Flap assembly for a vehicle

Abstract

A flap assembly for a vehicle includes a flap, which by way of a linear actuator drive is pivotably drivable about a pivot axis from a closed position to an opened position. The drive includes a spring assembly that acts in a supporting manner on the flap. The actuator drive has an actuator housing that has one end articulated on the body of the vehicle, and an actuator rod being deployable from the other end of the housing. An external end of the actuator rod is articulated on the flap at a radial spacing from the pivot axis. The spring assembly is releasably disposed on the other end of the housing and has a compression spring supported by the actuator housing. The compression spring acts on the flap between a closed position and an initial opening angle of the flap.

Claims

1. A flap assembly for a vehicle, comprising: a linear actuator drive having an actuator housing with a first housing end articulated on a component of a body of the vehicle and having an actuator rod extending through a second housing end of the actuator housing and movable into and out of the housing, the second housing end opposing the first housing end; a flap pivotably drivable about a pivot axis from a closed position to an opened position by said linear actuator drive, wherein an external end of the actuator rod is articulated on the flap at a radial spacing from said pivot axis; and a spring assembly releasably disposed on the actuator housing at the second housing end of the actuator housing, the spring assembly having a compression spring with a first end and a second end, the first end of the compression spring is supported by the second housing end of the actuator housing, the second end of the compression spring acts on the flap when the flap is between the closed position and an initial opening angle of the flap of less than 10° from the closed position, and the second end of the compression spring does not act on the flap when the flap is between the initial opening angle and the opened position, the compression spring being compressed by the flap when the flap is in the closed position, wherein the spring assembly further includes a sleeve-shaped spring housing and a compression element, the spring housing having an end region disposable on the second housing end of the actuator housing, the compression element being arranged between the compression spring and the flap and being displaceable in the spring housing; and the spring housing and the compression element have respective passage openings which are coaxial with the actuator rod and through which the actuator rod protrudes, and the actuator rod being axially displaceable relative to the compression element.

2. The flap assembly according to claim 1, wherein the compression spring acts on the flap by way of the compression element.

3. The flap assembly according to claim 1, wherein the compression spring is a coil compression spring.

4. The flap assembly according to claim 1, wherein the end region of the spring housing has an annular-disk-shaped support wall capable of being supported by the second housing end of the actuator housing of the actuator drive and on which the first end of the compression spring bears.

5. The flap assembly according to claim 4, wherein the spring housing has a guide sleeve which extends from the support wall away from the actuator housing, and in which the compression spring is disposed.

6. The flap assembly according to claim 5, wherein the compression element is axially displaceable in the guide sleeve, and the guide sleeve has a detent that delimits a maximum stroke of the compression element.

7. The flap assembly according to claim 6, wherein the detent comprises a securing ring disposed in an annular groove in an internal wall of the guide sleeve.

8. The flap assembly according to claim 6, wherein the compression element includes a flange portion that interacts with the detent to delimit the maximum stroke of the compression element.

9. The flap assembly according to claim 4, wherein the end region of the spring housing is capable of being fitted onto the second housing end of the actuator housing.

10. The flap assembly according to claim 9, wherein the end region of the spring housing is capable of being fixed in one of a form-fitting manner and force-fitting manner to the second housing end of the actuator housing.

11. The flap assembly according to claim 1, wherein the actuator rod is displaceable relative to the first end and the second end of the compression spring.

12. The flap assembly according to claim 1, wherein the actuator rod is displaced relative to the compression element at least as the flap is moved between the initial opening angle of the flap and the opened position.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

(1) An exemplary embodiment of the invention is illustrated in the drawing and will be explained in more detail hereunder. In the drawing:

(2) FIG. 1 is a longitudinal sectional view of a spring assembly of a flap assembly for a vehicle according to an embodiment of the invention;

(3) FIG. 2 is a longitudinal sectional view of a spring housing of the spring assembly of FIG. 1;

(4) FIG. 3 shows an enlarged section III from FIG. 2;

(5) FIG. 4 is a schematic view of a flap assembly of a vehicle according to an embodiment of the invention in an opened position;

(6) FIG. 5 is a schematic view of the flap assembly of FIG. 4 in an initial opening angle position; and

(7) FIG. 6 is a schematic view of the flap assembly of FIG. 4 in a closed position.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

(8) A spring assembly illustrated in FIGS. 1-3 has a sleeve-type spring housing 1, which is preferably composed from a plastic material. An interior of the spring housing 1 in an approximately centric manner is subdivided by a disk-type support wall 2 which extends orthogonally to a longitudinal axis 16 of the spring housing 1.

(9) An end region 3 of the spring housing 1 faces an actuator housing 20 of an actuator drive 22 (the actuator drive is shown in FIGS. 4-6) and has a cross section which corresponds to the cross section of the flap-side end region of the actuator housing 20 such that the spring housing 1 by way of the end region 3 thereof is capable of being plug-fitted onto the flap-side end region of the actuator housing 20.

(10) In order for the spring housing 1 to be fixed to the flap-side end region of the housing of the actuator drive, the end region 3 on the internal side thereof has a radially encircling latching appendage 13 which in the installed position of the spring housing 1 latches into a corresponding radially encircling latching groove on the flap-side end region of the actuator housing 20. The spring assembly is thus held in a form-fitting and force-fitting manner on the flap-side end region of the actuator housing 20.

(11) As can be seen in particular in FIG. 3, that sidewall 14 of the latching appendage 13 that is closer to the support wall 2 is inclined so as to be increasingly spaced apart from the support wall 2 in a radial manner from the outside toward the inside such that a disassembly of the spring assembly from the housing of the actuator drive is facilitated.

(12) The spring housing 1 has a guide sleeve 4 which, from the support wall 2, extends counter to the end region 3, a pretensioned coil compression spring 5 being disposed in said guide sleeve 4.

(13) One end 5a of the coil compression spring 5 bears on the support wall 2, and another opposing end 5b of the spring 5 bears on a radial widening (flange portion) 6 of a sleeve-type compression element 7.

(14) The end 5a of the coil compression spring 5 that faces the end region 3 is guided in a step 8 of a reduced diameter of the guide sleeve 4, the step 8 having a diameter that is approximately identical to that of the coil compression spring 5.

(15) The compression element 7 has a sleeve-type receptacle 9 which is directed so as to be coaxial with the support wall 2 and in which the other end 5b of the coil compression spring 5 is guided.

(16) The radial widening 6 by way of the coil compression spring 5 is impinged with a force counter to a detent which is formed by a securing ring 10 inserted into an annular groove 15 that is configured so as to radially encircle the internal wall of the guide sleeve 4.

(17) FIGS. 4-6 show a flap assembly of a vehicle including a flap 26 with the actuator drive 22 and the spring assembly of FIGS. 1-3 in an opened position, an initial opening angle position, and in the closed position, respectively. The flap 26 pivots about a pivot axis 28 on a body of the vehicle (the body of the vehicle is not illustrated). As shown in FIG. 4, the actuator drive 22 includes the actuator housing 20 and an actuator rod 24 that extends and is deployable from the actuator housing 20. An external end of the actuator rod 24 is articulated on the flap 26. One end of the actuator housing 20 is articulated on the body of the vehicle.

(18) As the flap 26 moves from the opened position shown in FIG. 4 to the initial opening angle position shown in FIG. 5, the flap 26 comes to bear on the free end of the compression element 7, which by way of the sleeve-type region 11 thereof protrudes from the guide sleeve 4, when the flap 26 reaches the initial opening angle position. When the flap 26 is further moved from the initial opening angle position in FIG. 5 to the closed position shown in FIG. 6, the compression element 7 is displaced while compressing the coil compression spring 5 into the guide sleeve 4 until the flap 26 comes to bear on the opening periphery of the guide sleeve 4. This displacement path of the compression element 7 corresponds to a pivoting angle of <10° of the flap 26. Accordingly, the flap 26 is supported by the spring assembly when the flap 26 is opened from the closed position to the initial opening angle position.

LIST OF REFERENCE SIGNS

(19) 1 Spring housing 2 Support wall 3 End region 4 Guide sleeve 5 Coil compression spring 6 Radial widening 7 Compression element 8 Step 9 Receptacle 10 Securing ring 11 Sleeve-type region 12 Opening periphery 13 Latching appendage 14 Side wall 15 Annular groove 16 Longitudinal axis 20 Actuator housing 22 Actuator drive 24 Actuator rod 26 Flap 28 Pivot axis