Vehicle shutter

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10323852-B2
Application number	US-201414276271-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 13, 2014
Priority date	May 13, 2013
Publication date	Jun 18, 2019
Grant date	Jun 18, 2019

Abstract

Provided is a vehicle shutter capable of detecting a flap to which power transmission is cut off by providing turn restriction units each having a simple structure in flaps.
The vehicle shutter is provided with: a plurality of flaps 13 capable of opening and closing an outside air introduction path 8 for introducing outside air into an engine compartment and arranged in parallel to each other so as to cross the outside air introduction path 8 ; a linkage operation section linking the flaps 13 with each other to perform an opening/closing operation of the flaps; a drive section driving the flaps 13 to be open and closed through the linkage operation section; an abnormality detection section detecting an abnormality of the flaps 13 on the basis of an operating state of the drive section; and an abnormality notification section notifying the abnormality to a user on the basis of output from the abnormality detection section. Opening failure detecting restriction units 13 j and closing failure detecting restriction units 13 k are formed on adjacent flaps 13 as turn restriction units which restrict, when power transmission to one of the adjacent flaps 13 from the drive section is cut off, the other flap 13 from turning.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A vehicle shutter capable of opening and closing an outside air introduction path for introducing outside air into an engine compartment, the vehicle shutter comprising:
a plurality of flaps capable of opening and closing the outside air introduction path, the flaps being arranged in parallel to each other and each of the flaps being freely turnable around an axis thereof;
a linkage having an elongated support frame linking the flaps with each other to perform an opening/closing operation of the flaps;
a motor driving the flaps to be open and closed through the linkage;
an abnormality detector detecting an abnormality of the flaps on the basis of an operating state of the motor; and
an abnormality notifier notifying the abnormality to a user on the basis of output from the abnormality detector,
wherein a turn restrictor is formed on one end of each of the flaps, to project backward when the flaps are in a closed attitude,
wherein when the flaps include a first flap that is incapable of being opened and closed due to cut off of power transmission to the first flap from the motor, the turn restrictor formed on each of the flaps is arranged so that the turn restrictor of the first flap comes into contact with one of the turn restrictor of a second flap adjacent to an upper side of the first flap and the turn restrictor of a third flap adjacent to a lower side of the first flap, to restrict the second flap or the third flap, which is in contact with the turn restrictor of the first flap, from turning that is induced by power transmission from the motor,
wherein the abnormality detector detects a failure in turning of the first flap, based on the operating state of the motor upon the second flap or the third flap being restricted from turning by the turn restrictor of the first flap, and
wherein the turn restrictor includes an opening restrictor for restricting the second flap adjacent to the upper side of the first flap from turning to an open attitude, when the first flap to which power transmission has been cut off is held in the closed attitude.

2. A vehicle shutter capable of opening and closing an outside air introduction path for introducing outside air into an engine compartment, the vehicle shutter comprising:
a plurality of flaps capable of opening and closing the outside air introduction path, the flaps being arranged in parallel to each other and each of the flaps being freely turnable around an axis thereof;
a linkage having an elongated support frame linking the flaps with each other to perform an opening/closing operation of the flaps;
a motor driving the flaps to be open and closed through the linkage;
an abnormality detector detecting an abnormality of the flaps on the basis of an operating state of the motor; and
an abnormality notifier notifying the abnormality to a user on the basis of output from the abnormality detector,
wherein a turn restrictor is formed on one end of each of the flaps, to project backward when the flaps are in a closed attitude,
wherein when the flaps include a first flap that is incapable of being opened and closed due to cut off of power transmission to the first flap from the motor, the turn restrictor formed on each of the flaps is arranged so that the turn restrictor of the first flap comes into contact with one of the turn restrictor of a second flap adjacent to an upper side of the first flap and the turn restrictor of a third flap adjacent to a lower side of the first flap, to restrict the second flap or the third flap, which is in contact with the turn restrictor of the first flap, from turning that is induced by power transmission from the motor,
wherein the abnormality detector detects a failure in turning of the first flap, based on the operating state of the motor upon the second flap or the third flap being restricted from turning by the turn restrictor of the first flap, and
wherein the turn restrictor includes a closing restrictor for restricting the third flap adjacent to the lower side of the first flap from turning to a close attitude, when the first flap to which power transmission has been cut off is held in an open attitude.

3. A vehicle shutter capable of opening and closing an outside air introduction path for introducing outside air into an engine compartment, the vehicle shutter comprising:
a plurality of flaps capable of opening and closing the outside air introduction path, the flaps being arranged in parallel to each other and each of the flaps being freely turnable around an axis thereof;
a linkage having an elongated support frame linking the flaps with each other to perform an opening/closing operation of the flaps;
a motor driving the flaps to be open and closed through the linkage;
an abnormality detector detecting an abnormality of the flaps on the basis of an operating state of the motor; and
an abnormality notifier notifying the abnormality to a user on the basis of output from the abnormality detector,
wherein a turn restrictor is formed on one end of each of the flaps, to project backward when the flaps are in a closed attitude,
wherein when the flaps include a first flap that is incapable of being opened and closed due to cut off of power transmission to the first flap from the motor, the turn restrictor formed on each of the flaps is arranged so that the turn restrictor of the first flap comes into contact with one of the turn restrictor of a second flap adjacent to an upper side of the first flap and the turn restrictor of a third flap adjacent to a lower side of the first flap, to restrict the second flap or the third flap, which is in contact with the turn restrictor of the first flap, from turning that is induced by power transmission from the motor,
wherein the abnormality detector detects a failure in turning of the first flap, based on the operating state of the motor upon the second flap or the third flap being restricted from turning by the turn restrictor of the first flap,
wherein the turn restrictor includes an opening restrictor for restricting the second flap adjacent to the upper side of the first flap from turning to an open attitude, when the first flap to which power transmission has been cut off is held in the closed attitude, and
wherein the turn restrictor includes, in addition to the opening restrictor, a closing restrictor for restricting the third flap adjacent to the lower side of the first flap from turning to the closed attitude, when the first flap to which power transmission has been cut off is held in an open attitude.

4. The vehicle shutter according to claim 1 , wherein
the elongated support frame turnably supports the flaps and links the flaps with each other to perform the opening/closing operation of the flaps.

5. The vehicle shutter according to claim 2 , wherein
the abnormality detector detects a value of current to the motor to detect the abnormality of the flaps on the basis of the operating state of the motor.

6. The vehicle shutter according to claim 3 , wherein
the abnormality notifier uses an alarm to notify the abnormality to a user on the basis of output from the abnormality detector, and
the turn restrictor has a projection piece to project backward when the flaps are in the closed attitude.

Assignees

• Mazda Motor
• Starlite Ind

Inventors

• Takanaga Yuhki
• Kondou Kazuma
• Yamaoka Manabu
• Hayamizu Yoshimitsu
• Takashima Naoya

Classifications

• Y02T10/88

  Optimized components or subsystems, e.g. lighting, actively controlled glasses · CPC title

• F24F7/00 Primary

  Ventilation · CPC title

• B60K11/085 Primary

  with adjustable shutters or blinds · CPC title