Electricity: motive power systems – Automatic and/or with time-delay means – Movement – position – or limit-of-travel
Patent
1999-06-14
2000-11-21
Martin, David
Electricity: motive power systems
Automatic and/or with time-delay means
Movement, position, or limit-of-travel
318282, 49 26, G05B 500
Patent
active
061507857
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
TECHNICAL FIELD
The invention relates to a method of controlling the closing process of closing devices having at least one part that is moved by an electric motor, as is known from DE 33 46 366 C2.
Closing devices having parts that are moved by electric motors are employed in numerous forms for realizing actuation processes (closing processes, opening processes) that are executed by means of an external force--in the example of the field of motor vehicles, for electrical actuation of side windows, sun roofs and sliding doors, or in gate-closing devices (garage doors, rolling gates). To increase user or operator comfort, the actuation processes (particularly the closing processes) are often performed automatically: The user or operator need merely initiate the actuation process, and can focus on other activities while the actuation process runs (fully) automatically.
In automatic closing processes (i.e., in the realization of an automatic function for the closing process), especially automatic closing processes that are not monitored further by the user or operator, or are triggered by remote by the user or operator from a great distance, the risk exists of jamming of body parts or objects. Because of the associated, considerable risk of damage or injury, protection against jamming is prescribed for some closing devices for safeguarding people's well-being--for example, in Germany, in the field of motor vehicles, Guideline No. 43 was drawn up for Paragraph 30 StVZO "Insassenschutz [Passenger Protection]," and in the USA, Standard 571.118 was incorporated into the "National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA)." According to these ordinances, automatic closing processes are only permitted with certain (more or less stringent) prerequisites: In particular, the field of application (e.g. power windows and sun roofs of motor vehicles), the maximum-permissible clamping force (e.g. 100 N), the test bodies used for checking the effectiveness of jamming protection (specifically, their characteristics, such as elasticity, spring rate and geometry), and the marginal conditions under which the jamming protection must become effective (in motor vehicles, for example, a withdrawn ignition key and an automatic closing process) must be determined.
For realizing the jamming protection, the closing process of the closing device can be monitored either directly or indirectly: impediments (for example, through the mounting of switching blocks at the closing edge, or through optical monitoring), which is associated with high costs. determined, either directly (which is fairly costly because of the necessary sensors, for example force or torque sensors), or indirectly through the detection and evaluation of the measured values of at least one motor variable that is characteristic for the stress of the electric motor (for example through the evaluation of the drive rpm and/or the current consumption, and/or the power consumption and/or the energy consumption of the electric-motor drive), i.e., through assessment of the effect of the clamping force on the drive of the electric motor (change in drive load).
In this indirect determination of the clamping force (commonly used for cost reasons), however, the absolute measured values of the motor variable should not be used in an evaluation because of their dependency on fluctuations in temperature, signs of aging and series scattering; rather, in a relative evaluation, the instantaneous measured value of the motor variable is evaluated through a comparison with a reference measurement or a plurality thereof (the course of the motor variable or the relative change in the instantaneous measured value of the motor variable is evaluated with respect to a reference value of the same motor variable that precedes it in time or location). If a predetermined limit value (trigger threshold value) is exceeded, an occurrence of jamming is assumed, and a reaction to this is initiated by the closing device (for example, the drive of the electric motor is reversed or the motor current is
REFERENCES:
patent: 4471274 (1984-09-01), Ross et al.
patent: 5668451 (1997-09-01), Driendl et al.
patent: 5689160 (1997-11-01), Shigematsu et al.
Butscher Karlheinz
Driendl Dieter
Ulke Walter
Duda Rina I.
Kunitz Norman N.
Martin David
Spencer George H.
TEMIC Telefunken microelectronic GmbH
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