Vehicle Lever Switch Click Surface for Smoother Tactile Feedback
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional lever switches on vehicles can produce an unpleasant operation feeling due to a large drop in reaction force after the peak, leading to an unpleasant hand feel during operation.
Innovation Solution
A lever switch design featuring a click feeling generator with a clicking surface that has a convex curved region with varying radius of curvature, maximizing at the position where the reaction force starts to decrease from the peak, to minimize the drop in reaction force and improve operation feeling.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If the clicking surface generates a large reaction force to produce a clear click feeling, then the click feeling is enhanced, but collision noises between the clicking piece and the clicking surface increase
Solution Approach 1:
The convex curved face of the clicking surface modifies the contact dynamics between the clicking piece and the clicking surface. The curved geometry distributes the impact over a longer duration and reduces the sharpness of collision, thereby suppressing collision noises while still generating a clear click feeling through controlled reaction force.
Solution Approach 2:
The convex curved face acts as a cushioning element that softens the impact between the clicking piece and the clicking surface. By designing the surface with a specific radius of curvature, the invention prepares a cushioning effect beforehand that reduces collision noises while maintaining the necessary reaction force for click feeling generation.
Data Source
AI summary
A lever switch with an improved operation feeling includes a clicking surface of a click feeling generator that abuts with an end portion of a switch moving body turning about a turn fulcrum in response to an operation of an operation lever, and generates a click feeling by causing a reaction force against the operation of the operation lever. A region of the clicking surface forms a shape of a curved face convex toward the turn fulcrum, where the region ranges between a first position where the reaction force starts to decrease from a peak reaction force and a second position where the reaction force becomes zero, in a stroke in which the switch moving body turns from a first angle to a second angle. The radius of curvature of the region is a maximum at a portion adjoining the first position in the region.