Space-saving joystick for a motor vehicle and related uses

Abstract

The invention relates to a joystick (1) for controlling a motor vehicle, in particular a commercial vehicle, such as an agricultural or forestry vehicle, comprising: a carrier (3); a control lever (2) mounted on the carrier (3) so as to be pivotable from a rest position for manual pivot adjustment, wherein the control lever (2) forms a ball joint (2e) and two pairs of arms (2a, 2b; 2c, 2d) and the support (3) has at least one socket (3a, 3b) receiving the ball joint (2e), wherein each pair of extensions (2a, 2b; 2c, 2d) comprises two extensions (2a, 2b; 2c, 2d) extending in opposite directions from the ball joint (2e); Each arm (2a, 2b; 2c, 2d) has a spring arrangement (4) supported on the carrier (3), which rests against the arm (2a, 2b; 2c, 2d) at its end and at least on one side, in order to return the operating lever (2) to its rest position; a detection device (6, 7) for detecting the position of the operating lever (2); and related use.

Description

[0001] The invention relates to an improved joystick for controlling a motor vehicle, in particular a commercial vehicle, such as a forestry or agricultural vehicle, such as a tractor or combine harvester.

[0002] Joysticks are known for operating aircraft and have recently been increasingly used in motor vehicles, although only in a rudimentary way in simple and isolated scenarios.

[0003] It is foreseeable that joysticks will be used more extensively, and it is also conceivable that they will eventually replace the steering wheel currently used in road-legal vehicles that reach higher speeds, such as cars or trucks. Existing joysticks, for example, feature a gimbal-mounted control lever, which requires a comparatively large amount of installation space.

[0004] Therefore, the limits of previously known control elements are reached, in particular, when it comes to their arrangement in environments with limited installation space, such as a dashboard in a control panel of a commercial vehicle.

[0005] Against this background, the object of the present invention is to provide a joystick for a motor vehicle which minimizes its installation space. This object is achieved by a joystick of claim 1 and by the use of the dependent claim. Advantageous embodiments are the subject of the dependent claims.

[0006] A joystick according to the preamble of claim 1 is known from DE 100 27 446 A1. A generic control element is known from EP 2 093 785 A1.

[0007] The invention relates to a joystick for controlling a motor vehicle, in particular a commercial vehicle, such as an agricultural or forestry vehicle. A joystick is understood to be, for example, a control element that has a handle in the form of a freestanding control lever, pivotable about two axes from a rest position (also called the starting position), and supported only on one side. The control lever can be made of one or more parts. However, the elongated, stretched design of the control lever is not mandatory. Flat designs of the control lever are also conceivable, as is the case, for example, with a directional pad.

[0008] The joystick according to the invention further comprises a carrier on which the control lever is pivotably mounted and which serves to fix the joystick to a load-bearing vehicle component, such as a dashboard, center console, or the like. Preferably, the joystick is arranged at a central location in front of the driver of the motor vehicle, who is facing in the direction of travel, and serves, among other things, to make driving inputs by the driver, such as steering, accelerating, and decelerating the motor vehicle.

[0009] According to the invention, a ball joint is provided for the bearing, which is formed by a ball joint formed by the operating lever and a socket joint formed by the support. The ball joint and the remaining part of the operating lever can be formed integrally or connected by material, force, or form-fit. This results, for example, in a maximum possible range of motion in the form of an inverted pyramid or an inverted cone, depending on the maximum mechanical setting of the operating lever.

[0010] According to the invention, the operating lever forms two pairs of arms in addition to the ball joint, each pair of arms comprising two arms extending from the ball joint in opposite directions. Preferably, the ball joint and the arms are formed in one piece.

[0011] According to the invention, a spring arrangement supported on the carrier is provided for each boom, which rests against the boom at its end and at least on one side in order to return the operating lever to its rest position.

[0012] According to the invention, a detection device is provided for detecting a position, specifically a pivot position, of the control lever in order to detect, for example, a pivot position, a change in the pivot position and / or a speed of change, and to control the motor vehicle or a motor vehicle component, such as an internal or external motor vehicle component, depending on the pivot position, the change in the pivot position and / or the speed of change.

[0013] The aforementioned design of the joystick results in a space-saving design that allows the joystick to be integrated into various installation situations.

[0014] For example, the detection device is designed to detect the pivot position, its change, and / or the rate of change without contact, such as capacitively, optically, magnetically, or inductively. Preferably, the detection device comprises a position sensor, preferably a permanent magnet, mounted in the ball joint and a Hall sensor fixed to the support, which detects a magnetic field of the position sensor. Preferably, the Hall sensor is a 3D Hall sensor. This is understood to mean a Hall sensor that detects the magnetic flux density at the location of the Hall sensor with resolution in three orthogonal spatial directions.

[0015] According to the invention, each spring arrangement has two spirally wound, integrally connected spring sections, between which the cantilever is pivoted during the pivoting adjustment of the operating lever, and the spirally wound spring sections transition into a common spring leg and a free spring leg, wherein the common spring leg rests against the associated cantilever on a first side.

[0016] Preferably, the spiral spring sections are arranged coaxially to each other.

[0017] According to a preferred embodiment, at least one spring assembly has a connecting sleeve that rests against a second side of the boom, opposite the first side, and connects the free spring legs, so that a return force is effected on the associated boom for both pivot directions of the operating lever. In one embodiment, for example, two or three spring assemblies are provided with a connecting sleeve to increase the return force in the corresponding pivot directions.

[0018] Preferably, the outriggers extend in pairs along two orthogonal axes, i.e., the outriggers are essentially arranged in a common plane to save installation space.

[0019] Preferably, a cam is provided to define several pivot directions of the operating lever. For example, the cam has a cross-shaped opening.

[0020] Preferably, an elastic ring is provided between the ball joint and the socket joint to eliminate play.

[0021] The invention further relates to the use of the joystick in one of the previously described embodiments in a motor vehicle, in particular a commercial vehicle, such as a forestry or agricultural vehicle, such as a tractor or combine harvester.

[0022] These and other tasks, advantages, and features of the invention will become apparent from the following detailed description of a preferred embodiment of the invention in conjunction with the figures. They show Fig. 1 a vertical sectional view of an embodiment of the joystick according to the invention 1; Fig. 2 a first horizontal section view of the in Fig. 1 joystick shown; Fig. 3 a second horizontal section view of the in Fig. 1 joystick shown 1.

[0023] The invention relates to a Fig. Figure 1 shows a joystick 1 for controlling a motor vehicle, in particular a commercial vehicle such as an agricultural or forestry vehicle. A joystick 1 is understood to be a control element that has a handle in the form of a control lever 2, which is freestanding in its initial position, pivotable about two imaginary axes, and supported only on one side. The joystick 1 according to the invention has a carrier 3 on which the control lever 2 is pivotably mounted and which serves to fix the joystick 1 to a supporting vehicle component, such as a dashboard, center console, or the like. For example, the joystick 1 is arranged at a central location in front of the driver of the motor vehicle, who is facing in the direction of travel, and serves, among other things, to make driving inputs by the driver, such as steering, accelerating, and decelerating the motor vehicle.

[0024] A ball joint is provided for mounting the operating lever 2 on the support 3. This joint is formed by a ball joint formed by the operating lever 2 and a socket joint formed by the support 3, consisting of the upper socket 3a and the lower socket 3b. Depending on the maximum mechanical setting of the operating lever 2, this results, for example, in a maximum possible range of motion in the form of an inverted pyramid or an inverted cone.

[0025] As the Fig. 2 and Fig. As shown in Figure 3, the operating lever 2 forms two pairs of arms 2a to 2d next to the ball joint 2e, each pair of arms 2a to 2d comprising two arms diametrically opposed to each other and extending in opposite directions from the ball joint 2e, 2a and 2b on the one hand and 2c and 2d on the other. The arms 2a to 2d extend in pairs along two orthogonal axes, i.e., the arms 2a to 2d are essentially arranged in a common plane.

[0026] In addition, a spring arrangement 4 supporting the carrier 3 is provided for each boom 2a to 2d, which is located at the end of the boom 2a to 2d, i.e. at the outer, free end of the respective boom 2a to 2d and at least on one side, in order to return the operating lever 2 to the rest position shown in the figures.

[0027] Furthermore, a detection device 6, 7 is provided for detecting the position, specifically the pivot position, of the control lever 2 in order to detect, for example, a pivot position, a change in the pivot position, and / or the rate of change, and to control the motor vehicle or a motor vehicle component, such as an internal or external motor vehicle component, depending on the pivot position, the change in the pivot position, and / or the rate of change. Here, the detection device 6, 7 is designed to detect the pivot position, its change, and / or the rate of change without contact, namely magnetically.The detection device 6, 7 comprises a position sensor 6, preferably a permanent magnet, which is received in the ball joint 2e of the operating lever 2, and a Hall sensor 7, namely a 3D Hall sensor, which is fixed to the carrier 3 and arranged on a circuit board 10 belonging to the carrier 3, and which detects the magnetic field of the position sensor 6. This is understood to mean a Hall sensor 7 that detects the magnetic flux density at the location of the Hall sensor 7 with resolution in three orthogonal spatial directions.

[0028] In the embodiment shown, each spring arrangement 4 has two spirally wound, integrally connected spring sections arranged coaxially to each other with respect to their winding axis, between which the associated boom 2a to 2d is pivoted during the pivoting adjustment of the operating lever 2 and the spirally wound spring sections transition into a common spring leg 4a and each a free spring leg 4b, wherein the common spring leg 4a rests against the associated boom 2a to 2d on a first side.

[0029] As seen here in Fig.As shown in Figure 3, three of the spring assemblies have a connecting sleeve 5 which rests on a second side of the respective boom 2a to 2c opposite the first side and connects the free spring legs 4b, so that a return is effected on the associated boom 2a to 2c for both pivot directions of the operating lever 2, and the return force is increased compared to that effected by the combination of a boom 2d with a sleeveless spring assembly 4.

[0030] The aforementioned design of the joystick results in a space-saving design that allows the joystick to be integrated into various installation situations.

Claims

[1] Joystick (1) for controlling a motor vehicle, in particular a commercial vehicle, such as an agricultural or forestry vehicle, comprising: a carrier (3); an operating lever (2) mounted on the carrier (3) so as to be pivotable from a rest position for manual pivot adjustment, wherein the operating lever (2) forms a ball joint (2e) and two pairs of arms (2a, 2b; 2c, 2d) and the carrier (3) has at least one socket joint (3a, 3b) receiving the ball joint (2e), wherein each pair of arms (2a, 2b; 2c, 2d) comprises two arms (2a, 2b; 2c, 2d) extending in opposite directions from the ball joint (2e); Each arm (2a, 2b; 2c, 2d) has a spring arrangement (4) supported on the carrier (3), which rests against the arm (2a, 2b; 2c, 2d) at its end and at least on one side, in order to return the operating lever (2) to its rest position; a detection device (6, 7) for detecting the position of the operating lever (2), characterized by , that Each spring arrangement (4) has two spirally wound, integrally connected spring sections, between which the cantilever (2a, 2b; 2c, 2d) is pivoted during pivoting adjustment of the operating lever (2) and the spirally wound spring sections transition into a common spring leg (4a) and a free spring leg (4b), wherein the common spring leg (4a) rests against the associated cantilever (2a, 2b; 2c, 2d) on a first side. [2] Joystick (1) according to the preceding claim, wherein the spiral spring sections of the spring assembly (4) are arranged coaxially to each other. [3] Joystick (1) according to one of the preceding claims, wherein at least one spring assembly (4) has a connecting sleeve (5) which abuts a second side of the boom (2a, 2b; 2c, 2d) opposite the first side and connects the free spring legs (4b). [4] Joystick (1) according to one of the preceding claims, wherein the detection device (6, 7) comprises a position encoder (6) received in the ball joint (2e), preferably a permanent magnet, and a Hall sensor (7) fixed to the carrier (3) which detects a magnetic field of the position encoder (6). [5] Joystick (1) according to the preceding claim, wherein the Hall sensor (7) is a 3D Hall sensor. [6] Joystick (1) according to one of the preceding claims, wherein the arms (2a, 2b; 2c, 2d) extend in pairs along two orthogonal imaginary axes. [7] Joystick (1) according to one of the preceding claims, wherein a cam is provided to specify several pivot directions of the control lever (2). [8] Joystick (1) according to one of the preceding claims, wherein an elastic ring (8) is provided between the ball joint (6) and the socket joint (3a, 3b) to eliminate play. [9] Use of the joystick (1) according to any of the preceding claims in a motor vehicle, in particular a commercial vehicle, such as a commercial vehicle used in agriculture or forestry.

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