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US 2013/0239485 A1Published application
Vehicle door swing governor
AssigneeFord Global Technologies, LLC
InventorsEric L. Reed, Karl William Wojcik
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A vehicle door swing governor is positioned between a door and a body of a vehicle. The door swing governor includes a motor and a controller for controlling the mechanical resistance applied by the motor to the door so as to control velocity of the door swing. The mechanical resistance applied to the door is a function of the velocity of the swing of the door.
Claims21
A vehicle door swing governor positioned between a door and a body of a vehicle, the governor comprising:
- a motor operatively coupled to the door;
- and
- a controller for controlling the mechanical resistance applied by the motor to the door to control velocity of door swing, wherein the mechanical resistance applied to the door is a function of the velocity of the swing of the door.
A vehicle door assembly comprising:
- a vehicle door;
- a door swing governor positioned between the door and a body of the vehicle, the governor comprising:
- a motor operably coupled to the door;
- and
- a controller for controlling the mechanical resistance applied by the motor to the door to control velocity of door swing, wherein the mechanical resistance applied to the door is a function of the velocity of the door swing.
2 more elements
A method of controlling velocity of swing of a vehicle door comprising:
- sensing door swing velocity using a motor operating as a generator when the motor spins in a first direction;
- and
- applying an electrical load to the motor in response to the sensed velocity, causing the motor to generate a force in a second direction, thereby controlling the mechanical resistance applied by the motor to the door to control the velocity of the door.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.