Joystick with inherently safe force feedback

Abstract

The present invention relates to an operator control element, in particular a joystick, comprising a housing, an activation lever which is mounted in the housing so as to be pivotable about a pivot point, and a resetting unit for making available a resetting torque for resetting the activation lever from a deflected state into a neutral state. In order to specify an operator control element which makes available a haptic force feedback which is intrinsically safe, the invention proposes that the operator control element comprises an actuator unit which is operatively connected to the resetting unit, wherein the actuator unit is designed to perform limited modulation of the resetting torque, wherein in the case of a lower modulation limit the resetting torque in the deflected state is greater than zero.

Description

technical field [0001] The invention relates to a control element, in particular a joystick, comprising: a housing; an operating lever pivotally supported in the housing about a point of rotation; and a reset unit for providing reset of the operating lever from a deflected state to Reset torque for intermediate states. Background technique [0002] Such control elements are mainly used for the control of trucks, machines, performance of trucks or engineering machinery and auxiliary equipment. Control elements in the sense of the present invention are, for example, fuel delivery levers, accelerator pedals and especially joysticks. This joystick is assigned to the electric control system. Compared to previous mechanical control systems, this electrical control system does not give any feedback from the mechanical system to the user. It is therefore known to assign force feedback to the joystick, which is generally achieved by coupling the torque of the electric motor via a ...

AI Technical Summary

Problems solved by technology

However, this construction has the disadvantage that the joystick can be deflected out of its neutral position (Ruhelage, rest position) even without operator actuation, for example due to a failure of the force feedback controller

[0004] All of these known devices have in common that they do not guarantee the elimination of the voluntary movement of the joystick or can avoid it very reliably only by redundant monitoring of the electronic control devices of the force feedback system

But the failure of the force feedback system cannot be completely ruled out, and it is possible to detect it in the voluntary movement of the joystick

[0005] Even if autonomous movement of the joystick can be prevented by redundant monitoring of the electronics, loss of function of the joystick may still result when a component fails

This in turn results in the joystick not being able to spontaneously return to its neutral position after being released by the user, which is a safe state in most applications

Although this situation can also be identified by the electronic monitoring equipment itself, it still greatly limits the usability of the joystick, and thus the system controlled by it, and negatively affects user acceptability

Images