EP1889551A1 - Seatbelt locking device - Google Patents

Abstract

The device has a mechanical retractable locking unit (7) for maintaining a locking element (8) in a locking position of a buckling unit (4). The locking unit is movable between a locking position in which it locks the element (8) for maintaining a seat belt (1) in a buckled and locked state, and another position in which the locking unit releases the element (8) unlocking the buckled seat belt. The unit (7) is displaced by an actuator (12) e.g. electro-magnet. The unit (7) is placed against the element (8) for stopping the units (4, 7) and the seat belt from taking an unbuckling position.

Description

The present invention relates to a locking device of the buckle of a seat belt, in particular of the buckle of a seat belt of a rear seat of a vehicle.

In a large number of motor vehicles, manufacturers have provided a means of informing passengers, and especially the driver, of the state of seat belt buckling, in particular of the state of seat belt buckling. back where children are often sitting.

If the safety belts are not attached when the vehicle starts to roll and moves at a speed above a predetermined speed threshold (10 Km / h for example) or if they are detached during walking, a signal ( an audible signal, for example) is addressed and can occur for a certain time (eg 90 seconds).

Such a solution to the problem of fastening safety belts remains a purely informative solution: it does not prevent the passenger, the child for example, from detaching his belt, which constitutes a source of potential danger in the event of an accident. It is also a potential source of danger because parents must fasten their child's seatbelt while driving or take risks by stopping the vehicle and returning to the road.

There is, therefore, need to go further than the only information in case of non-looping or unbuckling of seat belts, and provide a system that allows their remote locking.

U.S. Patent No. 5,182,836 discloses a pressurized safety belt locking device which allows an operator to remotely control the locking or unlocking of seat belts. such as those used on different amusement park games. The locking device has a loop portion in which a locking tab is inserted and held in place by a retractable member that extends through an opening of the locking tab. The tab can be removed from the buckle by pressing an unlocking lever to disengage the retractable member from the opening. The locking device is equipped with an inflatable air reserve (flexible bladder type) by pneumatic means which is implemented against a pivoting lever closure when properly inflated. The inflation of the air reserve rotates the closure and makes it press against the lower part of the unlocking lever, so that the user of the safety belt can not press the release lever and disengage the retractable element of the locking tongue. In this way, the seat belt is held in the locked position until the air supply is deflated to pivot and move away from the lever lock of the unlocking lever.

U.S. Patent No. 5,749,130 discloses a seat belt buckle lock device, which is to be mounted on a standard seat belt buckle and tongue arrangement. The device includes a latch that engages the tongue and a latch release plate. The latch is disengaged from the tab by pressing on the plate. The device also comprises an abutment member which is movable by means of a reversible micro-motor to a position under the plate to prevent pressing on the latter. A pair of limit switches disconnect the micro motor when one or the other is touched by the stop member at the opposite ends of its path. A warning light comes on when the stop member is in position under the plate.

The two known locking devices for a safety-belt buckle described above in broad outline are based on relatively complex principles to implement, in particular the inflatable bladder device.

In addition, in the device described in Patent No. 5,749,130, in the event of engine blockage, it is necessary to manually access the locking system of the safety belt to deactivate it. However, only an adult is capable of such an operation, which is not without risks in the event of an accident.

According to the publication of PCT Patent Application No. WO 2004/089705 A1 a loop retainer is also known which is adapted to lock a latch when the latch is engaged in the buckle. The device comprises an unlocking pusher associated with the loop, designed to allow the release of the lock. The device also comprises a locking member for preventing in a first position the actuation of the unlocking pusher and to allow this actuation in a second position. The first position is obtained by starting a remote engine. There is also a manual device that allows to operate the unlocking button when the engine is running.

This device, as described, allows to prohibit the movement of the unlocking button itself, and not the lock, which implies a high mechanical strength of the locking member. The button to release the loop is blocked, it can not be pressed to release the loop without unlocking.

The object of the present invention is to provide a device for locking the seat belts of the rear seats of a vehicle, which obviates the aforementioned drawbacks of known devices of the prior art.

In other words, the object of the present invention is to provide a device for locking the seat belts of the rear seats of a vehicle, which is based on purely electromechanical operating principles, so as to offer a simple, safe and reliable operation.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a device for locking the seat belts of the rear seats of a vehicle, which allows automatic unlocking when the ignition is switched off or in the event of an accident.

Another object of the present invention is to provide such a locking device, in which it is also possible to use the "child" safeties, such as the existing locking signal of the windows and the rear doors.

To achieve these goals, the present invention provides a novel locking device for the buckle of a vehicle seat belt. The loop has a bolt that engages in a lock housing. The bolt is held in this looping position by a loop member that holds the bolt engaged. The loop member is itself held in the looping position by a locking element. According to the present invention, there is further provided a retractable mechanical locking member for holding the locking member in the locking position of the loop member, thereby to maintain the seat belt in the locked and locked position.

The retractable mechanical locking member is movable between two positions: a locking position in which it blocks the locking element to keep the seat belt buckled and locked, and a second position in which it releases the locking element which unlocks the buckled seat belt.

According to the present invention, the retractable mechanical locking member is moved by an actuator.

Preferably, the actuator is an electric motor.

Alternatively, the actuator is an electromagnet.

According to a preferred embodiment of the invention, the retractable mechanical locking member has substantially a rod shape which, in a position of locking, is placed against the blocking element to prevent it from being in the unlocking position, therefore prevents the loop member from being placed in the unwinding position and thus the seat belt to unbuckle.

According to the embodiment of the invention also, the retractable mechanical locking member is placed in the locking position against an elastic restoring force exerted by a return spring. Indeed, to avoid any risk of locking seat belts in case of breakage of the power supply, in case of accident for example, the stable position of the lock, that is to say the position in the absence power supply, must correspond to that which allows the unwinding. This constraint is ensured by the use of this elastic restoring force exerted by the return spring mentioned above.

Preferably, the movement of the retractable mechanical locking member between the locking position and the unlocking position is a movement of substantially vertical axis.

Note that the power of the actuator in the device according to the present invention may be of low power, since it has only this vertical displacement of the mechanical locking member to ensure.

Also preferably, the activation in the locking position of the retractable mechanical locking member is coupled to the activation of child safety means of the vehicle.

Preferably, these child safety means of the vehicle are the locking means of the windows and the rear doors of the vehicle. They are activated, preferably, by a push button generally located on the control panel of the windows "driver".

• la figure 1 représente, de manière schématique et simplifiée, un mécanisme de bouclage de ceinture de sécurité de l'art antérieur, en position bouclée,
• la figure 2 représente le mécanisme de la figure 1, en position de débouclage,
• la figure 3 représente, de manière schématique et simplifiée, le mécanisme de verrouillage du bouclage d'une ceinture de sécurité selon la présente invention,
• la figure 4 représente le mécanisme de la figure 3, en position verrouillée.

Other advantages and features of the invention will appear in the following description of an exemplary embodiment of the invention, not limiting the scope of the invention. present invention, and accompanied by the appended drawings in which:

• FIG. 1 is a diagrammatic and simplified representation of a seat belt buckling mechanism of the prior art, in the closed position,
• FIG. 2 represents the mechanism of FIG. 1, in the unwinding position,
• FIG. 3 is a schematic and simplified representation of the locking mechanism of the buckling of a safety belt according to the present invention,
• Figure 4 shows the mechanism of Figure 3, in the locked position.

In the diagram of Figure 1, there is shown a loop 1 of a seat belt not shown, with or without an automatic winder acting on the belt portion of the belt. The bolt 2 of the loop 1 engages in the locking housing 3 secured to the seat until it clicks audibly. A looping member 4, in the general shape of "L", pivots about an axis 5 to hook onto the bolt 2 and retain it inside the locking box 3. To this end, the end free of the loop member 4 cooperates by matching shapes with a portion 6 of the bolt 2, in a manner known per se. The pivoting movement of the loop member 4 is effected against the action of an elastic restoring force illustrated by the arrow F and exerted by a return spring not shown. A locking element 8, which is for example a locking pin 8, is housed in the groove 9 of the locking housing 3 to prevent the return of the loop member 4 in the unwinding position. The groove 9 has a generally "L" shaped cross-section, with a substantially horizontal branch and a substantially vertical branch in the drawing of FIGS. 1 to 4. In the locking position illustrated in FIG. 1, the locking pin 8 is located in the upper part of the substantially vertical branch of the groove 9, under the unfolding plunger 10 of the seatbelt. In the position illustrated by the diagram of Figure 1, the seat belt is buckled.

The buckling of the safety belt is illustrated by the diagram of FIG. 2. By pressing (illustrated by the arrow P) on the unwinding plunger 10, transmitted to the locking pin 8 by its extension 11, the locking pin 8 is moved downwards in the substantially vertical branch of the groove 9 and, by the effect of the inclined wall of the loop member 4, is housed in the substantially horizontal branch of the groove 9. By moving towards the end of this substantially horizontal branch of the groove 9, the locking pin 8 releases the loop member 4. Indeed, the loop member 4 pivots about the axis 5 under the action of the force restoring force (force illustrated by the arrow F) mentioned above and is released from the portion 6 of the bolt 2, which results in releasing the bolt 2 of the locking housing 3, and, consequently, to cause the unwinding of the seat belt represented only by its buckle 1. In the position shown in the diagram of Figure 2, the seat belt is unbuckled.

Figures 3 and 4 show, schematically and simplified, the locking mechanism of the seat belt buckling according to the present invention.

The components of Figures 3 and 4, which are identical to the components of Figures 1 and 2, are designated by the same reference numerals as in Figures 1 and 2.

Referring to the drawing of Figure 3, the device according to the present invention comprises a retractable mechanical locking member 7, which has a generally rod-like shape, movable in a vertical axis movement shown in the drawing of Figures 3 and 4 This retractable mechanical locking member 7 is movable between two positions: an unlocked position illustrated in FIG. 3 and a locked position illustrated in the drawing of FIG. 4, as explained hereinafter.

The translational movement of the mechanical locking member 7 is controlled by an actuator 12. The actuator 12 may be a motor or an electromagnet. Thus, the control of the mechanical locking member 7 is an electromechanical control. It is also a remote control. It will be noted that the power of the actuator 12 may be relatively small (in comparison with the actuators of the systems of the prior art), because the actuator 12 of the invention must only ensure the vertical displacement of the mechanical member locking 7.

In order to avoid any risk of locking the seat belts in the event of a break in the power supply, in the event of an accident for example, the stable position of the mechanical locking member 7, that is to say the position when there is no power supply, must correspond to the position that allows the unwinding of the belt shown in Figure 3. This constraint is provided by an elastic restoring force illustrated by the arrow R of Figure 3 directed down. This restoring force is exerted by a return spring not shown.

Locking of the seat belt buckling works as follows.

Referring to FIG. 4, the mechanical locking member 7 is moved upwards in the vertical direction of the drawing, so that its upper end engages in the horizontal part of the groove 9 and becomes contact with the locking pin 8 to lock it in position, thus preventing any release movement of the loop member 4, itself locked in position by the locking pin 8 immobilized. In this position of the mechanical locking member 7, the fastening system of the seat belt is locked. Indeed, the vertical displacement of the mechanical locking member 7, rod-shaped, prevents the return to the lower position of the locking pin 8, so the tilting of the loop member 4 in the shape of "L" , and therefore the unbuckling of the seat belt. A pressure P on the unwinding pusher 10 has no effect, the locking pin remaining in the position shown in the drawing of FIG. 4.

The actuator 12 may be a remotely actuatable motor or an electromagnet, also operable remotely.

As mentioned above, in the event of an accident in particular, the retractable mechanical locking member 7 is placed, under the action of the force R, in the stable position of the lock, that is to say in the position which authorizes the unwinding.

Activation in the locking position of the retractable mechanical locking member 7 by the actuator 12 is preferably coupled, in a manner known per se, to the activation of "child" safety means of the vehicle.

Preferably, these child safety means of the vehicle are the locking means of the windows and the rear doors of the vehicle. They are activated, preferably, by a push button generally located on the control panel of the windows "driver".

Of course, the present invention is not limited to the embodiments described and represented above by way of examples; other embodiments may be devised by those skilled in the art without departing from the scope and scope of the present invention.

Claims (10)

Device for locking the buckle of a vehicle safety belt, the buckle (1) comprising a bolt (2) which engages in a locking casing (3) and which is held in this position of buckling by an organ loop (4) which holds the bolt (2) engaged, said loop member (4) being itself held in the looping position by a locking element (8), characterized in that it is furthermore provided , a retractable mechanical locking member (7), for holding the locking element (8) in the locking position of the looping member (4). Locking device according to claim 1, characterized in that the retractable mechanical locking member (7) is movable between two positions: a locking position in which it locks the locking element (8) to hold the seat belt buckled and locked, and a second position in which it releases the locking element (8) which thus unlocks the buckled safety belt. Locking device according to any one of claims 1 and 2, characterized in that the retractable mechanical locking member (7) is moved by an actuator (12). Locking device according to claim 3, characterized in that said actuator (12) is a reversible electric motor. Locking device according to claim 3, characterized in that said actuator (12) is an electromagnet. Locking device according to any one of claims 1 to 5, characterized in that the retractable mechanical locking member (7) has a substantially rod-like shape which, in the locking position, is placed against the locking element (8) to prevent it from being in the unlocking position, therefore prevents the loop member (4) from being placed in the unwinding position and thus the seat belt to unbuckle. Locking device according to any one of claims 1 to 6, characterized in that the retractable mechanical locking member (7) is placed in the locking position against an elastic restoring force (R) exerted by a return spring. Locking device according to any one of claims 1 to 7, characterized in that the movement of the retractable mechanical locking member (7) between the locking position and the unlocking position is a movement of substantially vertical axis. Locking device according to any one of claims 1 to 8, characterized in that the activation in the locking position of the mechanical retractable locking member (7) is coupled to the activation of child safety means of the vehicle. Locking device according to claim 9, characterized in that said child safety means of the vehicle are the locking means of the windows and the rear doors of the vehicle.

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