Press Release
Page 1 – In Brief
Page 2 – Positioning
Page 3 – Roof
Page 4 – Body
Page 5 – Interior
Page 6 – Equipment
Page 7 – Engines
Page 8 – Running gear
Page 9 – Trials
CSC-Roof
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More freedom throughout the seasons
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CSC-roof I: five sections, transparent, sun roof, more light, better design
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CSC-roof II: new roof dimensions guarantee a pure convertible-feeling
The new VW Eos is the first car in the world to feature a five-section hard top with an integrated sliding/tilting glass roof. The roof can be opened and closed respectively in only 25 seconds by a hydroelectric device. The CSC-roof (convertible, sliding and coupe roof) offers not only visual, but also practical advantages.
Firstly, a pure convertible feeling. As the windscreen frame - the roof cross member, to be precise - projects far less into the interior than is the case with previous familiar solutions, there is nothing above the driver and front passenger but the sky. Secondly, easier getting in and out of the car. The shorter windscreen frame makes it easier to get into the Eos when the roof is open as the driver or passengers do not have to maneuver their heads past the frame. Thirdly, the large sliding/tilting glass roof - since the sun doesn’t always shine nor is it always summer. In such cases, the large glass sliding roof fitted in the Eos captures light, air and a good mood. It weighs twelve kilograms and its dimensions of 1.125 meters width and 0.605 length meters clearly exceed those of a conventional sun roof. Completely retracted the glass roof opens an aperture of 1.035 meter width and 0.390 meter length. The first sun roof fitted into a retractable hard top can be tilted upwards by 35 millimeters. The sliding/tilting roof is activated via a separate black button integrated into the beautifully designed silver switch for opening and closing the roof.
In addition the CSC-roof offers the general advantages of unimpeded suitability throughout the year, as well as low noise levels even at higher driving speeds and with the roof closed. Also the hard shell makes life harder for thieves and vandals. The roof was developed together with the specialists of the German company Webasto.
FUNCTIONING
The roof of the Eos is made of steel and glass components; never before has a hard top technology of such a complexity and reliability been put into practice
And this is how the CSC-system works: the CSC-roof is opened and closed via a specially designed and beautifully fashioned switch in the central console between the front seats. As described earlier, from the first ‘clack’ to the last ‘clack’ it takes only 25 seconds. Once the top switch is activated, the sliding/tilting glass roof slides backwards (part 1) while at the same time the side windows are lowered.
Almost simultaneously the entire rear section of the roof from the C- up to the imaginary B-pillar is lifted upwards (part 2). The sliding/tilting glass roof slides under the rear area of the roof forming a kind of a compact ‘sandwich’. Now the hydraulic control system folds the entire roof cover compartment lid, including the lid of the boot, backwards (part 3).
Then the lateral roof spars (part 4 and 5) of the windscreen frame slide back as well. The sliding/tilting glass roof and the rear part of the roof are completely lowered into the back; the roof spars slide into separate cavities (covered by lids) to the height of the rear side window.
The sensors integrated in the bumpers of the optional parking pilot system scan the space behind the car for obstacles before activating the roof. If the system detects obstacles, the opening procedure of the CSC-roof is blocked.
Compact in the trunk / Folded up the roof is compact and creates room for more design quality
Due to the fact that during the opening and closing of the roof the longitudinal roof spars first move horizontally backwards and then vertically downwards, a very low height is achieved in conjunction with the equally compact ‘sandwich’ unit. This allows the transformation to go ahead even in a low garage without any problem. In addition - and this is a real clincher - the lid of the trunk is less bulky, which creates room for a harmonious rear design. When the top is down the trunk offers the equivalent of 205 liters space; when the roof is closed the available space is 380 liters. For the last few millimeters the lid of the trunk closes via a power latching system as a standard feature. The trunk lid is completely made of high rigidity synthetic and serves as a kind of link to the outside world. All antennas were built into the engine hood by the developers.
A lockable service hatch is integrated into the rear seat bench and the rear splash wall allowing to transport skis and similarly bulky items. The hard shell luggage compartment cover in the trunk protects the contents of the trunk and the roof from damage. This hard shell has to be lowered before opening the roof cover. Is this not done, the roof cover electronics will sound an acoustic alarm and a notice appears in the standard multi-functional display. A separate brief lifting of the roof cover in order to stow away the luggage is unnecessary since the access to the trunk stays sufficiently large, even when the roof is open.
The CSC-roof consists of a total of 470 components. One of the parts is a wind deflector located in the front window frame which can also be pulled down in the sun roof mode.
ELECTROHYDRAULICS FOLDS AND UNFOLDS
The CSC-roof is activated via an electro-hydraulic pump;
a total of eight hydraulic cylinders sort out the five roof cover sections
The propulsion of the roof kinematics and locking devices is done using electro-hydraulics via a radial piston pump. It is located - protected by an acoustic capsule - under the luggage compartment cover behind the spare wheel. The necessary pump pressure (160 bar) is provided by an electric motor with a maximum input of 40 ampere and is activated by a central roof control unit. The hydraulic pump and a total of eight hydraulic cylinders (four cylinder pairs) for the opening and closing of the CSC-roof are activated by pushing the roof cover switch in the middle console.
The cylinders are split into four pairs, as two are deployed per vehicle side. The engineers designed the unit in such a way that the separate steps of the opening and closing operation dovetail in a visually harmonious fashion. For this purpose end position absorbers in the area of the main joint hydraulics and of the rear windscreen element are used. The outwards opening/upwards sliding glass sun roof is separately powered by an electric motor integrated into the roof.
Kinematics / The CSC-roof follows the motion of two un-coupled mechanical systems. And it works really well
In kinematics terms the power is transmitted via a mechanism with a total of six joints. With the help of an innovatively designed functional coupling, the amount of propulsion components used and subsequently the system weight could be reduced. Viewed in detail, two un-coupled mechanical systems are mainly responsible for the kinematics transformation of the roof motion. The main kinematics is formed by a six part transmission. Located in the functional level above are the kinematics of the rear roof section together with an eight part transmission. The mechanics on the driver as well as on the passenger side are each activated by one of the hydraulic cylinders. The additional swing motion of the side spars, and with it the front locking device, is achieved by coupling it with the main kinematics. The necessary locking action of the CSC-roof in the rear is controlled in conjunction with the kinematics of the rear roof section.
The passive control of the roof locking device on the A-pillar (via the swing motion lateral roof spars) creates the construction conditions for the short windscreen frame in the typical convertible style. In addition the weight was kept down. The roof mechanics weighs a mere 22 kilograms.
ELECTRONIC CONTROL
A newly developed control device coordinates the transformation from coupe to convertible and vice versa
The central folding top control unit was developed especially for the Eos. It is located on the left vehicle side under the rear luggage cover. This Electronic Control Unit (ECU) communicates bi-directionally with the vehicle control devices via the Comfort-CAN-bus. The roof-ECU evaluates the signals coming from the different vehicle system areas. All relevant external information flows into the system. The information is provided by the central gateway, the on-board network control unit, the instrument cluster, the doors, the comfort functions, the braking system and the trailer interface, to name but a few. Internally these are joined by the data from the hydraulics pump and the twelve contact free sensors. An interesting piece of information in this context: the roof control device monitors 250 parameters inside the system.
