Door Lock Triggering Lever Reduces Spring Force
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing locks with rotary latches and pawls, pretensioned by springs, require significant effort to open due to the spring force impeding the unlocking process, and existing solutions do not adequately address this issue for reliable and effortless operation.
Innovation Solution
A lock design featuring a triggering lever that reduces or cancels the spring force on the pawl, allowing for easy unlocking, with a compact and lightweight structure, incorporating a tappet and blocking lever for enhanced reliability and reduced part count, and utilizing a common axis for the pawl and triggering lever for simplified design.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a spring is used to pretension the pawl in the locking position direction, then the locking reliability is improved, but the effort required to open the lock increases
Solution Approach 1:
The spring is pre-loaded to automatically engage the pawl with the locking surface of the rotary latch, ensuring reliable locking without requiring manual intervention. The preliminary tensioning action prepares the system for secure engagement while the triggering lever provides a mechanism to overcome this tension during unlocking.
Solution Approach 2:
The triggering lever acts as an intermediary mechanism that mediates between the user's opening action and the spring-pawl locking system. By actuating the triggering lever, the user indirectly overcomes the spring force through a mechanical advantage system, reducing the direct effort required to disengage the pawl from the locking surface.
2Ease of operation
If the spring force on the pawl is reduced or cancelled during opening, then the ease of operation is improved, but the locking mechanism becomes more complex
Solution Approach 1:
The triggering lever combines multiple functions into a single component: it serves as both the user interface for unlocking and the mechanism for relieving spring tension on the pawl. By merging these functions, the design achieves easy operation without adding separate complexity-reducing mechanisms.
Solution Approach 2:
The triggering lever is designed as a multi-functional element that performs both the unlocking action and the spring force cancellation simultaneously. This universal component approach reduces overall system complexity by eliminating the need for separate mechanisms for each function.
3Reliability
If multiple components are used to achieve reliable unlocking, then the reliability is improved, but the device becomes heavier and more complex
Solution Approach 1:
The pawl and triggering lever are rotatably mounted on a common axis, merging two components that share a rotational movement into a closely integrated assembly. This reduces the overall weight by eliminating redundant mounting structures and simplifies the mechanism while maintaining reliable unlocking through the coordinated rotation of both elements.
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
The solution enables the lock to be opened with minimal effort by reducing or eliminating the spring force on the pawl, ensuring reliable operation and a compact design with reduced complexity and weight, while maintaining secure locking.
Implementation Method 1
The pawl is at least intermittently pretensioned by a spring, in particular a leg spring in the direction of the locking position
Implementation Method 2
The triggering lever is designed in such a way that the actuation thereof at least reduces and preferably altogether cancels the spring force acting on the pawl
Implementation Method 3
the rotary latch can, in one embodiment, initiate an opening moment in the pawl in order to move the pawl out of its locking position
Data Source
AI summary
The aim of the invention is to design a door lock or flap lock which can be easily and reliably opened with little effort. Said aim is achieved by a door lock or flap lock comprising a locking mechanism that consists of a latch and at least one pawl for locking the latch. The lock further comprises a triggering lever which, upon being actuated allows the locked locking mechanism to be unlocked. The lock also comprises a spring for moving the pawl in the direction of the locking position. When the triggering lever is actuated, the triggering lever rests against the spring to push the spring away from the pawl and decrease or cancel the spring force. Using the triggering lever, functions, the number of parts can be kept to a minimum. Advantageously, the lock therefore is not complex to produce and is compact and lightweight.