DK2468987T3 - closing Cylinder - Google Patents

Description

The invention relates to a lock cylinder and a key according to the preamble of claim 1.

Lock cylinders of the type mentioned in the preamble of claim 1 are, for instance, described in DE 1921515 A1.

Lock cylinders, so-called magnetic locks, are known and described in detail, e.g., in Austrian Patents Nos. 341901 and 357430. Essential characteristic features of these and similar locks comprise rotary tumblers and/or interrogator elements in the form of magnetic rotors whose rotational position can be adjusted as a function of the magnetic coding of associated key magnets, the correct rotational positions of the magnetic rotors being scanned by scanner elements of the lock. In the correct rotational position, the scanner element can be inserted into a recess of the magnetic rotor, and the displacement movement will in turn actuate a locking element causing the locking of the lock or allowing a rotation of the lock. The direction of movement of the scanner element may be in any direction and, in practice, primarily extends in the sense of the radius of the magnetic rotor, yet may also extend in the axial direction of the magnetic rotor. Such locks can be cylinder locks or slide locks. In the case of cylinder locks, the magnetic rotors are mounted in recesses of the cylinder core, and the above-mentioned scanner elements interact, on the one hand, with the magnetic rotors and, on the other hand, with latch elements of the cylinder housing so as to cause locking or unlocking.

The described magnetic locks involve the drawback of a strong magnetic field originating from the key magnets disposed in the key, which magnetic field is able to affect the magnetic coding of, for instance, magnetic cards similar to check cards. In particular, if such magnetic keys come to lie near the magnetic strips of such cards for extended periods, this will involve the risk of a complete loss of the magnetically coded card data.

The invention, therefore, aims to improve magnetic locks of the initially defined kind to the effect that no magnetic field will originate from the key, if possible, while the extremely high safety and coding diversity of magnetic locks will, however, be maintained at the same time.

To solve this object, the invention in a combination of a lock cylinder and a key of the initially defined kind essentially consists in that said lock cylinder is formed with a housing and a cylinder core rotatable therein and including a keyway, wherein at least one movably arranged interrogator element capable of being moved by a magnetic force and at least one scanner element scanning the position of the interrogator element are provided, said scanner element cooperating with at least one latch element of the lock cylinder to cause unlocking or locking, wherein the lock cylinder, in particular the cylinder core, includes means different from the interrogator element, for generating a magnetic flux passing through the keyway and causing the at least one movably arranged interrogator element to move, and wherein the key is formed with a bow and a key bit, wherein the key bit is comprised of a material having a high magnetic resistance and is interspersed with at least one non-magnetized region of lower magnetic resistance, which forms at least one field entrance and at least one field exit on the key surface, wherein, in the position of the key inserted in the keyway, an interrogator element capable of being moved by the magnetic force is each associated to the field exits of the non-magnetized regions of lower magnetic resistance of the key. Unlike in conventional magnetic locks, the means for generating the magnetic flux used by the interrogator elements in the lock cylinder to verify the coding of the key are thus only arranged in the lock cylinder rather than in the key. The means for generating the magnetic flux are arranged in such a manner that the magnetic flux passes through the keyway, which, in particular, has to be the case with the key inserted in the keyway, wherein the magnetic flux passing through the keyway is conducted through coding elements of the key, which will be described in more detail below, in such a manner that the magnetically operating interrogator elements arranged in the cylinder core are able to interrogate the respective coding, whereby locking or unlocking will be enabled in the case of a key authorized for access.

The means for generating the magnetic flux are preferably comprised of a permanent magnet. The permanent magnet can, for instance, be arranged in the cylinder core on just one side of the keyway, wherein the arrangement is preferably such that a magnetic circuit in the lock cylinder core can be closed with as small a magnetic circuit resistance as possible so that a weaker permanent magnet will also do. In a preferred manner, the permanent magnet is immediately adjacent the keyway such that the magnetic circuit is closed with as small a magnetic resistance as possible, with the key inserted, and the functional safety will be enhanced. In this respect, regions having higher magnetic resistance in the magnetic circuit, such as the transition from the inner side of the lock cylinder core to the key, can be optimized so as to keep the lengths of such regions as small as possible. According to a preferred embodiment, the permanent magnet has a rectangular cross-sectional shape. In order to minimize magnetic stray fields in the cylinder core, a preferred configuration provides that the cylinder core, in particular the cylinder core jacket, is comprised of a material having a high magnetic resistance, in particular of a material, e.g. brass, having a higher magnetic resistance than iron. It will, in particular, be possible to close the magnetic circuit with as low a magnetic resistance as possible, if, as in correspondence with a further preferred configuration, the cylinder core comprises at least one region made of a ferromagnetic material and cooperating with the permanent magnet for forming a magnetic circuit.

The interrogation element, which is movable by the magnetic flux passing through the keyway, is preferably comprised of a magnetic rotor. In this respect, a magnetic rotor is meant to denote a rotating component that comprises a ferromagnetic material or a permanent magnet and, relative to the magnetic field lines passing through the keyway, is oriented such that the rotor will orient itself in a predetermined rotational position corresponding to the flux lines. In a preferred manner, a plurality of movably arranged interrogator elements capable of being moved by a magnetic force are arranged along the longitudinal extension of the keyway. The higher the number of interrogator elements, the higher the maximum number of different key codings. The interrogator elements may only be arranged on one side of the keyway. Particularly preferred is a configuration in which the interrogator elements are arranged on two oppositely located sides of the keyway so as to enable as large a number of interrogator elements as possible to find a place even in the smallest space.

In connection with the key, it is provided that the key bit is comprised of a material having a high magnetic resistance and is interspersed with at least one non-magnetized region of lower magnetic resistance, which forms at least one flux entrance and at least one flux exit on the key surface. The tern "non-magnetized" in this case also encompasses a possible low magnetization as it may, for instance, occur due to remanence phenomena. It is thus evident that the key comprises no magnetized or only low-magnetized material such that no significant magnetic field arises from the key, which might, for instance, affect magnetic cards. The coding of the key is achieved in that non-magnetized regions of lower magnetic resistance are provided in the material of the key, through which, with the key inserted in the keyway, the magnetic flux originating, for instance, from the permanent magnet of the cylinder core is conducted. The respective key coding is determined by the arrangement of the non-magnetized key regions formed with low magnetic resistance, and, in particular, their courses as well as the positions and orientations of the flux entrances and flux exits located on the key surface, of said regions .

The non-magnetized regions with low magnetic resistance interspersing the key can extend through the key in such a manner that the field entrance and the field exit are located on the same side of the key. A configuration in which the at least one region of lower magnetic resistance comprises the field entrance and the field exit on oppositely located sides of the key is, however, preferred. It is, moreover, preferably provided that the field entrance is located so as to be offset relative to the field exit in a direction transverse to the key surface normal.

The geometric shape of the field entrances and field exits and the positions of the same determine the course and the coupled magnetic flux of the entering and exiting magnetic field lines, thus influencing the respective positions of the magnetic rotors and interrogator elements, respectively. A preferred configuration in this context provides that the non-magnetized region of lower magnetic resistance, on the field exit, has a cross section that is rotated relative to the cross section on the field entrance. In this context, a further preferred configuration provides that the non-magnetized region of lower magnetic resistance has a rectangular cross section on the field entrance and optionally on the field exit.

In order to enhance the locking safety, the magnetically acting coding provided according to the invention can be combined with other coding options, it being preferably provided that the key comprises a mechanical coding, in particular profile, capable of being brought into operative connection with mechanical interrogator elements.

In the following, the invention will be explained in more detail by way of exemplary embodiments schematically illustrated in the drawing. Therein, Fig. 1 is a side view of a key according to the invention; Fig. 2 is a cross-sectional view of a modified configuration of the key; Fig. 3 is a cross sectional view of a lock cylinder with the key inserted in the keyway; and Fig. 4 is a perspective view of a magnetic rotor.

The key 1 depicted in Fig. 1 comprises a bow 2 and a key bit 3. The key bit 3 is made of a material having a high magnetic resistance and comprises a plurality of non-magnetized regions 4 made of a material with a low magnetic resistance. As is apparent from the cross-sectional view according to Fig. 2, the non-magnetized regions 4 may extend through the key 1 in different ways, each region 4 including a field entrance 5 and a field exit 6. The field entrances 5 and exits 6 may be located on opposite sides of the key, as is particularly apparent from Fig. 2, or on the same side of the key. As is also apparent from Fig. 2, the non-magnetized regions 4 may extend through the key in such a manner that the field entrance and the field exit have cross sections differing from each other, wherein the field entrance cross section may be arranged to be rotated about the axis schematically indicated by 7, in particular relative to the field exit cross section. The surface of the key may, moreover, comprise a cover covering the field entrances and exits 5 and 6, respectively, of the non-magnetized regions 4 such that it will not be visible from outside where the individual field entrances and exits are disposed. Such a cover may, for instance, be made of non-transparent plastic material or the like.

The material of the key 1 with a high magnetic resistance may, for instance, be selected from brass, copper, aluminum or a suitable plastic material. The non-magnetized regions 4 with a low magnetic resistance may, for instance, be made of a ferromagnetic material such as iron, cobalt, nickel and alloys thereof that are not designed as permanent magnets, e.g. AlNiCo, SmCo, Nd2Fei4B, Ni80Fe2o»· NiFeCo, or even of appropriately modified plastic materials, e.g. with carbon nanotubes.

In Fig. 3, the cylinder core of a lock cylinder, which is rotatable about axis 8, is denoted by 9, comprising a keyway 10. In the keyway 10 is inserted a key 1 comprising a plurality of non-magnetized regions 4 with low magnetic resistance. A ferromagnetic circuit 11, which is able to conduct the magnetic flux through the cylinder core with a low magnetic resistance, is disposed in the cylinder core 9. The magnetic rotors 12 will thus orient themselves to the regions with low magnetic resistance in the key, while scanner elements (not illustrated) will scan the positions of the magnetic rotors 12. The scanner elements in turn interact with a latch element (not illustrated) of the housing to cause unlocking or locking.

Fig. 4 illustrates a preferred configuration of a magnetic rotor 12, the axis of rotation of the magnetic rotor 12 being denoted by 13 as in Fig. 3. The magnetic rotor is designed as a cylinder 14, through which a portion 15 passes, which is, for instance, designed as a parallelepiped and comprises a field entrance and a field exit both on the front side of the magnetic rotor and on the rear side of the magnetic rotor. The portion 15 is either configured as a permanent magnet and magnetized to orient itself to the magnetic field passing through the respectively associated region 4 of the key 1 by a rotation in the sense of arrow 16, or the portion 15 is made of a material with low magnetic resistance, which is likewise able to orient itself to the magnetic field passing through the respectively associated region 4 of the key 1.

Configurations in which the ferromagnetic circuit 11 in the cylinder key is completely or partially replaced with a permanent magnet so as to cause the magnetic rotors to orient themselves in correspondence with the permanent magnet 11 and the region with low magnetic resistance in the key, are also conceivable. This configuration is particularly prone to failure, since, due to the many permanent magnets, a higher field strength will be achieved, and hence the magnetic force action on the rotors will also be increased.

Configurations in which the region 11 is completely comprised of a permanent magnet, or partially also of a material with low magnetic resistance, are also conceivable. The rotors have regions with low magnetic resistance, whereby the rotors with their regions of low magnetic resistance will orient themselves to the regions with low magnetic resistance in the key and cylinder core. This configuration offers the advantage that the permanent magnets in the rotors may be omitted and replaced with less expensive regions of low magnetic resistance.

Claims (15)

A closure cylinder and a key, wherein the closure cylinder is formed with a housing and a cylinder core (9) rotating therein, which has a key channel (10) where at least one request element (12) is provided which is movably arranged and movable by a magnetic force, and at least one scanning element which scans the position of the request element (12) and cooperates with at least one locking element of the closing cylinder to effect the locking or locking, wherein the closing cylinder, in particular the cylinder core (9), has means different from the request element ( 12), for generating a magnetic flux passing through the key channel (10), through which the at least one movably arranged query element (12) can be moved, and wherein the key is formed with a head and a key comb, characterized in that the key comb ( 3) consists of a material with a high magnetic resistance and penetrated by at least one non-magnetized area (4) with a lower magnetic resistance, such as on a key oven the leg forms at least one field entry point (5) and at least one field exit point (6), where in the position of the key (1) pushed into the key channel (10) is associated with a request element (12) movable by the magnetic force , to the field output sites (6) of the non-magnetized regions (4) with the lower magnetic resistance of the key (1). Closure cylinder and key according to claim 1, characterized in that the means for generating the magnetic flux are formed a permanent magnet or an electromagnet. Closure cylinder and key according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that a plurality of interrogation elements (12) which are movably arranged and movable by a magnetic force are arranged along the longitudinal stretch of the key channel (10). Closing cylinder and key according to claim 1,2 or 3, characterized in that the request elements (12) are arranged only on one side of the key channel (10). Closure cylinder and key according to one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that the request elements (12) are arranged on two opposite sides of the key channel (10). Closure cylinder and key according to one of claims 1 to 5, characterized in that the query element or query elements are respectively formed by a magnetic rotor (12). Closure cylinder and key according to one of claims 1 to 6, characterized in that the cylinder core (9), in particular the cylinder core sheath, consists of a material having a high magnetic resistance, especially of a material, e.g. brass, which has a higher magnetic resistance than iron. Closure cylinder and key according to one of claims 2 to 7, characterized in that the cylinder core (9) has at least one region of ferromagnetic material, which region interacts with the permanent magnet to form a magnetic circuit. Closure cylinder and key according to one of claims 1 to 8, characterized in that the at least one region (4) with a lower magnetic resistance has the field input point (5) and the field output point (6) on opposite sides of the key (1). Closure cylinder and key according to one of claims 1 to 9, characterized in that the field input point (5) is disposed offset from the field output point (6) in a direction transverse to the key surface normal. Closure cylinder and key according to one of claims 1 to 10, characterized in that the non-magnetized area (4) having a lower magnetic resistance at the field output site (6) has a cross section which is rotated relative to the section at the field input site (5). ). Closure cylinder and key according to one of claims 1 to 11, characterized in that the non-magnetized region (4) with a lower magnetic resistance has a rectangular cross-section at the field input point (5) and optionally at the field output point (6). Closure cylinder and key according to one of claims 1 to 12, characterized in that the key (1) has a mechanical coding which can be brought into operation with mechanical query elements, especially profiling. Closure cylinder and key according to one of claims 1 to 13, characterized in that in the position of the key (1) pushed into the key channel (10) is associated a request element (12) which can be moved by the magnetic force. , to the field input sites (5) of the non-magnetized regions (4) with the lower magnetic resistance of the key (1). Closure cylinder and key according to one of claims 1 to 14, characterized in that the request element (12) is arranged directly adjacent to the respective position. the field exit point (6) and the field entry point (5).