Switch Abnormality Detection via Contact Timing Sequencing
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing vehicle control system switches often erroneously detect abnormalities due to their structural design, particularly in the contact configuration, leading to incorrect determination of disconnection or short-circuit conditions.
Innovation Solution
A switch with three contacts and an operating member that transitions between positions, ensuring that all contacts are not simultaneously in the same state during normal operation, allowing for accurate abnormality detection by analyzing signal combinations from each contact, thereby preventing erroneous detection.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a switch uses multiple signal lines with contacts to ensure redundancy and detect abnormalities, then the reliability of abnormality detection is improved, but erroneous detection may occur due to contact structure characteristics
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies dynamics by introducing temporal sequencing to the contact switching states. The first contact switches at a different timing than the second and third contacts during operating member displacement. This dynamic timing difference ensures that all contacts are never simultaneously in the same state during normal operation, allowing the control device to distinguish normal transient states from actual abnormalities. The dynamic aspect transforms a static contact structure into a temporally differentiated system that prevents erroneous detection.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent utilizes periodic action through the repeated switching cycles of the contacts during operating member displacement. Each contact switches periodically as the operating member moves between positions, creating a predictable sequence of state changes. The control device monitors these periodic switching patterns to identify when contacts are failing to switch properly, thereby detecting abnormalities without false positives from normal operational states.
2Adaptability or versatility
If the switch structure uses multiple contacts in parallel to detect disconnection and short-circuit, then the coverage of abnormality detection is improved, but the complexity of determining actual abnormalities increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies preliminary action by pre-establishing the switching sequence and timing relationships among the contacts before operation begins. The control device is programmed with knowledge of the expected switching order (first contact switches at different timing than second and third contacts). This preliminary configuration allows the system to automatically compare actual contact states against the predetermined sequence, simplifying abnormality determination by eliminating the need for complex real-time analysis of multiple contact combinations.
Data Source
AI summary
A switch includes an operating member and three contacts (first, second and third contacts). The operating member displaces between a first and a second positions. A state of the three contacts is switched between a first and a second states by displacement of the operating member. Each contact connects or disconnects a signal line in the first state, and puts, in the second state, the signal line into a state reverse to the first stat. In course of the displacement of the operating member from the first position to the second position, the first contact switches from the first state to the second state, the second contact switches from the first state to the second state after switching of the first contact, and the third contact switches from the second state to the first state at a timing between switching of the first contact and switching of the second contact.