Automobile locks, particularly automobile door locks

Abstract

The invention relates to a motor vehicle lock, in particular a lock for a motor vehicle door, with a locking mechanism (1, 2) consisting essentially of a rotating latch (1) and a pawl (2). Furthermore, an electric drive (3, 4, 5) and an actuating lever mechanism with at least one release lever (7) and a control lever (9) are realised. The drive (3, 4, 5) can act on both the release lever (7) and the control lever (9) for opening the locking mechanism (1, 2). According to the invention, for emergency opening of the locking mechanism (1, 2), a force transmission element (14) is provided which cooperates with the release lever (7).

Description

[Technical field]

[0001]

[0001] The present invention relates to a motor vehicle lock, in particular a motor vehicle door lock, comprising a locking mechanism consisting essentially of a rotating latch and a pawl, further comprising an electric drive and an operating lever mechanism having at least one release lever and a control lever, the drive being able to act on both the release lever and the control lever to open the locking mechanism.

[0002]

[0002] The electric drive used in this context generally serves to improve comfort, since it is generally used to lift a claw from the latching engagement with the rotary latch, so that when the locking mechanism is closed, the previously captured locking bolt is released. This allows the opening of the motor vehicle door to which the motor vehicle lock is fitted. A control lever is usually a component of the locking unit. With its help, the locking unit can thus be moved into its generally basic functional positions, the "unlocked" position and the "locked" position. This is particularly necessary when an operating lever is provided, for example to ensure emergency opening of the locking mechanism in case of failure of the electric drive.

[0003] The prior art according to DE 10,2019126596 A1 already mentions the possibility of acting on the locking mechanism to open it in an opening direction and also to realize opening directions deviating therefrom. In this unlocking direction, a safety or control lever is biased to assume the unlocked or released position. In addition, the electric drive is provided with a stop, which limits the movement of the electric drive at least when actuated in the opening direction to cancel the unlocked position. This prevents the locking mechanism from opening. This provides a simple design solution.

[0004]

[0004] The above-mentioned prior art, which forms a genre in this respect, has basically proven itself, but still offers room for further development. The known teachings therefore operate in a relatively complex arrangement. Moreover, in order to be able to open the locking mechanism in case of an emergency, a mechanical lever mechanism is required at this position. This results in a structure that is not only complicated, but also extensive and cost-intensive. The present invention aims to improve this situation. Summary of the Invention

[0005]

[0005] The invention is based on the technical problem of further developing a lock for a motor vehicle, in particular a lock for a motor vehicle door, in such a way that the design effort is significantly reduced compared to conventional procedures.

[0006]

[0006] In order to achieve this technical object, the invention proposes providing a motor vehicle lock of this type with a force transmission element which interacts with the release lever for emergency opening of the locking mechanism.

[0007]

[0007] Thus, according to the invention, the locking mechanism is still actuated by the electric drive, even during an emergency opening procedure. In this context, however, the invention provides a force transmission element which interacts with the release lever. This force transmission element is, depending on the design, an element which is typically used to transmit or reduce the rotational movement applied to the locking mechanism by the electric drive. In any case, the transmission element ultimately ensures that the electric drive can be used to open the locking mechanism, in particular when the electric opening drive is normally not working or is not in a position to open the locking mechanism due to, for example, a drop in the on-board power supply voltage.

[0008]

[0008] In the simplest case, this is realized and transformed in such a way that the force transmission element is designed as an additional lever which acts on the release lever and which is activated in the event of an emergency opening. This lever is thus only acted on by the electric drive in the event of an emergency opening, so that according to the invention, for example, the electric drive is stacked in order to be able to open the locking mechanism even in the event of an extremely low on-board supply voltage (less than 5 V). For this purpose, the release lever, which comprises an additional lever or force transmission element, usually acts on a claw and lifts it out of the latching engagement with the rotary latch in the locked state.

[0009]

[0009] In an advantageous embodiment, the overall design is still such that the control lever assumes a "locked" position throughout. This means that the vehicle lock is in its "locked" position both during the opening process in normal operation with the electric drive and when the locking mechanism is opened in an emergency. As a result, selective locking / unlocking operations are not required and do not have to be represented within the scope of the present invention.

[0010]

[0010] In addition, this makes the external actuation lever, which is consistently realized in the prior art, unnecessary, since the locking mechanism can be opened by the electric drive even if the on-board power supply voltage drops. In this connection, the use of a "locked" location by the control lever and therefore the locking unit consistently guarantees that the vehicle door equipped with the associated vehicle lock cannot be opened unintentionally.

[0011] In this connection, it is of course also possible to equip the motor vehicle lock according to the invention, in particular a motor vehicle door lock, with an operating lever or an internal operating lever, by means of which the lock of the associated motor vehicle can still be (manually) opened, either by means of this internal operating lever or by means of the internal door handle (and / or the external door handle), which is usually provided at the end.

[0012] According to an advantageous embodiment, the control lever assumes the "locked" position throughout, so that the car lock also remains in this position, so that no additional anti-theft device or anti-theft unit is required even in the event of a drop in the vehicle's electrical system voltage, since the absence of an external operating lever means that a car door with a car lock can only be opened from the outside with the aid of an electric drive. If opening from the inside is desired, the car lock or the control lever must first be moved to the "unlocked" position. This can usually be done electronically, for example by transferring a locking element or a locking unit assigned to the internal operating lever or to the internal door handle into the unlocked state. However, in principle, it is also possible to use the internal door handle to first unlock the door lock during the first stroke and then open the locking mechanism during the second stroke. These are the main advantages.

[0013]

[0013] In a further advantageous embodiment, the control lever is generally bistable. Indeed, if an operating lever is also realised, the control lever can assume in particular the positions "locked", "unlocked" and "emergency opening". In general, however, the control lever can only be used to realise the two functional positions "locked" and "emergency opening".

[0014]

[0014] The force transmission element generally fits into a control contour of a control lever, which generally interacts with the control element as part of the electric drive. It has also been found to be a good idea to equip the force transmission element with a spring.

[0015]

[0015] In this case, the spring usually ensures that the force transmission element is held against the stop edge of the control profile of the control lever in the deployed state. In this way, the force transmission element defines an "undercut" compared to the control profile, as will be explained in more detail with reference to the figure legends. This ensures that the control lever remains in its "locked" position, especially in the case of emergency opening. For this purpose, the spring is usually equipped as a coil spring with a leg that rests on the stop edge of the control profile and a leg that rests on the force transmission element.

[0016]

[0016] As already explained, the motor vehicle lock according to the invention can generally be realized and converted without an external operating lever. In contrast, an internal operating lever, or more generally a manually operated operating lever, is also usually provided as part of the operating lever mechanism. Said operating lever or internal operating lever is usually equipped with a clutch lever for this purpose. The clutch lever is actuated by a control lever.

[0017]

[0017] In this connection, the control lever actually ensures that the clutch lever is "engaged" or "disengaged". When the clutch lever is engaged, the vehicle lock is in the "unlocked" state. This allows the manually or internally operated lever to act on the release lever, thereby manually opening the lock mechanism (from the inside). On the other hand, when the clutch lever is in the "disengaged" state, this corresponds to the "locked" state of the control lever.

[0018]

[0018] The "unlocked" and "locked" functional positions are set by an electric drive, which can act on both the release lever and on said control lever to open the locking mechanism. For this purpose, the drive is usually equipped with a driven pulley and the above-mentioned control element. The control element ensures that on the one hand the release lever is actuated and on the other hand the control lever is actuated.

[0019]

[0019] As a result, a motor vehicle lock is obtained which is particularly simple in design and construction. In fact, the motor vehicle lock according to the invention can be opened in an emergency by means of an electric drive in the event of a drop in the on-board power supply voltage. This is ensured by a force transmission element which interacts with the release lever for the emergency opening of the locking mechanism. Furthermore, since the control lever and with it the entire motor vehicle lock are always in the "locked" position, additional locking units can be constructed particularly easily. In fact, it is possible to implement the anti-theft function in an exemplary manner using only control technology or electronic means. These are the main advantages. [Brief description of the drawings]

[0020] The present invention will be described in further detail below with reference to exemplary embodiments. [Figure 1] FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an automobile lock according to the present invention. [Diagram 2] FIG. 2 shows the motor vehicle lock according to FIG. 1 in the locked state. [Diagram 3] FIG. 3 shows the motor vehicle lock according to FIG. 2 during the power opening process in normal operation. [Figure 4] FIG. 4 shows an automobile lock during an emergency opening procedure. [Figure 5A] FIG. 5A details the emergency opening procedure. [Figure 5B] FIG. 5B details the emergency opening procedure. [Figure 5C] FIG. 5C details the emergency opening procedure.

[0021] Detailed Description

[0022]

[0021] The drawings show a car latch, which is a car door latch according to an exemplary embodiment. To this end, the car door lock is equipped with a locking mechanism 1, 2, which essentially consists of a rotary latch 1 and a claw 2, as best seen in Fig. 1. In addition, the car lock or car door lock is equipped with an electric drive 3, 4, 5.

[0023]

[0022] For this purpose, the electric drives 3, 4, 5 are equipped with an electric motor 3, the electric motor 3 having a worm placed on its drive shaft and meshing with a driven pulley 4. Due to the rotary movement of the electric motor 3, the driven pulley 4 moves clockwise and counterclockwise about its axis. This allows the driven pulley 4 to act on a control element 5, which is mounted in a locking housing (not shown) so as to be pivotable about its axis 6. As a result, the control element 5, biased by the electric drives 3, 4, 5, can perform a counterclockwise movement, as can be seen by comparing Figs. 2 and 3.

[0024]

[0023] In fact, the counterclockwise movement of the control element 5 from the locked state shown in Figure 2 corresponds to the fact that the release lever 7 can be biased by the control element 5 or by the front control cam 5a. As a result of this action movement on the part of the control element 5 or its control cam 5a, the release lever 7 performs a clockwise movement about its axis 8 from the locked state shown in Figure 2 to the released state shown in Figure 3.

[0025]

[0024] Transmitted to Fig. 1, a clockwise movement of the release lever 7 about its axis 8 corresponds to a pivoting of the pawl 2 "upwards" in the representation shown in Fig. 1 and to a counterclockwise movement in the side view of the locking mechanism 1, 2. This causes the pawl 2 to be lifted out of its latching engagement with the rotary latch 1, thereby releasing a locking bolt (not shown) previously captured by the rotary latch 1 and allowing the associated vehicle door to be opened. This corresponds to the normal operation during the opening process using the electric drives 3, 4, 5.

[0026]

[0025] The electric drives 3, 4, 5 are actuated generally as well as the release lever 7 to open the locking mechanisms 1, 2. At the same time, the electric drives 3, 4, 5 can also actuate the control lever 9. For this purpose, the control lever 9 is equipped with a control contour 10, which is shown in particular on an enlarged scale in Figs. 5A-C. The control contour 10 has a substantially U-shaped design with a front stop edge 10a and a rear stop edge 10b. It can also be seen from the figures that the control lever 9 and the release lever 7 are mounted coaxially on a common shaft 8.

[0027] Also mounted on the same axis as the associated axis 8 is a manually actuated operating lever 11, which is essentially unnecessary according to the invention. In the present embodiment, the operating lever 11 is an internal operating lever 11. A clutch lever 12 is rotatably mounted on the internal operating lever 11. For this purpose, the clutch lever 12 is mounted so that it can rotate relative to the operating lever or internal operating lever 11.

[0028]

[0027] The clutch lever 12 can be actuated by means of the control lever 9. The clutch lever 12 can in fact be moved with the aid of the control lever 9 into the engaged position shown in Fig. 3, which corresponds to the "unlocked" state of the control lever 9. In this case, the clutch lever 12 is in the "engaged" position, so that the release lever 7 can be actuated manually and the locking mechanisms 1, 2 are opened as an alternative to the electric drives 3, 4, 5 via the operating lever 11, also by a movement only shown in Fig. 3.

[0029]

[0028] In principle, however, the locking mechanisms 1, 2 are opened during normal operation by the motor using the electric drives 3, 4, 5. During this passage, the control lever 9 is in the "locked" position throughout. This means that the locking mechanisms 1, 2 cannot be opened, for example, using the manually actuated lever 11. Therefore, no additional anti-theft device is required in this case.

[0030] According to the invention, a force transmission element 14 interacting with the release lever 7 is realised for emergency opening of the locking mechanism 1, 2, which can be seen in particular with reference to the representations of figures 5A-5C. The force transmission element 14 protrudes into the control contour 10 on the control lever 9 and thus defines a kind of "undercut" in the non-crash state, as represented in figures 5A-5C.

[0031]

[0030] In normal operation and with a sufficient on-board supply voltage of the relevant motor vehicle, in the representation according to Fig. 5A, starting from the locked position of the locking mechanisms 1, 2, the electric drives 3, 4, 5 are energized in such a way that the release lever 7 is pivoted counterclockwise about its axis 8, whereby the pawl 2 is lifted out of the latching engagement with the rotary latch 1 (see the transition from Fig. 2 to Fig. 3). Now, in case of a drop in the on-board supply voltage, the locking mechanisms 1, 2 are emergency opened according to the invention, as described above, and are not altered with the aid of the electric drives 3, 4, 5.

[0032]

[0031] For this purpose, the control lever 9 is designed to be entirely bistable and can assume the positions "locked" and "emergency opening" or "unlocked". The actual procedure for emergency opening is to bias the control element 5 or end control cam 5a so that the electric drives 3, 4, 5 move clockwise from the "locked" home position, as shown in Figure 2. This causes the control cam 5a to pass the front edge 10a of the control contour 10 of the control lever 9. This causes the control lever 9 to pivot counterclockwise and the control cam 5a to drive against the force transmission element 14 during the rearward movement (the spring 15 is compressed).

[0033] It can be seen that the force transmission element 14 does not simply sink into the control profile 10 of the control lever 9. Instead, the force transmission element 14 is further equipped with a spring 15. The spring 15 is a helical spring, one leg of which is in contact with the force transmission element 14 and the other leg of which enters into an attachment having an attachment edge 10b, according to the exemplary embodiment the rear attachment edge 10b of the control profile 10.

[0034]

[0033] In this way, the control contour 5a on the control lever 5 can then be moved clockwise relative to the force transmission element 14, starting from the "unlocked" position of the control lever 5 shown merely in FIG. 2, beyond the basic position shown in solid lines, and acted upon (see FIG. 5C). The force transmission element 14 is connected to the release lever 7 and, according to an exemplary embodiment, is designed as a lever or lever arm which can be coupled to the release lever 7. Depending on the design, this results in a transmission or reduction of the rotational movement of the control lever 5 or its control contour 5a during emergency opening. This allows the electric drive 3, 4, 5 to be operated on the release lever 7 via the extended lever arm according to this embodiment, even in the event of a drop in the vehicle electrical system voltage, so that the claw 2 is lifted again as desired from the latching engagement with the rotary latch 1, even in the case of emergency opening.

[0035]

[0034] The operating lever or inner operating lever 11 realized at this location is held in a "locked" state throughout the process, since the control lever 9 does not bias the clutch lever 12 so that it is engaged. As a result, any actuation of the operating lever or inner operating lever 11 remains unchanged during the above-described process. [Explanation of symbols]

[0036] Locking mechanism 1, 2 Rotating latch 1, Claw part 2, Drive unit 3, 4, 5, Electric motor 3, Driven pulley 4, Control element 5, Control cam 5a, Control element 6, Release lever 7, Axis 8, Control lever 9, Control contour section 10, Stop edge 10a, Stop edge 10b, Operating lever 11, Internal operating lever 11, Clutch lever 12, Axis 13, Power transmission element 14, Spring 15.

Claims

1. An automotive lock, particularly for an automotive door, comprising a locking mechanism (1, 2) substantially consisting of a rotary latch (1) and a claw part (2), further comprising an electric drive device (3, 4, 5), and an operating lever mechanism having at least a release lever (7) and a control lever (9). The drive device (3, 4, 5) is capable of operating on both the release lever (7) for releasing the locking mechanism (1, 2) and the control lever (9). The locking mechanism (1, 2) is released by a motor during normal operation with the aid of the electric drive device (3, 4, 5), and the control lever (9) is continuously in the "locked" position during this operation, but cannot release the locking mechanism (1, 2) with the aid of a manually operable operating lever (11). With the aid of the control lever (9), the clutch lever (12) can be shifted to an engaged position corresponding to the "unlocked" state of the control lever (9), and in this engaged position, the release lever (7) is manually biased, and instead of the electric drive device (3, 4, 5), the locking mechanism (1, 2) is released by the movement of the operating lever (11). The force transmission element (14) cooperating with the release lever (7) is provided for the emergency release of the locking mechanism (1, 2), whereby the rotational movement of the electric drive device (3, 4, 5) to the locking mechanism (1, 2) is translated or decelerated according to the design. Finally, the force transmission element (14) is designed as a lever or a lever arm, and the lever or the lever arm is connected to and engageable with the release lever (7), an automotive lock.

2. The automotive lock according to claim 1, characterized in that the control lever (9) is in the "locked" position throughout.

3. The automotive lock according to claim 2, characterized in that the control lever (9) is designed to be bistable, takes the "unlocked" and "emergency release" positions, and is "locked" as required.

4. The vehicle lock according to claim 3, characterized in that the force transmission element (14) engages with the control contour portion (10) of the control lever (9).

5. The vehicle lock according to claim 4, characterized in that the force transmission element (14) is equipped with a spring (15).

6. The vehicle lock according to claim 5, characterized in that the spring (15) holds the force transmission element (14) in a deployed state against the stop edge portions (10a, 10b) of the control contour portion (10).

7. The vehicle lock according to claim 6, characterized in that the spring (15) is equipped as a helical spring having legs that respectively abut against the stop edge portion (10b) and the force transmission element (14).

8. The vehicle lock according to claim 7, characterized in that a manually operable operating lever (11) is provided as a component of the operating lever mechanism.

9. The vehicle lock according to claim 8, characterized in that a clutch lever (12) biased by the control lever (9) is mounted on the operating lever (11).

10. The vehicle lock according to any one of claims 1 to 9, characterized in that the electric drive device (3, 4, 5) has a driven pulley (4) and a control element (5).

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