Vehicular latch with direct locking of pawl

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10132107-B2
Application number	US-201314410634-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 17, 2013
Priority date	Jun 25, 2012
Publication date	Nov 20, 2018
Grant date	Nov 20, 2018

Abstract

A vehicle latch is provided having a ratchet, a primary pawl, an auxiliary ratchet and a secondary pawl, and further including a gear that is movable to a secondary pawl locking position wherein the gear directly blocks movement of the secondary pawl and locks the secondary pawl in an auxiliary ratchet holding position to prevent premature or unintended opening of the latch.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A vehicle latch, comprising:
a ratchet movable between a striker capture position wherein the ratchet is positioned to retain a striker and a striker release position wherein the ratchet is positioned to release the striker, wherein the ratchet is biased towards the striker release position;
a primary pawl movable between a ratchet holding position wherein the primary pawl is positioned to hold the ratchet in the striker capture position and a ratchet release position wherein the primary pawl permits the movement of the ratchet out of the striker capture position, wherein the primary pawl is biased towards the ratchet holding position, the primary pawl being pivotally mounted to an auxiliary ratchet;
wherein the auxiliary ratchet is movable between a primary pawl enabling position in which the auxiliary ratchet moves the primary pawl and then permits the primary pawl to be biased toward the ratchet holding position and a primary pawl disabling position in which the auxiliary ratchet positions the primary pawl in the ratchet release position, wherein the auxiliary ratchet is biased towards the primary pawl disabling position;
a secondary pawl movable between an auxiliary ratchet holding position in which the secondary pawl is positioned to hold the auxiliary ratchet in the primary pawl enabling position, and an auxiliary ratchet release position in which the secondary pawl is positioned to permit movement of the auxiliary ratchet to the primary pawl disabling position, wherein the secondary pawl is biased towards the auxiliary ratchet holding position; and
a gear that is operatively connected to a motor for movement in response to selective actuation of the motor to a secondary pawl locking position in which a gear locking surface on the gear directly blocks movement of a secondary pawl locking surface on the secondary pawl so that the gear directly locks the secondary pawl in the auxiliary ratchet holding position.

2. A vehicle latch as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the gear is operatively connected to the secondary pawl such that rotation of the gear to a reset position causes movement of the secondary pawl to the auxiliary ratchet holding position after the auxiliary pawl is in the primary pawl enabling position.

3. A vehicle latch as claimed in claim 2 , wherein the gear has a first gear drive surface that is engageable directly with a secondary pawl drive surface on the secondary pawl and wherein rotation of the gear to a secondary pawl release position directly drives the secondary pawl to the auxiliary ratchet release position.

4. A vehicle latch as claimed in claim 3 , wherein the gear has a second gear drive surface that is operatively connected with an auxiliary ratchet drive surface on the auxiliary ratchet and wherein rotation of the gear to a reset position drives the auxiliary ratchet to the primary pawl enabling position and causes the secondary pawl to move to the auxiliary ratchet holding position.

5. A vehicle latch as claimed in claim 4 , further comprising a gear biasing member that biases the gear towards the secondary pawl locking position from the secondary pawl release position and from the reset position.

6. A vehicle latch as claimed in claim 5 , wherein the secondary pawl locking position is between the secondary pawl release position and the reset position.

7. A vehicle latch as claimed in claim 6 , further comprising a reset position sensor positioned to detect the presence of the gear in the reset position.

8. A vehicle latch as claimed in claim 7 , further comprising a secondary pawl locking position sensor positioned to detect the presence of the gear in the secondary pawl locking position.

9. A vehicle latch as claimed in claim 8 , further comprising a controller that receives signals from the reset position sensor that are indicative of whether the gear reaches the reset position, and wherein the controller is operatively connected to the gear, wherein the controller is configured to:
a) selectively drive the gear towards the reset position; and
b) notify a driver of the vehicle of a problem in the event that the gear does not reach the reset position after a selected period of time passes after step a) is initiated.

10. A vehicle latch as claimed in claim 9 , further comprising a motor, wherein the controller is operatively connected to the motor and the motor is operatively connected to the gear, wherein the controller is configured to selectively drive the gear towards the reset position via the motor.

11. A vehicle latch as claimed in claim 8 , further comprising a controller that receives signals from the secondary pawl locking position sensor that are indicative of whether the gear reaches the secondary pawl locking position, and wherein the controller is operatively connected to the gear, wherein the controller is configured to:
a) selectively cause movement of the gear towards the secondary pawl locking position; and
b) carry out at least one action in the event that the gear does not reach the secondary pawl locking position after a selected period of time passes after step a) is initiated, wherein the at least one action is selected from the group of actions consisting of: notifying a driver of the vehicle of a problem with the vehicle latch; and drive the gear towards the secondary pawl locking position.

12. A vehicle latch as claimed in claim 11 , further comprising a motor, wherein the controller is operatively connected to the motor and the motor that is operatively connected to the gear, wherein the controller is configured to selectively cause movement of the gear towards the secondary pawl locking position by cutting power to the motor, and to drive the gear towards the secondary pawl by sending power to the motor.

13. A vehicle latch as claimed in claim 7 , wherein the reset position sensor comprises a Hall effect sensor and wherein a magnet is positioned on the gear.

14. A vehicle latch, comprising:
a ratchet movable between a striker capture position wherein the ratchet is positioned to retain a striker and a striker release position wherein the ratchet is positioned to release the striker, wherein the ratchet is biased towards the striker release position;
a primary pawl movable between a ratchet holding position wherein the primary pawl is positioned to hold the ratchet in the striker capture position and a ratchet release position wherein the primary pawl permits the movement of the ratchet out of the striker capture position, wherein the primary pawl is biased towards the ratchet holding position;
an auxiliary ratchet wherein, the primary pawl is pivotally mounted to the auxiliary ratchet, wherein the auxiliary ratchet is movable between a primary pawl enabling position in which the primary pawl is biased to the ratchet holding position and a primary pawl disabling position in which the primary pawl moves with the auxiliary ratchet in the ratchet release position, wherein the auxiliary ratchet is biased towards the primary pawl disabling position;
a secondary pawl movable between an auxiliary ratchet holding position in which the secondary pawl is positioned to hold the auxiliary ratchet in the primary pawl enabling position, and an auxiliary ratchet release position, in which the secondary pawl is positioned to permit movement of the auxiliary ratchet to the primary pawl disabling position, wherein the secondary pawl is biased towards the auxiliary ratchet holding position;
a gear that is operatively connected to the secondary pawl, wherein the gear is rotatable to cause movement of the secondary pawl towards the auxiliary ratchet holding position and wh

Assignees

• Magna Closures Inc

Inventors

• Tomaszewski Kris

Classifications

• Y10T292/308

  Swinging catch · CPC title

• Y10T292/1047

  Closure · CPC title

• E05B81/14

  operating on bolt detents, e.g. for unlatching the bolt · CPC title

• E05B81/34

  of geared transmissions · CPC title

• E05B79/10 Primary

  Connections between movable lock parts · CPC title