JP2015048672A - Vehicle door operation device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To improve operability of a vehicle door.SOLUTION: A grip of a vehicle door includes a first electrode 34 and a second electrode 36. The first electrode 34 and the second electrode 36 are connected to a control unit 50. The control unit 50 measures capacitance of each of the first electrode 34 and the second electrode 36. When the amount of change in capacitance of the first electrode 34 exceeds a predetermined threshold and the amount of change in capacitance of the second electrode 36 exceeds a predetermined threshold, a command signal is output to an electric driving unit 51. The electric driving unit 51 releases a fixed door opening/closing mechanism 12 according to the command signal.

Description

  The present invention relates to an automobile door operation device, and more particularly, to an apparatus for driving a door opening / closing mechanism in accordance with a change in capacitance of a plurality of conductive members.

  Some automobile doors are provided with an inside handle for opening the door and a grip for the user to push the door open on the vehicle interior side. When the user opens the door from the passenger compartment side, the user pulls the inside handle to bring the door into a swingable state (movable state), grasps the grip by hand, and pushes the door open.

  In general, since the inside handle and the grip are separated from each other, two operations such as operation of the inside handle and push-opening of the door using the grip are required to open the door. There is a user's preference for the operation method of the automobile, and there are users who feel that two operations may be required to open the door, while there are users who feel that this is bothersome.

  Therefore, as described in Patent Document 1 below, an automobile door that can be moved by a simple operation is considered. In this automobile door, the assist grip is provided with a push button type switch. The automobile door becomes movable by operating a switch. The user can open the automobile door by performing a switch operation while holding the assist grip.

JP 2004-136802 A

  When opening the door of the automobile from the passenger compartment side, if two operations such as the operation of the inside handle and the pushing and opening of the door using the grip are required, a user feels that these operations are troublesome. On the other hand, in a door in which a push button switch is provided on an assist grip as described in Patent Document 1, it is conceivable that the door becomes movable in a state where the assist grip is not securely grasped.

  An object of this invention is to improve the operativity of a motor vehicle door.

  The present invention relates to a grip shape portion provided on a vehicle compartment side of an automobile door, a plurality of conductive members provided in the grip shape portion, and a door according to a change in capacitance of the plurality of conductive members. A drive unit that drives the opening / closing mechanism, and at least one of the plurality of conductive members is disposed corresponding to a first region on a surface of the grip-shaped unit, and the plurality of conductive members The remainder is arranged corresponding to the second region on the surface of the grip-shaped portion, and the first region and the second region face different directions.

  In the automobile door operating device according to the present invention, preferably, the drive unit has a capacitance of a conductive member arranged corresponding to the first region, and corresponds to the second region. The door opening / closing mechanism is driven when the capacitance of the conductive member arranged in this manner changes.

  In the automobile door operating device according to the present invention, preferably, the first area and the second area are at opposing positions in the grip shape portion.

  According to the present invention, the operability of the automobile door can be improved.

It is a figure which shows the motor vehicle door which concerns on embodiment of this invention. It is a partial enlarged view of a grip. It is AA sectional view taken on the line of a grip. It is a figure which shows the structure of a motor vehicle door operation apparatus. It is a figure explaining the positional relationship of a 1st touch area | region and a 2nd touch area | region. It is a figure which shows the relationship between age and the length of a hand. It is a figure which shows the structure of a door operation mechanism.

  FIG. 1 shows an automobile door 10 according to an embodiment of the present invention. The x-axis positive direction corresponds to the rear of the vehicle. The positive y-axis direction corresponds to the right direction toward the front of the vehicle, and the positive z-axis direction corresponds to the vertical upward direction. The front side of the automobile door 10 is attached to the vehicle body. A hinge mechanism is provided at the attachment portion of the vehicle body and the automobile door 10, and the automobile door 10 swings around the axis in the z-axis direction of the hinge mechanism. A door opening / closing mechanism 12 is provided behind the automobile door 10. When the automobile door 10 is closed, the door opening / closing mechanism 12 is fixed to a door fixing structure 14 provided on the vehicle body, and the automobile door 10 is fixed to the vehicle body.

  An outside handle is provided outside the automobile door 10. When the outside handle is pulled while the automobile door 10 is closed, the state where the door opening / closing mechanism 12 is fixed to the door fixing structure 14 is released, and the automobile door 10 becomes movable.

  A grip 22 is provided on the compartment surface 16 of the automobile door 10. FIG. 2 is an enlarged view of a part of the grip 22. It is assumed that the grip 22 covers a part of the passenger compartment surface 16 to form a space with the passenger compartment surface 16, and the upper side of the space is opened. The edge portion of the pocket-shaped grip 22 is gripped by the user. As will be described below, in the automobile door 10 according to the present embodiment, the grip 22 is provided with an electrode as a conductive member, and in response to a change in the capacitance of the electrode due to the user holding the grip 22. The door opening / closing mechanism 12 is driven.

  FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view of the grip 22 taken along the line AA. The grip 22 is fixed to the passenger compartment surface 16 of the interior plate 24 of the automobile door 10 and covers a part of the passenger compartment surface 16 to form a space with the passenger compartment surface 16. It shall be open. The grip 22 is formed in a hollow shape by a shell member 26 formed of an insulating material such as plastic resin. A bulge-shaped portion having a bulge is formed at the edge portion of the grip 22. The interior plate 24 is provided with a bottom plate 28 that protrudes toward the passenger compartment. A shell member 26 that is bent from the lower surface of the bottom plate 28 along the surface of the interior plate 24 is joined from the lower surface of the bottom plate 28 to the lower side thereof. ing. A decorative plate 30 made of an insulating material such as a plastic resin is provided on the surface of the bulge-shaped portion.

  The hollow portion 32 of the grip 22 is surrounded by a door-side inner wall surface 33-1 on the side away from the user, an upper inner wall surface 33-2 positioned above, and a user-side inner wall surface 33-3 positioned on the user side. Yes. The first electrode 34 is disposed on the door-side inner wall surface 33-1 and the second electrode 36 is disposed on the user-side inner wall surface 33-3. The first electrode 34 and the second electrode 36 are formed of, for example, a conductive film in which a conductive layer is provided on a plastic film. Moreover, these electrodes may be formed of a plate-like metal. Here, the first electrode 34 and the second electrode 36 are arranged on the hollow portion 32 side of the shell member 26, but these electrodes may be embedded in the shell member 26 or the surface of the grip 22. It may be arranged on the side.

  When the human body touches the first touch area 38 on the surface of the grip 22, the capacitance of the first electrode 34 changes. Here, the first touch region 38 is a region on the surface of the grip 22 that faces the region where the first electrode 34 is provided. Similarly, when the human body touches the second touch area 40 on the surface of the grip 22, the capacitance of the second electrode 36 changes. Here, the second touch area 40 is an area on the surface of the grip 22 facing the area where the second electrode 36 is provided. The first touch area 38 and the second touch area 40 are on surfaces that face different directions. In the present embodiment, the first touch area 38 and the second touch area 40 are in positions facing each other. As shown in FIG. 2, in the first touch area 38 and the second touch area 40, a touch area mark 42 indicating a position to be touched when opening the automobile door 10 is described.

  Returning to FIG. 3, the first electrode 34 and the second electrode 36 are connected to the drive unit 48 by a conducting wire 44. The drive unit 48 is provided inside the automobile door 10 or at a predetermined position on the vehicle body, and drives the door drive mechanism 12 in accordance with changes in the capacitances of the first electrode 34 and the second electrode 36.

  FIG. 4 shows the configuration of the automobile door operation device 46. The drive unit 48 includes a control unit 50 and an electric drive unit 51. A first electrode 34 and a second electrode 36 are connected to the control unit 50. The controller 50 measures the capacitance of each of the first electrode 34 and the second electrode 36. Then, when the amount of change in capacitance of the first electrode 34 exceeds a predetermined threshold and the amount of change in capacitance of the second electrode 36 exceeds a predetermined threshold, the automobile door 10 is opened. A command signal to be commanded is output to the electric drive unit 51.

  Here, the change amount of the capacitance is obtained based on, for example, the absolute value of the difference between the measured capacitance and a reference value set in advance in the control unit 50. In addition, the reference value may be obtained, for example, based on a time average value of the capacitance measured during a predetermined time after the capacitance measurement, or the capacitance measured immediately before It may be.

  The electric drive part 51 is comprised by a motor, an electromagnet, etc., for example. The electric drive unit 51 operates when a command signal is input from the control unit 50. When the automobile door 10 is closed and the door opening / closing mechanism 12 is fixed to the door fixing structure 14, the fixed state of the door opening / closing mechanism 12 is released as follows. That is, when a command signal is output from the control unit 50 to the electric drive unit 51, the electric drive unit 51 drives the door opening / closing mechanism 12 to release the fixed state of the door opening / closing mechanism 12. As a result, the automobile door 10 becomes movable. On the other hand, when the automobile door 10 is opened, the electric drive unit 51 may not drive the door opening / closing mechanism 12.

  According to such a configuration, the user grasps the edge portion of the grip 22, and the user's hand touches the first touch area 38 and the second touch area 40 on the surface of the grip 22, whereby the first electrode 34 is statically fixed. The capacitance and the capacitance of the second electrode 36 change, and the fixed state of the door opening / closing mechanism 12 is released. As a result, when the user grasps the grip 22, the automobile door 10 becomes movable, and the user can grasp the grip 22 and push the automobile door 10 open. Further, when the automobile door 10 is opened, the grip 22 is grasped by the user. For this reason, it is avoided that the automobile door 10 is over-opened due to swaying by a strong wind or gravity acting on a slope such as a slope. Furthermore, the drive part 48 does not drive the door opening / closing mechanism 12 only by the user touching one of the first touch area 38 or the second touch area 40. The first touch area 38 and the second touch area 40 are on the surfaces facing different directions. This avoids the automobile door 10 from being easily moved.

  Next, the positional relationship between the first touch region 38 and the second touch region 40 defined by the positional relationship between the first electrode 34 and the second electrode 36 will be described with reference to FIG. The distance D between touch areas is longer than the length of the child's hand. Here, the inter-touch area distance D is the shortest distance along the grip surface between the upper end of the first touch area 38 and the upper end of the second touch area 40. The length of the hand is a distance from the tip of the index finger to the tip of the thumb along the inside of the hand when the index finger and the thumb are opposed to each other.

  FIG. 6 shows the relationship between the age and the average hand length. This relationship may be obtained based on statistical data publicly disclosed by research institutions. The horizontal axis indicates the age, and the vertical axis indicates the average hand length. FIG. 6 shows that the average hand length of a 3-year-old child is 110 mm. Therefore, the first electrode 34 and the second electrode 36 are arranged so that the distance D between touch areas is longer than 110 mm. For example, a margin of 10 mm may be provided for this lower limit value 110 mm, and the distance D between touch areas may be 120 mm. Thus, by setting the distance D between touch areas, it is avoided that the child touches the grip 22 to move the vehicle door 10 into a movable state and open the vehicle door 10.

  The drive unit 48 does not drive the door opening / closing mechanism 12 while the vehicle is traveling. For example, the drive unit 48 reads a speed detection value obtained by a speed sensor mounted on an automobile, and does not drive the door opening / closing mechanism 12 when the speed detection value is not zero. Accordingly, the automobile door 10 is prevented from being moved during traveling, and the automobile door 10 is prevented from being opened during traveling.

  In the above, an example in which one electrode is arranged for each of the first touch region 38 and the second touch region 40 has been taken up. A plurality of electrodes may be arranged for each touch area. For example, in the configuration shown in FIG. 3, any one of the plurality of electrodes is disposed on the door-side inner wall surface 33-1 facing the first touch region 38, and the remaining electrodes among the plurality of electrodes are the second electrodes. It is arranged on the user side inner wall surface 33-3 facing the touch area 40.

  The control unit 50 included in the driving unit 48 includes an electrode group corresponding to the second touch region 40 in which the amount of change in at least one of the electrode groups corresponding to the first touch region 38 exceeds a predetermined threshold. When the amount of change in at least one of the capacitances exceeds a predetermined threshold value, a command signal is output to the electric drive unit 51. As a result, when the user grips the edge portion of the grip 22 and the user's hand touches the first touch area 38 and the second touch area 40 on the surface of the grip 22, the fixed state of the door opening / closing mechanism 12 is released, The automobile door 10 becomes movable.

  Further, a push switch or a slide switch may be used instead of the switch that operates in accordance with the change in the capacitance of the electrode.

  The grip 22 may have any shape that can be grasped by the user when the automobile door 10 is pushed open. As such a grip shape, there is a rod shape in addition to a pocket shape. In this case, one end or both ends of the grip are fixed to the compartment surface 16 of the automobile door 10.

  Furthermore, an inside handle having the same function as the outside handle may be provided on the vehicle compartment surface of the automobile door 10. When the inside handle is pulled while the automobile door 10 is closed, the fixed state of the door opening / closing mechanism 12 is released regardless of the capacitance of the first electrode 34 and the second electrode 36. As a result, the automobile door 10 becomes movable. As described above, the door opening / closing mechanism 12 is driven by the inside handle, so that the fixed state of the door opening / closing mechanism 12 can be released even when the drive unit 48 does not operate due to interruption of power supply power or the like.

  Further, a door operation mechanism may be provided on the grip 22 instead of the inside handle. FIG. 7 shows the configuration of the door operation mechanism 54. The door operation mechanism 54 is fixed to the surface of the grip 22 on the user side. The door operation mechanism 54 includes a housing 58, a pressing plate 56, and the second electrode 36. The housing 58 has a container shape opened to the vehicle interior side. A second electrode 36 is fixed to the pressing plate 56 on the surface opposite to the surface on the passenger compartment side. The second electrode 36 is connected to the drive unit 48 by a conducting wire 44. The pressing plate 56 is attached to the casing 58 in a posture in which one surface faces the vehicle compartment side, and can move in the housing 58 in a posture in which one surface faces the vehicle compartment side. A mechanism using a wire or the like that drives the door opening / closing mechanism 12 is attached to the pressing plate 56, and the fixed state of the door opening / closing mechanism 12 is released when the pressing plate 56 is pressed.

  When the pressing plate 56 is pressed, the fixed state of the door opening / closing mechanism 12 is released regardless of the capacitance of the first electrode 34 and the second electrode 36. As a result, the automobile door 10 becomes movable. As described above, the door opening / closing mechanism 12 is driven by the door operation mechanism 54, so that the door opening / closing mechanism 12 can be released from the fixed state even when the drive unit 48 does not operate due to power supply interruption or the like. it can.

  In the configuration of FIG. 7, the second electrode 36 is provided in the door operation mechanism 54, but the door operation mechanism 54 may not include the second electrode 36. In this case, the position of the door operation mechanism 54 and the positions of the first electrode 34 and the second electrode 36 may be shifted in the vehicle front-rear direction.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Automobile door, 12 Door opening / closing mechanism, 14 Door fixing structure, 16 Car compartment surface, 22 Grip, 24 Interior plate, 26 Shell member, 28 Bottom plate, 30 Decorative plate, 32 Hollow part, 33-1 Door side inner wall surface, 33 -2 upper inner wall surface, 33-3 user side inner wall surface, 34 first electrode, 36 second electrode, 38 first touch area, 40 second touch area, 42 touch area mark, 44 lead wire, 46 automobile door operation device, 48 drive unit, 50 control unit, 51 electric drive unit, 52 outside handle, 54 door operation mechanism, 56 pressing plate.

Claims (3)

A grip-shaped portion provided on the vehicle compartment side of the automobile door;
A plurality of conductive members provided in the grip-shaped portion;
A drive unit that drives a door opening and closing mechanism in accordance with a change in capacitance of the plurality of conductive members,
At least one of the plurality of conductive members is disposed corresponding to a first region on the surface of the grip portion,
The remainder of the plurality of conductive members is disposed corresponding to the second region on the surface of the grip-shaped portion,
The automobile door operating device, wherein the first area and the second area face different directions. The automobile door operating device according to claim 1,
In the driving unit, the capacitance of the conductive member arranged corresponding to the first region is changed, and the capacitance of the conductive member arranged corresponding to the second region is changed. An automobile door operating device characterized in that the door opening / closing mechanism is sometimes driven. The automobile door operating device according to claim 1 or 2,
The vehicle door operating device according to claim 1, wherein the first region and the second region are located at opposing positions in the grip shape portion.

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