Vehicle Badge Sensor Assembly for Manual Access Closure Control
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing closure access control systems for motor vehicles lack integration of sensor-based features within decorative or informative badge assemblies, limiting their functionality and user convenience.
Innovation Solution
A sensor module with a deflectable wall and conductive members is integrated into a vehicle-mounted badge assembly, allowing manual activation through a cover to change the operating state of access closures via a sensor signal, utilizing protrusions to concentrate force and deflect the wall to trigger a detectable change in sensor signal.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If sensor-based closure access control features are integrated into motor vehicle badge assemblies, then functionality and user convenience are improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines the badge assembly with sensor-based closure access control features by integrating a sensor module, deflectable wall, cover, and protrusion structure into a single unified assembly. This merging allows the badge to serve both decorative and functional purposes, improving versatility while managing complexity through integration rather than separate components
Solution Approach 2:
The badge assembly is designed to perform multiple functions: it serves as a decorative vehicle identifier and simultaneously functions as a manual sensor-based access control device. The cover with protrusion structure enables the badge to detect manual actuation signals, allowing a single component to fulfill both aesthetic and operational roles
2Ease of operation
If a deflectable wall with protrusions is used to concentrate force for sensor activation, then ease of operation is improved, but manufacturing precision requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
The deflectable wall incorporates localized protrusions that concentrate force at specific points rather than distributing it uniformly. This local quality enhancement allows manual actuation with minimal force while maintaining structural integrity elsewhere in the assembly, improving ease of operation without requiring excessive precision throughout the entire manufacturing process
Solution Approach 2:
The deflectable wall is designed to dynamically respond to manual contact by deflecting toward the sensor when force is applied to the cover. This dynamic behavior allows the structure to adapt to user input, providing intuitive operation while the protrusions ensure consistent force concentration points that can be manufactured with standard tolerances
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
Enables convenient manual control of access closures, such as power tailgates, by integrating sensor technology into vehicle badges, enhancing user interaction and functionality.
Implementation Method 1
a sensor spaced apart from the at least one electrically conductive member and configured to produce a sensor signal... configured to produce a detectable change in the sensor signal
Data Source
AI summary
A control assembly includes a sensor module configured to mount to an access closure or to an exterior component of a motor vehicle, the sensor module including a deflectable wall and a sensor circuit including a sensor configured to produce a sensor signal, a cover mounted to the sensor module with an exterior surface of the cover exposed on the access closure or on the exterior component of the motor vehicle, and at least one protrusion extending between the cover and the deflectable wall, the at least one protrusion concentrating force, applied by manual contact with the cover, to the deflectable wall of the sensor module to cause the deflectable wall to deflect toward the sensor, and the sensor produces a detectable change in the sensor signal, for causing a corresponding change in an operating state of the access closure, in response to deflection of the deflectable wall.