Seat belt buckle assembly

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9272686-B2
Application number	US-201313745009-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jan 18, 2013
Priority date	Nov 17, 2010
Publication date	Mar 1, 2016
Grant date	Mar 1, 2016

Abstract

A buckle assembly for a seat belt system includes a belt buckle, a transmission mechanism arranged to move the belt buckle from a first position to a second position, and an electric motor for driving the transmission mechanism. The motor includes a stator and a rotor rotatably mounted to the stator. The rotor includes a motor shaft, a commutator fixed to the motor shaft, a rotor core fixed to the motor shaft and rotor windings wound about teeth of the rotor core and electrically connected to segments of the commutator. The rotor windings include a plurality of winding units. Each winding unit includes at least two coils, the coils of each winding unit being wound about the same teeth and electrically connected to a same pair of segments, in parallel.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A belt buckle assembly for a seat belt system, comprising:
a belt buckle;
a transmission mechanism for moving the belt buckle from a first position to a second position; and
an electric motor for driving the transmission mechanism, the motor comprising a stator and a rotor rotatably mounted to the stator, the rotor comprising a motor shaft, a commutator fixed to the motor shaft, a rotor core fixed to the motor shaft and rotor windings wound about teeth of the rotor core and electrically connected to segments of the commutator, wherein the rotor windings comprise a plurality of winding units, each winding unit comprising at least two coils, the coils of each winding unit being wound about the same teeth and electrically connected to a same pair of segments in parallel.

2. The buckle assembly of claim 1 , wherein the rotor windings are arranged in two layers, an inner layer and an outer layer, and each winding unit comprises two coils, one of the two coils being arranged in the inner layer, the other one of the two coils being arranged in the outer layer.

3. The buckle assembly of claim 1 , wherein the two coils are spaced from each other.

4. The buckle assembly of claim 1 , wherein the rotor windings are wound by one continuous wire.

5. The buckle assembly of claim 1 , wherein a part of the inner layer coils and a part of the outer layer coils are wound by one continuous wire, and the other part of the inner layer coils and the other part of the outer layer coils are wound by another continuous wire.

6. The buckle assembly of claim 1 , wherein at least one dummy slot is formed in a circumferential surface of each tooth of the rotor core.

7. The buckle assembly of claim 1 , wherein the rotor core comprises five teeth, and each tooth comprises two dummy slots formed in a circumferential surface of the tooth.

8. The buckle assembly of claim 1 , wherein the transmission mechanism comprises a flexible cable, a deflector which deflects the cable in the direction of the belt buckle, and a converting structure coupled between the motor and the cable for converting rotary movement of the motor into linear movement of the cable, the belt buckle being moved by the cable under the guidance of the deflector when the motor rotates.

9. The buckle assembly of claim 1 , wherein the number of teeth is the same as the number of segments.

10. The buckle assembly of claim 1 , wherein the stator has two magnetic poles, the rotor core has five teeth, and the commutator has five segments.

11. The buckle assembly of claim 8 , wherein the converting structure comprises an outer threaded shaft rotated by the motor, and an inner threaded member engaged with the outer threaded shaft and fixed to the cable, the inner threaded member being constrained to move along the outer threaded shaft as the motor rotates to linearly move the cable.

12. The buckle assembly of claim 11 , wherein the outer threaded shaft is the motor shaft.

Assignees

• Johnson Electric Sa

Inventors

• Chang Hang Fung
• Ma Hang Cheong
• Wong Daniel Ming Hong

Classifications

• B60R22/195

  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

• H02K23/30

  having lap or loop windings · CPC title

• B60R2022/1957

  characterised by electric actuators · CPC title

• B60R22/20 Primary

  adjustable in position, e.g. in height · CPC title