Drive mechanism for selectively opening and closing a closure panel manually or automatically

• US 6,575,864 B1
• Filed: 09/10/2001
• Issued: 06/10/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 03/08/1999
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Atoma International Corp.
• Original Assignee: Atoma International Corp.
• Inventors: Dean, Thomas
• Primary Examiner(s): Estremsky, Sherry
• Assistant Examiner(s): Lewis, Tisha D.
• Application Number:
  US09/936,281
• Time in Patent Office: 638 Days
• Field of Search: 493/60, 491/39, 491/40, 492/79, 492/80, 475/5, 475/3, 475/4, 475/270, 74/29, 74/33, 74/30, 74/891.6, 746/25
• US Class Current: 475/5
• CPC Class Codes: E05F 15/603 using rotary electromotors
• CPC Class Codes: E05F 15/638 allowing or involving a secondary movement of the wing, e.g. rotational or transversal
• CPC Class Codes: E05Y 2201/214 Disengaging means
• CPC Class Codes: E05Y 2201/218 Holders
• CPC Class Codes: E05Y 2201/22 Locks
• CPC Class Codes: E05Y 2201/244 by manual operation
• CPC Class Codes: E05Y 2201/246 by motors, magnets, springs or weights
• CPC Class Codes: E05Y 2201/462 Electromagnets
• CPC Class Codes: E05Y 2900/531 Doors
• CPC Class Codes: Y10T 74/18088 Rack and pinion type

Abstract

A drive mechanism (14) for enabling driving and manual movement of a sliding side door (12). The assembly (14) has a track assembly (16) mounted to a vehicle body (10) at a predetermined height and a drive mechanism (18) mounted to the sliding side door (12) so as to be proximate to a door latching mechanism (19). The drive mechanism (18) has an input drive motor (22) driving an output gear assembly (24) engaging the track assembly (16) and a transmission gear assembly (23) with a sliding gear (50) which selectively couples the input drive motor (22) and an input gear assembly (23) to the output gear assembly (24) between an engaged position for driving movement or disengaged position for manual movement of the sliding side door (12). In this way, the slide side door (12) may be moved manually between open and closed positions without having to overcome the effort required of rotating the drive motor (22).

Claims

1. A drive assembly (14) for driving and manual movement of a sliding side door (12) between open and closed positions on a vehicle body (10), the drive assembly (14) having a track assembly (16) mounted to the vehicle body (10) and a drive mechanism (18) mounted to the sliding side door (12) and operatively engaging the track assembly (16), the drive mechanism (18) having an input drive motor (22) driving an output gear assembly (24) for engaging the track assembly (16) characterized by the input drive motor (22) being coupled to an input gear assembly (23), and a transmission gear assembly (26) having a sliding gear (50) which is selectively movable axially along a pin (62) between an engaged position coupling the input gear assembly (23) to the output gear assembly (24) for driving movement of the sliding side door (12) and a disengaged position where the output gear assembly (24) is disengaged from the input drive motor (22) for manual movement of the sliding side door (12), an actuator motor (40), and a gear train (42), (44), (46) coupled to the actuator motor (40) and engaging a lever (48) pivotally connected for selectively moving the sliding gear (50) between said engaged position and said disengaged position.

2. A drive mechanism assembly (14) according to claim 1 in which the transmission gear assembly (26) includes a disengagement cable (64) coupled to a latch release handle of the sliding side door (12) and adapted to pivot said lever (48) so as to disengage the sliding gear (50) from the input drive motor (22) for manual movement of the sliding side door (12) when a door latch is manually released.

3. A drive mechanism assembly (14) according to claim 1 in which the lever (48) has three arms extending outwardly from a pivot (56) for the lever (48) respectively coupled to gear train (42), (44), (46), sliding gear (50) and disengagement cable (64).

4. A drive mechanism assembly (14) according to claim 1 having signaling means (66), (68) signaling whether the transmission gear assembly (26) is in an engaged position or a disengaged position.

5. A drive mechanism assembly (14) according to claim 1 in which the track assembly (16) is mounted to the vehicle body (10) at a predetermined height to commensurate with a door latching mechanism (19) and the input drive motor (22) is proximate to said door latching mechanism (19).

6. A drive mechanism assembly (14) according to claim 1 having an encoder (70) mounted to a hinge bracket (38) housing the output gear assembly (24) and having signaling means for signaling the position and velocity of the sliding side door (12) relative to said track assembly (16).

7. A drive mechanism assembly (14) according to claim 2 in which the disengagement cable (64) is adapted to pivot said lever (48) so as to engage the sliding gear (50) to couple the input gear assembly (23) to the output gear assembly (24) and thereby arrest continued movement of the sliding side door (12) when the latch release handle is released.