Convertible Locking Hook with Pull-Link Slide Mechanism
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing locking devices for convertible vehicles have a complex and weighty driving mechanism that lacks clarity in the locking hook's position, allowing transverse movement and only generating pulling forces, which is inefficient and costly.
Innovation Solution
A locking device with a driving mechanism featuring a slide connected to a driving wheel and a pull-link arrangement that enables rotational and translational movement of the locking hook, ensuring a defined position and introducing torque for secure engagement, using a pull-link arrangement between the slide and the locking hook to prevent transverse movement.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If a complex driving mechanism with a crosshead and link arrangement is used, then the locking hook can be displaced between release and locked positions, but the device height and weight increase and production costs rise
Solution Approach 1:
The locking device is segmented into functionally independent components: the locking hook assembly with integrated bearing journal, the slide mechanism with guiding tracks, and the pull-link arrangement. This segmentation allows each component to be optimized independently, reducing overall complexity and weight while maintaining the locking function.
Solution Approach 2:
The crosshead and its associated link arrangement are completely removed from the system. Instead, a simplified slide mechanism with direct guiding tracks is used, extracting the essential function of guiding the locking hook while eliminating the complex intermediate crosshead structure that added weight and cost.
2Ease of operation
If the locking hook is allowed to move in the transverse direction about a crosshead axis, then the locking mechanism can operate, but the position of the locking hook with respect to the locking support is not unambiguously defined
Solution Approach 1:
The locking hook's movement is dynamically constrained through the pull-link arrangement connected to the slide. The slide moves linearly within guiding tracks, and this linear motion is transferred to the locking hook through the pull-link, providing dynamic positional control without requiring the locking hook to rotate about a fixed crosshead axis.
Solution Approach 2:
The pull-link arrangement acts as an intermediary between the slide and the locking hook. It transfers the linear motion of the slide to the locking hook, mediating the motion control and ensuring the locking hook achieves the correct position and orientation without direct mechanical connection to a rotating crosshead.
3Reliability
If a magnet is used to retain the locking hook against a sliding surface, then the locking hook can be held in position, but only a pulling force between the bearing journal and hook section can be generated
Solution Approach 1:
The pull-link arrangement introduces a moment arm and lever action that converts the linear pulling force from the slide into both axial and perpendicular force components on the locking hook. This curved/leveraged force transmission path enables the generation of perpendicular force components that were impossible with direct linear connection.
Solution Approach 2:
The force transmission is extended into another dimension through the pull-link arrangement. Instead of purely axial force transmission along the locking hook's length, the pull-link creates a geometric relationship that introduces force components in perpendicular directions, enabling multi-directional force generation from a single actuator.
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 provides a more efficient and cost-effective locking mechanism that ensures the locking hook takes a defined position, preventing rattling and securely engaging the top element with the front cowl, enhancing the locking device's structural integrity and operational simplicity.
Implementation Method 1
a driving mechanism for the locking hook, the driving mechanism having a driving wheel, which is driven by a driving motor and which drives a slide movable on the locking support
Implementation Method 2
the slide is connected to a driving end of the locking hook via a pull-link arrangement in such a manner that the locking hook undergoes a pivoting movement when the slide is moved
Data Source
AI summary
A locking device for a top of a convertible vehicle having a locking support, a locking hook, which can be shifted in a translational and/or rotational manner so as to be displaced between a release position and a locked position, and a driving mechanism for the locking hook, the driving mechanism having a driving wheel, which is driven by a driving motor and which drives a slide movable on the locking support. The slide is connected to a driving section of the locking hook via a pull-link arrangement in such a manner that the locking hook undergoes a pivoting movement when the slide is moved.