Powered opening mechanism and control system

A powered closure drive mechanism for a vehicle, comprising:

• a strut constructed and arranged to be mounted between a frame of a vehicle and a closure pivotally connected to the frame, said strut having first and second opposite ends moveable in opposite directions toward and away from one another, said strut being biased to move said ends away from one another, an angular orientation of said strut being adjustable between orientations in which the bias of the strut is sufficient to overcome a weight of the closure so as to move the closure in a closure opening direction, and orientations in which the weight of the closure is sufficient to overcome the bias of the strut so as to move the closure in a closure closing direction;
• a motor operatively coupled with said strut so as to adjust the angular orientation of the strut by changing a position of the second end of the strut and thereby facilitate opening and closing of the closure;
• a controller that controls said motor;
• wherein said strut assumes a first orientation when said closure is fully opened and said strut assumes a second orientation when said closure is fully closed, and wherein a pivot point of the strut is moved by the motor when effecting opening and closing movement of the closure and is disposed in a same manual mode position when said strut is in either of said first and second orientations, enabling manual opening and closing of the closure.

A powered closure drive system mounted to the rearward-most pillar of a vehicle frame, comprising:

• a strut constructed and arranged to be mounted between a frame of a vehicle and a closure pivotally connected to the frame, said strut having opposite ends moveable in opposite directions toward and away from one another, said strut being biased to move said ends away from one another, an angular orientation of said strut being adjustable between orientations in which the bias of the strut is sufficient to overcome a weight of the closure so as to move the closure in a closure opening direction, and orientations in which the weight of the closure is sufficient to overcome the bias of the strut so as to move the closure in a closure closing direction;
• a motor operatively coupled with said strut so as to adjust the orientation of the strut and thereby facilitate opening and closing of the closure;
• an arm connected to said motor and one end of said strut;
• a controller operatively connected with said motor to control operation of said motor;
• said motor mounted to the rearward-most pillar;
• the pillar further comprising a longitudinal channel for receiving at least a portion of said arm and at least a portion of the strut.

A powered closure drive system comprising:

• a strut constructed and arranged to be mounted between a frame of a vehicle and a closure pivotally connected to the frame, said strut having opposite ends moveable in opposite directions toward and away from one another, said strut being biased to move said ends away from one another, an angular orientation of said strut being adjustable between orientations in which the bias of the strut is sufficient to overcome a weight of the closure so as to move the closure in a closure opening direction, and orientations in which the weight of the closure is sufficient to overcome the bias of the strut so as to move the closure in a closure closing direction;
• a motor operatively coupled with said strut so as to adjust the angular orientation of the strut and thereby facilitate opening and closing of the closure;
• a controller that controls said motor so as to control the angular orientation of the strut;
• wherein said strut assumes a first orientation when said closure is fully opened and a second orientation when said closure is fully closed;
• and
• wherein when the closure approaches the fully closed position, the strut has an angular orientation wherein a line of action of said strut causes a closing force to be applied to said closure.

A rear vehicle assembly of a motor vehicle comprising:

• a frame defining an opening at the rear of the motor vehicle;
• a closure constructed and arranged to fit in closed relation within said opening;
• a hinge mounting said closure for pivotal movement between an open position and a closed position;
• a latch assembly having cooperating parts mounted on said closure and said frame to releasably latch said closure in said closed position;
• a strut operatively disposed between said frame and said closure and having opposite ends moveable in opposite directions toward and away from one another, said strut being biased when in first angular orientations thereof between the closure and the frame to move in one of said directions with sufficient force to overcome the weight bias of said closure and move said closure in a direction toward the open position thereof, said strut being moveable into second angular orientations thereof between the closure and the frame wherein the bias thereof is overcome by the weight of the closure and allows the closure to move in an opposite direction toward the closed position thereof;
• and
• a power operated system constructed and arranged to detect dynamic properties of said closure and including a motor operatively connected to said strut to change the angular orientation thereof responsive to the dynamic properties, said power operated system being operatively connected to said latch assembly to effect timely powered cinching and releasing of said latch assembly,
• said power operated system operable to change the angular orientation of said strut to move said strut between said first and second orientations to effect movement of said closure between the open position and said closed position thereof in accordance with said dynamic properties;
• said power operated system operable to impart a closure closing force to said closure to move the closure into a latching relation when in said closed position.

An automated, pivoted closure system, comprising:

• a frame defining an opening;
• a closure constructed and arranged to fit in closed relation within said opening;
• a hinge mounting said closure for pivotal upward movement opposed to the weight bias of the closure toward an open position and for downward movement toward a closed position under the weight bias of the closure;
• a resilient stored-energy member having first and second opposite ends moveable in opposite directions toward and away from one another, said resilient member having said first end thereof operatively connected with said closure, said resilient member being biased to move in one of said directions with sufficient force to overcome the weight bias of said closure and move said closure in a direction toward the open position thereof when connected between said frame and said closure in closure-raising relation and to be overcome by the weight bias of the closure and allow the closure to move in an opposite direction toward the closed position thereof when connected between said frame and said closure in closure-lowering relation;
• a rotatable arm pivotally connected to the second end of said resilient member to change an angular orientation of said resilient member, thereby causing said resilient member to move between said closure-raising and closure-lowering relations;
• and
• a motor disposed in driving relation with said rotatable arm to effect rotational movement of said arm;
• and
• a controller that controls said motor to control an angular position of the rotatable arm and said angular orientation of said resilient member so as to control velocity of said closure when moving from at least said open position to said closed position.

A method for controlling an automated, pivoted closure system, comprising:

• providing a fixed structure, a pivotal structure mounted for pivotal movement about a horizontal axis and a biased first strut operably connected between said fixed structure and said pivotal structure, said first strut having opposite ends moveable in opposite directions toward and away from one another, said first strut being biased to move said ends away from one another, said strut first being adjustable between relative orientations between said fixed structure and said pivotal structure in which the bias of the first strut overcomes a weight of the pivotal structure so as to move the pivotal structure in an opening direction, and orientations in which the weight of the pivotal structure overcomes the bias of the first strut so as to move the pivotal structure in a closing direction;
• measuring a dynamic property of said pivotal structure as it moves under the influence of the bias of the first strut and the gravitational forces of its weight;
• and
• controlling a motor to change the relative orientation of said first strut based upon said measured dynamic property of said pivotal structure so as to maintain the pivotal structure within a desired dynamic property profile.