Motor vehicle door lock

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11519201-B2
Application number	US-201816485858-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Feb 2, 2018
Priority date	Feb 14, 2017
Publication date	Dec 6, 2022
Grant date	Dec 6, 2022

Abstract

A motor vehicle door lock, comprising a locking mechanism, which essentially consists of a rotary latch and a pawl, and further comprising an actuation lever mechanism acting on the locking mechanism, and an inertia element. Said inertia element, during normal operation, follows a movement of the actuation lever mechanism. At high accelerations, for example in the event of a crash, the inertia element blocks the actuation lever mechanism acting on the locking mechanism. According to the invention, an elastic damping element is connected to the actuation lever mechanism. Said damping element abuts the inertia element at least in the event of a crash for the purpose of damping vibrations.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A motor vehicle door lock comprising:
a locking mechanism having a rotary latch and pawl;
an actuation lever mechanism acting on the locking mechanism, wherein the actuation lever mechanism includes an actuation lever;
an inertia element mechanically coupled to the actuation lever;
an elastic damping element which is connected to the actuation lever; wherein the inertia element, during normal operation, follows a movement of the actuation lever and during high accelerations in an event of a crash, the inertia element blocks the actuation lever mechanism from acting on the locking mechanism, wherein during high accelerations, the inertia element remains at rest and the actuation lever rotates causing the damping element to abut the inertia element to dampen vibrations of the actuation lever transmitted to the inertia element, and wherein the damping element abuts the inertia element only during high accelerations to increase inertia;
a coupling lever and a trigger lever, wherein the actuation lever is connectable via the coupling lever to the trigger lever for the locking mechanism; and
a control lever, wherein the coupling lever is guided by the control lever.

2. The motor vehicle door lock according to claim 1 , wherein the control lever interacts with the inertia element.

3. The motor vehicle door lock according to claim 2 , wherein the control lever includes a guide pin and the inertia element includes a guide recess in which the guide pin engages.

4. The motor vehicle door lock according to claim 3 , wherein the guide recess is a slit-shaped area that extends radially relative to a rotary axis of the inertia element.

5. The motor vehicle door lock according to claim 1 , wherein the actuation lever is formed as an external actuation lever.

6. The motor vehicle door lock according to claim 1 , wherein the elastic damping element is a spring.

7. The motor vehicle door lock according to claim 6 , wherein the spring is a leg spring with at least one spring leg connected to a base.

8. The motor vehicle door lock according to claim 7 , wherein the spring leg is angled in a direction toward the inertia element.

9. The motor vehicle door lock according to claim 7 , wherein the spring leg abuts a blockade contour of the inertia element only at high accelerations and is deflected and/or deformed.

10. The motor vehicle door lock according to claim 7 , wherein the base includes a plurality of circular windings.

11. The motor vehicle door lock according to claim 7 , wherein the spring includes an extension that is connected to the spring leg, wherein the extension is bent at a right angle relative to the spring leg.

12. The motor vehicle door lock according to claim 11 , wherein the inertia element includes a blockade contour that is arranged in a first plane that is above or below a second plane in which the extension is arranged, wherein the spring leg abuts the blockade contour during high accelerations.

13. The motor vehicle door lock according to claim 1 , wherein the actuation lever and the trigger lever are arranged on a common axis.

14. The motor vehicle door lock according to claim 1 , wherein the coupling lever is arranged in a plane that is parallel with a plane in which the trigger lever is arranged.

15. The motor vehicle door lock according to claim 1 , wherein the coupling lever has a stop arm that engages a stop edge of the trigger lever.

16. The motor vehicle door lock according to claim 15 further comprising a coupling lever.

17. The motor vehicle door lock according to claim 16 further comprising a control lever, wherein the external actuation lever and the coupling lever are rotatable about a common axis about which the control lever is rotatable.

18. A motor vehicle door lock comprising:
a locking mechanism having a rotary latch and pawl;
an actuation lever mechanism acting on the locking mechanism, wherein the actuation lever mechanism includes an actuation lever;
an inertia element mechanically coupled to the actuation lever;
an elastic damping element which is connected to the actuation lever; wherein the inertia element, during normal operation, follows a movement of the actuation lever and during high accelerations in an event of a crash, the inertia element blocks the actuation lever mechanism from acting on the locking mechanism, wherein during high accelerations, the inertia element remains at rest and the actuation lever rotates causing the damping element to abut the inertia element to dampen vibrations of the actuation lever transmitted to the inertia element, and wherein the damping element abuts the inertia element only during high accelerations to increase inertia; and
a coupling lever and a trigger lever, wherein the actuation lever is connectable via the coupling lever to the trigger lever for the locking mechanism, and wherein the actuation lever and the trigger lever are arranged on a common axis.

19. A motor vehicle door lock comprising:
a locking mechanism having a rotary latch and pawl;
an actuation lever mechanism acting on the locking mechanism, wherein the actuation lever mechanism includes an actuation lever;
an inertia element mechanically coupled to the actuation lever; and
an elastic damping element which is connected to the actuation lever; wherein the inertia element, during normal operation, follows a movement of the actuation lever and during high accelerations in an event of a crash, the inertia element blocks the actuation lever mechanism from acting on the locking mechanism, wherein during high accelerations, the inertia element remains at rest and the actuation lever rotates causing the damping element to abut the inertia element to dampen vibrations of the actuation lever transmitted to the inertia element, and wherein the damping element abuts the inertia element only during high accelerations to increase inertia;
wherein the elastic damping element is a spring, and the spring is a leg spring with at least one spring leg connected to a base; and
wherein the spring includes an extension that is connected to the spring leg, and the extension is bent at a right angle relative to the spring leg.

Assignees

• Kiekert Ag

Inventors

• Fuchs Carsten
• Eichel Dirk

Classifications

• E05B77/06 Primary

  by means of inertial forces · CPC title

• E05B77/38

  Cushion elements, elastic guiding elements or holding elements, e.g. for cushioning or damping the impact of the bolt against the striker during closing of the wing · CPC title

• E05B77/12

  Automatic locking or unlocking at the moment of collision · CPC title