Vehicle Door Driving Device Overload Protection Ring
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing driving devices with overload clutches can suffer damage to structural components and connection elements when subjected to high forces or accelerations, as the necessary forces to overcome frictional engagement can be excessive, potentially damaging the vehicle's components.
Innovation Solution
A compact and economical overload protection system featuring a ring element on the driveshaft of a rotary drive, which includes a gear unit and an electric motor, with a groove on the driveshaft for axial fixation of the ring element, allowing for decoupling when excessive torque is applied, thus preventing damage to the device and its components.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a frictional engagement overload clutch is used, then the device can protect against overload, but the forces necessary to overcome frictional engagement can be so great that connection elements on the vehicle side can be damaged
Solution Approach 1:
The patent employs a frictionally-engaging clutch designed as a sacrificial component that fails in a controlled manner under excessive load. The clutch uses a friction disc that can be replaced after wear or failure, protecting the more expensive and critical connection elements on the vehicle side. This aligns with the principle of using a cheaper, replaceable component to protect more valuable parts.
Solution Approach 2:
The frictionally-engaging clutch acts as an intermediary element between the driving device and the vehicle's connection elements. It provides a controlled slip mechanism that absorbs excessive forces through friction, preventing these forces from being transmitted to the connection elements. The clutch engages and disengages based on load conditions, mediating the force transmission.
2Reliability
If high forces are applied to overcome frictional engagement, then the overload protection can be activated, but the construction on which the driving device is arranged must absorb these forces
Solution Approach 1:
The frictionally-engaging clutch is designed as a sacrificial component that absorbs and dissipates high forces through controlled friction. Instead of requiring the vehicle's construction to absorb these forces, the clutch itself handles the force absorption through its friction mechanism, protecting the vehicle's structural components.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent converts the potentially harmful high forces into a beneficial controlled frictional slip. The excessive forces that would otherwise damage the vehicle's construction are instead used to activate the clutch's friction mechanism, which safely dissipates the energy through controlled slippage, turning a harmful force into a protective mechanism.
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 effectively prevents damage to the driving device and vehicle components by decoupling the rotary drive from the spindle drive under high loads, ensuring reliable operation and long lifespan without requiring additional installation space or costly positive-engagement parts, and allowing immediate reuse after overload release.
Implementation Method 1
it is known to design the overload clutch as a frictionally-engaging clutch
Implementation Method 2
a groove which extends radially in the outer surface of the driveshaft and has a groove base and two groove walls formed in the area of the driveshaft located in the adapter sleeve
Implementation Method 3
The driveshaft is preferably made of an at least partially hardened material to achieve a long operating life and a reliable operation
Data Source
AI summary
A driving device with a first and second fastening device which can be connected to a stationary base part, particularly a vehicle body, or can be connected to a movable structural component part, particularly a hatch or door of a vehicle, a spindle drive which has a threaded spindle and a spindle nut arranged on the threaded spindle and by which the first fastening device and the second fastening device are movable axially relative to one another, and a rotary drive which drives the spindle drive in rotation by an overload protection device, and the rotationally rigid connection thereof can be canceled when a determined torque is exceeded. The overload protection device is a ring element arranged on a driveshaft of the rotary drive.