This invention pertains to an arresting system for halting a swiveling motion between two swivel-mounted elements, comprising a brake rod that is connected to the first element, an arresting device that is arranged in the second element, with a housing through which the brake rod extends, in which case the arresting device has a drive and at least one brake-shoe element that is able to move relative to the brake rod via the drive, where said brake-shoe element is arranged inside the housing and can be activated with the brake rod upon exertion of a braking force, at least one sensor, and an electronic control device for adjusting the level of the braking force exerted by the at least one brake-shoe element on the brake rod as a function of signals from the at least one sensor.
Arresting systems of the type indicated above are known in various implementations in the state of the art. In motor-vehicle manufacturing, they are mainly used to ensure continuous arresting of a vehicle door mounted on a vehicle frame at various swivel positions. Thus, for example, DE 10 2013 014 845 A1 discloses an arresting system with an arresting device attached to a vehicle door, where said device has a housing in which two brake-shoe elements facing one another are accommodated. Between them, the brake-shoe elements hold a brake rod that is mounted on the vehicle frame and that extends through the housing. In this case, they are prestressed by means of cup springs in the direction of the brake rod in such a way that they exert a preset braking force on the brake rod. At least one of the brake shoes is attached on an end face of an actuation element that faces it. The other end face of the actuation element faces toward an electromagnet of the arresting device, in which case a preset air gap is arranged between the actuation element and the electromagnet. Then, the electromagnet is in the electrically activated state, the electromagnet attracts the actuation element and with it draws the brake shoe attached thereto back against the force of the cup springs in such a way that the braking force exerted on the brake rod is reduced or eliminated. The preferred sensor is an acceleration sensor that is built into the vehicle door and that collects the current acceleration of the swivel motion of the vehicle door. The acceleration values collected by the acceleration sensor are integrated over time, and then the resulting velocity values are fed to an electronic control device that is set up in such a way that the energization of the electromagnet is reduced or eliminated as soon as the swivel velocity is close to or equal to zero. Accordingly, the swivel motion is halted, and the vehicle door is stopped as soon as a person opening the vehicle door halts the opening motion. According to an improved implementation, the electronic control device disclosed in DE 10 2013 014 845 A1 can also be equipped to be “smart,” such that it can distinguish defined unusual motion patterns, such as, for example, an impact motion caused by a wind gust or something similar from a regular door-opening motion that is intentionally initiated by a person in order to avoid accidents. Furthermore, other data, such as, for example, the condition, the position, and/or the inherent acceleration of the vehicle or vehicle frame, can also be used to adjust the control.
A drawback of the arresting system described in DE 10 2013 014 845 A1 lies in the fact that the electromagnet operates in only one direction. Accordingly, the maximum braking force that is exerted on the brake rod is defined solely by the force of the cup springs and cannot be amplified by the electromagnet. Another drawback lies in the fact that the electromagnet has to have a large inherent weight and large dimensions in order to achieve the desired forces, not a desirable characteristic. Moreover, the air gap between the electromagnet and the actuation element has to be set very precisely in order to ensure that the electromagnet will function fully. This requires a very high degree of manufacturing precision, i.e., high cost. In addition, a small air gap is also associated with high susceptibility to dust, oil, or water that may be present on the brake rod. A further drawback lies in the fact that the position of the electromagnet is preset by the direction of motion of the brake-shoe element, and this makes it more difficult to adapt the design of the mechanism of the arresting device to the available installation space since design freedom is heavily restricted.
Starting from this state of the art, an object of this invention is to produce a cost-effective arresting system of the above-mentioned type with an alternative structure that requires little installation space, can be flexibly adapted to existing installation space, and permanently ensures reliable operation.
To accomplish this objective, this invention calls for an arresting system of the above-mentioned type that is characterized by the fact that the drive is an electric motor that directly or indirectly drives an actuation element in rotation where, in order to create the relative motion between the brake-shoe element and the brake rod, said actuation element is equipped with at least one actuation cam that acts directly or indirectly on the at least one brake-shoe element. An important advantage of this implementation according to the invention lies in the fact that the use of an electric motor in conjunction with an actuation element having an actuation cam offers a great deal of design freedom, so that the arresting device can be adapted relatively simply to existing installation space. Moreover, electric motors that are suitable for the application in question have a lower inherent weight and are smaller compared to suitable electromagnets, and therefore the arresting device according to the invention can be designed to be lighter in weight and to have outer dimensions that are suitable for smooth incorporation into a vehicle door. In addition, commercially available electric motors with already-integrated gears can be used, thereby leading to lower cost.
According to a first variant of the braking system according to the invention, the axis of rotation of the actuation element is arranged to be aligned with or parallel to the direction of motion of the brake-shoe element, in which case the at least one actuation cam is located on an end face of the actuation element that points in the direction of the brake-shoe element. Accordingly, the arresting device designed in accordance with the first variant can have an essentially elongated shape.
The at least one actuation cam is preferably designed as a spiral that extends around the axis of rotation of the actuation element and that runs in particular around the axis of rotation once, as depicted and described within the framework of the following specification of a first embodiment of an arresting device according to the invention with reference to
It is advantageous for there to be a transfer plate that is mounted between the actuation element and the at least one brake-shoe element, which is torque-proof and can move up and down within the housing, and that on its end face facing the actuation element is equipped with at least one spiral corresponding to the at least one actuation cam of the actuation element and interlocks therewith, in which case on its opposite end face, the transfer plate preferably has a receiving recess for the at least one brake-shoe element. Because of the transfer plate that is designed in this way, very good surface contact between the actuation element and the transfer plate is achieved regardless of the rotation of the electric motor, thereby making the arresting device highly reliable.
According to a second variant of the arresting device according to the invention, the axis of rotation of the activation element extends transversely and especially vertically with respect to the direction of motion of the at least one brake-shoe element, in which case the at least one actuation cam is located on the outer periphery of the actuation element and is, in particular, a spiral, in which case an actuation cam with a spiral shape is defined in this connection to mean a cam with a cam height that varies especially linearly in the circumferential direction. Overall, the arresting device designed in accordance with the second variant winds up being essentially L-shaped.
Preferably at least one spring element is provided, in particular in the form of a cup spring that prestresses the at least one brake-shoe element in a direction away from the brake rod. Such a spring element ensures that when the electromagnet is in the non-energized state, the at least one brake shoe is disengaged from the brake rod, thereby ensuring that a swivel motion can easily be executed especially in emergency situations.
Compared to the at least one brake-shoe element, another brake-shoe element that is mounted on the housing in a stationary fashion is advantageously arranged in such a way that the brake-shoe elements hold the brake rod between them. The use of two brake-shoe elements ensures a very robust design.
The at least one sensor is preferably designed in such a way that it picks up the velocity and/or acceleration of a swivel motion between the two elements that are swivel-mounted with one another. Suitable sensors are, in particular, accelerometers, rev sensors, gyroscopes, or similar devices.
According to one embodiment of the arresting system according to the invention, the two swivel-mounted elements are a vehicle frame and a vehicle door of a motor vehicle.
At least one additional sensor is preferably provided that is designed in such a way that it picks up objects and/or movements outside of the vehicle in the area of the vehicle door, in which case the at least one additional sensor can be part of an already existing vehicle monitoring system, especially one part of such a vehicle monitoring system that monitors the vehicle environment when pulling into a parking space. At this point, it should be mentioned that the at least one additional sensor can also be a part of a camera monitoring system or can consist of such a system.
The at least one additional sensor is advantageously mounted on the outside of the vehicle door and/or on the end face of the vehicle door. Thus, objects present in the area of the vehicle door as well as objects approaching from the rear can easily be detected.
The arresting device and the electronic control device are preferably designed and set up in such a way that the arresting device does not exert any arresting force on the brake rod when the vehicle door is closed. In this way, if the power supply fails, the vehicle door can be opened easily and fairly effortlessly.
It is advantageous for a closed-state sensor that indicates the closed state of the vehicle door to be provided that sends its signals to the control device.
According to one embodiment of the arresting system according to the invention, the control device is set up in such a way that the braking force exerted by the at least one brake-shoe element on the brake rod is raised to a preset constant braking force as soon as the vehicle door is opened starting from the state in which it is closed. The preset constant braking force is especially selected in such a way that a haptically pleasing opening resistance is created. Moreover, such a preset constant braking force prevents the vehicle door from opening or closing on its own due to gravitational acceleration if the vehicle finds itself on an inclined surface.
Additional features and advantages of this invention are made clear based on the following description of embodiments of arresting systems according to the invention, with reference to the attached drawings. Here:
Hereinafter, with reference to
The arresting device 7 comprises a housing 10 that is depicted in detail in
The arresting device 7 also comprises two brake-shoe elements 17 that between them accommodate the brake rod 6 that runs through the housing 10. The brake-shoe elements 17, which in this case are identical in design and are depicted in detail in
As shown in
Above the transfer plate 19, there is an essentially disk-shaped actuation element 23 that, as shown in
A housing cover 27, which is shown in detail in
An electric motor 31, which in this case has integrated gears and an on-board encoder 32 as shown in
The brake rod 6 depicted in detail in
In the installed state in accordance with the specification, the arrangement shown in
If the pinion shaft 35 of the electric motor 31 or of the gears is in a first position in which the actuation element 23 does not exert any pressure on the transfer plate 19, the brake rod 6 is able to move freely inside the housing 10. If the pinion shaft 35 and with it the actuation element 23 are rotated out of this first position, then the actuation cam 25 of the actuation element 23 will act on the spiral 21 of the transfer plate 19 in such a way that the transfer plate 19, together with the brake-shoe element 17 held thereon, will move in the direction of the brake-shoe element 17 secured to the housing 10. Accordingly, the brake-shoe elements 17 exert on the brake rod 6 a braking force that will oppose any movement of the brake rod 6 inside the housing 10. In this way, the swivel motion of the vehicle door can be halted and can also be arrested in any swivel position.
Referring again to
The sensor 8 of the arresting system 1 that is integrated into the vehicle door 3 is primarily an acceleration sensor. To activate the system when the vehicle door 3 of the vehicle 2 standing on a level surface is closed, the sensor 8 is adjusted to zero, so that it receives its starting position, which is stored in the control device 9. The sensor 8 primarily picks up the current acceleration of the vehicle door as it is opened and closed and sends those values to the control device 9.
Based on the signals forwarded by the sensor 8, the control device 9 identifies in advance events that are predefined by software and activates the arresting device 7 in such a way that the device, depending on the nature of the identified event, exerts a predefined and optionally corrected braking force or a braking force calculated by the control device 9 on the basis of the signal(s) received from the sensor 8. Actuation is primarily based on the level of the current that is fed to the electric motor 31. Based on the existing mechanics of the arresting device 7, what motor current will evoke what braking force is known. Based on the acceleration due to gravity, the control device 9 determines, moreover, whether the vehicle 2 is on an inclined surface. If this is the case, this state is taken into account in calculating the braking force, or a braking force that is predefined for the identified event is corrected accordingly.
Based on the acceleration values received from the sensor 8, the control device 9 determines angular velocity by integration and determines the turn angle of the vehicle door 3 by repeated reintegration. If a swivel motion of the vehicle door 3 is halted by the user at, for example, an arbitrary angle, then this event will be picked up by the control device 9 by virtue of the fact that the acceleration, minus the acceleration due to gravity and also the angular velocity, is equal to zero. In this case, the arresting device 7 is prompted to arrest the vehicle door 3. This makes it possible to prevent the vehicle door 3 from being accidentally moved by external influences.
If the user then again moves the vehicle door 3 out of the arrested state, the braking force of the arresting device 7 will act against this motion. Because of the lever that is defined by the distance between the sensor 8 and the arresting device 7 or the vehicle-door swivel axis 5, the vehicle door 3 can be moved elastically despite the fact that the brake is set. This motion is picked up by the control device based on the corresponding acceleration and is treated as an event. If the motion profile (acceleration and angular velocity over time) corresponds to a user profile defined in the control device 9, then the control device 9 will resolve the braking force exerted by the arresting device 7. If, however, the motion profile is a different profile, one that is caused by external influences, such as, for example, a gust of wind, the braking force will then remain unchanged.
Based on the current angle of rotation of the vehicle door 3, the door can be arrested before the maximum angle of rotation that is defined by the strike element 39 or the strike plate 40 is reached. Excessive wear and tear on these components can thus be avoided.
Another sensor that the arresting system 1 can have is a closed-state sensor 54, for example in the form of a limit switch that forwards a signal to the control device 9 as soon as the vehicle door 3 is closed. In this case, the control device 9 is preferably set up in such a way that the braking force of the arresting device 7 is fully unleashed when the vehicle door 3 is closed. This accordingly ensures that, especially in the event of an accident, the vehicle door 3 cannot be prevented from being opened by the arresting device 7. In addition, the control device 9 is advantageously set up in such a way that the arresting device 7 is activated to a small extent as soon as the vehicle door 3 is opened. When the user opens the vehicle door 3, he may perceive a slight preset braking force as very welcome.
Other sensors with which the arresting system 1 can be equipped may include distance sensors 55 that are arranged on the outside of the vehicle door 3 and/or on the end face of the vehicle door 3 and that pick up objects and/or movements outside of the vehicle 2 in the area of the vehicle door 3. Accordingly, an accidental collision with foreign objects when the vehicle door 3 is being opened can be reliably avoided. Thus, the control device 9 can be set up in such a way, for example, that the braking force of the arresting device 7 is built up gradually as soon as the distance between the vehicle door 3 and an object drops below 20 cm, in which case the full braking force will be exerted on the brake rod 6 as soon as a distance of 5 cm from the object is reached, to cite just one example. The distance sensors 55 can be part of an already existing vehicle monitoring system, such as, for example, the kind of system that is used as a parking aid.
There also exists the option of equipping the arresting system 1 with a turn-rate sensor 56 (gyroscope) that picks up the angular velocity of the vehicle door 3. By integration, the control device 9 can determine the angle of rotation, and, by derivation, it can determine acceleration. By sensor fusion with the sensor 8, acceleration, angular velocity, and angle of rotation can then be determined with great precision, thus improving the response of the arresting system 1.
It should also be clear that the above-described arresting system 1 is also able to emit acoustic or optical signals that will warn the user when certain events occur, as is fairly well known in particular from systems used as parking aids.
Although the invention will be illustrated and described in greater detail based on the preferred illustrative embodiment, the invention is not restricted by the examples that are disclosed, and one skilled in the art will be able to derive other variations therefrom without exceeding the scope of protection of the invention.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
---|---|---|---|
10 2016 112 353 | Jul 2016 | DE | national |
Number | Name | Date | Kind |
---|---|---|---|
5684470 | DeLand | Nov 1997 | A |
6065185 | Breed | May 2000 | A |
6928694 | Breed | Aug 2005 | B2 |
7076833 | Murayama | Jul 2006 | B2 |
7280035 | McLain | Oct 2007 | B2 |
9777528 | Elie | Oct 2017 | B2 |
9797178 | Elie | Oct 2017 | B2 |
10151132 | Elie | Dec 2018 | B2 |
10161175 | Elie | Dec 2018 | B2 |
20080143139 | Bauer | Jun 2008 | A1 |
20160010379 | Sauerwein | Jan 2016 | A1 |
20170260792 | Torres Fernandez | Sep 2017 | A1 |
20180100334 | Kirchhoff | Apr 2018 | A1 |
20180155968 | Miu | Jun 2018 | A1 |
20180313123 | Kenyon | Nov 2018 | A1 |
Number | Date | Country |
---|---|---|
4207706 | Sep 1993 | DE |
102010031856 | Jan 2012 | DE |
102013014845 | Mar 2015 | DE |
0899403 | Mar 1999 | EP |
0911471 | Apr 1999 | EP |
Entry |
---|
Jun. 9, 2017, DE correspondence issued for related DE application No. 102016112353.6. |
Number | Date | Country | |
---|---|---|---|
20180010372 A1 | Jan 2018 | US |