Drive mechanism for electronic deadbolt
AssigneeASSA ABLOY Americas Residential Inc.
InventorGerald Chong
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An electronically-controlled manually-actuated deadbolt lock is provided. The electronically-controlled manually-actuated deadbolt lock includes an internal spring-actuated coupling mechanism that, when a user is authenticated, the coupling mechanism is placed in an engaged position that allows a deadbolt latch to be moved into a locked or unlocked position responsive to a manual rotation of a turn piece. Because the deadbolt latch is manually driven, a warped door condition can be overcome. Additionally, because the deadbolt latch is manually actuated, operation of the electronic motor may be decreased, which may increase battery life.
Claims21
(canceled)
An electronic lock comprising:
- a housing;
- a manual turn piece rotatably mounted to the housing and rotatable around a first axis;
- a motor disposed within the housing;
- a spindle operationally coupled to the motor and rotatable around a second axis orthogonal to the first axis, wherein a transmission spring is coupled to the spindle;
- an actuator slidable along the second axis via engagement with the transmission spring;
- and
- a drive mechanism selectively coupling the manual turn piece to a torque blade along the first axis, wherein the drive mechanism includes:
- a driver coupled to the manual turn piece;
- and
- a coupling coupled to the torque blade, the coupling supporting a pin biased with a pin spring,
- wherein the motor is configured to receive a signal so as to drive rotation of the spindle and corresponding movement of the actuator along the second axis, and upon the movement of the actuator, the actuator moves the pin into an engaged position with the driver so that the manual turn piece and the torque blade are rotationally coupled together, and wherein when the pin is in the engaged position, the first axis extends through both the pin and the pin spring.
An electronic lock comprising:
- a housing;
- a manual turn piece rotatably mounted to the housing and rotatable around a first axis;
- a motor disposed within the housing;
- a spindle operationally coupled to the motor and rotatable around a second axis orthogonal to the first axis, wherein a transmission spring is coupled to the spindle;
- an actuator slidable along the second axis via engagement with the transmission spring;
- and
- a drive mechanism selectively coupling the manual turn piece to a torque blade along the first axis, wherein the drive mechanism includes:
- a driver coupled to the manual turn piece;
- a pin housing supporting a pin biased at least partially within the pin housing via a pin spring;
- and
- a coupling attached to the torque blade and engaged with the pin housing, wherein the coupling and the pin housing are configured to at least partially rotate around the first axis independently one another,
- wherein the motor is configured to receive a signal so as to drive rotation of the spindle and corresponding movement of the actuator along the second axis, and upon the movement of the actuator, the actuator moves the pin into an engaged position with the driver so that the manual turn piece and the torque blade are rotationally coupled together.
A method of actuating an electronic lock comprising:
- in response to receiving a valid user credential input, actuating a motor to rotate a spindle around a first axis, the spindle having a transmission spring that engages with an actuator to slide the actuator along the first axis;
- at least partially overcoming biasing of a pin spring of a pin supported within a coupling via the actuator such that the pin is disposed in an engaged position, wherein when the pin is in the engaged position, the coupling is rotationally coupled to a driver along a second axis orthogonal to the first axis, and wherein when the pin is in the engaged position, the second axis extends through both the pin and the pin spring;
- rotating a manual turn piece coupled to the driver around the second axis causing rotation of the coupling attached to a torque blade;
- and
- after a predetermined period of time, automatically actuating the motor to rotate the spindle in an opposite direction to release the pin from the engaged position and disengage the coupling from the driver.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.