Opening device for movable vehicle elements

Abstract

The present invention relates to an opening device for a mobile vehicle element (1), for example a vehicle door (1), a handle for a vehicle door, a vehicle fuel tank door, etc. For this purpose, the opening device is equipped with an electric motor drive (2) having at least one electric motor (4, 5) and at least one transmission element (6) which is rotationally driven by the at least one electric motor and acts on the mobile vehicle element (1). According to the invention, the transmission element (6) is jointly acted on in rotation by two or more electric motors (4, 5).

Description

[Technical field]

[0001]

[0001] The present invention relates to an opening device for a movable vehicle element, such as a vehicle door, a vehicle door handle, a vehicle fuel tank door, etc., comprising an electric motor drive device having at least one electric motor and having at least one transmission element which is rotationally driven to act on the movable vehicle element.

[0002]

[0002] Opening devices for vehicle doors are usually used for reasons of convenience or, for example, for aerodynamic reasons, when the vehicle door in question does not have an external door handle. For example, after an electrically initiated unlocking and opening process of the relevant door lock of the vehicle door, the vehicle door is opened or raised by means of the opening device, taking into account the opening gap. Thereby, the leaf of the vehicle door can be manually opened by the operator by inserting his hand into the opening gap and gripping it behind. In principle, for this purpose, the opening device can also be combined with an electric motor opening drive, which ensures that the vehicle door is fully opened after opening.

[0003]

[0003] Furthermore, such an opening device can also be used, for example, to move a vehicle door handle from a recessed position to an exposed position. The recessed position is particularly aerodynamically advantageous. After unlocking the associated lock, the associated vehicle door handle can be extended using the opening device so that a user can open the door lock or the vehicle door lock and swing the vehicle door open.

[0004]

[0004] Finally, such an opening device can be used, by way of example and not limitation, to swing open a fuel tank door of a motor vehicle. Other movable vehicle elements, such as glove compartments, trunk lids, etc., can also be moved to an at least partially open position using such an opening device. Starting from this partially open position, an operator or user can then fully open or swing open the associated movable vehicle element.

[0005]

[0005] In the general state of the art according to DE 10 2017 223 104 A1, an electric motor acts as a transmission element which is driven in rotation via an output shaft on a gear wheel, which ultimately acts on the vehicle door via a gearbox or an actuating lever arrangement.

[0006] A similarly constructed generic opening device for a motor vehicle door element is described in DE 10 2018 132 665 A1, in which an actuating means operated by a drive and an additional gearbox arranged between the actuating means and the drive are implemented to enable the door element to be moved. The overall objective here is to enable safe opening even on inclined roads.

[0007]

[0007] The prior art is proven in principle, but reaches its limits when only limited installation space is available. Indeed, today, for example, a relatively large force is often required to be able to open a car door, in particular a car side door, and to create the necessary gap between the door leaf and the associated car body. On the one hand, this can be attributed to the fact that vehicle doors, in particular car side doors, have significantly increased in weight due to the additional components that have been attached to them over the years, such as side impact protection, airbags, loudspeakers, window lifters, etc. On the other hand, said car doors are nowadays closed as tightly as possible in order to keep the interior noise to zero or to a large extent to zero. This can also lead to an increase in force during the opening process.

[0008]

[0008] In practice, this is already taken into account by the fact that the transmission element acts on the mobile vehicle element via an additional gearbox connected in between. However, as a result, the gearbox usually provides a large reduction ratio for the high-speed electric motor, so that the opening process is often delayed or achieved at a low speed. Such delayed opening is often annoying for the vehicle user. To achieve acceleration here, therefore, it is necessary to work with a powerful and voluminous electric motor, which is often not possible to install due to the limited installation space available. The present invention as a whole aims to improve this.

[0009]

[0009] The present invention has as its technical object to further develop such an opening and closing device as a whole so as to obtain a high driving force and to achieve miniaturization.

[0010]

[0010] In order to solve this technical problem, a general device for opening a movable vehicle element is provided within the scope of the present invention, characterized in that two or more electric motors are used in combination to rotate a transmission element.

[0011]

[0011] Here, the invention is based firstly on the fundamental realization that two or more electric motors, each of compact size, can provide a power comparable to one larger electric motor. At the same time, such compact electric motors have the same total power compared to the larger electric motor, have an overall smaller construction volume (compared to the larger electric motor) and are more flexible with regard to their arrangement relative to one another, i.e. can optimally and flexibly utilize and simultaneously fill the available installation space, for example in a car door in the region of the rotation axis of said car door.

[0012]

[0012] At the same time, the transmission elements are set together in rotational motion by two or more electric motors, i.e. the drive force provided by each individual electric motor becomes a total drive force with which the common transmission element is driven in rotation. The transmission elements can be followed either by a gearbox or by a lever arrangement to finally ensure the desired opening process of the mobile vehicle element.

[0013]

[0013] In addition to the optimal installation space adaptation and compact design of the opening device according to the invention, a further advantage to be considered is that a cost advantage is also found in the opening device according to the invention, since typically a compact electric motor is, overall, more cost-effective than a larger electric motor with the same drive power. Finally, as explained, the overall assembly of the opening device is also facilitated, since multiple electric motors together with a common transmission element can be flexibly adapted to the available installation space. This is further aided by the fact that, for example, two electric motors with the same combined drive power generally have a lower overall weight than a larger electric motor, which further facilitates installation. These are the main advantages.

[0014]

[0014] According to a further advantageous embodiment, the transmission element is generally designed as a drive disk capable of rotating about an axis. The drive disk can be equipped with a tooth profile on its outer periphery. Each electric motor generally has a drive worm on its output shaft.

[0015]

[0015] In this way, each electric motor, together with its respective associated driving worm, can engage with the toothing on the outer periphery of the driving disk and drive the latter in rotation. Furthermore, since the driving disk is provided with a toothing on its outer periphery, several electric motors can be flexibly arranged on the outer periphery of the driving disk. It is only important here that the driving worms of the associated electric motors are in each case aligned tangentially to the toothing on the outer periphery of the driving disk. This allows for a flexible arrangement of the electric motors, for example, in such a way that the output shafts of the electric motors form an angle with one another. This can be at a right angle. It is also possible that several electric motors with their output shafts or driving worms arranged are mounted at an acute angle to the outer periphery toothing, similar to the blades of a radial fan.

[0016]

[0016] Furthermore, the invention favours two basic approaches. According to a first variant, the two electric motors can each act on a transmission element separately. In this case, it has proven effective for the two electric motors to be parallel to one another and to act on a transmission element located between them. However, it is also possible for the two electric motors (arranged parallel to one another) to be arranged opposite one another with respect to the transmission element located between them.

[0017]

[0017] According to another alternative variant, two electric motors can be coupled to each other via a common output shaft and act on the transmission element. In this case, the common output shaft usually has a common driving worm which engages with the peripheral toothing of the driving disk. That is, in this case, a quasi-continuous common output shaft of the two electric motors is realized. Here, the two electric motors are placed at each end of the output shaft between them. The output shaft is equipped with a common (single) driving worm. Since the driving worm engages with the peripheral toothing of the driving disk, in this case too the driving forces of each electric motor are cumulatively available, i.e. the two driving forces of the electric motors are summed up to drive the common transmission element, i.e. the driving disk.

[0018]

[0018] This provides an opening device for a movable vehicle element that can be easily installed even under difficult installation conditions and taking into account limited installation space. Nevertheless, the transmission element is provided with a driving force that corresponds to the comparatively large driving force of the electric motor. In this way, the transmission element, optionally via a gearbox and / or lever device, can apply a large force or a high torque to the movable vehicle element, which force or torque results in a high opening speed. These are the main advantages.

[0019]

[0019] The invention will now be explained in more detail with reference to the drawings, which show only one exemplary embodiment. [Brief description of the drawings]

[0020] [Figure 1] FIG. 1 shows diagrammatically an opening device according to the invention in relation to a motor vehicle door, in particular a side door of a motor vehicle. [Diagram 2] FIG. 2 shows an electric motor drive in a perspective view. [Diagram 3] 3(A)-(C) show different configurations of electric motors.

[0021] Detailed Description of the Invention

[0022]

[0020] The figure shows an opening device for a mobile vehicle element 1. According to the embodiment of Fig. 1, the mobile vehicle element 1 is a vehicle door 1, in this case a vehicle side door 1. In general, however, the opening device can also be used with a vehicle door handle or a vehicle fuel tank door, as explained at the beginning of the description. The vehicle door handle is the exterior door handle of the vehicle door 1.

[0023]

[0021] For this purpose, the basic design of the opening device comprises an actuating means, or according to an embodiment, an electric motor drive 2, which operates on a linear actuating slide 3. The actuating slide 3 can perform a linear movement, shown in FIG. 1, according to the double arrow shown in FIG. 1, thereby opening the car door 1 at least as far as shown in FIG. 1 by the dashed and dotted line. As a result, an opening gap is observed between the door leaf of the car door 1 and the car body, through which the user can grab the door leaf of said car door 1 and open it to the open position shown in solid line. In principle, this can also be done by a motor.

[0024]

[0022] Figure 2 shows the detailed structure of the electric motor drive 2, for this purpose it is equipped with an electric motor 4, in this embodiment with two electric motors 4, 5, a first electric motor 4 and a second electric motor 5. The electric motor 4, or both electric motors 4, 5, operate on a transmission element 6 driven thereby, which according to the embodiment is a drive disk 6 having a tooth profile 6a on its outer periphery, which tooth profile is only visible in Figure 2. The transmission element or drive disk 6 is driven in rotation by the electric motor 4 or by the two electric motors 4, 5, i.e. is arranged to rotate about an axis 7.

[0025]

[0023] In fact, according to the invention, the transmission element 6 is designed to act in rotation with two or more electric motors 4, 5 in combination, i.e. the two electric motors 4, 5 act cumulatively on the transmission element e with respect to the driving forces that each of them provides, i.e. their driving forces are added together. As a result, a significant torque is obtained at the transmission element or driving disk 6 on which the two electric motors 4, 5 are flexibly operated, while taking into account a reduction in the installation space on the transmission element 6 compared to the prior art, as will be explained in more detail below with reference to Fig. 3.

[0026]

[0024] From Fig. 2 it can be seen that the transmission element 6 is followed by a downstream gearbox with gear wheels 8, 9, which, as can be seen from Fig. 2, act on the actuating slide 3 to generate the required linear movement. For this purpose, the gear wheels 8, 9 engage with each other and also with the tooth profile on the output side of the transmission element 6. Instead of the gear arrangement shown in Fig. 2, alternatively or additionally a lever arrangement can be used, which in this example allows the final opening of the vehicle door 1, but this is not shown.

[0027] 3A-3C, different configurations of the two electric motors 4, 5 for the joint acting on the transmission element or driving disk 6 can be seen. In practice, each electric motor 4, 5 is firstly equipped for this purpose with an associated output shaft 4a, 5a and a driving worm 4b, 5b on the output shaft 4a, 5a, where the output worm 4b, 5b meshes with the peripheral toothing 6a of the driving disk 6 to drive the latter in rotation about the axis 7.

[0028]

[0026] As shown in Figures 3A and 3C, the two electric motors 4, 5 can act individually on the transmission element or drive disk 6, respectively. For this purpose, it is conceivable that the two electric motors 4, 5 act parallel to each other on the transmission element or drive disk 6 located therebetween, as shown in the embodiment of Figure 3(A). Alternatively, it is also possible to arrange the two electric motors 4, 5 opposite each other with respect to the transmission element or drive disk 6 located therebetween, as shown in Figure 3(C). In this case, the electric motors 4, 5 are arranged parallel to each other.

[0029]

[0027] In an alternative embodiment shown in Fig. 3B, it is also possible to couple two electric motors 4, 5 to one another via a common output shaft 10. The two electric motors 4, 5 are then placed at both ends of the common output shaft 10. In addition, the common output shaft 10 is equipped with a common driving worm 11 arranged and designed to engage with the peripheral toothing 6a of the driving disk 6, or generally with the peripheral toothing 6a of the transmission element 6. In this case too, the electric motors 4, 5 act cumulatively on the transmission element or the driving disk 6. As a result, in all cases, a driving force equivalent to a much larger single electric motor 4 is available. [Explanation of symbols]

[0030] Car door 1, Automobile side door 1, Drive unit 2, 3 working slides, Electric motor 4, 5, Output Warm 4b, 5b, Drive disc 6, Transmission element 6, Tooth profile 6a, Axis 7, Gear wheel 8, 9, Output shaft 10.

Claims

1. An opening device for a movable vehicle element (1), such as a vehicle door (1), a handle for a vehicle door, a vehicle fuel tank door, etc., with a vehicle drive (2), The opening device comprises at least one electric motor (4, 5) and at least one transmission element (6) which is rotationally driven by the at least one electric motor and acts on the movable vehicle element (1), characterized in that the transmission element (6) is rotationally acted on together by two or more electric motors (4, 5).

2. 2. Opening device according to claim 1, characterized in that the transmission element (6) is designed as a drive disk (6) rotatable about an axis (7).

3. 3. An opening device according to claim 2, characterized in that the drive disc (6) is provided with teeth (6a) on its outer periphery.

4. 4. An opening device according to claim 3, characterized in that each electric motor (4, 5) has a driving worm (4b, 5b) on its output shaft (4a, 5a).

5. 5. An opening device according to claim 4, characterized in that each of the driving worms (4b, 5b) is engaged with an outer peripheral tooth profile (6a) of the driving disk (6) to rotate it.

6. 6. An opening device according to claim 5, characterized in that the two electric motors (4, 5) each act individually on the transmission element (6).

7. 7. An opening device according to claim 6, characterized in that the two electric motors (4, 5) act parallel to each other with respect to the transmission element (6) located between them or are arranged opposite each other with respect to the transmission element (6) located between them.

8. 8. Opening device according to claim 7, characterized in that the two electric motors (4, 5) are coupled to each other via a common output shaft (10) and act on the transmission element (6).

9. 9. Opening device according to claim 8, characterized in that the common output shaft (10) has a common driving worm (11) which engages with the peripheral toothing (6a) of the driving disc (6).

10. Use of an opening device according to any one of claims 1 to 9 for opening a motor vehicle door (1), in particular a motor vehicle side door (1), or an exterior door handle of a motor vehicle door (1).

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