This application is the U.S. national stage application of International Patent Application No. PCT/DE2013/000702, filed Nov. 22, 2013, which claims priority of German Application No. 10 2012 111 288.6, filed Nov. 22, 2012, which are both hereby incorporated by reference.
The invention relates to a motor vehicle door lock, comprising a locking mechanism and an electric drive for electric opening of the locking mechanism.
A motor vehicle door lock based on the described design is, for instance, disclosed in WO 02/31298 A1 of the applicant. This prior art embodiment not only allows electric opening of the locking mechanism but also provides a mechanical connection between an actuating lever and the locking mechanism for emergency opening of the locking mechanism. In this context this is also referred to as so-called temporary crash redundancy (TCR). This means that also in a so-called emergency operation or an emergency opening, such as in case of a crash, it is ensured that the locking mechanism can be opened, i.e. with the aid of the actuating lever.
Electric opening of a locking mechanism by means of the electric drive is generally accomplished in such a way that an operator activates, for instance, an external door handle or also an internal door handle. This regularly results in an actuation of a switch, interpreted as an opening request and causing the electric drive to be energized for electric opening of the locking mechanism. In order to, already at this point, prevent incorrect energizing from the outset, blocking elements are increasingly often used in practical application. The electric drive is mechanically secured with the aid of such a blocking element. In order to initiate electric opening of the locking mechanism, the external or internal door handle does, in the example, not only ensure that a switch is activated. Instead, this procedure also corresponds to the blocking element releasing the electric drive so that it can act on the locking mechanism to open it. Although this has generally proven to be successful, mechanically complex solutions are often used at this point.
For this reason the invention is based on the technical problem of further developing such a motor vehicle door lock in such a way that a particularly compact and simple actuation mechanism for electric opening is provided.
In order to solve this technical problem, a generic motor vehicle door lock of the invention is characterized by an additional drive being provided, releasing a mechanical safety mechanism of the electric drive by said blocking element for electric opening of the locking mechanism with the aid of the electric drive.
The invention thus first of all provides an additional drive used in addition to the electric drive for the actual electric opening. This additional drive ensures that a previously engaged mechanical safety mechanism is released for electric opening of the locking mechanism. This mechanical safety mechanism of the electric drive used for electric opening, is regularly designed in such a way that the blocking element secures the electric drive. The blocking element is therefore generally a blocking lever that can be pivoted around an axis. The blocking lever generally contains at least one blocking lug, stopping the electric drive in the event of incorrect energizing and without acting on an associated actuating lever.
As the invention provides the additional drive, electric opening can be initiated by remote control without problem. This means that mechanical impinging of the door handle is not (no longer) required. In addition, the motor vehicle door lock of the invention can be opened by an emergency opening mechanism in the event of a crash, by purely mechanical means. For this purpose, the drive for electric opening of the locking mechanism ensures during emergency operation that an actuating lever chain is unlocked and that thus a continuous mechanical connection of a door handle up to the locking mechanism is provided.
Further advantageous embodiments are described in the sub claims. Below, the invention is explained with reference to a drawing, showing just one embodiment; in which:
The figures show a motor vehicle door lock, containing as usual a not explicitly shown locking mechanism essentially comprising a rotary latch and pawl. An actuating lever 1, mounted together with a blocking element or blocking lever 2 around a common axis 3 in a housing G, acts on the locking mechanism. A rotary movement of the actuating lever 1 around its axis 3 causes the locking mechanism to be opened. For this purpose, the actuating lever 1 acts on a pawl of the locking mechanism in such a way that the pawl is lifted off the associated rotary latch and that the rotary latch is opened with the aid of a spring.
An electric drive 4, 5 is provided in order to initiate clockwise movement of the actuating lever 1 as indicated in
On the output side, the electric motor 4 contains a worm gear meshing with the driven pulley 5 on its periphery. The driven pulley 5 can thus move around its associated axis 6 in clockwise and counter-clockwise direction. An electric opening of the locking mechanism corresponds to the counter-clockwise movement of the driven pulley 5 around its axis 6 as indicated in
In addition to said electric drive 4, 5 for electric opening of the locking mechanism, the invention also provides a further drive 7, 8. This further drive 7, 8 is another electric motor 7, acting on a driven pulley 8. Fort his purpose a worm gear is provided that is pushed onto a drive shaft of the electric motor 7 or is connected to the drive shaft and meshes with the driven pulley 8. In the example, the additional further drive 7, 8 is a child lock drive and/or an anti-theft drive, as explained in detail below.
With the aid of this additional drive 7, 8 a mechanical safety mechanism of the electric drive 4, 5 for electric opening of the locking mechanism can be released. This mechanical safety mechanism of the electric drive 4, 5 is provided in form of the already described blocking element 2. During operation, a blocking lug 2a of the blocking element 2 in form of a blocking lever 2 engages with the driven pulley 5 of the electric drive 4, 5 for electric opening of the locking mechanism.
If for instance, the electric drive 4, 5 is incorrectly energized and starts to move in the direction of the an electric opening of the locking mechanism (counter-clockwise movement of the driven pulley 5), the blocking element essentially shown in its securing position in
As part of the invention, the blocking lever 2 can, for instance, be mechanically removed from its engagement in the electric drive 4, 5 for electric opening of the locking mechanism. For this purpose, the blocking lever 2 only has to be pivoted around its axis 3 in clockwise direction so that the blocking lever 2 leaves its securing position essentially shown in
Apart from this essentially mechanical release of the blocking element or blocking lever 2, the invention also allows an essentially remotely controlled release. This is achieved by means of the additional drive 7, 8. The additional drive 7, 8 does, indeed, not only ensure that the blocking element 2 is acted upon. Instead, the additional drive 2, 3 also acts as an engaging drive for a child lock or anti-theft device, as explained in more detail below.
Particularly significant for the invention is the fact that the additional drive 7, 8 acts and can act on the blocking element 2. For this purpose, the additional drive 7, 8 acts on a connecting lever 9. In the embodiment, the connecting lever 9 is, on one hand, mechanically coupled to a locking lever 10, described below and, on the other hand, to the blocking element or blocking lever 2. The connecting lever 9 actually contains a locking bolt 11 engaging in the recess of the locking lever 10. The connecting lever 9 also contains a blocking bolt 12, engaging in a recess in the blocking element or blocking lever 2.
If the additional drive 7, 8 is moved from the “child lock off” position shown in
The additional drive 7, 8 functions, as already explained, also as a safety drive for a child lock. In the position “child lock off” as shown in
As soon as the blocking lever 2 has acted on the switch 13, this signal is interpreted by the control unit in such a way that the electric drive 4, 5 can be acted upon for electric opening of the locking mechanism (opening signal). After the additional drive 7, 8 has reached its position shown in
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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10 2012 111 288 | Nov 2012 | DE | national |
Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind |
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PCT/DE2013/000702 | 11/22/2013 | WO | 00 |
Publishing Document | Publishing Date | Country | Kind |
---|---|---|---|
WO2014/079412 | 5/30/2014 | WO | A |
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Entry |
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Machine Translation by Lexis Nexis Total Patent of EP0828049A2 on Jun. 18, 2015. |
Machine Translation by Lexis Nexis Total Patent of WO0231298A1 on Jun. 18, 2015. |
Machine Translation by Lexis Nexis Total Patent of WO2013127381A2 on Jun. 18, 2015. |
Machine Translation by Lexis Nexis Total Patent of WO2014059966A2 on Jun. 18, 2015. |
Number | Date | Country | |
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20150300052 A1 | Oct 2015 | US |