Motor Vehicle Door Latch Bolt Radial Support
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing motor vehicle door latch drive units with motors and bolts face issues due to radial forces causing the pinion to misengage with the toothed rod, leading to potential damage and malfunction, which increases manufacturing costs and weight.
Innovation Solution
The motor vehicle door latch incorporates a bolt with a seat for the output shaft of the motor, providing radial support and ensuring continuous engagement of the output pinion with the bolt's teeth, allowing for increased tolerances and reduced rigidity, enabling production from plastic or metal with lower costs and weight.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If the pinion and toothed rod are manufactured with low tolerances and high stiffness to prevent radial force damage, then reliability is improved, but manufacturing costs increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a radial support structure as an intermediary element between the pinion and the toothed rod. This support structure absorbs and counteracts radial forces, preventing them from affecting the meshing between the pinion and toothed rod. As a result, the pinion and toothed rod can be manufactured with lower tolerances and less stiffness while maintaining reliable meshing, thereby reducing manufacturing costs without compromising reliability
Solution Approach 2:
The radial support structure provides beforehand cushioning by pre-positioning and stabilizing the pinion against radial forces before they occur during operation. This preventive support ensures that radial forces do not cause misalignment or damage to the meshing elements, allowing for more economical manufacturing specifications
2Stability of the object's composition
If the pinion and toothed rod are made with high rigidity to resist radial forces, then meshing stability is improved, but device weight increases
Solution Approach 1:
The radial support structure serves as a mediator that bears the radial forces, allowing the pinion and toothed rod to be made with lower rigidity. Since the support structure handles the radial force resistance, the meshing elements themselves do not need to be heavy or highly rigid, thus maintaining meshing stability while reducing the overall weight of the drive unit
3Reliability
If tolerances are reduced and stiffness increased to prevent radial force effects, then functional reliability is improved, but production costs increase
Solution Approach 1:
The radial support structure acts as an intermediary that isolates the pinion and toothed rod from radial forces. This allows these components to be manufactured with more relaxed tolerances and lower stiffness requirements, significantly reducing production costs while the support structure itself ensures functional reliability by maintaining proper meshing conditions under radial load
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
This design reduces production costs and weight while maintaining correct functionality by ensuring the output pinion consistently engages with the bolt's teeth, even under radial forces, and protects the components from damage and soiling.
Implementation Method 1
The seat also radially supports the output shaft. This is particularly significant as the bolt is in most cases designed as a toothed rod arrangement and as an output pinion of the output shaft of the motor engages in teeth of the bolt or of the toothed rod arrangement.
Data Source
AI summary
The invention relates to a lock for a motor vehicle door with: a locking mechanism; an actuating lever assembly which acts upon the locking mechanism; and a drive unit for at least one lever of the actuating lever assembly. The drive unit comprises at least one motor and a bolt which is acted upon by the motor and is provided with a recess for at least one output shaft of the motor.