Patent Grant
10395863
The present disclosure relates to a control dial having multiple torque and detent profiles.
This section provides background information related to the present disclosure, which is not necessarily prior art.
Rotary dials are often used in vehicles to provide control over various vehicle functions, such as heating, ventilation, and air cooling functions (HVAC), and entertainment system functions, such as volume control. While current rotary dials are suitable for their intended use, they are subject to improvement. The present disclosure provides for improved rotary dials, each of which advantageously provides multiple torque and detent profiles. The rotary dials according to the present disclosure include numerous additional advantages, as explained herein and as one skilled in the art will recognize.
This section provides a general summary of the disclosure, and is not a comprehensive disclosure of its full scope or all of its features.
The present disclosure includes a rotary dial assembly having a holder and a dial portion rotatably coupled to the holder. A plurality of dial magnets are fixed to the dial portion. A holder magnet is on a side of the holder opposite to the dial portion. The holder magnet is configured to attract or repel the plurality of dial magnets as the dial portion is rotated to resist rotation of the dial portion.
Further areas of applicability will become apparent from the description provided herein. The description and specific examples in this summary are intended for purposes of illustration only and are not intended to limit the scope of the present disclosure.
The drawings described herein are for illustrative purposes only of select embodiments and not all possible implementations, and are not intended to limit the scope of the present disclosure.
Corresponding reference numerals indicate corresponding parts throughout the several views of the drawings.
Example embodiments will now be described more fully with reference to the accompanying drawings.
With additional reference to
With continued reference to
The holder electromagnets 40/42 can be activated and deactivated by any suitable control module 50. In this application, including the definitions below, the term “module” may be replaced with the term “circuit.” The term “module” may refer to, be part of, or include processor hardware (shared, dedicated, or group) that executes code and memory hardware (shared, dedicated, or group) that stores code executed by the processor hardware. The code is configured to provide the features of the modules and systems described herein. The term memory hardware is a subset of the term computer-readable medium. The term computer-readable medium, as used herein, does not encompass transitory electrical or electromagnetic signals propagating through a medium (such as on a carrier wave). The term computer-readable medium is therefore considered tangible and non-transitory. Non-limiting examples of a non-transitory computer-readable medium are nonvolatile memory devices (such as a flash memory device, an erasable programmable read-only memory device, or a mask read-only memory device), volatile memory devices (such as a static random access memory device or a dynamic random access memory device), magnetic storage media (such as an analog or digital magnetic tape or a hard disk drive), and optical storage media (such as a CD, a DVD, or a Blu-ray Disc).
The holder electromagnets 40/42 can be individually activated and deactivated by the control module 50 in order to vary the torque profile (“click” positions) of the dial 20 based on the particular function that the rotary dial assembly 10 is configured to control. Arranging the holder electromagnets 40/42 such that the first holder electromagnet 40 is arranged opposite to one of the dial magnets 30 when the second holder electromagnet 42 is opposite to a gap or interval defined between the two of the dial magnets 30 will effectively increase the number of “click” positions of the dial 20 when both the first holder electromagnet 40 and the second holder electromagnet 42 are activated.
In the example of
Thus, when a dial magnet 30 is above the holder electromagnet 40, high torque is needed to rotate the dial 20. The further the dial is rotated, the larger the distance between the dial magnet 30 and the holder electromagnet 40, thereby reducing the torque required to rotate the dial 20. A snap-through point occurs when the holder electromagnet 40 is halfway between two of the dial magnets 30. At the snap-through point, no additional torque is required for rotation of the dial 20 because the dial will rotate itself due to magnetic attraction between the holder electromagnet 40 and the next dial magnet 30.
Rotation of the dial 20 from a first position where the holder electromagnet 40 is opposite to dial magnet 30B to a second position in which the holder electromagnet is opposite to dial magnet 30C constitutes a single “click” position. To increase the number of click positions of the rotary dial assembly 10, any suitable number of additional holder electromagnets can be included. For example, the second holder electromagnet 42 can optionally be included at the holder 22. The second holder electromagnet 42 is positioned opposite to a gap between neighboring dial magnets 30 when the first holder electromagnet 40 is directly opposite to one of the dial magnets 30, as illustrated in
By selectively activating one or both of the first and second holder electromagnets 40 and 42 (and/or any additional holder electromagnet), the control module 50 can effectively change the number “click” positions and torque profile of the rotary dial assembly 10 in order to customize the rotary dial assembly 10 for controlling particular functions. For example, when the dial 20 is used to control a function with a relatively fewer number of selectable options, the control module 50 will only activate the first holder electromagnet 40, and deactivate the second holder electromagnet 42. When the function to be controlled has a relatively greater number of options to be selected, the control module 50 will activate both the first and second holder electromagnets 40 and 42 to increase the number of “click” positions of the dial 20.
For example, when the rotary dial assembly 10 is used to control HVAC fan settings (of which there is a relatively small number of settings to select from), the control module 50 may activate only the first holder electromagnet 40, and not activate the second holder electromagnet 42. When the rotary dial assembly is used to set a target temperature of the HVAC (of which there is a relatively large temperature range to choose from), the control module 50 can activate both the first and second holder electromagnets 40 and 42. As another example, when the rotary dial assembly 10 is used for selecting satellite radio channels (of which there are many hundreds to select from) the control module 50 can activate both the first and second holder electromagnets 40 and 42 to make selection easier and more efficient (i.e., the dial 20 need not be rotated as far to change the channel from channel 1 to channel 50 as compared to when only the first holder electromagnet 40 is activated).
With reference to
As with the example of
With reference to
The holder electromagnet 40/42 can also be mounted on a rotation arm 52 (see
Sliding movement of the first holder electromagnet 40 when magnetized to attract the dial magnets 30 will now be described. As the dial 20 is rotated clockwise from the position illustrated in
As with the examples set forth above, the second holder electromagnet 42 may be included in addition to the first holder electromagnet 40, and the second holder electromagnet 42 may also be mounted in a slidable manner. When both the first and second holder electromagnets 40 and 42 are activated by the control module 50, the number of “click” positions will be doubled. The second holder electromagnet 42 is arranged to be opposite to a gap between dial magnets 30 when the first holder electromagnet 40 is directly opposite to one of the dial magnets 30.
The present teachings advantageously provide for a rotary dial assembly 10 that can change its torque profile and “click” frequency based on the particular vehicle function that the rotary dial assembly 10 is being used to control. Thus multiple torque profiles can be felt from the same rotary dial assembly 10. This gives the user a unique dial feeling for each mode that is being adjusted. Also, the configurations in which the holder electromagnet 40/42 slides between first and second stoppers 60A and 60B advantageously provides a smoother rotating feeling with more compressed and sharp peak torque values, which provides more narrow and sharply defined detents.
The foregoing description of the embodiments has been provided for purposes of illustration and description. It is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the disclosure. Individual elements or features of a particular embodiment are generally not limited to that particular embodiment, but, where applicable, are interchangeable and can be used in a selected embodiment, even if not specifically shown or described. The same may also be varied in many ways. Such variations are not to be regarded as a departure from the disclosure, and all such modifications are intended to be included within the scope of the disclosure.
Example embodiments are provided so that this disclosure will be thorough, and will fully convey the scope to those who are skilled in the art. Numerous specific details are set forth such as examples of specific components, devices, and methods, to provide a thorough understanding of embodiments of the present disclosure. It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that specific details need not be employed, that example embodiments may be embodied in many different forms and that neither should be construed to limit the scope of the disclosure. In some example embodiments, well-known processes, well-known device structures, and well-known technologies are not described in detail.
The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particular example embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting. As used herein, the singular forms “a,” “an,” and “the” may be intended to include the plural forms as well, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. The terms “comprises,” “comprising,” “including,” and “having,” are inclusive and therefore specify the presence of stated features, integers, steps, operations, elements, and/or components, but do not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, integers, steps, operations, elements, components, and/or groups thereof. The method steps, processes, and operations described herein are not to be construed as necessarily requiring their performance in the particular order discussed or illustrated, unless specifically identified as an order of performance. It is also to be understood that additional or alternative steps may be employed.
When an element or layer is referred to as being “on,” “engaged to,” “connected to,” or “coupled to” another element or layer, it may be directly on, engaged, connected or coupled to the other element or layer, or intervening elements or layers may be present. In contrast, when an element is referred to as being “directly on,” “directly engaged to,” “directly connected to,” or “directly coupled to” another element or layer, there may be no intervening elements or layers present. Other words used to describe the relationship between elements should be interpreted in a like fashion (e.g., “between” versus “directly between,” “adjacent” versus “directly adjacent,” etc.). As used herein, the term “and/or” includes any and all combinations of one or more of the associated listed items.
Although the terms first, second, third, etc. may be used herein to describe various elements, components, regions, layers and/or sections, these elements, components, regions, layers and/or sections should not be limited by these terms. These terms may be only used to distinguish one element, component, region, layer or section from another region, layer or section. Terms such as “first,” “second,” and other numerical terms when used herein do not imply a sequence or order unless clearly indicated by the context. Thus, a first element, component, region, layer or section discussed below could be termed a second element, component, region, layer or section without departing from the teachings of the example embodiments.
Spatially relative terms, such as “inner,” “outer,” “beneath,” “below,” “lower,” “above,” “upper,” and the like, may be used herein for ease of description to describe one element or feature's relationship to another element(s) or feature(s) as illustrated in the figures. Spatially relative terms may be intended to encompass different orientations of the device in use or operation in addition to the orientation depicted in the figures. For example, if the device in the figures is turned over, elements described as “below” or “beneath” other elements or features would then be oriented “above” the other elements or features. Thus, the example term “below” can encompass both an orientation of above and below. The device may be otherwise oriented (rotated 90 degrees or at other orientations) and the spatially relative descriptors used herein interpreted accordingly.
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| Number | Date | Country | |
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| 20190164705 A1 | May 2019 | US |
