JPH08239048A - Method and device of surface temperature control for vehicle steering wheel - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To change the surface temperature of a vehicle steering wheel to appropriate temperature promptly by forming a passage for air flow inside the steering wheel, and sending a part of warm air flow or cold air flow generated from a vehicle air conditioner to the passage for control of steering wheel surface temperature. CONSTITUTION: After starting an air conditioner 1, a driver turns on a main switch by hand, or with a sub switch operated, he starts the air conditioner 1, by which a valve is released. A warm air or cold air flows into an in-flow pipeline from a supply pipeline 10, enters a main passage 73 and a sub passage 74 through an in-flow passage 71 in the steering wheel, and discharged to the outside from a discharge passage 72 through a discharge pipeline. The air flow, while passing through the passage 7, corrects its surface temperature to proper one from the inside of the steering wheel. When the preset time of a timer has been up, the valve closes to prevent temperature from rising higher than it requires.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a vehicle handle surface temperature which contributes to comfortable driving operation by returning the surface temperature of a vehicle handle cooled or warmed by an external environment to an appropriate temperature in a short time. Control method and apparatus therefor.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A vehicle handle is usually provided with a central boss A which is inserted into a steering shaft as shown in FIG.
And a peripheral rim B and a spider C for connecting the boss A and the rim B, and a metal wire D such as a copper wire is embedded inside the rim B and the spider C and integrally molded with resin. Has been done.

[0003]

For this reason, in the conventional steering wheel, for example, when the vehicle is left in the cold air overnight in winter, the surfaces of the rim B and the spider C are cooled at the start of driving in the morning. It becomes difficult to operate the car immediately with a biting hand. Also, in the case of a vehicle parked under the scorching sun in the summer, the steering wheel is heated backwards,
Especially when it is directly exposed to sunlight, the heat becomes untouchable. Moreover, since the metal wire D having a large heat capacity is embedded inside the rim B and the spider C as a reinforcing core, the surface temperature that rises or falls extremely is maintained for a long time.

The object of the present invention is to quickly change the surface temperature of a handle that has become hot or cold due to the external environment to an appropriate temperature, and to ensure a safe and reliable steering operation in the summer and winter, the surface temperature of the handle for a vehicle. It is to provide a control device.

[0005]

In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, the method of the present invention provides a part of a warm air flow or a cold air flow generated from a vehicle air conditioner by providing an air flow passage inside a vehicle handle. Is characterized in that the temperature of the handle surface is controlled by feeding the above into the passage.

Further, the device of the present invention is characterized in that it has the following configuration in order to achieve the above object. That is, an airflow passage formed inside the vehicle handle, a conduit for guiding a warm airflow or a cold airflow generated from the vehicle air conditioner to the inlet of the airflow passage, and an airflow passing through the airflow passage are discharged. An exhaust port and a control unit for controlling the inflow and stop of the warm air flow or the cold air flow into the air flow passage are provided.

For example, the airflow passage may be composed of an inflow passage extending from the boss of the vehicle handle to the rim via the spider, a main passage passing through the rim, and an exhaust passage extending from the rim to the boss via the spider. Moreover, the airflow passage may be formed along the reinforcing metal core material embedded in the vehicle handle. Further, the control unit enables the inflow of airflow from the vehicle air conditioner when the lock of the vehicle door is unlocked with the key. Further, a heater may be embedded in at least a part of the rim of the vehicle handle, and ON / OFF of the heater and the temperature may be controlled by the controller to keep the surface temperature of the vehicle handle constant.

[0008]

In this control method and apparatus, when the air conditioner for a vehicle starts to operate, a part of the airflow thereof flows into the inside of the steering wheel to lower the surface temperature of the steering wheel from the inside.
Or raise. At the same time, the surface temperature of the handle is
It is lowered or raised from the outside by cold or warm air supplied into the vehicle by the air conditioner. Due to the synergistic effect, the handle is rapidly corrected to the proper temperature and held by the control.

Further, when the air flow passage inside the handle is provided along the periphery of the reinforcing core member, the air flow directly contacts the portion having a large heat capacity to more rapidly correct the handle surface temperature. Further, in the invention in which the heater is provided in the handle, the heater keeps the handle warm from the inside.

[0010]

The present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the illustrated embodiments. FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of an apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. In the figure, reference numeral 1 is a vehicle air conditioner, 2 is a control unit, and 3 is a steering handle.

The handle 3 has a passage 7 through which an air flow passes, as shown in FIG. 2 in which the handle 3 is partially cut away.
This passage 7 has two inlets and two outlets in the spider portion 41 at the 12 o'clock position in the straight traveling state among the three spider portions 4.
There are two passages 71 and 72, and the rim portion 5 has a main passage 73 that extends around the entire circumference. The spider parts 42 and 43 at the remaining four o'clock and eight o'clock positions are provided with a sub passage 74 branched from the main passage. The inflow passage 71 and the exhaust passage 72 are respectively connected to the inflow pipe or the exhaust pipe via the boss 6. Both conduits are housed in a contact ring housing, for example. In FIG. 1, the inflow passage and the discharge passage are formed in different spider portions to show the flow of air flow. Further, these passages 7 are provided in the spider portion 4 and the rim portion 5.
Formed along the reinforcing copper wire 8 embedded in and
The airflow passing through except the inflow passage 71 and the exhaust passage 72 comes into contact with the copper wire 8. When the passage is in contact with the copper wire 8, the passage 7 is not provided so as to surround the periphery of the copper wire 8 but is provided at a position parallel to the copper wire 8 as shown in FIG. The effect is not reduced as much as possible.

The vehicle air conditioner 1 is of a general type that serves both as a heater and a cooler. The other end of the connection pipe 9 having one end communicating with the inflow pipe is connected to the middle of the pipe 10 for supplying the airflow from the air conditioner 1 to the air outlet in the vehicle.

The control unit 3 comprises an on-off valve mechanism mounted near the above-mentioned connection end of the inflow pipe 71, a switch mechanism for operating this on-off valve, and a timer circuit (all not shown). . The switch mechanism is provided on the front panel of the vehicle or the like, but may have a sub switch that is turned on when the door is locked with a key, in addition to the main switch. The on-off valve opens by turning on the main switch or the sub switch to introduce a part of the air flow from the vehicle air conditioner 1 into the inflow conduit. The opening operation of the valve continues for the time set by the timer circuit,
Closes automatically.

Therefore, in this device, the driver manually starts the air conditioner 1 and then manually turns on the main switch, or starts the air conditioner 1 when the sub switch is already in operation. This releases the valve. As a result, warm air or cold air is supplied to the supply line 10
To the inside of the handle, through the inflow passage 71 inside the handle, passing through the main passage 73 and the sub passage 74, and discharged from the discharge passage 72 to the outside via the discharge pipe. While passing through this passage 7, the airflow corrects the surface temperature of the handle from the inside to correct it. When the set time of the timer has elapsed, the valve is closed to prevent excessive temperature rise.

In some cases, instead of timer control,
A temperature sensor may be provided at an appropriate position inside the handle so that the valve is closed when the temperature of the handle reaches a set appropriate temperature.

FIG. 4 shows a main part of an apparatus according to another embodiment of the present invention, in which the temperature of the steering wheel is controlled in winter. A heater 17 is embedded in the rim portion 15 of the handle, and both terminals 17a,
17b passes through the housing from the spider 14 at 8 o'clock position through the boss 16 and is connected to the control section. In addition,
Reference numeral 19 in the figure is a thermistor for detecting the temperature of the handle. In the figure, the reinforcing line is omitted.

In the present embodiment, the heater 17 is energized by the operation of the control section, and the heat generation effect heats the surface of the handle. The energization of the heater is controlled by a signal from the temperature sensor 19 so that the temperature does not rise excessively.

[0018]

As described above, according to the present invention, the airflow generated from the vehicle air conditioner is made to flow through the passage provided in the steering wheel, so that the surface of the steering wheel which has become cold or hot can be obtained. The temperature can be quickly adjusted to an appropriate temperature from the inside of the steering wheel and the outside of the steering wheel, and comfortable steering operation can be performed even in winter or summer.

Further, according to the invention in which the heater is embedded in the handle, the heat of the heater directly or indirectly warms the inside of the handle, and the cooling of the handle in winter can be eliminated in a short time.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic explanatory view of an apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a plan view in which a handle is partially broken.

FIG. 3 is a sectional view of a handle rim portion.

FIG. 4 is a partially cutaway plan view of a handle of an apparatus according to another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a side view showing a conventional handle with a part thereof cut away.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 ... Vehicle air conditioner 2 ... Control unit 3 ... Handle 4,4 ... Spider 5,5 ... Rim 6,6 ... Boss 7 ... Airflow passage 8 ... Copper wire 17 ... Heater

Claims (6)

[Claims] 1. An airflow passage is provided inside a vehicle handle,
A method for controlling the surface temperature of a vehicle handle, in which a part of warm air flow or cold air flow generated from a vehicle air conditioner is sent to the passage to control the surface temperature of the handle. 2. An airflow passage formed inside a vehicle handle, a conduit for guiding a warm airflow or a cold airflow generated from a vehicle air conditioner to an inlet of the airflow passage, and an airflow passing through the airflow passage. A control device for controlling the surface temperature of a vehicle handle, comprising: a discharge port for discharging the airflow; and a control unit for controlling the inflow and stop of a warm airflow or a cold airflow into the airflow passage. 3. The airflow passage comprises an inflow passage extending from a boss of a vehicle handle to a rim via a spider, a main passage passing through the rim, and a discharge passage extending from the rim to a boss via a spider. The surface temperature control device for a vehicle handle according to claim 2, wherein 4. The surface of the vehicle handle according to claim 2, wherein the airflow passage is formed along a reinforcing metal core material embedded in the vehicle handle. Temperature control device. 5. The control unit allows an air flow from the vehicle air conditioner to flow in when the lock of the vehicle door is unlocked with a key. The control device for the surface temperature of the vehicle handle as described in. 6. A vehicle, wherein a heater is embedded in at least a part of a rim of a vehicle handle, and ON / OFF of the heater and a temperature are controlled by a controller to keep a surface temperature of the vehicle handle constant. Control device for handle surface temperature.