Switch and switch device for a motor vehicle

• US 6,635,972 B1
• Filed: 04/20/2000
• Issued: 10/21/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 10/25/1997
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Marquardt GmbH (J U J Marquardt KG)
• Original Assignee: Marquardt GmbH (J U J Marquardt KG)
• Inventors: Hafen, Reinhold, Barthel, Klaus, Mueller, Karl
• Primary Examiner(s): FLEMING, FRITZ M
• Application Number:
  US09/529,809
• Time in Patent Office: 1,279 Days
• Field of Search: 200/1.R, 307/9.1, 307/10.1, 307/116, 307/125, 701/36, 701/49
• US Class Current: 307/9.1
• CPC Class Codes: B60K 2360/139 Clusters of instrument input devices
• CPC Class Codes: B60K 2370/139 Clusters of input devices
• CPC Class Codes: B60K 35/10 Input arrangements, i.e. from user to vehicle, associated with vehicle functions or specially adapted therefor
• CPC Class Codes: H01H 1/58 Electric connections to or between contacts; Terminals for high tension switches H01H33/025; for electromagnetic relays H01H50/14; for circuit breakers H01H71/08
• CPC Class Codes: H01H 11/0031 for allowing different types or orientation of connections to contacts
• CPC Class Codes: H01H 23/003 with more than one electrically distinguishable condition in one or both positions
• CPC Class Codes: H01H 23/08 Bases; Stationary contacts mounted thereon
• CPC Class Codes: H01H 2300/03 Application domotique, e.g. for house automation, bus connected switches, sensors, loads or intelligent wiring
• CPC Class Codes: H01H 2300/04 Programmable interface between a set of switches and a set of functions, e.g. for reconfiguration of a control panel
• CPC Class Codes: Y02B 90/20 Smart grids as enabling technology in buildings sector smart grids supporting the management or operation of end-user stationary applications in general, or like technologies with no associated climate change mitigation effect Y04S20/00
• CPC Class Codes: Y04S 20/14 Protecting elements, switches, relays or circuit breakers

Abstract

The invention relates to an electrical switch, in particular for a motor vehicle. The switch has a housing in which a contact system is located. Electrical connections which are located on the housing lead to the contact system, of which electrical connections first electrical connections are used to apply a power voltage for a high power current, and second electrical connections are used to apply a signal voltage for a low signal current. Optionally and if required, one connection can carry the power current via the first electrical connections and/or the signal current via the second electrical connections. Electrical switches designed in such a way are particularly suitable for arrangement in a control panel for a motor vehicle.

Claims

1. An electrical switch comprising:

a first contact system comprising at least one fixed contact and one switching contact, the first contact system being designed for switching a high power current as well as a low signal current; and

a plurality of electrical connections which lead to the first contact system, wherein the electrical connections comprise first electrical connections for application of a first voltage in the form of a power voltage for a high power current, and second electrical connections for application of a second voltage in the form of a signal voltage for a low signal current, the first electrical connections and the second electrical connections being electrically connected to only the one first contact system, in that, one connection can carry at least one of the power current via the first electrical connections and the signal current via the second electrical connections to the contact system.

2. The electrical switch according to claim 1, wherein the first contact system is located in a housing of the switch, in that, the electrical connections are located on the housing on a lower face, and in that, an operating member which is in the form of a rocker is arranged on the housing on an upper face, in order to provide manual switching for the first contact system and in that a further, second contact system is arranged in the housing in that, when the rocker is in a first, operated switch position, the first contact system is in a switched-on state and, when the rocker is in a second, operated switch position, the second contact system is in a switched-on state.

3. The electrical switch according to claim 2, wherein the lower face of the housing is mounted on a printed circuit board, in that, supply lines for the signal voltage are located on the printed circuit board, in which case the second electrical connections can make contact with the supply lines, in that, furthermore, the second electrical connections are electrically connected to the first contact system via a board located in the switch, in that, furthermore and in addition, the switching signals which are produced by the switch by means of the supplied signal voltage and depending on the switch position of the first contact system, can be transmitted to a control circuit located on the printed circuit board, and the switching signals can be converted in the control circuit into bus signals, the bus signals being CAN bus signals, which can be transmitted from the control circuit to a bus line.

4. The electrical switch according to claim 3, wherein a holder is located on the lower face of the housing and accommodates the first electrical connections to receive a plug in order to supply the power voltage, in that, the holder is located in a central region of the housing, and in that, furthermore, an opening which corresponds to the holder and whose shape and size allow the plug to pass through is located in the printed circuit board.

5. The electrical switch according to claim 4, wherein the second electrical connections are located on the lower face of the housing and adjacent to the holder, in that, the second electrical connections are in the form of plug receptacles, which are in the form of a floating bearing or a latched-in attachment, are arranged with electrical connecting lines to the board in the housing in that, the second electrical connections can be plugged onto associated plug contacts which are located on the printed circuit board.

6. The electrical switch according to claim 5, wherein at least one resilient latching arm is arranged on the housing, so that the switch can be plugged in a locking manner into a supporting component which contains a plurality of switches in a switch arrangement for a control panel, and in that, the switch can be unlocked and removed from the supporting component by applying a tool, to the latching arm, in which case, furthermore, the tool has an arm, which corresponds to the latching arm for unlocking the latching arm, and an attachment which is connected to the arm for acting on the lower face of the housing, in that, the switch can be pushed out of the supporting component on the face associated with the lower face of the housing.

7. The electrical switch according to claim 6, wherein the first contact system is in the form of a snap-action system, with, in the case of the snap-action system, the operating member acting on a bearing arm by means of an attachment, with the bearing arm being mounted on a connecting part such that it can move, with the switching contact in turn being mounted in a blade bearing on the bearing arm such that it can move, and with a tension spring being on the one hand attached firmly in the housing and on the other hand being attached in the switching contact, so that the switching contact interacts, with a switching action with at least one fixed contact located on a further connecting part switching over between two fixed contacts, in that, the connecting parts merge via an extension on one face into the first electrical connections, in that, furthermore, at least one connecting part leads via an extension on the other face to the board for the electrical connection to the second electrical connections, and in that, at least one light-emitting diode, which is associated with the operating member, for function and/or symbol lighting, is arranged on the operating member on the board, with the voltage supply for operation of the light-emitting diode passing via the second electrical connections.

8. The electrical switch according to claim 7, wherein the first contact system , on the one hand, contains a contact material that is suitable for power currents and, on the other hand, has a low electrical contact resistance, the contact-making parts of the first contact system being the switching contact and the fixed contact, are provided with an electrically highly conductive layer, such that, when the switch is used for switching signal currents, only a slight voltage drop occurs across the first contact system, and, when the switch is used for switching power currents, this layer may be destroyed or removed, increasing the voltage drop across the first contact system.

9. A switch arrangement for a control panel in a motor vehicle having a plurality of switches according to claim 1, the switch arrangement comprising:

a control circuit;

a plurality of signal lines from the control circuit to the switches for transmitting signals between the control circuit and the switches; and

a storage device used to store an assignment, the storage device assigns each individual switch one function, from a set of functions, which can be switched by the respective switch and/or can be initiated by the control circuit.

10. The switch arrangement according to claim 9, wherein, before at least one of the control panel and the motor vehicle is activated by a user, the control panel can be initialized by storing the assignment, the assignment being an assignment table, in the storage device, in that, the control circuit contains a processor, with the operation of the control circuit being monitored by means of an external window watchdog module, in that, furthermore, the control circuit is provided with a voltage regulator assembly which is designed to satisfy the requirements in the commercial vehicle field, and in that, the control circuit is coupled to a bus the bus being a CAN bus, by means of a high-speed transmission module and, with an upstream suppression inductor.

11. The switch arrangement according to claim 10, wherein, the switching state of each of the plurality of switches can be determined by the control circuit on the basis of the signals transmitted on the signal lines by the control circuit reading the signal lines using a multiplexing method via analog/digital converters, in that, the assignment stored in the storage device is used to check an operated switch in the control circuit to determine which function has been selected, in that, a bus signal which codes the respective function, the bus signal being a CAN bus signal, can be generated in the control circuit, and in that, furthermore, the supply voltage for the electronic components, the electronic components being the control circuit, can be switched to a sleep mode, with a reduced current draw, in order to minimize the current consumption, and the signal voltage supply for the switches can be switched off.

12. The switch arrangement according to claim 11, wherein at least one switch has at least one of function and symbol lighting, in that, the assignment of the function and/or symbol lighting to the respective switch is stored in the storage device, in that, furthermore, the at least one of function and symbol lighting can be actuated by the control circuit via associated drivers by means of shift register modules with integrated drivers, and in that the at least one of function and symbol lighting can be dimmed, as required, by means of pulse-width modulation, in which case the dimming can be initiated by the control circuit on the basis of a bus signal.

13. The switch arrangement according to claim 9, wherein the switch arrangement comprises a plurality of control panels which are independent of one another and are each in the form of a bus node, the bus node being a CAN node, in that, each control panel is initialized separately, using an assignment table, in that, the control panels are connected to a bus line, and in that, the information relating to the switching states of the switches arranged in the respective control panel is transmitted directly from the respective control panel to the bus line.

14. The switch arrangement according to claim 9, wherein the switch arrangement comprises a plurality of control panels which are each in the form of a bus node, each bus node being a CAN node, with one control panel being in the form of an independent master bus node and the other control panels being in the form of slave bus nodes which are dependent on the master bus node and have only basic functions of a bus node, in that, only the master bus node is initialized using the assignment table for all the control panels, in that, the slave bus nodes transmit the information relating to the switching states of the switches arranged in the respective control panel via the bus line to the master bus node without knowing the function of said information, and in that, the master bus node uses the assignment table to convert the information received from the slave bus nodes into bus signals, and then transmits these bus signals to the bus line.

15. The switch arrangement according to claim 9, wherein the switch arrangement comprises a plurality of control panels, with one control panel being in the form of an independent master bus node, the master bus node being a CAN node, and the other control panels being in the form of slave controllers which are dependent on the master bus node, in that, the control panels each have a serial interface and are connected to the master bus node by means of a serial data line and via the serial interfaces, in that, only the master bus node is initialized using the assignment table for all the control panels, in that, the slave controllers transmit the information relating to the switching states of the switches arranged in the respective control panel via the serial interface and the serial data line to the master bus node without knowing the function of this information, and in that, the master bus node converts the information received from the slave controllers into bus signals using the assignment table, and then transmits these bus signals to the bus line.