EP0038226B1 - Electric locking mechanism for an automotive vehicle's boot lid - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to an electric lock mechanism for locking and unlocking controlled by the boot door or the tailgate of a motor vehicle, by means of a motorized bolt locking a keeper when the door is closed.

Known devices use either a motorized strike or a motorized bolt for locking the lock.

Being a motorized strike, the latter is arranged for example on the vehicle body and is connected to the engine while the bolt is on the door leaf or on the tailgate.

To lock the lock in its locked position, a locking lever actuated separately by an electromagnet must be added to the bolt, which requires the use of a second motor member and poses additional wiring problems to power the hinged door on the bodywork. of the vehicle.

Furthermore, the electric locking of the keeper takes place only after the latching of the bolt beforehand, which is obtained by manual closing of the door, before the compression of the seal.

Other more basic devices are satisfied with electrically unlocking the bolt, the unlocking of the striker for the opening of the door being done manually, as well as its locking on closing.

Furthermore, in the event of a fault in the electrical circuit, it is not always planned to be able to intervene on a manual mechanical emergency control.

The present invention aims to overcome the above drawbacks and to realize a locking and unlocking mechanism with fully electric control using a single drive member arranged rationally and economically on the vehicle body and coupled with a conventional mechanical control allowing to be able to continue using the lock in the conventional way in the event of a breakdown of the electrical installation.

The automation has been pushed enough to trigger the locking of the keeper and then the locking of the bolt when it is closed as soon as the folding of the door is detected, before the compression of the seal, which gives the operation a smoothness of remarkable operation by eliminating the prior manual engagement of the bolt.

To this end, the invention therefore relates to an electric lock mechanism of the above type, characterized in that the leaf of the door supports the fixed strike and the body supports the motor member comprising an electric motor controlled remotely by impulses and capable of rotating the rotary bolt and the locking lever associated therewith by means of two disengageable links actuated by the output shaft of the engine, in the manner of a crankshaft, in order to ensure automatically and successively for a half-turn of the motor output shaft, locking the strike plate and locking the bolt when the door is closed, then unlocking and unlocking the opening during the next half-turn, carried out in the same direction of rotation of the motor output shaft.

The motor uses conductive tracks to make a half-turn at each electrical control pulse according to two stable stop positions corresponding respectively to the locking and unlocking of the lock.

The electrical impulses can be given either from inside the vehicle or from the outside, on the one hand at closing by a contactor detecting the correct presentation of the keeper after the folding of the door and on the other hand at opening by a contactor actuated by the operation of the door's external control button.

In addition, a bar connecting the external door opening button to the locking lever allows manual unlocking of the lock in the event of a fault in the electrical circuit.

• - la figure 1 montre en coupe, selon la ligne I de la figure 2, l'implantation de la serrure sur les parties fixe et mobile de la carrosserie.
• - la figure 2 est une vue prise de l'intérieur du véhicule, suivant la flèche Il de la figure 1.
• - les figures 3 à 6 illustrent les différentes phases de fonctionnement du mécanisme de verrouillage et de condamnation.

The following description of an embodiment of the invention given by way of example refers to the attached drawing in which:

• - Figure 1 shows in section, along line I of Figure 2, the location of the lock on the fixed and movable parts of the body.
• - Figure 2 is a view taken from inside the vehicle, along arrow II of Figure 1.
• - Figures 3 to 6 illustrate the different operating phases of the locking and locking mechanism.

FIGS. 1 and 2 recognize the rear part of a motor vehicle comprising a trunk door or a tailgate 1 capable of being locked on the fixed body 2 delimiting the trunk, after crushing a seal 3.

The keeper 4 of the lock, of the caliper type and provided with a centering cone 5 is mounted under the hollow beam 6 of the box forming the rear part of the door, while a compact motorized member 7 of the electric lock is fixed inside the boot, on a second hollow beam 8 bordering the rear skirt of the vehicle, by means of a plate 9 supporting the complementary part 10 of the centering cone and the various components of the motorized assembly, namely ; an electric motor 11 equipped with a speed reducer and supplied by means of several conductive tracks, not visible in the figures but forming an integral part of the engine block shown and a rotary bolt 12 of the fork type 13 for the hooking of the stirrup 14 of the keeper in order to lock it, the bolt being able in turn to be locked by a pivoting lever 15, said to be locking, acting in the manner of a ratchet 16 on the outside contour of the bolt forming a ratchet.

The bolt 12 and its locking lever 15 are subjected to the actions of two respective return springs, not shown, so that the bolt tends to return automatically to its position of opening or of release of the keeper represented in FIG. 2, while the lever is constantly constrained against the cam 17 of the external profile of the bolt.

The bolt and its locking lever are connected to the output shaft 18 of the engine by means of two links 19, 20 perforated by slides 21, 22 to allow the sliding of the respective drive pins 23, 24 of the bolt and the lever during the dead races of the rods.

As can be seen in FIG. 1, the drive pins 23, 24 are connected to the bolt and to the locking lever by means of two spacers 25, 26 shifting the movement of the rods towards a more open outside area.

The other ends of the links are articulated on two superimposed cranks 27, 28, shown diagrammatically in FIG. 2 in a single bar, connecting the articulations 29, 30 of the locking link 19 and of the locking link 20.

These cranks eccentric the output shaft 18 of the engine so as to transmit to the links the movements of a crankshaft transforming the continuous circular movement into rectilinear alternative movements.

Furthermore, the locking lever 20 is connected to the output lever 31 of the button 32 for controlling the exterior opening of the boot by means of a bar 33 shown diagrammatically by a dashed line in order to manually actuate the locking lever 20 for the release of the strike, in the event of a fault in the electrical circuit.

A first contactor 34 secured to the body and disposed in the vicinity of the bolt detects the position of the striker 4 when it arrives on the circular path of the fork 13 of the bolt, by means of a trigger cam secured to the door at 35 in Figure 2.

One could also use a rebate switch. This contactor sends a pulse to the electric motor 11 to control the locking and the locking of the lock.

A second contactor 36 is fixed on the path of the lever 3T of the external opening button to send a specific impulse to command the motor to unlock the bolt and unlock the strike for the opening of the door.

For the sake of clarity, the rods of FIG. 1 have been voluntarily shown in the positions corresponding to those of FIG. 5, that is to say door closed and locked, although FIG. 1 shows the door open.

The electric lock according to the invention operates as follows, with reference to FIGS. 3 to 6.

When the door is open, the parts of the mechanism are in the positions shown in Figure 3.

When the user flaps the trunk door or the tailgate of the vehicle without slamming, the latter brings the keeper 4 onto the path of the fork 13 of the bolt, even before the trunk seal is compressed. This position is detected by the contactor 34 which sends an electrical pulse from the motor. The manual action is then taken in relay by the motorization of the lock. Via the appropriate conductive tracks, the motor makes a U-turn to pass from the position of FIG. 3 to that of FIG. 5, these two figures corresponding to the two stable positions of the motor, via intermediate FIG. 4 which represents a transitional position.

Starting from FIG. 3, the first quarter-turn of the motor has the effect of rotating the bolt 12 in the direction indicated using the rod 19, which causes the strike plate 4 to lock at the same time as the compression of the seal. The locking lever 20, constrained by its spring, then slides on the cam 17 of the bolt until it is locked by the pawl 16. The movement of the lever 15 is made free thanks to the slide 22 of the locking rod 20 which is then inoperative. The position in FIG. 4 therefore corresponds to the locking of the keeper 4 and to the locking of the bolt 12.

However, the engine continues its stroke of a quarter turn to bring the rods into the positions of Figure 5 where they stop. This figure also corresponds to the locking and the locking of the lock, but the latter is ready for reopening by the following pulse, because the drive pin 24 of the locking lever 20 is then at the bottom of the slide 22.

On a new pulse sent either from inside the vehicle by a switch arranged for example on the dashboard or by the switch 36 triggered from the outside at the start of the stroke of the boot opening button 32, the engine performs a new U-turn in the same direction of rotation as the previous one to bring the billets from the positions of Figure 5 to those of Figure 3 via Figure 6, another transient position.

As soon as the engine starts its race beyond FIG. 5, the locking rod 20 pivots the corresponding lever 15 which releases the bolt 12 under the effect of its return spring. The movement of the bolt is made free by the existence of the slide 21 of the locking rod 19 and by the displacement of this last to the right of Figure 6. As can be understood, the keeper 4 is then unlocked and released from the grip of the fork 13, the relaxation of the gasket helping the release.

The passage to FIG. 3, stable position, brings the locking lever 15 in contact with the bolt 12 while the drive pin 23 of the bolt comes to the bottom of its slide 21, by the play of the links 20, 19. As for FIG. 6, FIG. 3 therefore corresponds to the unlocking of the lock, but moreover this ring is ready for reclosing by a new pulse according to the cycle previously described.

As we have seen, the electrical operation is coupled with a mechanical emergency control from the button 32 for external opening. In addition, the lock can operate mechanically in a conventional manner, both when opening and closing by slamming the door. To this end, it is possible to disengage the motorization by uncoupling the locking rods 19 and locking 20 by the release of the drive pins 23, 24 through the respective buttonholes 37, 38 of the slides 21, 22.

The invention is not limited to the embodiment described but also encompasses the simple technical equivalents providing analogous operation, the extent of the protection being determined by the content of the claims.

Claims (6)

1. An electric lock-mechanism for locking and unlocking in a piloted manner the rear door or the trunk door of an automobile by means of a motorized lock bolt (12) which locks a catch (4) when the door is shut, characterized in that the door flap (1) carries the fixed catch (4), while the body (2) of the vehicle carries an actuating organ (7) comprising an electric motor (11) remotely controlled by pulses and adapted to displace angularly in sequence the rotatable bolt (12) and the blocking lever (15) associated thereto, by means of two unclutch- able rods (19, 20) actuated by the output shaft (18) of the motor (11), in a crank-like manner, so as to effect automatically and successively for a half-turn of the output shaft (18) of the motor (11) the locking of the catch (4) and the blocking of the bolt (12) when the door is closed and then the unblocking and unlocking during the following half-turn effected in the same direction of rotation of said output shaft (18) of the motor (11).

2. A mechanism according to claim 1, characterized in that the bolt (12) and its blocking lever (15) are pivotally mounted on a platen (9) attached to the body (2) of the vehicle and provided with return spring means, and are connected, by two rods (19, 20) provided with guide slotes (21, 22) wherein actuating studs (23, 24) of the bolt (12) and the blocking lever (15) are adapted to slide during the respective dead strokes of the rods (19, 20), to the output shaft (18) of the motor (11) by the intermediary of two superimposed cranks (27, 28) pivotally mounted on the respective rods (19, 20).

3. A mechanism according to claim 1, characterized in that a pulse triggering the locking and the blocking of the lock is supplied by a switch (34) mounted in the vicinity of the bolt (12) and adapted to detect the position of the catch when the latter reaches the path of the fork (13) of the bolt when the door is being closed.

4. A mechanism according to claim 1, characterized in that a pulse triggering the unblocking and unlocking of the lock is supplied by a switch (36) actuated by manipulating the outer opening button (32) of the door.

5. A mechanism according to claim 1, characterized in that the blocking lever (15) is further actuated manually in the case of a failure of the electric control system, by means of a bar (33) connecting said lever (15) to said outer door opening button (32).

6. A mechanism according to claim 2, characterized in that the guide slots (21, 22) of said rods are provided with respective recesses (37, 38) for engaging or disengaging said actuating studs (23, 24) of the bolt (12) and the blocking lever (15), respectively.

Images