Motor vehicle lock

Abstract

The aim of the invention is to provide a lock for a motor vehicle, whereby the accidental opening of said lock is prevented. To achieve this aim, a lock comprises a locking mechanism with a rotary latch and a locking pawl for arresting the rotary latch in a latch position. In order to open the lock with minimum effort, an electric drive (1) is provided by means of which drive the locking pawl can be moved directly or indirectly out of its locking position. The lock is further provided with a movable blocking pawl (2), which can impede the electric drive (1) from opening the lock. For the locking mechanism to be electrically opened, the blocking pawl (2) needs to be moved out of its blocking position and the electric drive (1) needs be to actuated.

Claims

1. A locking mechanism having an open position and a ratchet position; an electrical drive for opening the locking mechanism, the electrical drive having a rotatable gear wheel with which the locking mechanism is moveable out of the ratchet position and having an electromotor within an electromotor housing; a blocking pawl having a blocking position in which the blocking pawl directly contacts the rotatable gear wheel to limit rotational movement of the rotatable gear wheel, whereby the locking mechanism is prevented from moving out of the ratchet position; and an elastomeric stop that is directly fixed in position to the electromotor housing of the electromotor of the electrical drive, wherein the blocking pawl is movable relative to the elastomeric stop to engage and disengage the elastomeric stop, the elastomeric stop having a stop surface that is configured to be engaged by the blocking pawl for restricting the movement of the blocking pawl in the blocking position, wherein during movement of the blocking pawl from the blocking position to a non-blocking position, the blocking pawl both mechanically activates the electrical drive and is moved out of direct contact with the rotatable gear wheel and the elastomeric stop to enable rotation of the rotatable gear wheel that moves the pawl out of the ratchet position.

2. The latch according to claim 1, wherein the blocking pawl is not engaged with the locking mechanism when in the blocking position.

3. The latch according to claim 1, wherein the gear wheel has a recess defined along a peripheral surface of the gear wheel and the blocking pawl reaches into the recess of the gear wheel in the blocking position.

4. The latch according to claim 3, wherein the gear wheel is part of a gearbox.

5. The latch according to claim 1, wherein the resilient elastomeric stop is made of plastic.

6. The latch according to claim 1 further comprising a sensor that is in communication with the electrical drive which is activated by the blocking pawl directly contacting the sensor during movement of the blocking pawl to the non-blocking position.

7. The latch according to claim 6, wherein the sensor is a microswitch.

8. The latch according to claim 1 further comprising a triggering lever that is pivoted by the electrical drive to open the locking mechanism.

Description

(1) The following are shown:

(2) FIG. 1: Drive for electrical opening of a latch with a blocking pawl in the blocking position;

(3) FIG. 2: Drive for electrical opening of a latch with a blocking pawl in the non-blocking position;

(4) FIGS. 1 and 2 show a drive for electrical opening of a motor vehicle latch. In order to be able to open the latch with little force, the drive comprises an electromotor 1 with which the locking mechanism of the catch can be opened in an electrically driven manner. There is a pivotably mounted blocking pawl 2 which prevents the electrical drive or the electromotor 1 from electrically opening in its blocking position shown in FIG. 1. The blocking pawl 2 can be rotated around its axis 3.

(5) A worm gear 5 is attached to the motor shaft 4 of the electromotor 1. By rotating the shaft 4 and thus by rotating the worm gear 5 a rotatable gear wheel 6 is rotated around its axis 7 into which the worm gear 5 engages. A disk 8 is attached to the gear wheel 7. In its blocking position, a protrusion 10 of the blocking pawl 2 reaches into a recess 9 of the disk 8 and thus limits a rotational movement of the gear wheel 6 and the disk 8 in an anti-clockwise direction, by means of which the locking mechanism of the latch could be opened in an electrically driven manner. Reaching into a recess 9 requires no contact pressure. Consequently, the blocking pawl 2 can be moved out of its blocking position with especially little force. The blocking pawl 2 is therefore also predominantly not subjected to any contact pressure in its blocking position.

(6) The worm gear 5 and the gear wheel 6 form a gearbox. The drive element in the form of the gear wheel 6 with the disk 8 thus fulfills a dual function. The gear wheel 6 and the disk 8 can be designed as a single component or multiple components.

(7) There is a stop 11 for the blocking pawl 2 which is capable of restricting movement of the blocking pawl 2 in its blocking position. This is illustrated in FIG. 1. The blocking pawl is thus prevented from initiating a damaging impulse into the disk 8 with the gear wheel 6, i.e. in mechanically sensitive areas of a drive chain, by moving into its blocking position.

(8) The stop 11 can be designed as an attenuating element which has an elastic surface. In this execution example, the stop 11 is attached to the housing of the electromotor 1.

(9) There is a microswitch 12 which is activated by the blocking pawl 2 as shown in FIG. 2, as soon as the blocking pawl 2 is in its non-blocking position. By means of the microswitch 12 the electromotor 1 is then started for opening of the locking mechanism. The blocking pawl 2 thus fulfills a dual function.

(10) The blocking pawl 2 furthermore comprises a protrusion 13 which is adjacent to the disk 8 when the blocking pawl 2 is in its non-blocking position as illustrated in FIG. 2. The protrusion 13 limits the pivoting movement of the blocking pawl 2 into its non-blocking position.

(11) If, starting from the position shown in the Figure, the blocking pawl 2 is pivoted around its axis 3 in a clockwise direction, it ultimately activates the microswitch 12. This starts the electromotor 1. As a consequence hereof, the gear wheel 6 and thus also the disk 8 are rotated in an anti-clockwise direction. A tappet 14 of the disk 8 ultimately grasps an arm 15 of a pivotably located triggering lever 16 and pivots it around its axis 17 in a clockwise direction. As a result, the pawl of the latch locking mechanism is moved out of its ratchet position and the latch is thus opened.

REFERENCE SIGN LIST

(12) 1: Electromotor 2: Blocking pawl 3: Axis of the blocking pawl 4: shaft of the electromotor 5: Worm gear on the motor shaft 6: Gear wheel 7: Axis of the gear wheel 8: Disk 9: Recess 10: Protrusion of the blocking pawl 11: Stop for the blocking pawl 12: Microswitch 13: Protrusion of the blocking pawl 14: Tappet 15: Triggering lever arm 16: Triggering lever 17: Axis of the triggering lever