Patent Application
20240149674
This patent application claims priority from Italian patent application no. 102022000022764 filed on Nov. 4, 2022, the entire disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference.
The present invention relates to a control panel for a vehicle.
The present invention can be advantageously implemented in the control panel of a car, to which the following description will make explicit reference without any consequent loss in generality.
A car comprises a dashboard, which constitutes the front wall of the passenger compartment located below the windscreen. The dashboard supports a control panel, which is arranged in front of the driver immediately behind the steering wheel.
In the past, the control panel only comprised analogue instruments with needles and a few indicator lights; gradually small digital screens appeared, which over time became increasingly larger and more defined to show images of increasing complexity until they became fully programmable. Digital displays initially replaced the odometer and some indicator lights, subsequently they replaced the secondary analogue instruments (such as, for example, the residual fuel indicator and the clock), and finally in some cases they replaced the main analogue instruments (i.e. the speedometer and rev counter) as well, thus realizing a fully digital instrumentation.
The fully digital instrumentation is normally greatly appreciated in “relaxed” driving (particularly in the city) since, being fully programmable, it allows useful driving information to be highlighted (for example, the speed of the vehicle, which is indispensable information for complying with the limits imposed by the law, and the navigation system) in such a manner that the useful driving information is readily and immediately readable without it being necessary to take one's eyes off the road for too long. However, the fully digital instrumentation is generally less appreciated in “sports” driving, particularly in track driving, inasmuch as it is deemed harder to read with immediacy (i.e. it requires more attention to acquire the information displayed by the instrumentation, as a quick glance is generally not sufficient).
In the high-performance s cars currently in production, a compromise is normally chosen which provides the presence of a single analogue instrument that indicates the rpm of the engine (i.e. a rev counter) flanked by one or two digital screens; however, this solution is a compromise that generally adversely affects both the analogue instrument (which cannot be very large so as not to take away too much space from the digital screens) and the digital screens (which necessarily have relatively small dimensions so as not to overlap with the analogue instrument and are thus poorly suited to showing a detailed map navigation system, which, however, is highly appreciated especially in city driving).
The patent EP3138722B1 describes a control panel comprising a digital screen and an analogue instrument provided with a circular support element and a needle that moves within the support element; the analogue instrument is movable so as to be arranged only when needed in a working position, in which the analogue instrument overlaps the digital screen in such a manner that the support element of the analogue instrument covers a corresponding part of said digital screen.
The patent application US2005212669A1 describes a display apparatus for a vehicle comprising a screen with a plurality of display areas.
The patent U.S. Pat. No. 6,568,345B1 describes a control panel comprising multiple instrument clusters with differently arranged display devices. The instrument clusters are mounted on a single support or frame, which is mounted in a rotary manner so as to be selectable and viewable one at a time behind a display surface.
The object of the present invention is to provide a control panel for a vehicle which allows information to be displayed in a manner that the driver can, in all driving situations, obtain the data he or she needs with a minimum amount of distraction.
According to the present invention, a control panel for a vehicle is provided as claimed in the accompanying claims.
The claims describe preferred embodiments of the present invention and form an integral part of the present description.
The present invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying figures, which illustrate non-limiting embodiments thereof, wherein:
In
The dashboard 1 supports a control panel 2, which is arranged in front of the driver behind a steering wheel 3. In particular, the control panel 2 is arranged above a support body that internally houses the steering column (i.e. the element at one end of which the steering wheel 3 is mounted).
The control panel 2 comprises a box-type housing 4, which has a substantially parallelepiped shape (having rounded edges) and is cup-shaped in order to contain all components of the control panel 2 within it; in particular, the housing 4 has an open end that faces the steering wheel 3 (i.e. the driver) and is closed by a transparent panel 5 that reproduces the shape of the housing 4 so as to engage the entire area of the housing 4. According to a preferred embodiment, the housing 4 comprises a connecting element that protrudes cantilevered from a lower wall of the housing 4 and is configured to attach the housing 4 to the dashboard 1 of the vehicle; in particular, the connecting element is a ring that is fit around a cylindrical support of the dashboard 1.
According to the illustration shown in
According to a preferred embodiment illustrated in the accompanying figures, the through opening 7 obtained through the main body 6 has a circular (round) shape; according to a different embodiment not illustrated, the through opening 7 obtained through the main body 6 has a shape different from a round shape (e.g., a rectangular shape, an elliptical shape, or a polygonal shape).
According to the illustration shown in
The secondary body 8 is mounted in a rotary manner in order to rotate around a rotation axis 11 (and inside the through aperture 7) so that, by rotating each time by 180° around the rotation axis 11, the secondary body 8 shows, through the through opening 7 of the main body 6, its face 9 or, alternatively, its face 10. The rotation axis 11 is coplanar with the main body 6, i.e. it lies in the main body 6. In other words, the secondary body 8 is able to rotate around the rotation axis 11 inside the through opening 7, therefore the secondary body 8 has a size that is substantially the same (to minimize the clearance) as a size of the through opening 7 but is in fact slightly smaller than the size of the through opening 7 in order to allow the rotation of the secondary body 8 inside the through opening 7.
In the embodiment illustrated in the accompanying figures, the rotation axis 11 is horizontal; alternatively, the rotation axis 11 can be vertical or inclined (e.g., 45°) with respect to either the horizontal or the vertical.
According to the illustration shown in
The face 9 of the secondary body 8 can support a potentially embossed printed image 13 or a predefined graphic representation that is static, i.e. not modifiable in any way as illustrated in
The face 10 of the secondary body 8 can support a digital screen 15 (for example produced with LED technology or OLED technology) as illustrated in
As illustrated in
According to the embodiment illustrated in
Summarizing the above, the control panel 2 can have a completely digital version that is encountered when the digital screen 17 that covers (entirely) the visible surface of the main body 6 is flanked by the digital screen 15 carried by the secondary body 8 to form almost seamlessly a digital screen that occupies the entire area of the control panel 2 (as illustrated in
Summarizing the above, the control panel 2 can have a hybrid version (digital and analogue) in which the digital screen 17 that covers (entirely) the visible surface of the main body 6 is flanked by the analogue instrument 14 or 16 carried by the secondary body 8 (as illustrated in
Summarizing the above, the control panel 2 can have a completely analogue version in which the analogue instruments 19 mounted on the main body 6 are flanked by the analogue instrument 14 or 16 carried by the secondary body 8 (as illustrated in
According to the illustration shown in
The control unit 20 can be configured to arrange the secondary body 8 so as to show, through the through opening 7 of the main body 6, a face 9 or 10 of the secondary body 8 in a road driving mode (i.e. designed for use on roads open to the public and subject to the limits imposed by the traffic code) and so as to show, through the through opening 7 of the main body 6, the other face 10 or 9 of the secondary body 8 in a performance driving mode (i.e. designed for use in circuit driving). For example, in the embodiment illustrated in
The control unit 20 can be configured to arrange the secondary body 8 in the position desired by the driver independently of the state (turned on or turned off) of the vehicle and independently of the driving mode set by the driver.
According to the embodiment illustrated in the accompanying figures, the main body 6 has a single through opening 7 engaged by the secondary body 8. According to other embodiments not illustrated, the main body 6 has multiple through openings 7 each engaged by a corresponding secondary body 8. For example, there can be a larger through opening 7 arranged in the center and two or more smaller through openings 7 arranged on the sides; or there can be two (or more) larger through openings 7 arranged in the center and possibly some smaller through openings 7 arranged on the sides (also having sizes different from one another).
The embodiments described herein can be combined with one another without departing from the scope of protection of the present invention.
The above-described control panel 2 can be implemented advantageously in any type of road vehicle (such as a car or a motorcycle) as well as in any type of non-road vehicle.
The above-described control panel 2 has numerous advantages.
First of all, the above-described control panel 2 allows information to be displayed in such a manner that the driver can obtain, in all driving situations, the data he or she needs with a minimum amount of distraction. This result is achieved thanks to the fact that, depending on the driving situation and/or the wishes of the driver, the information can be displayed in a differentiated manner using different display means (by rotating the secondary body 8 by 180°, it is possible to invert the face 9 or 10 of the secondary body 8 visible through the through opening 7 of the main body 6, whereby it is possible to modify the display means arranged in the control panel 2 in front of the driver).
In this regard, it is important to note that the information displayed in a completely digital form can be more complete and more detailed, while the information displayed in an analogue form is less complete and less detailed but perceptible more rapidly (it being sufficient to see the position of the needles without actually reading the numerical scale associated with the needles). It would also be possible to reproduce the needles digitally; however, it has been demonstrated that the visibility of a physical needle is far superior to the visibility of a needle displayed on a digital screen (in particular because the physical needle creates a three-dimensionality that makes it easier to see the physical needle).
In other words, the above-described control panel 2 allows information to be displayed using only the digital screens 15 and 17 when the driver requires the presentation of complex information (typically a map navigation system during “relaxed” driving) and also allows an analogue instrument 14 to be used when the driver requires this type of instrumentation for “sports” driving. In other words, the above-described control panel 2 is not a bad compromise between the need to have a large digital screen and the conflicting need to also have a large analogue instrument; in fact, the above-described control panel 2 makes it possible to have (at different times) both a large digital screen and an analogue instrument as a function of the wishes of the driver.
Moreover, the above-described control panel 2 has a particularly contained bulk so that it can be integrated in any type of vehicle.
Finally, the above-described control panel 2 has a relatively low production cost inasmuch as it uses simple components that are readily available on the market.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 102022000022764 | Nov 2022 | IT | national |
