Actuating device on a vehicle steering wheel

• US 8,173,917 B2
• Filed: 04/30/2009
• Issued: 05/08/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 04/30/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Dr Ing hc F Porsche AG (Volkswagen AG)
• Original Assignee: Dr Ing hc F Porsche AG (Volkswagen AG)
• Inventors: Rosman, Bojan, Baumann, Hans-Uwe, Schote, Norbert
• Primary Examiner(s): Leon, Edwin A.
• Application Number:
  US12/432,787
• Publication Number:
  US 20090272218A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,104 Days
• Field of Search: 200/345, 200/61.27, 200 6154- 6157
• US Class Current: 200/61.88
• CPC Class Codes: B60K 20/06 mounted on steering column or the like
• CPC Class Codes: B60K 2001/003 with means for cooling the electrical propulsion units
• CPC Class Codes: Y10T 74/20268 Reciprocating control elements

Abstract

An actuating device contains two shifting buttons which are arranged on the upper side and lower side of the steering wheel. The shifting buttons are guided together rectilinearly on guide pins during a shifting operation, which guide pins are held in sleeves of a supporting plate and are fastened to a steering wheel cover.

Claims

1. An actuating device on a vehicle steering wheel, the actuating device comprising:

a linear guidance device;

a stationary supporting plate;

guide pins; and

two shifting buttons connected to one another via said guide pins, said two shifting buttons disposed opposite one another, are formed in each case from at least one housing half and are mounted via said guide pins in said stationary supporting plate such that said two shifting buttons can be adjusted jointly for shifting, said guide pins disposed in said linear guidance device configured for guiding said guide pins in a straight line.

2. The actuating device according to claim 1, wherein each of said guide pins has a side with a toothing system which is assigned to a respective other said guide pin, each of said toothing systems has a gearwheel element and of each of said guide pins is coupled to one another via said gearwheel elements.

3. The actuating device according to claim 2, wherein said gearwheel elements are two gearwheels which engage into one another.

4. The actuating device according to claim 2, wherein said gearwheel elements are two toothed pulleys which engage into one another.

5. The actuating device according to claim 1, further comprising linear ball bearings and said guide pins are guided by linear ball bearings.

6. The actuating device according to claim 1, wherein said housing halves are disposed in a region of a steering wheel rim.

7. The actuating device according to claim 1, wherein said housing halves are configured so as to reach around a transverse web of the steering wheel.

8. The actuating device according to claim 1, further comprising at least one lamp disposed between said housing halves for illuminating at least one of said shifting buttons being an upper selector button.

9. The actuating device according to claim 8, wherein said at least one lamp is a shifting point display.

10. The actuating device according to claim 1, further comprising selector elements and said shifting buttons are disposed so as to interact in each case with said selector elements, an idle travel being provided between said shifting button and a respectively assigned at least one said selector element.

11. The actuating device according to claim 1, further comprising electric shifting elements, said shifting buttons are for shifting transmission stages of a dual clutch transmission and are disposed in each case so as to lie opposite said electric shifting elements.

12. The actuating device according to claim 11, further comprising an elastically resilient shifting mat having a contact face, said electric shifting elements are connected to said stationary supporting plate which is disposed so as to correspond to said elastically resilient shifting mat.

13. The actuating device according to claim 12, wherein:

said housing halves have sleeve-shaped receptacles formed therein;

said supporting plate having sleeves with a central region; and

said guide pins have free ends and are disposed displaceably with said free ends in each case in said sleeve-shaped receptacles of said housing halves and in said central region in said sleeves of said supporting plate together with said housing halves.

14. The actuating device according to claim 13,

wherein one of said sleeves has a slotted receptacle formed therein;

and

further comprising a brass bush inserted in one of said sleeves, one of said guide pins is mounted displaceably in said brass bush and a further of said guide pins is mounted displaceably in said slotted receptacle of said sleeve.

15. The actuating device according to claim 1, wherein said two shifting buttons can be adjusted jointly with respect to said supporting plate via said guide pins.

16. The actuating device according to claim 1, wherein said shifting buttons include an upper shifting button configured for an upshift or downshift of a dual clutch transmission and a lower shifting button configured for a downshift or upshift of the dual clutch transmission.

17. The actuating device according to claim 16, wherein said upper shifting button is inserted into a U-shaped recess of the steering wheel cover and is configured congruently with an edge region of the steering wheel cover, said upper shifting button having an adjoining face region configured so as to fall away obliquely and an exposed region of said upper shifting button which is not enclosed by the recess protrudes freely in front of the steering wheel cover, said exposed region is guided together with a corresponding region of said lower shifting button.

18. The actuating device according to claim 17, wherein said adjoining face region which falls away is configured as a haptic bearing face for a finger of an operator.

19. The actuating device according to claim 16, wherein said lower shifting button is disposed such that it is recessed in one of the steering wheel and a steering wheel spoke and has a haptic bearing face for a finger of an operator.

20. The actuating device according to claim 16, wherein said upper shifting button together with said lower shifting button forms a housing-shaped structural unit, and are supported mutually on at least one side on opposite edges.

21. The actuating device according to claim 13, wherein said shifting buttons perform a common rectilinear shifting movement under an exertion of pressure by said guide pins which are guided in said sleeves of said supporting plate.

22. The actuating device according to claim 13, further comprising fastening means, said supporting plate is held on an inside of a steering wheel cover via said fastening means, together with said sleeves for said guide pins.

23. The actuating device according to claim 5, further comprising a sleeve having one of said linear ball bearings as an inner linear ball bearing and one of said guide pins is guided in said sleeve, said one guide pin being made from stainless steel or has a hard surface.

24. The actuating device according to claim 1, wherein the actuating device is for shifting a dual clutch transmission.