Release actuator for latch
AssigneeInteva Products, LLC
InventorDonald M. Perkins
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A vehicle latch is provided. The vehicle latch having: a frame; a pawl rotatably mounted to the frame for movement between an engaged position and a disengaged position; a claw rotatably mounted to the frame for movement between a latched position and an open position, wherein pawl is configured to impede rotational movement of the claw from the latched position to the open position when the pawl is in the engaged position; a release lever rotatably mounted to the frame; and a worm wheel having a plurality of cam lobes, wherein each of the cam lobes are located in separate and distinct planes with respect to each other, wherein the release lever operably couples the pawl to the worm wheel such that rotational movement of the worm wheel rotates the pawl.
Claims20
A vehicle latch, comprising:
- a frame;
- a pawl rotatably mounted to the frame for movement between an engaged position and a disengaged position;
- a claw rotatably mounted to the frame for movement between a latched position and an open position, wherein pawl is configured to impede rotational movement of the claw from the latched position to the open position when the pawl is in the engaged position;
- a release lever rotatably mounted to the frame;
- and
- a worm wheel having a plurality of cam lobes, wherein each of the cam lobes are located in separate and distinct planes with respect to each other, wherein the release lever operably couples the pawl to the worm wheel such that rotational movement of the worm wheel rotates the pawl.
The vehicle latch as in claim 4, wherein the release lever is spring biased into a rest position by a spring.
An actuator for a vehicle latch, comprising:
- a motor assembly for rotating a worm wheel, the worm wheel having a plurality of cam lobes, wherein each of the cam lobes are located in separate and distinct planes with respect to each other;
- and
- a release lever rotatably mounted to a frame of the latch, wherein rotation of the worm wheel causes movement of the release lever.
A method of actuating a pawl of a vehicle latch, comprising:
- pivotally mounting the pawl to a frame of the latch, wherein the pawl is configured to prevent a claw of the latch from moving into an open position when the pawl is in an engaged position with respect to the claw;
- operably coupling a release lever to the pawl and a plurality of cam lobes of a worm wheel, wherein each of the cam lobes are located in separate and distinct planes with respect to each other and wherein the release lever is pivotally mounted to the frame of the latch;
- and
- wherein a center of gravity (CG) of the pawl and a center of gravity (CG) of the release lever provide a system that is significantly more robust to external acceleration events than a latch with a single pawl directly coupled to the worm wheel and the claw.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.