CN215501591U

CN215501591U - Seat belt buckle for vehicle

Info

Publication number: CN215501591U
Application number: CN202121758123.3U
Authority: CN
Inventors: 潘海涛; 李金星; 金宇松
Original assignee: Zf Automotive Passive Safety System Shanghai Co ltd
Current assignee: Zf Automotive Passive Safety System Shanghai Co ltd
Priority date: 2021-07-30
Filing date: 2021-07-30
Publication date: 2022-01-14
Anticipated expiration: 2031-07-30

Abstract

The present disclosure relates to a seatbelt buckle for a vehicle, comprising: the lock body comprises an upper plate and a lower plate which are stacked together, wherein the upper plate is provided with a middle through hole and two side through holes which are arranged at two sides of the middle through hole, and a bulge part is arranged in front of the middle through hole; and a hall switch provided with a projection at a front side portion of a lower surface thereof and a pair of hooks at a rear side portion of the lower surface thereof, wherein the projection is placed in the middle through hole and abuts against the ridge, and the pair of hooks are hooked in the two side through holes. The hall switch can be mounted to the lock body by a simple pressing operation.

Description

Seat belt buckle for vehicle

Technical Field

The present disclosure relates generally to the field of vehicle safety. More specifically, the present disclosure relates to a seatbelt buckle for a vehicle.

Background

Seatbelt apparatuses are used for the safety of vehicle occupants. In a vehicle collision, the seatbelt device restrains the upper body of the occupant and prevents the occupant from leaving the seat, so that the occupant is prevented from hitting the internal structure of the vehicle and causing injury to the body.

The seatbelt apparatus includes a wearing detection device to ensure that the occupant has worn the seatbelt during travel of the vehicle. The wearing detection device comprises a Hall switch arranged on a lock body of the safety belt lock catch and a top block assembly capable of moving relative to the lock body. The spring bolt pushes the ejector block assembly to move when being inserted into the lock body, so that the magnet in the ejector block assembly moves relative to the Hall switch, and the current value of the Hall switch is changed. Wear detection device and change through the current value of surveying hall switch, can detect whether the safety belt is worn well. The existing Hall switch has large size and complex production. In addition, the existing Hall switch has many installation steps and can be installed only manually.

SUMMERY OF THE UTILITY MODEL

The present disclosure provides a seat belt buckle that overcomes at least one of the above-mentioned deficiencies of prior art products.

One aspect of the present disclosure relates to a seatbelt buckle for a vehicle, the seatbelt buckle including:

the lock body comprises an upper plate and a lower plate which are stacked together, wherein the upper plate is provided with a middle through hole and two side through holes which are arranged on the two transverse sides of the middle through hole, and a bulge part is arranged in front of the middle through hole; and

a hall switch provided with a projection at a front side portion of a lower surface thereof and a pair of hooks at a rear side portion of the lower surface thereof, wherein the projection is placed in the middle through hole and abuts against the ridge, and the pair of hooks are hooked in the two side through holes.

In some embodiments, the front face of the tab is a ramp configured to abut against the rear face of the boss of the lock body.

In some embodiments, the lower surface of the bump is configured to be concave inward to continue the shape of the lower surface of the bump.

In some embodiments, the pair of hooks first protrude downward from the lower surface of the hall switch and then are bent inward in the lateral direction toward each other to hook on the inner edges of the two side through holes of the hall switch.

In some embodiments, the length and width of the Hall switch are 17mm to 19mm and 9mm to 10mm, respectively.

In some embodiments, the length and width of the hall switch are 17.5mm and about 9.5mm, respectively.

In some embodiments, the bump is located substantially between the front ends of the two side through holes.

In some embodiments, the upper and lower plates are parallel to each other and are spaced apart from each other by a gap.

In some embodiments, a top block assembly containing a magnet is configured to reciprocate within a gap between an upper plate and a lower plate.

In some embodiments, the hall switch is configured to be mounted on the upper plate of the lock body by a pressing operation.

Additional features and advantages of the disclosed subject technology will be set forth in the description which follows, and in part will be obvious from the description, or may be learned by practice of the disclosed subject technology. The advantages of the subject technology of the present disclosure will be realized and attained by the structure particularly pointed out in the written description and claims hereof as well as the appended drawings.

It is to be understood that both the foregoing general description and the following detailed description are exemplary and explanatory and are intended to provide further explanation of the subject technology of the present disclosure as claimed.

Drawings

Various aspects of the disclosure will be better understood upon reading the following detailed description in conjunction with the drawings in which:

fig. 1 shows a perspective view of a prior art hall switch;

2A-2B show different angular perspective views of a prior art Hall switch mounted to a lock body, respectively, and FIG. 2C shows a partial enlarged view of FIG. 2A;

figure 3 shows a perspective view of the lock body;

4A-4C illustrate different angle perspective and bottom views, respectively, of a Hall switch according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

figure 5 shows a perspective view of the hall switch of figures 4A-4C mounted to a lock body;

fig. 6 shows a schematic view of the operation of the belt buckle.

Detailed Description

The present disclosure will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings, which illustrate several embodiments of the disclosure. It should be understood, however, that the present disclosure may be embodied in many different forms and should not be construed as limited to the embodiments set forth herein; rather, the embodiments described below are intended to provide a more complete disclosure of the present disclosure, and to fully convey the scope of the disclosure to those skilled in the art. It is also to be understood that the embodiments disclosed herein can be combined in various ways to provide further additional embodiments.

It should be understood that like reference numerals refer to like elements throughout the several views. In the drawings, the size of some of the features may be varied for clarity.

It is to be understood that the terminology used in the description is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only, and is not intended to be limiting of the disclosure. All terms (including technical and scientific terms) used in the specification have the meaning commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art unless otherwise defined. Well-known functions or constructions may not be described in detail for brevity and/or clarity.

As used in this specification, the singular forms "a", "an" and "the" include plural referents unless the content clearly dictates otherwise. The terms "comprising," "including," and "containing" when used in this specification specify the presence of stated features, but do not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features. The term "and/or" as used in this specification includes any and all combinations of one or more of the associated listed items. The terms "between X and Y" and "between about X and Y" as used in the specification should be construed to include X and Y. The term "between about X and Y" as used herein means "between about X and about Y" and the term "from about X to Y" as used herein means "from about X to about Y".

In the description, when an element is referred to as being "on," "attached" to, "connected" to, "coupled" to, or "contacting" another element, etc., another element may be directly on, attached to, connected to, coupled to, or contacting the other element, or intervening elements may be present. In contrast, when an element is referred to as being "directly on," "directly attached to," directly connected to, "directly coupled to," or "directly contacting" another element, there are no intervening elements present. In the description, one feature is disposed "adjacent" another feature, and may mean that one feature has a portion overlapping with or above or below an adjacent feature.

In the specification, spatial relations such as "upper", "lower", "left", "right", "front", "rear", "high", "low", and the like may explain the relation of one feature to another feature in the drawings. It will be understood that the spatial relationship terms are intended to encompass different orientations of the device in use or operation in addition to the orientation depicted in the figures. For example, features originally described as "below" other features may be described as "above" other features when the device in the figures is inverted. The device may also be otherwise oriented (rotated 90 degrees or at other orientations) and the relative spatial relationships may be interpreted accordingly.

Fig. 1 shows a perspective view of a prior art hall switch 1 of a seat belt buckle, and fig. 2A-2C show different angle perspective views and enlarged views, respectively, of the prior art hall switch 1 mounted to a lock body 3 of the seat belt buckle. As shown, the hall switch 1 is generally elongated and extends in a longitudinal direction between a front end 11 and a rear end 12. The hall switch 1 is provided at its front and rear ends with connection portions, respectively, to be connected to a combination of a guide block 2 and a lock body 3 of a seatbelt buckle.

The upper surface of the front end portion 11 of the hall switch 1 is flat, and the left and right side surfaces are provided with concave portions 13 which are recessed inward. Accordingly, the connecting portion of the guide block 2 is provided with an opening, and the upper portion of the opening is provided with a pressing portion 22, and the left and right sides of the opening are provided with protrusions 21 protruding laterally toward the center. The opening of the guide block 2 is aligned with the front end portion 11 of the hall switch 1 from above, and the two convex portions 21 of the guide block 2 are inserted into the two concave portions 13 of the hall switch 1, respectively, until the abutting portion 22 of the guide block 2 abuts on the upper surface of the front end portion 11 of the hall switch 1. Thereafter, the guide block 2 is fixed to the upper plate 31 of the lock body 3 to connect the front end portion 11 of the hall switch 1 to the lock body 3.

The rear end portion 12 of the hall switch 1 is provided with a fixing plate 14 extending in the lateral direction, and both left and right sides of the fixing plate 14 are provided with an insertion portion 15 and a hook portion 16 protruding forward in the longitudinal direction. The insertion portion 15 is located laterally outside the hook portion 16 and projects forward in a straight longitudinal direction. The hook 16 is L-shaped and projects longitudinally forward first and then curves laterally outward in front of the insertion portion 15. Accordingly, the coupling portion of the lock body 3 includes a hook portion 37 protruding upward from the upper plate 31 of the lock body 3. The hook 37 is L-shaped and projects upward first and then bends rearward in the longitudinal direction. The insertion portion 15 of the hall switch 1 is inserted below the hook 37 of the lock body 3, and the hook 16 of the hall switch 1 is caught in front of the hook 37 of the lock body 3 to connect the rear end portion 12 of the hall switch 1 to the lock body 3.

The following describes a process of mounting the conventional hall switch 1 to the lock body 3. First, the insertion portion 15 of the rear end portion 12 of the hall switch 1 is inserted below the hook portion 37 of the lock body 3. The hall switch 1 is rotated to catch the hook 16 of the rear end portion 12 of the hall switch 1 in front of the hook 37 of the lock body 3. Thereby, the rear end portion 12 of the hall switch 1 is connected to the lock body 3. The rotation of the hall switch 1 also places the front end portion 11 of the hall switch 1 on the upper plate 31 of the lock body 3. At this time, the two convex portions 21 of the guide block 2 are aligned and inserted into the two concave portions 13 of the hall switch 1, respectively, until the pressing portions 22 of the guide block 2 abut on the upper surface of the front end portion 11 of the hall switch 1, thereby connecting the front end portion 11 of the hall switch 1 to the guide block 2. The guide block 2 is fixed to the upper plate 31 of the lock body 3, thereby connecting the front end portion 11 of the hall switch 1 to the lock body 3. After the front end portion 11 and the rear end portion 12 of the hall switch 1 are respectively connected to the lock body 3, the hall switch 1 is securely mounted on the lock body 3.

Mounting the existing hall switch 1 to the lock body 3 requires punching the hook 37 out of the lock body 3, which increases the manufacturing cost of the lock body 3. In addition, the installation of the existing hall switch 1 to the lock body 3 requires several steps of inserting the hall switch 1 into the hook 37 of the lock body 3, rotating the hall switch 1, aligning the guide block 2 to be inserted into the hall switch 1, fixing the guide block 2 to the lock body 3, etc., and the installation steps are many and need to be manually completed.

In order to overcome the above-mentioned drawbacks of the existing hall switch 1, a new hall switch 101 has been developed. Fig. 3 shows a perspective view of the lock body 3, fig. 4A-4C show different angle perspective views and a bottom view, respectively, of the hall switch 101 according to an embodiment of the disclosure, and fig. 5 shows a perspective view of the hall switch 101 mounted to the lock body 3.

As shown, the lock body 3 includes an upper plate 31 and a lower plate 32 stacked together. The upper plate 31 and the lower plate 32 are parallel to each other and spaced apart from each other by a gap 33. The top block assembly containing the magnet may reciprocate within the gap 33 between the upper plate 31 and the lower plate 32, thereby causing a change in the electrical signal of the hall switch 101. The upper plate 31 is provided at its middle portion with three elongated through

holes

34 and 35 arranged laterally side by side, wherein the longitudinal length of the two side through holes 34 is greater than the longitudinal length of the middle through hole 35. An arc-shaped bulge 36 is provided forward of the middle through hole 35, and the bulge 36 is located approximately between the front end portions of the two side through holes 34.

The hall switch 101 has a substantially rectangular parallelepiped shape and is much smaller in volume than the conventional hall switch 1. The length and width of the conventional hall switch 1 are 41mm and 25mm, respectively, in contrast to which the length and width of the hall switch 101 according to the present disclosure are reduced to 17-19 mm and 9-10 mm, more particularly, about 17.5mm and about 9.5mm, respectively.

The hall switch 101 is provided at a front side portion and a rear side portion of a lower surface thereof with two connection portions, respectively, to be connected to the lock body 3. Specifically, the hall switch 101 is provided with a projection 111 at a front side portion of a lower surface thereof. The boss 111 protrudes downward from the lower surface of the hall switch 101 and is placed in the middle through hole 35 of the lock body 3. The front face of the projection 111 is a ramp 113 to abut against the rear face of the boss 36 of the lock body 3. The lower surface 114 of the projection 111 is provided concave inwardly to continue the concave lower surface of the bulge 36 for avoiding the spring mechanism (not shown) inside the lock body 3.

The hall switch 101 is provided at a rear side portion of a lower surface thereof with a pair of hooks 112 spaced apart in the lateral direction. The pair of hook portions 112 first project downward from the lower surface of the hall switch 101 and then are bent inward in the lateral direction toward each other. The pair of hook portions 112 are for hooking on inner edges of both side through holes 34 of the hall switch 101.

The procedure of mounting the hall switch 101 to the lock body 3 will be described. The boss 111 and the pair of hooks 112 of the hall switch 101 are first aligned with the middle through hole 35 and the two side through holes 34 on the upper plate 31 of the lock body 3, respectively, and the hall switch 101 is pressed toward the lock body 3. The front end face of the projection 111 abuts on the rear end face of the rising portion 36 of the lock body 3, while the pair of hook-shaped portions 112 are deformed away from each other and then hooked on the lower surfaces of the inner edges of the two side through-holes 34. Thereby, the mounting of the hall switch 101 to the lock body 3 is completed.

Fig. 6 shows an operational principle diagram of a seat belt buckle including a hall switch 101 according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. As shown, the seat belt buckle includes a lock body 3 disposed within its housing, and a top block assembly 4 located within the void of the lock body 3. The top block assembly 4 contains a magnet 5 and is movable relative to the lock body 3. The hall switch 101 is fixed to the lock body 3, and is electrically connected to a controller (not shown) on the vehicle through the wire harness 6. When the bolt 7 is inserted into the lock body 3, the bolt 7 pushes the top block assembly 4 to move from the initial position to the inner part of the middle space; and when the bolt 7 is disengaged from the lock body 3, the top block assembly 4 is returned to the original position from the inside of the intermediate space. The reciprocating movement of the top block assembly 4 within the lock body 3 causes the magnet 5 to move relative to the hall switch 101, thereby causing a change in the value of the current within the wire harness 6. The controller judges whether the bolt 7 is inserted into the safety belt buckle or not by detecting the change of the current value.

The hall switch according to the embodiment of the present disclosure can be mounted to the lock body by a simple pressing operation. The installation process is simple to realize automated operation through machines such as cylinders.

According to this hall switch of this disclosed embodiment need not fix through the punching press part of guide block and lock body, only need can fix through the existing through-hole on the lock body.

The length size of the Hall switch according to the embodiment of the disclosure is obviously reduced compared with the existing Hall switch, and the connection structure is relatively simple. Therefore, the manufacturing cost is reduced.

Although exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure have been described, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes and modifications can be made to the exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure without substantially departing from the spirit and scope of the present disclosure. Accordingly, all changes and modifications are intended to be included within the scope of the present disclosure as defined in the appended claims. The disclosure is defined by the following claims, with equivalents of the claims to be included therein.

Claims

1. A seatbelt buckle for a vehicle, characterized in that the seatbelt buckle comprises:

2. The seatbelt buckle of claim 1, wherein the front face of the tab is a ramped surface configured to abut against the rear face of the raised portion of the lock body.

3. The seatbelt buckle according to claim 1, wherein a lower surface of the projection is provided to be concave inward to continue a shape of a lower surface of the bulge.

4. The seatbelt buckle according to claim 1, wherein the pair of hook portions are protruded downwardly from a lower surface of the hall switch and then bent inwardly in a lateral direction toward each other to be hooked on inner edges of the two side through holes of the hall switch.

5. The seatbelt buckle according to claim 1, wherein the hall switch has a length and a width of 17mm to 19mm and 9mm to 10mm, respectively.

6. The seatbelt buckle of claim 1, wherein the length and width of the hall switch are about 17.5mm and about 9.5mm, respectively.

7. The seatbelt buckle according to claim 1, wherein the ridge portion is located substantially between the front end portions of the two side through holes.

8. The seatbelt buckle according to any one of claims 1 to 7, wherein the upper plate and the lower plate are parallel to each other and spaced apart from each other by a gap.

9. The seatbelt buckle of claim 8, wherein the top block assembly including the magnet is configured to reciprocate within the gap between the upper plate and the lower plate.

10. The seatbelt buckle according to any one of claims 1 to 7, wherein the hall switch is configured to be mounted on the upper plate of the lock body by a pressing operation.