Restraining system for a seat belt buckle

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11338764-B2
Application number	US-201716474302-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 19, 2017
Priority date	Dec 30, 2016
Publication date	May 24, 2022
Grant date	May 24, 2022

Abstract

The present invention describes a restraining system (20) for a seat belt buckle (22) comprising: a housing (44), a motor (24), a set of gears (25, 26, 28, 30), locking mechanism (46, 48, 50), and a controlling unit (41); the restraining unit is mounted on the housing (44) for providing restraining force to the seat belt buckle (22); the restraining unit comprises at least one motor; the set of gears (25, 26, 28, 30) are mounted on the housing (44) and connected with the at least one motor (24) for providing either first direction motion or second direction motion to the seat belt buckle (22), on receiving the restraining force; the locking mechanism is mounted on the housing (44) for controlling rotation of one or more gears from the set of gears (25, 26, 28, 30); the controlling unit is operatively connected with the restraining unit and the locking mechanism, the controlling unit (41) is configured for controlling operation of the motor (24) and the locking mechanism, based on a predefined instruction.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A restraining system configured to move a seat belt buckle between a restraint position and a presented position, the system comprising:
a control motion unit comprising
a housing; a cable extending from the housing and connected to the buckle,
at least one motor;
a set of gears mounted on the housing and connected with the at least one motor, a locking mechanism that locks the set of gears from moving; and
a controlling unit for controlling operation of the at least one motor and the locking mechanism, based on a predefined instruction;
wherein the locking mechanism comprises:
a spring mounted on the housing;
an engagement member connected to the spring, the spring biasing the engagement member toward at least one gear of the set of gears; and
at least one solenoid connected with the engagement member;
wherein upon receiving a control signal from the controlling unit, the solenoid is activated, linearly moving the engagement member to engage the at least one gear of the set of gears to lock rotation of the at least one gear of the set of gears.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein the cable is made of steel and is flexible in nature.

3. The system of claim 1 , wherein the controlling unit is an embedded system that comprises one or more instructions for controlling operation of the at least one of the restraining unit and the locking mechanism.

4. The system of claim 1 , further comprising one or more sensors to count the number of rotations of the at least one motor.

5. The system of claim 1 , wherein the set of gears comprises:
a sun gear having teeth on predefined lengths on the outer circumferences of a first member and a second member, mounted on the housing and connected to a shaft of the at least one motor using a gear driver for receiving the rotational force, wherein the rotational force rotates the sun gear in first and second directions;
a planet gear having teeth on an outer circumference, mounted on the housing and meshed with the first member of the sun gear, wherein the rotation of sun gear in the first direction rotates the planet gear; and
a ring gear mounted on the housing, having teeth on at least one predefined length of at least one of an internal circumference to enable meshing with the at least one of the planet gear and center gear with gear teeth to enable meshing with the second member of sun gear when the sun gears rotates in a defined direction,
wherein the rotation of the planet gear rotates the ring gear, thereby providing one of the first direction motion and second direction motion to the seat belt buckle, through the cable and wherein when the second member of the sun gear contacts the center gear of the ring the buckle is capable of moving in the second direction at an advanced rate.

6. The system of claim 5 , wherein each of the sun gear, the planet gear, and the ring gear have predefined diameters to provide 6:1 gear drive ratio during the first direction motion of the seat belt buckle and 1:1 gear drive ratio during the second direction motion of the seat belt buckle with the second member in contact with the center gear.

7. The system of claim 5 , wherein the ring gear has a plurality of grooves on at least one predefined length of outer circumference, wherein the at least one gear of the set of gears locked by the engagement member is the ring gear.

8. The system of claim 5 , wherein a first end of the cable is connected to a predefined point on the ring gear and a second end is connected with the seat belt buckle.

9. The system of claim 5 , further comprising one or more cable guide tubes for channelizing the cable which is connected between the ring gear and the seat belt buckle.

10. A restraining mechanism for a buckle assembly comprising:
a restraining unit and a locking mechanism mounted on a housing for controlling positioning of a seat belt buckle, in one of a forward position, backward position, and normal position, on receiving a control signal from a controlling unit, and
a motor, a gear connected to the motor, and a cable,
wherein the locking mechanism comprises:
a spring mounted on the housing;
an engagement member connected to the spring, the spring biasing the engagement member toward the gear; and
at least one solenoid connected with the engagement member;
wherein upon receiving the control signal from the controlling unit, the solenoid is activated, linearly moving the engagement member to engage the gear to lock rotation of the gear.

11. The assembly of claim 10 , wherein the controlling unit is an embedded system comprising one or more instructions for controlling an operation of at least one of the restraining unit and the locking mechanism.

12. The assembly of claim 10 , further comprising one or more sensors to count a number of rotations of the motor.

13. The assembly of claim 10 , further comprising one or more cable guide tubes for channelizing the cable which is connected between the gear and the seat belt buckle.

14. The assembly of claim 10 , wherein a first end of the cable is connected to a predefined point on the gear and a second end is connected with the seat belt buckle.

15. The assembly of claim 14 , wherein the cable is made of steel and is flexible in nature.

Assignees

• Key Safety Systems Inc

Inventors

• Grzic Rudi

Classifications

• B60R2022/1806

  for buckles · CPC title

• B60R22/195 Primary

  with means to tension the belt in an emergency, {e.g. means of the through-anchor or splitted reel type}(electrical circuits for triggering safety arrangements {B60R21/01}) · CPC title

• B60R22/03 Primary

  Means for presenting the belt or part thereof to the wearer {, e.g. foot-operated} · CPC title

• B60R22/1952

  Transmission of tensioning power by cable; Return motion locking means therefor · CPC title

• B60R2022/1957

  characterised by electric actuators · CPC title