Technical base for control device

Abstract

The invention relates to a technical base (100) for a control device comprising: - a housing (110) open on the top and delimited by two transverse side walls (111, 112), two longitudinal side walls (114) and a bottom wall; - at least one first electrical contactor (131) arranged in a first part (110A) of said housing comprising translational guide means (117) provided to cooperate with complementary means provided on a first actuator in order to allow the latter to be mounted so as to slide relative to this housing between a rest position and a position for activating said at least one first contactor; said housing also comprising pivoting guide means (119) intended to cooperate with complementary means provided on a gripping key in order to allow said key to be pivotally mounted about a transverse axis on said housing. Figure to be published with the abstract: Fig. 1

Description

Title of the invention: Technical base for control device Technical field

[0001] The present invention relates generally to control devices, particularly for motor vehicles. It relates in particular to a technical base for such a control device. Prior art

[0002] Motor vehicles conventionally comprise control devices making it possible, for example, to select the active driving mode, to control the activation or deactivation of certain functional modules of the vehicle such as the infotainment system or the heating, ventilation and / or air conditioning system.

[0003] Intended to be fixedly arranged in a housing arranged on an element of the vehicle such as for example the steering wheel, a door armrest, the dashboard or even the central console, such a control device generally comprises: - a box open on top and delimited by two transverse side walls, two longitudinal side walls and a bottom wall; - at least one electrical contactor arranged in a part of said housing; - at least one actuator mounted to move relative to this housing between a rest position and an activation position of said at least one contactor; and - at least one gripping key intended to be manipulated by a user so as to cause the movement of said actuator into the activation position.

[0004] Two main types of control devices are known, namely push-type and tilt-type.

[0005] In a push-type control device, the housing generally comprises translational guide means provided to cooperate with complementary means provided on the actuator in order to allow the latter to be mounted so as to slide relative to this housing between its rest and activation positions.

[0006] Document FR 2 529 009 A1 describes a rocker-type control device in which the gripping element is pivotally mounted along an articulation axis relative to the housing. An actuator is fixedly mounted against the inner face of this gripping element. Applying a sufficient thrust force to an end portion of this key causes it to tilt and therefore the actuator to tilt towards its contactor activation position.

[0007] The choice between implementing a push-type or rocker-type control device often depends on style considerations that may vary from version to version. to another for the same vehicle model.

[0008] Since the constituent parts of these two types of control devices are for the most part different, automotive equipment manufacturers are therefore forced to develop, for each vehicle model, a very large number of different references.

[0009] This multiplication in the number of references inevitably leads to a significant increase in production and stock management costs. Statement of the invention

[0010] The present invention aims to improve the situation.

[0011] For this purpose, it proposes a technical base for a control device, comprising: - a box open on top and delimited by two transverse side walls, two longitudinal side walls and a bottom wall; - at least one first electrical contactor arranged in a first part of said housing comprising translational guide means provided to cooperate with complementary means provided on a first actuator in order to allow the latter to be mounted so as to slide relative to this housing between a rest position and an activation position of said at least one first contactor; characterized in that said housing also comprises pivoting guide means intended to cooperate with complementary means provided on a gripping key in order to allow said key to be pivotally mounted around a transverse axis on said housing.

[0012] Such a technical base according to the invention has the main advantage of being able to be used for push-type control devices but also for tilting-type control devices by configuring the tilting key so that its tilting in one direction causes said at least one first actuator to slide towards its active position. The invention thus makes it possible to reduce the number of references, which ensures a significant reduction in design and stock management costs.

[0013] According to preferred characteristics of said technical base according to the invention: - the latter comprises at least one second electrical contactor housed in a second part of said housing also comprising translational guide means provided to cooperate with complementary means provided on a second actuator in order to allow the latter to be mounted mobile by sliding with respect to this housing between a rest position and a position for activating said at least one second contactor, said pivoting guide means being arranged in a central part of said housing interposed between said first part and second part; - this comprises at least one third electrical contactor housed in said central part of said housing and also comprising translational guide means provided to cooperate with complementary means provided on a third actuator in order to allow the latter to be mounted so as to slide relative to this housing between a rest position and an activation position of said at least one third contactor; - said guiding means of each said part of the housing comprise at least one pair of vertical slide elements arranged opposite each other on the inner faces of the two said longitudinal side walls of said housing; - said guiding means of each said part of said housing also comprise a third vertical slide element arranged on an inner face of a transverse wall of this housing; - said pivoting guide means comprise two cylindrical studs projecting transversely outwards from the two longitudinal side walls of said housing and designed to be inserted with free rotation into bores of the same section and of slightly larger dimensions provided on said said tilting gripping key; and / or - said technical base comprises a printed circuit board housed in said housing and resting fixedly against the upper face of its bottom wall, as well as a flexible membrane also housed in the housing and covering said printed circuit board, each said contactor being constituted by a collapse-effect blister arranged on said membrane and provided with a conductive pad arranged directly above a corresponding contact zone of said printed circuit board, said pad being designed to come into contact, when it collapses, against said corresponding contact zone in order to establish electrical switching.

[0014] The invention also aims, in a second aspect, at a control device comprising such a technical base and at least one push-type control member comprising: - an actuator mounted to slide movably relative to said housing; and - a gripping key fixed to the top of said actuator so that the application of a sufficient pushing force on this key causes said actuator to slide towards a position for activating said at least one first contactor.

[0015] The invention also aims, in a third aspect, at a control device comprising such a technical base and a tilting type control member comprising: - at least one actuator mounted to slide relative to said housing; and - a gripping key pivotally mounted on said housing and configured so that the application of a sufficient pushing force on an end portion of this key causes it to tilt in one direction and the sliding movement of said actuator towards an activation position of said at least one first contactor.

[0016] The invention finally aims, under a fourth aspect, at a motor vehicle steering wheel integrating such a control device. Brief description of the drawings

[0017] The description of the invention will now be continued by the detailed description of an exemplary embodiment, given below for illustrative but non-limiting purposes, with reference to the appended drawings, in which: - [Fig.l] represents a perspective view of a technical base for a control device according to the invention; - [Fig.2] is a perspective sectional view taken along a vertical longitudinal plane of a push-type control device comprising the technical base of [Fig.l]; - [Fig.3] represents a perspective view of the push-type control device of [Fig.2] without the keys of its control members; - [Fig.4] is a partial perspective sectional view taken along a vertical transverse plane of the push-type control device of [Fig.2]; - [Fig.5] represents a perspective view of one of the control members included in the push-type control device of [Fig.2]; - [Fig.6] is a perspective view of a tilting type control device comprising the technical base of [Fig.l]; and - [Fig.7] is a perspective sectional view taken along a vertical longitudinal plane of the tilting control device of [Fig.6]. Description of the embodiments

[0018] [Fig.l] represents a perspective view of a technical base 100 according to the invention common to several references of control devices intended to be installed on motor vehicle equipment such as the steering wheel of this vehicle, its central console or even the armrests of its side doors.

[0019] By convention, we define with respect to this technical base 100, an orthogonal reference XYZ comprising three axes perpendicular two by two, namely: - an X axis, defining a longitudinal, horizontal direction, - a Y axis, defining a transverse, horizontal direction, which with the X axis defines a horizontal XY plane, and - a Z axis, defining a vertical direction, perpendicular to the horizontal XY plane.

[0020] In the remainder of the description and with reference to the reference defined above, the terms “longitudinal” or “longitudinally” will refer to a direction parallel to the X axis, the terms "transverse" or "transversely" will refer to a direction parallel to the Y axis, and the terms "vertical" or "vertically" will refer to a direction parallel to the Z axis.

[0021] On the other hand, the terms "front" and "rear" will be used to specify the longitudinal positioning of certain elements relative to the orientation of the X axis conventionally pointing forward. Similarly, the terms "upper" and "lower" will be used to specify the relative position of certain elements relative to the orientation of the Z axis conventionally pointing upward.

[0022] With reference to this [Fig. 1], the technical base 100 comprises a hollow housing of parallelepiped shape 110 intended to be fixedly installed in a cavity of suitable shape and size provided in a motor vehicle equipment.

[0023] Open on the top, this housing 110 is delimited by two transverse front 111 and rear 112 side walls, two longitudinal side walls 113, 114 as well as by a bottom wall 115.

[0024] The fixing of this housing 110 on a motor vehicle equipment is for example carried out by means of two attachment tabs 116 extending from the external faces of the front 111 and rear 112 walls and each provided with at least one screwing orifice 116A.

[0025] Figures 2 to 4 represent several views from different angles of a push-type control device 1 comprising the technical base 100 according to the invention, as well as three control members 200 each consisting of an actuator 210 and a gripping key 220.

[0026] As can be seen in these figures 2 and 4, the technical base 100 also comprises a printed circuit board 120 (or PCB for “Printed Circuit Board” in English), housed in the housing 110 and resting fixedly against the upper face of its bottom wall 115.

[0027] This printed circuit board 120 is covered with a flexible membrane 130 also housed in the housing 110 and comprising several electrical contactors 131, 132, 133, namely and as illustrated by [Fig.l]: - at least one first contactor 131 arranged in a first front part 110A of the housing 110; - at least one second contactor 132 arranged in a second rear part 110B of the housing 110; and - at least one third contactor 133 arranged in a third central part 110C of the housing 110.

[0028] In this case and as illustrated by this [Fig.l], the flexible membrane 130 comprises two first contactors 131 arranged in two opposite corner zones of its front portion, two second contactors 132 arranged in two corner zones opposite of its rear portion, and two third contactors 133 arranged in two opposite corner areas of its central portion.

[0029] These contactors 131, 132, 133 are constituted in this case by collapse-effect blisters each provided with a conductive pad arranged directly above a corresponding contact zone of the printed circuit board 120 and designed to come into contact, when it collapses, against this contact zone in order to establish electrical switching.

[0030] As illustrated by Figures 1 and 2, the printed circuit board 120 also carries three point light sources 121, 122, 123 passing through the flexible membrane 130, namely a first light source 121 arranged in the center of its front portion between two contactors 131, a second light source 122 arranged in the center of its rear portion between two second contactors 132, and a third light source 123 arranged in the center of its central portion between two third contactors 133.

[0031] These point light sources 121, 122, 123 are for example constituted by light-emitting diodes and can be coupled to light guides and / or to diffuser screens not shown.

[0032] As can be seen in Figures 2 and 3, the first front part 110A, the second rear part 110B and the third central part 110C of the housing 110 are each intended to receive a respective actuator 210 mounted to slide relative to this housing 110 and provided at its lower end with at least one bearing surface 211 provided to compress at least one corresponding contactor 131, 132, 133 so as to cause its actuation by the application of its conductive pad against the corresponding contact zone of the printed circuit board 120.

[0033] In this case, each actuator 210 comprises two bearing surfaces 211 provided to simultaneously compress the two contactors 131, 132 or 133 arranged in the corresponding part of the housing 110.

[0034] The sliding mounting of these actuators 210 with respect to the housing 110 is enabled by means of translational guide means arranged in the first front part 110A, the second rear part 110B and the third central part 110C of the housing 110, and intended to cooperate with complementary means provided on each actuator 210.

[0035] More precisely and with reference to figures 1 and 3, each of these three parts 110A, 110B, 110C of the housing 110 comprises at least one pair of vertical slide elements 117A arranged opposite each other on the inner faces of the two longitudinal side walls 113, 114 and designed to receive, in vertical sliding fashion, two complementary vertical slide elements 212A arranged on two outer faces opposite of an actuator 210.

[0036] Preferably and in order to reduce the transverse play between each actuator 210 and the housing 110, the first front part 110A of this housing 110 (respectively, its second rear part 110B) comprises at least one third vertical slide element 117B, arranged on the inner face of the front transverse side wall 111 (respectively rear 112), and provided to receive in vertical sliding a third complementary vertical slide element 212B arranged on a third outer face of an actuator 210; the third central part 110C of this housing 110 comprising at least one third vertical slide element 117B, arranged on one of the inner faces of a transverse partition wall 118 of this housing 110 extending between its longitudinal side walls 113, 114, and provided to receive in vertical sliding such a third complementary vertical slide element 212B of an actuator 210.

[0037] As can be seen in [Fig. 4], the housing 110 has two shoulders E projecting transversely inwards from and along the upper edges of its longitudinal side walls 113, 114, these shoulders E being intended to cooperate in abutment with respective protrusions 213 formed on the outer faces of two opposite side walls of an actuator 210 (see [Fig. 5]), so as to prevent the extraction of the push-type control members 200 from this housing 110.

[0038] As illustrated in [Fig.5], the gripping key 220 of each control member 200 is fixedly mounted on the top of an actuator 210 by means of several clipping tabs 221 which snap onto teeth 215 provided on two opposite side walls of this actuator 210.

[0039] As illustrated by [Fig.2] and in the absence of external force, the actuators 210 of the control members 200 occupy a rest position towards which they are elastically returned by the blister contacts 131, 132, 133.

[0040] As can be understood from this [Fig.2], the application by a user of a sufficient pushing force on the key 220 of a control member 200 will cause its actuator 210 to slide towards a position for activating the corresponding contactor(s) 131, 132 or 133.

[0041] It will be noted that the technical base 100 according to the invention can also be used for control devices equipped with only one or two push-type control members 200. The dimensions of the gripping key(s) 220 will then be advantageously adapted so that it(they) completely cover(s) the opening of the housing 110 as is the case for the three gripping keys 220 of the control device 1 (see [Fig.2]).

[0042] According to alternative embodiments not shown, the actuator 210 and the key 220 of such a control member 200 can be made from a single piece, for example by plastic injection.

[0043] Figures 6 and 7 respectively represent a perspective view and a perspective sectional view of a tilting type control device 2 comprising the technical base 100 according to the invention, as well as a control member 300.

[0044] The control member 300 comprises two actuators 210 mounted respectively to slide in the front and rear parts of the housing 110, as well as a gripping key 320 pivotally mounted on this housing 110 and comprising a main wall of rectangular shape 321 covering it entirely.

[0045] To allow the pivoting mounting of the key 320, the hollow housing 110 comprises transverse pivoting guide means 119 intended to cooperate with complementary means provided on this key 320, these pivoting guide means 119 being arranged in the central part 110C of said housing 110 interposed longitudinally between its first front part 310A and its second rear part 320A (see [Fig.l]).

[0046] More precisely, these pivoting guide means comprise two cylindrical studs 119 projecting transversely outwards from the central upper zones of its two longitudinal side walls 113, 114 and designed to be inserted by snap-fastening with free rotation into bores 323 of the same section and of slightly larger dimensions provided on two lateral flanges 322 extending from the central zones of the two longitudinal side edges of the main wall 321 of the key 320.

[0047] The studs 119 advantageously have chamfers forming slopes making it easier to insert them by snap-fastening into the bores 323.

[0048] Preferably and in order to reduce the transverse play between the key 320 and the housing 110, the latter has four protrusions 324 projecting downwards from the longitudinal ends of the lateral edges of its main wall 321 and sandwiching the upper ends of the longitudinal lateral walls 113, 114 of this housing 110.

[0049] As illustrated by [Fig.7] and in the absence of external force, the actuators 210 of this control member 300 occupy a rest position towards which they are elastically returned by the first and second blister contacts 131 and 133.

[0050] As can be understood from this [Fig.7], the application by a user of a sufficient pushing force on an end portion of the main wall 321 of the key 320 will cause it to tilt in one direction and the sliding movement of one of its two actuators 210 towards a position for activating the corresponding contactor(s) 131 or 133.

[0051] Many variants are conceivable and it is recalled in this regard that the present invention is not limited to the embodiments described and shown, but also encompasses all variant embodiments within the reach of those skilled in the art.

[0052] The invention could also find its application in fields other than the automobile industry.

Claims

Claims

1. Technical base (100) for a control device (1, 2), comprising: - a housing (110) open on top and delimited by two transverse side walls (111, 112), two longitudinal side walls (113, 114) and a bottom wall (115); - at least one first electrical contactor (131) arranged in a first part (110A) of said housing (110) comprising translational guide means (117A, 117B) provided to cooperate with complementary means (212A, 212B) provided on a first actuator (210) in order to allow the latter to be mounted movably by sliding with respect to this housing (110) between a rest position and an activation position of said at least one first contactor (131);characterized in that said housing (110) also comprises pivoting guide means (119) intended to cooperate with complementary means (323) provided on a gripping key (320) in order to allow said key (320) to be pivotally mounted about a transverse axis on said housing (110).;

2. Technical base (100) according to claim 1, characterized in that it comprises at least one second electrical contactor (132) housed in a second part (110B) of said housing (110) also comprising translational guide means (117) provided to cooperate with complementary means (212) provided on a second actuator (210) in order to allow the latter to be mounted so as to slide relative to this housing (110) between a rest position and a position for activating said at least one second contactor (132), said pivoting guide means (119) being arranged in a central part (110C) of said housing (110) interposed between said first part (110A) and second part (110B).

3. Technical base (100) according to claim 2, characterized in that it comprises at least one third electrical contactor (133) housed in said central part (HOC) of said housing (110) and also comprising translational guide means (117) provided to cooperate with complementary means (212) provided on a third actuator (210) in order to allow the latter to be mounted so as to slide relative to this housing (110) between a rest position and an activation position of said at least one third contactor (133).

4. Technical base (100) according to one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that said guide means of each said part (110A, 110B, 110C) of the housing (110) comprise at least one pair of vertical slide elements (117A) arranged opposite each other on the inner faces of the two said longitudinal side walls (113, 114) of said housing (110).

5. Technical base (100) according to claim 4, characterized in that said guide means of each said part (110A, 110B, 110C) of said housing (110) also comprise a third vertical slide element (117B) arranged on an inner face of a transverse wall (111, 112, 118) of this housing (110).

6. Technical base (100) according to one of claims 1 to 5, characterized in that said pivoting guide means comprise two cylindrical studs (119) projecting transversely outwards from the two longitudinal side walls (113, 114) of said housing (110) and designed to be inserted with free rotation into bores (323) of the same section and of slightly larger dimensions provided on said said tilting gripping key (320).

7. Technical base (100) according to one of claims 1 to 6, characterized in that it comprises a printed circuit board (120) housed in said housing (110) and resting fixedly against the upper face of its bottom wall (115), as well as a flexible membrane (130) also housed in the housing (110) and covering said printed circuit board (120), each said contactor (131, 132, 133) being constituted by a collapse-effect blister arranged on said membrane (130) and provided with a conductive pad arranged directly above a corresponding contact zone of said printed circuit board (120), said pad being designed to come into contact, when it collapses, against said corresponding contact zone in order to establish electrical switching.

8. Control device (1) comprising a technical base (100) according to one of claims 1 to 7 and at least one push-type control member (200) comprising: - an actuator (210) mounted to slide relative to said housing (110); and - a gripping key (220) fixed to the top of said actuator (210) so that the application of a sufficient pushing force on this key (220) causes said actuator (210) to slide towards an activation position of said at least one first contactor (131).

9. Control device (2) comprising a technical base (100) according to one of claims 1 to 7 and a tilting type control member (300) comprising: - at least one actuator (210) mounted to slide relative to said housing (110); and - a gripping key (320) pivotally mounted on said housing (110) and configured so that the application of a sufficient pushing force on an end portion of this key (320) causes it to tilt in one direction and the sliding movement of said actuator (210) towards an activation position of said at least one first contactor (131).

10. Motor vehicle steering wheel incorporating a control device (1, 2) according to one of claims 8 or 9.

Images