Patent Application
20240301743
This disclosure relates generally to releasing a vehicle closure assembly from a locked position in response to a user pressing against the closure assembly.
Vehicles can include various closure assemblies, such as side doors and liftgates. Closure assemblies of the vehicles can pivot back-and-forth relative to a vehicle body between a closed position and a fully open position. Latches can latch the closure assemblies in closed positions to prevent pivoting the closure assemblies to the fully open position.
In some aspects, the techniques described herein relate to a closure release method, including: monitoring a pressure between a closure of a vehicle and a frame of the vehicle when the closure is closed against the frame; detecting a change in the pressure; and releasing the closure from a closed position in response to the change.
In some aspects, the techniques described herein relate to a closure release method, further including releasing the closure additionally in response to a detection of a user.
In some aspects, the techniques described herein relate to a closure release method, further including monitoring the pressure using at least one force-sensing resistor.
In some aspects, the techniques described herein relate to a closure release method, wherein the closure is a liftgate.
In some aspects, the techniques described herein relate to a closure release method, further including monitoring the pressure at a first position on a driver side of the liftgate and at a second, different position on a passenger side of the liftgate.
In some aspects, the techniques described herein relate to a closure release method, further including uncinching the liftgate prior to the releasing.
In some aspects, the techniques described herein relate to a closure release method, further including uncinching the liftgate in response to detecting an authorized user.
In some aspects, the techniques described herein relate to a closure release method, further including detecting the authorized user based on detecting a keyfob.
In some aspects, the techniques described herein relate to a closure release method, wherein the releasing including unlatching the closure without pivoting the closure from the frame.
In some aspects, the techniques described herein relate to a closure release method, further including, automatically moving the closure to an open position after the releasing.
In some aspects, the techniques described herein relate to a closure release method, wherein the detecting includes detecting an increase in pressure.
In some aspects, the techniques described herein relate to a closure release method, wherein the detecting includes detecting an increase in pressure for a time period.
In some aspects, the techniques described herein relate to a vehicle closure release system, including: a closure pivotably coupled to a vehicle frame; a pressure monitoring assembly that detects a pressure between the closure and the vehicle frame when the closure is closed; and a control module configured to release the closure based at least in part on the pressure between the closure and the vehicle frame.
In some aspects, the techniques described herein relate to a vehicle closure release system, wherein the control module is configured to release the closure additionally based on a detection of a user.
In some aspects, the techniques described herein relate to a vehicle closure release system, wherein the pressure monitoring assembly includes at least one force-sensing resistor.
In some aspects, the techniques described herein relate to a vehicle closure release system, wherein the closure is a liftgate.
In some aspects, the techniques described herein relate to a vehicle closure release system, wherein the control module is configured to release the closure by commanding an unlatching of the closure without pivoting the closure from the frame.
In some aspects, the techniques described herein relate to a vehicle closure release system, wherein the control module is configured to release the closure by commanding an unlatching of the closure and a pivoting of the closure from the frame.
The embodiments, examples and alternatives of the preceding paragraphs, the claims, or the following description and drawings, including any of their various aspects or respective individual features, may be taken independently or in any combination. Features described in connection with one embodiment are applicable to all embodiments, unless such features are incompatible.
The various features and advantages of the disclosed examples will become apparent to those skilled in the art from the detailed description. The figures that accompany the detailed description can be briefly described as follows:
This disclosure details exemplary vehicle closures, such as liftgates, that release from a closed position in response to a user pushing on an exterior surface. The vehicle closures can be considered push-to-open or push-to-release vehicle closures.
With reference to
The liftgate 18 in
The liftgate 18 has an outer surface 22. In this example, the vehicle 10 includes a closure release system that enables a user pressing on the outer surface 22 to release the liftgate 18 from the closed position. When released from the closed position, the liftgate 18 can be moved from the closed position of
To initiate the release, the user can press on outer surface 22 using, for example, their hand. While the user could also actuate a liftgate handle 26 to open the liftgate 18, actuating the liftgate handle 26 is not required.
Although the closure release system is described in connection with the liftgate 18, other closures of the vehicle 10, such as the side doors 14, could include the closure release system enabling the release of the side doors 14 in response to a user pressing on an outer surface 30 of the side doors 14.
With reference now to
The control module 38 may include both hardware and software and could be part of an overall vehicle control system, such as a vehicle system controller (VSC), or could alternatively be a stand-alone controller separate from the VSC. In an embodiment, the control module 38 is programmed with executable instructions for interfacing with and commanding operation of various components of the system. The control module 38 may include a processor and non-transitory memory for executing various control strategies and modes. The processor can be a custom made or commercially available processor, a central processing unit (CPU), or generally any device for executing software instructions. The memory can include any one or combination of volatile memory elements and/or nonvolatile memory elements.
The liftgate 18 being released means, for purposes of this disclosure, that the liftgate 18 is free to pivot from the closed position of
Once released, the liftgate 18 can be pivoted to the fully-open position by a user manually moving the liftgate 18 to the open position. The manual pivoting could be assisted with at least one lift assist 46. In some examples, the liftgate 18 could instead or additionally be pivoted to the fully-open position via a powered pivot system. In such a system, an actuator could drive the lift assists 46 to pivot the liftgate 18.
The example pressure monitoring assemblies 34 are force-sensing resistors. One of the pressure monitoring assemblies 34 is disposed at a first position on the driver side of a rear sill 50 of the vehicle 10. The other pressure monitoring assembly 34 is disposed at a second position on the passenger side of the rear sill 50, which is attached to the vehicle frame 42. In other examples, the pressure monitoring assemblies 34 could instead or additionally be mounted on the closure—here the liftgate 18.
In this example, the pressure monitoring assemblies 34 are disposed within depressions in the rear sill 50. These depressions receive plungers mounted on the underside of the liftgate 18 when the liftgate 18 is closed.
The force-sensing resistors that provide the pressure monitoring assemblies 34 consist of a conductive polymer film, which changes resistance in a predictable manner following application of force to a surface of the film. Applying a force to the surface causes particles within the conductive polymer film to touch conducting electrodes, which changes the resistance of the conductive polymer film.
The pressure monitoring assemblies 34 are operably coupled to the control module 38 via a power line 54, such as a five or twelve Volt power line, and then in series to a resistor of within the control module 38. An analog-to-digital converter (ADC) of the control module 38 can be used to sample the voltage across the resistor.
When the liftgate 18 is not applying pressure measured by the pressure monitoring assemblies 34, the example pressure monitoring assemblies 34 act as an open circuit where no current flows across the resistor and zero voltage is read by the ADC. As pressure is applied when the liftgate 18 is closed, the resistance on the force-sensing resistors providing the example pressure monitoring assemblies 34 starts decreasing, more or less linearly, reaching zero at particular load, such as a load that is from 50 to 100 Newtons.
Instead or in place of the force-sensing resistors, the pressure monitoring assemblies 34 could comprise strain-gages, load cells, smart materials that detect pressure changes based on variable resistance or variable capacitance, or some other pressure sensing component.
The pressure monitoring assembly 34 on the driver side can be used to detect a pressure change associated with a user 58 pressing on a driver side 62D of the liftgate 18, as shown in
In other examples, the pressure monitoring system is configured to only detect the user 58 pressing on some areas of the outer surface 30, but not other areas. For example, the pressure monitoring system could include one or more force-sensing resistors only on the driver side 62D of the vehicle 10. This approach can reduce complexity, but the user 58 can initiate a release of the liftgate 18 by pressing on the driver side 62D rather than pushing on any area of the outer surface 30 of the liftgate 18. In such an example, a pressure change associated with a press on the driver side 62D, but not a pressure change associated with a press on the passenger side 62P.
In some examples, the pressure monitoring system can additionally be used to detect when the liftgate 18 is in a closed position. This can reduce the number of control modules required within the vehicle 10.
The pressure change detected by the pressure monitoring system triggers, in this example, the releasing of the liftgate 18 by the control module 38 if an authorized user is detected near the vehicle 10. That is, the user 58 must be an authorized user to have the pressure change brought about by the user 58 triggering a release of the liftgate 18. As can be appreciated, this can help to prevent unauthorized users from releasing the liftgate 18 by pressing on the outer surface 22 of the liftgate 18.
In this example, the liftgate 18 is automatically “cinched” in a closed position of
The liftgate 18 being cinched may make detecting a pressure change resulting from the user 58 pressing against the liftgate 18 more difficult. Thus, in this example, the liftgate 18 automatically uncinches when the authorized user is detected near the vehicle 10 even before that authorized user presses on the outer surface 22. Once the liftgate 18 is uncinched, the example pressure monitoring sensor can then more easily detect pressure changes.
While the example liftgate 18 is uncinched when the user is proximate the vehicle, uncinching is not required. In some examples, the pressure monitoring system can more effectively detect pressure changes when the liftgate 18 is cinched.
Detecting the authorized user may be based on detecting a keyfob within a certain range of the vehicle 10. A person having skill in this art and the benefit of this disclosure would understand how to detect an authorized user within a particular range of the vehicle 10.
The pressure change that triggers the release of the liftgate 18 could have many forms.
In another example, the pressure change that leads to releasing the closure is a pressure change that exceeds a threshold value by a certain amount for a certain time, and then drops back below the threshold value. A graphical example of this “pulse” in the pressure signal is shown in
In some examples, after pushing the liftgate 18 from an initial position due the user leaning on the liftgate 18, the liftgate 18 might not return to the initial position, but instead to a position resulting in a higher pressure reading from the pressure monitoring system. The signal resulting from this situation can rise above the threshold, but then does not drop back below the threshold due to mechanical hysteresis, for example. To make sure that this is recognized as a pulse triggering the release of the liftgate 18, the control module 38 can, in some examples, track a maximum value associated with the pressure monitoring system. The control module 38 can use that maximum value (minus a delta) to set an adaptable threshold.
As explained in connection with
The threshold above which a pulse prompting the release of the liftgate 18 could also be adjusted when the user 58 leans on the liftgate 18 for longer than a standard pulse time. As the signal is increased longer than what is recognized as a pulse, the control module 38 does not command the liftgate 18 to open.
In the example pressure monitoring system where two force sensing resistors are used as the pressure monitoring assemblies 34, the user 58 can press directly on one of the force sensing resistors to trigger a pivoting of the liftgate 18 from the fully-open position of
The pressure monitoring assemblies 34 can continually monitor pressures from the force sensing resistors. Some noise may be present in the signals sent from the force sensing resistors to the control module 38.
Based on the pressures detected by the force sensing resistors, the pressure monitoring assemblies 34 can assess, among other things, whether the liftgate 18 is in a closed state, a fully opened state, a closing state, or an opening state.
If a signal from both force sensing resistors is less than a max noise threshold, the control module can assign the state as OPEN. If signal from both force sensing resistors is more than a noise threshold, the state is considered a CLOSED state. The value read by the force sensing resistors providing the pressure monitoring assemblies 34 can then be set as the new liftgate-closed threshold, i.e. the threshold that needs to be exceeded to determine that the user 58 is pushing on the liftgate 18. Note that the two force sensing resistors could have different thresholds, depending on how the two plungers, for example, are tuned.
In this example, the thresholds are recalculated every time the liftgate 18 closes from the fully open state, The control module 38 will determine that the liftgate 18 is closing because both force sensing resistors start recording values larger than max noise levels. If both force sensing resistors persist in exceeding such level, the new values can set as the new threshold. To trigger the setting of the new threshold, the new values may need to be occur after a pre-defined period, which can be just enough for cinching to complete (200 ms, for example.)
With reference to
Next, at a step 120, a request is sent through a control module of a vehicle, such as a body control module (BCM), to a liftgate control module and eventually to the cinch-module, which, in response, uncinches the liftgate.
At a step 130, the user presses on the liftgate. This induces a signal on a pressure sensor, which generates an activation trigger signal that is sent to the BCM.
The BCM processes the request at a step 140 and, if authorized (vehicle in park, not moving, keyfob present, etc.), will forward it to the liftgate module.
Next, at a step 150, the liftgate module will command the liftgate to open.
Notably, if the keyfob leaves the area around the vehicle, after a short delay the BCM can command the gate to cinch.
The preceding description is exemplary rather than limiting in nature. Variations and modifications to the disclosed examples may become apparent to those skilled in the art that do not necessarily depart from the essence of this disclosure. Thus, the scope of protection given to this disclosure can only be determined by studying the following claims.
