Interior door lock operator integrated into pull door handle

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10920465-B2
Application number	US-201715447923-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 2, 2017
Priority date	Mar 3, 2016
Publication date	Feb 16, 2021
Grant date	Feb 16, 2021

Abstract

A side door of a motor vehicle has a door lock actuator for a door lock, and a pivoting lever pivotable about a rotational axis of a joint. The pivoting lever has a coupling section coupled to a mechanical actuating member of the door lock in the installed state. An interior door pull handle has one or more fastening regions and at least one handle region having an axial extent. The pivoting lever is integrated into the handle region of the interior door pull handle. The rotational axis is oriented substantially transversely with respect to the axial extent.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A side door of a motor vehicle, comprising:
a door lock having a mechanical actuating means;
a door lock actuator connected to the door lock, the door lock actuator being an interior door actuator and having a pivoting lever pivotably mounted about a rotational axis of a joint, the pivoting lever having a coupling section connected to the mechanical actuating means;
an electric switch disposed in the pivoting lever and connected to the door lock via a signal line; and
an interior door handle having
one or more fastening regions, and
at least one handle region, the handle region defining an opening to receive a hand and having an axial extent, wherein:

the pivoting lever is integrated into the handle region of the interior door handle, and
the rotational axis is oriented substantially transversely with respect to the axial extent.

2. The side door of claim 1 , wherein:
the pivoting lever extends into at least one of the fastening regions, and
the handle region has curved surfaces.

3. The side door of claim 1 , wherein:
the pivoting lever has an upper side, and
the upper side is configured to mate with one or more of the fastening regions.

4. The side door of claim 1 , wherein:
the door lock actuator has an inertia compensation spring,
the inertia compensation spring urges the pivoting lever in a first pivoting direction,
the first pivoting direction is counter to a second pivoting direction for actuating the mechanical actuating means, and
the inertia compensation spring urges the pivoting lever in the first pivoting direction only when the pivoting lever has been moved from a stowed position into a protruding position.

5. The side door of claim 1 , wherein:
the door lock actuator has a push-push element, and
when the pivoting lever is pushed, the push-push element pivots the pivoting lever into a protruding position from a stowed position.

6. The side door of claim 1 , wherein:
the door lock actuator has a locking device,
the locking device is unlockable, and
the locking device selectively retains the pivoting lever in a stowed position.

7. The side door of claim 6 , wherein the locking device has a first spring and a second spring to control movement of the pivoting lever from the stowed position to a protruding position.

8. The side door of claim 7 , wherein the first spring is a catch spring to urge the pivoting lever toward the stowed position.

9. The side door of claim 6 , wherein:
the locking device has a rocker,
the rocker is movable between a latched position and an unlatched position,
when the rocker is in the latched position, the rocker retains the pivoting lever in the stowed position,
when the rocker moves from the latched position to the unlatched position, the rocker pushes the pivoting lever to a protruding position, and
the rocker exits the latched position via one or more of a predefined pivoting movement and manual tensioning of a spring element.

10. The side door of claim 1 , wherein:
the door lock actuator has a locking device,
the locking device has a push-push element,
the push-push element selectively retains the pivoting lever in a stowed position,
when the push-push element is released via a movement of the pivoting lever in a first direction, the push-push element pushes the pivoting lever in a second direction from the stowed position into a protruding position, and
the second direction is opposite the first direction.

11. The side door of claim 1 , wherein the electric switch selectively electrically actuates the door lock.

12. The side door of claim 11 , wherein the electric switch and the mechanical actuating means are actuated in a first movement direction.

13. The side door of claim 11 , wherein:
the door lock actuator has a locking device,
when the pivoting lever moves in a first direction, the pivoting lever unlocks the locking device, and
when the electric switch moves in the first direction, the electric switch actuates the door lock.

14. The side door of claim 1 , wherein:
the door lock actuator has a pressure mechanism, and
the pressure mechanism is configured to push the pivoting lever from a stowed position to a protruding position.

15. A module for a side door of a motor vehicle comprising:
a door lock actuator connected to a door lock, the door lock actuator being an interior door actuator and having a pivoting lever pivotably mounted about a rotational axis of a joint, the pivoting lever having a coupling section connected to a mechanical actuating means of the door lock;
an electric switch disposed in the pivoting lever and connected to the door lock via a signal line; and
an interior door handle having
one or more fastening regions, and
at least one handle region, the handle region defining an opening to receive a hand and having an axial extent, wherein:

the pivoting lever is integrated into the handle region of the interior door handle, and
the rotational axis is oriented substantially transversely with respect to the axial extent.

Assignees

• Illinois Tool Works

Inventors

• Wilke Zsolt
• Och Roland
• Seubert Matthias

Classifications

• E05B81/76

  Detection of handle operation; Detection of a user approaching a handle; Electrical switching actions performed by door handles · CPC title

• E05B79/22 Primary

  Operative connections between handles, sill buttons or lock knobs and the lock unit (mounting of non-movable base elements of a handle to a lock E05B79/06) · CPC title

• E05B77/245

  by blocking the movement of a movable element · CPC title

• E05B81/00

  Power-actuated vehicle locks · CPC title

• E05B77/22

  Functions related to actuation of locks from the passenger compartment of the vehicle · CPC title