Motor Vehicle Door Lock Catch Lever Crash Inversion
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing motor vehicle door lock systems face reliability issues due to unintentional opening during crashes, caused by inertia forces, which can be exacerbated by corrosion or aging, leading to incorrect functioning and uncheckable faults in catch lever mechanisms.
Innovation Solution
A motor vehicle door lock design where the catch lever remains permanently active in its blocking position during both standard operation and crashes, ensuring the pawl and locking mechanism remain in the blocking position, with an elastic coupling to the actuation lever unit, preventing unintended opening and maintaining functionality through a simple design.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Object-affected harmful factors
If a catch lever is used to block the actuation lever unit during abnormal acceleration forces, then unintentional opening during crashes is prevented, but functional reliability decreases due to corrosion or aging causing incorrect functioning
Solution Approach 1:
Instead of having the catch lever block the actuation lever unit during normal operation and release during crashes (prior art), the invention inverts the logic: the catch lever blocks the pawl during normal operation and crashes, but allows release only when the actuation lever unit is intentionally actuated. This inversion ensures the catch lever remains permanently active in its blocking position, preventing corrosion or aging from causing incorrect functioning while still providing crash protection.
Solution Approach 2:
The catch lever is designed to be permanently active in its blocking position from the outset, rather than being activated only during crashes. This preliminary action ensures the pawl is continuously blocked during normal operation, and the system is already prepared to maintain blocking during crashes without requiring activation during the crash event itself.
2Reliability
If the catch lever is permanently active in blocking position, then functional reliability is enhanced, but the complexity of the system increases
Solution Approach 1:
The invention merges the catch lever's blocking function with the existing pawl and actuation lever unit mechanisms. The catch lever integrates with the pawl interaction already present in the door lock system, and utilizes the existing elastic coupling between the actuation lever unit and catch lever. This merging approach allows the permanently active blocking function to be achieved without adding significant structural complexity to the overall system.
3Object-affected harmful factors
If the catch lever blocks the pawl permanently, then crash protection is maintained, but the ease of operation decreases due to additional blocking mechanisms
Solution Approach 1:
The invention introduces the catch lever as an intermediary element between the actuation lever unit and the pawl. The catch lever mediates the interaction by blocking the pawl during normal operation and crashes, but allowing the actuation lever unit to release the pawl when intentionally actuated. This intermediary mechanism ensures crash protection while maintaining ease of operation through the existing actuation lever unit interface.
Solution Approach 2:
The catch lever is designed to automatically maintain its blocking position during normal operation and crashes without requiring external control or activation. The elastic coupling between the actuation lever unit and catch lever allows the catch lever to self-regulate its blocking function based on the state of the actuation lever unit, eliminating the need for additional control mechanisms and maintaining ease of operation.
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
Enhances functional reliability by preventing unintentional door opening during crashes while maintaining a simple design, ensuring the catch lever and pawl remain in their blocking positions, even under abnormal acceleration forces, thus safeguarding passenger safety.
Implementation Method 1
In case of an accident or in the event of a crash, as mentioned above, high acceleration forces generally occur, which can be several times greater than the earth's acceleration. The respective motor vehicle door lock is thus exposed to considerable inertia forces
Implementation Method 2
The catch lever (12) is coupled to the actuation lever unit (6, 7) by means of an elastic coupling, in form of a spring (14), for example
Data Source
AI summary
The invention relates to a motor vehicle door lock equipped with a locking mechanism (1, 2, 3), an actuation lever unit (6, 7) acting on the locking mechanism (1, 2, 3), and a catch lever (12). The catch lever (12) blocks the locking mechanism (1, 2, 3) at least when acceleration forces of a given magnitude occur, e.g. in case of an accident (crash), rendering the locking mechanism ineffective. According to the invention, the catch lever (12) acts upon a pawl (3) of the locking mechanism (1, 2, 3) in the direction of the blocking position of the pawl during normal operation and in the event of a crash while allowing the pawl (3) and thus the locking mechanism (1, 2, 3) to be in the releasing position only during normal opening operation.