DOOR COMPONENT WITH A CONTROLLABLE DAMPING DEVICE AND METHOD FOR DAMPING A MOVEMENT OF A DOOR

Abstract

A door component has a controllable damping device containing a magnetorheological fluid as a working fluid. Two connection units can move relative to one another. One of the two connection units can be connected to a support structure and the other of the two connection units can be connected to a moveable door unit of a vehicle in order to damp a movement of the door unit between a closed position and an open position under control of a control device. The damping device has an electrically adjustable magnetorheological damping valve which is current-less in an adjusted state of the damping valve. A damping property of the damping device is continuously adjusted as needed via an electrical adjustment of the damping valve.

Claims

1. A door component for a pivotable door of a motor vehicle, comprising: a controllable damper device containing a magnetorheological fluid and having two connector units that are movable relative to one another, said two connector units including a first connector unit connectable to a supporting structure of the vehicle and a second connector unit connectable to the pivotable door; a control device controlling said damper device to dampen a pivoting movement of the door at least partially between a closed position and an open position; said damper device including at least one electrically settable magnetorheological damping valve which maintains a set state in an electrically deenergized state, in order, through electrical setting of said damping valve, to set a desired damping characteristic of said damper device in the electrically deenergized state of the damping device; and a sensor device disposed to detect an angular position of the pivotable door, said sensor device being a friction wheel disposed to detect a relative movement of said two connector units with respect to one another; said control device being configured to set said damping valve to a low damping action relative to a high damping action, such that said damping valve acts with the low damping action in the electrically deenergized state when the pivotable door is in the closed position, and configured to set said damping valve to the high damping action relative to the low damping action, such that the damping valve acts with the high damping action in the electrically deenergized state when the pivotable door is in the open position.

2. The door component according to claim 1, wherein said damping valve is formed with a flow channel configured to conduct the magnetorheological fluid therethrough, wherein a variable magnetic field is applied to said flow channel to create a second magnetic field which acts on said flow channel to thereby influence a flow resistance of the flow channel and to set the damping characteristic of said damper device.

3. The door component according to claim 2, which further comprises a magnet device configured to generate the variable and second magnetic fields, said magnet device being composed at least partially of a hard magnetic material and at least one electrical coil which is disposed to create said variable magnetic field by way of at least one magnetic pulse generated by said at least one electric coil to set the second magnetic field generated by said hard magnetic material.

4. The door component according to claim 1, wherein: said control device is configured to set said damping valve to the low damping action, such that said damping valve acts with the low damping action in the electrically deenergized state during a movement of the pivotable door.

5. The door component according to claim 2, which further comprises an electrical coil configured to modulate the second magnetic field acting in the flow channel.

6. The door component according to claim 1, which further comprises at least two electrical coils, including a first electrical coil for outputting magnetic pulses for setting a magnetization of a magnet device, and a second electrical coil for modulating a magnetic field of the magnet device in a flow channel of the damping valve.

7. The door component according to claim 1, wherein said damping valve of said damper device is a mechanically settable hydraulic valve.

8. The door component according to claim 1, wherein: said damper device comprises a piston unit and a cylinder unit surrounding said piston unit, and wherein said piston unit divides a cylinder volume into two chambers; said piston unit is equipped with a first one-way valve and said two chambers are connected to one another by way of an external return channel that is equipped with at least one controllable magnetorheological damping valve, forming a one-way circuit in which the magnetorheological fluid flows in one given flow direction through said piston unit during a retraction of said piston unit and during a deployment of said piston unit.

9. The door component according to claim 8, wherein said piston unit includes a continuous piston rod having two ends projecting outwardly out of said cylinder unit.

10. The door component according to claim 8, wherein said two chambers include a first chamber connected to said damping valve, and a second chamber connected to said damping valve via a second one-way valve, and further comprising a compensation chamber having a preloaded compensation volume connected to said damping valve and to said second chamber.

11. The door component according to claim 8, wherein said piston unit includes a first piston rod that extends through a first of said two chambers, and a second piston rod that extends through a second of said two chambers, and said first and second piston rods are each led out of said cylinder volume and/or said cylinder unit to the outside.

12. The door component according to claim 11, wherein one of said piston rods is a telescopic rod having a first side fastened to a piston of said piston unit and a second side fixedly connected to said cylinder unit.

13. The door component according to claim 11, wherein one of said two piston rods serves as an electrical connector unit, and wherein at least one connection cable is guided on said piston rod.

14. The door component according to claim 11, wherein at least one of said two piston rods is displaceably received, outside said cylinder unit, in a tube that is formed with at least one slot.

15. The door component according to claim 14, wherein said tube forms a part of one of said connector units.

16. The door component according to claim 11, wherein said damper device comprises at least one measuring device, and wherein a part of said at least one measuring device is fastened to a piston rod of said piston unit.

17. A method of damping a pivoting movement of a pivotable door of a motor vehicle, the method comprising: providing a damper device with a settable and controllable damping action; damping the pivoting movement of the pivotable door in a controlled process at least partially between a closed position and an open position of the pivotable door; electrically adjusting a damping valve of the damper device, and maintaining set damping characteristics of the damping valve in an electrically deenergized state of the damping valve; providing a sensor device being a friction wheel disposed to detect a relative movement between the pivotable door and the motor vehicle and configured to detect an angular position of the pivotable door; detecting the angular position of the pivotable door to determine whether the pivotable door is in the closed position or in the open position; when the pivotable door is in the closed position, setting the damping valve to a low damping action relative to a high damping action such that the damper device acts on the pivotable door with the damping valve in the electrically deenergized state; and when the pivotable door is in the open position, setting the damper device to the high damping action relative to the low damping action such that the damper device acts on the pivotable door with the damping valve in the electrically deenergized state.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

[0155] FIG. 1 shows a schematic plan view of a vehicle with a door component according to the invention;

[0156] FIG. 2 shows a schematic exploded illustration of the door component as per FIG. 1;

[0157] FIG. 3 shows an enlarged cross section of the door component as per FIG. 1;

[0158] FIG. 4 shows another embodiment of a door component according to the invention;

[0159] FIG. 5 shows a further embodiment of a door component according to the invention;

[0160] FIG. 6 shows a yet further embodiment of a door component according to the invention; and

[0161] FIG. 7 shows a schematic cross section through a damping valve of a door component according to the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0162] FIG. 1 shows a schematic plan view of a motor vehicle 100 stopped at the edge of a road, in which motor-vehicle there are provided in this case two door devices 53 designed as doors, which are both open. The doors are situated in each case approximately in an angular position 13. The doors 53 are each part of a door component 50, which in this case comprises the doors 53. It is equally possible for a door 53 to be attached to the door component 50. The door component 50 comprises, in any case, connector units 51 and 52 for connection to the supporting structure 101 of the vehicle 100 and to the door 53, for the purposes of holding the door pivotably on the supporting structure 101. Here, the door may be composed of multiple units, which are in each case pivotable and which are articulatedly connected to one another. The door may be held so as to be pivotable about one or two or more pivot axes. Hatching is used to show a door 53 in the closed position 2, in which the door in this case terminates flush with the vehicle.

[0163] FIG. 2 shows, in an enlarged illustration, an exploded illustration of the door component 50, wherein the door component 50 comprises a damper device 1 which has a damper which operates on a magnetorheological basis.

[0164] The door component 50 in FIG. 2 has connector units 51 and 52 for connection to the supporting structure 101 and to the door 53, in order a defined and controlled pivoting of the door during the movement from the open position illustrated in FIG. 1 into the closed position 2 also indicated in FIG. 1.

[0165] The damper device 1 comprises a cylinder unit 31, in which the piston 38 of the piston unit 30 divides the cylinder volume 32 into a first chamber 33 and a second chamber 34 in a variable manner.

[0166] A compensation volume 36 of a compensation chamber serves for the compensation of the piston rod 43 plunging into the cylinder unit 31.

[0167] FIG. 3 shows an enlarged cross-sectional illustration of a part of the door component 50 from FIG. 2.

[0168] On the assembled damper device 1 that is illustrated in section here, it is possible to see the piston unit 30 with the piston 38 in which the magnet device 9 with the electrical coil 10 is arranged. The piston 38 divides the cylinder volume 32 of the cylinder unit 30 into a first chamber 33 and a second chamber 34. The damping valve is arranged outside the piston unit 31. The magnet device 9 with the electrical coil 10 is arranged on the damping valve.

[0169] Furthermore, in the cylinder unit 31, the compensation device with the compensation chamber 37 and the compensation volume 36 is illustrated. The compensation chamber 37 is separated from the second chamber 34 by a separating piston, which slides in a variable manner within the cylinder unit 31. It is also possible for the compensation chamber to be located on the other side, wherein sealing is then necessary with respect to the piston rod extending through the first chamber 33. The compensation chamber 37 is situated on the low-pressure side of the one-way circuit. Valves 47 and 48 for the filling of the first and second chambers 33, 34 and of the compensation chamber 37 are provided. The compensation chamber 37 is filled with a gaseous medium at a low pressure, such that the plunging-in volume of the piston rod 43 can be compensated.

[0170] To the piston rod 43 there is attached a sensor device 12, by means of which in this case an absolute position of the damper device 1 can be detected. By interrogation of the sensor device, the position of the two connector units 51 and 52 with respect to one another can be detected, such that, by means of the sensor device, the angular position of the door 53 is also directly detected.

[0171] The connector cables for the electrical coil in the piston 38 and the sensor device 12 are in this case guided through the piston rod 43 to the outside.

[0172] FIG. 4 shows a variant in which one continuous piston rod or two piston rods 43, 44 are provided. The interior of the cylinder unit 31 is divided further by the piston 38 into two chambers 33 and 34. Here, the two piston rods 43 and 44 are guided to the outside at the respective ends, such that there is no need to compensate for a volume displacement due to the plunging-in of a piston rod. To be able to compensate a change in volume as a result of temperature differences, a compensation device 39 is provided here, which is designed for example as a hollow rubber ring or the like, and which thus provides corresponding volume compensation by way of a volume expansion or decrease in volume as a result of temperature differences. Such a compensation device may be arranged in the chamber 33 or in the chamber 34. Compensation devices in both chambers 33 and 34 are possible.

[0173] In all embodiments, the piston 38 is also designed as a damping valve 5, and has one or 2 or more flow channels 7 which connect the first chamber 33 to the second chamber 34. The chambers 33 and 34 are filled with a magnetorheological fluid 6. The damping is in this case achieved by virtue of a magnet device 9 or at least one magnet device 9, which comprises magnetically hard material and in this case also an electrical coil, being arranged on the damping valve 5.

[0174] By means of a short electrical pulse at the coil 10, a magnetic pulse is triggered, which leads to a permanent magnetization of the magnet device 9, such that, subsequently, the flow resistance through the flow channel 7 increases in a manner corresponding to the intensity of the acting magnetic field 8.

[0175] By means of corresponding remagnetization of the magnet devices 9, it is thus possible to set any desired damping of the door movement of the door 53. It is furthermore possible, in addition to a permanently acting magnetic field, to use the coil 10 to dynamically model the magnetic field 8 of the magnet devices 9. By means of a magnetic field oriented in the same direction, the damping can be intensified, and by means of a correspondingly oppositely oriented magnetic field, the damping can be attenuated or even reduced to zero.

[0176] In this exemplary embodiment, the connector cable 41 is guided to the outside through the piston rod 44. The piston rod 44 is displaceably received in a tube 46. Here, at the end of the piston rod 44, the connector cable 41 is guided out of the piston rod and is guided to the outside through a slot 42 in the tube 46.

[0177] By way of example for all exemplary embodiments, a schematic control device 4, by means of which the damping valve 5, the damper device 1 and/or the door component 50 as a whole can be controlled, is shown in FIG. 4. The control device 4 may also be part of the vehicle 100 or of some other apparatus.

[0178] FIG. 5 shows another variant in which 2 magnet devices 9 or at least 2 electrical coils 10 and 11 are provided. The magnetic coils 10 and 11 of the magnet devices 9 are in turn arranged in the piston 38 of the piston unit 30 within the cylinder unit 31. In this case, too, the piston separates 2 chambers 33 and 34 of the cylinder volume 32. First and second piston rods 43 and 44 can be provided on both sides or only one piston rod is guided out on one side. In such a case, a compensation chamber 37 having a compensation volume 36 is again required.

[0179] Here, an electrical coil 10, 11 is used for generating a magnetic pulse and for the permanent magnetization of the magnet device 9. The respective other electrical coil 11, 10 can be used for the modulation of the presently acting magnetic field.

[0180] FIG. 6 shows another schematically illustrated variant of a damper device 1 of a door component 50 with connector units 51 and 52. The damper device 1 has a magnetorheological fluid 6 as working fluid. A piston unit 30 with a piston 38 separates a first chamber 33 from the second chamber 34. At least one flow channel 7 leads through the piston. The one-way valve 15 opens for the flow of the magnetorheological fluid from the second chamber 34 into the first chamber 33. From there, the working fluid is conducted through the return channel 35 to the in this case external damping valve 5, which is assigned a magnet device 9 and an electrical coil 10, in order to set the desired damping. The damping valve 5 is in turn connected in terms of flow to the second chamber 34 via a line 49 and a second one-way valve 16.

[0181] Both during the plunging of the piston rod 43 into the cylinder unit 31 and during the deployment of the piston rod 43 out of the cylinder unit 31, the working fluid 6 flows in the same direction along the indicated arrows. Depending whether the piston rod is being plunged in or deployed out, magnetorheological fluid is fed to the compensation chamber 37 or magnetorheological fluid is removed from the compensation chamber 37. In the compensation chamber 37, there is provided a compensation volume 36, which is filled with a gas.

[0182] One or more sensor devices 12 may be provided in order to detect a relative position of the two connector units 51 and 52 with respect to one another, in order to derive an angular position of the door 53 therefrom. In all embodiments, it is however also possible for other angle sensors to be provided, for example at the rotary joint, such that an angular position is directly output.

[0183] In this case, too, an electrical coil 10 is used for the generation of a magnetic pulse and for the permanent magnetization of the magnet device 9. The same or another electrical coil may be used for the modulation of the presently acting magnetic field.

[0184] FIG. 7 shows a schematic cross section through the cylinder unit 31 and the piston 38 arranged therein. It is clearly possible to see the flow channels 7 of the damping valve 5, which are in this case each divided further into two sub-channels by means of a partition. Also shown is a magnetic field line of the magnetic field 8. The magnetic field passes approximately perpendicularly through the flow channels 7 of the damping valve. The electrical coil 10 serves for the generation of a variable magnetic field, and in particular also for outputting a magnetic pulse in order to magnetize the magnet device 9 as desired.

[0185] It is correspondingly also possible, as illustrated in section in FIG. 7, for an external damping valve for the door component, for example, to be designed as per FIG. 6. All of the parts shown are then preferably immovable relative to one another. The flow channels 7 of the damping valve 5 may each be divided into two sub-channels by means of a partition. In this case, too, the magnetic field again passes approximately perpendicularly through the flow channels 7 of the damping valve 5. The electrical coil 10 serves for generating a variable magnetic field and may in particular also be used for outputting a magnetic pulse in order to permanently magnetize the magnet device 9 as desired.

[0186] The following is a summary list of reference numerals and the corresponding structure used in the above description of the invention: [0187] 1 Damper, damper device [0188] 2 Closed position [0189] 3 Open position [0190] 4 Control device [0191] 5 Damping valve [0192] 6 MRF [0193] 7 Flow channel [0194] 8 Magnetic field [0195] 9 Magnet device [0196] 10 Electrical coil [0197] 11 Electrical coil [0198] 12 Sensor device [0199] 13 Angular position [0200] 14 Predetermined angular position [0201] 15 First one-way valve [0202] 16 Second one-way valve [0203] 18 Magnetic pulse [0204] 19 Time period [0205] 20 Rate of change [0206] 21 Delay [0207] 22 Rotational speed [0208] 23 Limit value of 20 [0209] 24 Relatively low damping [0210] 25 Relatively high damping [0211] 26 Maximum damping [0212] 27 Damping [0213] 28 Closing speed [0214] 29 Second compensation channel [0215] 30 Piston unit [0216] 31 Cylinder unit [0217] 32 Cylinder volume [0218] 33 First chamber [0219] 34 Second chamber [0220] 35 Return channel [0221] 36 Compensation volume [0222] 37 Compensation chamber [0223] 38 Piston [0224] 39 Compensation device [0225] 40 Electrical connector unit [0226] 41 Connection cable [0227] 42 Slot [0228] 43 First piston rod [0229] 44 Second piston rod [0230] 45 Diameter of 43 [0231] 46 Tube [0232] 47 Valve [0233] 48 Valve [0234] 49 Line [0235] 50 Door component [0236] 51 Connector unit [0237] 52 Connector unit [0238] 53 Door [0239] 54 Angular position [0240] 60 Obstruction [0241] 100 Vehicle [0242] 101 Supporting structure