Motor vehicle lock

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9874046-B2
Application number	US-201313941254-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 12, 2013
Priority date	Mar 25, 2013
Publication date	Jan 23, 2018
Grant date	Jan 23, 2018

Abstract

The invention relates to a motor vehicle lock for a motor vehicle door arrangement, wherein a catch and a pawl are provided. The catch can be brought into an opening position and into a closed position. The catch may be brought into holding engagement with a lock striker. The pawl may be brought into an engagement position. The pawl may be deflected into a release position. A pawl actuation lever is provided for deflecting the pawl. An engagement arrangement is provided. The engagement arrangement comprises a deflection lever on the side of the pawl actuation lever and a counter contour on the side of the pawl. The deflection lever is configured to engage the counter contour. An actuation movement of the pawl actuation lever can deflect the pawl into the release. An inertial characteristic of the deflection lever causes a deflection movement along a free-wheeling path.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A motor vehicle lock for a motor vehicle door arrangement, comprising:
a catch and a pawl, which is assigned to the catch, wherein the catch can be brought into an opening position and into a closed position, wherein the catch, which is in the closed position, is or may be brought into holding engagement with a lock striker, wherein the pawl may be brought into an engagement position, in which it is in blocking engagement with the catch, wherein the pawl may be deflected into a release position, in which it releases the catch;
a pawl actuation lever for deflecting the pawl into the release position; and
an engagement arrangement between the pawl actuation lever and the pawl, wherein the engagement arrangement comprises a deflection lever on the side of the pawl actuation lever and a counter contour on the side of the pawl, wherein the deflection lever is configured to engage the counter contour, thereby deflecting the pawl into the release position, wherein an actuation movement of the pawl actuation lever for deflecting the pawl into the release position is translated into a deflection movement of the deflection lever, wherein an inertial characteristic of the deflection lever causes a deflection movement along a free-wheeling path, in which free-wheeling path the deflection lever misses the counter contour, when the actuation movement surpasses a rapidity threshold, and causes a deflection movement along an engagement path, in which engagement path the deflection lever engages the counter contour, when the actuation movement is below the rapidity threshold;
a peg structure coupled to the deflection lever;
a free-wheeling spring arrangement comprising a free-wheeling spring configured to engage the peg structure to exert a free-wheeling pre-tension force on the deflection lever towards the free-wheeling path; and
an engagement spring configured to exert an engagement pre-tension force on the deflection lever towards the engagement path.

2. The motor vehicle lock according to claim 1 , wherein the counter contour is arranged on a contour plate which is coupled torque-proof to the pawl and/or wherein the deflection lever comprises a corner profile for engaging the counter contour.

3. The motor vehicle lock according to claim 1 , wherein the deflection movement comprises a circular movement and the deflection movement along the free-wheeling path is caused by a centrifugal force acting on the deflection lever.

4. The motor vehicle lock according to claim 1 , wherein, the inertial characteristic of the deflection lever comprises the inertial mass and/or the center of mass, which inertial characteristic is configured such that it causes a deflection movement along the free-wheeling path through the centrifugal force acting on the deflection lever when the actuation movement surpasses a predetermined rapidity threshold.

5. The motor vehicle lock according to claim 1 , wherein the engagement spring is arranged such that the engagement pre-tension force increases with the deflection movement of the deflection lever.

6. The motor vehicle lock according to claim 1 , wherein the deflection lever is configured to pivot around a pivoting axis and the center of mass of the deflection lever is displaced from the pivoting axis.

7. The motor vehicle lock according to claim 6 , wherein the pivoting axis is a deflection lever axis of the pawl actuation lever.

8. The motor vehicle lock according to claim 6 , wherein the pawl actuation lever is configured to pivot around an actuation lever axis and the deflection lever is pivotably coupled to the pawl actuation lever, wherein the engagement spring exerts the engagement pre-tension force on the actuation lever axis.

9. The motor vehicle lock according to claim 1 , wherein the engagement arrangement comprises a return spring arrangement configured to exert a return force on the pawl actuation lever.

10. The motor vehicle lock according to claim 9 , wherein the return spring arrangement comprises a return spring which is a leg spring arranged around the actuation lever axis.

11. The motor vehicle lock according to claim 9 , wherein the return spring arrangement is configured to exert a return force on the pawl actuation lever on a return protrusion of the pawl actuation lever, in a direction opposite to the deflection movement.

12. The motor vehicle lock according to claim 1 , wherein a lock mechanism is provided, which may be brought into different functional states such as “unlocked” and “locked” via a lock actuation arrangement and wherein the lock mechanism acts on the deflection lever for realizing the functional states “unlocked” and “locked” such that in the functional state “unlocked” the lock mechanism causes a deflection movement along the free-wheeling path and in the functional state “locked” the lock mechanism causes a deflection movement along the engagement path.

13. The motor vehicle lock according to claim 12 , wherein the engagement arrangement comprises a blocking projection configured to disengage the free-wheeling spring from the peg structure after the deflection movement has reached the disengagement distance.

14. The motor vehicle lock according to claim 12 , wherein a locking lever of the lock mechanism engages a lock contour of the deflection lever for causing a deflection movement along the free-wheeling path, in particular, wherein the lock contour is arranged at a same end of the deflection lever as the corner profile.

15. The vehicle lock according to one of claim 1 , characterized in that the engagement arrangement comprises a flection structure with a pair of arms comprising a first arm and a second arm, wherein the pair of arms is coupled pivotably around a flection axis and wherein the flection structure is configured to exert an internal torque on the pair of arms against a pivoting of the pair of arms from an angled neutral position in at least one pivoting direction.

16. Motor vehicle lock according to claim 15 , wherein the first arm is the deflection lever.

17. Motor vehicle lock according to claim 15 , wherein the second arm is a door handle lever.

Assignees

• Brose Schliesssysteme Gmbh
• Brose Schliesssysteme Gmbh

Inventors

• Wittelsbuerger Michael
• Rosales David

Classifications

• E05B77/06 Primary

  by means of inertial forces · CPC title

• Y10T292/0908

  Emergency operating means · CPC title

• E05B85/243

  with a bifurcated bolt · CPC title

• Y10S292/22

  Inertia operated · CPC title