BELT RETRACTOR HAVING AN ELECTRICALLY ACTUATABLE LOCKING DEVICE

Abstract

A belt retractor having an electrically actuatable locking device comprising a housing with a base plate and an upright first limb, a locking lever mounted pivotably on the upright first limb with a steel plate which is spring-loaded, and an electromagnet arranged in the housing and having a coil with a through opening, a first iron core which is arranged in the through opening, when a voltage is applied to the coil, exerts a magnetic force on the locking lever via the steel plate and actuates the locking lever for triggering a locking or unlocking movement against the force of the spring. The movement of the locking lever is enforced by a first magnetic circuit formed by the first iron core, the upright first limb and the portions of the base plate and of the locking lever between the first iron core and the upright first limb.

Claims

1-11. (canceled)

12. A belt retractor having an electrically actuatable locking device comprising a housing with a base plate and an upright first limb, a locking lever mounted pivotably on the upright first limb and having a steel plate which is spring-loaded by means of a spring, and an electromagnet arranged in the housing and having a coil with a through opening, a first iron core which is arranged in the through opening and which, when a voltage is applied to the coil, exerts a magnetic force on the locking lever via the steel plate and actuates said locking lever for triggering a locking or unlocking movement against the force of the spring, wherein the movement of the locking lever is enforced by a first magnetic circuit, which is formed by the first iron core, the upright first limb, and the portions of the base plate and of the locking lever between the first iron core and the upright first limb, wherein a damping element is provided, which is arranged in such a way that it damps the movement of the locking lever relative to the housing in at least one portion of the movement curve of the locking lever, wherein the damping element is formed by at least one elastically deformable hook arranged on the locking lever.

13. The belt retractor according to claim 12, wherein the hook is formed by a plastic hook integrally molded onto the locking lever.

14. The belt retractor according to claim 12, wherein provided on the housing is at least one recess into which the hook dips during its movement in at least one position.

15. The belt retractor according to claim 12, wherein at least two hooks of identical shape are provided and are oriented in parallel to one another.

16. The belt retractor according to claim 12, wherein the locking lever is formed by a pivotable plate on which an elastic, projecting, bent locking tip is provided.

17. The belt retractor according to claim 12, wherein an upright second limb is provided on the edge side of the base plate opposite the first limb, and a second iron core is arranged in the through opening, and the movement of the locking lever is additionally enforced upon activation of the electromagnet by a second magnetic circuit, which is formed by the second iron core, the upright second limb, and the portions of the locking lever and of the base plate between the second limb and the second iron core.

18. The belt retractor according to claim 17, wherein the first and second iron cores are caulked in the base plate of the housing.

19. The belt retractor according to claim 17, wherein the upright first and/or second limbs are integrally formed with the base plate.

20. The belt retractor according to claim 17, wherein the base plate has an end portion which is arranged on the side of the first limb that faces away from the second limb, and the spring is connected with one end to the end portion of the base plate and with the other end to an end of the locking lever protruding beyond the first limb.

21. The belt retractor according to claim 17, wherein the locking lever is pivotably mounted about an axis of rotation arranged in the first limb.

22. The belt retractor according to claim 17, wherein the coil has electrical contact points which are integrally molded onto the coil body.

Description

[0022] The invention is explained below on the basis of preferred embodiments with reference to the accompanying figures. They show:

[0023] FIG. 1 shows a belt retractor according to the invention having a locked control disk, and

[0024] FIG. 2 shows a belt retractor according to the invention having a released control disk, and

[0025] FIG. 3 is an exploded view of an electrically actuatable locking device according to the prior art, and

[0026] FIG. 4 is an exploded view of a further developed, electrically actuatable locking device according to the invention, and

[0027] FIG. 5 shows an electrically actuatable locking device according to the prior art in a sectional view with an attracted and deflected locking lever, and

[0028] FIG. 6 shows a further developed, electrically actuatable locking device according to the invention in a sectional view with an attracted and deflected locking lever, and

[0029] FIG. 7 shows a further developed, electrically actuatable locking device according to the invention in two different oblique views.

[0030] In FIGS. 1 and 2, a belt retractor having a housing 20 and a control disk 21 covered by the housing 20 can be seen in each case. The control disk 21 is mounted rotatably on a belt shaft (not shown) in a known manner and is spring-biased in the winding direction with respect to said belt shaft by means of a spring. Furthermore, an electrically actuatable locking device 100 having a locking lever 2 is provided on the belt retractor, which locking lever, by an engagement in the gearing of the control disk 21, which engagement is recognizable in the left-hand illustration, forces a locking pawl mounted on the belt shaft into a gearing fixed to the housing to generate an actuating movement during a further extraction movement of the belt shaft, as a result of which the belt shaft is in turn locked with respect to a further extraction movement.

[0031] FIG. 4 shows the further developed, electrically actuatable locking device 100 according to the invention, which comprises a housing 1 and an electromagnet 3. The housing 1 comprises a base plate 15 and a first limb 16 that is upright on one side of the base plate 15. Furthermore, the housing 1 comprises an upright second limb 19, which supplements the housing 1 with the formation of an intermediate space relative to the upright first limb 16 to form a U-shaped profile. The upright first and second limbs 16, 19 can be integrally formed with the base plate 15 or alternatively also caulked with the base plate 15.

[0032] Furthermore, a base component 6 is provided with a central portion 7 and two radial flanges 8, wherein an intermediate space 9 in which a coil 10 is arranged is provided between the radial flanges 8. The base component 6 comprises two electrical lines 11 which are connected to the coil 10 via contacts 18. In a through opening 14 of the base component 6, two iron cores 12 and 17 are provided which are caulked in corresponding openings of the base plate 15 of the housing 1.

[0033] The locking lever 2, which is formed by a steel plate 5 and a contour part 24, is arranged on the upper side of the locking device 100. The contour part 24 can be clipped or else integrally molded onto the steel plate 5 and forms therewith the locking lever 2 as a composite component.

[0034] The base plate 15 has an end portion 22 which protrudes outward beyond the upright first limb 16. The steel plate 5 of the locking lever 2 also has an end 23 protruding beyond the first limb 16. The end 23 and the end portion 22 serve for the attachment of a tension spring 4.

[0035] The locking lever 2 is pivotably mounted with the steel plate 5 on the upright first limb 16 so that the spring 4 pulls the locking lever 2 into a pivoted-out locking position recognizable in the left-hand illustration of FIG. 6, when the electromagnet 3 is deactivated. When the electromagnet 3 is activated, the locking lever 2 is attracted to the iron cores 12 and 17 in the position shown in the right-hand illustration of FIG. 6, and a second magnetic circuit II is additionally closed in addition to the first magnetic circuit I.

[0036] The advantage of the proposed solution is recognizably that a second magnetic circuit II is created by the second limb 19 and the second iron core 17 and exerts an additional force on the locking lever 2 without the parts involved having to be of larger dimensions or the locking device 100 as such becoming larger. Rather, previously unused portions of the base plate 15 and of the locking lever 2 or of the steel plate 5 are used to generate the retraction force. In this case, the upright second limb 19 and the second iron core 17 are of particular importance because a second yoke is created thereby in addition to the yoke formed by the upright first limb 16 and the first iron core 12. In this case, the steel plate 5 forms a pivot armature, by means of which both the first magnetic circuit I and the second magnetic circuit II are closed by attracting the locking lever 2 when the electromagnet 3 is energized.

[0037] Furthermore, two damping elements 13 are formed on the contour part 24 in the form of identical elastic hooks, which are arranged in parallel to one another and protrude beyond the edge of the steel plate 5. The damping elements 13 are shaped such that the locking lever 2 comes into contact exclusively via the damping elements 13 with the housing 1 or with the upright second limb 19.

[0038] The locking lever 2 is formed by a pivotable plate in the form of the steel plate 5 with the contour part 24 held thereon. The hooks are part of the contour part 24 and are identically formed and arranged in parallel to one another. Furthermore, recesses 25 are provided on the second limb 19 of the housing 1, into which recesses the hooks dip in the position of the locking lever 2 attracted by the electromagnet 3. The recesses 25 provide corresponding free spaces into which the hooks can dip without hindering the movement of the locking lever 2.

[0039] Furthermore, the contour part 25 on the steel plate 5 has a bent elastic locking tip 27, which is shaped by the bend such that an intermediate space 26 is present between the locking tip 27 and the steel plate 5. This intermediate space 26 and the elastic properties of the locking tip 27 enable the locking tip 27 to generate a deflection to the steel plate 5 and thus a dampened triggering of the locking movement. Furthermore, in the case of a tooth-on-tooth position with the gearing of the control disk 21, the locking tip 27 can carry out small diverting movements, whereby a pseudo-locking can be prevented.

[0040] Both the new damping and shaping of the locking lever 2 and the new design of the electromagnet 3 represent independent inventions which further develop the locking device 100 independently of one another.