Cinching door latch with planetary release mechanism

A cinching door latch having a fork bolt that pivots between a primary latched position and an unlatched position;

• a detent lever that pivots between an engaged position and a disengaged position;
• the detent lever holding the fork bolt in the latched position when in the disengaged position and releasing the fork bolt for movement to the unlatched position when in the release position;
• a transfer lever that pivots between a latch position and an unlatch position, the transfer lever being operatively connected to the detent lever for pivoting the detent lever to the disengaged position;
• and a cinching mechanism for pivoting the fork bolt to the primary latched position characterized in that the cinching mechanism comprises,
• a cinching gear drivingly connected to the fork bolt,
• a planetary gear set having a sun gear, a ring gear and planet gears that are rotatably mounted on a planet carrier and that mesh with the sun gear and the ring gear;
• the planet carrier being drivingly connected to the cinching gear,
• a motor for driving the sun gear, and
• a one-way device for limiting rotation of the ring gear to one direction so that the power driven planetary gear set can drive the cinching gear to drive the fork bolt to the primary latched position.

A cinching door latch having a fork bolt that pivots between a primary latched position and an unlatched position;

• a detent lever that pivots between an engaged position and a disengaged position;
• the detent lever holding the fork bolt in the latched position when in the disengaged position and releasing the fork bolt for movement to the unlatched position when in the release position;
• a transfer lever that pivots between a latch position and an unlatch position, the transfer lever being operatively connected to the detent lever for pivoting the detent lever to the disengaged position;
• and a cinching mechanism for pivoting the fork bolt to the primary latched position characterized in that the cinching mechanism comprises,
• a cinching gear drivingly connected to the fork bolt,
• a planetary gear set having a sun gear, a ring gear and planet gears that are rotatably mounted on a planet carrier and that mesh with the sun gear and the ring gear;
• the planet carrier being drivingly connected to the cinching gear,
• a motor for driving the sun gear,
• a one-way device for limiting rotation of the ring gear to one direction so that the power driven planetary gear set can drive the cinching gear to drive the fork bolt to the primary latched position,
• the cinching mechanism including a release mechanism for disabling the one way device so that the ring gear rotates in either direction the release mechanism being operated by the transfer lever so that the release mechanism is disabled when the transfer lever is pivoted to the unlatch position to avoid back driving the motor.

A cinching door latch having a fork bolt that pivots between a primary latched position and an unlatched position;

• a detent lever that pivots between an engaged position and a disengaged position;
• the detent lever holding the fork bolt in the latched position when in the engaged position and releasing the fork bolt for movement to the unlatched position when in the disengaged position;
• a transfer lever that pivots between a latch position and an unlatch position, the transfer lever being operatively connected to the detent lever for pivoting the detent lever to the disengaged position;
• and a cinching mechanism for pivoting the fork bolt to the primary latched position characterized in that the cinching mechanism comprises;
• a cinching gear meshing with teeth of the fork bolt,
• a planetary gear set having a sun gear, and internal ring gear and planet gears that are rotatably mounted on a planet carrier and that mesh with the sun gear and the internal ring gear,
• the planet carrier being concentric with and drivingly connected to the cinching gear,
• an electric motor drivingly connected to the sun gear via a gear train,
• a one-way device having a pivotally mounted pawl that drivingly engages an outer periphery of the internal ring gear to limit rotation of the internal ring gear to one direction so that the power driven planetary gear set can drive the cinching gear to drive the fork bolt to the primary latched position, and
• a release mechanism having an unlatch link that pivots the pawl out of driving engagement with the periphery of the internal ring gear to disable the one-way device so that the internal ring gear rotates in either direction,
• the unlatch link being operatively connected to the transfer lever so that the one-way device is disabled when the transfer lever is pivoted to the unlatch position to avoid back driving the electric motor.