and heat is offered to driver and passengers.

Hence, currently the flaps in use have to be shifted according to contingent needs, without guarantee of a continual protection of the driver or passenger when traveling along road sections with more or less marked bends and/or with frequent changes of direction. Accordingly, due to how the sunshield flap is currently contrived and structured, installed e.g. on cars, one is unavoidably compelled to shift and/or rotate it each time the sun is beside or in front of the direction of travel.

Therefore, in case of a variously tortuous route, and according to the sun's position on the horizon, a driver is compelled to adjust the sunshield flap plural times, in correspondence of respective changes in the incoming direction of the irradiation, with serious risks of driving distraction.

The irradiation-shielding devices currently in use and integrated on means of transport, like e.g. motor vehicles, do not allow to obtain an efficient protection from irradiation incoming, at a given instant, from a plurality of directions, and jointly imply, by passengers and driver of a means of transport, a continual intervention of adjusting with respect to the incoming direction of the light, incidentally preventing the driver of a means of transport from concentrating on the driving without distractions.

Hence, object of the present invention is to solve said problems, by providing a partitionable and/or extensible shielding device for shielding from solar irradiation and the like as defined in claim 1.

The shielding device according to the present invention assures an effective protection from solar irradiation and the like, simultaneously incoming from plural directions, and in particular from irradiation jointly front and side with respect to the path followed by a means of transport to which the former is applied.

Thanks to its versatility, the shielding device according to the present invention may advantageously be adapted to any typology and configuration of means of transport, and particularly to each motor vehicle design on the market, entailing for its installation no substantial modification to the original structure of the means of transport.

The shielding device according to the present invention may also be easily anchored to pre-existing conventional-type sunshield flaps, advantageously replacing them in carrying out the function of protection from irradiation, with the above-mentioned advantages.

Hence, the shielding device according to the present invention is of easy installation and use, as well as of simple design and inexpensive production. The structure and the assembling configuration of the shielding device according to the present invention are such that the dimensions with respect to conventional- type sunshield flaps are substantially unvaried.

By joint unfolding of two shielding devices according to the present invention on respective sides of the compartment of a means of transport, driver and passengers, respectively, are totally protected from sun irradiation and from any other light source, both frontally and sideways with respect to the compartment and therefore to the path followed, at each change of direction.

Further advantages, as well as the features and the operation modes of the present invention will be made evident from the following detailed description of two embodiments thereof, given by way of example and not for limitative purposes, making reference to the figures of the annexed drawings, wherein: figure 1 is a top perspective view of a first preferred embodiment of the shielding device according to the present invention, in a partially operative configuration thereof; - figure 2 is a perspective view of the shielding device of figure 1 , in a fully operative configuration thereof; figure 3 is a perspective view of a detail of the shielding device according to the present invention when in the configuration of figure 2, apt to highlight its connection between the component parts thereof and the coupling to the compartment of a means of transport; figures 4A, 4B and 4C are a sequence of overall perspective views of the inside of the compartment of a motor vehicle to which a shielding device according to a first preferred embodiment of the present invention is applied, apt to depict three respective configurations of said shielding device, retracted in a resting position adjacent to the roof of said compartment; lowered frontally to the compartment and in a fully operative position so as to provide front and side shielding with respect to said compartment, respectively; figure 5 is a top perspective view of a second embodiment of the shielding device according to the present invention, in a partially operative configuration preset for coupling to a pre-existing conventional shielding device; figure 6 is a perspective view of the shielding device of figure 5, in a fully operative configuration thereof; figure 6A is a sectional view A-A of the shielding device of figure 6; figure 7 is a perspective view of a detail of the shielding device according to the present invention when in the configuration of figure 6, apt to highlight its connection among the component parts thereof; - figures 8A, 8B and 8C are a sequence of overall perspective views of the inside of a motor vehicle compartment to which a shielding device according to a second preferred embodiment of the present invention is applied, apt to depict three respective configurations of said shielding device, retracted in a resting position adjacent to the roof of said compartment; lowered frontally to the compartment and in a fully operative position so as to provide front and side shielding with respect to said compartment, respectively; and figure 9 is a perspective view of the shielding device according to the present invention, installed jointly at the driver's position and at a position occupied by passengers, and in a fully operative configuration useful to provide a complete protection to whom occupies the compartment.

To describe the present invention, hereinafter reference will be made to the above-indicated figures.

The shielding device according to the present invention is designed to shield from irradiation by sun or other light sources, and hereinafter it will be described according to two embodiments thereof specially adapted for installation on motor vehicles.

All the same, it is evident that the shielding device 1 according to the present invention may be associated to a means of transport, however configured, of different typology. As exemplified in figures 4A, 4B and 4C and in figures 8A, 8B and 8C, a shielding device 1 for shielding from irradiation by sun and generic light sources according to the present invention is apt to be installed on means of transport, with particular reference, in the case illustrated hereinafter by way of example, to motor vehicles such as cars and the like. Any class of means of transport typically comprises a compartment 100 apt to receive who is in charge of the driving of the means of transport, as well as any passengers and/or assistants to the driving of the means of transport.

Such a compartment 100 generally has a viewing protective panel 20, commonly called windshield, mounted frontally to the compartment; and side view openings 30, commonly called windows.

A shielding device 1 according to the present invention comprises a first front shielding flap 2 that can be anchored to the roof 50 of the compartment 100 of a means of transport.

Such a front shielding flap 2 can be lowered from a resting position adjacent to the roof 50 to an operative position adjacent to the windshield 20, as it is evident from the sequence of figures from 4A to 4B. The anchoring of the front shielding flap 2 to the roof 50 may take place by connection pins 51 , fixed at a first end thereof to the roof 50 and at a second end thereof rotatably engaged with the flap 2, e.g. by threading into suitable rotation seats at the top ends of the flap 2, so as to allow the lowering and jointly the orientation thereof by rotation. The above-introduced shielding device 1 according to the present invention further comprises a second side shielding flap 3, at least rotatably coupled to said first front shielding flap 2.

The side shielding flap 3 can be housed in a seat 4 integrated by the front shielding flap 2, when in resting position. The seat 4 is preferably configured so that, when the two flaps 2, 3 lie in the packed configuration corresponding to said resting position, the shielding device 1 according to the present invention has a substantially continuous external surface. The side shielding flap 3 is removable from the seat 4 and unfoldable sideways with respect to the compartment 100, to be arranged (positioned) at the side windows 30.

There may be provided means for facilitating the taking of the side shielding flap

3 off the seat 4 and the subsequent unfolding thereof, apt to facilitate the grip of a user wishing to manually arrange the flap 3 substantially adjacent to the side windows 30. For this purpose, there may be envisaged a lifting slit 6, apt to facilitate a user's opening of the side shielding flap 3 with respect to the front shielding flap 2, e.g. by inserting the fingers into the slit 6 so as to lever onto the side shielding flap 3. Such a slit 6 may be obtained by an indented portion of the seat 4, recessed into the body of the front shielding flap 2, which, in the packed configuration of the flap 3 into the flap 2, is substantially comprised between the external perimeter of the side shielding flap 3 and the perimeter of the seat 4, thereby free from the engagement of the flap 3 onto the flap 2.

The configuration with unfolded side shielding flap 3, depicted in figure 2 and in figure 4C in the operative context of the compartment 100, is such that the shielding device 1 according to the present invention offers protection from irradiation by a light source when the light source is positioned with respect to the means of transport to which the device is applied so as to concomitantly irradiate it frontally and sideways with respect to the path followed.

From figures 2 and 4C it may be notided how, as regards the embodiment given here by way of example, the side shielding flap 3, when in an unfolded configuration, is substantially arranged projecting with respect to the front shielding flap 2.

In order to obtain an optimal positioning of the side flap 3 with respect to the portion of windows 30 intended to be covered with regard to said contingent conditions of irradiation, the rotatable coupling connection of the side shielding flap 3 to the front shielding flap 2 is preferably designed so as to be provided with a plurality of degrees of freedom, additional with respect to the basic one of rotation with regard to the flap 2 of an angle a, required for said unfolding.

Thus, it is attained a wide adjustability of the setting side-by-side the flap 3 to the windows 30, so as to carry out the desired shielding.

For this purpose, by way of example, for said connection there can be employed a articulation 60, e.g. hinged at a first end thereof to the flap 2 by a first pin P₁ so that the flap 3 may rotate of an angle a at will about an axis D-D with regard to the flap 2.

The articulation 60 has an intermediate knuckle joint, apt to allow in the first instance the changing of the height of the side shielding flap 3 with regard to the roof 50.

In light of the above, the knuckle of such an intermediate joint may be made with a second pin P₂, apt to allow the rotation of the side shielding flap 3 of an angle β about an axis E-E.

Said articulation 60 with intermediate knuckle joint may also be hinged at a second end to the flap 3, so that the tilt angle γ of the flap 3 with respect to the windows 30 may be changed.

The intermediate joint of the articulation 60 may be of the spherical knuckle type, so as to unify in a single element the three viable rotations of the side shielding flap 3 with regard to the front shielding flap 2. It is evident that, depending on how many and which degrees of freedom the flap

3 is desired to have with respect to the»flap 2, there may be employed respective typologies of articulations 60, whose structure and operation modes can easily be adapted to the specific case from the designs commonly available on the market.

The shielding device 1 according to the present invention may further comprise a sliding front extension 7, apt to shield a corresponding additional portion of the windshield 20, slidably extractable from a housing integrated into the front shielding flap 2 and retractable therein, preferably in a slide-away manner, when not deeming to keep covered said additional portion of windshield 20.

The profile of the sliding front extension 7 preferably has, at the side of extraction, a recess having a shape such as to receive at least one portion of the body of a rear-view mirror 40 typically applied in correspondence of the top portion of said compartment 100 at said windshield 20 so that the sliding front extension 7, when it is extracted, does not interfere with the rear-view mirror 40.

The sliding front extension 7 integrates, at the side of extraction, an extraction tab 9 apt to facilitate a user's grip. The tab 9 is preferably designed to offer an ergonomic grip and be restrained in the body of the front shielding flap 2 when the sliding front extension 7 is in a non- extracted configuration.

For a given maximum stroke of design of the sliding front extension 7 and depending on the selectable length of extraction, it is covered a corresponding additional portion of the windshield 20

The shielding device according to the present invention may further comprise a sliding side extension 8, for shielding an additional portion of the windows 30.

Such a sliding side extension 8 is, with modes analogous to the sliding front extension 7, slidably extractable from a housing 10 integrated by the side shielding flap 3.

In figure 2 it can be seen a viable constructive solution for the sliding side extension 8, slidable on extraction guides 11 integrated sideways by the housing 10.

Under critical conditions of visibility, due to which the irradiation causes inconvenience frontally to the compartment 100 and on both sides of a means of transport, a shielding device 1 according to the present invention, installed jointly at the driver's position and at the position(s) occupied by the passengers and in the operative configuration of lowering of the front flaps 2, unfolding the side flaps 3 and opening the respective sliding extensions 7, 8, is capable of providing a complete protection to those occupying the compartment 100. For a greater completeness of equipment, the shielding device 1 according to the present invention may advantageously comprise a vanity mirror 12 at the portion of the front shielding flap 2 unengaged by the side shielding flap 3.

Onto the shielding device 1 there may also be installed a courtesy light 13 substantially at the portion of the above-mentioned front shielding flap 2. To the side flap 3, which is substantially arranged projecting with respect to the front shielding flap 2, there may integrally be applied a retaining element 14, apt to allow a removable coupling to the compartment 100 above the windows 30.

Thus, the side flap 3 is stabilized, and the holding of the shielding device 1 to the compartment 100 is strengthened. ^v The keeping of the tilt of the side flap 3 set by a user is fostered by virtue of the cooperation of the retaining element 14 with a hook that can be mounted integral to the compartment 100.

On the other hand, such a hook is commonly mounted on the means of transport present on the market, specifically at the passengers' positions. The shielding device 1 according to the present invention 1 is proposed as an alternative to the sunshield flaps currently on the market.

However, when it is opted - e.g. for practicalness or difficulty of disassembling - not to remove from the compartment 100 the conventional shielding systems with which the means of transport is already provided, the shielding device 1 according to the present invention is susceptible of being advantageously applied to the preexisting sunshield flaps, substantially and functionally replacing them.

Even in the case of said second embodiment, adapted so as to allow the application of the shielding device 1 according to the present invention directly to already provided shielding systems with no need of a preventive removal thereof, the incorporated technical features are such as to radically solve anyhow the drawbacks entailed in said traditional systems.

The embodiment of the shielding device 1 applicable to the pre-existing sunshield systems is illustrated in figures 5 to 8C.

Such an applying is made feasible by a holding system for holding to the pre- existing sunshield flap 200, e.g. by means of a plurality of brackets 15 made integral to the shielding device 1 , preferably fixed to the front shielding flap 2 at the corner ends thereof.

Thus, it is created an air space comprised between the rear face of said shielding device 1 , substantially opposite to that where the flap 3 finds housing, and a curved portion 16 of said brackets 15, apt to act as support shoulder.

In such an air space there may slidably be engaged the body of said pre-existing flap 200, so that the shielding device 1 thus modified is anchored to said flap 200.

Upon having carried out the steps of applying to the pre-existing sunshield flap

200 in said air space as illustrated in figure 8A, a user may avail him/herself of the shielding device 1 , modified in accordance to the above-described second embodiment, according to operation modes analogous to those provided for the first embodiment that can directly be anchored to the roof 50.

The sequence of figures 8B and 8C is exemplary of the operation modes of the shielding device 1 according to the second embodiment, substantially equivalent to those illustrated in the corresponding figures 4B and 4C for the first embodiment.

Advantageously, the dimensions of the shielding device 1 according to the present invention are substantially equivalent to those exhibited by the sunshield flaps currently in use, and are anyhow such as to constitute no hindrance to the efficient driving and maneuverability of the means of transport to which the device is applied.

In particular, the unfolding of the side shielding flap 3 entails no head shifting, potentially risky for the vehicle controllability by the driver.

The sequence of steps depicted in figures 4A-4C and 8A-8C, at the end of which it is attained the fully operative configuration of the shielding device 1 according to the present invention, in which there are jointly offered a front and a side shielding, can be performed by the driver at most in sole two motions, of lowering and of sideways shifting, respectively.

There may be provided constructive solutions according to which the shielding device 1 can be shifted as a whole with respect to the compartment 100, at the windows 30, with integral motion of the flaps 2 and 3, held e.g. in a packed configuration, for a protection from exclusively lateral irradiation.

The present invention has hereto been described with reference to preferred embodiments thereof. Evidently, the hereto-described embodiments might be combined therebetween in a manner such as to originate other ones having different combinations of features, without thereby departing from the inventive kernel of the present invention.

Furthermore, it is understood that there might be other embodiments referable to the same inventive kernel, all falling within the protective scope of the claims hereinafter.

Claims

1. A device (1) for shielding from solar irradiation and/or irradiation from generic light sources, which can be installed on means of transport typically comprising a compartment (100) having • a viewing protective panel (20), commonly called windshield, mounted frontally to said compartment (100); and

• side view openings (30), commonly called windows, wherein said shielding device (1) comprises:

- a first front shielding flap (2) that can be anchored to the roof (50) of the compartment (100) of a means of transport, and that can be lowered from a resting position adjacent to said roof (50) to an operative position adjacent to said windshield (20); and is characterized in that it further comprises a second side shielding flap (3), rotatably coupled to said first front shielding flap (2), that can be housed in a seat (4) integrated by said first front shielding flap (2) when in resting position and by said seat (4) unfoldable sideways with respect to said compartment (100) until positioning at said windows (30), the configuration being such that said shielding device (1) offers protection from irradiation by a light source when said light source is positioned with regard to said means of transport so as to concomitantly irradiate it frontally and sideways with respect to the path followed.

2. The shielding device (1) according to claim 1 , wherein said second side shielding flap (3), when in unfolded configuration, is substantially arranged projecting with respect to said first front shielding flap (2).

3. The shielding device (1) according to claim 1 or 2, further comprising a sliding front extension (7), of additional shielding of said windshield (20), slidably extractable from a housing integrated in said first front shielding flap (2).

4. The shielding device (1) according to claim 3, wherein the profile of said sliding front extension (7) has, at the side of extraction from said housing, a recess apt to receive a rear-view mirror (40) applied in correspondence to the top portion of said compartment (100) at said windshield (20), so that said first sliding front extension (7), when it is extracted, does not interfere with said rear-view mirror (40).

5. The shielding device (1) according to claim 3 or 4, wherein said first sliding front extension (7) integrates, at said^side of extraction from said housing, an extraction tab (9) of said sliding front extension (7), that can be restrained in the body of said first front shielding flap (2) when said sliding front extension (7) is in a non-extracted configuration.

6. The shielding device (1) according to one of the claims 1 to 5, further comprising a sliding side extension (8), of additional shielding of the windows (30), slidably extractable from a housing integrated in said second side shielding flap (8).

7. The shielding device (1) according to one of the claims 1 to 6, wherein said second side shielding flap (3) is rotatably coupled to said first front shielding flap (2) by an articulation (60).

8. The shielding device (1) according to claim 7, wherein said articulation (60) comprises a first hinge so that said flap (3) may rotate of a set angle (a) about an axis of rotation (D-D) with regard to the flap (2).

9. The shielding device (1 ) according to claim 8, wherein said first hinge is pin- like and comprises a first pin (P₁), apt to set said axis of rotation (D-D).

10. The shielding device (1) according to one of the claims 7 to 9, wherein said articulation (60) comprises an intermediate knuckle joint, apt to allow the rotation of the side shielding flap (3) of a set angle (β) about an axis of rotation (E-E), so that the height of said flap (3) with regard to the roof (50) be proportionally changed.

11. The shielding device (1) according to claim 10, wherein said intermediate joint comprises a second pin (P₂), apt to set said axis of rotation (E-E).

12. The shielding device (1) according to one of the claims 8 to 11 , wherein said articulation 60 comprises a second hinge so that said side shielding flap (3) may rotate of a set angle (γ) about an axis of rotation (G-G) with regard to said windows (30), so that the tilt of said flap (3) with regard to the windows (30) be proportionally changed.

13. The shielding device (1) according to claim 12, wherein said second hinge is pin-like and comprises a third pin (P3) of rotatable connection to said side shielding flap (3), apt to set said axis of rotation (G-G).

14. The shielding device (1) according to one of the claims 7 to 13, wherein said articulation (60) is of the spherical knuckle type.

15. The shielding device (1) according to one of the claims 1 to 14, comprising a vanity mirror (12) at the portion of said first front shielding flap (2) unengaged by said second side shielding flap (3).

16. The shielding device (1) according to one of the claims 1 to 15, further comprising a courtesy light (13) at the portion of said first front shielding flap (2) unengaged by said second side shielding flap (3).

17. The shielding device (1) according to one of the claims 1 to 16, further comprising a retaining element (14) for retaining said second side shielding flap (3) to the compartment (100) above said windows (30), for the stabilizing of said side shielding flap (3).

18. The shielding device (1) according to one of the claims 1 to 17, wherein said first front shielding flap (2) is apt to be removably applied to a pre-existing conventional-type shielding device (200).

19. The shielding device (1) according to claim 18, wherein said applying is carried out by a holding system comprising a plurality of brackets (15) made integral to the shielding device (1) and apt to engage the body of said pre-existing conventional-type shielding device (200).