CENTRAL DOOR LOCKING

The central door locking enables the driver to lock or unlock the d river’s door and the passenger doors
simultaneously when the door key is inserted and turned in the driver’s door. Sometimes the central lock-
unlock control point facility is extended to the front passengers door and boot lock can be included in the
system. Central door lock systems can be activated by electro-pneumatic, solenoid-capacitor or by dual-
polarity motor actuators. The majority of central door lock systems use a permanent magnet dual-polarity
motor installed inside each door, which, when commanded, reverses its direction of rotation, thereby
activating the locking and unlocking of the doors.

Claw-plate and bar-type latch door lock (fig.28.29 (a) to (c)

This door lock device is made in three parts:
a) A U-shaped bar striker screwed on the side of the door pillar;
b) A disc-plate with two claws protruding from its circular profile which is attached by a pivot to the
door; this claw-plate latch is spring loaded so that it always returns to the open position;
c) A spring-loaded vertical lugged catch bar which locks the closed door.

Figure 1.1: Claw-plate and bar-type latch door lock

Operating sequence (fig. 28.29(a)- (e))
The striker bar aligns with a horizontal slot in the door which tapers outwards at the mouth. As the door
closes the horizontal slot moves towards and over the striker bar until it hits the first claw. The latch-
plate is then forced to twist anticlockwise to a point where the spring-loaded lugged catch bar clears the
claw, thus enabling it to spring upwards. The lug on the catch bar therefore traps the claw- plate
latch in its first locking position (see fig. 28.29(b)). Further movement of the door towards the fully
closed position swivels round the claw-plate latch even more until the second claw clears the lugged

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catch bar and as before trips the spring-loaded catch bar. It thus causes the lug to hold the claw-plate latch
in the second fully locked position (see fig. 28.29(c)). To release the door latch so that the door can open,
the spring-loaded lugged catch bar is pulled down by the manual release slide, thus enabling the spring-
loaded claw-plate latch to swivel clockwise towards the unlocked position (see fig. 28.29(a)).

28.5.2 Door actuator and latch mechanism (fig.28.30(a) and (b))

The locks are operated by a dual-polarity permanent magnet two-pole motor which usually has an eight-
slot armature and a corresponding eight-segment commutator. When the voltage supply positive and
negative polarities are reversed the motor changes its direction of rotation. To reduce speed and increase
the actuating turning effort of the motor a two-stage reduction gear is built into its output drive. A pinion
attached to the armature-shaft drives an integral wheel and pinion gear. This pinion in turn meshes with
a rack which converts the rotary motion of the motor into a linear two and fro movement. The rack with
an extended rod at one end is made from a plastic moulding. The rod end is linked to a bell-crank lever
and pawl via an elongated eye and in joint.

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Door actuator moved to the unlocked position (fig. 28.30(a))
When the driver's door key is inserted and turned to unlock the doors the motor is energized and is driven
clockwise. The downward movement of the rack tilts the lever anticlockwise so that its pawl moves away
from the notch formed in the side of the lugged catch bar. Consequently, the driver can now pull on the
door handle and since this is linked to the manual release slide it will push down the slide. This movement
is also relayed to the lugged catch bar via the release finger and roller which sits on top of a ledge forming
part of the catch bar. The lugged catch bar is therefore pulled down so that the spring-loaded claw-plate
latch is now free to swivel back to the unlocked position when the door is pushed open.

Door actuator moved to the locked position (fig. 28.30(b))

With all the doors closed and the driver’s door key inserted and turned to lock the doors, the motor will
be energized making it rotate anticlockwise, The upward movement of the rack now lilts Che-bell crank
level' clockwise so that its pawl moves into the notch formed in the side of the lugged catch bar. At the
same time a protruding strut on the bell-crank lever pushes the release finger away from the catch bar
ledge. Consequently, pulling on the door handle in an attempt to open the door still pushes down the
manual release slide and finger, but instead of the roller dragging down the catch bar, it is compelled to
roll down the side of the catch bar, in other words the door remains locked.

Central lock motor actuator circuit (fig.28.31 (a) and (b))

The central locking system consists of the following components:
1) Dual-polarity motors, one for each of the passenger doors. The direction of rotation of these
motors is changed by reversing the direction of the current flow in the armature windings of the
motors.
2) Thermal circuit breakers for each motor to prevent overloading the individual motors,
particularly if the doors become jammed for some unknown reason.
3) A relay control unit which has twin relays. Current is supplied from the battery's positive terminal
to each of the motors through one relay, whereas the other relay returns the current from each of
the motors to the battery's negative terminal. When the door key is turned either to the unlocked
or locked position, it switches the direction of current flow to and from each of the commutator
brushes of all three motors. It therefore changes the polarity of the motors so that they will either
rotate clockwise or anticlockwise.
4) A driver's door cylindrical lock-unlock key lock switch which over the outside contacts when
the door key is turned.

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 5) A driver's inside lock-unlock switch which enables the driver to unlock or lock the doors from
the inside.
6) An electronically controlled door lock timer switch which automatically cuts off the power
supply to the actuators after the doors have been locked or unlocked from the inside for
approximately 30 seconds.

Door key turned to unlocked position (fig. 28.31 (a))

With the door key inserted and turned to the unlocked position, the cylindrical key lock arm twists and
moves the driver's outside lock-unlock switch via the link-rod to the unlocked position. A small current
from the positive battery terminal now passes through the fuse and the unlock relay (left-hand side) shunt
winding to the driver's outside unlock-lock switch to the earth-return and back to the battery's negative
terminal. The magnetic force caused by the energised winding pulls down the leaf-spring armature, thus
opening the upper contacts and closing the lower contacts. A larger current now passes from the battery’s
positive terminal through the (left-hand side) lower and leaf-spring armature contacts to all the lower
brushes of the actuator motor’s via their thermal circuit breakers and through the respective armature
windings. The current then flows to the lock relay (right-hand-side) leaf-spring armature and upper
contacts to the negative earth return. This activates the motors so that they rotate in a clockwise direction
causing the rack and pinion movement to unlock the door catch bar.

When the door key is removed from the lock the cylindrical key lock returns to its vertical neutral position
due to the lock’s return spring. This interrupts the current flowing through each of the motor armatures.
It thus de If the driver wants to unlock or lock the doors from the inside, the driver just pulls or pushes
the inside unlock-lock switch handle which again will energise the motors, causing the door latch to be
either unlocked or locked.

A door lock timer is usually included in the earth return circuit of the driver's inside door unlock-lock
switch. This automatically breaks the current flow circuit after a period of about 30 seconds.

Door key turned to locked position (fig. 28.31 (b))

With the door key inserted and turned to the locked position, the cylindrical key lock arm twists and
moves the driver’s outside unlock-lock switch via the link-rod to the unlocked position. A small current
from the positive battery terminal now passes through the fuse and the lock relay (right-hand side) shunt
winding to the driver’s outside unlock-lock switch to the earth return and back to the battery’s negative
terminal. A larger current now flows from the battery’s positive terminal through the (right-hand side)
lower and leaf-spring armature contacts to each of the upper brushes of the actuator motors via their

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thermal circuit breakers and through their respective armature windings. The current then passes to the
unlock relay (left-hand side) leaf-spring armature and upper contacts to the negative earth return. This
activates the motors so that they commence to rotate in an anticlockwise direction, thus causing the rack
and pinion to lock the door catch bar.
When the door key is removed from the lock the cylindrical key lock returns to its vertical neutral position
due to the lock’s return spring. The interruption of the current flow through each of the motor armature
windings now de-activates the motors until the doors are required to be unlocked again.

The passengers can override the central locking system if they want to open the doors from inside by
flicking over the door lock toggle catch and pulling the inside door handle.

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