WO2012069125A1 - Actuator for converting a control signal to a mechanical movement - Google Patents

Abstract

The invention relates to an actuator for carrying out a function, especially a steering function, especially of a remote-controlled object, especially of a toy, toy vehicle, boat or aircraft. Said actuator comprises an input which is designed to receive a control signal, especially an electrical control signal, and a mechanically mobile output element which converts the control signal to a mechanical movement having at least one movement parameter. The actuator is designed such that the output element mechanically moves with an output force depending on the control signal, thereby changing at least one movement parameter of the output element, a counter-force device being provided which is mounted and designed such as to exert on the output element a counter-force counter to the movement of the output element, which counter-force is the higher the higher the value of the changing at least one movement parameter of the output element is so that the changing movement parameter of the output element turns stationary when the output force equals the counter-force. The mechanically movable output element comprises a lever, the at least one changing parameter being a pivot angle of the lever and the output force being a torque of a pivot movement of the lever. The counter-force device comprises two limbs that can be pivoted relative each other about a common pivot axis, the lever abutting on the limbs during a pivot movement and pivoting one of the limbs relative to the other limb depending on its direction of pivot. The limbs are interconnected by means of a spring element such that the limb pivoted by the lever exerts the counter-force onto the lever, a stopper being provided between the two limbs on which stopper the limb not pivoted by the lever abuts.

Description

 Actuator for converting a control signal into a mechanical movement

The present invention relates to an actuator for performing a function, in particular a steering function, in particular a remote-controlled object, in particular a toy, toy vehicle, boat or aircraft, with an input which is adapted to receive a control signal, in particular an electrical control signal, and with a mechanically movable output member, which converts the control signal into a mechanical movement with at least one movement parameter, wherein the actuator is designed such that the output member mechanically moves with an output force in response to the control signal and thereby at least one movement parameter of the output member changes a counter-force device is to proceed, which is arranged and designed such that it exerts on the output member a counter to the movement of the output member opposing force, which is greater, the larger the changing is at least one movement parameter of the output member, so that the changing motion parameter of the output member assumes a steady state when the output force is equal to the opposing force, According to the preamble of claim 1. The invention further relates to a method for operating an actuator, which is controlled with a control signal, in particular with an electrical control signal, and the control signal in a mechanical movement of an output member having at least one due to the movement-changing motion parameter and an output force, according to the preamble of claim 7.

For remote control of toy vehicles so-called digitally proportional remote controls are known in which it is possible, for example, a steering angle of steered wheels and / or a driving speed proportional to a deflection or position of a corresponding actuator on the remote control, such as control stick or actuator set , For this purpose, as actuators corresponding servomotors are present in the toy vehicle, which occupy a certain position, for example, the steering angle corresponding to a position of a joystick on the remote control and hold with its own control loop, as long as the joystick on the remote control has this corresponding position. In contrast, with simple remote controls, it is only possible to select a predetermined turning angle or a predetermined running speed with the operating elements operated by a user by hand or not. Intermediate positions are not possible. Despite these enormous advantages of digitally proportional remote controls, these are so expensive compared to simple remote controls that even today there are remote controlled toy vehicles with a simple remote control without so-called servomotors with proportional control of control functions, such as steering function or driving function.

From DE 1 992 440 a control device for toys with magnetically actuated output member is known, which transmits the movement to a pin. To generate a torque which acts indirectly or directly on a control element, the two poles or the axes of two oppositely-energized rotating coils S1 and S1 of an armature in the zero position of the armature form an angle between 0 ° and 90 ° with the magnetic poles of a stator. Of the Anchor is held in its zero position by means of mechanical restoring forces. Coils S1 and S2 are either energized or not energized.

The invention is based on the object, an actuator of o.g. Art to improve that the execution of control functions is improved with this actuator.

This object is achieved by an actor of o.g. Art having the features characterized in claim 1 and by a method of o.g. Art solved with the features characterized in claim 7. Advantageous embodiments of the invention are described in the further claims.

For an actor of the o.g. It is inventively provided that the mechanically movable output member comprises a lever, wherein the at least one changing parameter is a pivot angle of the lever and the output force is a torque of a pivotal movement of the lever, wherein the counter-force device has two relative to each other about a common pivot axis pivotable leg in which the lever strikes during a pivoting movement and pivoted depending on its pivoting direction of one of the two legs relative to the other leg, wherein the legs are connected to each other by means of a spring means such that each of the lever pivoted leg exerts the counterforce on the lever , wherein a stopper is provided between the two legs, against which the respective leg which is not pivoted by the lever strikes.

This has the advantage that with a simple variation of the output force by means of the control signal, a digital-proportional control of the actuator can be simulated with a simple electric motor, without requiring a costly servomotor as a mechanically movable output member. A particularly cost-effective, functionally reliable and little space-requiring actuator is achieved by the fact that the mechanically movable output member has an electric motor. A quasi-direct-proportional function of the actuator is achieved in that a height of the counterforce is proportional to the size of the at least one changing motion parameter.

A simple adjustability of the steering function in a basic position for driving straight ahead is achieved in a simple manner in that the stopper is designed to be adjustable in its position relative to the legs.

An automatic reset of the lever in a middle position, when the actuator receives no control signal, achieved by the fact that the spring device is designed such that it acts on the legs of the lever in the direction of a basic position or center position with a restoring force.

A particularly simple and reliable control of the actuator is achieved in that the control signal is an electrical signal with pulse width modulation (PWM) with a duty cycle, wherein the duty cycle determines the output force.

In a method of the aforementioned type, it is provided according to the invention that a counterforce is exerted against the mechanical movement of the output member depending on a magnitude of the motion parameter on the output member, wherein a magnitude of the counterforce increases with increasing value for the motion parameter until the motion parameter stationary state in which a further increase in the value of the movement parameter is stopped when the output force is equal to the counterforce. This has the advantage that with a simple variation of the output force by means of the control signal, a digital-proportional control of the actuator can be simulated with a simple electric motor, without requiring a costly servomotor as a mechanically movable output member.

The invention will be explained in more detail below with reference to the drawing. This shows in: an exemplary embodiment of a radio remote control for a toy vehicle with two actuators according to the invention for a steering function and a drive function in a schematic block diagram representation, a preferred embodiment of an actuator according to the invention with a counter-force device in a schematic representation and the counter-force device of the actuator of FIG. 2 in an enlarged schematic Presentation.

The illustrated in Fig. 1, exemplary embodiment of a radio remote control according to the invention comprises a transmitter 10 with two encoders 12 and 14 and a transmitting antenna 16. The encoders 12, 14 are each used to encode a position of an operator manually operable by an operator control element 18, 20. Hier For example, for the operator, the actuator 18 is used to control a steering function and the actuator 20 for controlling a driving speed of a driving toy otherwise not shown. The encoders 12, 14 detect the respective position of the associated control element 18, 20 and encode this position in a corresponding manner. The coded positions are transmitted via a radio link 22 from the transmitter 10 to a receiver 24 with receiving antenna 26. The receiver 24 evaluates the received radio signals and extracts the position of the actuating elements 18, 20 transmitted in the radio signals. The receiver 24 is arranged in the toy vehicle and generates from the received positions of the adjusting elements 18, 20 corresponding control signals 32, 34 for a first actuator 28, which serves for operating steered wheels of the toy vehicle, and a second actuator 30 for driving drive wheels of the toy vehicle. In the illustrated example, the positions of the control elements 18, 20 are represented by a duty cycle of electrical control signals 32, 34 with pulse width modulation (PWM), ie the duty cycle of the respective electrical control signal 32, 34 corresponds to the position of the respective control elements 18, 20. The pulse width modulation (PWM) (also called undershoot) is a type of modulation in which a technical quantity (eg electric current) alternates between two values. At constant frequency, the duty cycle of the signal is modulated, ie the width (not the width) of a pulse. The English term for the method is pulse-width modulation (PWM). A PWM signal is generally demodulated via a low pass. The resulting demodulated technical quantity corresponds to the arithmetic mean and thus the mean size of the area under the modulated size, mathematically determined from the integral over an integral number of periods divided by the duration of the integration. PWM is also known as Pulse Width Modulation (PWM) and Pulse Width Modulation (PDM). The electrical control signals 32, 34 are supplied to the actuators 28, 30 via respective amplifiers 36, 38. The actuators 28, 30 convert the control signals 32, 34 into a respective mechanical movement of an output element with a corresponding output force. For this purpose, the output member preferably has an electric motor which rotates with a respective torque as the output force, which corresponds to the duty cycle of the corresponding PWM control signal 32, 34. In other words, with the adjusting elements 18 and 20, a torque of the electric motors of the actuators 28 and 30 is controlled. The actuators 28, 30 convert the respective PWM control signal 32, 34 into a mechanical rotary or pivoting movement, depending on which control function is to be fulfilled by the respective actuator, as will be explained in more detail below. Fig. 2 illustrates the first actuator 28 in more detail. The first actuator 28 converts the control signal 32 into a mechanical movement in the form of a pivoting movement with a torque as an output force, wherein a movement parameter of the mechanical movement is a swivel angle. A shaft 40 of an electric motor 42 is rotatably connected to a lever 44, so that a movement or rotation of the shaft 40 leads to a pivoting of the lever 44. The lever 44 acts on a handlebar 46 which moves steerable wheels of the toy vehicle in a known, not shown manner. Furthermore, an extension 48 of the lever 44 is arranged on the handlebar 46 between two legs 50, 52 of a counter-force device 54. The counter-force device 54 is additionally shown in FIG. The legs 50, 52 of the counter-force device 54 are pivotable about a common pivot axis 56 and connected to each other via a spring means 58, wherein the spring means 58 is formed such that it exerts a restoring force on the legs 50, 52 when they are pivoted away from each other , as indicated by dashed legs 52 indicated. An arrow 60 illustrates the pivoting movement of the shaft 40 of the electric motor 42 and arrows 62 illustrate possible movements of the lever 44 and the steering rod 46 and the extension 48. Furthermore, between the legs 50, 52 a fixed stop 64 is provided, on which the legs 50, 52 strike under the action of the restoring force of the spring device 58. For the pivoted leg 52, the spring device 58 is shown simplified in Fig. 3 for the sake of clarity. In fact, the spring device 58 is stretched for the illustrated with dashed lines pivoted legs 52, resulting in a corresponding change in length or extension of the spring means 58, and mechanically connected at an end remote from the leg 52 with the other leg 50. The is prevented from pivoting with the leg 52 due to the stop on the stop 64, so that this leads to the tensioning of the spring means 58 due to the deflection or pivoting of the leg 52. The actuator 28 receives the control signal 32 via an input 66 and converts this into a pivotal movement of the shaft 40 of the electric motor 42 with a torque corresponding to the duty cycle of the PWM control signal 32 as a mechanical movement. This leads to a corresponding pivoting of the lever 44 with a pivoting angle as a movement parameter of the mechanical movement of the lever 44 as part of the output member of the actuator 28. About the extension 48 of the lever 44 strikes upon pivoting accordingly, for example, on the leg 52 and pivots this relative to other leg 50. This is in abutting engagement with the stopper 64 and therefore can not move with the leg 52 with. In this way, with increasing pivoting angle of the lever 44 of the leg 52 is increasingly pivoted and thereby increasingly tensioned the spring device, thus depending on the increasing movement parameter "pivot angle of the lever 44" an increasing restoring force or counterforce 68 (FIG. 3) on the Leg 52 in the direction of the stop 64 and thus exerts on the lever 44 against its mechanical direction of movement. As long as the duty cycle of the control signal 32 does not change, the torque of the mechanical movement of the lever 44 is constant. At the same time, however, the counterforce 68 continues to increase as the pivoting angle increases. The spring means 58 is now designed such that at a certain pivot angle of the lever 44, the torque of the first shaft 40 is equal to the restoring force and the counterforce 68. At this point, the mechanical movement of the lever 44 comes to a standstill and it sets a steady state for the movement parameter "pivoting angle of the lever 44" a. It is thus achieved a certain steering angle for the steered wheels of the toy vehicle, which corresponds to a position of the adjusting element 18 on the transmitter 10.

As soon as the actuating signal 32 is no longer received by the actuator 28 or whose duty ratio defines a torque of the first shaft 40 of zero, the leg 52, the extension 48, the handlebar 46, the lever 44 and the shaft 40 move back into the Starting position, as shown in Fig. 2 by solid lines, which is a straight-ahead driving the toy vehicle should correspond. In order to be able to set the wheels articulated by the handlebar 46 exactly straight, the stop 64 is adjustable in the directions 62.

It is noteworthy here that different pivot angle of the lever 44 and thus different steering angles of the steered wheels can be adjusted by simple variation of the duty cycle of the control signal 32, wherein it arrives here only on the balance of power between the torque of the output force and the counterforce 68 by the counter-force device. An elaborate servomotor with appropriate internal control is not necessary for the actuator 28. Thus, with an actuator 28 with a simple electric motor, a quasi-proportional control of the steering can be provided, although the electric motor alone would not be able to do so even with a corresponding control signal. However, this type of "semi-digital proportional" control is much less expensive than a true digital proportional control. For the operator, however, there is no noticeable difference in the control or operation of the toy vehicle, provided that the coding device 12 receives and codes the position of the adjusting element 18 in a correspondingly high resolution.

In the foregoing, the "semi-digital proportional" control is described with reference to an actuator 28 for steering a toy vehicle. However, this is just an example. This type of simulation or mechanical simulation of a digital proportional control can also be used for any other type of implementation of a control signal from an actuator into a mechanical movement. It is only important that the counter-force device 54 is mechanically formed in a corresponding manner, so that it generates a dependent of the essential movement parameter of the mechanical movement of the output member of the actuator counter force against the direction of movement of the output member. Thus, the equilibrium of forces between the output force (in this case, for example, torque) and the opposing force at a certain value for the motion parameter (here pivot angle) can be set, so that a movement of the output member is stopped and the value of Movement parameter is maintained as long as the predetermined by the duty cycle of the control signal output power does not change.

A method which the actuator according to the invention carries out, for example, is as follows: method for operating an actuator 28; 30, which is controlled by a control signal 32, 34, in particular with an electrical control signal, and the control signal 32, 34 in a mechanical movement of an output member 44; with at least one movement parameter changing due to the movement and an output force, characterized in that depending on a size of the motion parameter on the output member 40; a counterforce 68 against the mechanical movement of the output member 40; is applied, wherein a magnitude of the counterforce 68 increases with increasing value for the motion parameter until the motion parameter assumes a steady state in which a further increase in the value of the motion parameter is stopped when the output force is equal to the counterforce 68.

Claims

claims: Actuator (28) for performing a function, in particular a steering function, in particular a remote-controlled object, in particular a toy, toy vehicle, boat or aircraft, with an input (66), which for receiving a control signal (32), in particular an electrical control signal is formed is, and with a mechanically movable output member (40, 42, 44, 48), which converts the control signal (32) into a mechanical movement with at least one movement parameter, wherein the actuator (28) is formed such that the output member (40 , 42, 44, 48) with an output force in response to the control signal (32) moves mechanically and thereby at least one movement parameter of the output member (32) changed, wherein a counter-force device (54) is provided, which is arranged and formed such that this on the output member (40, 42, 44, 48) one of the movement of the output member (40, 42, 44, 48) counteracting counterforce (68) which is greater, the larger the changing at least one movement parameter of the output member (40, 42, 44, 48), so that the changing motion parameter of the output member (40, 42, 44, 48) is stationary Assumes state when the output force is equal to the counterforce (68), characterized , the mechanically movable output member comprises a lever (44), the at least one varying parameter being a pivoting angle of the lever (44) and the output force being a torque of pivoting movement of the lever (44), the counteracting means (54) reversing two relative to each other a common pivot axis (56) pivotable legs (50, 52), on which the lever (44) abuts during a pivoting movement and a function of its pivoting direction the two legs (50, 52) pivoted relative to the other leg (52, 50), wherein the legs (50, 52) are connected to each other by means of a spring device (58) such that the leg respectively pivoted by the lever (44) ( 50, 52), the counterforce (68) on the lever (44) exerts, wherein a stopper (64) between the two legs (50, 52) is provided, on which each of the lever (44) pivoted leg (50 , 52). Actuator (28) according to claim 1, characterized in that the mechanically movable output member (40, 42, 44, 48) has an electric motor (42). Actuator (28) according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that a height of the counterforce (68) is proportional, in particular directly proportional, to the size of the at least one changing movement parameter. Actuator (28) according to at least one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the stopper (64) in its position relative to the legs (50, 52) is adjustable. Actuator (28) according to at least one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the spring device (54) is designed such that it via the legs (50, 52) the lever (44) in the direction of a basic position or middle position with a restoring force applied. Actuator (28) according to at least one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the control signal (32) is an electrical signal with pulse width modulation (PWM) with a duty cycle, wherein the duty cycle determines the output force. Method for operating an actuator (28), which is controlled by a control signal (32), in particular by an electrical control signal, and the control signal (32) into a mechanical movement of an output member (44) having at least one movement parameter that changes due to the movement and converts a starting force, characterized, that a counterforce (68) is exerted against the mechanical movement of the output member (40) in response to a magnitude of the motion parameter on the output member (40), a magnitude of the counterforce (68) increasing with increasing value for the motion parameter until the motion parameter assumes a stationary state in which a further increase in the value of the movement parameter is stopped when the output force is equal to the counterforce (68).