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Hydraulic closure system for a motor vehicle

  • US 5,851,050 A
  • Filed: 10/04/1996
  • Issued: 12/22/1998
  • Est. Priority Date: 10/06/1995
  • Status: Expired due to Term
First Claim
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1. A hydraulic closure system for use in a motor vehicle and constructed and arranged to cooperate with a closure opening defined by an opening frame of the motor vehicle body, said system comprising:

  • a closure constructed and arranged to be pivotally mounted on the opening frame for movement between a closed position in which said closure closes the closure opening and an opened position in which said closure is oriented to permit access through the closure opening;

    a latching structure constructed and arranged to latch said closure in said closed position and to unlatch said closure to permit said closure to move from said closed position to said opened position; and

    a manually overridable power control system including at least one hydraulic actuator assembly, a motorized hydraulic pump, and a biased energy storage system, said manually overridable power control system being constructed and arranged to enable automatic opening and closing of said closure and to permit manual closing of said closure,said at least one hydraulic actuator assembly being coupled at one end thereof to said closure and coupled at an opposite end thereof to said opening frame,said at least one hydraulic actuator assembly including a cylinder and a piston rod assembly, said piston rod assembly including a piston and a rod member connected to said piston, said piston being moveable within said cylinder in slidably sealed relation with inner walls of said cylinder, said rod member extending outwardly from a rod extension end of said cylinder,said piston rod assembly being moveable between an extended condition in which said rod member has a relatively large extent thereof extending outwardly from said rod extension end of said cylinder so as to create a distance between said one end and said opposite end of said at least one hydraulic actuator assembly sufficient to maintain said closure in said opened position and a contracted condition in which said rod member has a relatively smaller extent thereof extending outwardly from the rod extension end of said cylinder in comparison with said extended condition to create a distance between said one end and said opposite end of said at least one hydraulic actuator assembly that enables said closure to be disposed in said closed position,said biased energy storage system being constructed and arranged to store energy therein, said biased energy storage system applying a biasing force to said at least one hydraulic actuator assembly sufficient to move said closure from said closed position to said opened position and maintain said closure in said opened position when said energy stored therein is expended,said motorized hydraulic pump being operable to input energy to said at least one hydraulic actuator assembly to effect said closing of said closure by creating hydraulic fluid flow in one direction with respect to said cylinder on a first side of said piston to force said piston away from said rod extension end of said cylinder and move said at least one hydraulic actuator assembly against said biasing force from said extended condition to said contracted condition and said closure from said opened position to said closed position,said biased energy storage system being constructed and arranged to store a portion of the energy input to said at least one hydraulic actuator assembly by said motorized hydraulic pump when said closure is moved by operation of said pump from said opened position to said closed position, said biased energy storage system being constructed and arranged to expend energy stored therein on a second side of said piston and thus apply said biasing force when said closure is unlatched to move the piston toward said rod extension end of said cylinder and hence create hydraulic fluid flow in an opposite direction with respect to said cylinder on said first side of said piston and thereby move said at least one hydraulic actuator assembly from said contracted condition to said extended condition and move said closure from said closed position to said opened position and maintain said closure in said opened position,said manually overridable control system being constructed and arranged to permit manually generated movement of said closure from said opened position to said closed position to force said piston away from said rod extension end of said cylinder and move said at least one hydraulic actuator assembly against said biasing force from said extended condition to said contracted condition to create hydraulic fluid flow in said one direction with respect to said cylinder on said first side of said piston when said pump is in an inoperative state, said biased energy storage system being constructed and arranged to store a portion of energy input to said at least one hydraulic actuator assembly by said manually generated movement of said closure from said opened position to said closed position to enable said energy storage system to subsequently move said closure from said closed position to said opened position when said stored energy is expended.

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