GB2124029A - Electrical switch structure - Google Patents

Abstract

A first lever 21 actuates a contact 8a, 9a, 10a by way of a card 12. An electromagnet 24 is energized when the lever 21 is operated and the armature 24e is thereby driven upwards to retain the lever 21, by way of a detent plate (25, Fig. 3), in its operated position. Compactness is achieved by having a plurality of conjointly-acting coils 24 of (a single coil with the same effect would be bulkier). A second lever 3 may be provided allowing optional retractive actuation of the contact set 8a, 9a, 10a by way of the same card 12. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION Switch structure The present invention relates to a switch structure suitable for various switches of automotive electrical equipment such as a window regulator switch, a sun roof switch, an automatic antenna switch, a turn signal switch, etc.

As an example, a window regulator switch has an automatic knob which once operated is maintained in a self-holding state by means of a solenoid for allowing a motor to be kept turned ON until the window is fully closed or opened, and a manual knob for moving the window up and down only during its operation without being maintained in the selfholding state. Heretofore, there has been known a switch structure which employs a one-way solenoid for the self-holding action of the automatic knob (for example, see USP 4,370,638). However, this conventional switch structure employs an elongated oneway solenoid having a single coil and it is of a structure with a sliding core being inserted through the coil. Therefore, it is required to increase the ampere-turns of the coil winding for assuring the positive action of the sliding core.This results in the drawback that the entire switch structure becomes larger in size.

The present invention, which has been effected in view of the above-mentioned points, aims at providing a small-sized switch structure which employs a plurality of coils of a solenoid for attaining the positive self-holding action of the automatic knob and in which a control section in the form of a sliding core is disposed in any desired position without being influenced by the coil position.

According to the invention there is provided a switch structure comprising a frame; an automatic knob pivotally supported with respect to said frame, said automatic knob having a head portion and a bottom portion, said bottom portion being formed with an opening; a sliding rod slidably held within said opening and continuously urged outwardly of said opening; locking means for locking said automatic knob in tilted positions by way of said sliding rod during operation of said automatic knob for switching actions; a solenoid core slidably held and urged toward said sliding rod by way of said locking means; and a solenoid having a plurality of coils wound to build up a cumulative magnetic field operative with respect to said solenoid core.

The invention will now be described, by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: Figure 1 is a part sectional view of one embodiment of a switch structure according to the present invention; Figure 2 is a sectional side view taken along line ll-ll of Fig. 1; Figure 3 is a sectional view showing a locking mechanism for an automatic knob; Figure 4 is an exploded view of the above embodiment; Figure 5 is a circuit diagram showing circuitry for driving the switch structure of the invention used in the vehicle and controlling the self-holding action of the automatic knob; and Figure 6 is a part sectional view showing a second embodiment of the present invention.

A first embodiment of the present invention will be described hereinunder with reference to Figs. 1 through 5.

The numeral 1 denotes a frame and 2 denotes a pin which supports a manual knob 3 pivotably with respect to the frame 1. At the lower portion of the manual knob 3 is integrally formed a projection 3a which confronts a moderating plate 7. The moderating plate 7, which has a moderating portion consisting of inclined surfaces 7a and a bottom portion 7b, is held for vertical movement within a slit 6 (Fig. 1), the slit 6 being formed in the frame 1. In a hole 4 which communicates with the slit 6 is disposed a spring 5 for urging the moderating plate 7 continuously in an upward direction. Numeral 12(12') de- notes a card held for vertical movement by means of a guide 11 which is fixed to the frame 1.The upper end of the card 12 (12') is opposed to the lower end face of the manual knob 3 and that of an automatic knob 21 which will be described later, while its lower end abuts against a leaf spring 9 (9').

Said leaf spring 9 (9') carries on a free end thereof a contact 9a (9a'). A plate member 8 (8') carrying a contact 8a (8a') extends above said leaf spring 9 (9a') whereas a plate member 10(10') carrying contact 10a (10a') extends below said leaf spring 9 (9'). Said contact 9a (9a') is adapted for contact engagement with either the contact 8a (8a') or contact 10 (10a').

The automatic knob 21 is pivotably supported by the pin 2 with respect to said frame, which knob 21 is provided at its lower section with a bottom portion in the form of a projection 21a and at its upper section with a head portion. In the projection 21a is formed a hole 21b, within which is held a sliding rod 22 vertically moveable, the sliding rod 22 being urged continuously in a downward direction by means of spring 23 as shown in Fig. 2 and Fig. 3. The sliding rod 22 abuts against a moderating concave plate 26 formed in the frame 1. Said sliding rod 22 also abuts against a detent p!ate 25 having a moderating portion including inner inclined surfaces 25b, outer inclined surfaces 25d, a bottom 25a and tips 25c.The detent plate 25, which is vertically slidable within a slit 28 formed centrally in the notched moderating concave plate 26, is in abutment with a laterdescribed sliding core 24e adapted to be driven by a one-way solenoid 24.

The solenoid 24 is composed of bobbins 24c, having a common axis and positioned on opposite right and left sides of the sliding solenoid core 24e such that the sliding solenoid core and bobbin axis are perpendicular to each other, a holding cylinder 27 having a holding bore 27A, which is formed in an off position with respect to the common axis of the bobbins 24c and in which is slidabiy inserted the core 24e, a channel-shaped yoke 31 having a hole coinciding with the holding bore 27A and covering the holding cylinder 27, yokes 32 inserted in the axial direction of the holding cylinder 27, and a pair of coils 24d wound on the bobbins 24c on both sides of the core 24e so as to build up a cumulative magnetic field operative with respect to the solenoid core 24e.Numeral 24f denotes a spring disposed within the holding bore 27A for urging the sliding core 24e continuously toward the sliding rod by way of the detent plate 25. In this embodiment, said solenoid core extends perpendicularly to the core on a common axis.

Operation of the thus constructed switch structure will be described below referring to Figs. 1 through 5.

When the manual knob 3 is pivotted in a counter-clockwise direction in Fig. 1 against the urging force of the spring 5, the lower end of the knob 3 pushes the card 1 2 downwards, whereupon the contact 9a of the leaf spring 9 comes into contact with the contact 1 0a because the leaf spring 9 is forced down by the card 12. Current then flows -(Fig. 5) from 8 power source to 1 0a 9motor Mo9a'e8a'~ resistor Ro earth 0, and the motor rotates in the forward direction, whereby a window regulator is operated to raise the window glass.

When the operation of the manual knob 3 is stopped, the projection 3a of the knob 3 is turned in a clock-wise direction in Fig. 1 along the right-hand inclined surface 7a of the moderating plate 7 by virtue of the urging force of the spring 5 and stops in the bottom 7b. At this time, the leaf spring 9 is reset by its restoring force, so that the contact 9a again contacts the contact 8a and the motor turns OFF, thus allowing the window to stay in that position. In the same way, when the knob 3 is turned clockwise, the contact 9a' which is normally kept in contact with the contact 8a' comes into contact with the contact 1 Qa' (see Fig. 4), whereupon the motor rotates in the reverse direction to drive the window in an opening direction.When this operation of the knob 3 is stopped, the projection 3a of the knob 3 turns counterclockwise in Fig. 1 along the left-hand inclined surface 7a of the moderating plate 7 and stops in the position of the bottom 7b, so that the motor turns OFF and the window stops in that position.

Next, when the automatic knob 21 is turned in a counterclockwise direction in Fig.

3 against the urging force of the spring 23, the sliding rod 22 slides along the moderating concave plate 26, so that an end portion of the knob 21 pushes down the card 12 and the motor rotates in the forward direction as observed in the manual operation.

On the other hand, at this time, power is fed to the circuit through a diode D,. When the motor M is rotating in the forward direction, the aside input potential of the comparator CPt is set smaller than the s side input potential thereof, so that the c output potential of the comparator CP, becomes "L" level.

Consequently, the s side input potential of the following stage comparator CP2 becomes larger than the aside input potential, so that the output potential of CP2 becomes "H" level.

Consequently, a transistor Q turns ON, solenoid 24 is energized, so that the sliding core 24e is allowed to slide upward by virtue of the urging force of the spring 24f and at the same time it is attracted upwardly by the yoke 32. Consequently, the detent plate 25 which is in abutment with the core 24e is forced upward and held in the position shown by a two-dot chain line in Fig. 3, whereby the sliding rod 22 is held between the right-hand inclined surface of the moderating concave plate 26 and the right-hand inclined surface 25d of the detent plate 25 in Fig. 3, so that the knob 21 is locked in its tilted position mentioned above.

Therefore, even if the driver or passenger releases the automatic knob 21, the contacts 9a and 1 0a are kept in contact with each other, so that the motor continues rotating.

When the window glass reaches the uppermost position, a mechanical resistance increases rapidly because a further upward movement is physically impossible, and the rotation of the motor is locked. At this time, since the current flowing in the motor M also increases, the voltage drop across the resistor R also increases. As a result, the aside potential becomes larger than the t side potential, and the 0 Sand fpotentials change to "H" and "L" levels, respectively, so that the transistor Turns OFF to de-energize the solenoid 24.

Thereupon, the spring 23 overcomes the urging force of the spring 24f of the solenoid 24, thereby moving the sliding rod 22 to the bottom of the moderating concave plate 26 and at the same time forcing down the detent plate 25. Consequently, the self holding of the automatic knob 21 is released and the motor stops rotating.

If the automatic knob 21 is turned clockwise, the sliding rod 22 is held between the left-hand inclined surface of the moderating plate 26 and the left-hand inclined surface 25d of the detent plate 25 in Fig.3, and the same operation as above is performed except that the motor rotates in the reverse direction.

If the automatic knob 21 is stopped, for example, halfway after being operated, it should be turned in the direction opposite to the present holding direction, whereby the sliding rod 22 slides over the tip 25c of the detent plate 25 against the urging force of the spring 23 and returns to the bottom 25a, so that, like the foregoing, the contacts 9a (9a') and 1 Oa (1 0a') move out of contact with each other, the motor M stops rotating, the solenoid 24 is de-energized and the self holding of the automatic knob 21 is also released.

Fig. 6 shows a switch structure according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

Unlike the above first embodiment wherein the coils 24d are arranged to extend on a common axis perpendicular to the axis of the core 24e, the coils 24d are arranged to extend in parallel with the core 24e on independent axes. Further, iron cores 33 are inserted into the respective bobbins 24c while yokes 31 and 32 are disposed above and below the bobbins 24c. It is also advisable in this embodiment that the core extends off a straight line connecting said independent axes. Although the second embodiment differs from the first embodiment, its operation is the same as that of the first embodiment. Therefore, its detailed description is here omitted.

In the present invention, as described hereinabove, since a plurality of coils are used in the solenoid, the turns of the winding are made smaller in number for each coil, without decreasing the magnetic effect on the core so long as the total turns are unchanged. As a result, it is possible to reduce the size of the whole switch structure.

Claims (7)

1. A switch structure comprising a frame; an automatic knob pivotally supported with respect to said frame, said automatic knob having a head portion and a bottom portion, said bottom portion being formed with an opening; a sliding rod slidably held within said opening and continuously urged outwardly of said opening; locking means for locking said automatic knob in tilted positions by way of said sliding rod during operation of said automatic knob for switching actions; a solenoid core slidably held and urged toward said sliding rod by way of said locking means; and a solenoid having a plurality of coils wound to build up a cumulative magnetic field operative with respect to said solenoid core.

2. A switch structure as claimed in claim 1, wherein said plurality of coils include a pair of coils on respective opposite sides of the solenoid core.

3. A switch structure as claimed in claim 2, wherein said coils extend perpendicularly to the solenoid core on a common axis.

4. A switch structure as claimed in claim 2, wherein said coils extend in parallel with the solenoid core on independent axes.

5. A switch structure as claimed in claim 3, wherein said solenoid core extends off said common axis.

6. A switch structure as claimed in claim 4, wherein said solenoid core extends off a straight line connecting said independent axes.

7. A switch structure substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to and as shown in Figs. 1 to 5 or Fig. 6 of the accompanying drawings.