Shift Lever Contact Alignment With a Tolerance-Compensating Intermediate Unit
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Solution Overview
Problem
The installation of shift lever assemblies in motor vehicles often requires large forces, which can damage sensitive soldered connections, risking breakage due to tolerances in components.
Innovation Solution
A shift lever assembly with a movable intermediate unit and guide means that compensates for tolerances and offsets, allowing for easy alignment and insertion into a plug connector, decoupling forces during installation and operation, and featuring a flat contact element with multiple electrical contacts.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If the gearshift lever assembly is installed directly without an intermediate unit, then the electrical contacts can be aligned precisely, but large forces are required that can damage soldered connections
Solution Approach 1:
An intermediate unit is introduced between the gearshift lever part and the connector. This intermediate unit acts as a mediator that decouples the mechanical connection from the electrical connection, allowing the electrical contacts to be aligned precisely while preventing the transmission of large installation forces to the soldered connections.
Solution Approach 2:
The assembly is segmented into three distinct parts: the gearshift lever part, the intermediate unit, and the connector. This segmentation allows each part to fulfill its specific function independently - the gearshift lever part provides mechanical support, the intermediate unit provides electrical connection with force decoupling, and the connector provides electrical contact alignment.
2Stability of the object's composition
If the intermediate unit is rigidly connected to the gearshift lever part, then structural stability is improved, but component tolerances cannot be compensated during installation
Solution Approach 1:
The connection between the intermediate unit and the gearshift lever part is made dynamic rather than rigid. The intermediate unit is connected via a bearing or bushing that allows relative movement, enabling the system to adapt to component tolerances during installation while maintaining structural stability during operation.
Solution Approach 2:
The connection parameters are changed from fixed/rigid to movable/flexible. The intermediate unit can move relative to the gearshift lever part within certain limits, allowing the system to compensate for dimensional variations and tolerances of the connected components.
3Device complexity
If the connector is directly connected to the gearshift lever part, then the device complexity is reduced, but forces during operation are transmitted to the soldered connections causing potential damage
Solution Approach 1:
The intermediate unit serves as a mediator that physically separates the mechanical load path from the electrical connection path. It allows the connector to be mounted on the gearshift lever part while preventing operational forces from being transmitted to the soldered electrical connections.
Solution Approach 2:
The electrical connection function is extracted from the mechanical connection structure. The intermediate unit provides a separate mounting point for the connector that is decoupled from the force transmission path of the gearshift lever mechanism.
Data Source
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AI summary
The invention relates to a shift lever assembly (1) for a motor vehicle, comprising: - a shift lever part (2) with a flat contact element (4), the flat contact element (4) having a plurality of electrical contacts (6); - A plug connector (12) with electrical connection contacts (14) which can be electrically conductively connected to electrical contacts () of a component of the motor vehicle; - An intermediate unit (16) which is arranged in a plug-in position between the shift lever part (2) and the connector (12); wherein in the plugged-in position the electrical contacts (6) of the flat contact element (4) can be electrically conductively contacted with the electrical connection contacts (14) of the plug connector (12), and wherein the intermediate unit (16) can be connected to the shift lever part (2) with play connected, that the intermediate unit (16) can be moved relative to the shift lever part (2), and wherein the intermediate unit (16) and the flat contact element (4) can be fixed to one another in such a way that the intermediate unit (16) and the flat contact element (4) can be pushed together into the plug-in position in the connector (12), and the intermediate unit (16) has a guide means (30) which, when the intermediate unit (16) and the flat contact element (4) are pushed into the connector (12), into the Plugging position aligns the plurality of electrical contacts (6) of the flat contact element (4) and the electrical connection contacts (14) of the connector (12) to each other.