Door latch misalignment measuring arrangement and method
OwnerTom Van Eschinventor
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A pair of laser distance sensors are arranged to impinge a respective laser beam on a respective one of a pair of surfaces on a reference target installed on a car door to determine the extent of misalignment of a door latch and striker by determining the extent of any vertical door movement induced by such misalignment. The use of oppositely inclined surfaces eliminates the effect of small mispositioning of the reference target surfaces and the laser distance sensors. A side by side arrangement of the laser distance sensors can also be used to determine the door closing speed.
Claims15
An arrangement for measuring the degree of misalignment between a door latch opening on a car door and a fixed striker comprising:
- a reference target mounted on said car door, said reference target formed with a pair of target surfaces oppositely inclined from the vertical;
- a dual laser distance sensor unit having two laser distance sensors each aimed at a respective target surface, each laser sensor generating signals corresponding to the distances to an associated target surface as said car door swings to a closed latched position, said target surfaces configured to vary said distances in proportion to vertical movement of said door latch and fixed striker induced by said door latch opening and striker misalignment;
- and
- a signal processor receiving said signals corresponding to said distances and producing a signal corresponding to the degree of misalignment between said door latch opening and said fixed striker.
A method of determining the degree of misalignment between a latch opening mounted to a car door on a car body and a fixed striker of an automobile door latch mechanism comprising mounting a reference target to said car door, said reference target having a pair of target surfaces inclined to the vertical in opposite directions, aiming a respective laser distance sensor at each target surface so as to impinge points across an aligned surface as said for door moves to a closed condition whereat said latch mechanism is fully engaged so as to sense any increase and decrease in distances between points of impingement each target surface of a respective laser distance sensor from said respective laser distance sensor of a laser beam included in each laser distance sensor as said car door closes to thereby detect the extent of vertical movement of said car door caused by misalignment of said door latch opening and said striker and generating corresponding signals, and determining therefrom the extent of said misalignment and generating corresponding signals.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.