Control panel with double rotary control for a motor vehicle

Details Control panel with double rotary control for a motor vehicle Control panel with double rotary control for a motor vehicle

2000-04-12

2002-04-30

Fenstermacher, David (Department: 3682)

Machine element or mechanism

Shaft operators

Gear drive

C074S010450

Reexamination Certificate

active

06378388

ABSTRACT:

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The invention relates to a control panel for a motor vehicle system, such as, for example, a heating, ventilating and/or air conditioning system for the passenger space of the vehicle.
It more particularly relates to a control panel of the type comprising a housing supporting at least one double control unit formed by two coaxial rotating knobs disposed projecting relative to the housing and respectively coupled with two shafts, which are capable of being connected to the elements of the system.
Control panels of this type are already known, in particular from the publication FR 2 756 067 by the Applicant, or also from publications FR 2 631 719, FR 2 693 408 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,093,764.
BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
One of the objects of the invention is to reduce the spatial requirement of a control panel of the above-mentioned type so as to be able to integrate it more easily in a dashboard of a motor vehicle.
Another object of the invention is to obtain a control panel which has a narrow facade to form a control panel of the extra-flat type.
For this purpose the invention proposes a control panel of the type defined in the introduction, in which one of the shafts, or first shaft, bears a coaxial worm screw capable of driving in rotation a toothed wheel around an axis orthogonal to the axis of the shaft, the said toothed wheel being capable of being functionally coupled with a first element of the system, and in which the other shaft, or second shaft, is parallel to the first shaft and is cable of being functionally coupled to a second element of the system.
The joint use of a worm screw and of a toothed wheel contributes towards reducing the spatial requirement of the control panel, given that this screw and this wheel can occupy a confined space which is relatively flat.
By the expression “toothed wheel” is understood both a complete toothed wheel as well as a toothed sector.
Other optional complementary or alternative characteristics of the invention are given below:
the one of the first shaft and of the second shaft is coaxial with the control knobs.
The second shaft is coaxial with the control knobs and is directly driven by one of the knobs, called “second knob”, whereas the first shaft is indirectly driven by the other knob, called “first knob”.
The first knob is fixed in rotation with an annular gear which meshes with a toothed pinion fixed in rotation with the worm screw.
The toothed wheel is fixed in rotation with a control lever.
The control lever is connected to a control cable, which is connected to the first element of the system.
The axis of the toothed wheel is substantially perpendicular to a bottom wall of the housing.
The second shaft has a free end which is directly connected to the second element of the system.
The second shaft has a free end which is indirectly connected to the second element of the system.
The second element of the system is a rotary switch.
The panel comprises a double control unit and at least one cursor control disposed projecting relative to the housing.
The panel comprises a double control unit and two cursor controls disposed on either side of the double control unit.
The panel comprises two double control units having parallel axes.


REFERENCES:
patent: 3411541 (1968-11-01), Hindman et al.
patent: 3858129 (1974-12-01), Ashida et al.
patent: 4045739 (1977-08-01), Kawasaki
patent: 4816629 (1989-03-01), Cummings
patent: 4995554 (1991-02-01), Auvity et al.
patent: 5093764 (1992-03-01), Hasegawa et al.
patent: 5924332 (1999-07-01), Ozeki
patent: 6031226 (2000-02-01), Parekh et al.
patent: 28 08 661 (1979-09-01), None
patent: 2 693 408 (1994-01-01), None

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