Radiator shutter

A radiator shutter provided for the frontal arrangement at a motor vehicle shows two groups of lamellae, which are pivotally supported at opposite sides of a drive unit, each parallel in reference to a shutter frame. For a joint pivoting of the lamellae an entrainer tappet provided here at a distance from its bearing axis in the direction perpendicular in reference to the longitudinal direction of the lamellae, engages a common coupling element. For a simple production of the engagement of the bearing tappets of the lamellae in the shutter frame and its entrainer tappets in the coupling element they are latched in bearing recesses open perpendicular in reference to the bearing axis.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The invention relates to a shutter for the arrangement in front of the radiator of a motor vehicle, with its one-piece lamellae, formed linearly via plastic injection molding technology, each being pivotally arranged in two groups parallel in reference to each other on opposite sides of an actuator in a shutter frame, with at these lamellae as well as at each lamella parallel thereto one entrainer being provided both at each matching parallel lamella at a distance from its pivotal axis in the direction perpendicular in reference to the longitudinal direction of the lamella, which engages a coupling element connecting the parallel lamellae with each other such that it transfers an adjustment motion triggered by the actuator to at least one other lamella parallel thereto.

Such shutters are mounted at the front of a vehicle so that its engine compartment can be tightly sealed in a closed position of the lamellae of the shutter, the cw-value is improved, and the engine faster reaches its operating temperature.

2. Description of Related Art

A radiator shutter of this type is known per se from DE102008049010. Its centrally arranged actuator serves for an opposite pivotal motion of groups of lamellae arranged over top of each other. In order to pivot several lamellae arranged parallel in reference to each other in the same direction each of them comprises a central entraining tappet at a distance from its pivotal axis, which is connected to a common coupling element. The pivotal drive occurs here by the direct coupling of the rotary axis of one of the lamellae to the driven shaft of a pecker motor.

One advantage of this design is given in the space-saving, central arrangement of the actuator inside the shutter frame as well as the consequently symmetric distribution of the actuating force of the actuator to relatively short lamellae, which therefore can be subjected to higher bending and torsion forces. Such forces develop not only by the compression at the vehicle front or by the influence of impacting foreign objects, but also by the actuating force of the actuator when some lamellae are sluggish due to soiling or have to be broken loose after being frozen shut.

The assembly of the plurality of parts to form shutters of prior art is expensive, though, and hardly suitable for automation because both the support of the lamellae as well as their connection to a coupling element transmitting the pivotal motion requires the production of numerous engagements with bearings which must be performed such that the lamellae on the one side are held with sufficient reliability and on the other side are easily and securely pivotal.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The invention is based on the objective to find a radiator shutter of the type mentioned at the outset with its numerous individual parts, produced via plastic injection molding, can be assembled with little technical expense to form a shutter with highly reliable functionality.

This objective is attained according to the invention such that at least the bearing tappets of one of the ends of a lamella are inserted in bearing recesses of a lateral wall of the shutter frame, open perpendicular in reference to the axis of the bearings.

Advantageous embodiments of the invention are the subject of the dependent claims and are to be inferred from the following description with the aid of the exemplary embodiments shown in the drawings.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

The shutter1intended to be arranged in an opening in the chassis of the front of a vehicle is determined with regards to its shape and dimensions by the design of the respective vehicle. For example, six lamellae2-7of the shutter1are pivotally supported in two groups of three lamellae2-4and5-7each on opposite sides of an actuator8, parallel in reference to each other, in a common shutter frame9.

In order to support axially internal bearing tappets10-15, shown inFIG. 4, and axially external bearing tappets16-21, shown inFIG. 2, of the lamellae2-7the shutter frame9shows for both groups of lamellae2-4and5-7each an internal frame22and23formed thereat in one piece.

The internal side walls24,25parallel in reference to each other, and the external side walls26,27of these internal frames22,22serve for the pivotal support of the lamellae2-7. For this purpose, bearing holes28-31are provided in the external lateral walls26,27of the internal frames22,23for inserting the axially external bearing tappets16-21. However, in the internal side walls24,25, in the direction perpendicular in reference to the bearing tappets, open bearing recesses32-37are provided, angled downwards, for the internal bearing tappets10-15of the lamellae2-7so that the lamellae2-7can easily be inserted into the shutter frame9.

In order to perform a pivotal motion of all lamellae2-7, according to a first exemplary embodiment of the invention, the axially internal bearing tappets10,13of the upper coaxial lamellae2,5are directly coupled to the drive shaft38of the actuator8and the transmission of this pivotal motion to the other lamellae3,4, and6,7occurs via a preferably common coupling element39. This coupling element39is respectively engaged by entrainer tappets40-45of the lamellae2-7which are provided at a distance from their bearing tappets10-15at the lamellae2-7forming the pivoting lever. The pivoting levers46-51provided for this purpose at each lamella2-7is shaped, e.g., in the form of a short lateral wall at the internal ends of the lamellae2-7. Additional similar lateral walls may be provided to reinforce the lamellae.

In order for the entraining tappets40-45to engage the coupling element39tappet accepts52-54are provided thereat at the appropriate position. These tappet accepts52-54are formed, e.g., according to the illustration inFIG. 8each by a pair of fastening claws58,59arranged over top of each other with internal bearing grooves55, between which the entraining tappets40-46latch with a tappet hub60provided for that purpose via an assembly motion of the coupling element39performed in the direction of the shutter frame9.

The tappet accepts52-54of the coupling element39are provided for example in the lateral wall61,62of a lateral profile63,64, in its cross-section U-shaped or double-T shaped, with these lateral profiles being connected to each other in one piece by a common rear wall65of the coupling element39. Here, this rear wall65of the coupling element39, e.g., showing material-saving recesses66, forms together with the internal legs67of the lateral profiles63,64a U-profile encompassing the drive unit68of the actuator8such that the shutter1including its actuator8formed by the drive unit68and its coupling element39can be assembled in front of the engine compartment of a vehicle in a space-saving fashion.

As discernible from the illustration inFIG. 9, in order to insert and fasten the drive unit68of the actuator8in a central position at the shutter frame9, a fastening arm70is provided aligned to the central front wall69of the shutter frame9, which encompasses with a u-shaped recess71at the end a fastening tappet72formed at the shutter frame9. The section of the drive unit68opposite the lamellae and in the perpendicular direction in reference thereto is connected thereto via a second fastening tappet73formed at the shutter frame9. After the placement of the drive unit68onto said fastening tappets72,73a mushroom-shaped tappet head may be formed at the external end by way of thermal deformation.

The drive unit68of the actuator8shows a particularly narrow design by a pecker motor, not shown and enclosed therein, supplied via an electric connection socket74, being arranged in the same level with several sprockets in order to drive the lamellae drive shaft38comprising external gears via an annulus75, showing internal gears at the end, with a high torque and low rotation.

For the coupling of the drive shaft38of the lamellae to the internal bearing tappet10,13of the upper, coaxial pair of lamellae2,5these bearing tappets10,13show flattened or non-round external ends74, which respectively engage entry openings formed hollow with a corresponding contour at the two external ends of the drive shaft38of the lamellae.

Although at the other lamellae3,4, and6,7such an engagement profiling (74) of the internal bearing tappets11,12and14,15has no function, for reasons of simplification of the production all lamellae of a group of lamellae2-4and5-7were formed identical.

The second exemplary embodiment of the invention according to the illustrations ofFIGS. 10 through 13differ from the above-described one essentially such that the drive shaft75of the drive unit68of the actuator8, instead of acting upon a bearing tappet10,13of a lamellae, being coupled to two flat drive levers76,77extending at both sides of the drive unit68, parallel to their planar lateral walls. Here, these two parallel drive levers76,77aligned towards each other are preferably connected fixed to each other via a lateral bar78to a drive bar79encompassing the drive unit68.

The execution of the pivotal motion of the drive bar79by a pecker motor of the drive unit68upon the drive bar79occurs via a drive shaft80, showing external gears, engaging on the one side the internal gears81of one of the drive levers77and on the other side the internal gears of the driven shaft of the drive unit68.

The stable support of the drive bar79at both sides occurs for example on the one side via the drive shaft80and on the other side via a short bearing tappet82, which is formed at a short lateral wall83of an adapter housing84encompassed by the drive bar79.

The adapter housing84shows an internal contour85, which accepts the housing of the drive unit68in a form-fitting fashion. Here, the bottom opening86of the adapter housing84serves to accept the electric connection socket87of the drive unit68. Coaxial in reference to the formed bearing tappet82for the drive bar79on the opposite side of the adapter housing84an opening88is provided for a penetrating guidance of the drive shaft80.

The adapter housing84is fastened at the shutter frame9in the proximity of the central front wall69. Here, lower and upper accepting bars89,90, and91,92formed at the shutter frame9as well as guide bars93,94, and95,96, formed at the adapter housing84and engaging them serve for this purpose. Latches97provided laterally at the guide bars93,94serve, after latching in the accepting bars89,90, to the secure fastening of the adapter housing84and thus also the drive unit68and the coupled lamellae2-7at the shutter frame9.

Again in this second exemplary embodiment of the invention a coupling element98is provided for the joint pivoting of the lamellae2-7, which is engaged by the entrainer tappets99-104, however in this case the adjusting motion of the coupling element98occurs via the drive lever76,77, acting upon the coupling tappets105,106formed at the inside of the coupling element98. For this purpose, the drive lever76,77show one guiding slot107,108each, similar to a crank drive, engaged by the coupling tappets105,106of the coupling element98and which can glide along it during the actuating motion.

The use of such a forked drive lever76, in addition to an advantageous kinematic of the drive transfer, also shows the advantage of a simplified assembly of the coupling element83by it simply being pushed onto and latched on the entrainer tappets99-104of the lamellae2-7.

The easily produced fixation of the coupling element83at the entrainer tappet develops such that the width of the lateral openings84of the claw-shaped bearing recesses85-88is slightly smaller than the diameter of the bearing tappets10-15so that they can latch here by deforming the plastic material of the coupling element83.

For the axial securing of the engagement of the bearing tappets109of the lamellae2-7, latching in the same fashion, in downwards angular bearing recesses110of the internal lateral walls24,25of the shutter frame9as well as the entrainer tappets99-104in claw-shaped recesses111of lateral bars112,113of the coupling element98, parallel in reference to each other, at these tappets109and99-104preferably at the end and thus shaped like mushroom-heads circumferential tappet hubs114,115are provided.

In a similar fashion, the internal coupling tappets105,106of the coupling element98are also secured in the guide slots107,108of the drive levers76,77against lateral displacement and unlatching by tappet hubs116at the end.

In order to allow providing coupling tappets105,106coaxially engaging the guide slots107,108of the drive bar79with the entraining tappets99and104and/or their claw-shaped recesses111of the coupling element, without these tappets being connected to each other, the upper section of the lateral legs112,113of the coupling element98each shows an additional internal wall and is therefore embodied with two legs. The coupling tappets105,106are each formed at the inside at the internal legs117,118of the coupling element98formed here.

Both embodiments of a shutter according to the invention described have in common that the functionally cooperating parts can be produced cost-effectively in a plastic injection molding process and can be assembled to function correctly with relatively low expense in an automated assembly device such that with low adjustment resistance, even given the high stress caused by the arrangement in the front section of a vehicle, high functional safety is ensured.