Spring assist lock and release lower leg front-end stiffener

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9821754-B2
Application number	US-201615054552-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Feb 26, 2016
Priority date	Feb 26, 2016
Publication date	Nov 21, 2017
Grant date	Nov 21, 2017

Abstract

A vehicle front-end stiffener includes a hinge bracket pivotally coupled to a support bracket. The hinge bracket supports a stiffener beam. A spring engages the support bracket and the hinge bracket biasing the stiffener beam in a deployed position. A moving element in a locking mechanism can retractably interlock the hinge bracket when a vehicle exceeds a threshold speed to maintain the stiffener beam in the deployed position.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A vehicle front end stiffener comprising:
a support bracket;
a hinge bracket pivotally coupled to the support bracket;
a stiffener beam supported by the hinge bracket; and
a spring between the support bracket and the hinge bracket biasing the stiffener beam in a deployed position; and
a locking mechanism including a movable element retractably engaging one of the hinge bracket and the support bracket in the deployed position.

2. The vehicle front end stiffener of claim 1 , wherein the spring has a first end and a second end, the first end of the spring engages the hinge bracket and the second end of the spring engages the support bracket.

3. The vehicle front end stiffener of claim 1 further comprising a pivot stud pivotally connecting the support bracket and the hinge bracket.

4. The vehicle front end stiffener of claim 3 , wherein a body of the spring is mounted on the pivot stud.

5. The vehicle front end stiffener of claim 1 , wherein the spring is a torsional spring.

6. The vehicle front end stiffener of claim 1 , wherein at least one of the hinge bracket and the support bracket defines an opening aligned with the movable element in the deployed position.

7. The vehicle front end stiffener of claim 1 , wherein the locking mechanism is a solenoid.

8. The vehicle front end stiffener of claim 1 , wherein the locking mechanism locks the stiffener beam in the deployed position when the vehicle exceeds a threshold speed.

9. The vehicle front end stiffener of claim 1 , wherein the locking mechanism is fixed to the support bracket.

Assignees

• Ford Global Tech Llc

Inventors

• Farooq S M Iskander
• Sundararajan Srinivasan
• Cheng James Chih
• Faruque Mohammed Omar
• Jaradi Dean M

Classifications

• B60R21/34 Primary

  Protecting non-occupants of a vehicle, e.g. pedestrians {(B60R19/02 takes precedence)} · CPC title

• B62D25/08

  Front or rear portions {(sub-frames for mounting engine or suspensions B62D21/11)} · CPC title

• B60R19/12

  vertically spaced · CPC title

• B60R2021/0004

  Frontal collision · CPC title

• B60R2021/0053

  Legs · CPC title