Motor Vehicle Door Lock Emergency Actuation Mechanism
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Solution Overview
Problem
Motor vehicle door locks with electric drives often fail to return to their normal position due to power supply failures or mechanical blockages, preventing the pawl from latching and thus locking the door, requiring complex and costly emergency actuation solutions.
Innovation Solution
A structurally simple and cost-effective design where the emergency actuating element acts linearly on the coupling element, transferring it from a coupled to a decoupled state, allowing the pawl to engage with the rotary latch for emergency locking, using a predominantly linear action that can be performed with a simple external tool or integrated component.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Extent of automation
If an electric drive with an actuating lever chain is used for the locking mechanism, then the locking mechanism can be opened automatically, but the drive may fail to return to its normal position due to power supply failures or mechanical blockages, preventing emergency locking
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces an emergency actuating element that directly acts on the coupling element of the actuating lever chain. This intermediary mechanism allows manual decoupling of the actuating lever chain from the drive, enabling the pawl to engage with the rotary latch independently of the electric drive's operational state.
Solution Approach 2:
The locking mechanism is segmented into independent functional components: the electric drive for normal operation, the actuating lever chain for power transmission, and the pawl-rotary latch engagement mechanism for locking. The emergency actuating element can decouple the actuating lever chain, allowing the locking function to operate independently of the drive system.
2Reliability
If a complex emergency actuating element with an eccentric is used to decouple the actuating lever chain, then emergency locking can be achieved, but production and assembly costs increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the essential function of the emergency actuating element - to decouple the actuating lever chain - from the complex eccentric mechanism. By removing the unnecessary eccentric component and retaining only the critical decoupling function, the design achieves emergency locking capability with simpler structure and lower manufacturing costs.
Solution Approach 2:
Instead of using a complex mechanism to achieve decoupling, the patent inverts the approach by designing a simple actuating element that directly manipulates the coupling element. The emergency actuating element works by pulling or pushing the coupling element laterally, which is the opposite of using an eccentric to convert rotational motion into lateral displacement.
3Reliability
If the emergency actuating element acts radially on the drive element with gears, then emergency actuation can be achieved, but the device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent removes the gear mechanism from the emergency actuation path, retaining only the essential function of transferring force from the emergency actuating element to the coupling element. This extraction of unnecessary components significantly reduces device complexity while maintaining emergency actuation capability.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces the complex radial gear-based mechanical system with a simpler lateral acting mechanism. The emergency actuating element acts laterally on the coupling element, which translates this linear motion into the necessary decoupling action, eliminating the need for radial gears and reducing mechanical complexity.
Data Source
AI summary
The invention relates to a motor vehicle door lock which is equipped with a locking mechanism (1, 2) that consists essentially of a rotary latch (1) and a pawl (2). Furthermore, an electrical drive (3, 4) for the locking mechanism (1, 2) is provided. Moreover, an actuating lever chain (5, 6, 7) is implemented between the electrical drive (3, 4) and the locking mechanism (1, 2), wherein a coupling element (7) of the actuating lever chain (5, 6, 7) can at least be decoupled with the aid of an emergency actuating element (9, 10) that can be acted on manually. According to the invention, the emergency actuating element (9, 10) acts on the coupling element (7) predominantly in a linear manner in relation to a link (8).