Retractable Vehicle Button Module for Cleaner Interior Control
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Solution Overview
Problem
The increasing number of buttons in vehicle interiors complicates user operation, affects visibility, and degrades the aesthetic quality, making it difficult for users to find and manipulate buttons effectively.
Innovation Solution
An operation apparatus with a panel and an operation module that can move between two positions, using a drive unit with a linear motor and guide system to protrude and retract a button, allowing it to change angle and visibility, and a flexible finish skin to maintain a clean surface design, along with a sensor and control unit for user detection and button state management.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If the number of buttons is increased to provide more vehicle functions, then the functionality and versatility of the vehicle is improved, but the complexity of the interior and difficulty of operation increases
Solution Approach 1:
The button is designed to dynamically change its state between protruding and recessed positions. The operation module moves the button between a first position (protruding, visible, operable) and a second position (recessed, hidden, non-operable), allowing the interface to adapt its complexity based on operational needs rather than permanently displaying all buttons.
Solution Approach 2:
The button is extracted from the static panel surface and placed on a movable operation module. This separation allows the button to be removed from the visible field by retracting it into the panel, effectively taking out unnecessary controls from the user's view while maintaining their availability when needed.
2Adaptability or versatility
If more buttons are disposed in the vehicle interior, then more functions are available, but the aesthetic quality of the interior is degraded
Solution Approach 1:
The button transitions from a static visual element to a dynamic one that can appear and disappear. When not in use, the button retracts into the panel surface, creating a clean, uninterrupted aesthetic. When needed, it protrudes to provide clear visual indication and tactile feedback, thus maintaining aesthetic quality while preserving functional availability.
Solution Approach 2:
The operation module acts as a flexible mechanism that allows the button to move between positions. This flexible movement mechanism enables the button to integrate seamlessly into the panel surface when retracted, maintaining the smooth aesthetic of the interior while allowing protrusion when functionality is required.
3Ease of operation
If buttons are made more visible and accessible, then ease of operation is improved, but the cluttered appearance of the interior increases
Solution Approach 1:
The button's visibility and accessibility are made dynamic rather than static. It protrudes from the panel surface to become highly visible and easily operable when needed, then retracts to minimize visual clutter. This dynamic behavior allows the system to optimize for ease of operation only when necessary, rather than maintaining constant visibility that would create clutter.
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
Enhances button visibility and operability by making the button easily accessible or hidden, improving user experience and interior aesthetics by reducing clutter and simplifying button manipulation.
Implementation Method 1
a linear motor for moving the moving body
Implementation Method 2
The guide may include a guide pin and a pin guide member, which mate with each other. The guide pin may protrude from the operation module in the second direction, moves along the guide path
Implementation Method 3
the moving body is rotatably connected to a side of a rear portion of the operation module by a connecting shaft extending in a second direction orthogonal to the first direction
Data Source
AI summary
An operation apparatus for a vehicle is proposed. The operation apparatus includes an operation module capable of moving between a first position and a second position through an opening of a panel provided in the vehicle, and a drive unit that moves the operation module. The drive unit may move the operation module from the first position to the second position to make a button of the operation module conspicuously protrude from a surface of the panel, and may rotate the operation module so that an angle of the button of the operation module can be adjusted to allow a user to conveniently operate the button.