Positioning element for motor vehicle doors and panels

• US 9,003,707 B2
• Filed: 04/02/2012
• Issued: 04/14/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 03/31/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Kiekert AG (Lingyun Industrial Corporation Limited)
• Original Assignee: Kiekert AG (Lingyun Industrial Corporation Limited)
• Inventors: Reddmann, Uwe
• Primary Examiner(s): REDMAN, JERRY E
• Application Number:
  US14/008,626
• Publication Number:
  US 20140144085A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,107 Days
• Field of Search: 492/75, 492/76, 492/77, 492/78, 493/79, 493/64, 312/319.2, 312/333, 312/405
• US Class Current: 49/278
• CPC Class Codes: E05B 81/20 for assisting final closing or for initiating opening
• CPC Class Codes: E05C 3/12 with latching action devices in which the securing part is formed or merely carried by a spring and moves only by distortion of the spring, e.g. snaps, E05C19/06; tilt-plate latches E05C19/007
• CPC Class Codes: E05F 15/60 using electrical actuators
• CPC Class Codes: E05F 7/005 Aligning devices for wings

Abstract

A positioning element permits the panel or engine bonnet of a motor vehicle to be brought from the closed position into a position in which a gap forms between the upper edge of the opening and the lower edge of the panel. The panel can thus easily be unlocked and fully opened. The positioning element with inner lever and outer lever is connected to a drive component, which via the drive element and the drive pawl with a detent ensures that the panel is brought in a simple manner via the levers into the first raised position, for which purpose the detent is pushed into the recess of the outer lever and thus brings the outer lever and the inner lever into the first raised position. Once the panel has been brought by spring loading into the second raised position with the aid of the spring-loaded inner lever, the upward travel is completed, so that by means of the spring force associated with the outer lever, said outer lever then quickly pivots both levers back into the initial position.

Claims

1. Positioning element for a motor vehicle panel which is pivotable between a closed position and a raised position, the positioning element comprising:

a lifting element activated by unlocking of a lock of the panel, with the panel being designed to be pivoted into the raised position and then back into the closed position, and

a drive element pivotably mounted on a drive lever,

wherein the lifting element comprises an outer lever and an inner lever, pivotable or slideable in relation to each other and which are releasably connected to the drive element, and the inner lever is designed to actively pivot back in an anticlockwise direction and the outer lever in a clockwise direction when the lifting element is driven by the drive element.

2. Positioning element according to claim 1, wherein the inner lever and outer lever are acted upon by a spring.

3. Positioning element according to claim 1, wherein the inner lever is designed in such a way that during a relative movement in relation to the outer lever the drive element, designed as a drive pawl, is released from the outer lever by a stop cam.

4. Positioning element according to claim 3 wherein the inner lever contains an outer curved edge designed to act on the stop cam during the relative movement.

5. Positioning element according to claim 1, wherein the inner lever is designed to partly encompass the outer lever and contains a stop ring.

6. Positioning element according to claim 5, wherein the outer lever is made of metal and the inner lever and the stop ring are made of plastic.

7. Positioning element according to claim 1, wherein the outer lever is subjected to a greater spring loading than the inner lever.

8. Positioning element according to claim 7, wherein the outer lever is subjected to a 20-60% greater spring loading than the inner lever.

9. Positioning element according to claim 1, wherein the outer lever contains a recess accommodating the drive element and that the drive element has a corresponding detent.

10. Positioning element according to claim 1, wherein upon reaching a second raised position, the inner lever is designed to cause the drive element to move back into a base position, releasing a return spring of the outer lever at the same time.