EP4416355A1 - Motor vehicle lock, in particular motor vehicle door lock - Google Patents

Abstract

The invention relates to a motor vehicle lock, in particular a motor vehicle door lock, which is equipped with a locking mechanism (1, 2) made up substantially of a rotary latch (1) and a pawl (2). Furthermore, an electromotive drive (3, 4, 5) and an actuating lever mechanism with at least one release lever (7) and a control lever (9) are implemented. The drive (3, 4, 5) can operate both on the release lever (7) for opening the locking mechanism (1, 2) and the control lever (9). According to the invention, a force transmission element (14) that cooperates with the release lever (7) is provided for the emergency opening of the locking mechanism (1, 2).

Description

Description

Motor vehicle lock, in particular motor vehicle door lock

The invention relates to a motor vehicle lock, in particular a motor vehicle door lock, with a locking mechanism consisting essentially of a rotary latch and a pawl, also with an electromotive drive, and with an actuating lever system with at least one release lever and control lever, the drive acting on both the release lever to open the Locking mechanism and the control lever can work.

The electric motor drives used in this context are generally used to increase comfort. Because with their help, the pawl is generally lifted from its locking engagement with the rotary latch in the closed state of the locking mechanism, so that a previously caught locking bolt is released. As a result of this, a motor vehicle door equipped with the relevant motor vehicle lock can then be opened. The control lever is usually part of a locking unit. With its help, the locking unit can usually be transferred to its basic functional positions "unlocked" and "locked". This is particularly necessary if an additional operating lever is also implemented, for example to to be able to provide an emergency opening of the locking mechanism in the event of a failure of the electric motor drive.

In the state of the art according to DE 10 2019 126 596 A1, the possibility is already described that the electromotive drive operates on the locking mechanism to open it in an opening direction and an unlocking direction that deviates from this is also implemented. In this Unlocking direction is applied to a safety lever or control lever to take an unlocked position or unlocked position. In addition, a stop for the electric motor drive is provided, which limits the movement of the electric motor drive at least when it is acted upon in the opening direction to cancel the unlocked position. This prevents the locking mechanism from opening. In this way, a structurally simple solution is made available.

The prior art described above and in this respect forming the generic type has basically proven its worth, but still offers room for further developments. So the known teaching works with a relatively complex structure. In addition, a mechanical lever system is required at this point in addition and unchanged in order to finally be able to open the locking mechanism in an emergency. This results in an overall not only complicated but also expansive and cost-intensive construction. This is where the invention aims to remedy the situation overall.

The invention is based on the technical problem of further developing such a motor vehicle lock and in particular a motor vehicle door lock in such a way that the design effort is significantly reduced compared to previous procedures.

To solve this technical problem, the invention proposes in the generic motor vehicle lock that a force transmission element that interacts with the release lever is provided for emergency opening of the locking mechanism.

According to the invention, the locking mechanism is thus still and unchanged—actuated using the electric motor drive—even in the case of an emergency opening process. However, in this context, the invention provides a force transmission element that interacts with the release lever. In this power transmission element is an element with the help of which typically from the electric motor drive to the locking mechanism exerted rotational movement is translated or stocky depending on the design. In any case, the power transmission element ultimately ensures that the locking mechanism can also be opened with the help of the electric motor drive, in particular if, for example, an electric motor opening drive does not normally work or is not able to open the locking mechanism due to a drop in vehicle electrical system voltage.

In the simplest case, this can be realized and implemented in such a way that the force transmission element is designed as a lever that also works on the release lever and during emergency opening. Consequently, this lever is only actuated during an emergency opening process using the electric motor drive, so that the electric motor drive is able according to the invention to open the locking mechanism even if the vehicle electrical system voltage is extremely low, for example, less than 5 V. For this purpose, the release lever, including an additional lever or force transmission element, generally works on the pawl and lifts it from its latching engagement with the rotary latch in the locked state.

According to an advantageous embodiment, the overall design is then such that the control lever consistently assumes its “locked” position. That is to say, both during an opening process in normal operation using the electric motor drive and when the locking mechanism is opened in an emergency, the motor vehicle lock consistently assumes its “locked” position. As a result, selective locking/unlocking processes are not required and do not have to be illustrated within the scope of the invention.

In addition, as a result of this, an external actuating lever, which is consistently implemented in the state of the art, is entirely and expressly unnecessary. Because the electric motor drive is able to open the locking mechanism even if the vehicle electrical system voltage drops. In this context, adopting the “locked” position on the part of the control lever and thus a locking unit consistently ensures that a motor vehicle door equipped with the relevant motor vehicle lock cannot be opened unintentionally. It is of course possible in this context to equip the motor vehicle lock according to the invention and in particular motor vehicle door lock with an operating lever or internal operating lever. The motor vehicle lock in question can still be opened (manually) via this inside actuating lever or an inside door handle (and/or outside door handle) which is usually provided at the end.

Since, according to an advantageous embodiment, the control lever continuously assumes its “locked” position and consequently the entire motor vehicle lock remains in this position, even if the vehicle electrical system voltage has dropped, an additional anti-theft device or anti-theft device is not required. Because of the omission of an external actuating lever, a motor vehicle door equipped with the motor vehicle lock can only be opened from the outside with the aid of the electric motor drive anyway. If opening from the inside is desired, the motor vehicle lock or the control lever must first be transferred to its “unlocked” position. This can usually be done electronically, for example by switching a locking element assigned to the inside activation lever or inside door handle or the locking unit to the unlocked state. In principle, however, it is also possible, with the aid of the inside door handle, to unlock the first stroke and then to open the locking mechanism during the further second stroke. This is where the main advantages can be seen.

According to a further advantageous embodiment, the control lever is generally designed to be bistable. In fact, the control lever can in particular assume the “lock”, “unlock” and “emergency open” positions if an actuating lever is also implemented. In general, however, only the two functional positions “lock” and “emergency open” can be implemented with the aid of the control lever. The power transmission element generally dips into a control contour of the control lever. This control contour generally interacts with an actuating element as part of the electric motor drive. In addition, it has proven useful if the power transmission element is equipped with a spring.

In this case, the spring usually ensures that the force-transmitting element is held in the spread-out state relative to a stop edge of the control contour of the control lever. In this way, the force transmission element defines an “undercut” compared to the control contour, as will be explained in more detail with reference to the description of the figures. This ensures, particularly in the event of an emergency opening, that the control lever remains “locked” in its position even during such functionality. For this purpose, the spring is usually equipped as a spiral spring with one leg resting on the stop edge of the control contour and one leg resting on the force transmission element.

As already explained, the motor vehicle lock according to the invention can generally be realized and implemented without an external operating lever. On the other hand, an internal actuating lever or quite generally an actuating lever that can be actuated manually is usually additionally provided as part of the actuating lever mechanism. For this purpose, the actuating lever in question or internal actuating lever regularly has a clutch lever mounted on it. The clutch lever is in turn operated using the control lever.

In fact, the control lever ensures in this context that the clutch lever is "engaged" or "disengaged". When the clutch lever is in the engaged state, the motor vehicle lock is in the "unlocked" state. As a result of this, the actuating lever or internal actuating lever that can be actuated manually can work on the release lever and manual opening of the locking mechanism (from the inside) is possible. Takes if, on the other hand, the clutch lever enters its "disengaged" state, the control lever's "locked" state corresponds to this.

The setting of the “unlocked” and “locked” functional positions is provided by the electric motor drive, which can work both on the release lever for opening the locking mechanism and on the said control lever. For this purpose, the drive is usually equipped with a driven pulley and the actuating element already mentioned. The actuating element, for its part, acts on the release lever on the one hand and on the other hand on the control lever.

As a result, a motor vehicle lock is made available which is particularly simple in terms of design and structure. In fact, the motor vehicle lock according to the invention can be opened in an emergency with the help of the electric motor drive if the vehicle electrical system voltage acting on the drive has dropped. This is ensured by the force transmission element that interacts with the release lever for the emergency opening of the locking mechanism. Since, moreover, the control lever and with it the motor vehicle lock as a whole consistently assumes its “locked” position, an additionally provided locking unit can be constructed in a particularly simple manner. In fact, it is possible to implement the anti-theft function, for example, only by means of control technology or electronically. This is where the main advantages can be seen.

The invention is explained in more detail below using an exemplary embodiment; show it:

1 shows the motor vehicle lock according to the invention in a perspective view,

FIG. 2 shows the motor vehicle lock according to FIG. 1 in the locked state, 3 shows the motor vehicle lock according to FIG. 2 during an electromotive opening process in normal operation,

4 shows the motor vehicle lock during an emergency opening process and

5A-C the emergency opening process in detail.

The figures show a motor vehicle lock which, according to the exemplary embodiment, is a motor vehicle door lock. For this purpose, the motor vehicle door lock is equipped with a locking mechanism 1 , 2 consisting essentially of a rotary latch 1 and a pawl 2 , which can best be understood with reference to FIG. 1 . In addition, the motor vehicle lock or motor vehicle door lock is equipped with an electric motor drive 3, 4, 5.

For this purpose, the electric motor drive 3, 4, 5 is equipped with an electric motor 3, which has a worm located on a driven shaft, which meshes with a driven pulley 4. Rotational movements of the electric motor 3 result in the driven pulley 4 being moved clockwise and counterclockwise about its axis. As a result, the driven pulley 4 can work on an actuating element 5, which is mounted pivotably about its axis 6 in a lock housing, not expressly shown. As a result of this, the actuating element 5, acted upon by the electric motor drive 3, 4, 5, can perform a counterclockwise movement, as can be understood by comparing FIGS.

In fact, the anti-clockwise movement of the actuating element 5, starting from the locked state according to FIG. As a result of this actuating movement, the release lever 7 is carried out by the actuating element 5 or its control cam 5a, starting from the locked state according to FIGS to the open state as shown in Fig. 3, a clockwise movement about its axis 8.

Transferred to FIG. 1, the clockwise movement of the release lever 7 about its axis 8 corresponds to the locking pawl 2 being pivoted “upwards” in the illustration according to FIG. 1 or counterclockwise onto the locking mechanism 1, 2 in a side view. As a result, the pawl 2 is lifted from its latching engagement with the rotary latch 1, so that a locking bolt, not expressly shown and previously caught using the rotary latch 1, is then released and an associated motor vehicle door can be opened. This corresponds to normal operation during an opening process using the electric motor drive 3, 4, 5.

The electric motor drive 3, 4, 5 not only works in general on the release lever 7 for opening the locking mechanism 1, 2. But the electric motor drive 3, 4, 5 can also work on a control lever 9 at the same time. For this purpose, the control lever 9 is equipped with a control contour 10, shown enlarged in particular in FIGS. 5A-C. The control contour 10 has an essentially U-shaped design with a front stop edge 10a and a rear stop edge 10b. It can also be seen from the figures that the control lever 9 and the release lever 7 are mounted on the same axis, compared to the common axis 8.

Also on the same axis as the axis 8 in question is a manually actuable actuating lever 11, which according to the invention is basically superfluous. According to the exemplary embodiment, the operating lever 11 is an internal operating lever 11. The internal operating lever 11 has a clutch lever 12 mounted rotatably on it. For this purpose, an axis 13 is defined on the operating lever or internal operating lever 11, around which the clutch lever 12 is rotatably mounted relative to the operating lever or internal operating lever 1 1. Using the control lever 9, the clutch lever 12 can now be acted upon. In fact, the clutch lever 12 can be moved into the engaged position, which is only indicated in FIG. 3, with the aid of the control lever 9. This corresponds to the "unlocked" state of the control lever 9. Since in this case the clutch lever 12 assumes its "engaged" position, the release lever 7 can be actuated via the actuating lever 11 by a movement that is also only indicated in Fig. 3 as an alternative to the electric motor drive 3 , 4, 5 is applied manually and the locking mechanism 1, 2 is opened.

As a rule, however, the locking mechanism 1, 2 is opened by a motor during normal operation, specifically with the aid of the electric motor drive 3, 4, 5. During this process, the control lever 9 continuously assumes its “locked” position. As a result, the locking mechanism 1 , 2 cannot be opened, for example, with the aid of the actuating lever 11 that can be actuated manually. An additional anti-theft device is therefore unnecessary in this case.

According to the invention, for the emergency opening of the locking mechanism 1, 2, a force transmission element 14 that interacts with the release lever 7 is implemented, which can be understood in particular from the representation in FIGS. 5A-C. The power transmission element 14 protrudes into the control contour 10 on the control lever 9 and in this way and in the unloaded state defines a type of "undercut" as shown in FIGS. 5A-C.

In normal operation and with sufficient vehicle electrical system voltage of an associated motor vehicle, the electric motor drive 3, 4, 5 is energized in such a way that, starting from the locked position of the locking mechanism 1, 2 in the illustration according to Fig. 5A, it rotates the release lever 7 counterclockwise about its axis 8 pivoted so that in this way the pawl 2 is lifted from its latching engagement with the rotary latch 1. (cf. the transition from FIG. 2 to FIG. 3) If there is now a drop in the vehicle electrical system voltage, a Emergency opening of the locking mechanism 1, 2, as before and unchanged using the electric motor drive 3, 4, 5.

For this purpose, the control lever 9 is designed to be bistable overall and is able to assume the “locked” and “emergency opening” or “unlocked” positions. In fact, the procedure for emergency opening is such that the electric motor drive 3, 4, 5 acts on the actuating element 5 or the control cam 5a at the end in such a way that it is moved clockwise starting from the “locked” basic position according to FIG. As a result, the control cam 5a passes the front stop edge 10a of the control contour 10 of the control lever 9. As a result, the control lever 9 pivots counterclockwise so that the control cam 5a now moves against the force transmission element 14 during the backward movement (spring 15 is compressed).

It can be seen that the force transmission element 14 not only dips into the control contour 10 of the control lever 9 . Instead, the power transmission element 14 is additionally equipped with a spring 15 . The spring 15 is a spiral spring, one leg of which rests against the force transmission element 14, whereas the other leg comes to rest on a stop edge 10b, according to the exemplary embodiment of the rear stop edge 10b of the control contour 10.

In this way, the control contour 5a on the control lever 5 can, with a clockwise movement starting from the "unlocked" position of the control lever 5 only indicated in Fig. 2, move beyond the basic position shown by solid lines against the force transmission element 14 and act on it, cf. Fig. 5C The force transmission element 14 is connected to the release lever 7 and, according to the exemplary embodiment, is designed as a lever or lever arm that can be coupled to the release lever 7 . In this way, depending on the design, the rotational movement of the control lever 5 or its control contour 5a is increased or decreased during the emergency opening. This allows the electric motor drive 3, 4, 5 even with a drop in the vehicle electrical system voltage on the extended lever arm after Embodiment work on the release lever 7, which again and as desired, the pawl 2 lifts from its locking engagement with the rotary latch 1 even in an emergency opening. The operating lever or internal operating lever 11 implemented at this point is kept in its “locked” state throughout this process. This is because the control lever 9 does not act on the clutch lever 12 in such a way that the clutch lever 12 is engaged. Consequently, in the process described, any action that is applied to the operating lever or internal operating lever 11 remains empty.

Reference List

lock 1, 2

rotary latch 1

pawl 2

Drive 3, 4, 5

electric motor 3

driven pulley 4

actuator 5

control cam 5a

actuator 6

release lever 7

axis 8

Control lever 9

Control contour 10

stop edge 10a

stop edge 10b

Operating lever 1 1

Inside control lever 1 1

clutch lever 12

axis 13

Power transmission element 14

spring 15

Claims

patent claims 1. Motor vehicle lock, in particular motor vehicle door lock, with a locking mechanism (1, 2) consisting essentially of a rotary latch (1) and pawl (2), also with an electric motor drive (3, 4, 5), and with an actuating lever mechanism at least release lever (7) and control lever (9), whereby the drive (3, 4, 5) can work both on the release lever (7) to open the locking mechanism (1, 2) and on the control lever (9), d a r c h e n n n z e i c h n e t that for emergency opening of the locking mechanism (1, 2), a force transmission element (14) cooperating with the release lever (7) is provided. 2. Motor vehicle lock according to claim 1, characterized in that the control lever (9) continuously assumes its "locked" position. 3. Motor vehicle lock according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the control lever (9) is designed bistable and the positions "unlocked" and "emergency opening" and optionally "locked" occupies. 4. Motor vehicle lock according to one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that the force transmission element (14) dips into a control contour (10) of the control lever (9). 5. Motor vehicle lock according to one of claims 1 to 4, characterized in that the force transmission element (14) is equipped with a spring (15). 6. Motor vehicle lock according to claim 5, characterized in that the spring (15) holds the force transmission element (14) in the spread-away state relative to a stop edge (10a, 10b) of the control contour (10). 7. Motor vehicle lock according to claim 5 or 6, characterized in that the spring (15) is equipped as a spiral spring with one of the stop edge (10b) and the force transmission element (14) in each case abutting legs. 8. Motor vehicle lock according to one of claims 1 to 7, characterized in that a manually actuable actuating lever (11) is provided as part of the actuating lever mechanism. 9. Motor vehicle lock according to claim 8, characterized in that the actuating lever (1 1) is equipped with a clutch lever mounted thereon (12) which is acted upon by the control lever (9). 10. Motor vehicle lock according to one of claims 1 to 9, characterized in that the electric motor drive (3, 4, 5) has a driven pulley (4) and an actuating element (5).