Automobile air intake grille actuator and working method thereof

Abstract

This invention belongs to the field of automotive air intake grille technology, and proposes an automotive air intake grille actuator and its working method, including a housing, and a motor and gear set disposed within the housing; the motor is inclinedly disposed within the housing, and the motor shaft transmits torque to the gear set through a worm and a helical gear. While ensuring high output torque, the layout of the motor, worm, and gear set is compact, reducing the housing volume. At the same time, the top of the motor shaft cooperates with a spring plate, which helps to offset the axial movement clearance of the motor shaft and ensures the stability of torque output; and a first magnet is disposed on the helical gear, and the circuit board is disposed in the housing at the position of the motor. The magnetic field of the first magnet is detected by a Hall sensor on the circuit board, further reducing the requirements for the housing size and enabling high-precision position judgment of the air intake grille opening.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] This invention belongs to the field of automotive air intake grille technology, and particularly relates to an automotive air intake grille actuator and its working method. Background Technology

[0002] With technological advancements, the opening and closing of car grilles can reduce wind resistance and fuel consumption. Automotive grille actuators typically use multi-stage gear transmissions to increase the transmission ratio and enhance the power transmission. Currently, there are many types of grilles, including built-in and external grilles, which place higher demands on the output force of the actuator and the opening and closing speed of the grille. The gear arrangement space must provide a large torque and a fast opening and closing speed within a small volume, and precise position control must be achieved for the opening and closing angle of the grille.

[0003] Currently, some models use two sets of grilles, one above and one below or two sets of grilles on the left and right. Due to the small and unstable output torque of the actuator motor, only dual actuator motors can be used to control the grille. The grille opening control and judgment are inaccurate, which increases the manufacturing cost and weight of the whole vehicle and makes insufficient use of the interior space. Summary of the Invention

[0004] To address the aforementioned problems, this invention proposes an automotive air intake grille actuator and its operating method. While ensuring high output torque, the motor, worm gear, and gear set are compactly arranged, reducing the housing volume. Simultaneously, the motor shaft top engages with a spring plate, which helps to offset the axial movement clearance of the motor shaft and ensures torque output stability. Furthermore, by detecting the magnetic field of the first magnet on the helical gear using a Hall sensor on the circuit board, the requirements for housing size are further reduced, enabling high-precision position determination of the air intake grille opening.

[0005] To achieve the above objectives, in a first aspect, the present invention provides an automotive air intake grille actuator, employing the following technical solution: An automotive grille actuator includes a housing, and a motor and gear set disposed within the housing; The motor is tilted inside the housing, a worm gear is provided on the motor shaft, and a spring plate is provided between the top end of the motor shaft and the housing. The gear set includes a helical gear meshing with the worm, a secondary gear meshing with the helical gear, a tertiary gear meshing with the secondary gear, and an output shaft gear meshing with the tertiary gear; A circuit board is disposed inside the housing at the location of the motor, a first magnet is disposed on the helical gear, and a Hall sensor for detecting the magnetic field generated by the first magnet is disposed on the circuit board.

[0006] Furthermore, the housing includes an upper housing and a lower housing connected to each other; the upper housing includes a first positioning rib and a second positioning rib; the first positioning rib engages with the outer edge of the front end boss of the motor, and the second positioning rib engages with the support surface of the motor.

[0007] Furthermore, positioning holes are provided at the four corners of the circuit board; a first through hole and a second through hole are also provided on the circuit board; the positioning holes are inserted into the positioning posts in the lower housing.

[0008] Furthermore, the lower housing is provided with a positioning post, a positioning groove, a U-shaped groove, and a support frame. The lower housing is also provided with a front baffle and a rear baffle. The front end face of the motor mates with the front baffle, and the rear end face of the motor mates with the rear baffle. The outer edge of the front end boss of the motor overlaps with the U-shaped groove. The rear end boss of the motor overlaps with the positioning groove. The motor shaft overlaps with the support frame.

[0009] Furthermore, the spring sheet is an elastic metal sheet, with one end of the spring sheet fixedly connected to the lower housing and the other end elastically abutting against the top of the motor shaft.

[0010] Furthermore, the motor is connected to the circuit board via a PIN pin; a grounding copper spring sheet is provided between the circuit board and the motor.

[0011] Furthermore, the first magnet is provided with multiple pairs of magnetic poles.

[0012] Furthermore, the N pole and the other pole of the first magnet are evenly distributed alternately along the circumferential direction of the helical gear end face; a gap is set between the Hall sensor on the circuit board and the first magnet; when the helical gear rotates, the Hall sensor periodically senses the alternating change of the magnetic field polarity and outputs high and low level pulse signals; by accumulating the number of pulses and the pulse phase, combined with the preset transmission ratio from the helical gear to the output shaft gear, the real-time rotation angle of the output shaft gear is determined, and finally the position judgment of the air intake grille opening is realized.

[0013] Furthermore, the output shaft gear includes an output shaft and a spline groove disposed on the output shaft; the output shaft is interference-fitted with an oil seal.

[0014] To achieve the above objectives, in a second aspect, the present invention also provides a method for operating an automotive grille actuator, employing the following technical solution: A method for operating an automotive grille actuator, using the automotive grille actuator as described in the first aspect, includes: The motor shaft rotates, and through the meshing of the worm and helical gear, the torque is transmitted sequentially to the secondary gear, the tertiary gear, and the output shaft gear; the output shaft gear is connected to the grille blades, thereby realizing the control of the grille closure.

[0015] Compared with the prior art, the beneficial effects of the present invention are as follows: In this invention, the motor is tilted within the housing, and the motor shaft transmits torque to the gear set via a worm and helical gear. While ensuring high output torque, the layout of the motor, worm, and gear set is compact, reducing the housing volume. At the same time, the top of the motor shaft cooperates with a spring plate, which helps to offset the axial movement clearance of the motor shaft and ensures the stability of torque output. Furthermore, a first magnet is set on the helical gear, and the circuit board is set in the housing at the position of the motor. The magnetic field of the first magnet is detected by a Hall sensor on the circuit board, further reducing the requirements for the housing size and enabling high-precision position determination of the air intake grille opening. Attached Figure Description

[0016] The accompanying drawings, which form part of this embodiment, are used to provide a further understanding of this embodiment. The illustrative embodiments and their descriptions are used to explain this embodiment and do not constitute an improper limitation of this embodiment.

[0017] Figure 1 This is an exploded view of the actuator according to an embodiment of the present invention; Figure 2 This is an internal structural diagram of an actuator with a circuit board according to an embodiment of the present invention; Figure 3 This is an internal structure diagram of a circuit board-free actuator according to an embodiment of the present invention; Figure 4 This is a schematic diagram of the motor installation of the actuator according to an embodiment of the present invention; Figure 5 Embodiments of the present invention Figure 4 Sectional view along the AA direction; Figure 6 This is a schematic diagram of the lower housing of the actuator according to an embodiment of the present invention; Figure 7 This is a schematic diagram of the upper housing of the actuator according to an embodiment of the present invention; Figure 8 This is a motor diagram of the actuator according to an embodiment of the present invention; Figure 9 This is a schematic diagram of the motor rear end of the actuator according to an embodiment of the present invention; Figure 10 This is a schematic diagram of a helical gear according to an embodiment of the present invention; Figure 11 Embodiments of the present invention Figure 10 Sectional view along the BB direction; Figure 12 This is a schematic diagram of a magnet according to an embodiment of the present invention; Figure 13 This is a schematic diagram of a circuit board according to an embodiment of the present invention; Figure 14 Embodiments of the present invention Figure 13 Sectional view along the CC direction; Figure 15 This is a cross-sectional view of the actuator according to an embodiment of the present invention; Figure 16 This is a schematic diagram of an oil seal according to an embodiment of the present invention; Figure 17 This is a grounding view of the actuator motor according to an embodiment of the present invention; Figure 18 This is a view of the periodic current ripple of the actuator according to an embodiment of the present invention; The components include: 1. Upper housing; 2. Circuit board; 201. First through hole; 202. Second through hole; 3. Motor; 4. Lower housing; 5. Gear set; 6. Worm gear; 7. Spring plate; 8. Third stage gear; 9. Output shaft gear; 10. Second stage gear; 11. Helical gear; 12. First magnet; 13. Positioning pin; 14. Positioning groove; 15. U-shaped groove; 16. Support frame; 17. Rotating shaft; 18. Front end boss of motor; 19. Rear end boss of motor. ; 20. First positioning rib; 21. Second positioning rib; 22. Motor shaft; 23. Hall angle sensor; 24. Front baffle; 25. Rear baffle; 26. Motor PIN pin; 27. Circuit board positioning hole; 28. Output shaft; 29. ​​Oil seal; 2901. Steel ring; 30. Spline groove; 31. Motor front end face; 32. Motor rear end face; 33. Top of motor shaft; 34. Motor support surface; 35. Second magnet; 36. Grounding copper spring sheet. Detailed Implementation

[0018] The present invention will be further described below with reference to the accompanying drawings and embodiments.

[0019] It should be noted that the following detailed descriptions are exemplary and intended to provide further explanation of this application. Unless otherwise specified, all technical and scientific terms used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art to which this application pertains.

[0020] With technological advancements, car grilles have evolved from being fixed in their opening and closing to being able to open and close automatically via an actuator. Opening and closing the grille reduces wind resistance and fuel consumption; however, traditional air intake grilles only open when the engine needs cooling, and are primarily found on conventional gasoline-powered vehicles.

[0021] Actuators used in automobiles generally increase the transmission ratio through multi-stage gear transmission to improve the transmission power. Currently, there are many types of grilles, including built-in grilles and external grilles (visible grilles), which place higher demands on the output force of the actuator and the opening and closing speed of the grille. The gear arrangement space must provide a large torque and a fast opening and closing speed in a small volume space, and achieve precise position control of the opening and closing angle of the grille.

[0022] Currently, some models use two sets of grilles, one above the other or two sets of grilles on the left and right. Due to the small output torque of the actuator motor, only dual actuator motors can be used to control the grille, which increases the overall manufacturing cost and weight of the vehicle and makes insufficient use of the interior space.

[0023] To solve at least one of the above problems, such as Figure 1 As shown, one embodiment of the present invention provides an automotive grille actuator comprising an upper housing 1, a lower housing 4, a gear set 5, and a motor 3. The upper housing 1 and the lower housing 4 can be connected by laser welding technology to ensure the reliability and airtightness of the connection.

[0024] like Figure 5 and Figure 7 As shown, the upper shell 1 includes a first positioning rib 20 and a second positioning rib 21 that can fix the motor 3; the first positioning rib 21 cooperates with the outer edge of the motor front end boss 18 of the motor 3, and the second positioning rib 22 cooperates with the support surface 34 of the motor 3.

[0025] like Figure 6 , Figure 13 and Figure 14 As shown, positioning holes 27 are respectively provided at the four corners of the circuit board 2; the circuit board 2 also has a first through hole 201 and a second through hole 202; a Hall angle sensor 23 is provided on the circuit board 2. The positioning holes 27 are used to connect with the positioning post 13 in the lower housing to realize the positioning connection between the circuit board 2 and the lower housing 4. The Hall sensor 23 identifies the magnetic pole signal of the first magnet 12 and sends a signal to the outside.

[0026] like Figure 9 , Figure 13 and Figure 17 As shown, the motor 3 is tilted and installed inside the lower housing 4. The motor 3 is connected to the circuit board 2 via a pin 26 to achieve motion control of the motor 3. Figure 8 and Figure 9 As shown, the motor 3 is equipped with a motor shaft 22, on which a worm gear 6 is connected by an interference fit, which is beneficial for the torque output of the worm gear; as Figure 8 and Figure 4As shown, the top end 33 of the motor shaft of the motor 3 cooperates with the spring plate 7, which helps to counteract the axial movement clearance of the motor shaft 22. The motor 3 is connected to the lower housing 4 through the positioning groove 14, the U-shaped groove 15 and the support frame 16; the motor 3 includes a motor shaft 22 and a worm gear 6, which is connected to the motor shaft 22 and meshes with the helical gear 11 to form a complete reduction system with the gear set 5.

[0027] The stator winding of the motor 3 is connected to a current sampling component. The signal from the current sampling component is connected to the circuit board 2 via the motor PIN pin 26. The position of the output shaft gear 9 is determined by judging the peak value of the current ripple. This enables dual-signal collaborative feedback, provides fault redundancy, and improves operational reliability.

[0028] like Figure 6 As shown, the lower housing 4 is provided with a positioning post 13, a positioning groove 14, a U-shaped groove 15, a support frame 16, and a rotating shaft 17, which can connect and fix the gear set 5 and the motor 3. The lower housing 4 is also provided with a front baffle 24 and a rear baffle 25. The front end face 31 of the motor 3 cooperates with the front baffle 24, and the rear end face 32 of the motor cooperates with the rear baffle 25. The outer edge of the front end boss 18 of the motor 3 presses on the U-shaped groove 15; the rear end boss 19 of the motor 3 presses on the positioning groove 14; the motor shaft 22 is on the support frame 16; and the spring plate 7 is fixedly connected to the lower housing 4 with screws.

[0029] like Figure 2 and Figure 3 As shown, the gear set 5 includes a helical gear 11, a secondary gear 10, a tertiary gear 8, and an output shaft gear 9, which are assembled and mesh in stages via a rotating shaft 17. The worm gear 6 meshes with the helical gear 11, the helical gear 11 meshes with the secondary gear 10, the secondary gear 10 meshes with the tertiary gear 8, the tertiary gear 8 meshes with the output shaft gear 9, and finally, the output shaft gear 9 connects to the grille blades, thereby controlling the opening and closing of the grille. This technology, using a worm gear 6 meshing with gears, can output high speed and high torque, enabling the actuator to reach a stable control position without relying on current control, thus achieving a mechanical self-locking function.

[0030] like Figure 2 and Figure 4As shown, the spring plate 7 is an elastic metal sheet. One end of the spring plate 7 is fixedly connected to the lower housing 4 by a screw, and the other end elastically abuts against the top 33 of the motor shaft 22, continuously applying axial preload. This preload can effectively counteract the axial movement of the motor shaft 22 generated during the meshing transmission of the worm gear 6 and the helical gear 11, completely eliminating the axial meshing gap between the worm gear and the helical gear, effectively avoiding positioning deviation and transmission noise caused by meshing impact; at the same time, it ensures that the worm gear 6 and the helical gear 11 always maintain the best meshing state, making the torque transmission smoother, and significantly improving the response speed and angle accuracy of the grille opening and closing; in addition, the axial preload can also reduce the wear of the gear meshing surface, extend the service life of the actuator, and ensure that the grille angle can still be stably adjusted under complex working conditions such as high-speed vehicle driving, high and low temperature cycles, and road vibration, and reliably maintain the mechanical self-locking state after power failure, avoiding grille position displacement.

[0031] like Figure 10 , Figure 11 and Figure 12 As shown, a first magnet 12 is mounted on the helical gear 11 to facilitate signal transmission with the circuit board 2. The first magnet 12 has multiple pairs of poles, which refers to the number of pole pairs between the N and S poles. A higher number of pole pairs improves the accuracy of position determination. The first magnet 12 and the helical gear 11 are mounted using an end-face embedding process, which facilitates magnet fixation.

[0032] The N and S poles of the first magnet 12 are evenly and alternately distributed along the circumferential direction of the end face of the helical gear 11, and rotate synchronously with the helical gear 11. The Hall sensor 23 on the circuit board 2 maintains a certain gap with the first magnet 12, so as not to affect the rotation of the helical gear 11. When the helical gear 11 rotates, the Hall sensor 23 periodically senses the alternating change of the magnetic field polarity and synchronously outputs high and low level pulse signals. Each pair of N / S poles corresponds to a complete pulse cycle. The more pole pairs there are, the more pulses there are in a unit rotation angle, and the higher the position detection resolution. The control unit on the circuit board 2 accumulates the number of pulses, identifies the pulse phase, and combines the preset transmission ratio from the helical gear 11 to the output shaft gear 9 to accurately calculate the real-time rotation angle of the output shaft gear 9, and finally realizes high-precision position judgment of the opening of the air intake grille.

[0033] In some other embodiments, a second magnet 35 is installed on the motor shaft 22 by pressing or fixing, which can also sense the Hall sensor 23, thereby determining the rotational position of the output gear. The stator winding of the motor 3 is connected to a current sampling component, and the signal from the current sampling component is connected to the circuit board 2 through the motor PIN pin. The position of the output shaft gear is determined by judging the peak value of the current ripple. This enables dual-signal collaborative feedback, provides fault redundancy capability, and improves operational reliability.

[0034] like Figure 15 and Figure 16 As shown, the output shaft gear 9 includes an output shaft 28 and a spline groove 30; the output shaft 28 is interference-fitted with an oil seal 29 to protect the airtightness of the cavity; the spline groove 30 is provided with six spline teeth, which is beneficial to transmit the torque of the output shaft gear 9 to the grille.

[0035] The oil seal 29 has a built-in steel ring 2901. The oil seal 29 can be made of a rubber material with good toughness. The oil seal 29 is in close contact with the output shaft 28, thereby achieving the effect of dustproof and waterproof.

[0036] like Figure 18 The diagram shows the periodic current ripple of the actuator. The ripple current is generated by the structure of two carbon brushes and three commutators in the DC brushed motor 3. For each revolution of the motor 3, the commutator and carbon brushes will complete six commutation actions, generating six periodic current ripples. The sampling current component is a sampling resistor connected in series in the stator winding circuit of the motor. This sampling resistor converts the current ripple signal during motor operation into a voltage signal. Due to the winding inductance characteristics of the brushed motor 3, the commutation action of the commutator, and the real-time changes in the grid load torque, the stator winding current will generate a periodic current ripple that is strongly correlated with the motor rotor speed and rotor position. The current transmitted by the motor PIN pin 26 is transmitted to the circuit board 2 as a voltage signal after passing through the sampling resistor. The filtering and amplification circuits on the circuit board 2 complete the signal conditioning, extract the peak timing and amplitude characteristics of the current ripple, and calculate the ripple peak period. The control unit fuses the current ripple characteristic signal with the position signal output by the Hall sensor to perform dual correction on the position of the output shaft gear 9, realizing dual-signal collaborative positioning. When the Hall sensor 23 experiences signal interruption, interference, or other abnormalities, the control unit can calculate the real-time position of the output shaft gear 9 based solely on the peak characteristics of the current ripple, combined with the relationship between the motor speed and the transmission ratio, to ensure that the opening control of the air intake grille is not interrupted.

[0037] A grounding copper spring plate 36 is provided between the circuit board 2 and the motor 3. Optionally, the grounding copper spring plate 36 is soldered onto the circuit board 2, and then the grounding copper spring plate 36 is elastically connected to the metal housing of the motor 3, so as to guide the electromagnetic interference generated by the motor 3 to the grounding point of the whole vehicle and suppress electromagnetic radiation interference.

[0038] The actuator of this invention can achieve precise position control of the grille during opening and closing, can achieve high speed and high torque output, and can reach the grille quickly. It can avoid the instability of the grille position when the power is off, and can keep the grille position unchanged when the power is off, saving energy and achieving environmental protection. It can also achieve light weight, saving raw materials, and small size, which can save space in the grille design, optimize the structural design, and solve the problem of motors failing EMC tests.

[0039] Based on the automotive grille actuator, another embodiment of the present invention also provides a method for operating the automotive grille actuator, including: the motor shaft 22 rotates, and through the meshing of the worm gear 6 and the helical gear 11, the torque is sequentially transmitted to the secondary gear 10, the tertiary gear 8 and the output shaft gear 9; the output shaft gear 9 is connected to the grille fan blades, thereby realizing the control of grille closure.

[0040] The actuator is precisely controlled by data detected by Hall angle sensor 23, thereby controlling the opening and closing angle of the air intake grille blades. During a cold start, the actuator can close the grille to accelerate engine warm-up. When the vehicle is traveling at high speed, the actuator can completely close the grille or open it at a specific angle and maintain its position, thus reducing wind resistance or changing the direction of airflow. At high speeds, a larger torque is required to open the grille. A self-locking function is available when the power is cut off, and the grille remains in position even under conditions of high wind resistance.

[0041] The above description is merely a preferred embodiment of this practice and is not intended to limit the scope of this practice. Various modifications and variations can be made to this practice by those skilled in the art. Any modifications, equivalent substitutions, or improvements made within the spirit and principles of this practice should be included within the protection scope of this practice.

Claims

1. A car air intake grille actuator, characterized in that, Includes a housing, and a motor and gear set disposed within the housing; The motor is tilted inside the housing, a worm gear is provided on the motor shaft, and a spring plate is provided between the top end of the motor shaft and the housing. The gear set includes a helical gear meshing with the worm, a secondary gear meshing with the helical gear, a tertiary gear meshing with the secondary gear, and an output shaft gear meshing with the tertiary gear; A circuit board is disposed inside the housing at the location of the motor, a first magnet is disposed on the helical gear, and a Hall sensor for detecting the magnetic field generated by the first magnet is disposed on the circuit board.

2. The automotive grille actuator as described in claim 1, characterized in that, The housing includes an upper housing and a lower housing connected to each other; the upper housing includes a first positioning rib and a second positioning rib; the first positioning rib engages with the outer edge of the front end boss of the motor, and the second positioning rib engages with the support surface of the motor.

3. The automotive grille actuator as described in claim 2, characterized in that, The circuit board has positioning holes at its four corners; the circuit board also has a first through hole and a second through hole; the positioning holes are inserted into the positioning posts in the lower housing.

4. The automotive grille actuator as described in claim 2, characterized in that, The lower housing is provided with a positioning post, a positioning groove, a U-shaped groove, and a support frame. The lower housing is also provided with a front baffle and a rear baffle. The front end face of the motor mates with the front baffle, and the rear end face of the motor mates with the rear baffle. The outer edge of the front end boss of the motor overlaps with the U-shaped groove. The rear end boss of the motor overlaps with the positioning groove. The motor shaft overlaps with the support frame.

5. The automotive grille actuator as described in claim 2, characterized in that, The spring sheet is an elastic metal sheet. One end of the spring sheet is fixedly connected to the lower housing, and the other end elastically abuts against the top of the motor shaft.

6. The automotive grille actuator as described in claim 1, characterized in that, The motor is connected to the circuit board via a PIN pin; a grounding copper spring is provided between the circuit board and the motor.

7. The automotive grille actuator as described in claim 1, characterized in that, The first magnet has multiple pairs of magnetic poles.

8. The automotive grille actuator as described in claim 7, characterized in that, The N pole and the other pole of the first magnet are evenly and alternately distributed along the circumferential direction of the helical gear end face; a gap is provided between the Hall sensor on the circuit board and the first magnet; when the helical gear rotates, the Hall sensor periodically senses the alternating changes in the polarity of the magnetic field and outputs high and low level pulse signals; By accumulating the number and phase of pulses, and combining the preset transmission ratio from the helical gear to the output shaft gear, the real-time rotation angle of the output shaft gear is determined, ultimately enabling the positional judgment of the intake grille opening.

9. The automotive grille actuator as described in claim 1, characterized in that, The output shaft gear includes an output shaft and a spline groove disposed on the output shaft; the output shaft is interference-fitted with an oil seal.

10. A method for operating an automotive air intake grille actuator, characterized in that, The automotive grille actuator as described in any one of claims 1-9 includes: The motor shaft rotates, and through the meshing of the worm and helical gear, the torque is transmitted sequentially to the secondary gear, the tertiary gear, and the output shaft gear; the output shaft gear is connected to the grille blades, thereby realizing the control of the grille closure.

Images