KR20030016840A - a knob of shift lever for vehicles - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: A shift lever knob is provided to prevent the leakage of fluid and to smoothly control the size of the knob by using a bimetal structure. CONSTITUTION: A shift lever knob of a vehicle comprises a fixing portion to be fixed in the end of a lever portion in a shift lever and a varying portion to be held by forming on the fixing portion. The varying portion comprises many divided plates. An expansion portion is formed between the plates. The expansion portion is formed by arranging plural bimetals(45) inside rubbers(41). The bimetals are expanded by supplying heat from a heat supply device. The heat supply device comprises a control button(61), a generator(62), a control unit(63), a heat supply unit(64), a heat maintaining unit(65) and a step heat sensor(66). The control button is controlled by a driver. The generator generates heat by the control button. The heat supply unit supplies heat to the bimetals. The heat maintaining unit supplies uniform heat to the bimetals after stopping the heat supply from the heat supply unit. The control unit controls current from the generator to the heat supply unit and the heat maintaining unit. The step heat sensor gets a necessary bimetal expansion range by controlling the supplied heat amount from the heat maintaining unit to the bimetals. Thereby, the size of a knob is electrically controlled by the bimetals without using fluid. Therefore, the pollution of the knob by the leakage of the fluid is prevented and the convenience and the operating feeling are improved.

Description

A shift lever knob for a vehicle

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a shift lever knob of a vehicle, and more particularly, to a shift lever knob of a vehicle in which a size is changed according to the size of a user's hand so that shifting operation can be performed more conveniently.

In general, a shift lever in a vehicle refers to a gear change lever mounted on a transmission, and includes a direct operation mounted directly on the top of the transmission and a remote operation mounted on the side of the steering column. The knob is equipped with a knob so that the driver does not have any inconvenience in carrying out the shift operation by hand.

The knob is designed to look good and convenient to operate because it has a significant influence on the aesthetics of the car, but the knob of the shift lever used in a passenger car is generally rounded so that the upper part can support the palm stably. It is generally flat and has a shape that protrudes longer than the front.

Therefore, some designs are somewhat different in design, but as described above, they are usually designed to look good and to have an excellent feeling of operation.

However, since the conventional shift lever knob is fixed in size (although there is a difference in size depending on the type of product), each driver cannot use a knob that is exactly the size of his or her hand.

In other words, the size of the knobs are unchanged despite the differences in the size of each driver's hand, so even if the knob does not fit the user's hand, he has no choice but to use the inconvenience.

Accordingly, a shift lever knob has been developed that allows its size to be changed while expanding and contracting by the driver's operation.

1 to 3 are views illustrating the configuration and operation of a conventional shift lever knob having a variable size as described above. As shown in the drawing, the shift lever knob is a fixed part fixedly installed at an end of a lever part of a shift lever. 1) and the variable part 2 formed in the upper part of this fixing part 1, and which the driver can take off by hand.

The variable portion 2 is formed of a plurality of plates 3 are connected to each other through the corrugation portion, the corrugation portion as shown in Figure 2, the thin magnetic plate 4 and the steel plate 5 is repeatedly zigzag The magnetic plate 4 and the steel plate 5 are connected in a state that can be rotated with each other via the pin (6).

On the other hand, the interior of the variable portion 2 is empty, as shown in Figure 3, the hydraulic bag (7) is built therein, the hydraulic bag (7) is inside the lever portion (not shown) of the shift lever It is connected to the fluid pump 9 through a pipe 8 installed in the fluid pump 9, which is connected to the generator 10, the reservoir 11, and the operation button 12, and operates from the generator 10. Electric power is supplied, hydraulic oil is supplied from the reservoir 11, and operation is turned on / off by the operation button 12.

Therefore, when the driver turns on the operation button 12, the power of the generator 10 is supplied to the fluid pump 9 and the fluid pump 9 starts to operate, and the reservoir 11 is operated by the operation of the fluid pump 9. The hydraulic oil of) is supplied to the hydraulic bag (7) through the pipe (8) to inflate the hydraulic bag (7).

When the hydraulic pouch 7 swells, each plate 3 of the variable part 2 is pushed outward. At this time, the magnetic plate 4 of the corrugated part and the steel plate 5 are broken by the magnetic force of the corrugated part. Since the distance between the plates 3 becomes far, the expansion of the variable part 2 is made, and as a result, the size of the knob held by the driver's hand is increased.

However, the conventional variable-size shift lever knob as described above uses a fluid, and a corrugated hinge is formed between the plate and the plate, which causes the fluid to leak between the corrugated hinge connections.

Accordingly, the present invention has been invented to solve the above problems, by controlling the size of the knob using a bimetal structure that is electrically operated without using a fluid, the phenomenon of fluid leakage is prevented at the source and the size of the knob It is an object of the present invention to provide a shift lever knob of a vehicle so that this can be performed smoothly.

1 is an enlarged view of a shift lever knob and a main portion thereof according to the prior art;

2 is a cross-sectional view taken along line II of FIG. 1, and an enlarged view thereof;

3 is a block diagram of an apparatus for expanding the shift lever knob of FIG. 1;

4 is an enlarged view of a shift lever knob and main parts thereof according to the present invention;

5 is a cross-sectional view taken along line II-II of FIG. 4,

Figure 6 is a long time configuration diagram for expanding the shift lever knob in accordance with the present invention,

7 is an internal configuration diagram of a shift lever knob.

* Description of the symbols for the main parts of the drawings *

1-Fixed part 2-Variable part

3-plate 40-extension

41-Rubber 45-Bimetal

61-Operation Button 62-Generator

63-Control Unit 64-Heat Supply Unit

65-Heat Retention Part 66-Step Heat Sensor

The present invention for achieving the above object, the fixing part fixed to the upper end of the lever lever of the shift lever, and the plurality of divided plates installed on the upper part of the fixing part is coupled to each other through the expansion of the expandable material A shift lever of a vehicle comprising a variable part, a plurality of bimetals having different thermal expansion coefficients built in the expansion part, a heat supply means for supplying heat to the bimetal, and operation buttons for controlling the operation of the heat supply means. Provide the knob.

Here, the heat supply means is connected to the operation button generator for generating heat by the operation of the operation button, the heat supply unit for receiving heat from the generator to supply heat to the bimetal, and receives the heat from the generator A heat holding unit for supplying constant heat to the bimetal after the heat supply from the heat supply unit to the bimetal is stopped, and a control unit for controlling heat supplied from the generator to the heat supply unit and the heat holding unit, and the operation button; And a step hit sensor connected to adjust the amount of heat supplied to the bimetal from the heat retaining portion.

Therefore, the driver operates the operation button to supply heat to the heat supply part and the heat retaining part in order, so that the size of the knob can be increased while the expansion part is expanded by the expansion and deformation of the bimetal.

That is, since the size of the knob can be expanded by operating a button, the knob can be used in a reduced small state or expanded large state, thereby increasing the convenience of the driver.

Hereinafter, with reference to the accompanying drawings, the present invention will be described in detail.

4 is an enlarged view of a shift lever knob and a main part thereof according to the present invention. The shift lever knob of the present invention includes a fixing part 1 fixed to an end of a lever part of a shift lever and an upper portion of the fixing part 1. It is formed of a variable portion 2 is formed so that the driver can take the hand.

The variable part 2 is composed of a plurality of divided plates 3, and an expanded portion made of an expandable flexible material, such as rubber, is formed between the divided square plates 3 and the plates. As shown in FIG. 2, a plurality of bimetals 45 are formed in which the two metals having different thermal expansion coefficients are connected to each other in the rubber 41.

6, the bimetal 45 of the expansion portion 40 is expanded to receive heat from the heat supply means, and the heat supply means has an operation button (which allows the driver to operate from the outside). 61, a generator 62 connected to the operation button 61 to generate heat by the operation of the operation button, and a heat supply unit for receiving heat from the generator 62 and supplying heat to the bimetal 45. (64) and the heat retaining to supply heat to the bimetal 45 after the heat supply from the heat supply unit 64 is stopped after the heat is supplied from the generator 62 to store heat. And a control unit 63 for controlling electric power supplied from the generator 62 to the heat supply unit 64 and the heat retaining unit 65, and the operation button 61 to connect the heat retaining unit ( 65) by adjusting the amount of heat supplied to the bimetal It is configured to step the heat sensor 66 to obtain a degree of a bimetallic expansion.

Here, the heat retaining unit 65 serves to maintain the expansion state of the expansion unit 40 to a certain degree by continuously supplying a predetermined amount of heat to the bimetal 45 while storing the supplied heat at a constant temperature.

In addition, as shown in FIG. 7, a pipe 71 is provided inside the fixing part 1, and the pipe 71 has the same number of wires as the number of plates 3 constituting the variable part 2. 72 are fixed, the other ends of the wires 72 and fixed ends 73a and 73b are formed in the center on the inner side of each plate 3, respectively, and the fixed ends 73a and 73b are mutual springs. Connected to 74.

Therefore, in the initial state, that is, the state in which the bimetal 45 is not expanded, the variable part 2 is always kept in the contracted state by the contracting force of the spring 74.

The operation of the present invention will be described below.

After the driver is seated in the driver's seat, the driver grasps the knob of the shift lever and turns on the operation button 61 when the knob in the contracted state feels small in his hand.

When the operation button 61 is turned on, the heat of the generator 62 is supplied to the heat supply unit 64 and the heat retaining unit 65 through the control unit 63, and the heat supply unit 64 is the bimetal 45. By supplying heat to the bimetal 45 to expand to some extent to expand the expansion portion (40).

After a certain time has elapsed, the heat from the heat supply unit 64 is cut off, and the heat retaining unit 65 applies constant heat to the bimetal 45 to expand the volume of the expanded portion 40 due to the expansion of the bimetal 45. Keep it constant.

At this time, the step hit sensor 66 adjusts the heat transmitted from the control unit 63 to the heat retaining unit 65 so as to expand the bimetal to a desired size. Less expansion.

As described above, the bimetal 45 expands as shown in FIG. 6 by the heat supply of the heat supply means by the operation of the operation button, and as a result, the rubber in which the bimetal 45 is embedded expands together. The expansion of the portion 40 expands the entire variable portion 2 and increases the knob size.

In this way, when the size of the knob is expanded, even a driver with a large hand can grip and operate the knob more comfortably.

Conversely, a user with a small hand can operate a knob suitable for the size of his or her hand by keeping the initial small state without the knob extended.

Then, after the operation is finished, the driver turns off the operation button 12 before getting off, the heat supplied to the bimetal 45 is cut off so that the bimetal 45 is restored to its original state, and thus the expansion unit 40 At this time, each plate (3) is pulled by the contracting force of the spring 74 connected to the wire 72, the variable portion (2) is reduced to restore to the initial state.

As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to adjust the knob size by bimetal without using the fluid, so that the contamination of the knob and the discomfort caused by the fluid leakage are eliminated. Since it can be used larger, there is an effect of improving the convenience and operation feeling in operating the shift lever.

Claims (3)

A fixing part fixed to the upper part of the lever of the shift lever, a variable part installed on the upper part of the fixing part, and a plurality of divided plates coupled to each other via an expansion part of an expandable material; A shift lever knob of a vehicle comprising a plurality of bimetals having a coefficient of thermal expansion, heat supply means for supplying heat to the bimetal, and operation buttons for controlling the operation of the heat supply means. 2. The generator of claim 1, wherein the heat supply means is connected to the operation button to operate by operating an operation button to generate heat, a heat supply unit for supplying heat to the bimetal by receiving power from the generator, and the generator. Control unit for controlling the heat supplied from the generator to the heat supply unit and the heat supply unit for supplying constant heat to the bimetal after the heat supply from the heat supply to the bimetal is stopped after receiving power from And a step hit sensor connected to the operation button to adjust the amount of heat supplied to the bimetal from the heat retaining unit. According to claim 1, wherein a pipe is installed inside the fixing part, a plurality of wires are fixed to the pipe, the fixing end is fixed to each of the inner surface of each of these wires and the variable part, the fixing ends are fixed to the spring Shift lever knob of the vehicle, characterized in that connected by.