Machine element or mechanism – Gearing – Interchangeably locked
Reexamination Certificate
2002-07-31
2004-07-13
Pang, Roger (Department: 3681)
Machine element or mechanism
Gearing
Interchangeably locked
Reexamination Certificate
active
06761081
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention pertains to a shifting device for shifting between different operating states of a motor vehicle transmission, with a gear shift lever, which is mounted movably in a bracket and can be moved in a first direction between two shift gates and which can also be moved in a second direction along a first of two shift gates into three shift positions, with a signal transmitter for sending a transmitter signal, and with three sensors arranged at spaced locations from the signal transmitter and in the form of a triangle for detecting the transmitter signal, wherein the sensors and the signal transmitter can be moved in relation to one another by means of the gearshift lever, and electric signals characterizing the particular shift position are sent by the sensors at least indirectly to an evaluator, by which the transmission can be put into different operating states as a function of the electric signals
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Such shifting devices have been known from the state of the art. A shifting device with a pivotably mounted gearshift lever, which can be shifted between two shift gates, namely, between a main path and an auxiliary path, by a pivoting movement in a first direction, is disclosed in DE 694 08 356 T2 (EP 0 620 385 B1). Furthermore, the gearshift lever can be pivoted into different shift positions in a second direction extending at right angles to the first direction, the different shift positions of the gearshift lever being detected by means of four sensors and four signal transmitters. The four sensors are arranged here on a plate fixed in the housing of the shifting device, and the four signal transmitters are fixed on a movable plate, which is located above the fixed plate and is coupled with the gearshift lever. The sensors are designed as Hall sensors and the signal transmitters as magnets, wherein the Hall sensors send electric signals corresponding to the particular shift position to an electronic module, which actuates the transmission by means of actuators. One of these sensors is arranged such that it can be determined by means of this sensor whether the gearshift lever is shifted into the main path or into the auxiliary path.
SUMMARY AND OBJECTS OF THE INVENTION
Based on this prior art, the basic object of the present invention is to provide a shifting device of the type mentioned in the introduction, whose design and manufacture are simplified.
The shifting device according to the present invention for shifting between different operating states of the motor vehicle transmission has a gearshift lever, which is mounted movably in a bracket and can be moved in a first direction between two shift gates and can be additionally moved into three shift positions in a second direction along a first of the shift gates. The shifting device has a signal transmitter for sending a transmitter signal and at least three sensors arranged at spaced locations from the signal transmitter and in the form of a triangle for detecting the transmitter signal. The sensors and the signal transmitter can be moved in relation to one another by means of the gearshift lever, and the electric signals characterizing the particular shift position are sent by the sensors at least indirectly to an evaluating means, by means of which the transmission can be put into different operating states as a function of the electric signals. The signal transmitter is designed such that at the site of the sensors, the transmitter signal sweeps an area that is larger than or equal to the area of a rectangle, in which the triangle can be congruently imaged, one side of the rectangle extending in parallel to the first shift gate, and all three sensors are in interaction with the transmitter signal in a first of the three shift positions.
The different shift positions of the gearshift lever in the first shift gate can be recognized by the signal transmitter and the sensors arranged in the form of a triangle (triangular arrangement) being able to be moved or displaced by means of the gearshift lever relative to one another. Depending on the shift position, different combinations of the sensors are in interaction with the transmitter signal, so that the shift position particularly assumed can be unambiguously determined on the basis of the electric signals sent by the sensors. Thus, the transmitter signal has at least such a signal intensity over the entire swept area that the sensors can be in interaction with the transmitter signal.
The shifting device according to the present invention has only a single signal transmitter for three sensors, and the number of components is therefore reduced, and the design is thus simplified. Since it is not necessary to position and fasten a plurality of signal transmitters on one plate, the manufacture of the shifting device according to the present invention is also simplified.
If the area swept by the transmitter is larger than the area of the rectangle, the swept area may also deviate from the rectangular shape.
If the signal transmitter is designed such that the area through which the transmitter signal flows also increases with increasing distance from the signal transmitter, the active area of the signal transmitter that sends the transmitter signal may be smaller than the area of the rectangle. However, the active area of the signal transmitter may also be approximately equal to the area of the rectangle, so that the effort needed for dimensioning the active area with respect to the triangular arrangement is reduced.
The sensors may be provided on a printed circuit board fastened to the gearshift lever, and the signal transmitter may be provided on the bracket of the shifting device. However, the sensors are preferably arranged on the bracket and the signal transmitter on the gearshift lever. Since the signal transmitter is usually provided with only a few electric connections or with no electric connections at all, but each sensor has at least two electric connections, the effort needed for the electric wiring along the movable gearshift lever is reduced by this preferred arrangement.
The sensors may be fastened on a flat printed circuit board. However, the movement of the sensors fastened to the gearshift lever and of the signal transmitter fastened to the gearshift lever takes place on a curved path in the case of a pivotably mounted gearshift lever. To ensure that the distance between the sensors and the signal transmitter as viewed from the pivoting mount of the gearshift lever is affected by the pivoting movement of the gearshift lever, the sensors are preferably arranged on a curved printed circuit board, whose curvature corresponds to the curved pivoting path of the gearshift lever. As a result, the interaction between the signal transmitter and the sensors can be improved.
The signal transmitter may be an illumination source or a reflector illuminated by an illumination source, the sensors being designed as optical sensors and the transmitter signal being sent in the form of optical radiation. The signal transmitter and the sensors are not limited to the visible spectrum of the electromagnetic waves, but they may also interact with one another by means of, e.g., infrared rays. A magnet may also be provided as a signal transmitter, in which case the transmitter signal is sent in the form of a magnetic field. The magnet may be designed as an electromagnet, which is supplied with power via electric lines. However, a permanent magnet is preferably provided as a signal transmitter, in which case the sensors are formed by Hall sensors. No electric connections are necessary for operating the signal transmitter in the case of a permanent magnet, so that the effort needed for wiring is, on the whole, reduced.
The three shift positions in the first shift gate can be used to shift the transmission of the motor vehicle up or down by one or more gears without having to leave the first shift gate with the gearshift lever. A front shift position of the three shift positions is intended for upshifting and a rear shift
McGlew and Tuttle , P.C.
Pang Roger
ZF Lemförder Metallwaren AG
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