WO2023246971A1

WO2023246971A1 - Motor vehicle locking device

Info

Publication number: WO2023246971A1
Application number: PCT/DE2023/100350
Authority: WO
Inventors: Aleš Kejdana; Jan SUK; Tomáš DANIHELKA
Original assignee: Kiekert Aktiengesellschaft
Priority date: 2022-06-22
Filing date: 2023-05-12
Publication date: 2023-12-28
Also published as: DE102022115497A1

Abstract

The invention relates to a motor vehicle locking device, in particular a motor vehicle lock and preferably a motor vehicle bonnet lock, the basic design of which is equipped with a locking mechanism (1, 2) consisting substantially of a rotary latch (1) and a pawl (2) and with at least one ejector element (2, 7) to which a spring (6, 8) is applied. The ejector element (2, 7) acts directly or indirectly on the rotary latch (1) in the opening direction. According to the invention, the pawl (2) functions as the first ejector element (2) and, to this end, rests with its locking tooth (2a), which is lifted out of or off a detent (1a, 1b) on the rotary latch (1), against a stop edge (1c) of the rotary latch (1) and acts on the rotary latch (1) by means of the spring (6).

Description

Motor vehicle locking device

The invention relates to a motor vehicle locking device, in particular a motor vehicle lock and preferably a motor vehicle hood lock, with a locking mechanism consisting essentially of a rotary latch and a pawl, and with at least one ejector element acted upon by a spring, which acts on the rotary latch indirectly or directly in the opening direction.

Motor vehicle locking devices and in particular motor vehicle hood locks are known in different variations and forms, for which reference should only be made to the applicant's DE 10 2019 128 463 A1 as an example. With the help of such motor vehicle hood locks, a front hood or a tailgate on a motor vehicle is typically closed. In addition, such motor vehicle hood locks are often equipped with electric drives, for example to unlock the motor vehicle lock in question. After unlocking such a motor vehicle hood lock, the associated hood usually opens slightly due to spring forces built up by a running seal. The ejector element also ensures this.

From the lifting position of the hood achieved in this way, it can easily be grasped and swung open by a user through a gap created between the hood and the body. In most cases, a catch hook often has to be swung away at this point.

In the generic state of the art according to DE 10 2017 218 021 A1, an ejector is provided which is pivotally mounted on a housing of the motor vehicle locking device about a pivot axis. About this The ejector has a first lever and a second lever. Using the first lever, the ejector can move against a striker and act on it. Since the striker is caught by the rotary latch during this process and is immersed in an inlet mouth of the rotary latch, in this way the rotary latch is acted upon at least indirectly in the opening direction by the known ejector element.

In a comparable state of the art according to DE 10 2017 108 226 A1, the ejector there can also be brought into a lifting position. In addition, at least one electrically actuable means for moving the lock holder from the lifting position into a closed position is provided. This is intended to provide a sufficient overall lift for the hood to be lowered quickly.

The state of the art cannot be satisfactory in all aspects. Typically, in addition to the ejector, a spring provided on the rotary latch and biasing it in the opening direction is usually considered necessary in order to be able to move the hood into the lifting position. Such a spring or rotary latch spring is generally complex to produce and must be assembled separately. This leads to additional costs. In addition, with the known motor vehicle locking devices there is the problem that the locking bolt caught in the inlet mouth or at least resting on a catch leg of the rotary latch may, under certain circumstances, perform a relative movement relative to the rotary latch or the relevant leg in the closed position of the hood, which corresponds to rattling noises that are perceived as disturbing. Such movements of the hood are observed, for example, when driving over several distances or as a result of attacking air at high speeds. The invention as a whole aims to provide a remedy here. The invention is based on the technical problem of further developing such a motor vehicle locking device in such a way that rattling noises are reliably avoided as far as possible while taking into account a cost-effective structure.

To solve this technical problem, the invention proposes in a generic motor vehicle locking device that the pawl acts as a first ejector element and, for this purpose, with its locking tooth lifted out of or from a catch on the rotary latch, rests against a stop edge of the rotary latch and acts on the rotary latch by means of the spring .

The invention is initially based on the knowledge that the pawl can be used as an ejector element or first ejector element. This requires that the pawl is lifted relative to the rotary latch. Typically, in a closed position of the locking mechanism, the pawl engages with its locking tooth in a catch on the rotary latch. The rest in question can be a preliminary rest or a main rest.

The opening of the rotary latch now requires that the pawl with its locking tooth has been lifted off or from the relevant catch. According to the invention, however, the pawl is not held in a raised position relative to the rotary latch, but rather the locking tooth, which is lifted out of or from the catch on the rotary latch, rests on the stop edge of the rotary latch. As a result, the pawl can be used to act on the rotary latch in the opening direction, thus acting as an ejector element or first ejector element.

This results in two main advantages. First of all, the pawl working as an ejector element basically makes an additional ejector or ejector lever unnecessary. This saves manufacturing and assembly costs. In addition, the pawl is included According to the invention, the obligatory spring acting on it replaces the rotary latch spring, so that additional production and manufacturing costs are saved. This is where the main advantages can be seen.

According to an advantageous embodiment, the design is such that the stop edge of the rotary latch in the opening direction of the rotary latch directly adjoins the catch from which the locking tooth of the pawl must be lifted in order to be able to generally open the locking mechanism. The lock in question is usually a pre-lock of the rotary latch, because the rotary latch is equipped with both a main lock and a pre-lock.

In order to be able to open the locking mechanism in this case and to use the pawl as an ejector element or first ejector element, it is therefore necessary that after the pawl has been lifted off, the locking tooth has passed the pre-catch of the opening rotary latch, so that the locking tooth then immediately Can act on the stop edge of the rotary latch, which adjoins the pre-lock of the rotary latch. For this purpose, the locking tooth of the pawl advantageously has a counter-stop edge corresponding to the relevant stop edge of the rotary latch.

This means that the stop edge of the rotary latch and the counter-stop edge on the locking tooth of the pawl are selected based on their respective contour and design so that both edges lie against each other with as little gap as possible, so that the pawl rests over a large area on the stop edge on the locking tooth and the counter-stop edge Rotary latch can work and in this way the rotary latch is acted upon in the opening direction as desired.

The spring acting on the pawl is usually designed as a tension spring. Here, a design as an elongated coil spring has proven to be particularly favorable. In this way, the tension spring can be with its Longitudinal extension can easily define a direction of force following the longitudinal extension. The procedure is usually such that the longitudinal extension of the tension spring runs at a distance from an axis of rotation of the rotary latch.

Since the force built up by the tension spring generally runs in the direction of the longitudinal extent of the tension spring, it also applies to the force exerted by the tension spring via the pawl or the locking tooth on the rotary latch that it runs at a distance from the axis of rotation of the rotary latch and consequently the Rotary latch is subjected to a corresponding torque and specifically an opening torque. This results from the direction of force running at a distance from the axis of rotation of the rotary latch on the one hand and the distance from the axis of rotation acting as a lever arm for the torque on the other hand. This will be explained in more detail with reference to the description of the figures.

As already explained, according to the invention the pawl functions as a first ejector element. In addition, an ejector lever can then be provided and implemented as a further second ejector element. Both ejector elements cumulatively ensure that a locking bolt caught by the rotary latch and thus the associated hood is moved into the lifting position. This can be done in such a way that the two ejector elements at least partially overlap the rotary latch or the locking bolt and thus indirectly act on the rotary latch in its opening direction.

For this purpose, the ejector lever is usually mounted on the same axis as the pawl. In addition, the design is such that the ejector lever rests with a contact edge on a locking bolt, at least in a closed position of the locking mechanism. Since the ejector lever is provided as a further second ejector element, it has a spring which acts on the locking bolt and thus also the rotary latch in the opening direction. The ejector lever is actually equipped with a torsion spring. The leg spring generally encloses a bearing dome with its winding section. Since the ejector lever is mounted on the same axis as the pawl, the bearing mandrel in question is a common bearing mandrel for the pawl and ejector lever. At the same time, the bearing mandrel acts as an anchor for the winding section of the torsion spring of the ejector lever.

The design is also such that the leg spring acts on the ejector lever with one leg, while the other leg is fixed in place. The stationary leg may be anchored in a housing of the motor vehicle locking device. The housing in question can be a lock case that stores the locking mechanism. As a result, the other leg, which also extends from the winding section, can act on the ejector lever and for this purpose usually lies against the contact edge of the ejector lever.

As a result, a motor vehicle locking device is made available and delivered, which is constructed particularly cost-effectively. The invention achieves this in such a way that the pawl acts as the first ejector element and therefore an additional ejector lever is essentially unnecessary. In addition, the pawl, including the tension spring assigned to it, takes on the function of the rotary latch spring, which is also unnecessary in this way.

Even if an additional ejector lever is implemented as a further second ejector element, the rotary latch spring can still be dispensed with without any changes. Another advantage achieved with the invention is that the locking bolt caught in the inlet mouth of the rotary latch is acted upon on the one hand by the contact edge of the ejector lever and on the other hand by the in the opening direction using the Pawl loaded rotary latch any relative movements of the locking bolt relative to the locking mechanism and consequently associated rattling noises can be effectively avoided. This is where the main advantages can be seen.

The invention is explained in more detail below using a drawing that only shows an exemplary embodiment; show it:

1 shows the motor vehicle locking device according to the invention in a main locking position,

Fig. 2 shows the object according to Fig. 1 in the pre-locking position and

Fig. 3 shows the motor vehicle locking device in the open position.

The figures show a motor vehicle locking device which, in the context of the exemplary embodiment, is designed as a motor vehicle lock and, more specifically, as a motor vehicle hood lock. For this purpose, the motor vehicle hood lock initially has a locking device 1, 2 consisting essentially of a rotary latch 1 and a pawl 2, which are stored together in a lock case 3 or generally a housing 3.

The lock case 3 is arranged on the body side and specifically in the area of a motor vehicle front, so that the motor vehicle hood lock can interact with a locking bolt 4 on a front hood 5 of the motor vehicle in question. In Fig. 1, the locking mechanism 1, 2 is in its main closed position or main locking position, which will be explained in more detail below, and the front hood 5 is closed relative to the motor vehicle body. In contrast, FIG. 2 shows the pre-locking position and in FIG. 3 the locking mechanism 1, 2 assumes its open position and the front hood 5 assumes the lifting position already described in the introduction. In this lift-off position, an operator can use one Grab the front hood 5 in the gap between the vehicle body and the front hood 5 and swing it open manually.

In addition to the locking device 1, 2, the motor vehicle locking device or the motor vehicle hood lock shown is equipped with at least one ejector element 2, 7 acted upon by a spring 6, which acts on the rotary latch 1 indirectly or directly in the opening direction. The opening direction of the rotary latch 1 corresponds to a pivoting movement of the rotary latch 1 in the clockwise direction about its axis of rotation defined by a bearing mandrel 9, as can be seen by comparing the sequence of figures from FIG. 1 to FIG. 3 and is indicated by a corresponding arrow. The bearing mandrel 9 is anchored in the lock case 3.

According to the invention, the pawl 2 functions as a first ejector element 2. In addition to the pawl or the first ejector element 2, within the scope of the exemplary embodiment and not as a limitation, a further second ejector element 7 is realized in the form of an ejector lever 7, which will be discussed in more detail below.

The pawl 2 in its function as the first ejector element 2 can carry out and complete the ejector function in such a way that the pawl 2 is lifted out of or from a catch 1 a, 1 b on the rotary latch 1 for this purpose and with its out of the relevant catch 1 a, 1 b lifted locking tooth 2a rests on a stop edge 1c of the rotary latch 1. In fact, one can see in Fig. 1 that the locking tooth 2a of the pawl 2 interacts with the main catch 1a of the rotary latch 1 or engages in the main catch 1a or encompasses it. The same applies to FIG. 2 with the difference that in this case the locking tooth 2a engages in or encompasses the pre-catch 1b.

In order to be able to open the rotary latch 1 starting from the main locking position according to FIG. 1 or the pre-locking position according to FIG. 2, it is therefore necessary to that the pawl 2 is opened. This corresponds to a pivoting movement of the pawl 2 around its bearing mandrel 10 in the counterclockwise direction, with the help of which the pawl 2 is anchored in the lock case 3. The bearing dome 10 consequently defines an axis of rotation of the pawl 2. In addition, the two axes of the rotary latch 1 on the one hand and the pawl 2 on the other hand run predominantly parallel and spaced apart from one another, because the two associated bearing domes 9, 10 also run parallel to one another and predominantly perpendicular to the lock case 3 stand up and are anchored in it.

As soon as the pawl 2 as the first ejector element 2 is lifted out of or from the relevant catch 1 a, 1 b of the rotary latch 1 with its locking tooth 2a, the pawl 2 can act on the rotary latch 1 in the opening direction, i.e. H. Pivot the rotary latch 1 about its axis defined by the bearing dome 9 in the clockwise direction indicated in the figures. For this purpose, the locking tooth 2a of the pawl 2 rests on a stop edge 1c of the rotary latch 1.

The stop edge 1c on the rotary latch 1 connects directly to the catch 1a, 1b and specifically to the pre-latch 1b of the rotary latch 1 in the opening direction of the rotary latch 1. For this purpose, the locking tooth 2a of the pawl 2 has a counter-stop surface corresponding to the stop edge 1c on the rotary latch. That is, as soon as the locking tooth 2a of the pawl 2 acts on the stop edge 1c of the rotary latch 1 and thus the rotary latch 1 pivots clockwise about its axis defined by the bearing dome 9, there is a surface contact between the stop edge 1c on the rotary latch 1 on the one hand and the corresponding counter-stop surface on the locking tooth 2a of the pawl 2 on the other hand.

The force acting on the rotary latch 1 in its opening direction (clockwise) results from the spring 6 acting on the pawl 2. At According to the exemplary embodiment, the spring 6 in question was a tension spring 6, which is designed as a longitudinally extending coil spring. As a result, the tension spring 6 also defines a corresponding direction of a force F, shown in FIG. 3, with which the pawl 2 works on the rotary latch 1 and pivots it in the opening direction. It can be seen that the tension spring 6 runs with its longitudinal extension at a distance from the axis of rotation of the rotary latch 1 defined by the bearing dome 9. This then also applies to the direction of the force F. The corresponding distance A is shown in FIG. This directly results in an opening torque acting on the rotary latch 1 as a (vector) product of the force F and the distance A in question.

As already explained above, in addition to the pawl 2 functioning as the first ejector element 2, a further second ejector element 7 is also provided within the scope of the exemplary embodiment, which is the ejector lever 7. In fact, the ejector lever 7 is mounted on the same axis as the pawl 2, i.e. H. the ejector lever 7 and the pawl 2 use the matching bearing mandrel 10 to define their respective axis or axis of rotation. The design is also such that the ejector lever 7 rests against the locking bolt 4 with a contact edge 7a at least in a closed position of the locking mechanism 1, 2. This can be seen particularly in Figures 1 and 2.

The ejector lever 7 is in turn equipped with a spring 8, which is designed as a leg spring 8 according to the exemplary embodiment. In fact, the leg spring 8 has a winding section 8a with which it encloses the bearing mandrel 10. A leg 8b extends from the winding section 8a and acts on the ejector lever 7. In fact, according to the exemplary embodiment, the leg 8b in question lies against the contact edge 7a, specifically on the underside. The further second leg 8c of the leg spring 8 is In contrast, it is designed to be stationary and fixed in the lock case 3 for this purpose.

The leg spring 8 of the ejector lever 7 ensures that the ejector lever 7 acts on the locking bolt 4 in the direction of the lifting position as shown in FIG. 3. For this purpose, the leg spring 8 works on the ejector lever 7 in such a way that it is pivoted clockwise about the same axis as the pawl 2, as can be seen by comparing FIGS. 1 and 2.

In this way it is ensured overall that the locking bolt 4 rests against the contact edge 7a of the ejector lever 7 both in the main locking position according to FIG. 1 and in the pre-locking position of FIG. As a result, the locking bolt 4 cannot perform any relative movements within an inlet mouth 11, which is observed between a contact leg 1 ' and a catch leg 1 "of the rotary latch 1 and is used to fix the locking bolt 4 in the closed position of the locking mechanism 1, 2. This will prevent any rattling noises.

The same applies in the event that the locking bolt 4 and with it the hood 5 assume the lifting position as shown in FIG. 3. Because in this case, the locking bolt 4 rests on the contact leg 1 'of the rotary latch 1, which in turn is acted upon in the opening position shown there using the pawl 2 and with recourse to the tension spring 6. That is, all of the functional positions shown according to FIGS the rotary latch 1 comes. Reference symbol list

Locking mechanism 1, 2 ejector element 1 rotary latch 1 main catch 1 a contact leg 1 'rest 1a, 1 b preliminary catch 1 b catch leg 1" stop edge 1c

Pawl 2 Locking tooth 2a Lock case 3 Locking bolt 4 Front hood 5 Spring 6 Tension spring 6 Ejector lever 2, 7 Ejector element 7

Ejector lever 7 Contact edge 7a Leg spring 8 Winding section 8a Leg 8b Leg 8c Bearing dome 9 Distance A Force F

Claims

Patent claims

1. Motor vehicle locking device, in particular motor vehicle lock, preferably motor vehicle hood lock, with a locking mechanism (1, 2) consisting essentially of a rotary latch (1) and pawl (2), and with at least one ejector element (6) acted upon by a spring (6). 2, 7), which acts on the rotary latch (1) indirectly or directly in the opening direction, characterized in that the pawl (2) acts as a first ejector element (2) and for this purpose with its out or from a catch (1a, 1b) on the Rotary latch (1) lifted locking tooth (2a) rests on a stop edge (1c) of the rotary latch (1) and acts on the rotary latch (1) by means of the spring (6).

2. Device according to claim 1, characterized in that the stop edge (1c) directly adjoins the catch (1a, 1b) in the opening direction of the rotary latch (1).

3. Device according to claim 2, characterized in that the catch (1a, 1b) is a preliminary catch (1b) of the rotary latch (1).

4. Device according to one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that the locking tooth (2a) of the pawl (2) has a counter-stop edge corresponding to the stop edge (1c) of the rotary latch (1).

5. Device according to one of claims 1 to 4, characterized in that the spring (6) acting on the pawl (2) is designed as a tension spring (6).

6. Device according to claim 5, characterized in that the tension spring (6) is designed as a longitudinally extending helical spring.

7. Device according to claim 5 or 6, characterized in that the tension spring (6) runs with its longitudinal extension spaced from an axis of rotation of the rotary latch (1).

8. Device according to one of claims 1 to 7, characterized in that an ejector lever (7) is provided as a further second ejector element (7).

9. The device according to claim 8, characterized in that the ejector lever (7) is mounted on the same axis as the locking pawl (2) and at least in a closed position of the locking mechanism (1, 2) rests with a contact edge (7a) on a locking bolt (4).

10. The device according to claim 8 or 9, characterized in that the ejector lever (7) is equipped with a leg spring (8), which encloses a bearing dome (10) with its winding section (8a) and the ejector lever (10) with a leg (8a). 7) is applied while the other leg (8c) is fixed in place.