JP2005282307A - Full-close drive mechanism of door lock for automobile - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a full-close drive mechanism of a door lock for an automobile capable of accurately determining forced closing without requiring extremely high production accuracy and installation accuracy and without lowering productivity. <P>SOLUTION: This full-close drive mechanism of the door lock for the automobile comprises a latch mechanism 3 fixed to either of a vehicle body side and a door side, a striker 2 fixed to the other side, a half latch detection means 10 detecting a half latch position where the striker is temporarily fixed to the latch mechanism, a full latch detection means 11 detecting a full latch position where the striker is completely joined to the latch mechanism, and drive means 21 and 22 moving the latch mechanism at the half latch position and the striker to the full latch position. The half latch detection means comprises a timer 16 starting to count when it detects a half latch state so that the necessity of the operation of the drive means can be determined by the state of the full latch detection means when the timer completes counting. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2006,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a fully-closed drive device for an automotive door lock that moves a door by a drive device from a half-latch position to a full-latch position in order to reduce the closing operation force.

  In order to ensure high water tightness, automobile doors are configured such that the periphery of the door contacts a seal member called a weather strip, and the elastic force of the seal member acts as a reaction force when the door is closed. Therefore, a large door closing operation force is required for the latch mechanism provided on the door to be in a fully latched state in which the latch mechanism is completely coupled to the striker of the vehicle body. In order to reduce such an occupant's closing operation force, a fully-closed drive device that drives a latch mechanism using an electric motor from a half-latch position to a full-latch position has already been put into practical use.

  However, without fully recognizing that there is such a fully-closed drive device, the occupant closes the door, or the influence of the road surface inclination or wind acts, so that the fully-latch state is activated before the fully-closed drive device operates. It can happen. In this case, when the fully-closed drive device is activated, power is consumed unnecessarily, and the drive sound gives a sense of incongruity to a passenger who already thinks that the door is locked.

In order to prevent such inconvenience, the contact signal of the door switch that blinks the room lamp is used together, and the input timing of the contact signal of the door switch and the half latch switch that detects the half latch state is monitored. Thus, it is proposed in Patent Document 1 to determine whether or not the fully-closed drive device needs to be operated.
Japanese Patent Publication No. 2657880

  According to the technique described in the above document, the half latch switch is turned off when the latch is in the open region, is turned on when the latch is in the half latch region and the full latch position, and is turned off when the latch is overstroked beyond the full latch position. The fully-closed driving device (closure) is configured to stop when the latch overstrokes and the half-latch switch is turned off. The door switch is set to turn on immediately before the striker is released from the latch when the door is opened, and to be turned off immediately before the door is fully latched when the door is closed. Further, using the first timer that counts a predetermined time from the time when the half-latch switch is turned on and the second timer that counts the predetermined time from the time that the door switch is turned off, it is determined whether the two switches are on or off. It is carried out.

  According to this technology, there is a difference between the fully-closed position by the fully-closed drive device and the fully-closed position when the occupant is fully latched by the close-close operation, and the fully-closed drive device is activated after the first timer is counted. There is an inconvenience that there is a time difference between the detection of the half latch region and the start of operation of the fully-closed drive device between the case where the fully-closed drive device is operated after the time of the second timer.

  Moreover, considering that there is a possibility that the door load becomes large and the moving speed of the door becomes slow, proper setting of the timer becomes a problem. The half-latch switch is repeatedly turned on / off / on during one latch stroke, and the door switch has a different position for turning on and turning off. Therefore, in order to guarantee an accurate determination of strong closure, these switches are required to have extremely high manufacturing accuracy and mounting accuracy, and there is a difficulty in satisfying the demand for improving productivity.

  The present invention eliminates such disadvantages of the prior art, does not require extremely high manufacturing accuracy and mounting accuracy, and can be used to make an accurate hard-close determination without causing a reduction in productivity. The object is to provide a fully-closed drive device for a door lock.

  In order to solve such problems, the present invention provides a latch mechanism (3) fixed to one of the vehicle body side and the door side, a striker (2) fixed to the other, and the striker latches. Half latch detection means (half latch switch 10) for detecting the half latch position temporarily coupled to the mechanism, full latch detection means (full latch switch 11) for detecting the full latch position where the striker is completely coupled to the latch mechanism, and the half latch position A fully-closed drive device for an automobile door lock having a drive mechanism (motor 21 / closure 22) for moving the latch mechanism and the striker to the full latch position is timed when the half latch detection means detects the half latch state. Has a timer (16) for starting the operation, and is driven from the state of the full latch detection means when the timer has completed timing And it shall be characterized by determining the operation necessity stages.

  According to the present invention as described above, the full latch position at the time of the hard close and the full latch position by the full close drive are the same position. Also, when the striker enters the half-latch area, the timer for the hard-close determination is started, so the time required to start the fully-closed drive, that is, the time required for the door to be fully closed is shortened. can do. In addition, since only one timer is required and each switch only needs to detect an ON signal, it is not required to have extremely high manufacturing accuracy and assembly accuracy of the switch itself, so that productivity is not lowered.

  Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

  FIG. 1 conceptually shows a door lock device to which the present invention is applied. The door lock device 1 includes a striker 2 fixed on the vehicle body side and a latch mechanism 3 fixed on the door side.

  The striker 2 has a stud pin shape or a U shape obtained by bending a round bar. The latch mechanism 3 is formed with a U-shaped groove-shaped notch 4 for receiving the striker 2 that enters when the door is closed, and can be rotated by being pressed by the striker 2 when the door is moved in the closing direction. Latch member 5 that is urged to rotate in the unlocking direction (arrow A in the figure) by a spring means that is not engaged, and a pair of ratchet engaging portions 6a and 6b provided on the latch member 5 to engage one end thereof and latch In order to prevent the rotation of the member 5 in the unlocking direction, a ratchet lever 7 that is biased in a direction (arrow B in the figure) to be engaged with the ratchet engaging portions 6a and 6b by a spring means (not shown). I have.

  The other end of the ratchet lever 7 is connected to a door handle (not shown) via a connecting rod 8, and the direction in which the ratchet lever 7 is disengaged from both ratchet engaging portions 6 a and 6 b by operating the door handle (what is the arrow B)? It can be rotated in the reverse direction.

  The ratchet lever 7 is provided with a ratchet switch 9 that is turned on when the ratchet lever 7 is engaged with both ratchet engaging portions 6a and 6b. The latch member 5 has a half latch switch that is turned on at a position where the latch member 5 is slightly rotated after the ratchet lever 7 is engaged with the ratchet engaging portion 6a at the half latch position (a position immediately after entering the half latch area). 10 and a full latch switch 11 which is turned on at a position where the latch member 5 is rotated to a position just before the ratchet lever 7 is engaged with the ratchet engaging portion 6b at the full latch position (just before the full latch area). Yes.

  The latch member 5 is provided with a closure 22 that is reciprocally driven by, for example, an electric motor 21 in order to rotationally drive the latch member 5 from the half latch position to the full latch position. In the illustrated example, the closure 22 is projected by forward rotation of the motor 21 and the latch member 5 is pushed to rotate in the full latch direction (opposite to the arrow A), and the closure 22 is returned to the initial position by the reverse rotation of the motor 21 (arrow C). Direction). Note that the closure does not hinder the opening movement of the latch member 5 during the opening operation, and it is sufficient that the driving force is applied to the latch member 5 only when the fully-closed drive is necessary. An electric drive mechanism can be applied.

  In addition, between the door handle and the ratchet lever 7, a mechanism for disconnecting these interlocks when the silkcon knob is pressed, a one-way mechanism for preventing the force from the ratchet lever 7 toward the door handle, and the like are attached. However, since these are not related to the essence of the present invention, the description thereof is omitted.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the control circuit 13 includes a contact information acquisition unit 14 that inputs contact signals of the switches 9, 10, and 11, a door position determination unit 15 that determines a door position from the contact information, and a door closing operation. A timer 16 that starts timing from the time when the ratchet switch 9 is turned on, and a strong closing determination unit 17 that determines that the door is strongly closed based on a signal from the door position determination unit 15 and a timing signal of the timer 16. Based on the signals from the door position determination unit 15 and the strong-close determination unit 17, the drive device necessity determination unit 18 that determines whether the motor 21 is required to be activated and the drive device necessity determination unit 18 have determined that the activation is necessary. In this case, the driving control unit 19 outputs a control signal to the motor 21.

  Next, the operation procedure of this fully-closed drive device will be described with reference to FIGS.

  First, when the door is open, the striker 2 provided on the vehicle body side and the latch mechanism 3 provided on the door side are separated from each other, and the latch member 5 is elastic in the direction of arrow A in FIG. By being urged, the opening of the notch 4 formed in the latch member 5 faces sideways. In this state, the switches 9, 10, and 11 are in an off state (open region in FIGS. 1 and 3). The control flow may be a subroutine process. In step ST1 of FIG. 4, it is determined whether or not it has entered the half-latch area based on the contact signal of the ratchet switch 9, and if it is determined that it is still an open area, the step is performed. Repeat ST1.

  When the door is lightly closed from this state, the striker 2 is received in the notch 4 whose opening faces to the side. Then, one side of the notch 4 is pushed by the striker 2, and the latch member 5 rotates clockwise in FIG. 1 against the bullet urging force.

  When the door is further closed, the striker 2 further enters the notch 4, and the ratchet lever 7 engages with the ratchet engaging portion 6a on the half latch side. At this time, the ratchet switch 9 is pushed by the ratchet lever 7 and is turned on. At this half latch position, the latch member 5 is prevented from rotating in the opening direction by the ratchet lever 7, and the so-called half door state is maintained.

  When the full latch switch 11 is maintained in the off state for a predetermined time after detecting that the half door state has been reached, that is, entering the half latch region by the input of the on signal of the ratchet switch 9, the striker 2 In this case, the motor 21 is activated when the timer 16 expires, and the latch 22 is driven to rotate clockwise (toward the full latch position) by the closure 22 in this case. . In the control flow at this time, when it is detected in step ST1 that it has entered the half-latch area, the process proceeds to step ST2, where the timer 16 is initialized and time measurement by the timer 16 is started. In step ST3, the contact signals of the latch switch 9 and the full latch switch 11 are monitored to determine whether or not the full latch area has been entered. In step ST4, it is determined that the area is still a half latch area even after a predetermined time has elapsed. If YES, the routine proceeds to step ST5 where the motor 21 is normally rotated.

  Then, the latch member 5 is rotationally driven by the closure 22 and the striker 2 is further pulled in. At the same time, the ratchet lever 7 is pushed up, and the ratchet switch 9 is temporarily turned off. Then, the latch member 5 is further rotated clockwise, the striker 2 is completely received in the notch 4, and the ratchet lever 7 is engaged with the ratchet engaging portion 6a on the full latch side, so that complete door closing is achieved.

  That is, if the ON signal of the full latch switch 11 is input in step ST6 and the ON signal of the ratchet switch 9 is input again, it is determined that the full latch position has been reached, and the motor 21 is stopped in step ST7. In step ST8, the motor 21 is reversely rotated to move the closure 22 in the direction of arrow C in FIG. In step ST8, it is determined whether or not the closure 22 has returned to the initial position by a limit switch, a motor rotation sensor or the like (not shown). If it is detected that the closure 22 has returned to the initial position, this control flow is terminated. To do.

  If the ratchet switch 9 is not turned on even when the full latch switch 11 is turned on while the timer 16 is counting, it can be determined that the position immediately before the full latch has been reached, but the full latch position has not been reached due to a seal reaction force or the like. Also in this case, the motor 21 is activated when the time is up, and the latch member 5 is driven to rotate toward the full latch position.

  On the other hand, if the occupant forcibly closes the door without recognizing that the closure 22 driven by the motor 21 exerts a forced closing force to lock the door, the door is completely closed without the help of the closure 22. obtain. In this case, the ON signal of the full latch switch 11 is input in step 3 and the ON signal of the ratchet switch 9 is input in step 3 before the predetermined time in step 4 has elapsed. This control flow is terminated without operating the motor 21. In other words, the set time of the timer 16 is the maximum time required until the fully latched state is reached by the close operation, and may be set in consideration of, for example, the worst case of use environment (low temperature, etc.).

  When the ratchet lever 7 is rotated counterclockwise in FIG. 1 by pulling the door handle in the full latch position, the ratchet lever 7 is disengaged from the ratchet engaging portion 6b on the full latch side, and the latch member 5 is an elastic force of the spring means. Is rotated in the opening direction (arrow A), the engagement between the notch 4 and the striker 2 is released, and the door is opened.

  In this way, it is possible to reduce the contact signal of all the switches to only the ON signal, and to use only one timer.

It is an operation | movement procedure figure which shows the conceptual structure of this invention apparatus collectively. It is a block diagram in connection with control of this invention apparatus. It is explanatory drawing of the action | operation of each switch. It is a flowchart of control.

Explanation of symbols

2 striker 3 latch mechanism 5 latch member 7 ratchet lever 9 ratchet switch 10 half latch switch 11 full latch switch 16 timer 21 motor 22 closure

Claims (1)

A latch mechanism fixed to one of the vehicle body side and the door side, a striker fixed to the other, a half latch detection means for detecting a half latch position where the striker is temporarily coupled to the latch mechanism, and a striker A fully-closed drive device for an automobile door lock, comprising a full latch detection means for detecting a fully latched position fully coupled to a latch mechanism, and a drive means for moving a latch mechanism and a striker at a half latch position to a full latch position,
It has a timer that starts timing when the half latch detection means detects the half latch position, and determines whether or not the drive means is required from the state of the full latch detection means when the timer completes timing. A fully-closed drive device for automotive door locks.

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