WO2012101027A1

WO2012101027A1 - Electronic vehicle key comprising a charging socket

Info

Publication number: WO2012101027A1
Application number: PCT/EP2012/050757
Authority: WO
Inventors: Wolfgang Kaiser; Florian Schweiger
Original assignee: Continental Automotive Gmbh
Priority date: 2011-01-27
Filing date: 2012-01-19
Publication date: 2012-08-02
Also published as: DE102011003220A1

Abstract

The invention relates to an electronic vehicle key, in particular an electronic vehicle key comprising a housing (10) with at least one passage (200), an electronic energy store (320) that is located in the housing and a charging socket (100) that is located in the passage and is sealed in relation to the housing. Said charging socket has at least one spring-loaded contact (110) which is designed to make spring-loaded contact with the energy store in order to establish an electronic connection.

Description

description

Electronic vehicle key with charging socket

The present invention relates to an electronic

Car key.

Motor vehicles are now almost exclusively equipped with locking systems that can be locked or unlocked remotely by means of an electronic vehicle key. Such electronic vehicle keys are able to send or receive appropriate control signals to such locking systems. Increasingly, electronic vehicle keys are designed to be used in a variety of situations. For this purpose, vehicle keys are "personalized", ie adapted to the user.Personalized vehicle keys, for example, are distinguished from known conventional vehicle keys by additional functions, such as the processing of payment transactions

Key features of personalized electronic car keys are sometimes equipped with displays. Such additional functions and components go hand in hand with an increased energy requirement compared to conventional electronic vehicle keys. For this purpose, rechargeable energy storage with (compared to commonly used in electronic car keys keys) increased capacity and higher peak currents may be necessary. Such energy storage must be connected to charge with an external power source.

It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide an electronic vehicle key which can be connected to an external power source.

The object is solved by the features of claim 1. refinements and developments of the inventive concept are the subject of dependent claims. The object is for example achieved by an electro ^¬ African vehicle key having a housing with at least one aperture, a housing in which are arranged electronic rechargeable energy storage device and one in the

Breakthrough sealed (or sealed with respect to) the housing disposed charging socket, wherein the charging socket has at least one spring contact, which is adapted to resiliently contact the energy storage device to produce an electrically conductive connection.

The invention will be explained in more detail with reference to the embodiments illustrated in FIGS. In the figures, like reference characters designate the same or similar components. The components shown in the figures are not necessarily to scale. It shows:

Figure 1 in a spatial representation of an electronic

Car key with keys and key bit,

2 shows in a sectional view schematically components of an electronic vehicle key with charging ^¬ socket, Figure 3 in a spatial representation of a charging socket with

Spring contacts for an electronic vehicle key, in a sectional view schematically a charging socket with spring contacts and sealing element, in a spatial sectional view schematically an electronic vehicle key with a printed circuit board and a charging socket with spring contacts, and in a block diagram, a circuit for charging an energy storage of an electronic Fahr ^¬ zeugschlüssels on a charging socket. FIG. 1 shows in a three-dimensional representation an example of an electronic vehicle key 1 or radio key with a housing 10. This electronic vehicle key 1 can be used to control a locking system of

Motor vehicle used. For this purpose, the keys 11, 12, 13 may be provided, via which the user can initiate the transmission of a control signal for locking (eg key 11), for unlocking (eg key 12) or for opening the trunk (eg key 13) of a motor vehicle , Such a vehicle key may have additional keys. In addition, such a vehicle key 1 may have a key bit 140 and / or a retractable key bit 141. This corresponds to the usual basic principle of an electronic vehicle locking system. Can Proceeding from this, such a electronic vehicle key "personalized" and correspondingly to ^¬ sätzlichen functions (such as payment transactions) and additional components (for example, display) are provided. In Figure 2, a sectional view of various

Components 10, 100, 300 of an example of an electric vehicle key 1 according to the invention shown. The implementation of additional functions (eg payment transactions) and components (eg display) brings, as already mentioned, an increased energy consumption. Typically, for conventional electronic vehicle key way or CR batteries (engl CR. Carriage return) whose capacity and peak current is not sufficient to power ^¬ supply a plurality of additional features and components to ensure (in particular, a display). To the

For example, rechargeable energy storages 320 with high capacities (rechargeable batteries) such as lithium-ion or lithium-polymer batteries or other suitable energy storages can be used to cover the energy requirements of additional components and functions. If such rechargeable batteries 320 are designed to be rechargeable, a charging socket 100 (with a longitudinal axis 101, see FIG. 3) arranged in the housing 10 of the vehicle key 1 is necessary. In the example shown in FIG. 2, an opening 200 is made in the housing 10 of the vehicle key 1. in the

Opening 200, a charging socket 100 is arranged so that a suitable plug can be inserted through the opening 200 into the charging socket 100. The charging socket 100 is tight, in particular waterproof and sometimes dust-tight, arranged opposite the housing 10. The seal can be realized, for example, via at least one sealing element 120. Such a sealing element 120 may be a suitable O-ring in ^¬ example. The seal is necessary to protect sensitive components within the housing 10, particularly from dust and moisture. In the housing 10, a circuit board 300 may be further provided. On the circuit board 300, a battery 320 may be arranged, which provides the electrical energy for the electronic components 330, 340 of the electronic vehicle key 1. Such electronic components may be, for example, an operating unit 330 and an antenna arrangement 340. The operating unit is designed, among other things, the switch contact by means of the keys 11, 12, 13 entered commands into corresponding control signals and send ^¬ via the antenna assembly 340 to the locking system of a motor vehicle. In the electronic communications ^¬ components 330, 340 and their function is not discussed further below, since they are not relevant to describe the subject matter of the invention.

In the present case, the energy storage 320 should be able to be charged via the charging socket 100. For this purpose, at least one spring contact 110 is provided on the charging socket 100, which is designed to contact the energy storage arrangement 320 directly or (as shown in FIG. 2) indirectly via the printed circuit board 300 in a springy manner. When directly contacting contact surfaces 310 are attached to the energy storage 320. In the case of indirect contacting (via the printed circuit board), the contact surfaces 310 are attached to the printed circuit board 300, the energy store 320 being mounted on the printed circuit board 300. In this case, an electrical contact between the con- contact surface 310 and the energy storage 320 via (not shown) conductor tracks on the circuit board 300 can be achieved. In each case, an electrically conductive connection or a plurality of electrically conductive connections between the energy storage arrangement 320 and the charging socket 100 is produced via the resilient contacting.

The spring contacts 110 and the resulting resilient contacting has a low-stress and secure contact result, as a largely mechanical voltage freedom is achieved. In particular, inevitable manufacturing tolerances between ^¬ housing 10, PCB 300, and charging connector 100 can be compensated. The tightness between the housing 10 and charging socket 100 is guaranteed.

The seal between the housing 10 and charging socket 100 can be achieved in addition to the mentioned sealing elements 120 by other methods. For example, cohesive Fügever are ^¬ drive conceivable by means of which the charging socket 100 is cohesively joined to the housing 10th Cohesive joining methods are, for example, plastic welding or gluing. In particular, the charging socket 100 can be fixed with 2K adhesive (2-component adhesive) in the opening 200, which also has a tight arrangement of the charging socket 100 relative to the housing 10 result. Another way, the charging socket 100 is to be arranged close to the housing 10 at the opening 200, the charge socket 100 to be molded tight by means of known plastic injection molding process. FIG. 3 shows an exemplary charging socket 100 with spring contacts 110, for example with three spring contacts 111, 112, 113, for an electronic vehicle key 1 in a three-dimensional representation. With reference to FIG. 4, in which the charging socket 100 from FIG. 3 is shown in greater detail in a longitudinal section, this charging socket 100 will be explained in more detail below. The charging socket 100 is fixed in the opening 200 as shown. The charging socket comprises a cavity 102 arranged centrally along the longitudinal axis 101, but which does not extends over the entire axial length (along the longitudinal axis). The present charging socket 100 has three plug contacts 140, 150, 160, which can be electrically conductively connected to a suitable plug. Within the cavity 102, an (inner) contact pin 140 is arranged, which is for example a positive pole. On the side walls of the cavity 102, an outer contact surface 150 is arranged, which is for example a negative pole. The outer contact surface 150 may completely or partially cover the sidewalls of the cavity 102. At the bottom of the cavity 102, a further contact surface, a ground contact 160 may be arranged, which forms, for example, a ground terminal. The ground terminal 160 may be connected to the negative terminal 150. Negative pole, positive pole and ground can also be reversed and assigned to other contacts. In Figure 4 is indicated schematically that the spring contact 113 with the outer contact surface 150, the spring contact 112 with the inner con ^¬ tact pin 140 and the spring contact 113 with the ground contact 160 may be electrically connected. For positive engagement in the illustrated charging socket 100, a plug (not shown) is provided, which is designed to produce galvanically separated conductive connections to the contacts 140, 150, 160 from each other.

About a charge socket designed in this way, the positive and negative poles and the mass of an energy source, in particular a battery charger, with the plus and minus poles and the mass of an energy storage 320 for recharging electrically connected. FIG. 6 is a schematic block diagram of a corresponding circuit for charging such an energy store 320 of an electronic circuit

Vehicle key shown via a charging socket 100.

As an alternative to the exemplary charging socket 100 from FIG. 4, a socket suitable for a standardized data bus, for example a USB socket (USB: Universal Serial Bus), can also be used to supply a power supply via the socket

Realize USB interface. In addition to the charging function, this can also provide an interface for data transfer, For example, between a PC and the electronic vehicle key, in particular its operating unit 330, be implemented in ^¬ . Accordingly, more than three spring ^¬ contacts 110 must be provided on the charging socket 100.

The present invention relates to an electronic

Vehicle key having a housing with at least one breakthrough, a cylinder disposed in the housing rechargeable electronic energy storage device and a sealing against the housing disposed in the aperture charging socket, wherein the La ^¬ debuchse at least one spring contact which is adapted to the energy storage device to contact resiliently to make an electronically conductive connection. Such a vehicle key has the particular advantage that over conventional vehicle keys a

Energy storage, which is arranged in the housing, can be charged.

The energy storage arrangement may be arranged on a printed circuit board, wherein the spring contact the printed circuit board resiliently contacted, and wherein conductor tracks are arranged on ^¬ on the circuit board, which electrically connect the spring contact with the Ener ^¬ giespeicheranordnung. Thus, a substantial mechanical voltage freedom of contacting the charging socket with the circuit board or the energy storage is achieved.

Between the charging socket and the housing, a sealing element may be arranged. Such a sealing element may for example be an O-ring. This can advantageously a tightness (against the ingress of dust and / or water in the housing) between the charging socket and the housing can be achieved. Al ^¬ ternative to the sealing element, the charging socket can also be positively and cohesively inserted, for example, by gluing with a 2K adhesive in the breakthrough. The charging socket can also be encapsulated by a plastic injection molding process. As a result, sealing elements are unnecessary. The tightness is ensured in each case, in particular by the mechanically tension-free resilient contacting by the spring contacts. The charging socket can have additional spring contacts for data transfer to the operating unit. For example, a

USB socket can be realized. This results in the advantage that the energy storage can be loaded, for example by means of a PC. On the other hand, for example, data may be transmitted to the operating unit and vice versa from a PC or any other suitable device.

Reference sign list

1 vehicle locks

10 housing

11, 12, 13 button

14 key bit

100 charging socket

101 longitudinal axis of the charging socket

102 (cylindrical) cavity

110 spring contacts

111, 112, 113 spring contacts

120 sealing element (s)

140 inner contact pin

150 inner contact surface

160 ground contact

200 breakthrough

300 circuit board

310 contact surfaces on the circuit board

320 (electrical) energy storage

330 operating unit

340 antenna arrangement

350 tracks

Claims

claims

1. Electronic vehicle key (1) having a housing (10) with at least one opening (200), one in the housing (10) arranged rechargeable electronic energy storage (320) and one in the opening (200) sealed against the housing (10) arranged charging socket (100), wherein the charging socket (100) has at least one spring contact (110) which is adapted to resiliently contact the energy storage device (320) to produce an electronically conductive connection.

2. An electronic vehicle key (1) according to claim 1, wherein the energy storage device (320) is arranged on a printed circuit board (300), wherein the spring contact (110) the printed circuit board (300) resiliently contacted, and wherein on the printed circuit board tracks (330). are arranged, which electrically connect the spring contact (110) with the energy storage device (320).

3. Electronic vehicle key (1) according to claim 1 or 2, wherein at the opening (200) between the housing (10) and charging socket (100), a sealing element (120) is arranged.

4. Electronic vehicle key (1) according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the charging socket (200) is materially joined to the housing (10).

5. Electronic vehicle key (1) according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the charging socket (200) is molded tightly by means of plastic injection molding.

6. Electronic vehicle key (1) according to one of the preceding claims, wherein the charging socket (100) has three Fe ^¬ derkontakte (111, 112, 113).

7. An electronic vehicle key (1) according to one of the preceding claims, wherein the charging socket (100) further comprises a contact pin (140), a contact surface (150) and a bottom contact (160), wherein a first spring contact (111) with the contact pin (140), a second spring contact (112) is electrically connected to the ground contact (160) and a third spring contact (113) is electrically connected to the contact surface (150).

The electronic vehicle key (1) according to claim 1 or 2, further comprising:

Keys (11, 12, 13) adapted to initiate control signals for a vehicle locking system, an antenna assembly (340), and an operating unit (350) coupled to the antenna assembly (340), the operating unit (350) is adapted to generate the control signals based on the keys (11, 12, 13) is passed ^¬ commands and to send via the antenna assembly (340) to the locking system.

9. Electronic vehicle key (1) according to claim 8, wherein the charging connector (100) further spring contacts (110) on Da ^¬ tentransfer to the operating unit (330), said spring contacts (110) with the operating unit (330) are coupled.

10. Electronic vehicle key (1) according to claim 9, wherein the charging socket (100) is a USB socket.