Power door system with sealing load compensation

Abstract

The present disclosure relates to a power door system with seal load compensation. The powered door system has a motor controlled by a controller adapted to open and close the door using a force output from the motor for the door seal, such that the controller is further adapted to: adjust the force output based on determining a change in the door seal, a change in the door seal is determined during movement of the door away from the fully closed position during an ejection movement of the door.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present disclosure relates generally to vehicle door assemblies, and more particularly to power vehicle doors. Background Art

[0002] This section provides background information related to the present disclosure which is not necessarily prior art.

[0003] The seal load provides energy for the initial door motion when the latch is released and provides resistance to the door closing motion when the door reaches the latch. A power door system can be calibrated for a small range of seal loads, as specified by the OEM. Following this calibration, the power door should close to the secondary latch position under all vehicle orientation conditions. In practice, if the seal load is lower or higher than the seal load expected by the system calibration parameters, the door's ability to reach the secondary latch position is hindered. For example, if the seal load is higher than expected, the door may not reach the secondary latch position and the door may rebound from the seal during the closing operation. If the seal load is lower than expected, the door may close directly to the primary latch position. Neither of the two examples is a favorable condition for powered door motion. The seal load is the primary energy input to the initial door motion when the latch is released.

[0004] In view of the above, there is a need to provide a power door system for adapting to different sealing load values. Summary of the Invention

[0005] This section provides a general summary of the disclosure and is not intended to be considered a complete and comprehensive listing of the full scope of the disclosure or all of its aspects, advantages, objects, and / or features.

[0006] An object of the present disclosure is to provide a powered door system for a vehicle having a powered door speed control for a seal load variation mitigation strategy by slowing door speed over time. Real-time measurements are determined to reduce the effects of variations.

[0007] Further areas of applicability will become apparent from the description provided herein.The description and specific examples in this summary are intended merely to illustrate particular non-limiting embodiments and are not intended to limit the scope of the present disclosure. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0008] The drawings described herein are for illustrative purposes only of selected non-limiting embodiments and are not intended to limit the scope of the present disclosure. In this regard, the drawings include:

[0009] Figure 1 a graph showing the variation of door seal load;

[0010] Figure 2A graph showing door ejection velocity due to seal variability;

[0011] Figure 3 a graph showing door closing speed adjusted for seal load; and

[0012] Figure 4 Illustrative calculations for determining the effect of seal load variability on door ejection velocity are shown. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0013] In general, example embodiments of power door systems constructed in accordance with the teachings of the present disclosure will now be disclosed. These example embodiments are provided so that the present disclosure will be thorough and will fully convey the scope to those skilled in the art. Many specific details such as examples of particular components, devices, and methods are set forth to provide a thorough understanding of the embodiments of the present disclosure. It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that specific details need not be employed, that the example embodiments may be implemented in many different forms, and that none should be construed as limiting the scope of the present disclosure. In some example embodiments, well-known processes, well-known device structures, and well-known techniques are not described in detail because they are readily understood by those skilled in the art in view of the disclosure herein.

[0014] An example of a powered door system is shown and described in US20230265704A1, entitled “Distributed control system for servo controlled powered door actuator,” which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

[0015] The terms used herein are for the purpose of describing specific example embodiments only and are not intended to be restrictive. As used herein, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise, the singular forms "a", "an", and "the" may also be intended to include the plural forms. The terms "comprise", "comprising", "including", and "having" are inclusive and therefore specify the presence of the features, wholes, steps, operations, elements, and / or parts described, but do not exclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, wholes, steps, operations, elements, parts, and / or groups thereof. Unless specifically identified as the order of execution, the method steps, processes, and operations described herein should not be interpreted as necessarily requiring them to be performed in the specific order discussed or shown. It should also be understood that additional steps or alternative steps may be adopted.

[0016] When an element or layer is referred to as being “on,” “engaged to,” “connected to,” or “coupled to” another element or layer, the element or layer may be directly on, engaged to, connected to, or coupled to another element or layer, or there may be intermediate elements or layers. In contrast, when an element is referred to as being “directly on,” “directly engaged to,” “directly connected to,” or “directly coupled to” another element or layer, there may be no intermediate elements or layers. Other words used to describe the relationship between elements should be interpreted in the same manner (e.g., “between” versus “directly between,” “adjacent” versus “directly adjacent,” etc.). As used herein, the term “and / or” includes any and all combinations of one or more of the associated listed items.

[0017] Although the terms first, second, third etc. can be used to describe various elements, components, regions, layers and / or parts in this article, these elements, components, regions, layers and / or parts should not be limited by these terms. These terms can only be used to distinguish an element, component, region, layer or part from another region, layer or part. When terms such as "first", "second" and other numerical terms are used in this article, unless clearly indicated by the context, sequence or order is not implied. Therefore, without departing from the teaching of exemplary embodiments, the first element, component, region, layer or part discussed below can be referred to as the second element, component, region, layer or part.

[0018] For ease of description, spatially relative terms such as "inside," "outside," "below," "beneath," "down," "above," "up," "top," "bottom," etc., may be used herein to describe the relationship of one element or feature to another element or feature as shown in the figures. Spatially relative terms may be intended to encompass different orientations of the device in use or operation other than the orientation depicted in the accompanying drawings. For example, if the device in the drawings is turned over, elements described as being "below" or "beneath" other elements or features will be oriented "above" the other elements or features. Thus, the example term "below" may encompass both the above and below orientations. The device may be oriented in other ways (rotated angles or in other orientations), and the spatially relative descriptions used herein are interpreted accordingly.

[0019] Reference Figure 1 , Figure 1A graph showing the variation of seal load over time is shown. It will be appreciated that environmental factors can affect the seal load: higher temperatures result in lower seal loads; lower temperatures result in higher seal loads; creep over time (when the seal is compressed in the door closed position) will reduce the seal load; and cycle over time will reduce the seal load; the seal load is the primary energy input to the initial door movement when the latch is released. Understanding this relationship can enable better control of design parameters. It is often found that due to the environmental factors mentioned above, the actual seal load range may exceed the customer specified range. This situation can result in unfavorable door movement behavior during the door closing cycle.

[0020] Now refer to Figure 2 , all of the previously described environmental factor scenarios can be implemented as a linear set of test cases from 0 to a maximum value. This maximum value is called a green seal. The range of possible sealing force combinations can be recorded on a linear test case range from no seal to a green seal. Physical and / or virtual testing can be completed to measure the resulting door ejection velocity corresponding to a given sealing load. The results are plotted and the resulting relationship determined to be usable in the predictive model. In some cases, very high or very low temperatures can cause the seal to stick to the door metal. These situations can be managed under separate methods for blocking or freezing doors.

[0021] Now refer to Figure 3 and Figure 4 In an illustrative embodiment, the door ejection velocity can be measured in the power door system on each opening cycle. This velocity can be input into an algorithm executed by the controller of the power door system to predict the seal load for that particular opening cycle. Once the seal load is known, the velocity of the door closing cycle can be modified so that the door will reach the secondary latched position. Using this method, the door closing velocity can be adjusted to meet the seal load requirement for each individual open / close cycle. The number of calibrations of the closing algorithm depends on the accuracy of the control software / door system. On very sensitive doors, it may be required to calibrate for every 2N change in seal force from no seal to green seal. Variations due to time / temperature are mitigated. Slope has been compensated for in the gravity compensation algorithm.

[0022] While the above description constitutes several embodiments of the present invention, it will be understood that the present invention is susceptible to further modification and variation without departing from a fair interpretation and intended meaning of the appended claims.

[0023] For illustration and description purposes, the foregoing description of embodiment has been provided.The foregoing description is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the present disclosure.The individual elements or features of a particular embodiment are generally not limited to that particular embodiment, but, even if not specifically shown or described, the individual elements or features of a particular embodiment are interchangeable and can be used for selected embodiment when applicable.The individual elements or features of a particular embodiment also can change in many ways.These variations are not considered to depart from the present disclosure, and all these modifications are intended to be included within the scope of the present disclosure.

Claims

1. A power door system comprising: a motor controlled by a controller adapted to use a force output from the motor against the door seal to open and close the door; Wherein the controller is further adapted to adjust the force output based on determining a change in the door seal, the change in the door seal being determined during movement of the door away from a fully closed position during a pop-up movement of the door.

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