Drive unit with flexible drive member and adjustable pulley assembly

摘要

An automotive vehicle 10 has a power operated lift-gate 12 that is opened and closed by two drive units 20. The typical drive unit 20 has a guide channel 24, an attachment assembly 30 that is disposed in the guide channel, a flexible drive member 46 that is attached to the attachment assembly and formed in a loop for moving the attachment assembly in the guide channel. The flexible drive member 46 is trained solely around two pulleys 42, 44 at the respective opposite ends of the guide channel to form the flexible drive member in a narrow loop. One of the pulleys 44 is an idler pulley that is part of an adjustable pulley assembly 60 and the other pulley 42 is driven by a power unit 48 that is attached to the guide channel. The adjustable pulley assembly 60 adjusts the distance between the pulleys 42, 44 to take up slack in the flexible drive member 46.