Steering Wheel ECU Wire Trace Integration
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Solution Overview
Problem
The increasing number of electrical components in steering wheel assemblies, combined with smaller steering wheel sizes, leads to challenges in efficiently packaging electrical connections, often resulting in messy and interfering wire harnesses that can pinch or interfere with the driver airbag and horn activation.
Innovation Solution
The integration of an electronic control unit (ECU) with a printed circuit board (PCB) and clock spring connector, which uses wire traces to connect electrical components directly, reducing the need for wire harnesses and routing connections away from the driver airbag, thereby eliminating interference.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If wire harnesses are used to connect electrical components in steering wheel assemblies, then electrical connections can be established, but the wire harnesses become messy, large, and interfere with the driver airbag and horn activation
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the wire harness from the steering wheel assembly by routing it through a dedicated channel in the steering column that passes through the airbag deployment path. This removes the wire harness from the problematic area where it interferes with airbag deployment and horn activation, while maintaining electrical connectivity through the extracted routing path.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces a steering column as an intermediary structure that contains a dedicated channel for wire harness routing. This intermediary channel acts as a mediator that guides the wire harness away from the airbag and horn components, eliminating interference while preserving electrical connections. The channel serves as a protective pathway that separates the wire harness from critical safety components.
2Adaptability or versatility
If the number of electrical components in steering wheel assemblies is increased, then functionality is improved, but the size and complexity of wire harnesses increase leading to packaging challenges
Solution Approach 1:
The patent transitions the wire harness routing from a two-dimensional surface layout within the steering wheel to a three-dimensional pathway through the steering column. By utilizing the vertical dimension and routing the wire harness through the steering column's internal channel, the design accommodates increased electrical components without increasing the horizontal packaging volume within the steering wheel assembly.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent segments the electrical connection system by separating the wire harness routing from the steering wheel assembly proper and placing it in the steering column. This segmentation allows the steering wheel to accommodate more electrical components without proportionally increasing wire harness volume, as the harness is organized in a dedicated external pathway rather than being distributed throughout the steering wheel structure.
3Ease of manufacture
If wire harnesses are routed through the steering wheel assembly, then electrical components can be connected, but the wires can get pinched or interfere with the driver airbag during assembly and activation
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the wire harness from the airbag deployment zone by routing it through a channel in the steering column that passes through the center of the airbag module without allowing contact. This extraction eliminates the harmful interference between wires and airbag while maintaining ease of assembly through the dedicated routing pathway.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent uses the steering column channel as an intermediary structure that physically separates the wire harness from the airbag components. This intermediary pathway prevents direct contact between the wires and airbag, eliminating pinching risks during assembly and deployment interference while providing a guided route that simplifies the manufacturing process.
Data Source
AI summary
A vehicle steering wheel assembly includes a steering wheel frame having a rim portion and a hub portion within the rim portion. The hub has a first surface facing a rear of the vehicle and a second surface facing a front of the vehicle. An electronic control unit (ECU) has a first surface facing the rear of the vehicle located in a plane that is disposed between a second plane that includes the second surface of the hub and the front of the vehicle. An electrical connector extends from the first surface of the ECU towards the first surface of the hub portion. The ECU comprises a clock spring connector electrically coupled to the electrical connector via a wire trace. By incorporating wire traces that provide electrical connections between the electrical connectors and the clock spring connector, the ECU reduces the size and/or number of wire harnesses used in the steering wheel assembly.