The present application claims priority to Korean Patent Application No. 10-2018-0011636 filed on Jan. 30, 2018, the entire contents of which is incorporated herein for all purposes by this reference.
The present invention relates to a power child lock operating device. More particularly, the present invention relates to a power child lock operating device capable of smoothly locking and releasing a child lock provided in a rear door of a vehicle by a driver's switch operation.
In the conventional seat of the vehicle, an inside handle for opening the door is provided. Particularly in the rear seat, a child lock device is provided to prevent a child from arbitrarily opening the door.
The child lock device is provided in a form of a knob on the inside handle so that the occupant can manually operate the knob to lock or unlock the child lock device.
In recent years, a so-called power child lock device, in which a driver locks or unlocks a child lock device by a switch operation, is universally disposed to improve convenience.
A conventional power child lock device may include, a drive motor for receiving a power according to a switch operation of a driver to be operated, a worm as a drive gear provided in the drive motor, a first operating lever having a worm gear engaged with the worm, a second actuating lever having one end portion connected to the first operating lever to be integrally rotated, an unlock lever coupled to the second operating lever and connected to the door lock device, an inside handle lever connected to a door inside handle to be moved together, and a power child lock switch which is manipulated by a driver to release or lock the power child lock device, and the like.
Therefore, when the driver operates the power child lock switch in the release direction thereof, the drive motor is supplied with power, the drive motor rotates in one direction thereof, and the drive motor rotates the worm mounted at the drive motor simultaneously. The worm gear rotates the first operating lever in a clockwise direction through the worm and the second operating lever rotates clockwise by the rotation of the first operating lever to pull the unlock lever so that a power child lock device is released and the door is configured to be opened.
However, if an occupant in the rear seat rotates the inside handle to open the door with a power child lock device locked and a driver simultaneously operates the power child lock switch in the release direction to release the power child lock device, the inside handle lever and the first operating lever are simultaneously operated to generate interference, so that the inside handle lever cannot return to the original position due to the interference of the first operating lever, or the releasing operation of the power child lock device is impossible, and the like.
The information disclosed in this Background of the Invention section is only for enhancement of understanding of the general background of the invention and may not be taken as an acknowledgement or any form of suggestion that this information forms the prior art already known to a person skilled in the art.
Various aspects of the present invention are directed to providing a power child lock operating device that can operate smoothly without interfering between components even if the rear door opening or closing operation of the vehicle occupant and the rear door opening operation of the driver are performed simultaneously.
A power child lock operating device according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention may include a rotating drive device; a first operating lever which receives the torque of the rotating drive device to be rotated; a second operating lever connected to the first operating lever to be moved together; a third operating lever connected to a door catch to lock or unlock the door catch; an inside handle lever connected to an inside handle disposed at a door of a vehicle to be moved together; a fourth operating lever selectively connecting the inside handle lever and the third operating lever; and an elastic member pressurizing to the fourth operating lever so that the third operating lever may be connected to the inside handle lever.
The rotating drive device may be a drive motor configured for rotating in the clockwise and anticlockwise
A worm may be formed at the drive motor to be integrally rotated and a worm gear engaged with the worm may be provided in the second operating lever.
The worm gear may be formed at one end portion of the first operating lever, a protrusion may be provided in the other end portion of the first operating lever; and a shaft hole, into which a pin is inserted so that the first operating lever can rotate, may be formed between the one end portion and the other end portion of the first operating lever to be penetrated.
A hook having an accommodating groove that wraps around and hangs the protrusion of the first operating lever may be provided in one end portion the second operating lever.
A protrusion inserted into the fourth operating lever to be hanged is provided in the other end portion of the second operating lever.
A slot may be formed between the one end portion and the other end portion of the second operating lever and an assemble pin may be inserted into the slot.
The elastic member may include a pressurizing spring having one end portion and the other end portion and being disposed at the fourth operating lever.
The third operating lever may include a first hole into which the assemble pin is inserted, a second hole to which the fourth operating lever is fitted to be assembled thereto, a coupling groove which the fourth operating lever is inserted into to be coupled thereto or separated therefrom, and a hanging jaw which the one end portion of the pressurizing spring is hanged to be supported thereby.
The fourth operating lever may include a first boss which the pressurizing spring is wound around and supported by and a second boss having an accommodating groove into which the protrusion of the second operating lever is inserted to be moved, and the other end portion of the pressurizing spring may be supported on the external wall of the second boss.
The fourth operating lever may further include an assemble protrusion which penetrates through the second hole of the third operating lever to be assembled, and a coupling protrusion inserted into a coupling hole of the third operating lever to be connected to the third operating lever or separated from the coupling hole of the third operating lever.
The inside handle lever may include a first hole into which the assemble pin is inserted to be assembled, a second hole into which a cable is inserted to be hanged thereto to connect with an inside handle disposed at a door of a vehicle through the cable, and a coupling groove to which the fourth operating lever is coupled to be connected thereto or separated therefrom.
In accordance with a power child lock operating device according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, a plurality of operating levers is smoothly operated without generating interference to each other so that the operating reliability may be improved, component damage or breakage due to interference of components may be effectively prevented, improving the merchantability of the vehicle.
The methods and apparatuses of the present invention have other features and advantages which will be apparent from or are set forth in more detail in the accompanying drawings, which are incorporated herein, and the following Detailed Description, which together serve to explain certain principles of the present invention.
It may be understood that the appended drawings are not necessarily to scale, presenting a somewhat simplified representation of various features illustrative of the basic principles of the invention. The specific design features of the present invention as disclosed herein, including, for example, specific dimensions, orientations, locations, and shapes will be determined in part by the particularly intended application and use environment.
In the figures, reference numbers refer to the same or equivalent parts of the present invention throughout the several figures of the drawing.
Reference will now be made in detail to various embodiments of the present invention(s), examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings and described below. While the invention(s) will be described in conjunction with exemplary embodiments, it will be understood that the present description is not intended to limit the invention(s) to those exemplary embodiments. On the contrary, the invention(s) is/are intended to cover not only the exemplary embodiments, but also various alternatives, modifications, equivalents and other embodiments, which may be included within the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims.
Hereinafter, an exemplary embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to accompanying drawings.
Referring to
Referring
A hook 42 having an accommodating groove 41 that wraps around and hangs the protrusion 32 of the first operating lever 30 may be formed at one end portion of the second operating lever 40.
The hook 42 may be formed in a substantial “U”-shape.
Therefore, when the first operating lever 30 is rotated around its shaft hole 33 by drive of the drive motor 10, the second operating lever 40 is pulled or pushed by the first operating lever 30 due to the interaction of the hook 42 and the protrusion 32.
A protrusion 43, which is inserted into and hanged by the fourth operating lever 70, may be provided in the other end portion of the second operating lever 40, a slot 44 may be formed between the one end portion and the other end portion of the second operating lever 40, and an assemble pin 90 shown in
Referring to
Referring to
The other end portion 82 of the pressurizing spring 80 is supported on the external wall of the second boss 73, so that the pressurizing spring 80 applies a pressing elastic force to the fourth operating lever 70.
Furthermore, the fourth operating lever 70 may further include an assemble protrusion 74 in a substantial “T”-shape penetrating the second hole 52 of the third operating lever 50 to be assembled thereto, and a coupling protrusion 75 inserted into the coupling groove 53 of the third operating lever 50 to be connected to the third operating lever 50 or separated from the coupling groove 53 of the third operating lever 50 to be disconnected.
Referring to
Referring to
First,
In the instant state, when the rear passenger pulls the door inside handle as shown in the arrow to open the door of the vehicle and, only the inside handle lever 60 connected to the door inside handle through the cable rotates around the assemble pin 90, and since the inside handle lever 60 and the third operating lever 50 are not connected to each other, so that the third operating lever 50 remain its position and the rear door is not opened.
When the driver operates the power child lock switch to switch on in order to open the rear door according to the intention of the passenger in the rear seat, as shown in
The second operating lever 40 connected to the first operating lever 30 through the first hook 42 rises by the rotation of the first operating lever 30, but the assemble pin 90 is in the slot 44 of the second operating lever 40, so that the inside handle lever 60 assembled to the assemble pin 90, the third operating lever 50 and the fourth operating lever 70 remain in original positions.
If the driver switches the power child lock off and the rear seat occupant releases the door inside handle again, as shown in
In the instant state, the rear seat occupant pulls the inside handle lever 60 to pull the door inside handle again to open the rear door, the inside handle lever 60 is rotated about the assemble pin 90 so that the third operating lever 50 and the fourth operating lever 70 are rotated together and the third operating lever 50 is also pulled to release the door catch of the rear door, opening the rear door.
This series of smooth operation prevents the interference between the levers which occurred in the related art, and improves the operational reliability and also effectively prevents damage or breakage of the parts.
For convenience in explanation and accurate definition in the appended claims, the terms “upper”, “lower”, “inner”, “outer”, “up”, “down”, “upper”, “lower”, “upwards”, “downwards”, “front”, “rear”, “back”, “inside”, “outside”, “inwardly”, “outwardly”, “internal”, “external”, “inner”, “outer”, “forwards”, and “backwards” are used to describe features of the exemplary embodiments with reference to the positions of such features as displayed in the figures.
The foregoing descriptions of specific exemplary embodiments of the present invention have been presented for purposes of illustration and description. They are not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the invention to the precise forms disclosed, and obviously many modifications and variations are possible in light of the above teachings. The exemplary embodiments were chosen and described to explain certain principles of the invention and their practical application, to enable others skilled in the art to make and utilize various exemplary embodiments of the present invention, as well as various alternatives and modifications thereof. It is intended that the scope of the invention be defined by the Claims appended hereto and their equivalents.
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