WO2024260378A1

WO2024260378A1 - Motor vehicle latch

Info

Publication number: WO2024260378A1
Application number: PCT/CN2024/100185
Authority: WO
Inventors: Pingchun HE; Yang Yang
Original assignee: Kiekert Automotive (Changshu) Co., Ltd.
Priority date: 2023-06-20
Filing date: 2024-06-19
Publication date: 2024-12-26
Also published as: CN220621478U

Abstract

The present disclosure provides a motor vehicle latch, comprising: a housing defining an internal space; a locking mechanism accommodated in the internal space; an electric drive device accommodated in the internal space and including a motor and a power transmission device, the power transmission device including a gear and an actuating part capable of actuating the locking mechanism; a detection element accommodated in the internal space for detecting the state of the locking mechanism; an external connection terminal located outside the internal space of the housing; and an internal connection terminal located inside the internal space, wherein the detection element and the internal connection terminal are respectively integrally formed with the housing. According to the above solution, an electrical component such as the detection element, a connector connected to other electric components such as the motor, etc. are directly formed in the body of the housing, thereby greatly reducing the number of components to be mounted and reducing the assembly difficulty.

Description

MOTOR VEHICLE LATCH

Technical Field

The present disclosure relates to the technical field of latches, and in particular to a motor vehicle latch.

Background Art

In a motor vehicle, a latch is provided for locking a component. For example, a side door latch is provided for locking a side door, and a tailgate latch is provided on a tailgate for locking the tailgate. With the development of vehicle intelligence and electrification, the degree of intelligence and electrification of motor vehicle latches is also increasing, and electrically driven latches have been widely used.

Due to the limitation of mounting space, the volume of the motor vehicle latches should be as small as possible. However, in order to achieve the electrification and intelligence of motor vehicle latches, it is necessary to add various components such as a motor, a power transmission mechanism, a detection mechanism and a control mechanism to achieve corresponding functions, and this will inevitably lead to an increase in the number of components of the motor vehicle latches, more complicated installation, and a corresponding increase in volume.

Summary

The present disclosure proposes the following technical solution.

A motor vehicle latch includes:

a housing defining an internal space and including at least a first housing part with a body and a second housing part with a body;

a locking mechanism accommodated in the internal space;

an electric drive device accommodated in the internal space and including a motor and a power transmission device, the power transmission device including a gear and an actuating part, the actuating part being capable of actuating the locking mechanism;

a detection element accommodated in the internal space for detecting the state of the locking mechanism;

an external connection terminal located outside the internal space of the housing; and

an internal connection terminal located inside the internal space, wherein

the detection element and the internal connection terminal are respectively integrally formed with the housing.

According to the above solution, an electrical component (such as the detection element) , a connector (i.e., the internal connection terminal) connected to other electric components, etc. are directly formed in the body of the housing, which reduces the number of components to be mounted, reduces the assembly difficulty, and reduces the volume of the motor vehicle latch accordingly.

According to one aspect of the present disclosure, the detection element is connected with the external connection terminal, and a line connecting the detection element with the external connection terminal is integrally arranged inside the body or on the surface of the body.

According to one aspect of the present disclosure, the internal connection terminal is connected with the external connection terminal, and a line connecting the internal connection terminal with the external connection terminal is integrally arranged inside the body or on the surface of the body.

According to one aspect of the present disclosure, the internal connection terminal is electrically connected with the motor.

According to one aspect of the present disclosure, the locking mechanism includes a pawl and a catch, both of which can rotate around their respective rotating axis, and the detection element is a micro switch, and during the rotation of the pawl, the contact of the micro switch is pressed or released accordingly.

According to one aspect of the present disclosure, the detection element and the internal connection terminal are respectively integrally formed with the second housing part.

According to one aspect of the present disclosure, the line connecting the detection element with the external connection terminal is integrally arranged inside the body or on the surface of the body of the second housing part.

According to one aspect of the present disclosure, the line connecting the internal connection terminal with the external connection terminal is integrally arranged inside the body or on the surface of the body of the second housing part.

According to one aspect of the present disclosure, the first housing part is provided with protrusions or holes, and the second housing part is provided with holes or protrusions corresponding to the protrusions or holes of the first housing part.

According to one aspect of the present disclosure, the second housing part is provided with a restraining member for preventing the shaft of the motor from jumping.

Other advantageous features and advantages of the present disclosure will be described in detail below with reference to the drawings.

Brief Description of the Drawings

FIG. 1 shows a front view of a motor vehicle latch according to the present disclosure.

FIG. 2 shows an exploded view of the motor vehicle latch according to the present disclosure.

FIG. 3 shows a perspective view of a second housing part of the motor vehicle latch according to the present disclosure.

FIG. 4 shows a perspective view of a first housing part of the motor vehicle latch according to the present disclosure.

Detailed Description of Embodiments

Embodiments of the present disclosure are described below with reference to the drawings. In the following description, many specific details are set forth so that those skilled in the art can more fully understand and implement the present disclosure. However, it will be obvious to those skilled in the art that the present disclosure may be implemented without some of these specific details. In addition, it should be understood that the present disclosure is not limited to the particular embodiments described. Instead, it is contemplated that the present disclosure can be implemented by any combination of the features and elements described below, regardless of whether they relate to different embodiments. Thus, the following aspects, features, embodiments and advantages are merely illustrative and should not be considered as elements or limitations of the claims, unless otherwise explicitly recited in the claims.

The description of the orientations that may be used in the following description, such as "left" , "right" , "upper" , "lower" , unless otherwise explicitly stated, is only for ease of description, and is not intended to form any limitation on the technical solutions of the present disclosure. In addition, the terms such as "first" and "second" are used below to describe elements in the present application, and these terms are only used to distinguish the individual elements and are not intended to limit the nature, sequence, order or number of these elements.

FIG. 1 shows a front view of a motor vehicle latch according to the present disclosure. As shown in FIG. 1, the motor vehicle latch of the present disclosure includes a first housing part 1, a second housing part 2, and a third housing part 3. The three housing parts form a housing of the motor vehicle latch, and a space is formed inside the housing for accommodating the components of the latch. An interface component 21 is further provided on the outer side of the second housing part 2 for providing an electrical connection between a component accommodated inside the housing and an external component.

FIG. 1 also shows an emergency releasing lever 4 to provide an emergency releasing function when the latch is locked so as to achieve manual unlocking in an emergency.

FIG. 2 shows an exploded view of the motor vehicle latch according to the present disclosure. FIG. 2 shows components for performing the function of the latch, in addition to the first housing part 1, the second housing part 2, the third housing part 3, and the emergency releasing lever 4 which can be seen in FIG. 1. Specifically, the latch of the present disclosure is an electric latch, and accordingly, a motor 51 is provided. The motor 51 has an output shaft on which a worm 52 is provided, and the worm 52 is further engaged with a gear 53. The gear 53 is fixedly arranged on the shaft, an actuator in the form of, for example, a cam is fixedly connected with the gear 53 or with the shaft, and the actuator can rotate along with rotation of the gear 53 so as to actuate the locking mechanism. Preferably, a first elastic element 54, for example, in the form of a torsional spring, is further provided for returning the gear 53.

Specifically, the locking mechanism includes a pawl 41 and a catch 42. The catch 42 is arranged on a first pivot shaft 43 and is thus rotatably supported on the housing. The first pivot shaft 43 is further provided with a second elastic element 44 for returning the catch 42. The second elastic element 44 is also in the form of a torsional spring. The catch 42 is provided with a slot for cooperating with a striker and a structure for cooperating with the pawl 41.

Similarly, the pawl 41 is arranged on the second pivot shaft and is thus rotatably supported on the housing. The second pivot shaft may also be provided with an elastic element for returning the catch 42. During operation of the motor 51, the actuator on the gear 53 can drive the pawl 41 to rotate, and the pawl 41 further cooperates with the catch 42.

The structure and operating process of the locking mechanism of the present disclosure are described as above. As can be seen from the above description, in order to achieve the electrification and intelligence of the motor vehicle latch, various electrical components, such as the motor 51 for driving the motion of components of the latch, are provided inside the housing of the latch. In order to detect the positions of the components of the latch, the detection element and the like are also provided. Since these components need to be powered, it is necessary to provide corresponding lines. This results in a complex arrangement of the electrical components and the electrical lines during assembly of the latch. Thus, the present disclosure proposes an improvement solution for the arrangement of the electrical components, and the solution of the present disclosure is further described below with reference to FIG. 3.

FIG. 3 shows a perspective view of a second housing part 2 of the motor vehicle latch according to the present disclosure. As shown in FIG. 3, the second housing part 2 has a body. The body has a bottom portion and a wall portion extending upward from the bottom portion. A first post 22 is provided on the bottom portion for cooperating with a corresponding hole in the first housing part 1 and can achieve guiding and positioning functions. The first post 22 extends substantially perpendicularly to the bottom portion. The first post 22 is provided with a plurality of radially extending bumps. Accordingly, the number and positions of the posts can be set according to the size of the housing and other factors. For example, the second housing part 2 shown in FIG. 3 is further provided with a second post 26 for cooperating with a corresponding hole provided in the first housing part 1. A transmission component mounting portion 23 is further provided in the interior enclosed by a wall portion and a bottom portion of the second housing part 2. The transmission component mounting portion 23 may be configured as a cylindrical structure to accommodate one end of the shaft on which the gear 53 is provided as shown in FIG. 2.

The interface component 21 is arranged on the outer side of the wall portion of the second housing part 2 for connecting the electrical components, such as the motor 51 and the detection element, inside the motor vehicle latch to an external component such as a wiring harness of the vehicle body. As shown in FIG. 1, the interface component 21 has four connection terminals in two groups, respectively referred to as a first group of connection terminals and a second group of connection terminals. The number of the connection terminals is not limited to four, but may be set according to the number of the internal electrical components.

Accordingly, a third group of connection terminals 24 is further provided on the bottom portion of the body of the second housing part 2. The third group of connection terminals 24 can be connected to a group of connection terminals in the interface component 21 via a line that is formed inside the body or on the surface of the body of the second housing part 2 by means of injection molding or other methods, and can also be connected to the corresponding electric component such as the motor 51 so as to power the electric component.

A restraining member 25 is provided inside the second housing part 2. The restraining member 25 can restrain the shaft of the motor 51 to prevent excessive jumping of the shaft during operation.

A detection element 27 is further provided inside the second housing part 2. Specifically, in this embodiment, the detection element 27 is a micro switch. When the motor vehicle latch is unlocked or locked, the motion of the corresponding component such as the pawl 41 in the latch presses or releases the contact of the micro switch, so as to switch the micro switch to be on or off, making it possible to know the state of the latch. The detection element 27 is electrically connected to another group of connection terminals in the interface component 21. As a preferred embodiment, the detection element 27 is connected to another group of connection terminals in the interface component 21 via, for example, a line that is formed inside the body or on the surface of the body of the second housing part 2 by means of injection molding or other methods.

In the above embodiment of the present disclosure, the electrical component (such as the detection element) , a connector connected to other electric components such as the motor, etc. are at least partially directly formed in the body of the housing, and the line for powering these components is also directly formed in the body or on the surface of the body of the housing, thereby greatly reducing the number of components to be mounted and reducing the assembly difficulty.

FIG. 4 shows a perspective view of a first housing part of the motor vehicle latch according to the present disclosure. The first housing part 1 is provided with two holes for cooperating with the posts on the second housing part 2, namely, a first hole 12 for cooperating with the first post 22 and a second hole 14 for cooperating with the second post 26. In addition, the first housing part 1 is further provided with a third hole 13. The third hole 13 is configured for mounting the other end of the shaft on which the gear 53 is provided.

Referring to FIG. 1 again, the motor vehicle latch of the present disclosure further includes the emergency releasing lever 4 that is rotatably arranged on the housing and partially extends into the housing to engage with the pawl 41 to actuate the pawl 41. When the emergency releasing lever 4 is operated by a user, the emergency releasing lever 4 can actuate the pawl 41 to achieve manual unlocking in an emergency.

The specific embodiments based on the drawings are described as above. On this basis, those skilled in the art can make corresponding changes. For example, the interface component 21 may also be located on the first housing part 1, and the detection element 27 and the third group of connection terminals 24 and the corresponding line may also be located on the first housing part 1 accordingly. The positional arrangement of these components may be set according to the corresponding structures of the components of the latch.

The motor vehicle latch described herein is preferably a motor vehicle tailgate latch, and is also applicable to other motor vehicle latches, such as a motor vehicle hood latch, a fuel tank cap latch or a motor vehicle side door latch.

The foregoing descriptions are only exemplary implementations related to the spirit and principle of the present disclosure. It can be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes can be made to the described examples without departing from the spirit and principles, and these changes and various equivalents are envisioned by the inventor and fall within the scope defined by the claims of the present disclosure.

Claims

A motor vehicle latch, comprising:

a housing defining an internal space and including at least a first housing part (1) with a body and a second housing part (2) with a body;

a locking mechanism accommodated in the inner space;

an electric drive device accommodated in the internal space and including a motor (51) and a power transmission device including a gear (51) and an actuating part capable of actuating the locking mechanism;

a detection element (27) accommodated in the internal space for detecting the state of the locking mechanism;

an external connection terminal located outside the internal space of the housing; and

an internal connection terminal located inside the internal space;

wherein the detection element (27) and the internal connection terminal are respectively integrally formed with the housing.
The motor vehicle latch according to claim 1, wherein,

the detection element (27) is connected with the external connection terminal, and a line connecting the detection element (27) with the external connection terminal is integrally arranged inside the body or on the surface of the body.
The motor vehicle latch according to claim 1, wherein,

the internal connection terminal is connected with the external connection terminal, and a line connecting the internal connection terminal and the external connection terminal is integrally arranged inside the body or on the surface of the body.
The motor vehicle latch according to any of claims 1 to 3, wherein, the internal connection terminal is electrically connected with the motor (51) .
The motor vehicle latch according to any of claims 1 to 3, wherein,

the locking mechanism comprises a pawl (41) and a catch (42) , both of which can rotate around their respective rotating axis, and the detection element (27) is a micro switch, and during the rotation of the pawl (41) , the contact of the micro switch is pressed or released accordingly.
The motor vehicle latch according to any of claims 1 to 3, wherein,

the detection element (27) and the internal connection terminal are respectively integrally formed with the second housing part (2) .
The motor vehicle latch according to claim 2, wherein,

the line connecting the detection element (27) with the external connection terminal is integrally arranged inside the body or on the surface of the body of the second housing part (2) .
The motor vehicle latch according to claim 3, wherein,

the line connecting the internal connection terminal with the external connection terminal is integrally arranged inside the body or on the surface of the body of the second housing part (2) .
The motor vehicle latch according to any of claims 1 to 3, wherein,

the first housing part (1) is provided with protrusions or holes, and the second housing part (2) is provided with holes or protrusions corresponding to the protrusions or holes of the first housing part (1) .
The motor vehicle latch according to any of claims 1 to 3, wherein,

the second housing part (2) is provided with a restraining member (25) for preventing the shaft of the motor (51) from jumping.