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US 10,480,224 B2Granted
Power driven vehicle latch with non-uniform gears
AssigneeInteva Products, LLC
InventorsSteven Frank Wilkes, David Peatey
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A vehicle latch is disclosed herein, the vehicle latch, having: a first gear with a first gear pitch radius that reduces from a first gear tooth to an ending gear tooth; a second gear with a second gear pitch radius that increases from a first gear tooth to an ending gear tooth, the second gear being rotatably mounted to the latch for movement about a second gear axis; and wherein rotation of the second gear causes a claw of the latch to move from a first position to a second position, the second position corresponding to a closed state of the latch.
Claims20
A vehicle latch, comprising:
- a first gear having a first plurality of gear teeth with a first involute form gear profile that follows a scroll profile with a first gear pitch radius that reduces from a first gear tooth to an ending gear tooth of the first plurality of gear teeth, the first gear being rotatably mounted to the latch for movement about a first gear axis;
- a second gear having a second plurality of gear teeth with a second involute form gear profile that follows a scroll profile with a second gear pitch radius that increases from a first gear tooth to an ending gear tooth of the second plurality of gear teeth, the second gear being rotatably mounted to the latch for movement about a second gear axis, wherein the second plurality of gear teeth meshingly engage the first plurality of gear teeth along a path defined between the first gear teeth of the first gear and the second gear and the ending gear teeth of the first gear and the second gear as first gear first gear rotates about the first axis and the second gear rotates about the second axis, wherein a torque applied to the first gear when the first gear tooth of the first gear engages the first gear tooth of the second gear in order to rotate the first gear about the first axis is lower than a torque applied to the first gear when the ending gear tooth of the first gear engages the ending gear tooth of the second gear in order to rotate the first gear about the first axis;
- and
- wherein rotation of the second gear causes a claw of the latch to move from a first position to a second position, the second position corresponding to a closed state of the latch.
1 more element
A latch system, comprising:
- a motorized closure mechanism, including a motor configured to provide a force to a cable;
- and
- a latch operably coupled to the motorized closure mechanism, the latch comprising:
- a first gear having a first plurality of gear teeth with a first involute form gear profile that follows a scroll profile with a first gear pitch radius that reduces from a first gear tooth to an ending gear tooth of the first plurality of gear teeth, the first gear being rotatably mounted to the latch for movement about a first gear axis;
- a second gear having a second plurality of gear teeth with a second involute form gear profile that follows a scroll profile with a second gear pitch radius that increases from a first gear tooth to an ending gear tooth of the second plurality of gear teeth, the second gear being rotatably mounted to the latch for movement about a second gear axis, wherein the second plurality of gear teeth meshingly engage the first plurality of gear teeth along a path defined between the first gear teeth of the first gear and the second gear and the ending gear teeth of the first gear and the second gear as first gear first gear rotates about the first axis and the second gear rotates about the second axis, wherein a torque applied to the first gear when the first gear tooth of the first gear engages the first gear tooth of the second gear in order to rotate the first gear about the first axis is lower than a torque applied to the first gear when the ending gear tooth of the first gear engages the ending gear tooth of the second gear in order to rotate the first gear about the first axis;
- and
- wherein rotation of the second gear causes a claw of the latch to move from a first position to a second position, the second position corresponding to a closed state of the latch.
4 more elements
A method of applying a closing force to a claw of a latch, the method including the steps of:
- rotating a cable lever rotationally mounted to the latch from a first position to a second position;
- rotating a first gear rotatably mounted to the latch with the cable lever as the cable lever moves from the first position to the second position;
- rotating a second gear rotatably mounted to the latch with the first gear, the second gear being in meshing engagement with the first gear and having a first plurality of gear teeth with a first involute form gear profile that follows a scroll profile with a first gear pitch radius that reduces from a first gear tooth to an ending gear tooth of the first plurality of gear teeth and wherein the second gear has a second plurality of gear teeth with a second involute form gear profile that follows a scroll profile with a second gear pitch radius that increases from a first gear tooth to an ending gear tooth of the second plurality of gear teeth, wherein the second plurality of gear teeth meshingly engage the first plurality of gear teeth along a path defined between the first gear teeth of the first gear and the second gear and the ending gear teeth of the first gear and the second gear as first gear first gear rotates about a first axis and the second gear rotates about a second axis, wherein a torque applied to the first gear when the first gear tooth of the first gear engages the first gear tooth of the second gear in order to rotate the first gear about the first axis is lower than a torque applied to the first gear when the ending gear tooth of the first gear engages the ending gear tooth of the second gear in order to rotate the first gear about the first axis;
- and
- wherein rotation of the second gear causes the claw of the latch to move from a first position to a second position, the second position corresponding to a closed state of the latch.
2 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.