GB2345437A

GB2345437A - Handle arrangement for a moveable part of a motor vehicle

Info

Publication number: GB2345437A
Application number: GB9930424A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Georg Stefan Hagemann; Gunter Holzel; Rainer Kristl
Original assignee: DaimlerChrysler AG
Current assignee: Mercedes Benz Group AG
Priority date: 1998-12-24
Filing date: 1999-12-22
Publication date: 2000-07-12
Anticipated expiration: 2019-12-22
Also published as: DE19860229A1; GB2345437B; ITRM990766A0; ITRM990766A1; DE19860229C2; GB9930424D0; IT1308032B1; FR2787822A1

Abstract

A handle arrangement for the side door of a motor vehicle has a handle bow 2 which is mounted at one end in a pivotable manner and at its other end is mounted by means of an extendable telescopic curved guide 6, 7, 15, 17, 18 which is concentric to the pivot axis 4. The handle bow 2 is moved between a retracted rest position (Fig. 2) and an extended functional position (Fig. 3) by an actuating drive 8, 9, 10 which acts on the handle bow by means of a deflection mechanism. The handle arrangement also contains a helical spring arrangement 11 for returning the handle bow 2 from a manually pulled out opening position to the extended functional position. The helical spring 11 is arranged between the rack 10 and the angled lever 12 in the chain of power transmission of the handle bow 2 so, therefore if the power fails the handle bow 2 can be pivoted manually outwards from the recessed rest position by a compression force being applied from the outside of the handle bow 2 in the region of the bearing shoulder 5.#

Description

2345437 Handle arrangement for a moveable body part of a motor vehicle The

invention relates to a handle arrangement for a moveable body part of a motor vehicle, having a handle bow which is mounted at one end in a pivotable manner and at its other end region is mounted by means of a curved guide which is concentric to the pivot axis, having an actuating drive for moving the handle bow between a retracted rest position and an extended functional position, which actuating guide acts on the handle bow by means of a deflection mechanism, and also having a helical spring arrangement for returning the handle bow from a manually pulled-out opening position into the extended functional position.

A handle arrangement of this type is disclosed in DE 34 03 003 C2. The handle arrangement has a handle bow which, in its rest position in which it is not required, is arranged recessed in a corresponding depression in a side door of a car. The handle bow is mounted at one end in a pivotable manner about a pin which is fixed on the door. The other end of the handle bow is guided relative to the side door by means of a curved guide which is concentric to the pivot axis of the pivot bearing. The handle bow is transferred by means of a pneumatic actuating drive from the retracted rest position into a pivoted-out functional position. In this functional position the handle bow can be grasped by hand and pulled further out manually in order to open the side door. The return into the extended fiinctional position is taken over by a helical compression spring whose rear side acts on an actuating rod of the pneumatic actuating drive, which actuating rod, as part of a deflection mechanism, acts in an articulated manner on a lever arm which is connected rigidly to the handle bow. Once the manual tensile stressing is removed, the helical compression spring automatically compresses the handle bow back into the functional position in which the pneumatic actuating drive can pivot the handle bow back into the recessed rest position again, if required.

The present invention seeks to provide a handle arrangement of the type mentioned at the beginning, which arrangement makes improved adjustment of the handle bow possible in an overall compact space.

According to the present invention there is provided a handle arrangement for a movable body part of a motor vehicle, having a handle bow which is mounted at one end in a pivotable manner and at its other end region is mounted by 2 means of a curved guide which is concentric to the pivot axis, having an actuating drive for moving the handle bow between a retracted rest position and an extended functional position, which actuating drive acts on the handle bow by means of a deflection mechanism, and also having a helical spring arrangement for returning the handle bow from a manually pulled-out opening position into the extended functional position, wherein the curved guide is an extendable telescopic guide.

It is thereby possible to provide large pivoting angles for the curved guide and therefore for the handle bow and nevertheless only to require a small overall space in the body part. As a result, the solution according to the invention is particularly suitable for the handle arrangement to be used as a door handle of a side door of a car in which the space conditions within the side door are cramped.

Preferably, the helical spring arrangement is arranged between the actuating drive and the deflection mechanism within the chain of power transmission from the actuating drive to the handle bow. This ensures functioning of the handle arrangement and therefore a pivoting movement of the handle bow even if the actuating drive is blocked in a stationary manner relative to the body part. Unlike the prior art, the actuating drive can therefore be positioned in a stationary manner. The solution according to the invention makes possible, in particular, the use of an electric actuating drive which, by means of corresponding electronic controls, has improved options for adjustment of the handle bow.

In a further refinement of the invention, the actuating drive has a linearly guided actuating element, and the helical spring arrangement is aligned in a coaxial extension to a guide axis of the actuating element in such a manner that in one direction of movement it can be used as a push rod. By this means, the helical spring arrangement can serve as an extension of the actuating element, as a result of which improved transmission ratios can be obtained.

Further advantages and features of the invention emerge from the claims and from the following description of a preferred embodiment of the invention, which is illustrated with reference to the drawings.

Fig. I shows, schematically in a side view, a car whose side door is provided with an embodiment of a handle arrangement according to the invention, Fig. 2 shows in a plan view of the section plane II-II in Fig. 1, a schematic, enlarged illustration of the handle arrangement according to Fig. I in a retracted rest position, 3 Fig. 3 shows the handle arrangement according to Fig. 2 in an extended functional position, and Fig. 4 shows the handle arrangement according to Figs 2 and 3 in a manually pivoted-out opening position.

According to Fig. 1, a car has a side door I in each case in a driver's region and also similarly on the opposite side in a front-passenger's region, which side door is provided with a handle arrangement which has a handle bow 2. By means of the handle bow 2, a door lock can be transferred into its opening position, so that the side door I can be opened. In a retracted rest position according to Fig. 2, the handle bow is arranged (in a manner which is not shown in more detail) recessed in a corresponding handle cavity in an outer skin of the side door 1 in a similar manner to the handle bow as is disclosed in DE 34 03 003 C2. In this rest position the handle bow is not accessible for a user and so before the side door I is opened manually the said handle bow has to be extended into a functional position (Fig. 3). The handle bow 2 can then be further pulled out manually, as a result of which the door lock is unlocked by means of corresponding transmission means. After the handle bow is released, the latter is pulled back again by mechanical spring forces into the functional position according to Fig. 3 in a manner described in more detail below. After the car's engine has been started or else on the basis of other stipulations, the handle bow 2 is retracted again into the recessed rest position in order to obtain reduced air resistance particularly in the driving mode. In addition, the retracted rest position prevents third parties from opening the side doors from the outside which is undesirable.

For the described functions of the handle arrangement, the handle bow 2 is mounted at its front end - as seen in the direction of travel F - by means of a bearing continuation 5 in a pivotable manner about a pivot axis 4, fixed on the door, on a bearing part 3 which is termed a bearing bow and is secured fixed to the door, preferably to the outer skin of the side door 1. Concentrically to this pivot axis 4, a curved guide 6, 7, 15, 17 protrudes from the opposite end of the handle bow 2 into the interior of the side door 1, which curved guide can be displaced relative to a guide 18 (Figs 3 and 4), which is fixed to the door, of the bearing part 3. The curved guide 6, 7, 15, 17 is designed as a telescopic guide and has a bow part 6 which is integrally formed on the handle bow 2 and a telescopic part 7. A stop element 17 is provided on the bow part 6, which stop element interacts with a corresponding stop 15 on the Z.

4 telescopic part 7 by coming to bear against this stop 15 and taking the telescopic part 7 with it. An end stop 16 (which is shown schematically) is provided at the outer end of the guide 18, which end stop restricts further movement of the telescopic part 7 outwards.

Referring to the direction of travel F, at a distance in front of the pivot axis 4 there acts on the bearing shoulder 5 of the handle bow 2 a transmission lever 14 which in the rest position is directed horizontally inwards in the transverse direction of the vehicle and whose opposite end is coupled in an articulated manner to a lever arm of a right-angled lever 12. The angled lever 12, as a further part of the deflection mechanism, is mounted in the manner of a rocker in a pivotable manner about a bearing which is stationary and is fixed to the door and has a vertical pivot axis 17. In the rest position shown in Fig. 2, the second lever arm of the angled lever 12 is directed outwards parallel to the transmission lever 14. At a right angle to the said second lever arm, there acts on the free end of the lever arm of the angled lever 12 a helical tension spring I I which serves as a coaxial extension of a rack 10 serving as the actuating element. The helical tension spring I I is coupled to that end of the rack 10 which faces the angled lever 12, so that it extends between the angled lever 12 and the rack 10. The rack 10 is guided in a linearly moveable manner in the direction of the double arrow (Fig. 2) by means of guide elements (not shown in more detail). A pinion 9 of an electric motor 8, which is secured fixed to the door on the bearing part 3, meshes with the rack 10. The electric motor 8, the pinion 9 and the rack 10 form an actuating drive within the meaning of the invention.

In the retracted rest position according to Fig. 2, the helical tension spring I I is situated in its unstressed, contracted rest position in which the coils of the helical tension spring bear against one another in a block in the form of a bundle. In order now to pivot the handle bow 2 out of the retracted rest position according to Fig. 2 into the extended ftinctional position according to Fig. 3, the rack 10 is displaced towards the angled lever 12 by means of the electric motor 8 and the pinion 9, as a result of which the helical tension spring 11 acts as a push rod. The pivoting of the angled lever 12 and the corresponding combined translatory and rotational pulling movement of the transmission lever 14 causes the handle bow 2 to be pivoted outwards until it reaches a defined functional position. This functional position is defined by corresponding control signals of an electronic control unit which the electric motor 8 activates. The extended functional position according to Fig. 3 constitutes an end position for the electric motor 8 and therefore for the entire actuating drive, in which position the electric motor 8 is blocked. The rack 10 is therefore also blocked. If the handle bow 2 is now grasped by hand and pulled outwards, the helical tension spring 11 is tensioned and consequently stretched. As soon as the handle bow 2 is released by a corresponding user, the helical tension spring I I retracts back into the unstressed starting position and also takes the handle bow 2 back with it into the extended fimctional position according to Fig. 3 via the deflection mechanism, i.e. the angled lever 12 and the transmission lever 14 and also the bearing shoulder 5. The handle bow 2 can then be moved back into the retracted rest position 2 by the actuating drive 8, 9, 10 being operated. In this actuating movement the helical function spring I I remains in its contracted rest position. In this arrangement, the corresponding bearing forces of the deflection mechanism are substantially lower than the tensioning force of the helical tension spring I I in order not to have an adverse effect on the retraction function of the actuating drive from the functional position in the recessed rest position of the handle bow 2.

Since the helical tension spring I I is arranged between the rack 10 and the angled lever 12 in the chain of power transmission of the handle bow 2, the handle bow 2 can be pivoted manually outwards from its recessed rest position by a compression force being applied from the outside on the handle bow 2 in the region of the bearing shoulder 5. Therefore if the power fails, a mechanical opening fanction of the side door I is provided.

6

Claims

Claim

A handle arrangement for a movable body part of a motor vehicle, having a handle bow which is mounted at one end in a pivotable manner and at its other end region is mounted by means of a curved guide which is concentric to the pivot axis, having an actuating drive for moving the handle bow between a retracted rest position and an extended functional position, which actuating drive acts on the handle bow by means of a deflection mechanism, and also having a helical spring arrangement for returning the handle bow from a manually pulled-out opening position into the extended functional position, wherein the curved guide is an extendable telescopic guide.

2. A handle arrangement for a movable body part of a motor vehicle, having a handle bow which is mounted at one end in a pivotabIe manner and at its other end region is mounted by means of a curved guide which is concentric to the pivot axis, having an actuating drive for moving the handle bow between a retracted rest position and an extended functional position, which actuating drive acts on the handle bow by means of a deflection mechanism, and also having a helical spring arrangement for returning the handle bow from a manually pulled-out opening position into the extended functional position, or according to Claim 1, wherein the helical spring arrangement is arranged between the actuating drive and the deflection mechanism within the chain of power transmission from the actuating drive to the handle bow.

3. A handle arrangement according to Claim I or 2, wherein the actuating drive has a linearly guided actuating element, and the helical spring arrangement is aligned in a coaxial extension to a guide axis of the actuating element in such a manner that in one direction of movement it is usable as a push rod.

4. A handle arrangement according to Claim 3, wherein the actuating element comprises a rack adjustable by an electric motor by means of a pinion.

7 5. A handle arrangement according to Claim 2, wherein the deflection mechanism is provided with an angled lever on which the helical spring arrangement acts.

6. A handle arrangement according to Claim 2, wherein the helical spring arrangement comprises a tension spring.

7. A handle arrangement for a movable body part of a motor vehicle, substantially as described herein, with reference to, and as illustrated in the accompanying drawings.