The invention relates to a latch or locking device controlled by an electronic controller, aimed at being used in bicycle securing mechanisms in automated bike rental systems but also possible to be used in other areas in which it is preferred to use such electromechanical latches for the purpose of controlling and mutually securing two bodies or assemblies authorized to be locked with respect to each other, one of which has a locking device according to the invention and the other having a counterpart specially provided for being accommodated and locked in the latching device.
In the field of general purpose locking mechanisms, various devices are known in which the active element consists of a rotary latch that can be rotated between two positions, unlocked and locked, either by manual actuation from outside for either of the two directions, i.e. moving from the unlocked position to the locked position and vice versa, or by manual actuation from outside only from the unlocked position to the locked position, unrestricted by any conditions, and being freed from the locked position to the unlocked position automatically, by an inner spring pushing directly or indirectly on the latch after an actuator has been energized by the latch controller so to release a locking part of the latch mechanism form its locked position.
Such a device is known from the U.S. Pat. No. 8,496,275 B2 as representing an electromechanical locking mechanism with a rotary latch that can be manually operated from outside by pushing the locking object body inside the latch mechanism until the rotary latch reaches the locked position which is obtained by the locking of one of its arms in a locking shoulder of a lever which is pushed by a torsion spring mounted on the rotation axis of that lever in the direction of coupling the locking shoulder with the end of an extended arm of the rotating latch. To release the latch from the locked position, an electromechanical actuator moves its longitudinal plunger along its axis until it pushes the free end of the locking lever and causes the rotary latch to automatically rotate in the sense of unlocking as an effect of an elastic force on the rotary latch caused by a second torsion spring being mounted on the latch shaft and pushing it all the way to its unlocking position. This device has a number of disadvantages with regards to an eventual use in a bicycle securing application in an automated bicycle rental station, of which some are as follows:
Another known locking device is that described in CA 2974118 A1, which has a rotary latch that can be pushed inwards for locking by an object body up to a position where a lateral arm of the rotary latch has rotated enough so that its free end enters behind the free end of a locking lever that is permanently tensioned by a spring towards the locking position, where for unlocking the locked object this latter should be slightly pushed still inwards as for locking, on a short distance so that the rotary latch rotates a bit more still inwards until its closes an electronic switch that sends a signal to the controller, which is understood as a user solicitation for unlocking and in turn the controller sends a command to the actuator to move its plunger so to free the locking lever which results in the automatic rotation of the latch towards the unlocked position. That causes the rotary latch to follow its path from the locked position to the unlocked position, which, in one embodiment of that invention, completely frees the retained object or, in a different embodiment, just moves that object in an unlocked position yet still retained only by a small retention force in the freed latch until the user manually pulls the object out completely. The solution presented in the patent application CA 2974118 A1 shows some disadvantages that are similar with those of the solution described by the document US 846275 B2, that is:
Unlike known systems, the locking device according to the present invention introduces several novel elements especially aimed at a stricter control of operation in applications such as that of automatic bike rental stations and also aimed at a simpler and cheaper production technology applicable even in the condition of a small scale production.
Throughout the description of the present invention, authorized object and object logically authorized for locking shall have one of the following meanings:
According to one aspect, the present invention solves the problem of controlling the access for locking an object inside the locking device, in that it allows the movement of the rotary latch from the unlocked position to the locked position only for objects that are authorized for locking by the logic of the locking device controller. According to a second aspect, the present invention also solves the need of re-assuring the object in a locked position if it has not been pulled out from the locking device in a certain timeout interval after an unlock command as well as the need of re-assuring the rotary latch of the locking device in the unlocked position if no authorized object for locking has been actually locked by a user in a certain timeout interval after a lock command. And according to a third aspect, the present invention also solves the need for detecting and signaling to the electronic controller of any unauthorized use or brute force attack on the locking device, either in the unlocked or in the locked positions of the locking device and for any sense of the exterior force that attempts that unauthorized use.
The locking device according to the present invention is characterized in that it consists form a rotary latch that has the possibility to be rotated between two firmly stable positions, namely “unlocked” and, respectively, “locked”, positions in which the rotary latch automatically remains secured in a blocked state after its movement to that respective position has ended, such that, the moving of the rotary latch from the “unlocked” position to the “locked” position or vice versa determines one arm that is extended from the rotary latch to act as a cam upon a cam follower that is elastically tensed by compression springs inside the locking device, obtaining a maximum of the elastic tensioning force at the mid-way of the cam-arm of the rotary latch between its positions corresponding to the “unlocked” position and the “locked” position of the rotary latch, so that the respective cam follower tends to push the rotary latch either to the “unlocked” position or to the “locked” position, depending on the direction of the resultant force of the manual acting force from outside by an user on the object body and the reaction force between the cam-arm and the cam follower that is pushed inside the locking device. In both positions, “unlocked” and “locked”, the rotary latch is automatically and immediately secured in a blocked state by one of two blocking levers that, immediately after the end of the latch moving to that respective position, enters with one end in a special corresponding cut that is made in the body of the rotary latch. Furthermore, the locking device according to the present invention is also characterized by that it comprises two limit switches that are placed each at one of the two ends of the stroke of the rotary latch corresponding to the positions “unlocked” and “locked”, which have the role to detect and signalize to the locking device controller the confirmation of the position “unlocked” or “locked” where the rotary latch is upon case, and also have the role to instantly detect eventual attempts of unauthorized pushing or pulling of the rotary latch out of its “unlocked” or “locked” positions, as a result of opening and closing of each of the two limit switches due to the possibility to execute a very short movement of the rotary latch within the limits of certain small mechanical gaps especially designed for this scope in the mechanism of the locking device assembly, which does not allow however the unblocking or the moving of the rotary latch out of the secured positions “unlocked”, respectively “locked”, where it is on that moment.
The locking device according to the present invention has the following advantages:
The following detailed description of the invention is accompanied by the drawings presented in the
The locking element consists from a rotary latch that is able to rotate inside the housing of the locking device between two positions, “unlocked” and “locked”, in each of which the rotary latch is secured against exiting from that respective position by the means of one of two blocking levers that are tied to one another by a traction spring, where one of the two blocking levers is aimed at preventing the rotary latch from unauthorized movements out of the “unlocked” position and the other blocking lever is aimed at preventing the rotary latch from any unauthorized movement out of the “locked” position, the two blocking levers being actuated by an eccentric rotor that in turn is actuated by a rotary stepper motor with the rotation axis perpendicular on the rotation plane of the rotary latch. The control of the positioning of the rotary latch is further completed by the action of a cam follower that is tensed by two compression springs inside the main holder part mounted inside the locking device, so that the cam follower pushes on the end of a cam-arm extended from the rotary latch, which causes the rotary latch to be permanently biased towards the closest of the positions “unlocked” or “locked”, where the reaching of each of these two positions is confirmed by engaging a corresponding limit switch which is connected to the electronic controller of the locking device.
According to one aspect of the invention, the locking device is characterized by that it has four distinct fixed mechanical states:
1. the locking device is, with no time limitation, in the idle “secured in the unlocked position” state, where it is neither permitted nor possible to push the rotary latch towards the interior of the locking device;
2. the locking device is, for a maximum time interval (also called “lock timeout”), in the “unsecured in the unlocked position” state, in which it is allowed and possible to push the rotary latch towards the interior of the locking device, towards the “locked” position;
3. the locking device is, with no time limitation, in the idle “secured in the locked position” state, where it is neither permitted nor possible to pull the rotary latch towards the “unlocked” position;
4. the locking device is, for a maximum time interval (also called “unlock timeout”), in the “unsecured in the locked position” state, in which it is allowed and possible to pull the rotary latch towards the “unlocked” position,
and additional to these four fixed mechanical states there are all transitory states in which the locking device can be during the moving of the rotary latch towards one of the positions “locked” or “unlocked” as a result of an external force manually exerted upon the object that is to be locked or unlocked and once the rotary latch reaches that final position, “locked” or “unlocked”, the locking device automatically enters the “secured in the locked position” state or, respectively, “secured in the unlocked position”.
According to another aspect of the present invention, the locking device is characterized by that it is designed and build in such a way to minimize the risks of non-compliant use or even theft of the locked object, grace to the way the locking device is controlled and to the design of the two idle states “secured in the unlocked position” and, respectively, “secured in the locked position”.
According to yet another aspect of the invention, the locking device is characterized by that it is designed and build in such a way so that it provides the user with a firm mechanical feed-back on the insertion and moving of the object to be locked inside the locking device up to the position “locked” and also on the pulling of the locked object out of the “locked” position up to the “unlocked” position, after the rotary latch transitorily passes through a maximum tension point at its mid-way between the two positions, “unlocked’ and “locked”, due to the mechanism formed by the cam-arm of the rotary latch together with the cam follower, in order to amplify the dynamics of the move of the rotary latch towards each of the two end positions.
According to yet another aspect of the invention, the locking device is characterized by a special design of its component parts providing some mechanical gaps inside their assembly, which can cause the closing or opening of two limit switches related to the “unlocked” and “locked” positions and, as a result, detecting and transmitting of electronic signals to the controller about potential non-compliant use of the locking device, such as unauthorized attempts of locking or unlocking of objects or even forcing of the locking device in an attempt of theft or in an attempt of breaking it down.
According to yet another aspect of the invention, the locking device is characterized by the fact that it is actuated between the secured and the unsecured states of the rotary latch, in both positions, “unlocked” and “locked”, by the means of a rotor that is rotated by a step-by-step motor and, in the case of a power failure, the rotor can be retired back from a position corresponding to an unsecured state of the rotary latch in a safe median position, by the spring that ties the two blocking levers one to another.
The locking device comprises a housing 1 that comprises a base plate 2 on which there are four threaded rods 2a steadily fixed and a top plate 3 that is parallel with the base plate 2, where the two plates 2 and 3 are assembled together with four nuts 4 that are secured on the threaded rods 2a. A rotary latch 5 is mounted between the base plate 2 and the top plate 3, where it has the possibility to rotate around an axis that is perpendicular to the plates 2 and 3.
In a first embodiment of the invention, in respect to
The rotary latch 5 can rotate between two fixed end positions, “unlocked” and “locked”, only as a result of an external action upon an object body 100, which is not part of the present invention and which has a locking ring 101 that is not part of the present invention also, so that the locking ring 101 is pushed inside a U-shaped recess 5a of the rotary latch 5 for the locking operation, as shown in
When the locking device is in the “secured in the unlocked position” state, as in
The anti-locking lever 8 and the anti-unlocking lever 9 are made of parts that can be identical to each other and that are mounted inside the locking device symmetrically one from another in respect to a vertical plane that contains the rotation axis of the rotary latch 5, as shown in
The placement of the rotary latch 5 in the “unlocked” position is detected by the controller of the locking device through the closing of a limit switch 12 that is mounted in a first special pocket 10c shaped inside the main holder 10, as represented in
The free end 8c of the anti-locking lever, which is opposed to the circular protrusion 8a that is part of the rotation joint of the lever 8, is designed such that it is placed inside an anti-locking shoulder 5b that is shaped in the rotary latch 5, when the rotary latch 5 is blocked in the “unlocked” position. This position of the anti-locking lever 8 restricts any possibility of the rotary latch 5 to rotate towards the “locked” position.
In case of a manual action from outside in the sense of locking an object 100 inside the locking device, the process flow is as follows: the electronic controller, which is not represented in the accompanying figures, detects the proximity of the object 100 that is authorized for locking and sends an electronic command to an actuator 13 to rotate its shaft and an attached eccentric rotor 14 so to move the locking device form the “secured in the unlocked position” state into the “unsecured in the unlocked position” state. The actuator 13 can be a stepper motor that is fastened on the top plate 3 by four screws 3a and four corresponding nuts 15. The shaft of the actuator 13 can execute a fraction of a rotation and leads the eccentric rotor 14 attached to the end of the actuator shaft on an angular stroke c in counter-trigonometric sense, as shown in
In the case of the first event i. just mentioned previously, where an authorized object 100 is pushed inside the recess 5a of the rotary latch 5 within the timeout for locking interval when the locking device is in the “unsecured in the unlocked position” state having its anti-locking lever 8 pushed by the rotor 14 with its free end 8c outside the anti-locking shoulder 5b of the rotary latch 5, this latter rotates around the bolt 6 from the “unlocked” position towards the “locked” position and together with it, a cam-arm 5c elongated from the body of the rotary latch 5 acts with its end as a cam on a cam follower 16 that can slide around a guiding rod 10e that is shaped in the main holder 10 so that the cam follower 16 compresses two compression strings, 17 and 18. The cam-arm 5c has also the role to close the limit switch 12 that confirms the placement of the rotary latch 5 in the “unlocked” position and also to close a limit switch 19 that confirms the placement of the rotary latch 5 in the “locked” position. The configuration with the pair of the two compression strings 17 and 18 on each side of the special guide 10e is recommended for a better stability of the cam follower 16 on its symmetry axis during its movement along the special guiding rod 10e, taking into consideration the relatively high width of the cam follower 16 compared to the length of its stroke.
While the rotary latch 5 rotates from the “unlocked” position to the “locked” position, its anti-unlocking shoulder 5d rotates above the upper side of the anti-unlocking lever 9, in the vicinity of the free end 9c of this lever 9. As soon as the rotary latch 5 reaches the “locked” position as result of the external pushing force exerted on the object body 100 and also as result of the reaction force between the cam follower 16 and the cam-arm 5c, the free end 9c of the anti-unlocking lever 9 is automatically pulled by the spring 11 towards the horizontal axis between the center of rotary latch 5 and the center of the rotor 14, and it reaches the stable position inside the anti-unlocking shoulder 5d of the rotary latch 5, which represents the passing of the locking device from the “unsecured in the unlocked position” state into the “secured in the locked position” state, as shown in
The closing of the limit switch 19 is transmitted to the controller, which in response commands the actuator 13 to retire the rotor 14 from the position corresponding to the “unsecured in the unlocked position” state and move it to its idle median position, according to
The profile of the cam follower 16 has a geometry designed so that it exerts a variable reaction force on the cam-arm 5c of the rotary latch 5 during its rotation from the “unlocked” position towards the “locked” position or in the opposite sense. As such, the reaction force on the cam-arm 5c of the rotary latch 5 during its rotation from the “unlocked” position to the “locked” position rises from a minimum but greater than zero value corresponding to the position where the free end of the cam-arm 5c is near the left side corner of the cam follower 16 which corresponds to the “locked” position of the rotary latch 5, up to a maximum value near the tip 16a of the cam follower 16 and then the force decreases down to a minimum but greater than zero value where the end of the cam-arm 5c reaches the right side corner of the cam follower 16, which corresponds to the “locked” position of the rotary latch 5.
In respect to the operation of unlocking an object body 100 that is locked inside the locking device, the process flow is as follows: the electronic controller receives a command to unlock the locking device from the system in which the locking device is installed, and as response the controller commands the actuator 13 to rotate its shaft and the attached rotor 14 so to move the locking device form the “secured in the locked position” state into the “unsecured in the locked position” state. The shaft of the actuator 13 executes a fraction of a rotation and leads the eccentric rotor 14 on an angular stroke c in trigonometric sense so that the rotor 14 pushes the anti-unlocking lever 9 in the sense of pulling its free end 9c out of the anti-unlocking shoulder 5d of the rotary latch 5, which actually means moving the locking device from the “secured in the locked position” state into the “unsecured in the locked position” state. The rotor 14 shall remain in this latter position and it shall also maintain the anti-locking lever 8 in this position until one of the following events happens:
In the case of the first event iv. just mentioned above, where the object 100 is pulled out of the locking device within the timeout for unlocking interval when the locking device is in the “unsecured in the locked position” state having its anti-unlocking lever 9 pushed by the rotor 14 with its free end 9c outside the anti-unlocking shoulder 5d of the rotary latch 5, this latter rotates around the bolt 6 from the “locked” position towards the “unlocked” position and together with it, the cam-arm 5c elongated from the body of the rotary latch 5 acts with its end as a cam on the cam follower 16 similarly but in opposite sense compared to the movement of the rotary latch 5 from the “unlocked” position to the “locked” position.
While the rotary latch 5 rotates from the “locked” position to the “unlocked” position, its anti-locking shoulder 5b rotates under the lower side of the anti-locking lever 8, in the proximity of the free end 8c of this lever 8. As soon as the rotary latch 5 reaches the “unlocked” position as result of the external pulling force exerted on the object body 100 and also as result of the reaction force between the cam follower 16 and the cam-arm 5c, the free end 8c of the anti-locking lever 8 is automatically pulled by the spring 11 towards the horizontal axis between the center of the rotary latch 5 and the center of the rotor 14, and it reaches the stable position inside the anti-locking shoulder 5b of the rotary latch 5, which represents the passing of the locking device from the “unsecured in the locked position” state into the “secured in the unlocked position” state, as shown in
Similarly to the dynamics of the rotary latch 5 rotating from the “unlocked” position to the “locked” position, in case of the rotary latch 5 moving from the “locked” position to the “unlocked” position the cam follower 16 exerts a reaction force on the cam-arm 5c of the rotary latch 5, which rises from a minimum but greater than zero value in the position where the free end of the cam-arm 5c is near the right side corner of the cam follower 16 which corresponds to the “locked” position of the rotary latch 5, up to a maximum value near the tip 16a of the cam follower 16 and then the force decreases down to a minimum but greater than zero value where the end of the cam-arm 5c reaches the left side corner of the cam follower 16, which corresponds to the “unlocked” position of the rotary latch 5.
The functional roles of the cam-arm 5c and the cam follower 16 in the case of the rotary latch 5 rotating between the “unlocked” and “locked” positions are as follows:
1. A tendency of auto-positioning the rotary latch 5 along its stroke c either in the “unlocked” or in the “locked” position, so that in case of eventual cancellation of any external force upon the object 100, the rotary latch 5 moves to the nearest end position and once arrived in that respective position indirectly causes putting the locking device either in the “secured in the unlocked position” state or in the “secured in the locked position” state, accordingly. As such, the following cases can arise:
2. The system formed by the cam-arm 5c and the cam follower 16 ensures a correct placement of the rotary latch 5 at the extremity of that respective end position, which in turn ensures a firm action of the cam-arm 5c upon the limit switch 12 or 19 corresponding to that end position;
3. The system formed by the cam-arm 5c and the cam follower 16 transmits a firm mechanical feed-back to the user during the operation upon the object body 100, so that the user feels undoubtedly when the locking device gets in one of the two firm end positions, either “locked” or “unlocked”, but also can the user perceive any unstable position of the mechanism if the object was lead only up to an intermediary position between the two firm end positions.
The external diameter of the traction spring 11 should be smaller than the distance between the horizontal faces of the base plate 2 and the top plate 3 so that it can move freely, without friction between those two cases and between the two levers 8 and 9. Also, the length of the spring 11 in free state is chosen to be less than the minimum distance created between the hooks 8b and 9d of the levers 8 and 9 at any moment during the operation of the locking device, so that the spring 11 creates a certain pulling force between the two levers 8 and 9, which ensures keeping the free ends 8c and 9c of the two levers 8 and 9 permanently pulled towards the anti-locking shoulder 5b and, respectively, towards the anti-unlocking shoulder 5d of the rotary latch 5.
If an electrical power failure or a malfunction of the actuator 13 arises during the interval when this is commanded in the sense corresponding to the locking device being in the “unsecured in the unlocked position” state, the rotor 14 must be able to automatically return to its idle median position, with its longitudinal axis as close as possible to horizontal direction. In order to accomplish that, the traction spring 11 mounted between the hooks 8b and 9b of the levers 8 and 9 is dimensioned so that at its maximum elongation related to the “unsecured in the locked position” state of the locking device, the spring 11 would ensure an elastic tension which is at least 50% greater than the force that is necessary to produce a torque which can overcome the resisting torque of rotary shaft of the actuator 13 when this latter is not energized. Similarly, the same characteristic of the spring 11 applies in the case of retiring the rotor 14 from the position corresponding to the “secured in the locked position” state, if the respective power outage or actuator malfunction arises while the locking device is in that state. Thus, the locking device is permanently protected against any accidental remaining in any unblocked state, either “unsecured in the unlocked position” or “unsecured in the locked position”.
If an electrical power outage or a malfunction of the actuator 13 arises during the interval when this is in its idle position, with the rotor 14 placed in horizontal position at mid distance between the levers 8 and 9, that is, when the locking device is in either of the states “secured in the unlocked position” or “secured in the locked position”, it is not possible to modify this position by means of normal use operations. In the particular case of the locking device being in the “secured in the locked position” state with an object 100 having its locking ring 101 locked in the locking device, it is necessary that the locking device provides an administrative means to free the locked object 100 in order to get access to the locking device for further service operations. In this respect, the top plate 3 has a special cut 3b, as shown in
As suggested in
During the operation of the locking device, the eccentric rotor 14 is tensed by mechanical forces that are considerably lower than the forces that act upon the other moving parts of the mechanism and thus it can be made with a thickness lower than that of the main holder 10 and of the levers 8 and 9, and it can also be made of other materials than steel, for instance another metal or even plastic.
As depicted in
This characteristic of the geometry and relative placement of the parts rotary latch 5, anti-locking lever 8 and main holder 10 has as a result the fact that any attempt from outside to push the rotary latch 5 inwards when the locking device is in the “secured in the unlocked position” state, that is, in a state that has not been previously authorized for locking, shall cause a very short rotation of only 4°-5°, of the rotary latch 5 in counter-trigonometric sense, as much as it takes to eliminate the two mechanical gaps j1 and j2. This short rotation of the rotary latch 5 produces a movement of the cam-arm 5c in the same sense, which movement is big enough to cause the opening of the limit switch 12, which is interpreted by the electronic controller of the locking device as an unauthorized attempt to take the locking device out of the “secured in the unlocked position” state. When the external force that has provoked this short displacement of the rotary latch 5 ceases, the cam follower 16 pushes the cam-arm 5c backwards and thus the rotary latch 5 is rotated back until it reaches its idle position corresponding to the “secured in the unlocked position” state and the limit switch 12 is closed again under the action of the left side of the cam-arm 5c. An eventual alternation of the closed/open signals sent by the limit switch 12 to the controller during a given interval of time can be interpreted by the software application of the system in which the locking device is installed as an alert of non-conforming locking attempt.
Similarly, the geometry of the mechanical chain compound from the rotary latch 5—anti-unlocking lever 9—main holder 10 is designed such that there are small mechanical gaps in the subassembly of these parts when the locking device is in the “secured in the locked position” state, as follows:
This characteristic of the geometry and relative placement of the parts rotary latch 5, anti-unlocking lever 9 and main holder 10 has as a result the fact that any attempt from outside to pull the locked object 100 outwards when the locking device is in the “secured in the locked position” state, that is, in a state that has not been previously authorized for unlocking, shall cause a very short rotation of only 4°-5°, of the rotary latch 5 in trigonometric sense, as much as it takes to eliminate the latter two mechanical gaps. This short rotation of the rotary latch 5 produces a movement of the cam-arm 5c in the same sense, which movement is big enough to cause the opening of the limit switch 19, which is interpreted by the electronic controller of the locking device as an unauthorized attempt to take the locking device out of the “secured in the locked position” state. When the external force that has provoked this short displacement of the rotary latch 5 ceases, the cam follower 16 pushes the cam-arm 5c backwards at that respective and position and thus the rotary latch 5 is rotated back until it reaches its idle position corresponding to the “secured in the locked position” state and the limit switch 19 is closed again under the action of the right side of the cam-arm 5c. An eventual alternation of the closed/open signals sent by the limit switch 19 to the controller during a given interval of time can be interpreted by the software application of the system in which the locking device is installed as an alert of non-conforming unlocking attempt.
During the operation of the locking device, the parts rotary latch 5, anti-locking lever 8, anti-unlocking lever 9 and cam follower 16 constitute moving parts in respect to the main holder 10 that is fixed on the locking device housing compound from the base plate 2 and the top plate 3. Since these mentioned parts 5, 8, 9, 16 and 10 that are mounted between the two plates 2 and 3 have equal thicknesses, it means that special measures need to be taken in order to ensure that the moving parts 5, 8, 9 and 16 can move smoothly within the subassembly of the two plates 2 and 3. In order to achieve this goal, two solutions are provided:
1. A thin spacer 20 is placed above the main holder 10, having a thickness of 0.5-1 mm and a similar shape with that of the main holder 10 in respect to the outside outline and dimensions, which further has two round cuts 20a and 20b identical with and perfectly placed above the two circular cuts 10a and 10b of the main holder 10, and further has two cuts 20c and 20d provided for the passing of the electric wires coming from the limit switches 12 and 19. However, unlike the shape of main holder 10, the thin spacer 20 has a plain area 20e above the two compression springs 17 and 18 so that these could not leave their normal positions during service operations.
2. The base plate 2 and the top plate 3 have two lateral walls each, 2b and 2c as shown in
The base plate 2 and the top plate 3 have each a cutout 2e, respectively 3e, each of them having an approximate form of the letter “U”, which are provided so that the locking ring 101 of the object 100 can move towards the internal area of the locking device during the locking operation. These cuts 2e and 3e are necessary so that the locking device according to the invention can accommodate locking rings 101 that are taller than the height of the locking device measured between the external faces of the plates 2 and 3. Similarly, the upper lid 21 of the locking device has a cut placed above the cuts 2e and 3e, for the same reason.
The top plate 3 has two more cutouts, 3f and 3g, provided for the passing of the electrical wires coming from the limit switches 12 and 19 towards the electronic controller of the locking device and a specially profiled cutout 3h provided for the placement of the actuator 13.
The operation of assembling the locking device can be made in the order suggested in
1. The bolt 6 is inserted in the corresponding hole of the base plate 2 so that the flat cap of the bolt 6 remains under the base plate 2 and afterwards the subassembly of these two parts 2 and 6 is laid down on a horizontal surface;
2. The main holder 10 is placed on the base plate 2;
3. The limit switches 12 and 19 are placed inside their related special pockets 10c and 10f in the main holder 10, so that the third electrical pin of each limit switch 12 and 19 is placed in the specially provided separating cuts of the main holder 10;
4. The rotary latch 5 is mounted on the bolt 6 so that the cam-arm 5c is positioned on the upper left side, close to the limit switch 12;
5. The levers 8 and 9 are positioned inside the main holder 10 so that their circular protrusions 8a and 9a fit inside the circular cuts 10a and, respectively 10b of the main holder 10 and so that the hooks 8b and 9b are facing each other and so that the free end 8c of the anti-locking lever 8 and the free end 9c of the anti-unlocking lever 9 lean on the external edges of the shoulders 5b, respectively 5d of the rotary latch 5;
6. The cam follower 16 is placed inside the main holder 10 so that its vertical axis of symmetry coincides with the vertical axis of symmetry of the guiding rod 10e;
7. The traction spring 11 is mounted with its ends on the hooks 8b and 9b of the levers 8 and 9;
8. The compression springs 17 and 18 are placed inside the special holes provided in the main holder 10 so that they tension the cam follower 16 downwards, pushing this latter on the cam-arm 5c that, as result of this force, is kept at the extremity of the “unlocked” position;
9. The thin spacer 20 is placed upon the subassembly formed at the previous step;
10. The top plate 3 is placed on the subassembly such obtained, then the safety ring 7 is mounted in the recess 6a of the bolt 6 and then the four nuts 4 are fastened on the four threaded rods 2a;
11. The eccentric rotor 14 is placed on the “zero” position of the shaft of the actuator 13;
12. The subassembly made of the actuator 13—eccentric rotor 14 is mounted upon the top plate 3 such that the four threaded rods 3a pass through the four fastening holes of the actuator 13 and the eccentric rotor 14 is underneath the body of the actuator 13 and fits inside the locking device with the longitudinal axis of the rotor 14 oriented towards the center of the rotary latch 5, and afterwards the four nuts 15 are fastened on the four threaded rods 3a. At the end of this step, the assembly of the locking device is complete.
13. It is recommended that a lid 21 is mounted on top of the locking device assembly, in order to prevent from any access from outside to the actuator 13 and to the fastening parts. The lid 21 has a hole provided for the passing of the wires from the limit switches 12 and 19 and from the actuator 13.
14. The locking device can be mounted on the chassis of an equipment by fastening with four solid screws that will be passed through four fastening holes provided on at least two lateral sides of the parts base plate 2, top plate 3 and upper lid 21.
According to a second embodiment of the present invention, related to
Thus, in this second embodiment of the present invention, the rotation joint of the rotary latch 5 is constituted by a shaped subassembly, which has the advantage that no fastening parts are needed for this element, as was the case in the first embodiment of the invention where the rotation joint comprises the cylindrical bolt 6 and the safety ring 7.
Another difference of the second embodiment compared to the first embodiment of the invention is that the parts housing 1, base plate 2, top plate 3, rotary latch 5, main holder 10, thin spacer 20 and upper lid 21 have shapes and dimensions that are slightly different than those in the first embodiment, but this is only for the aim of accommodating these basically same parts for a different shape and movement of the rotary latch 5 inside the assembly of the locking device. The other components of the assembly, that is, the four nuts 4, the anti-locking lever 8, the anti-unlocking lever 9, the traction spring 11, the limit switches 12 and 19, the actuator 13, the rotor 14, the nuts 15, the cam follower 16 and the springs 17 and 18 have the same shape, dimensions and functional roles as those characteristic to the first embodiment of the invention.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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A 2017 01055 | Dec 2017 | RO | national |
Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind |
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PCT/RO2018/000021 | 12/4/2018 | WO | 00 |