Adjustment Drive

The present invention relates to an adjustment drive, and in particular, to a setting drive in a motor vehicle.

In an adjustment drive for a motor vehicle window raising mechanism described in DE-U-89 03 714.6, a gear wheel 3 and a driver 4 provided with an outside pinion 5 on the driver's power take-off side are rotatably mounted on an axially projecting axle bolt. This axle bolt is molded in one piece to the bottom of the gear housing and includes an axial shaft collar projecting out of the gear housing lid to the outside. The driver is sealed both radially outward relative to the gear housing lid, and radially inward relative to the axle bolt, by a dynamic seal 6. The dynamic seal 6 is a discrete O-ring held with a positive lock.

An adjustment drive, particularly a seat adjustment drive in a motor vehicle, is described in DE-C2-36 11 568. In that adjustment drive, a driver is connected in one piece with the worm gear shaft as a solid part and is axially mounted on each of its sides via separate bearing holders in housing walls of the gear housing. To couple on a power take-off pinion (i.e., a pinion which provides power to external elements), the pinion is inserted, as a separate component with outside gear teeth, into corresponding inner gear teeth on the circumference of an axial bore through the driver.

The present invention provides an adjustment drive requiring significantly reduced design and assembly times while still guaranteeing a complete moisture proof seal of the gear housing.

The design and assembly effort for such an adjustment drive can be significantly reduced by providing an adjustment drive including a gear housing, a gear housing lid, a gear wheel, a driver, and a damping element. The gear housing lid is adapted to close off said gear housing. The gear wheel is rotatably accommodated in the gear housing and includes a bearing sleeve. The driver includes a power take-off element (i.e., an element which provides power to external elements) on its output side, is simultaneously structured as a drive shaft, and forms a drive connection between the gear wheel and the power take-off element. The damping element is at least tangentially elastic and is provided between the gear wheel and the driver to provide a tangential stop damping. The gear wheel and the driver are formed as separate components and placed in reciprocal rotational drive, but may be integrally formed as well. The driver is rotatably mounted directly in the gear housing with a first bearing region and indirectly in the gear housing lid via the concentric bearing sleeve of the gear wheel with a second bearing region. In an alternate embodiment, the design and assembly effort for such an adjustment drive can be significantly reduced by providing an adjustment drive including a gear housing, a gear housing lid, a gear wheel, a driver, and spring web spokes. The gear housing lid is adapted to close off the gear housing. The gear wheel is rotatably accommodated in the gear housing. The driver is structured as a drive shaft, includes a power take-off element at its output side, and forms a drive connection between the power take-off element and the gear wheel. The spring web type spokes connect, in one piece, the gear wheel and the driver. The gear wheel and the driver are placed in reciprocal rotational drive with tangential stop damping. The driver is rotatably mounted directly in the gear housing with a first bearing region and directly in the gear housing lid with a second bearing region. Since the driver performs the bearing functions itself, as a rotating part, at least partially also directly relative to the gear housing or gear housing lid, in the adjustment drive, separate axles and, if applicable, bearings for rotational mounting of the additional drive or power take-off parts to be held by the axle and a dynamic seal between the driver and an axle bolt molded on in the gear housing can be eliminated.

The design and assembly effort can be even further reduced when the gear wheel is a one-piece component of the driver. When tangential stop damping between the gear wheel and the driver does not have to be eliminated, if, according to a development of the invention, the driver forms a drive connection with the gear wheel in the sense of tangential stop damping, via spring web type spokes.

FIG. 1 is an axial, partial cut away view of a motor vehicle window lifting mechanism drive or motor vehicle sun roof drive, with an electric commutator motor which is connected, via flanges, to a gear mechanism in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 illustrates the drive of FIG. 1 in cross-section along the line II--II.

FIG. 3 illustrates an alternate embodiment of FIG. 2.

FIG. 4 illustrates an axial end view of the gear housing lid with a first and second sealing edge scorched (i.e., pre-vulcanized) onto it.

FIG. 5 is the embodiment of FIG. 4 in cross-section along the line V--V.

FIG. 6 is an enlarged view of the second sealing edge shown in FIG. 5.

FIG. 1 is an axial, partial cut-away view of the basic structure of an electric motor adjustment drive for a motor vehicle, which, for example, can be used as a window raising mechanism drive or a sun roof drive in a motor vehicle. At one side of the commutator motor (indicated only schematically with its motor housing 1) a gear housing 2 is connected (e.g., via flanges). The rotor shaft 11 of the commutator motor projects into the gear housing 2. The rotor shaft 11 is formed as a worm gear which engages a gear wheel 3 which is rotatably mounted in the gear housing 2.

As shown in combination with the cross-sectional representation pursuant to FIG. 2, the radial outside gear crown of the gear wheel 3 is a one-piece injection molded part. This one-piece part also includes spring web type spokes 41 and a driver 4. A first side of the driver 4 is directly rotatably mounted radially within a corresponding bearing holder 211 of a gear housing lid 21. The first side of the driver 4 projects through a center opening of the gear housing lid 21 and includes a pinion 5 as the outermost drive element. The pinion 5 couples onto an activation element which actuates a motor vehicle window or a motor vehicle sun roof. As with the spring web type spokes 41, the pinion 5 is also a one-piece component of the driver 4. A second side of the driver 4 is directly rotatably mounted in a portion of the gear housing 2 with a second bearing region 43. In a preferred embodiment, the driver 4 consists of a material which performs bearing functions well, and in particular, the driver 4 consists of a corresponding plastic (e.g., a POM plastic, such as polyoxymethylene or ployacetal) or a sintered material, saturated with oil. A region 46 of the driver 4 provides a surface contacting a first sealing edge 7 thereby forming a dynamic seal. The first sealing edge 7 is described in more detail below.

Instead of the one-piece connection between the gear wheel 3 and the driver 4 by means of the spring web type spokes 41, a drive connection can also be provided, within the scope of the present invention, such that radial drive webs of one of the two elements reach tangentially overlapping drive forks of the other element, where either the drive webs and/or the drive forks can be structured elastically in the form of tangential stop damping.

FIG. 3 shows an alternate driver 4' connected to be driven by the rotation of the gear wheel 3' via a separate damping intermediate layer 6. For this drive connection, axially projecting drive cams 44 of the driver 4 engage corresponding drive pockets 32 provided over the circumference of the gear wheel 3'. The damping element 6, particularly in the form of a rubber disk, is laid between the drive cams 44 and the drive pockets 32. The driver 4' is directly rotatably mounted within the corresponding bearing holder 22 of the gear housing 2 with a first bearing region 42 at one side, and indirectly mounted rotatably with a second bearing region 43, via a bearing sleeve 31 axially molded onto the gear wheel 3' on its other side. Here, the pinion 5' provided as a power take-off element formed separately from the driver 4'. The pinion is inserted from the other side into a holder opening of the driver 4' such that a positive rotational lock is formed with the driver 4?. To axially secure the position of the driver 4', the gear wheel 3' rests against a step 45 of the driver 4' on the other side and on the gear housing lid 21 on the one side.

To afford a moisture-tight seal between the gear housing 2 and the gear housing lid 21, only a first, radially inside first sealing edge 7 functioning as a dynamic seal in the region of the center opening of the gear housing lid 21, as well as a radially outside, second sealing edge 8 functioning as a static seal in the seal region 23 of the reciprocal contact of the gear housing 2 and the gear housing lid 21 are needed (see FIG. 4). Both sealing edges 7 and 8 are scorched (i.e., pre-vulcanized) onto the gear housing lid 21 and are additionally anchored by penetration into perforations arranged over the circumference of the gear housing lid 21 in the region of the sealing edges 7 and 8 as is clearly illustrated in the enlarged representation pursuant to FIG. 6.

As shown in FIGS. 5 and 6, the first sealing edge 7 presses against the driver 4 with sealing lips 71 and 72. These sealing lips are preferably arranged in an opposite spread position. The second sealing edge 8 has sealing lips 81 and 82 are pressed against the gear housing 2 by the gear housing lid 21 when it is closed.