JP2012099339A - Electric control device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an electric control device which is hard to break and is easy to handle during an assembly process.SOLUTION: A surface contact sensor 29 and a printed circuit board 33 are vertically stacked with a common substrate 31 therebetween. Their ends on one side are elastically gripped together by an elastic clip 104 which is composed of an upper piece 101, a lower piece 102, and an intermediate piece 103 connecting outer ends of the upper and lower pieces to each other. Connection means 42 provided with a plurality of wires 105 is attached to an inner surface of the elastic clip 104. Electrical connection between the surface contact sensor 29 and the printed circuit board 33 is established by the connection means 42.

Description

  The present invention relates to a surface contact type electric control device of an electric opening / closing mechanism such as an electric opening / closing assist type electric window, sunroof, trunk, electric rear door, and electric sliding side door. The present invention can also be applied to a surface contact type electric control device of an electric unit for a multimedia screen or an air conditioner.

  Recently, a surface contact control device detects the pressure of the driver's finger, detects the position of this detected pressure, and the subsequent movement of this pressure on the surface. It has been proposed to control the operation and the vehicle device. For example, Patent Documents 1 and 2 related to an application by Siemens, and Patent Document 3 related to an application for Blackburn are examples of prior art to be referred to in this regard. This contact surface can be anything and different techniques can be applied.

  For example, a technique that uses a pressure sensitive resistor, also known as a force sensing resistor (FSR), is easier to implement than other equivalent techniques such as, for example, capacitance technology or optical technology. And because it is solid, its superiority is high.

  Such a sensor is called, for example, a “digitizer (electronic) pad”, and the prior literatures to be referred to are Patent Documents 4 to 7.

  This sensor includes, for example, a semiconductive layer sandwiched between a conductive layer and a resistance layer. When pressure is applied on the FSR layer, its ohmic resistance decreases, and the applied voltage can be measured using an appropriate voltage to detect the position of the applied pressure.

  This sensor is incorporated in a control device with its electrical input / output terminals connected to a printed circuit board. This printed circuit board is used to determine the position where pressure is applied and the magnitude of pressure based on a signal from a sensor.

  However, this control device is difficult to assemble and manufacture. In particular, the connection location between the printed circuit board and the sensor is fragile and easily damaged because the electrical connection of the sensor is delicate.

  If the sensor contact surface or electrical connection location is damaged during assembly, the functionality of the sensor is impaired and the useful life is reduced.

French published patent FR2798329 French published patent FR2800088 US Pat. No. 6,157,372 U.S. Pat. No. 4,810,992 US Patent No. 5008497 French Published Patent FR 2683649 EP published patent FR2798329

  An object of the present invention is to provide an electric control device that is not easily broken and is easy to handle in the assembly process.

  In order to achieve this object, the present invention superimposes a surface contact sensor and a printed circuit board in a vertical direction with a common base between them, and sets one end portions thereof as an upper piece. An elastic clip comprising a lower piece and an intermediate piece that connects the outer end portions thereof is elastically gripped, and connecting means having a plurality of wires is attached to the inner surface of the elastic clip, and the upper piece in this connecting means A contact piece provided at one end of the plurality of wires on the lower surface of the contact surface is brought into pressure contact with a corresponding contact piece provided on the upper surface of the surface contact sensor, and provided at the other end of the plurality of wires on the upper surface of the lower piece of the connection means. The contact piece is brought into pressure contact with a corresponding contact piece provided on the lower surface of the printed circuit board.

This control device can have the following features.
-Either one of the lower surface of the upper piece in the elastic clip and the upper surface of the surface contact sensor facing the upper surface, and the upper surface of the lower piece in the elastic clip and the lower surface of the printed circuit board facing the upper surface. The convex part is provided with a concave part that is elastically engaged with the convex part on the other side.
-A pair of positioning projections for sandwiching the surface contact sensor or the printed circuit board from the front and back are provided on the upper surface or the lower surface of the common base.

  The electric control device of the present invention is not easily broken and is easy to handle in the assembly process.

  Other advantages and features of the present invention will become apparent from the detailed description and the accompanying drawings.

It is a perspective view of the control apparatus of this invention integrated in the casing. It is a disassembled perspective view of 1st Embodiment of the control apparatus of this invention. It is a perspective top view of the base of the control apparatus of this invention. FIG. 3b is a perspective bottom view of the base of FIG. 3a. FIG. 3 is a perspective view of the assembled control device of the present invention. It is a disassembled perspective view of 2nd Embodiment of the control apparatus of this invention. It is an expansion perspective view of the elastic clip shown in FIG. In these drawings, the same members are denoted by the same reference numerals.

  FIG. 1 shows a control device 1 according to the invention incorporated in a casing. The control device 1 can control an open / close electric mechanism such as an electric window, a sunroof, or an electric trunk, a rear door, and a sliding door of a vehicle.

  Obviously, this type of device can be used for electrical control of any other electric vehicle, such as electric seat control and lighting control such as indoor reading lights and ambient lighting.

  For example, a casing made of plastic is formed by a lid 3 and a bottom 5 which are combined inside and outside each other, and a fixing screw 7 such as a self-tapping screw is extended laterally on the outer surface of the bottom 5 of the casing. After passing through the ring portion 11, the outer surface of the lid 3 is held in place by being inserted into the holes 9 extending in the lateral direction.

  As can be seen on the left side of FIG. 1, for example, a coupler 13 for a male electrical connector for connection with an electric mechanism is formed on the bottom 12 of the bottom 5 of the casing.

  In order to connect the casing to the vehicle, an elastic locking member 15 is provided on the outer surface of the lid 3 of the casing.

  In assembling, in order to align the center of the lid 3 and the bottom 5 of the casing, a rib 19 provided across the longitudinal center of the outer surface of the casing bottom 5 is provided in the longitudinal direction of the outer surface of the lid 3. It inserts in the center recessed part 17 (refer also FIG. 2) formed so that the center part of this may be crossed.

  A recess 20 (see FIG. 2) that engages the control device 1 is provided on one of the sides of the bottom 5 of the casing so that the control device 1 can be assembled to the bottom 5 of the casing only from one direction.

  The casing lid 3 includes an opening 21 into which a lining 23 is inserted.

  The lining 23 is preferably made of an elastic material such as rubber or silicon. Other materials can be used that are harder, less resilient, but deformable, such as those based on polycarbonate or a mixture of metal and silicon. The lining 23 includes a peripheral end portion 24 and two transverse ribs 25a and 25b in order to divide the three operation portions 26a, 26b, and 26c.

  The operation unit 26a can perform a function of controlling opening to closing in the manual mode. For example, in the automatic mode, the operation unit 26b not only detects the pressure of the user's finger in order to control opening and closing, but also detects the movement of the pressure, in particular, the moving direction of the user's finger. It is an operation unit. The operation unit 26c can perform a function of controlling closing to open in the manual mode.

  The operation units 26a, 26b, and 26c include pictograms 27a, 27b, 27c, and 27d drawn in the skin portion 23 by etching. Each pictogram 27a, 27b, 27c, 27d corresponds to a specific control function. Since these pictograms 27a, 27b, 27c, and 27d are translucent, unlike the remaining opaque skin portion 23, light can pass therethrough, and the pictograms can be made visible by backlighting. This will be described in detail later.

  Various elements of the control device 1 of the present invention are arranged in a casing directly below the lining 23. Among these various elements, the surface contact sensor 29, the surface contact sensor 29, and the base 31 for the printed circuit board 33 are shown in FIG.

  The surface contact sensor 29 is preferably a pressure sensitive resistor, also known as a force sensing resistor (FSR).

  As will be described later, the surface contact sensor 29 includes three adjacent operation areas 35, 36, and 37 corresponding to the operation units 26a, 26b, and 26c that control specific electrical functions.

  At the position of the transverse ribs 25a, 25b, the surface contact sensor 29 is preferably provided with side portions 39 that do not participate in two operations, also called blind spots. This blind spot is passed through the signal passage 41 from the surface contact sensor 29.

  A connection means 42 for electrically connecting to the printed circuit board 33 is provided at the end of the surface contact sensor 29.

  It is preferable that not only the surface contact sensor 29 but also the connecting means 42 has flexibility. Therefore, the sensor 29 can be extended to form the connection means 42.

  Similarly, for guiding the connecting means 42, it is advantageous to provide guiding means on the side of the base 31, such as a guide projection 44 made of a single piece.

  The sensor 29 is preferably bonded to the hard upper surface of the base 31.

  The printed circuit board 33 is supported on the bottom 46 in the longitudinal direction opposite to the top 43 of the base 31 whose height is indicated by D in FIGS. 3a and 3b.

  Therefore, the base 31 is inserted between the surface contact sensor 29 and the printed circuit board 33.

  For this purpose, detachable fixing means 47 for locking the printed circuit board 33 to the base 31 is provided.

  The fixing means 47 may be composed of two cuts 45 (see FIG. 2) on both side surfaces of the printed circuit board 33 and a resilient locking arm 48 that engages the cuts 45 on the base 31.

  The length of the notch 45 is set to the width of the elastic locking arm 48 of the base 31 so that a sliding operation in a predetermined longitudinal direction can be performed between the printed circuit board 33 and the base 31 in the longitudinal direction. It is advantageous to make it slightly larger.

  In the final assembly, for guiding the lid 3 on the control device 1, a centering groove located across the center of the longitudinal surface of the outer surface of the lid 3, and the corresponding rib 61, It is preferable that the elastic locking arm 48 is provided.

  In another embodiment of the present invention (not shown), the fixing means 47 includes rivet pins having one or more sets of retractable elastic arms provided on the base 31 and one or more provided on the printed circuit board 33. It is supposed to consist of a rectangular hole.

  This pin is inserted into the associated rectangular hole. During this insertion, the end portions of the resilient arms of each pair of pins are locked and connected within a rectangular hole.

  Returning to FIG. 2, in order to position the printed circuit board 33 on the base 31, an oval hole 51 into which a positioning pin 53 provided on the base 31 is fitted is provided at one corner of the printed circuit board 33. It is. The length of the oval hole 51 corresponds to a predetermined moving stroke of the sliding operation between the printed circuit board 33 and the base 31.

  By this sliding operation, a slight play can be left between the printed circuit board 33 and the bottom 5 of the casing, so that the two parts 3 and 5 of the casing can be easily assembled.

  In order to make the printed circuit board 33 face the base 31, an inclined surface 57 may be provided on the base 31, and this may be engaged with the inclined surface 55 at one corner of the printed circuit board 33.

  Therefore, in order to accurately position the base 31 with respect to the bottom 5 of the casing, a side portion 59 with a notch hole that can be fitted to the elastic centering arm 48 of the base 31 can be provided on the bottom 5. .

  In order to achieve this object, the elastic centering arm 48 of the base 31 extends slightly beyond the printed circuit board 33 when the printed circuit board 33 is connected to the base 31.

  In order to guide the control device 1 into the casing at the time of final assembly, corresponding to the hole 9 provided on the outer side surface of the lid 3 of the casing, a dent crossing the side surface of the base 31 and the printed circuit board 33. Parts 62 and 63 can also be provided.

  The printed circuit board 33 (PCB) includes an output supply and a circuit for processing a signal from the sensor 29, and also includes components adapted to cause a specific operation. The printed circuit board 33 is mainly used to send a signal from the sensor 29 to a vehicle communication network such as a CAN network.

  On the upper surface 60 of the printed circuit board 33, as will be described later, one or more light sources such as a light emitting diode 38 that back-illuminates the control device 1 are provided.

  The bottom surface 64 of the printed circuit board 33 is provided with a connection pin 40 to be inserted into the connecting portion of the male electrical connector 13 at the bottom 12 of the bottom 5 of the casing.

  When the connection pin 40 of the printed circuit board 33 is inserted into the coupler of the male electrical connector 13, the control device 1 is guided into the bottom 5 of the casing.

  As connection means 42 for electrically connecting the printed circuit board 33 and the surface contact sensor 29, a connection tab 67 is formed by extending the contact surface of the sensor 29.

  The connection tab 67 is guided by a guide projection 44 formed on the side surface of the common base 31 and is connected to the contact 69 of the printed circuit board 33 by a solderless pressure fitting connector 71. Is desirable.

  By connecting the connection tab 67 to the bottom surface 64 of the printed circuit board 33, assembly is facilitated.

  When the surface contact sensor 29 is guided and held on the hard upper surface 43 of the base 31, the printed circuit board 33 is locked to the bottom surface 46. It will be understood that both circuit boards 33 are shared and each is supported by the opposite surface of the common base 31.

  In this way, by connecting the printed circuit board 33 and the surface contact sensor 29 so as to be held at a predetermined position without bending the connector at a right angle, it is possible to avoid the disadvantages of the apparatus of the prior art and control the connector. The device 1 can be easily assembled and assembled in a casing as shown in FIG.

  As a result, since the compressive stress applied to the connector is limited, the control device 1 is configured as a small and sturdy production unit without worrying about handling in the production assembly process.

  Next, when the control device 1 is assembled to the bottom 5 of the casing, the lining 23 is positioned on the contact surface of the surface contact sensor 29, and the rib 25a and the rib 25b on the surface are connected to the control operating area 35, 36 and 37 are partitioned.

  As shown in FIG. 1, in order to incorporate the control device 1 into the casing, the lid 3 is assembled on the bottom 5 of the casing, and the screw 7 is screwed into the hole 9 and fixed.

  In this way, the protection of the control device 1 is further strengthened. When assembled into the casing in this way, there are no extending connection parts or fragile parts apart from the connection pins 40 that are protected by coupling with the male coupler 13.

  According to the embodiment shown in FIGS. 3a and 3b, the guide projection 44 for guiding the connection tab 67 comprises parallel fins 73a, 73b, 73c.

  The three fins 73 a, 73 b, 73 c are preferably arranged in parallel so that the edges support the connection tabs 67.

  When the connection tab 67 is connected to the printed circuit board 33, the shape of each fin 73a, 73b, 73c is specifically determined so that the connection tab 67 can bend along the shape of the guide protrusion 44. .

  For this reason, the edge of each fin 73a, 73b, 73c is the 3rd curve which has the 1st curve part, the 2nd straight line part extended from this 1st curve part, and the same curve part as the 1st curve part. Department.

  The curved portions 75 and 77 are for avoiding a right angle connection that may damage the sensor 29.

  The height of the straight portion 76 of the fin is determined in relation to the height D of the common base 31, the printed circuit board 33, and the height of the connector. In particular, the height of the connector is the pressure fitting connector. Is associated with a height of 71.

  In order to prevent the connection tab 67 from coming off the guide protrusion 44 laterally, it is advantageous if the outer fins 73a, 73b are provided with centering outer walls 79a, 79b.

  In a specific embodiment of the present invention, the back illumination of the pictograms 27a, 27b, 27c, 27d is provided on the upper surface in the longitudinal direction of the printed circuit board 33 and irradiates the back surface of the hard surface in the longitudinal direction of the common base 31. The light emitting diode 38 is used.

  The surface 43 of the common base that supports the sensor 29 is also transparent or translucent like the contact surface of the sensor 29, so that the light emitted by the light emitting diode 38 can be used for the pictograms 27a, 27b, 27c, and 27d. Can be illuminated.

  In order to make the illumination on the pictograms 27a, 27b, 27c, and 27d uniform, the conical luminous flux emitted by each light emitting diode 38 of the printed circuit board 33 is the size of the pictograms 27a, 27b, 27c, and 27d to be illuminated. The height D of the common base 31 is set so as to be larger than or equal to the height.

  Since the surface contact sensor 29 and the printed circuit board 33 of the surface contact type electric control device 1 of the present invention are supported by the opposite surface of the common base 31, the problems of the prior art are solved. In carrying out the present invention, the common base 31 is a method for obtaining a production unit that can be easily handled in the assembly process.

  Furthermore, since this apparatus is provided with detachable locking means for fixing the printed circuit board 33 to one of the surfaces of the common base 31, the maintenance surface of this apparatus is also easy.

  Further, the connection means 42 for electrically connecting the surface contact sensor 29 and the printed circuit board 33, and the contact surface of the sensor 29 is flexible, and the connection tab 67 is formed such that the contact surface of the sensor 29 is extended. A guide projection 44 for the connection tab 67 is provided on the side surface of the common base 31.

  As a result, since the connection between the printed circuit board and the sensor is protected and strengthened, the risk of generating defective products is reduced, and the service life of the electric control device is increased.

  5 and 6 show a second embodiment of the control device of the present invention. 5 and 6, the same or similar members as those shown in FIGS. 1 to 4 are indicated by the same reference numerals, and detailed description thereof will be omitted.

  In this example, the surface contact sensor 29 and the printed circuit board 33 are vertically superposed with the common base 31 interposed therebetween, and one side ends thereof are connected to the upper piece 101 and the lower piece 102. And an elastic clip 104 composed of an intermediate piece 103 that connects the outer end portions thereof, and elastically connecting the connecting means 42 having a plurality of wirings 105 to the inner surface of the elastic clip 104. The contact piece 106 provided at one end of the plurality of wirings 105 on the lower surface of the upper piece 101 is pressed against the corresponding contact piece 107 provided on the upper surface of the surface contact sensor 29 and on the upper surface of the lower piece 102 in the connection means 42. The contact piece 108 provided at the other end of the plurality of wirings 105 is pressed against the corresponding contact piece 109 provided on the lower surface of the printed circuit board 33.

  Any one of the lower surface of the upper piece 101 in the elastic clip 104 and the upper surface of the surface contact sensor 29 opposed thereto, and the upper surface of the lower piece 102 in the elastic clip 104 and the lower surface of the printed circuit board 33 opposed thereto. A convex portion 110 is provided on one side, and a concave portion 111 that is elastically engaged with the convex portion 110 is provided on the other side.

On the upper surface or the lower surface of the common base 31, a pair of positioning projections 112 for sandwiching the surface contact sensor 29 or the printed circuit board 33 from the front and rear are provided.
The pair of protrusions 112 prevent the surface contact sensor 29 or the printed circuit board 33 from being sandwiched from the front and the back and being positioned from the common base 31 in the front-rear direction.

  In the second embodiment, the common base 31 is sandwiched between the surface contact sensor 29 and the printed circuit board 33, and only one side thereof is sandwiched between the elastic clips 104. The sensor 29 and the printed circuit board 33 are electrically connected at the same time, so that the assembly workability can be improved, the number of parts can be reduced, and the structure can be simplified.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Control apparatus 3 Cover 5 Bottom 7 Fixing screw 9 Hole 11 Ring part 12 Bottom part 13 Electrical connector 15 Elastic locking tool 17 Central recessed part 19 Rib 20 Recessed part 21 Opening part 23 Lining 24 Peripheral edge part 25a Crossing rib 25b Crossing rib 26a Operation part 26b Operation unit 26c Operation unit 27a Pictograph 27b Pictograph 27c Pictograph 27d Pictograph 29 Surface contact sensor 31 Base 33 Printed circuit board
35 operating range
36 operating area 37 operating area 38 light emitting diode 39 side 40 connecting pin 41 passage 42 connecting means 43 upper surface 44 guide projection 45 notch 46 bottom face 47 fixing means 48 elastic locking arm 51 oblong hole 53 positioning pin 55 inclined surface 57 inclined surface 59 Side portion 60 Upper surface 61 Rib 62 Recessed portion 63 Recessed portion 64 Bottom surface 67 Connection tab 69 Contact 71 Pressure fitting connector 73a Fin 73b Fin 73c Fin 75 Curved portion 76 Linear portion 77 Curved portion 79a Side wall 79b Side wall 101 Upper piece 102 Lower piece 103 Intermediate piece 104 Elastic clip 105 Wiring 106-109 Contact piece 110 Convex part 111 Concave part 112 Protrusion

Claims (3)

A surface contact sensor (29);
A common base (31) disposed between the printed circuit board (33), the surface contact sensor (29) and the printed circuit board (33);
It consists of an upper part (101), a lower part (102) and an intermediate part (103), and these are fixed by sandwiching the surface contact sensor (29), the common base (31) and the printed circuit board (33). An electric control device (1) comprising a clip (104),
The elastic clip (104) includes, on the inner surface, electrical connection means (42) for connecting the surface contact sensor (29) and the printed circuit board (33), and the electrical connection means (42) is an upper contact. (106), lower contact (108) and wiring (105) connecting them,
When the clip fixes the surface contact sensor (29), the common base (31), and the printed circuit board (33), the upper contact (106) is connected to the surface contact sensor (29). ) And the lower contact (108) are electrically connected to the lower surface of the printed circuit board (33), respectively.   A convex portion (110) is provided on one of the lower surface of the upper portion (101) of the elastic clip (104) and the upper surface of the surface contact sensor (29), and a concave portion (111) is provided on the other side. The convex portion (110) is provided on one of the upper surface of the lower portion (102) of the lower portion (102) and the lower surface of the printed circuit board (33), and the concave portion (111) is provided on the other. Electric control device (1).   The electric control device (1) according to claim 1 or 2, wherein a positioning guide (112) is provided on an upper surface or a lower surface of the common base (31).

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