Vehicular Shifter Device Tilting Control
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing momentary-type vehicular shifter devices face issues with safety against erroneous operations, cumbersome operations for selecting travel ranges, and increased device size due to complex operation sequences and increased lever strokes.
Innovation Solution
A vehicular shifter device with a shift lever that automatically returns to a home position, allowing neutral and travel range selection through simple tilting operations without the need for button presses, and a control system that sets the range to neutral upon initial tilting and switches to travel range upon repeated tilting within a predetermined time.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a two-step operation is required to select travel range (first direction then second direction), then safety against erroneous operation is improved, but operation complexity and total stroke are increased
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies periodic action by using repeated tilting operations within a predetermined time period to progress through range selection stages. The control unit counts the number of times the operation member is tilted and switches ranges based on the count (first tilt → neutral range, second tilt → travel range). This periodic repetition within a time window simplifies the operation compared to requiring different directional movements, while still maintaining safety through the requirement of multiple operations.
2Reliability
If the shift lever moving range is increased to accommodate multiple positions, then safety against erroneous operation is improved, but device size is increased
Solution Approach 1:
The patent uses periodic action with a predetermined time period to enable multiple range selections within a compact moving range. By counting repeated tilting operations within this time window, the system can distinguish between intentional user input and accidental contact, maintaining safety without requiring the shift lever to travel through multiple distinct physical positions that would increase device size.
Solution Approach 2:
The control unit acts as an intermediary that processes the operation member's position signals and determines range selection based on the number of tilts within a time period. This intermediary logic layer allows the physical shift lever to maintain a simple, compact structure while the control system provides the safety functionality through intelligent interpretation of repeated operations.
3Reliability
If a button switch is pressed concurrently with shift lever movement, then safety against erroneous operation is improved, but ease of operation deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies universality by making the tilting operation of the operation member serve multiple functions: it both selects the neutral range and, when repeated, selects the travel range. This eliminates the need for a separate button switch, as the same operational movement (tilting) performs both safety verification and range selection functions, greatly simplifying the user interface while maintaining safety.
Data Source
AI summary
A vehicular shifter device includes: an operation member; a body portion which supports the operation member to be shiftable from a home position in a predetermined direction, and which causes the operation member after a shift operation to automatically return to the home position; and a control means which controls the range of a transmission on the basis of a shift operation of the operation member. The control means sets the range to a neutral range when the operation member is shifted from the home position in the predetermined direction. The control means switches the range from the neutral range to a travel range when the operation member is shifted from the home position in the predetermined direction again after the shift operation.