Motor-vehicle door latch and method of operating same

US5765884A · kind A · utility

Assignee

• Kiekert AG · DE

Inventor

• Stefan Armbruster · Heiligenhaus, DE

Key dates

• Filing date: Sep 4, 1996
• Grant date: Jun 16, 1998
• Expiry date: Sep 4, 2016

Classification

• Technology area (CPC Y): Emerging Cross-Sectional Technologies
• CPC primary: Y10T292/1082
• WIPO field: Civil engineering
• WIPO sector: Other fields

Abstract

A door latch has a latch mechanism including a drive element movable between a position corresponding to a closed condition of a vehicle door, a position corresponding to an open condition of the door, and an end reference end position offset from the closed and open positions and engaging a fixed abutment. An electric-motor drive connected to the mechanism can move the element between the closed and open positions and into the end reference position. A hall-effect sensor detects the current position of the element and a controller is connected to the sensor to operate the drive. After each displacement of the element from one of the open and closed positions to the other of the open and closed positions, the element is displaced into the end reference position and the controller is initialized while the element is in the end reference position. Thereafter the element is returned to the other of the open and closed positions. The sensor is made to pulse by a magnet carried on the shaft of a rotary electric motor connected via a stepdown transmission to the drive element.