CN114060502A

CN114060502A - Electronic gear shifting device

Info

Publication number: CN114060502A
Application number: CN202010788618.4A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 高羽
Original assignee: WM Smart Mobility Shanghai Co Ltd
Current assignee: WM Smart Mobility Shanghai Co Ltd
Priority date: 2020-08-07
Filing date: 2020-08-07
Publication date: 2022-02-18

Abstract

The invention relates to an electronic gear shift device, comprising: the knob assembly is of a hollow annular structure along the direction of the rotating shaft and provides a rotating signal for the control panel at the bottom in a rotating mode; the switch assembly is arranged in the hollow part of the annular structure, penetrates through the hollow part to contact the tact switch arranged on the control panel, and is suitable for triggering the tact switch in a pressing mode; and the control panel is provided with a sensor and the tact switch and is configured to: sending a parking request signal to a vehicle in response to the activation of the tact switch; and sending a corresponding gear signal to the vehicle according to the rotation signal monitored by the sensor. The invention can reduce the volume of the electronic gear shifting device and improve the operation hand feeling of the electronic gear shifting device.

Description

Electronic gear shifting device

Technical Field

The invention relates to a manufacturing technology of a vehicle gear shifting device, in particular to an electronic gear shifting device.

Background

With the gradual development of pure electric vehicles, people have higher and higher requirements on driving comfort and operation texture. As a driving device necessary for a pure electric vehicle, the gear shifter plays a crucial role.

In order to provide more space for passengers, a demand for higher integration of parts in the vehicle is generated. The electronic gear shifter used by the existing pure electric vehicle mainly faces four problems: the integration level is too poor, the size is long, and the storage space of too many auxiliary instrument desks is occupied; secondly, the operation hand feeling is too poor, the key shakes seriously due to the over short guide groove, and the texture is not good; thirdly, the development continuity is poor, the changeable range is small, and a platform is difficult to form; fourthly, too many scattered parts are inconvenient to assemble, and the assembly efficiency is influenced.

In order to overcome the above-mentioned drawbacks of the prior art, there is a need in the art for a highly integrated electronic gearshift device, which is used to reduce the size of the electronic gearshift device and improve the operation feel of the electronic gearshift device.

Disclosure of Invention

The following presents a simplified summary of one or more aspects in order to provide a basic understanding of such aspects. This summary is not an extensive overview of all contemplated aspects, and is intended to neither identify key or critical elements of all aspects nor delineate the scope of any or all aspects. Its sole purpose is to present some concepts of one or more aspects in a simplified form as a prelude to the more detailed description that is presented later.

In order to overcome the above-mentioned defects in the prior art, the present invention provides an electronic shift device, which is used for reducing the volume of the electronic shift device and improving the operation hand feeling of the electronic shift device.

The present invention provides the above-described electronic shift device, including: the knob assembly is of a hollow annular structure along the direction of the rotating shaft and provides a rotating signal for the control panel at the bottom in a rotating mode; the switch assembly is arranged in the hollow part of the annular structure, penetrates through the hollow part to contact the light touch switch arranged on the control board, and is suitable for triggering the light touch switch in a pressing mode; and the control panel is provided with a sensor and the light touch switch and is configured to: sending a parking request signal to a vehicle in response to the activation of the tact switch; and sending a corresponding gear signal to the vehicle according to the rotation signal monitored by the sensor.

Preferably, in some embodiments of the present invention, the switch assembly may include: the guide groove penetrates through the hollow part to contact the light touch switch, and a guide strip is arranged on the side surface of the guide groove and is suitable for being matched with a guide structure arranged on the inner side wall of the hollow part to realize the stable installation of the switch assembly and the knob assembly; and the key cap is connected with the top end of the guide groove in a buckling mode, and the installation height is not lower than the top surface of the knob assembly.

Preferably, in some embodiments of the present invention, the control board may further include a parking position indicator lamp. The guide groove may be provided with a light guide groove extending in the direction of the rotation axis. The button cap may be provided with a light-transmitting port. The switch assembly may further include: the light guide strip is arranged in the light guide groove, one end of the light guide strip is aligned to the parking gear indicator lamp, the other end of the light guide strip is aligned to the light transmission opening, and the light guide strip is suitable for guiding light rays emitted by the parking gear indicator lamp to the light transmission opening.

Optionally, in some embodiments of the present invention, a bottom end of the guide groove may be provided with a pressing bump, and the guide groove contacts the tact switch in a pre-pressing manner through the pressing bump.

Optionally, in some embodiments of the present invention, the knob assembly may include: the turntable assembly comprises a turntable body, wherein a limiting running track is arranged in the middle of the turntable body, and a gear track is arranged on the lower portion of the turntable body, wherein the gear track is provided with a plurality of hand feeling mutation points with different heights; the rotary knob base comprises a limiting structure and a mounting blind hole, wherein the limiting structure is arranged on the upper edge of the rotary knob base and is used for limiting the rotary table body up and down and guiding the rotary table body in a rotating mode in cooperation with the limiting operation track, and the mounting blind hole is opened upwards and aligned with the gear track; and the gear pin is elastically arranged in the mounting blind hole, and the upper end of the gear pin is abutted to the gear track.

Preferably, in some embodiments of the present invention, the gear track may be provided with four hand feeling discontinuities, wherein the height of the gear track at the middle position is the smallest, and the heights of the gear track are sequentially increased toward the hand feeling discontinuities at both sides. The shift position pin abuts the intermediate position in an initial state, abuts the remaining area corresponding to the shift position track in response to an operation of rotating the dial assembly by a user, and is reset to the initial state in response to cancellation of the rotating operation.

Optionally, in some embodiments of the present invention, the lower portion of the turntable body may further be provided with a sensing device adapted to cooperate with the sensor to provide the rotation signal to the control board.

Preferably, in some embodiments of the present invention, the number of sensors may correspond to the number of hand discontinuities. The arrangement path of the sensor is consistent with the rotation path of the induction device.

Optionally, in some embodiments of the invention, the sensor may comprise a hall sensor and the sensing device comprises a magnet. Alternatively, the sensor may comprise a photosensor and the sensing means may comprise a grating structure.

Optionally, in some embodiments of the present invention, the turntable assembly may further include a knob outer decoration ring and a knob inner decoration ring, and the knob outer decoration ring and the knob inner decoration ring are connected to the upper portion of the turntable body through a snap structure.

Optionally, in some embodiments of the present invention, the knob base may further include a display panel structure. The display plate structure penetrates through the turntable assembly to serve as the top surface of the knob assembly. The inside of display panel structure can be equipped with the pilot lamp for instruct the shelves of going, neutral and the gear of backing a car.

Optionally, in some embodiments of the present invention, the turntable body may be further provided with a locking groove. The electronic shifting device may further include a solenoid valve. The solenoid valve includes a locking pin that aligns with the locking slot. The control board may be further configured to: controlling the solenoid valve to insert the lock pin into the lock groove in response to a lock signal; and controlling the solenoid valve to pull the lock pin out of the lock groove in response to an unlock signal.

Preferably, in some embodiments of the present invention, the valve body of the solenoid valve may be disposed longitudinally below the control plate, and the locking pin is aligned with the locking groove upwardly through the control plate. Alternatively, the valve body of the electromagnetic valve may be transversely disposed at a side of the turntable body, and the lock pin is transversely aligned with the lock groove.

Optionally, in some embodiments of the present invention, the electronic shifting device may further include a housing assembly including an upper housing and a lower housing. The upper shell can be provided with a mounting hole inside for fixedly connecting the knob base. The exterior of the upper housing may be provided with mounting structure for mounting the electronic shifting device to a vehicle. The lower shell is used for installing the control panel, and is detachably connected with the upper shell through a buckling structure so as to enclose the knob assembly, the switch assembly and/or the control panel inside the shell assembly.

Optionally, in some embodiments of the present invention, the control board may include two of the tact switches. The two tact switches are respectively aligned to two ends of the bottom of the switch assembly and used for providing redundant triggering for the switch assembly.

Optionally, in some embodiments of the present invention, the control board may include a control main board and a control sub board. The control subplate communication is connected the control mainboard is located the bottom of switch assembly is equipped with the switch is dabbed to the configuration: and sending a pressing signal to the control mainboard in response to the tact switch being triggered. The control mainboard is larger than the control subplate, is arranged below the control subplate and is provided with the sensor, and is configured as follows: transmitting a parking request signal to a vehicle in response to the pressing signal; and sending a corresponding gear signal to the vehicle according to the rotation signal monitored by the sensor.

Drawings

The above features and advantages of the present disclosure will be better understood upon reading the detailed description of embodiments of the disclosure in conjunction with the following drawings. In the drawings, components are not necessarily drawn to scale, and components having similar associated characteristics or features may have the same or similar reference numerals.

FIG. 1A illustrates an assembly schematic of an electronic shifting device provided in accordance with some embodiments of the present invention.

FIG. 1B illustrates a cross-sectional schematic view of an electronic shifting device provided in accordance with some embodiments of the present invention.

FIG. 1C illustrates a disassembled schematic view of an electronic shifting device provided in accordance with some embodiments of the present invention.

Fig. 2A illustrates a schematic diagram of a switch assembly provided in accordance with some embodiments of the present invention.

FIG. 2B illustrates a cross-sectional schematic view of a knob assembly provided in accordance with some embodiments of the present invention.

Fig. 2C illustrates an installation schematic of a switch assembly provided in accordance with some embodiments of the present invention.

FIG. 3A illustrates a schematic structural diagram of a turntable assembly provided in accordance with some embodiments of the present invention.

FIG. 3B illustrates a disassembled schematic view of a knob assembly provided according to some embodiments of the present invention.

FIG. 3C illustrates an assembly view of a knob assembly provided in accordance with some embodiments of the present invention.

Fig. 4 illustrates a structural schematic diagram of a carousel body provided according to some embodiments of the invention.

FIG. 5 illustrates a schematic diagram of locking a knob assembly with a solenoid valve provided in accordance with some embodiments of the present invention.

FIG. 6 illustrates a schematic diagram of a cross-mounted solenoid valve provided in accordance with some embodiments of the present invention.

Fig. 7A illustrates a mounting schematic of an upper housing provided in accordance with some embodiments of the present invention.

Fig. 7B illustrates a mounting schematic of a lower housing provided in accordance with some embodiments of the present invention.

FIG. 8 illustrates an architectural diagram of a control board provided in accordance with some embodiments of the present invention.

Reference numerals

10 a knob assembly;

11 a turntable assembly;

111 a turntable body;

1111 limiting running track;

1112 gear tracks;

a 1113 sensing device;

1114 locking grooves;

112 knob outer decoration ring;

113 knob inner decorative ring;

12 a knob base;

121, a limiting structure;

122 installing blind holes;

123 display panel structure;

13 shift pins;

20 a switch assembly;

21 a guide groove;

211 guiding the chaste tree twigs;

22 a key cap;

23 a light guide bar;

30 a control panel;

31 tact switch;

32 a sensor;

33 inner small lines;

310 control the main board;

320 control sub-board;

40 electromagnetic valves;

41 a lock pin;

71 an upper housing;

711 screw;

72 lower housing.

Detailed Description

The following description of the embodiments of the present invention is provided for illustrative purposes, and other advantages and effects of the present invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art from the present disclosure. While the invention will be described in connection with the preferred embodiments, there is no intent to limit its features to those embodiments. On the contrary, the invention is described in connection with the embodiments for the purpose of covering alternatives or modifications that may be extended based on the claims of the present invention. In the following description, numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the present invention. The invention may be practiced without these particulars. Moreover, some of the specific details have been left out of the description in order to avoid obscuring or obscuring the focus of the present invention.

In the description of the present invention, it should be noted that unless otherwise explicitly stated or limited, the terms "mounted," "connected," and "connected" are to be construed broadly, e.g., as meaning either a fixed connection, a removable connection, or an integral connection; can be mechanically or electrically connected; they may be connected directly or indirectly through intervening media, or they may be interconnected between two elements. The specific meanings of the above terms in the present invention can be understood in specific cases to those skilled in the art.

Additionally, the terms "upper," "lower," "left," "right," "top," "bottom," "horizontal," "vertical" and the like as used in the following description are to be understood as referring to the segment and the associated drawings in the illustrated orientation. The relative terms are used for convenience of description only and do not imply that the described apparatus should be constructed or operated in a particular orientation and therefore should not be construed as limiting the invention.

It will be understood that, although the terms first, second, third, etc. may be used herein to describe various components, regions, layers and/or sections, these components, regions, layers and/or sections should not be limited by these terms, and these terms are only used to distinguish one component, region, layer and/or section from another component, region, layer and/or section. Thus, a first component, region, layer or section discussed below could be termed a second component, region, layer or section without departing from some embodiments of the present invention.

As mentioned above, the electronic gear shifter used in the present pure electric vehicle mainly faces four problems: the integration level is too poor, the size is long, and the storage space of too many auxiliary instrument desks is occupied; secondly, the operation hand feeling is too poor, the key shakes seriously due to the over short guide groove, and the texture is not good; thirdly, the development continuity is poor, the changeable range is small, and a platform is difficult to form; fourthly, too many scattered parts are inconvenient to assemble, and the assembly efficiency is influenced.

Referring to fig. 1A-1C in combination, fig. 1A illustrates an assembled schematic view of an electronic shifting device provided in accordance with some embodiments of the present invention. FIG. 1B illustrates a cross-sectional schematic view of an electronic shifting apparatus provided in accordance with some embodiments of the present invention. FIG. 1C illustrates a disassembled schematic view of an electronic shifting device provided in accordance with some embodiments of the present invention.

As shown in fig. 1A to 1C, the electronic gearshift device provided by the present invention may include a knob assembly 10, a switch assembly 20, and a control plate 30. The knob assembly 10 has a hollow ring structure along the rotation axis (i.e., vertical direction in the figure), and provides a rotation signal to the bottom control board 30 by rotation. The switch assembly 20 is disposed in a hollow portion of the ring structure, and is adapted to contact a tact switch 31 disposed on the control board 30 through the hollow portion, and to trigger the tact switch 31 by pressing. The control board 30 is provided with a tact switch 31 and a sensor 32. The control board 30 is adapted to send a parking request signal to the vehicle in response to the activation of the tact switch 31, thereby performing a parking function by an associated actuator. The control board 30 is further adapted to convert the rotation signal monitored by the sensor 32 into a corresponding R \ N \ D gear signal (i.e., a reverse gear signal, a neutral gear signal or a driving gear signal), and to transmit the corresponding R \ N \ D gear signal to a related actuator for gear shifting. The parking according to the parking request signal and the gear shifting according to the gear signal are prior art in the field, and are not described herein again.

In some embodiments of the present invention, the switch assembly 20 may include a guide slot 21, a key cap 22, and a light guide bar 23. Referring to fig. 1B, fig. 1C and fig. 2A in combination, fig. 2A is a schematic structural diagram of a switch assembly according to some embodiments of the present invention.

As shown in fig. 1B, 1C and 2A, the guide groove 21 passes through the hollow portion of the knob assembly 10 in the vertical direction. The bottom of the guide groove 21 contacts the tact switch 31, and the top thereof is connected to the button cap 22 by a snap structure. In some embodiments, the key cap 22 may have printed thereon an identification of the letter "P" to indicate to a user that the switch assembly 20 may be used to cut into or out of a parking lot. In some embodiments, the key cap 22 can be connected to the top end of the guiding groove 21 by a snap structure, and the installation height thereof should not be lower than the top surface height of the knob assembly 10, so as to facilitate the pressing operation by the user. In some embodiments, the top surface of the keycap 22 can be flush with the top surface of the knob assembly 10 to prevent the switch assembly 20 from being damaged by lateral forces and to prevent dirt from accumulating in the asperities.

The guide groove 21 is arranged to press the tact switch 31 arranged at the bottom of the knob assembly 10, so that the longitudinal height of the switch assembly 20 can be effectively increased to overcome the defect of serious key shaking in the prior art, and the texture of the electronic gear shifting device is improved. In addition, by separately providing the switch assembly 20 that is triggered by pressing, the parking button character "P" may not rotate when the user rotates the knob assembly 10, which is beneficial for the user to identify the function of the parking button.

In some embodiments, the outer side surface of the guide groove 21 may be uniformly provided with four guide bars 211 extending in the vertical direction, and the guide structure adapted to be fitted to the inner side wall of the hollow portion of the knob assembly 10 enables the switch assembly 20 and the knob assembly 10 to be stably mounted.

Referring to fig. 2A-2C in combination, fig. 2B is a schematic cross-sectional view of a knob assembly according to some embodiments of the present invention. Fig. 2C illustrates an installation schematic of a switch assembly provided in accordance with some embodiments of the present invention.

As shown in fig. 2A to 2C, when assembling the electronic gear shifting device, an assembling person can align the guide strip 211 with the guide structure of the inner side wall of the hollow portion, and push the guide slot 21 into the hollow portion of the knob assembly 10 from bottom to top, so as to achieve a stable installation of the switch assembly 20 and the knob assembly 10. When the user presses the switch assembly 20 during the use of the electronic gearshift device, the switch assembly 20 can stably move downward to press the tact switch 31 under the guiding action of the guide gibbs 211 and the guide structure, thereby performing the guiding action and further preventing the switch assembly 20 from shaking.

As shown in fig. 1B, 1C and 2A, in some embodiments, the guide groove 21 may be provided with a light guide groove extending in the direction of the rotation axis (i.e., vertical direction). The key cap 22 may be provided with a light-transmitting opening. The switch assembly 20 may also include a light guide bar 23. The light guide bar 23 may pass through the light guide groove in a vertical direction, one end of which is aligned with the parking position indicator lamp provided to the control board 30, and the other end of which is aligned with the light transmission opening of the key cap 22. The light guide bar 23 is adapted to guide light emitted from the parking position indicator lamp to the light-transmitting opening to indicate whether the vehicle is currently in the parking position.

By adopting the scheme of integrating the guide groove 21 and the light guide strip 23 into a whole, the indicating lamp light scattering structure and the knob base 12 can be integrated, the number of parts is greatly reduced, and the assembly efficiency of the electronic gear shifting device is improved.

In some preferred embodiments, the bottom end of the guide groove 21 may be provided with a pressing bump for contacting the tact switch 31 in a pre-pressing manner. By providing the bottom end of the guide groove 21 as a structure of pressing the convex point, the form of "surface-to-surface contact" of the conventional pressing structure can be changed into the form of "point-to-surface contact", thereby improving the stability of pressing to improve the reliability of the switch assembly 20. By adopting the pre-pressing mode, the gap inside the tact switch 31 can be compressed and kept in a state of always bearing force, so that the shaking sense of the switch assembly 20 is further eliminated to improve the switch pressing quality.

In some embodiments of the present invention, the knob assembly 10 may include a dial assembly 11, a knob base 12, and a shift position pin 13. The turntable body 111 and the knob base 12 of the turntable assembly 11 are in clearance fit on the circumference to ensure that the turntable body 111 can normally rotate. The fit clearance may be 0.05mm to 0.1 mm.

Referring to fig. 3A to 3C in combination, fig. 3A is a schematic structural diagram of a turntable assembly according to some embodiments of the present invention. FIG. 3B illustrates a disassembled schematic view of a knob assembly provided in accordance with some embodiments of the present invention. FIG. 3C illustrates an assembly schematic view of a knob assembly provided in accordance with some embodiments of the invention.

As shown in fig. 3A, in some embodiments, the dial assembly 11 may include a dial body 111, a knob outer bezel 112, and a knob inner bezel 113. The knob outer decoration ring 112 and the knob inner decoration ring 113 may be mounted together and connected to the upper portion of the dial body 111 by a snap structure. By arranging the knob outer decoration ring 112 and the knob inner decoration ring 113, a designer can select and modify the shapes and color definitions of the inner decoration ring and the outer decoration ring according to the requirements of actual vehicle type projects without developing a knob assembly part and controlling a main board part, thereby reducing the development workload and the development period of engineers. In some embodiments, the knob outer bezel 112 may be provided with a rough structure that promotes friction to facilitate rotation of the dial assembly 11 by a user.

In the above embodiment, the middle portion of the turntable body 111 may be provided with a limiting track 1111 for cooperating with the limiting structure 121 of the knob base 12 to limit the vertical displacement and guide the rotation of the turntable body 111. The lower portion of the turntable body 111 may be provided with a gear track 1112. The gear track 1112 may be configured with a plurality of tactile discontinuities of varying heights for providing different tactile sensations when the user rotates the dial assembly 11 to different gears to indicate to the user that the gear shift is complete.

As shown in fig. 3B and 3C, in the above embodiment, the knob base 12 may include a limiting structure 121 and a blind mounting hole 122. Specifically, the limiting structures 121 may be four limiting claws uniformly distributed on the upper edge of the knob base 12. The blind mounting hole 122 is formed in the lower portion of the knob base 12, and the bottom surface thereof is closed and opened upward. The opening of the blind mounting hole 122 is aligned with the gear track 1112 of the turntable body 111.

When assembling the electronic gearshift device, an assembler can first place the spring in the blind mounting hole 122 and then place the shift position pin 13 above the spring so that the shift position pin 13 is elastically mounted in the blind mounting hole 122. Under the action of the elastic force, the upper end of the shift position pin 13 abuts against the hand feeling discontinuity at the bottom of the shift position track 1112. As the user rotates the dial assembly 11, the shift pins 13 may respectively abut different heights of the tactile discontinuities to produce different tactile sensations. In some embodiments, the shift position pin 13 may be a hollow structure with an open lower portion, and a spring may further extend into the hollow structure to improve the stability of the shift position pin 13. Thereafter, the assembler can press the dial body 111 into the knob base 12 from the top down. At this time, the four limit claws 121 will catch the narrow top surface of the limit track 1111 to limit the up-and-down movement of the turntable body 111.

Referring further to fig. 4, fig. 4 is a schematic structural diagram of a turntable body according to some embodiments of the present invention.

As shown in fig. 4, in some embodiments, the electronic shifting device may be a five-speed knob shifter. Correspondingly, the gear track 1112 may have four hand feeling transition points, which correspond to five switching points of the gear states of r (reverse), N (neutral), neutral, N, and d (drive). The height of the middle position corresponding to the middle neutral gear is minimum, and the heights of the hand feeling catastrophe points among the rest gears are increased in sequence.

In the initial state, the shift position pin 13 may abut against the intermediate position where the height is smallest. At this time, the electronic shifting apparatus does not output any shift position information. The spring is in a slightly compressed state. Thereafter, in response to the user's operation of rotating the dial assembly 11 to the right, the dial body 111 will rotate about the vertical direction under the guiding action of the limiting structure 121.

After the carousel body 111 was twisted first feeling abrupt change point, gear round pin 13 will butt the region of the first gear in right side. At this time, the electronic gearshift device outputs a shift signal of N-range to the vehicle, and switches the shift position of the vehicle to N-range. The spring is compressed to a state of moderate compression. Thereafter, in response to the user continuing to operate the right rotary dial assembly 11, the dial body 111 will continue to rotate about the vertical direction under the guiding action of the limiting structure 121.

After the carousel body 111 is twisted the second sudden change of feeling point, gear pin 13 will butt the region of the second gear on the right side. At this time, the electronic shift device outputs a D-range shift signal to the vehicle, and switches the range of the vehicle to the D-range. The spring is further compressed to a heavily compressed state.

Thereafter, in response to the user releasing the dial assembly 11, the shift position pin 13 will automatically return to the initial state, abutting the intermediate position of minimum height, under the spring force of the spring, through the engagement of the shift position pin 13 and the shift position track 1112.

Similarly, the user can rotate the dial assembly 11 to the left to shift the gear of the vehicle to the R gear. In response to the user releasing the dial assembly 11, the shift position pin 13 will also be automatically reset to the initial state, abutting the intermediate position with the minimum height, by the engagement of the shift position pin 13 and the shift position track 1112 under the spring force of the spring.

In some embodiments, the knob base 12 may further include a display panel structure 123 having an indicator light disposed therein for indicating whether the vehicle is currently in a drive (D), neutral (N), or reverse (R) range. When assembling the electronic gearshift device, an assembling person can pass the display board structure 123 through the turntable assembly 11 from bottom to top, so that the display board structure 123 is used as the top surface of the knob assembly 10 and is flush with the top surface of the light opening assembly 20.

Compared with the prior art that the display panel structure 123 is arranged on the shell in front of the knob, the gear indicator lamp is integrated in the knob base 12. Therefore, the R \ N \ D shift indicator lamp does not need to additionally occupy the storage space of the auxiliary instrument desk, and the effect of reducing the size of the electronic gear shifting device to save the storage space of the auxiliary instrument desk can be achieved.

As shown in fig. 4, in some embodiments, the lower portion of the turntable body 111 may be further provided with a sensing device 1113. The sensing device 1113 may be disposed at the top end of the tactile discontinuities of the two gear tracks 1112, and is adapted to cooperate with the sensor 32 disposed on the control board 30 to provide the control board 30 with a rotation signal for the user to rotate the knob assembly 10. In some embodiments, the sensing device 1113 and the sensor 32 may be in clearance fit to facilitate smooth rotation of the turntable body 111.

In some embodiments, the sensing device 1113 may be a magnet. Correspondingly, the sensor 32 may be a plurality of hall sensors. The number of hall sensors 32 may correspond to the number of tactile discontinuities. For example: compared with the embodiment of the five-gear knob shifter, the control panel 30 can be provided with five hall sensors 32 which are respectively corresponding to five hand feeling mutation points; or ten hall sensors 32 are provided for respectively corresponding to the start and end points of the five shift speed steps. The plurality of hall sensors 32 can be evenly distributed across the rotational path of the magnet 1113 and send a sensor signal to the control board 30 in response to the magnet passing the sensor 32. The control board 30 can determine the current position of the magnet 1113 according to the position of the hall sensor 32 sending the sensor signal, so as to convert the electromagnetic signal indicating the rotation angle into the corresponding R \ N \ D gear signal.

Alternatively, in other embodiments, the sensing device 1113 may also adopt a grating structure. The spectral characteristics of the light emitted from each position of the grating are different. Correspondingly, the sensor 32 may alternatively be an opto-electronic sensor. The photosensor 32 may be disposed in the rotational path of the grating structure 1113 and sends a sensor signal to the control board 30 based on the spectral characteristics of the light emitted by the grating structure. The control board 30 can determine the current position of the grating structure 1113 according to the photoelectric characteristics of the sensor signal, so as to convert the optical signal indicating the rotation angle into a corresponding R \ N \ D gear signal.

In some embodiments of the present invention, the electronic shifting device may further include a solenoid valve 40. The solenoid valve 40 is communicatively connected to the control board 30 and adapted to lock or unlock the knob assembly 10 under the control of the control board 30, so as to achieve the anti-mis-touch unlocking and anti-theft unlocking of the electronic gear shifting device.

Referring to fig. 5, fig. 5 illustrates a schematic diagram of locking a knob assembly with a solenoid valve according to some embodiments of the present invention.

As shown in fig. 5, the solenoid valve 40 includes a lock pin 41. The lock pin 41 has a distal end aligned with a lock groove 1114 provided in the dial body 111 and adapted to be extended and retracted by the solenoid valve 40. Specifically, solenoid valve 40 may be communicatively coupled to control board 30. In response to a lock signal provided from the vehicle, the control board 30 may control the solenoid valve 40 to extend the lock pin 41, and insert the lock pin 41 into the lock groove 1114 to lock the knob assembly 10. Conversely, in response to an unlock signal provided by the vehicle, the control board 30 may control the solenoid valve 40 to shorten the lock pin 41, pulling the lock pin 41 out of the lock groove 1114 to unlock the knob assembly 10.

As shown in fig. 1C, in some embodiments, the valve body of the solenoid valve 40 may be disposed longitudinally below the control plate 30. Locking pin 41 is aligned with locking groove 1114 up through the through hole of control plate 30. When the driving speed of the Vehicle is monitored to be greater than 5km/h, a Vehicle Control Unit (VCU) may send a lock signal to the Control board 30. In response to the locking signal, the control board 30 may control the solenoid valve 40 to extend the lock pin 41 upward, and insert the lock pin 41 into the locking groove 1114 at the bottom of the dial body 111, thereby locking the knob assembly 10 in the D-range. On the contrary, when it is monitored that the driving speed of the vehicle is less than 5km/h, the Vehicle Control Unit (VCU) may transmit an unlock signal to the control panel 30. In response to the unlock signal, the control panel 30 may control the solenoid valve 40 to retract the lock pin 41 downward, pull the lock pin 41 out of the lock groove 1114, and unlock the knob assembly 10 to allow the driver to shift the gear to N, R, or P.

It will be understood by those skilled in the art that the above-described longitudinally-mounted solenoid valve 40 is only one specific example provided by the present invention, and is intended to reduce the lateral dimension of the electronic gearshift device to provide a storage space for the sub-console, and is not intended to limit the scope of the present invention. Alternatively, in other embodiments, the solenoid valve 40 may be installed laterally on the side of the rotary disk body 111 to achieve the same effect of locking the knob assembly 10.

Referring to fig. 6, fig. 6 illustrates a schematic diagram of a cross-mounted solenoid valve provided in accordance with some embodiments of the present invention.

As shown in fig. 6, in some embodiments, the valve body of the solenoid valve 40 may be disposed laterally to the side of the control plate 30. Locking pin 41 is laterally aligned with locking groove 1114. When the vehicle is monitored to be powered OFF to the OFF gear, a Vehicle Control Unit (VCU) may send a lock-up signal to the control board 30. In response to the locking signal, the control board 30 may control the solenoid valve 40 to extend the lock pin 41 to the right, and insert the lock pin 41 into the locking groove 1114 of the sidewall of the dial body 111, thereby locking the knob assembly 10 in the neutral position. Conversely, when it is detected that the entire vehicle is powered up to the START gear, the Vehicle Control Unit (VCU) may send an unlock signal to the control board 30. In response to the unlock signal, control board 30 may control solenoid valve 40 to retract lock pin 41 to the left, withdraw lock pin 41 out of lock groove 1114, and unlock knob assembly 10 to allow the driver to shift the gear to D-range or R-range.

In some embodiments of the present invention, the electronic shifting device may further include a housing assembly. The housing assembly may include an upper housing 71 and a lower housing 72 for protecting the knob assembly 10, the switch assembly 20, the control board 30 and the solenoid valve 40 from external interference.

Referring to fig. 7A and 7B in combination, fig. 7A is a schematic view illustrating an installation of an upper housing according to some embodiments of the present invention. Fig. 7B illustrates a mounting schematic of a lower housing provided in accordance with some embodiments of the present invention.

As shown in FIG. 7A, in some embodiments, the interior of the upper housing 71 may be provided with three screw mounting holes, corresponding to three screw mounting points on the knob base 12. After assembling the switch assembly 20 to the knob assembly 10, the assembler can pull the upper housing 71 over the knob assembly 10 from the top down, leaving only the top key cap 22 and display panel structure 123 for user interaction. Thereafter, an assembly worker may fix the three screw mounting points on the knob base 12 to the inside of the upper case 71 from below to above using the screws 711, and may be provided with three screw mounting holes.

As shown in fig. 7B, in some embodiments, the lower housing 72 may be provided with a solenoid fixing groove and a connector avoiding hole for mounting the control board 30 and the solenoid 40. In some embodiments, the lower housing 72 may be detachably connected to the upper housing 71 by a snap structure, so that the knob assembly 10, the switch assembly 20, the control board 30 and the solenoid valve 40 are enclosed inside the housing assembly to achieve the effect of preventing external interference.

In some embodiments, as shown in fig. 7A, the exterior of the upper housing 71 may also be provided with four screw mounting points. After the assembly of the housing assembly is completed, the assembler can fix the four screw mounting points outside the upper housing 71 onto the interior trim panel of the vehicle by using screws to realize the mounting of the electronic gearshift device on the whole vehicle.

In some embodiments of the present invention, the control board 30 may further include a control main board 310 and a control sub board 320. The control main board 310 is disposed below the control sub-board 320 and has a lateral dimension larger than that of the control sub-board 320.

Referring to fig. 8, fig. 8 illustrates an architectural diagram of a control board provided in accordance with some embodiments of the present invention.

As shown in fig. 8, in the above embodiment, the control sub-board 320 may be communicatively connected to the control main board 310 through the internal small wires 33, and is disposed at the bottom of the switch assembly 20. In some embodiments, two tact switches 31 may be disposed on the control sub-board 320, and are aligned with two ends of the bottom of the switch assembly 20. In response to a user depressing the switch assembly 20, the tact switch 31 will be triggered to generate a tact switch signal. In response to the tact switch signal, the control sub board 320 may determine that the tact switch 31 is pressed, thereby transmitting a pressing signal to the control main board 310.

The control main board 310 is disposed below the control sub-board 320 and has a lateral dimension larger than that of the control sub-board 320. The edge of the control main board 310 beyond the control sub-board 320 may be provided with a sensor 32 for monitoring a rotation signal of the turntable body 111. In response to the pressing signal provided by the control sub-board 320, the control main board 310 may transmit a parking request signal to an associated controller or actuator of the vehicle to implement a parking function. In response to the rotation signal monitored by the sensor 32, the control main board 310 may send a corresponding gear signal to the vehicle according to the rotation signal, so as to implement a gear shifting function of the vehicle.

By arranging the control main board 310 and the control auxiliary board 320 which are arranged up and down, the transverse size of the electronic gear shifting device can be further reduced, so that the storage space of the auxiliary instrument desk is further saved.

Although the control board 30, the control main board 310 and the control sub-board 320 described in the above embodiments may be implemented by a combination of software and hardware. It is understood that the control board 30, the control main board 310 and the control sub-board 320 may be implemented in software or hardware alone. For a hardware implementation, control board 30, control motherboard 310, and control subplate 320 may be implemented on one or more Application Specific Integrated Circuits (ASICs), Digital Signal Processors (DSPs), digital signal processing devices (DAPDs), Programmable Logic Devices (PLDs), Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs), processors, controllers, micro-controllers, microprocessors, other electronic devices for performing the functions described above, or a selected combination thereof. For software implementation, the control board 30, the control motherboard 310, and the control subplate 320 may be implemented by separate software modules such as program modules (programs) and function modules (functions) running on a common chip, where each module may perform one or more of the functions and operations described herein.

The previous description of the disclosure is provided to enable any person skilled in the art to make or use the disclosure. Various modifications to the disclosure will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art, and the generic principles defined herein may be applied to other variations without departing from the spirit or scope of the disclosure. Thus, the disclosure is not intended to be limited to the examples and designs described herein but is to be accorded the widest scope consistent with the principles and novel features disclosed herein.

Claims

1. An electronic shifting device, comprising:

the knob assembly is of a hollow annular structure along the direction of the rotating shaft and provides a rotating signal for the control panel at the bottom in a rotating mode;

the switch assembly is arranged in the hollow part of the annular structure, penetrates through the hollow part to contact the tact switch arranged on the control panel, and is suitable for triggering the tact switch in a pressing mode; and

the control panel is provided with a sensor and the tact switch, and is configured as follows:

sending a parking request signal to a vehicle in response to the activation of the tact switch; and

and sending a corresponding gear signal to the vehicle according to the rotation signal monitored by the sensor.

2. The electronic shifting apparatus of claim 1, wherein the switch assembly comprises:

the guide groove penetrates through the hollow part to contact the light touch switch, wherein a guide strip is arranged on the side surface of the guide groove and is suitable for being matched with a guide structure arranged on the inner side wall of the hollow part to realize the stable installation of the switch assembly and the knob assembly; and

and the key cap is in buckle connection with the top end of the guide groove, and the mounting height is not lower than the top surface of the knob assembly.

3. The electronic shifting apparatus of claim 2, wherein the control panel further comprises a parking position indicator lamp, the guide groove is provided with a light guide groove extending in the direction of the rotation axis, the key cap is provided with a light transmitting opening, and the switch assembly further comprises:

the light guide strip is arranged in the light guide groove, one end of the light guide strip is aligned to the parking stop indicating lamp, the other end of the light guide strip is aligned to the light transmission opening, and the light guide strip is suitable for guiding light rays emitted by the parking stop indicating lamp to the light transmission opening.

4. The electronic shifting apparatus of claim 2, wherein a bottom end of the guide groove is provided with a pressing protrusion, and the guide groove contacts the tact switch in a pre-pressing manner through the pressing protrusion.

5. The electronic shifting apparatus of claim 1, wherein the knob assembly comprises:

the turntable assembly comprises a turntable body, wherein a limiting running track is arranged in the middle of the turntable body, and a gear track is arranged on the lower portion of the turntable body, wherein the gear track is provided with a plurality of hand feeling mutation points with different heights;

the rotary knob base comprises a limiting structure and a mounting blind hole, wherein the limiting structure is arranged on the upper edge of the rotary knob base and is used for matching with the limiting running track to limit the rotary table body up and down and guide the rotary table body in a rotating manner, and the mounting blind hole is opened upwards and is aligned with the gear track; and

and the gear pin is elastically arranged in the mounting blind hole, and the upper end of the gear pin is abutted to the gear track.

6. The electronic gear shifting device of claim 5, wherein the gear track has four tactile discontinuities, wherein the gear track has a minimum height at a center position, wherein the gear track has a height that increases in order toward the tactile discontinuities at both sides,

the shift position pin abuts the intermediate position in an initial state, abuts the remaining area corresponding to the shift position track in response to an operation of rotating the dial assembly by a user, and is reset to the initial state in response to cancellation of the rotating operation.

7. The electronic shifting apparatus of claim 5, wherein the lower portion of the dial body is further provided with a sensing device adapted to cooperate with the sensor to provide the rotational signal to the control plate.

8. The electronic shifting device of claim 7, wherein the number of sensors corresponds to the number of feel discontinuities, the sensors being arranged in a path that coincides with a rotational path of the sensing device.

9. The electronic shifting device of claim 7, wherein the sensor comprises a hall sensor, the sensing device comprises a magnet, or

The sensor comprises a photoelectric sensor, and the sensing device comprises a grating structure.

10. The electronic shifting apparatus of claim 5, wherein the dial assembly further comprises a knob outer decoration ring and a knob inner decoration ring, the knob outer decoration ring and the knob inner decoration ring are connected to an upper portion of the dial body by a snap structure.

11. The electronic shifting apparatus of claim 5, wherein the knob base further comprises a display plate structure passing through the dial assembly as a top surface of the knob assembly, the display plate structure having an indicator light disposed therein for indicating a drive position, a neutral position and a reverse position.

12. The electronic shifting apparatus of claim 5, wherein the dial body further defines a detent groove, the electronic shifting apparatus further comprising a solenoid valve including a locking pin aligned with the detent groove, the control plate further configured to:

controlling the solenoid valve to insert the lock pin into the lock groove in response to a lock signal; and

and controlling the solenoid valve to pull the lock pin out of the lock groove in response to an unlocking signal.

13. The electronic shifting apparatus of claim 12, wherein the valve body of the solenoid valve is disposed longitudinally below the control plate, and the locking pin is aligned with the locking groove upwardly through the control plate, or

The valve body of the electromagnetic valve is transversely arranged on the side of the turntable body, and the lock pin is transversely aligned with the locking groove.

14. The electronic shifting apparatus of claim 5, further comprising a housing assembly comprising an upper housing and a lower housing, wherein,

the upper shell is internally provided with a mounting hole for fixedly connecting the knob base, the outer part of the upper shell is provided with a mounting structure for mounting the electronic gear shifting device to a vehicle,

the lower shell is used for installing the control panel, and is detachably connected with the upper shell through a buckling structure so as to enclose the knob assembly, the switch assembly and/or the control panel inside the shell assembly.

15. The electronic shifting apparatus of claim 1, wherein the control plate comprises two of the tact switches, the two tact switches being aligned with respective ends of a bottom portion of the switch assembly for providing redundant actuation of the switch assembly.

16. The electronic shifting apparatus of claim 1, wherein the control panel comprises a control main panel and a control sub-panel, wherein,

the control subplate communication is connected the control mainboard is located the bottom of switch assembly is equipped with the switch is dabbed to the configuration:

sending a press signal to the control motherboard in response to the tact switch being triggered,

the control mainboard is greater than the control subplate, locates the below of control subplate and be equipped with the sensor, the configuration is:

transmitting a parking request signal to a vehicle in response to the pressing signal; and