APPARATUS FOR HOOD LATCH OF VEHICLE

• US 20180073283A1
• Filed: 11/29/2016
• Published: 03/15/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 09/13/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Hyundai Motor Company (Hyundai Motor Group), Kia Motors Corporation (Kia Corp.), Pyeong Hwa Automotive Co., Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Hyundai Motor Company (Hyundai Motor Group), Kia Motors Corporation (Kia Corp.), Pyeong Hwa Automotive Co., Ltd.
• Inventors: KIM, Sang Il, AHN, Ki Ryun
• Granted Patent: US 10,669,751 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: E05B 81/06 using rotary motors
• CPC Class Codes: E05B 81/20 for assisting final closing or for initiating opening
• CPC Class Codes: E05B 81/66 the bolt position, i.e. the latching status
• CPC Class Codes: E05B 81/72 the lock status, i.e. locked or unlocked condition
• CPC Class Codes: E05B 83/24 for car bonnets

Abstract

An apparatus for a hood latch of a vehicle may include a hood, wherein the hood is completely closed by an operation of a cinching mechanism when the incomplete closing of the hood is detected to perform the closing of the hood, preventing a safety accident.

Claims

1. An apparatus for a hood latch of a vehicle, comprising:

a base configured to be provided with a driving motor and an insertion groove into which a striker is inserted;

a latch lever configured to be adjacently positioned to the insertion groove of the base, rotatably mounted by the striker inserted into the insertion groove, and formed to enclose the striker;

a pawl lever configured to be rotatably mounted by interlocking with the latch lever and locked to the latch lever when the latch lever is rotated to enclose the striker to fix the latch lever to prevent the latch lever from rotating;

a cinching mechanism configured to be adjacently positioned to the insertion groove while being spaced apart from the latch lever and rotatably mounted together with the latch lever when the striker is inserted into the insertion groove and is additionally rotated by being supplied with power of the driving motor; and

a switch portion configured to be turned on or off depending on a rotation state of the latch lever and drive the driving motor when the switch portion is configured to be turned on by the rotation of the latch lever.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the latch lever is provided with a latch groove depressed to have the striker inserted thereinto, an extending portion extended to correspond to the insertion groove to contact the striker, and a locking protrusion radially protruding along a circumference thereof and is mounted to elastically return after the rotation of the latch lever.

3. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein the pawl lever is provided with a projection locked to the locking protrusion in a state in which the latch lever is rotated and is mounted to elastically return so that the latch lever returns to an original position thereof after the rotation.

4. The apparatus of claim 3, wherein the pawl lever is provided with a contact end that is extended to be bent and thus the locking protrusion contacts the contact end when the latch lever is rotated, and a tip portion of the contact end is provided with the projection.

5. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the cinching mechanism includes:

a popup lever configured to be adjacently positioned to the insertion groove while being spaced apart from the latch lever and rotatably mounted together with the latch lever when the striker is inserted into the insertion groove; and

a cinching lever configured to be rotatably mounted to be adjacent to the popup lever, rotated by being supplied with the power of the driving motor, and rotated with the popup lever when the cinching lever is rotated.

6. The apparatus of claim 5, wherein the popup lever is provided with a contact part that is extended to correspond to the insertion groove to contact the striker.

7. The apparatus of claim 6, wherein the contact part of the popup lever is protrudedly provided with a pin protrusion and the pin protrusion is connected to an elastic member mounted at the base to apply an elastic force so that the popup lever is rotated in a direction in which the striker is separated from the insertion groove.

8. The apparatus of claim 5, wherein the cinching lever is applied with a pulling force from the driving motor to be rotated and is connected to a restoring member mounted at the base in an opposite direction to a direction in which the pulling force is applied.

9. The apparatus of claim 5, wherein the cinching lever is protrudedly provided with a guide protrusion, and

the popup lever is provided with a corresponding protrusion contacting the guide protrusion when the cinching lever is rotated by the operation of the driving motor.

10. The apparatus of claim 1, further including:

a switching lever rotatably mounted while interlocking with the latch lever when the latch lever is rotated,

wherein the switch portion is configured to include a first switch portion turned on or off depending on a rotation of the switching lever and a second switch portion turned on or off depending on a rotation of the pawl lever rotated by the latch lever.

11. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the latch lever is protrudedly provided with a fixed protrusion, and

the switching lever is mounted to be elastically rotated in the direction in which the striker is inserted into the insertion groove and is provided with a locking portion extended toward the latch lever to be locked to the fixed protrusion.

12. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the base is provided with a guide groove extended along a rotation radius of the switching lever, and

the switching lever is provided with a guide protrusion moving by being guided along the guide groove while being inserted into the guide groove,

13. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the first switch portion is configured to input a turn on by contacting the switching lever when the switching lever is rotated as the latch lever is rotated by inserting the striker into the insertion groove, and

the second switch portion is configured to be turned on by making the contact within the rotation section from a point where the pawl lever is rotated to a point before the pawl lever is locked to the latch lever as the striker is inserted into the insertion groove.

14. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein when both of the first switch portion and the second switch portion are turned on, the driving motor is configured to be operated and when either the first switch portion or the second switch portion is not turned on, the driving motor is configured not to be operated.

15. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein when the striker is not inserted into the insertion groove, as the latch lever is not rotated, the switching lever and the pawl lever are not rotated, such that the first switch portion and the second switch portion are turned off and thus the driving motor is configured not to be operated.

16. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein when the striker is inserted into the insertion groove, the switching lever and the pawl lever are rotated together as the latch lever is rotated, and thus the first switch portion is configured to be turned on by the switching lever and the second switch portion is configured to be turned on by the pawl lever to operate the driving motor to additionally rotate the cinching mechanism to allow the latch lever to be fixed while enclosing the striker.

17. The apparatus of claim 1, further including:

a hook lever configured to be rotatably mounted at the base, have a hook-shaped hook part extended to correspond to the insertion groove, rotated when the striker moves toward the insertion groove to allow a movement of the striker, and be locked to the hook part when the striker moves in a direction in which it is separated from the insertion groove to limit a movement of the striker.

18. The apparatus of claim 17, further including:

a release lever configured to be rotatably mounted at the base and connected to be rotated with the pawl lever and the hook lever when the release lever is rotated.