LOCKING DEVICE TO LOCK AND/OR UNLOCK A MOVABLE CLOSURE ELEMENT IN A LOCKABLE OBJECT, ESPECIALLY A DOOR, A LID, ETC.

Abstract

A locking device is proposed to lock and/or to unlock a movable closure element like a door, a lid, etc. in a lockable object like a building, a ship, a vehicle, a train or the like, wherein the locking device has an electric control unit and/or a drive unit to control and/or to drive a movement of the movable closure element. The locking device shall be usable in applications without a handle for manual movements and is working with disconnected regular power supply. According to the invention, at least one supercapacitor is provided to store energy for operating the locking device in an emergency case.

Claims

1-18. (canceled)

19. A locking device to lock and/or to unlock a movable closure element like a door, a lid, etc. in a lockable object like a building, a ship, a vehicle, a train or the like, wherein the locking device has an electric control unit and/or a drive unit to control and/or to drive a movement of the movable closure element, wherein at least one supercapacitor is provided to store energy for operating the locking device in an emergency case.

20. The locking device according to claim 19, wherein the at least one supercapacitor is connected as power supply to the electric control unit and/or the drive unit in the emergency case.

21. The locking device according to claim 19, wherein the at least one supercapacitor is located on a printed circuit board and/or inside a housing of the electric control unit and/or the drive unit.

22. The locking device according to claim 19, wherein the at least one supercapacitor and the control unit and the drive unit are located on the printed circuit board and/or inside the same housing.

23. The locking device according to claim 19, wherein the control unit controls and the drive unit drives a locking operation and/or an unlocking operation and/or an opening movement and/or a closing movement of the movable closure element.

24. The locking device according to claim 19, wherein the at least one supercapacitor is connected with a charge contact of a DC/DC and/or AC/DC converter, which is connected to a regular power supply of the lockable object, preferably to a regular power supply of the lockable object, which is used for the regular operation of the movable closure element and/or the lockable object.

25. The locking device according to claim 24, wherein the regular power supply is an ignition battery for an engine of the lockable object.

26. The locking device according to claim 19, wherein a voltmeter is provided to measure the voltage at a charge contact of the at least one supercapacitor.

27. The locking device according to claim 19, wherein the control unit is adopted to activate a low power consumption mode for the locking device if a voltage at a charge contact falls below a defined threshold.

28. The locking device according to claim 19, wherein a separate emergency battery is provided for a charging connection to the at least one supercapacitor.

29. The locking device according to claim 19, wherein the separate emergency battery is located on a printed circuit board and/or inside a housing of the control unit and/or the drive unit.

30. The locking device according to claim 19, wherein the control unit and/or the drive unit and/or the locking device is located on or inside the movable closure element.

31. The locking device according to claim 28, wherein a monitoring device to monitor a status of the separate emergency battery and/or a manual access to change the separate emergency battery is provided.

32. The locking device according to claim 19, wherein the control unit is adopted to connect the at least one supercapacitor automatically to the separate emergency battery, when a low power consumption mode is activated.

33. The locking device according to claim 19, wherein the control unit is adopted to control a charging mode for the at least one supercapacitor.

34. The locking device according to claim 19, wherein two voltage thresholds are defined in the control unit for a charging mode, wherein the control unit is adopted to start charging if a voltage at the at least one supercapacitor falls below a lower threshold and stopped when the voltage of the supercapacitor exceeds an upper threshold.

35. A closure element comprising a door wherein a locking device according to claim 19 is provided.

36. The closure element as in claim 35, wherein the closure element is a movable closure element.

Description

[0023] Some embodiments of the invention are illustrated in the following drawings.

[0024] Especially show

[0025] FIG. 1 a schematic diagram of an electric arrangement according to the invention,

[0026] FIG. 2 a diagram of the embodiment according FIG. 1 with an additional emergency battery,

[0027] FIG. 3 a door of a car, in which the locking device can be placed and

[0028] FIG. 4 a door of a car, in which the locking device can be placed.

[0029] FIG. 1 shows a locking device 1 comprising a motor 2, a control unit 3 including a drive unit 4 and a bank 5 of supercapacitors 6. A regular power supply 7 of the lockable object, i.e. an regular battery 7a or a regular power line 7b, is connected to the bank 5 of supercapacitors 6 via a DC/DC or an. AC/DC converter 8. If necessary more motors 2 can be provided for a door release and/or driving.

[0030] Via an input line 9 the control unit 3 is connected to an input line 10, which supplies the DC/DC or AC/DC converter 8 with the regular operation power. Via an input line 11 the control unit 3 is connected to a line 12 between the DC/DC converter and the bank 5 of supercapacitors 6.

[0031] A drive line 13 connects the drive unit 4 with the motor 2 and a bus line 19 connects the control unit 3 with a car bus system a CAN Bus. A control line 14 connects the control unit 3 with the DC/DC or AC/DC converter 8.

[0032] In the regular operation mode the supercapacitors 6 are charged by the regular power supply 7 and the DC/DC or AC/DC converter 8, which prepares the appropriate charge voltage. The control unit 3 is able to monitor the voltage of the power supply 7 via the input line 9. The DC/DC or ACDC converter 8 is controlled by the control unit 3 via the control line 14. The charge voltage of the supercapacitors 6 is monitored by the control unit 3 via the input line 11.

[0033] To optimally use the capacity of the supercapacitors 6, the system proposed here keeps the voltage across the bank 5 of capacitors 6 constant. Even if the power source of the power supply 7 is increasing or decreasing, the charge of the supercapacitors will always be the same. By missing power source the control unit 3 will enter in a very low power consumption mode allowing the supercapacitors 6 to keep most of the charge available for a large time interval.

[0034] The charge is enough to perform access recognition, validation and perform unlock and drive the motor 2 at least two times.

[0035] The embodiment according FIG. 2 shows an additional emergency battery 15 connected to the DC/DC or AC/DC converter 8 and monitored via the input line 16 by the control unit 3. This emergency battery 15 extends the time interval for which the locking device is working in case of a crash or an interruption of the regular power supply 7 over a long time for example one or more years. Furthermore it is possible to change this battery timely, because it is monitored and the control unit 3 is able to send a message to the operator via the bus line 19.

[0036] A battery change or other service or repair actions are easy to do, when the complete locking device or at least the battery holder is placed manually accessible. For example a placement in a door 17 as shown in FIG. 3 is useful especially in a housing 18 on the narrow side of a car door.

[0037] In FIG. 4 the same situation is shown for a building. A house wall 20 with a door 21 and a window 22 is outlined having a housing for the complete locking device or at least the battery holder manually accessible.

[0038] 1. Locking device

[0039] 2. Motor

[0040] 3. Control unit

[0041] 4. Drive unit

[0042] 5. Bank

[0043] 6. Supercapacitor

[0044] 7. Power supply

[0045] 7a. Regular battery

[0046] 7b. Power line

[0047] 8. DC/DC or AC/DC converter

[0048] 9. Input line

[0049] 10. Input line

[0050] 11. Input line

[0051] 12. Line

[0052] 13. Drive line

[0053] 14. Control line

[0054] 15. Emergency battery

[0055] 16. Monitoring line

[0056] 17. Door

[0057] 18. Housing

[0058] 19. Bus line

[0059] 20. House wall

[0060] 21. House door

[0061] 22. Window

[0062] 23. Housing