Powered driven door presenter for vehicle doors

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10087671-B2
Application number	US-201615228101-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 4, 2016
Priority date	Aug 4, 2016
Publication date	Oct 2, 2018
Grant date	Oct 2, 2018

Abstract

A vehicle includes a body and a door that is movably mounted to the body. The door has a powered latch and an electrically-powered actuator that extends and retracts a plunger from an inner side of the door. A controller unlatches the powered latch and actuates the electrically-powered actuator such that the plunger contacts the body and pushes the door open. The controller then controls the electrically-powered actuator to retract the plunger while the door is open.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An apparatus comprising:
a handleless vehicle door having a first side edge portion that is configured to be pivotably mounted to a vehicle body structure, and a second side edge portion opposite the first side edge portion; the handleless vehicle door including a powered latch mechanism having a first electrically-powered actuator that can be actuated to unlatch the latch mechanism to permit the handleless vehicle door to be opened; and wherein the handleless vehicle door includes an outer side that is free of an exterior door handle;
a powered door presenter mechanism including a plunger and a second electrically-powered actuator that can be actuated to shift the plunger between retracted and extended positions;
a controller configured to:
actuate the first electrically-powered actuator to unlatch the latch mechanism;
actuate the second electrically-powered actuator a first time to shift the plunger from the retracted position to the extended position to open the handleless vehicle door; and
actuate the second electrically-powered actuator a second time to shift the plunger from the extended position to the retracted position when the handleless door is open.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein:
the powered door presenter mechanism includes a base and a sensor that measures a position of the plunger relative to the base.

3. The apparatus of claim 2 , wherein:
the controller is configured to actuate the second electrically-powered actuator to retract the plunger if the plunger does not reach the extended position when the second electrically-powered actuator is actuated the first time.

4. The apparatus of claim 2 , wherein:
the controller is configured to control a force generated by the electric motor.

5. The apparatus of claim 4 , wherein:
the controller is configured to:
determine a speed of the plunger as the plunger is moving from the retracted position to the extended position; and
adjust a force generated by the electric motor to maintain a predefined target speed.

6. The apparatus of claim 4 , wherein:
the controller is configured to actuate the second electrically-powered actuator to provide an initial force when the plunger is in the retracted position, and to actuate the second electrically-powered actuator to provide a force that is less than the initial force when the plunger moves away from the retracted position.

7. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein:
the second electrically-powered actuator comprises an electric motor.

8. The apparatus of claim 7 , wherein:
the controller is configured to utilize pulse with modulation (PWM) to control the electric motor.

9. The apparatus of claim 1 , including:
a powered window including window glass and third electrically-powered actuator that raises and lowers the window; and wherein:
the controller is configured to actuate the third electrically-powered actuator to lower the window glass before actuating the second electrically-powered actuator to open the handleless door.

10. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein:
the plunger shifts linearly between the retracted and extended positions.

11. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein:
the handleless door includes an inner side that is opposite the outer side;
the powered door presenter mechanism includes a base that is fixed to the handleless door, and the plunger protrudes from the inner side of the handleless door when the plunger is in the extended position.

12. The apparatus of claim 11 , wherein:
the base of the powered door presenter mechanism is fixed to the door adjacent the second side edge portion of the handleless door.

13. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein:
the handleless door includes an unlatch sensor on the outer side;
the controller is configured to actuate the first and second electrically-powered actuator upon receiving an unlatch signal from the unlatch sensor.

Assignees

• Ford Global Tech Llc

Inventors

• Linden H Paul Tsvi
• Radjewski Christopher Matthew
• Manolescu Constantin
• Sullivan James Parsons

Classifications

• B60J5/047

  characterised by the opening or closing movement · CPC title

• E05Y2900/531

  Doors · CPC title

• B60R25/24

  using electronic identifiers containing a code not memorised by the user · CPC title

• E05B81/70

  the wing position · CPC title

• E05Y2400/31

  Force or torque control · CPC title