Patents by Inventor Bernd Ulbricht

Bernd Ulbricht has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

  • Patent number: 6877791
    Abstract: A device for automatically actuating a vehicle door (1), in particular a side door or a tailgate of the motor vehicle, including: A control device (12) and a drive (4;4?) having a motor (5) with a gearing (6) connected downstream and at least one transmission element (8;20) located between the gearing 6 (6) and thevehicle door (1). The invention facilitates the manual actuation of an automatically actuated vehicle door (1) that is in an open position. To achieve this, a load sensor (10) is mounted on the drive (4). When a predetermined load on the open vehicle door (1) has been reached, the sensor generates a control signal, which is fed to the control device (12) for activating the motor (5), or for decoupling a coupling (18) that is located between the gearing (6) and the transmission element (8;20), the load on the open vehicle door (1) being produced e.g. by a corresponding manual pressure on the vehicle door (1).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 9, 2002
    Date of Patent: April 12, 2005
    Assignee: Valeo Sicherheitssysteme GmbH
    Inventors: Ingo Greuel, Dietmar Orth, Holger Schiffer, Bernd Ulbricht
  • Publication number: 20040113456
    Abstract: The invention relates to a device for automatically actuating a vehicle door (1), in particular a side door or a tailgate of the motor vehicle. Said device comprises a control device (12) and a drive (4;4′) that consists of a motor (5) with a gearing (6) connected downstream and at least one transmission element (8;20) located between the gearing (6) and the vehicle door (1). The aim of the invention is to facilitate the manual actuation of an automatically actuated vehicle door (1) that is in an open position. To achieve this, a load sensor (10) is mounted on the drive (4). When a predetermined load on the open vehicle door (1) has been reached, said sensor generates a control signal, which is fed to the control device (12) for activating the motor (5), or for decoupling a coupling (18) that is located between the gearing (6) and the transmission element (8;20), the load on the open vehicle door (1) being produced e.g. by a corresponding manual pressure on said vehicle door (1).
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 3, 2003
    Publication date: June 17, 2004
    Inventors: Ingo Greuel, Dietmar Orth, Holger Schiffer, Bernd Ulbricht
  • Publication number: 20040097318
    Abstract: A drive includes a motor (5) and at least one gear assembly (7) that is connected downstream of the motor (5) for vehicles comprising a door (1) that can be closed automatically. The output shaft (28) of the gear assembly (7) is disengaged from the drive shaft (27) in such a way that during the manual actuation of the units connected to the output shaft (28), (e.g. tailgate of the vehicle,) their displacement is not restricted by the units connected to the drive shaft (27) of the coupling (e.g. electromotor (5) or intermediate gear (6)), thus preventing wear of the units. The gear assembly (7) can be disengaged and comprises a gear-assembly housing (21) with a cylindrical cavity (22), in which a planetary gear (23;38), provided with a housing (26;39) and concentric drive and output shafts (27,28), is rotatably mounted.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 3, 2003
    Publication date: May 20, 2004
    Inventors: Ingo Greuel, Dietmar Orth, Holger Schiffer, Bernd Ulbricht
  • Publication number: 20040090083
    Abstract: The invention relates to a method for the automatic operation of a vehicle door (1), in particular a side door, or a rear hatch of a motor vehicle, from a first to a second position, by means of a drive (5; 26), connected to a controller (6), which acts on the vehicle door (1), by means of at last one transfer element (12; 30). The invention further relates to a device for carrying out said method. According to the invention, an automatically operated vehicle door (1) in the first position thereof, may be simply swung into the second position thereof at the same speed, even with differing street inclinations where the vehicle is standing, whereby, after activating the drive (5), the speed of the relevant vehicle door (1) is measured within a given angular range and compared with a set value curve. So long as the measured actual value for speed of the vehicle differs from the given set value curve, the speed of the door is changed until the speed as given by the set value curve is achieved.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 3, 2003
    Publication date: May 13, 2004
    Inventors: Ingo Greuel, Dietmar Orth, Holger Schiffer, Bernd Ulbricht