Motor-vehicle door lock

Abstract

The invention relates to a motor vehicle door lock comprising a locking mechanism, at least one locking lever (3) and an electric drive (5, 6, 7) for the locking mechanism. In normal operation, said electric drive (5, 6, 7) acts upon the locking mechanism for an electric opening. Additionally, the electric drive (5, 6, 7) allows the locking mechanism to be mechanically opened at least for an emergency operation. According to the invention, said locking lever (3) remains, in the normal operation, in the locked position, also when opened electrically.

Claims

1. A motor vehicle door lock comprising: a triggering lever configured to operate a locking mechanism for opening the motor vehicle door lock; at least one locking lever moveable between a locked position and an unlocked position; and an electric drive being operable in a normal operation in which the electric drive acts upon the trigger lever for electric opening of the locking mechanism, wherein the locking lever retains the locked position in the normal operation for electric opening; and the electric drive is operable in an emergency operation in which the electric drive acts on the locking lever to move the locking lever from the locked position to the unlocked position, thereby permitting opening motor vehicle door lock.

2. The motor vehicle door lock according to claim 1, wherein the electric drive contains a safety lock that interacts against the locking lever to maintain the locking lever in the locked position during electric opening.

3. The motor vehicle door lock according to claim 2, wherein the safety lock is a blocking contour on the electric drive cooperating with a projection on the locking lever.

4. The motor vehicle door lock according to claim 2, wherein the safety lock is provided on a driven pulley of the electric drive.

5. The motor vehicle door lock according to claim 1, wherein the electric drive comprises at least one electric motor, a worm gear driven by said motor and a driven pulley meshing with the worm gear.

6. The motor vehicle door lock according to claim 1, wherein the electric drive is operable in a first drive direction corresponding to the normal operation and a second drive direction corresponding to the emergency operation.

7. The motor vehicle door lock according to claim 6, wherein the electric drive comprises an electric motor that drives a driven pulley, and the first drive direction corresponds to a counter-clockwise rotation of the driven pulley and the second drive direction corresponds to a clockwise rotation of the driven pulley or vice versa.

8. The motor vehicle door lock according to claim 1, wherein the electric drive contains an opening contour cooperating with the triggering lever impinged upon by the locking mechanism during electric opening.

9. The motor vehicle door lock according to claim 8, wherein the electric drive comprises an electric motor that drives a driven pulley, and the opening contour is designed as opening cams provided on the driven pulley.

10. The motor vehicle door lock according to claim 1, wherein the electric drive comprises an electric motor that drives a driven pulley and a return spring mounted in the driven pulley to return the electric drive to a neutral position after acting on the trigger lever.

11. The motor vehicle door lock according to claim 1, further comprising a blocking lever selectively cooperating with the electric drive, wherein the blocking lever detaches from the electric drive during the normal operation and blocks operation of the electric drive from driving the trigger lever other than during the normal operation.

12. The motor vehicle door lock according to claim 11, wherein a signal generator is assigned to the blocking lever.

13. The motor vehicle door lock according to claim 11, further comprising a handle that is operable for actuating the normal operation, wherein the blocking lever is mechanically coupled to the handle.

14. The motor vehicle door lock according to claim 1, wherein a stop contour is assigned to the electric drive and/or the locking lever.

15. The motor vehicle door lock according to claim 14, wherein the stop contour contains a stop for the electric drive and at least one stop for the locking lever.

Description

(1) Below, the invention is explained in detail with reference to a drawing showing only one embodiment example, in which:

(2) FIG. 1 shows a front view of the motor vehicle door lock of the invention,

(3) FIG. 2 shows a rear view of the object of FIG. 1 and

(4) FIG. 3 shows an enlarged view of the driven pulley and the locking lever

(5) The figures show a motor vehicle door lock containing a locking mechanismnot expressly shown. Indeed the locking mechanism comprises as usually a rotary latch and a pawl. The pawl is acted upon by a triggering lever 1 pivotally mounted in a lock housing or lock case around axis 2. As soon as the triggering lever 1 carries out or can carry out a clockwise rotary movement around its axis 2, as indicated in FIG. 1, the triggering lever 1 is able to lift the pawl of the rotary latch. The functionality is similar to that disclosed in more detail in EP 1 320 652 B1 as described above.

(6) The figure also shows a locking lever 3, pivotally mounted around an axis 4. In the diagram shown in FIG. 1, the locking lever 3 assumes its locked (VR) position. FIG. 1 also shows the unlocked position (ER) of the locking lever 3.

(7) The basic arrangement also includes an electric drive 5, 6 7. The electric drive 5, 6, 7 comprises an electric motor 5, a worm gear 6 impinging upon the electric motor 5 as well as a driven pulley 7, meshing with the worm gear 6. The driven pulley 7 is able to pivot around its axis A and, in relation to FIG. 1, in counter-clockwise direction of a first drive direction and in clockwise direction in accordance with a second drive direction

(8) In normal operation, a handle 9 together with a signal generator 10 ensure that the opening movements on the handle 9 are registered by the signal generator 10 and are transmitted to a control unit 8. The control unit 8 interprets a respective impinging on the signal generator 10 in such a way that an associated motor vehicle door is to be opened. The control unit 8 therefore ensures that the electric motor 5 is being energized and in such a way that the driven pulley 7 carries out a counter-clockwise movement as indicated by an arrow in FIG. 1. This counter-clockwise movement in the normal operation of the locking mechanism during electric opening with the aid of the electric drive 5, 6, 7 corresponds to the opening contour 11 or an opening cam 11 impinging upon the triggering lever 1 and pivoting it around its axis of rotation 2 in clockwise direction as indicated by an arrow. As a result, the triggering lever 1 ensures that the pawl is lifted off the rotary latch which in turn opens with the assistance of a spring (see FIGS. 1 and 2).

(9) The opening contour 11 or the opening cam 11 is assigned to the electric drive 5, 6, 7. In the embodiment, the opening contour or the opening cam 11 is located on the driven pulley 7. An additional return spring 12 assigned to the electric drive 5, 6, 7 ensures that the electric drive 5, 6, 7 returns to a neutral position after being impinged upon by the triggering lever 1. For this purpose, said spring 12 is designed as a centre/zero spring in the embodiment and is integrated in the driven pulley 7.

(10) During the described electric opening, a blocking contour 13 on the driven pulley 7 ensures that the locking lever 3 constantly retains the shown locked (VR) position and assumed in FIG. 1, as the blocking contour 13 cooperates with a projection 14 on the respective locking lever 3 during the described opening operation. In this way, the electric drive 5, 6, 7 or its driven pulley 7 is equipped with a safety lock which during electric opening of the locking lever 3 ensures, as described, that it is retained in its locked (VR) position. For this purpose, the safety lock or the said blocking contour 13 is provided at the driven pulley 7 as part of the electric drive 5, 6, 7.

(11) The handle 9 not only impinges on the signal generator 10 but also on an additionally shown blocking lever 15. This blocking lever 15 is mounted on the same axis as the triggering lever 1 around the common axis 2. As soon as the handle 9 is impinged upon by an operator in the opening sense, the blocking lever 15 pivoted around the axis 2 in clockwise direction. As a result, the blocking projection 16 on the blocking lever 15 is detached from the electric drive 5, 6, 7 or its driven pulley 7.

(12) If the handle 9 and thus the blocking lever 15 is, however, not acted upon, the blocking projection 16 remains engaged in the electric drive 5, 6, 7 and ensures in case of an incorrect energizing of the electric drive 5, 6, 7 that its carried out counter-clockwise movement is stopped, as during this process, a stop 17 moves against the respective blocking projection 16. The pivoting movement carried out by the driven pulley 7 until then is designed in such a way that such incorrect energizing does and cannot cause the locking mechanism to open. Also the stop 17 in connection with the blocking projection 16 on the blocking lever 15 ensures that the pivoting movement of the electric drive 5, 6, 7 for moving the locking lever 3 from its unlocked into its locked position, is restricted.

(13) If the locking lever 3 is, for instance, in its unlocked (ER) position, as shown by the dashed lines in FIG. 1, impinging upon the electric drive 5, 6, 7 or upon its driven pulley 7 in counter-clockwise direction ensures that a locking contour 18 on the driven pulley 7 engages with the blocking projection 14 of the locking lever 3 pivoting it from the unlocked (ER) position around the axis 4 in clockwise direction into the locked (VR) position. The respective pivoting movement of the driven pulley 7 in counter-clockwise direction is restricted by the blocking stop 17 on the driven pulley 7 moving against the blocking projection 16 of the blocking lever 15.

(14) When switching from the normal to the emergency operation, this emergency operation immediately ensures that the driven pulley 7 does not carry out a counter-clockwise movement (first drive direction) via the control unit 8 and the electric motor 5 but is instead impinged upon in clockwise direction. As a result, the locking or unlocking contour 18 an on the driven pulley 7 engages with an unlocking projection 19 on the locking lever 3 as the locking lever 3 is in its locked (VR) position. As the driven pulley 7 is pivoted clockwise around it axis A during this process, the interaction between the unlocking and locking projection 19 and the unlocking contour 18 ensures that the locking lever 3 is pivoted around its axis 4 in counter-clockwise direction. During this process, the locking lever 3 leaves the stop 20 and moves against stop 21. At the same time the locking lever 3 moves its position from locked (VR) to unlocked (ER).

(15) Both stops 20, 21 are part of the stop contour 23, also containing a stop 22. This stop 22 is used as soon as the stop 17 of the electric drive 5, 6, 7 is moved against it during electric opening. This is possible as during electric opening, the blocking lever 15 is pivoted away with the aid of the handle 9 so that the stop 17 can move past the blocking lever 15 on the driven pulley 7.

(16) It is also apparent that the driven pulley 7 contains a recess 24. This recess 24 ensures that during an already initiated opening process, a repeat actuation of the handle 9 or releasing or repeated impinging on the handle 9 by the signal generator 10 assigned to the blocking lever 15 can be processed.The stop contour 23 may be made of plastic and connected to the motor vehicle door lock housing.