EP2816180B1 - Safety device for locking device - Google Patents

Description

The invention relates to a safety device for locking devices with a handle which is freely rotatable in the idle state and in the open or closed state with a locking member of the locking device comprising a brake and possibly blocking device which brakes the rotation of the handle and possibly blocked.

Such a safety device is in the not pre-published document EP 2 662 514 A2 disclosed.

Conventional locking devices such as lock cylinder can be operated by means of a key, wherein by turning a key in a lock, a corresponding locking lug is rotated, which moves a bolt in a closed position or retracts from a closed position to an open position. In electronic security systems, a recognition logic and an electronic key in the form of cards or other identification media replace the key. After reading the electronic key, which corresponds to the mechanical scanning of a conventional key, the rotational movement of a handle, such as a knob or handle via a corresponding coupling with another rotatably mounted part rotatably coupled, which actuates the latch in the sequence. In this context, electronic security systems have become known, which are designed as a double-knob cylinder, wherein on one side of the door to be opened elements of a detection logic, and in particular antennas or the like., Are arranged, whereas the coupling of the rotational movement of this outer rotatable part after detecting the correct key via an electronics usually made by electrical means by coupling a coupling element. In such devices, the external handle is freely rotatable without such a coupling. This freely rotatable handle is connected via a shaft to the opposite side of the door or window to which the coupling with the actuator the locking device is made. The shaft is thereby passed with relatively little play through the locking device, the free rotation at the same time relatively little play without the risk of jamming and without the risk of unintentional coupling must be guaranteed. A possible training is for example the DE 19851308 A1 can be seen in which the lock cylinder is provided on both sides with Drehknäufen, of which the inside door knob has access control electronics. Depending on the identification of an identification medium, an access authorization is determined, wherein a clutch is actuated electromagnetically in such a way that a locking bit can be moved from the outside door-side rotary knob.

Due to the low tolerances in the production of such locking devices but has now been shown that a possible improper manipulation is created by the fact that a corresponding drive unit, such as an electric motor or spring mechanism motor is connected to the freely rotatable handle, which quickly in the handle Rotation offset. In such a rapid rotation, a corresponding frictional heat is generated in the interior of the lock, which can lead to rubbing or unintentional coupling of an outer shaft with an inner shaft upon expansion of the usually freely spinning shaft, so in this way, despite the lack of electronic release of the clutch mechanical way a obtained by thermal expansion or trituration coupling between the usual manner freely rotatable handle and the pawl arises, whereby the locking device can be actuated. However, such an incorrect operation or sabotage operation presupposes that the freely rotatable handle can be brought to a corresponding minimum speed over a minimum time, which can lead to thermal expansion or trituration.

To exclude such a sabotage or incorrect operation and at the same time to ensure that the freely rotatable handle remains freely rotatable only with a relatively low rotational speed and counteracts rubbing or jamming in other cases, is in the WO 2007/095652 A1 already a safety device of the type mentioned above has been proposed in which at least one radially guided displaceable centrifugal weight is coupled to the handle, which engages from a defined number of revolutions of the handle in a time unit with a stationary part of the lock and blocks the further rotational movement , The centrifugal lock ensures that if the speed of the freely rotatable handle is too high, a blockage occurs immediately.

In a safety device in the WO 2007/095652 A1 However, the correct operation, especially in those cases can not be guaranteed with certainty in which a particularly high torque is applied to the handle. In this case, there is the danger that the elements displaceable due to the centrifugal force are mechanically overloaded and subsequently destroyed. There is also the disadvantage that the braking or blocking effect only occurs when a minimum speed is exceeded.

The invention therefore aims to improve a safety device of the type mentioned in that the functionality is guaranteed even at very high rotational speeds and high torques that are applied to the handle. The safety device should be largely independent of the outside of the castle acting forces work. Furthermore, the safety device should already ensure a certain braking effect even at lower speeds.

To achieve this object, the invention comprises a safety device wherein the braking device is designed as an eddy current brake, and the eddy current brake comprises an eddy current element and a magnetic element, in particular permanent magnet element, one of which is a rotary element which is coupled to the rotational movement of the handle, and the other is a counter-element, which is deflectable against a restoring force, wherein the counter-element is annular and rotatably mounted in a housing of the closing device, in particular in a lock cylinder housing.

The safety device according to the invention is both in embodiments of the locking device with a knob as a handle as well as in training with pushers used. In training with pushers a braking effect is particularly advantageous because of the risk that an unrestrained depression with appropriate application of force leads to damage of the blocking element.

The invention is also not limited to locking devices in the form of lock cylinders. Also in fitting incorporated in a fitting, as e.g. are widely used in hotel room doors, the safety device according to the invention is useful. In many such systems, the pusher in the idle state is freely operable without effect. Only upon detection of a legitimate electronic key in the fitting, a coupling element is actuated, which couples the handle with the locking member so that an actuation of the handle retracts the locking member.

For the effect of the eddy current brake, it is irrelevant whether the eddy current element is now the rotary element or the counter element. Preferably, however, it is provided that the eddy current element forms the counter element.

The eddy current element, when it forms the rotating element, may be formed, for example, as a disk or ring of ferromagnetic material. If the eddy current element is designed as a counter element, it is inventively designed as a ring to allow the passage of waves or the like. For connecting the handle to the locking member and / or with an opposite handle or coupling.

According to a preferred embodiment, it is provided that the magnetic element, regardless of whether it is used as a rotating element or as a counter element, at least one pair of magnetic pole a north pole and a south pole, wherein preferably the north and the south pole follow one another in the circumferential direction with respect to the axis of rotation. The configuration with circumferentially successive poles, wherein alternately north and south poles are arranged, allows the arrangement of a plurality of poles in a small space. Preferably, it is provided that the magnetic element comprises a plurality of, in particular at least 10, preferably at least 20 magnetic pole pairs. The higher the number of pole pairs, the greater the braking effect of the eddy current brake.

At high braking torque in the eddy current brake a large heat development is observed. In order to favor the heat dissipation, the invention provides that the counter element, in particular the eddy current element, is annular and rotatably mounted in a housing of the closing device, in particular in a lock cylinder housing. As a result, the housing of the closing device acts in the sense of a surface enlargement, so that the heat dissipation is improved to the environment. In order to maximize the contact area between the counter element and the housing, the bearing of the counter element is preferably not by means of a ball bearing, but by the support of the annular surface directly on a corresponding annular surface of the housing. By a suitable combination of materials, such as Brass / brass or steel / brass can be achieved without ball bearings sufficient ease of the counter-element.

The braking device according to the invention can be used in a simple manner in combination with a blocking device. For this purpose, it is preferably provided that the counter-element is coupled to a blocking member which, depending on the deflection of the counter-element between a Release position, and a blocking position in which it blocks the further rotational movement of the handle, is displaced. In particular, the blocking member is mounted or guided on a stationary part of the closing device and cooperates in the blocking position with a stop of the handle or a rotationally coupled to the handle part.

The displacement of the blocking member is thus preferably driven by the eddy current brake, wherein at least in the release position results in a mechanical decoupling of the blocking member of the rotating handle or the rotatably connected to the handle part. The mechanical decoupling ensures that forces acting on the outside of the handle and the shaft possibly connected with the handle can not be transmitted to the part responsible for the application of the braking torque or the blocking, namely to the blocking member. Manipulation or damage due to violence is thus excluded. The blocking member is thus structurally separated in particular in the release position of the handle or a rotatably connected to the handle element and in particular does not rotate with the handle. According to a preferred development, the blocking member cooperates only in the blocking position with the handle or a non-rotatably coupled to the handle part to brake or block the further rotational movement.

The mechanical decoupling of the rotational movement of the handle of the blocking member is preferably achieved in that a drive for displacing the blocking member between the release position and the blocking position is provided, which is displaceable by non-contact, in particular magnetic coupling with the rotational movement of the handle in motion. The non-contact coupling is preferred from that of the rotational movement formed the handle driven eddy current brake, which then takes over the function of an eddy current coupling.

The eddy current brake is designed in the manner of an eddy current tachometer, in which the counter element of the eddy current brake is held by a return element and therefore can only be deflected to a limited extent. The deflection is proportional to the rotational speed of the rotary element of the eddy current brake. The return element may in this case preferably be designed as a spring element. Alternatively, any other element suitable for receiving a torque or a force may be used as the return element. For example, the repulsion of two identically polarized magnets could be used as resistance to the angular deflection.

The angular deflection of the counter element of the eddy current tachometer connected to the return element is preferably translated via a gear or a conversion unit into a displacement movement of the blocking member, so that the blocking member is displaced from the release position into the blocking position. Preferably, the training is in this case made such that the transmission or the conversion unit can move the blocking member regardless of the direction of rotation of the handle from the release position to the blocking position.

The transmission or the conversion element comprises, for example, a ramp formed on the counter element of the eddy current tachometer connected to the return element, which converts the angular deflection of the counter element into an axial and / or radial movement of the blocking element. The blocking member may in this case be guided in the axial and / or radial direction and axially and / or radially with a rotatably connected to the handle Part of the locking device engage and thereby block the further rotational movement of the handle.

A preferred embodiment provides that the counter element of the eddy current brake is formed of ferromagnetic material. In some circumstances, the use of a ferromagnetic material can lead to an amplification of the eddy currents.

Particularly preferably, the safety device according to the invention is used in a closing device in which the handle rotatably connected to a locking device passing through the coupling shaft which can be coupled via a coupling with an actuating shaft which is rotatably connected to the locking member of the locking device, wherein the actuating shaft as Hollow shaft is formed, which is penetrated by the coupling shaft.

The invention will be explained in more detail with reference to embodiments shown schematically in the drawing. In this show Fig. 1 a schematic overall view of a locking device according to the invention in teilzerlegtem state with safety device, Fig. 2 an enlarged view of the safety device and Fig. 3 a diagram of the braking torque as a function of the speed.

In Fig. 1 is denoted by 1 a knob, which is freely rotatably connected via a hollow shaft 2 and a coupling shaft 3 with a housed in another knob 4 electromechanical clutch disc. The clutch disc itself may be formed in any desired manner and, for example, magnetically or mechanically coupled with a corresponding component, such as the knob 4. The actuating shaft is denoted by 5 and is penetrated by a sliding sleeve 6. Furthermore, a locking lug 7 is provided for the operation of the lock bolt, said locking lug 7 is held in the axial direction adjusted by corresponding snap rings 8 and rotatably connected to the actuating shaft 5, which in turn rotatably with the inside knob 4 or after the coupling rotatably connected to the clutch shaft 3 is connected.

Without a corresponding coupling of the actuating shaft 5 with the knob 1, the hollow shaft 2 and the coupling shaft 3 connected thereto can be freely rotated. The coupling shaft extends through the sliding sleeve 6 and rotates inside the same. In a sabotage, in which the knob 1 and thus the coupling shaft 3 is acted upon at a high speed about the axis of rotation 10 and rotated at rotational speeds of 5,000 - 20,000 rev / min, it can cause thermal expansion and trituration, so that the sliding sleeve 6 suddenly rotated with the clutch shaft 3. As a result, due to the same effect, the actuating shaft 5 can be taken away from the sliding sleeve 6, which can lead to an undesired actuation of the locking lug 7.

In order to avoid the unwanted actuation of the locking lug 7 described above, a safety device is arranged in the housing 9 of the lock cylinder, which is coupled to the rotational movement of the coupling shaft 3 and brakes the further rotational movement from a defined rotational speed and possibly blocked. The safety device comprises in the in Fig. 2 illustrated first embodiment designed as a disc permanent magnet element 11 which rotatably coupled to the clutch shaft 3 and preferably arranged coaxially thereto is. The permanent magnet element 11 has at least a plurality of circumferentially successive pairs of magnetic poles 12 and cooperates with an eddy current element 13, which is annular and surrounds the disk-shaped permanent magnet element 11 circumferentially. The permanent magnet element 11 and the eddy current element 13 together form an eddy current brake, wherein the eddy current element 13 is connected to a retaining element (not shown) formed as a spring, for example, which exerts a restoring moment on the eddy current element 13 as soon as it experiences an angular deflection starting from the rest position. In this way, the angular deflection of the eddy current element 13 is directly proportional to the rotational speed of the permanent magnet element 11. Alternatively, the eddy current element 13 may also be arranged rigidly, so that the retaining element can be dispensed with. Due to the eddy currents, the eddy current element 13 exerts a braking torque dependent on the rotational speed of the permanent magnet element 11 on the permanent magnet element 11 and thus also brakes the knob 1. For better dissipation of the heat generated in the eddy current element 13, the eddy current element 13 is mounted in the housing 9 of the lock cylinder. The eddy current element 13 has a substantially U-shaped cross section with lateral extensions 14 in order to achieve both a lateral and a radial guidance of the eddy current element 13 in the housing 9.

In the case of a deflectable mounting of the eddy current element 13, a blocking effect can be achieved in addition to the braking effect, which starts at a defined rotational speed. The angular displacement of the eddy current element 13 is translated for this purpose via a suitable gear in a sliding movement of a blocking member, not shown, so that the blocking member is displaced from a release position to a blocking position. In the blocking position, the blocking member engages in a recess of the coupling shaft 3 or cooperates in another way with the coupling shaft 3 or a rotatably connected thereto component to exert a blocking effect on the coupling shaft 3 and the knob 1.

In Fig. 3 is the course of the braking torque M _BR as a function of the speed n shown. It can be seen that the braking torque due to the eddy current brake increases continuously with increasing speed. Upon reaching a speed 15, the blocking member reaches the blocking position and the further rotation of the knob is blocked.

In principle, the invention is not limited to specific embodiments of locking devices. Thus, the safety device according to the invention can be used not only in cylinder locks, but for example in fittings, which have the function to couple the handle with the door latch operation or decouple. In the decoupled state, the handle, such as e.g. a pusher without effect, while the handle in the coupled state actuates the case. In the decoupled state, the safety device according to the invention is used and is intended to prevent a jerky actuation of the handle without access authorization to an actuation of the case.

Claims (10)

1. A safety device for locking devices with a handle that is freely rotatable in the idle state and coupleable to a locking member of the locking device in the open or closed state, comprising a braking device and optionally a blocking device braking and optionally blocking the rotational movement of the handle, wherein the braking device is designed as an eddy current brake, and the eddy current brake comprises an eddy current element (13) and a magnetic element (11), in particular a permanent magnet element, one of which is a rotary element coupled to the rotational movement of the handle (1), and the other one is a counter-element capable of excursion against a restoring force, wherein the counter-element is annularly designed and rotationally mounted in a housing (9) of the locking device, in particular a lock cylinder housing.
2. A safety device according to claim 1, characterized in that the eddy current element (13) forms the counter-element.
3. A safety device according to claim 1, characterized in that the eddy current element (13) is designed as a disc or ring of ferromagnetic material if it is the rotary element.
4. A safety device according to claim 1, 2 or 3, characterized in that the magnetic element (11) comprises at least one magnetic pole pair (12) comprising a north pole and a south pole, the north pole and the south pole preferably following each other in the circumferential direction relative to the axis of rotation.
5. A safety device according to claim 4, characterized in that the magnetic element (11) comprises a plurality of, in particular at least 10, preferably at least 20, magnetic pole pairs (12).
6. A safety device according to any one of claims 1 to 5, characterized in that the annular counter-element circumferentially surrounds the rotary element.
7. A safety device according to any one of claims 1 to 6, characterized in that the counter-element is coupled to a blocking member displaceable, as a function of the excursion of the counter-element, between a release position and a blocking position in which it blocks any further rotational movement of the handle (1).
8. A safety device according to claim 7, characterized in that the blocking member is mounted or guided on a stationary part of the locking device and, in the blocking position, cooperates with a stop of the handle (1) or a part rotationally coupled to the handle (1).
9. A safety device according to any one of claims 1 to 8, characterized in that the handle (1) is connected in a rotationally fast manner to a coupling shaft (3) passing through the locking device and coupleable via a coupling to an actuating shaft (5) connected in a rotationally fast manner to the locking member (7) of the lock, said actuating shaft (5) being designed as a hollow shaft through which the coupling shaft (3) passes.
10. A locking device for building doors, windows or the like, comprising a handle that is freely rotatable in the idle state and coupleable to a locking member of the locking device in the operating state, characterized by a safety device according to any one of claims 1 to 9.

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