Patent Application
20100276263
The present invention relates to a switch lever for a vehicle, and more particularly, to a switch lever for a vehicle for transferring an operation signal of each knob to a control unit of a corresponding device by two or more level arms disposed to be overlapped within a lever body, in a switching structure in which two or more knobs for turning on, turning on or off a headlight or a fog light, or adjusting a wiping interval of a windshield wiper are provided within a single lever, thereby simplifying a structure.
In general, in a vehicle, in order to turn on, or turn on or off a headlight or a fog light, when driving a vehicle, under environment in which visibility is not good, such as when driving at a night time or a foggy region, or to secure a range of sight of the front or the rear of a driver when it snows or rains while driving the vehicle, a plurality of switch levers for a vehicle for adjusting a wiping interval of a windshield wiper for wiping a front glass or a rear glass are provided.
The vehicle switch levers are commonly disposed around a steering handle for a driver's easy dealing, and by manipulating the switch lever in a vertical direction, a lateral direction, a front-rear direction, or by performing a front-reverse rotation, an operation of the corresponding device is appropriately induced.
As shown in
In this case, a spring (not shown) for providing elasticity for an easy contact of the contact holder 100 and the insulation part 110 is provided at one side of the contact holder 100 and the insulation part 110.
In the vehicle switch lever, when a plurality of knobs for manipulating two or more lights such as a headlight and a fog light, or a multi-stage windshield wiper that can variously adjust an interval thereof are disposed within a single switch lever, a contact holder for rotating together with the each knob and an insulation part and a wire for generating the corresponding operation signal by manipulating the each knob and for transferring the signal should be provided.
Therefore, according to a structure of a conventional switch lever for a vehicle in which a plurality of knobs are disposed within a single switch lever, because each of a separate contact holder, an insulation part, and a wire corresponding to the each knob together with the each knob should be provided, the number of parts for composing the single switch lever increases and the number of assembly processes increases according to the increase of the number of parts and thus productivity is deteriorated and a production cost increases. When a failure occurs between a contact holder and an insulation part for generating an operation signal, an entire switch lever should be disassembled and assembled, whereby there is difficulty in a maintenance.
The present invention has been made in an effort to solve the above problems, and the present invention provides a switch lever for a vehicle for directly transferring an operation signal from a fixed terminal to a control unit of the corresponding device through two or more lever arms disposed to be overlapped within a lever body without transferring an operation signal generated by performing a rotation manipulation of each knob through a separately drawn-out wire in a switching structure having two or more knobs within a single lever, thereby reducing the number of components, a switching structure can thus be simplified and thereby easily disassembling and assembling, a maintenance is thus easily performed.
According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided a switch lever for a vehicle that is installed in an extended form in a length direction at one side of a steering wheel to perform a manipulation in a vertical, lateral, front-rear direction, or to perform a forward or reverse rotation, thereby turning on, turning on or off a headlight or a fog light of the vehicle, or adjusting a wiping interval of a windshield wiper and including several manipulation levers to be mounted in the vehicle and used, preferably, including: a plurality of knobs that perform a rotation manipulation in order to turn on, turn on or off a headlight or a fog light of the vehicle, or to adjust a wiping interval of a windshield wiper of the vehicle; a pair of lever arms that are disposed within the knob to rotate together according to a rotation of the knobs; a pair of contact terminals each that is provided at an end part of one side of the lever arms to move according to a rotation of the lever arms; a guide member in which each of guide grooves for arriving and moving the contact terminals is formed; and an insulation part that contacts with each of the contact terminals to generate an operation signal.
Further, the lever arm may include: a first lever arm that forms a cylindrical body extended to a predetermined length, in which a coupling part for coupling one knob is formed at an end part of one side of the first lever arm, and in which a protruding part for coupling one contact terminal is formed at an end part of the other side thereof; and a second lever arm that forms a cylindrical body extended to a predetermined length that can house by penetrating the first lever arm to the inside thereof and in which a coupling part for coupling another knob is formed at an end part of one side of the second lever arm, and in which a protruding part for coupling the remaining contact terminal is formed at an end part of the other side thereof.
Here, it is preferable that the protruding part is formed in a spherical shape or a hemispherical shape.
Further, it is preferable that the protruding part is bent along a tilt line for forming a predetermined angle relative to a length direction of the lever arm from one end of the each lever arm.
Further, it is preferable that a ring-shaped arm holder for preventing interference due to a contact between the first lever arm and the second lever arm is mounted at an end part of the protruding part side of the first lever arm.
Further, it is preferable that a hollow lever holder is installed within a lever body having an external appearance for fixing the knob and a pair of lever arms penetrate the inside of the lever holder.
Further, it is preferable that a coupling part is bent along a tilt line for forming a predetermined angle relative to a length direction of the lever holder at the end part side of the lever holder adjacent to the protruding part of the lever arm.
Further, it is preferable that a fixed terminal is formed at an upper part of the insulation part.
Hereinafter, exemplary embodiments of a switch lever for a vehicle according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. The embodiments of the present invention are intended only to exemplify the present invention, and thus the present invention is not limited to the embodiments.
As shown in
The lever unit 2 has symbols for allowing a driver to distinguish a function such as an operation signal and an operation method for turning on, turning on or off a headlight or a fog light of a vehicle, or for adjusting a wiping interval of a windshield wiper of the vehicle while forming an external appearance of a switch lever of the present invention at an outer circumference thereof.
As shown in
For easy description of the present invention, a description is limited to a vehicle switch lever in which two knobs 6 and 8 are provided; one is called a first knob 6, and the other one is called a second knob 8. That is, a knob for manipulating a headlight of the vehicle is called a first knob 6, and a knob for manipulating a fog light is called a second knob 8.
The first knob 6 and the second knob 8 are connected by a pair of lever arms 14 and 16, and an arm coupled to the first knob 6 is called a first lever arm 14, and an arm coupled to the second knob 8 is called a second lever arm 16.
Further, the first lever arm 14 and the second lever arm 16 according to the present invention are connected by a pair of contact terminals 28 and 30, a first contact terminal 28 is coupled to the first lever arm 14, and a second contact terminal 30 is coupled to the second lever arm 16.
As shown in
The present invention is characterized by a configuration for generating an operation signal by manipulating two or more knobs 6 and 8 in order to control an operation of a headlight, a fog light, or a windshield wiper, and other configuration of the switch lever, except for the knobs 6 and 8, lever arms 14 and 16 interlocked with the knobs 6 and 8, contact terminals 28 and 30, a guide member 24, and an insulation part 34 is identical or similar to that of a conventional switch lever for a vehicle.
Specifically, a switch lever for a vehicle according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention includes a first knob 6 and a second knob 8 for rotating in order to turn on several lights, or to adjust a wiping interval of a windshield wiper, a first lever arm 14 and a second lever arm 16 that are connected to one side of the inside of the first knob 6 and the second knob 8, respectively, to rotate together according to a rotation of the each knob 6 and 8, a first contact terminal 28 and a second contact terminal 30 that are connected to an end part of one side of the first lever arm 14 and the second lever arm 16, respectively, to move according to a rotation of the first lever arm 14 and the second lever arm 16, a guide member 24 in which each of two guide grooves 26 and 26′ for arriving and moving the first contact terminal 28 and the second contact terminal 30 is formed, and an insulation part 34 for contacting with the first contact terminal 28 and the second contact terminal 30 that are coupled to a lower end of the first contact terminal 28 and the second contact terminal 30 to move and for generating an operation signal.
As shown in
The first lever arm 14 is penetrated to and inserted into a hollow part of the second lever arm 16. If the number of knobs is three or more, lever arms of the number corresponding to the number of the knobs are provided, a cylindrical lever arm is disposed at the innermost thereof, and the first lever arm 14 can be disposed by sequentially inserting according to a size of an inner diameter thereof so that the remaining cylindrical lever arms having different inner diameters other than the cylindrical lever arm are concentrically overlapped at an outer side of the cylindrical lever arm.
As the protruding part 18 of the first lever arm 14 and the second lever arm 16 according to the present invention are bent along a tilt line that forms a predetermined angle, i.e., an angle between 20° to 80° relative to a length direction of the lever arms 14 and 16 from one end of each of the lever arms 14 and 16, the protruding part 18 can be operated with a wide rotation radius only by a slight rotation of the lever arms 14 and 16.
As shown in
The coupling part of the lever holder 10 is coupled in a hinge type to a contact holder 22 of the body unit 42 and performs a function as a connection part that can transfer an operation signal requested by a driver toward a controller according to a manipulation (e.g. a vertical manipulation of the lever unit 2) of the lever unit 2 of a vehicle driver.
Further, when the first lever arm 14 is disposed to penetrate the inside of the second lever arm 16, in order to prevent interference due to a mutual contact of the first lever arm 14 and the second lever arm 16, an arm holder 48 may be further mounted at an end part toward the protruding part 18 of the first lever arm 14, as shown in
The arm holder 48 is a plate-shaped ring having a hole for penetrating the first lever arm 14 and is a member for independently operating the first lever arm 14 and the second lever arm 16, and it is more preferable that one side of the arm holder 48 is fixed within the coupling part 12 of the lever holder 10.
As shown in
The first contact terminal 28 and the second contact terminal 30 arrive within the guide grooves 26 and 26′ formed in the guide member 24 that is shown in
Further, as the insulation part 34 has a fixed terminal 40 of a metal material at an upper end thereof, the contact terminals 28 and 30 and the fixed terminal 40 of the insulation part 34 moving along the lever arms 14 and 16 contact with each other, and within the insulation part 34, terminals that can generate other operation signals when the vehicle driver manipulates the lever unit 2 may be further provided in addition to the fixed terminal 40 contacting with the contact terminals 28 and 30.
An operation of a switch lever for a vehicle according to the present invention having such a structure is described as follows.
First, in order to turn on, turn on or off a headlight or a fog light of a vehicle, or to adjust a wiping interval of a windshield wiper of the vehicle, if the vehicle driver rotates the first knob 6 or the second knob 8, the first lever arm 14 or the second lever arm 16 connected to one side of the first knob 6 or the second knob 8, respectively, rotates together with a rotation of the first knob 6 or the second knob 8.
As the first lever arm 14 or the second lever arm 16 rotates, the protruding part 18 provided at an end part of one side thereof rotates together, and the first contact terminal 28 or the second contact terminal 30 connected to the protruding part 18 moves along the guide grooves 26 and 26′ of the guide member 24.
In this case, as the first contact terminal 28 or the second contact terminal 30 contacts with the fixed terminal 40 of the insulation part 34 provided at a lower part thereof, the first contact terminal 28 or the second contact terminal 30 generates an operation signal requested by a driver, thereby turning on, turning on or off a headlight or a fog light, or adjusting a wiping interval of a windshield wiper.
As described above, according to a switch lever for a vehicle of the present invention, a plurality of lever arms rotating together with a plurality of knobs are disposed to be overlapped within a single lever body, and by allowing the each lever arm to contact with an insulation part in which a fixed terminal is provided, an operation signal occurs and thus the number of parts of the switch lever can be remarkably reduced.
Further, in the present invention, by changing a contact point position of the switch lever using a plurality of lever arms disposed to be overlapped within the single lever body, disassembly and assembly can be very easily performed and thus productivity can be improved and a production cost of a product can be lowered. By simplifying a contact structure of a contact terminal and a fixed terminal of the insulation part, a contact failure problem between terminals of an existing structure can be solved.
It should be understood that the present invention can be executed in a detailed form different from an exemplary embodiment illustrated in the invention without changing the spirit and scope of the invention by those skilled in the art. Therefore, it should be understood that the above-described embodiment is not to limit the present invention but to illustrate it. Therefore, the scope of the present invention is represented by the following claims rather than the detailed description, and various changes and modifications derived from the spirit and scope of the claims and an equivalent concept thereof are also included in the scope of the invention.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10-2007-0125663 | Dec 2007 | KR | national |
| Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind | 371c Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| PCT/KR08/07225 | 12/5/2008 | WO | 00 | 7/13/2010 |
