METHOD FOR CONTROLLING AN ADJUSTING MOVEMENT OF A VEHICLE CLOSING ELEMENT WITH COLLISION AVOIDANCE FOR A LOCK REGION AND ANTI-TRAP SYSTEM

• US 20150267454A1
• Filed: 08/02/2013
• Published: 09/24/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 08/02/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Brose Fahrzeugteile GmbH & Co. Kommanditgesellschaft, Hallstadt
• Original Assignee: Brose Fahrzeugteile GmbH & Company KG Coburg
• Inventors: Wuerstlein, Holger, Herrmann, Christian, Pohl, Florian
• Granted Patent: US 9,476,243 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 16/0315 using multiplexing techniques multiplexing for transmission of signals G08C15/00; multiplexing for electrical communication in general H04J
• CPC Class Codes: E05F 15/46 responsive to changes in electrical capacitance
• CPC Class Codes: E05F 15/60 using electrical actuators
• CPC Class Codes: E05Y 2201/22 Locks
• CPC Class Codes: E05Y 2800/244 arranged in serial relationship
• CPC Class Codes: E05Y 2900/546 Tailboards, tailgates or sideboards opening upwards
• CPC Class Codes: Y02T 10/70 Energy storage systems for electromobility, e.g. batteries

Abstract

The invention relates to a method for controlling an adjusting movement of a vehicle closing element of a vehicle to be closed in a manner actuated by an external force, such as a tailgate lid, wherein an obstacle in the path of adjustment of the vehicle closing element can be detected by means of a capacitive anti-trap system in order to prevent this obstacle from being trapped, and the vehicle closing element has a locking part, via which the vehicle closing element can be locked in a closed position. An obstacle in a monitoring region around the locking part provided on the vehicle closing element can also be detected via the capacitive anti-trap system in order to prevent a collision of this locking part with an obstacle at least as the vehicle closing element closes.

Claims

1-15. -15. (canceled)

16. A method for controlling an adjusting movement of a vehicle closing element of a vehicle to be closed in a manner actuated by an external force, wherein

a body opening of the vehicle (K) can be closed by the vehicle closing element (1) in a closed position and the vehicle closing element has a locking part, via which the vehicle closing element can be locked in the closed position,

an obstacle in the path of adjustment of the closing vehicle closing element can be detected by means of a capacitive anti-trap system, such that the adjusting movement of the vehicle closing element can be controlled by means of the anti-trap system in such a way that an obstacle is prevented from being trapped between the closing vehicle closing element and a vehicle structure in the region of the body opening, and

an obstacle in a monitoring region around the locking part provided on the vehicle closing element is also detected by means of the capacitive anti-trap system in order to prevent a collision of this locking part with an obstacle at least as the vehicle closing element closes.

17. The method as claimed in claim 16, wherein a change of an electric capacitance is evaluated for the detection of an obstacle in the monitoring region.

18. The method as claimed in claim 17, wherein at least one receiver electrode and/or at least one transmitter electrode is/are provided for the detection of an obstacle in the monitoring region.

19. The method as claimed in claim 18, wherein the at least one transmitter electrode and/or the at least one receiver electrode is/are arranged on the vehicle closing element in the region of the locking part, in particular within a housing or a cover of the locking part.

20. The method as claimed in claim 17, wherein both the evaluation of whether a situation of entrapment is present, in which an obstacle is trapped, and the evaluation of whether a situation of collision is present, in which the locking part collides with an obstacle, are performed by means of the electronic evaluation unit of the anti-trap system.

21. The method as claimed in claim 16, wherein the vehicle closing element has at least two different closing edges, via each of which the vehicle closing element rests in the shut position thereof on the vehicle structure, and the locking part is provided on one of the closing edges.

22. The method as claimed in claim 21, wherein at least one transmitter electrode and an associated receiver electrode of the capacitive anti-trap system each extend over at least a part of two closing edges in such a way that both a situation of entrapment at least at one of the closing edges and an imminent collision of the locking part with an obstacle can be detected hereby on the basis of an electric capacitance changing on account of an obstacle.

23. The method as claimed in claim 21, wherein at least two electrode pairs of the anti-trap system are each provided with a transmitter electrode and a receiver electrode, which each extend over at least a part of two closing edges in such a way that both a situation of entrapment at least at one of the closing edges and an imminent collision of the locking part with an obstacle can be detected with each electrode pair on the basis of an electric capacitance changing on account of an obstacle.

24. The method as claimed in claim 16, wherein the anti-trap system has a first and a second electrode pair, wherein

the first electrode pair with a first transmitter electrode and a first receiver electrode is provided in order to produce a first electric field in a first monitoring region,

the second electrode pair with a second transmitter electrode and a second receiver electrode is provided in order to produce an electric field in a second monitoring region, and

the two electrode pairs are arranged and interconnected such that, by means of the electrode pairs, a capacitance change on account of an obstacle can be detected in a third monitoring region, which is different from the first and second monitoring regions and in which the locking part is located.

25. The method as claimed in claim 24, wherein the two electrode pairs are arranged at a distance from one another on different sides of the locking part and the third monitoring region extends substantially between the two electrode pairs, in particular between the two ends of the electrodes of the electrode pairs.

26. The method as claimed in claim 24, wherein the first transmitter electrode and the second receiver electrode and/or the second transmitter electrode and the first receiver electrode are interconnected in order to be able to detect an obstacle in the third monitoring region.

27. The method as claimed in claim 26, wherein the first transmitter electrode and the second receiver electrode and the second transmitter electrode and the first receiver electrode are interconnected in succession in order to be able to detect an obstacle in the third monitoring region.

28. The method as claimed in claim 24, wherein at least one signal representative of the first monitoring region, at least one signal representative of the second monitoring region and at least one signal representative of the third monitoring region are evaluated in succession in a predefined order via the electronic evaluation unit.

29. The method as claimed in claim 24, wherein the connection of the electrode pairs is controlled by means of a time multiplexer.

30. A capacitive anti-trap system for a vehicle, by means of which an obstacle in the path of adjustment of a vehicle closing element to be closed in a manner actuated by an external force can be detected and by means of which an obstacle is prevented from being trapped between the closing vehicle closing element and a vehicle structure in the region of a body opening that is closed by the vehicle closing element in a closed position, in particular for carrying out a method as claimed in claim 16, wherein the anti-trap system comprises at least the following:

at least one electrode pair comprising a transmitter electrode and a receiver electrode, wherein an electric field is produced by activating the transmitter electrode with electric alternating current and is influenced by an obstacle in such a way that an electric capacitance is changed in a manner that can be measured,

an electronic evaluation unit, by means of which a signal received via a receiver electrode can be evaluated in terms of whether an electric capacitance has changed on account of an obstacle in the path of adjustment of the vehicle closing element, and

the capacitive anti-trap system is designed and intended also to detect an object in a monitoring region around a locking part on the vehicle closing element in order to prevent a collision of this locking part with an obstacle at least as the vehicle closing element closes.