Vehicle Accessory Touch Switch

• US 20080309170A1
• Filed: 03/21/2008
• Published: 12/18/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 06/15/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Kojima Press Industry Company Limited
• Original Assignee: Kojima Press Industry Company Limited
• Inventors: Ando, Yasuyuki
• Granted Patent: US 7,679,212 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 307/125
• CPC Class Codes: H03K 17/962 Capacitive touch switches

Abstract

A touch switch for controlling accessory equipment of a vehicle in such a manner that malfunctions caused by factors such as changes in atmospheric conditions, receipt of an electromagnetic impulse, or the like can be avoided. A vehicle accessory touch switch comprises a touch section having a sensor conductor plate which is touched by an operator, a capacitance measurement section which measures a change in electrostatic capacity of the sensor conductor plate to a ground conductor as a sensor conductor plate capacity change, and a control section which controls accessory equipment according to comparison between the sensor conductor plate capacity change and a control judgment value, wherein the vehicle accessory touch switch controls the accessory equipment according to an operator touching the touch section, a sub-conductor plate is disposed, the capacitance measurement section measures a change in electrostatic capacity between the sub-conductor plate and the ground conductor as a sub-conductor plate capacity change, and the control section decides the control judgment value according to the sub-conductor plate capacity change measured by the capacitance measurement section.

Claims

1. A vehicle accessory touch switch, comprising:

a touch section having a sensor conductor plate which is touched by an operator,

a capacitance measurement section which measures a change in electrostatic capacity of the sensor conductor plate to a ground conductor as a sensor conductor plate capacity change, and

a control section which controls accessory equipment mounted on a vehicle according to comparison between the sensor conductor plate capacity change and a control judgment value, wherein;

the vehicle accessory touch switch controls the accessory equipment according to a touch by the operator to the touch section,

a sub-conductor plate is disposed independent of the sensor conductor plate,

the capacitance measurement section measures a change in electrostatic capacity between the sub-conductor plate and the ground conductor as a sub-conductor plate capacity change, and

the control section decides the control judgment value according to the sub-conductor plate capacity change measured by the capacitance measurement section.

2. The vehicle accessory touch switch according to claim 1, wherein the control section controls the accessory equipment if the absolute value of the sensor conductor plate capacity change exceeds the control judgment value, and decides the control judgment value when the absolute value of the sub-conductor plate capacity change exceeds a prescribed threshold value as a value larger than the control judgment value when the absolute value of the sub-conductor plate capacity change is not larger than the prescribed threshold value.

3. The vehicle accessory touch switch according to claim 1, wherein the touch section is a touch plate formed of a dielectric of which the sensor conductor plate is disposed on one surface.

4. The vehicle accessory touch switch according to claim 3, wherein the sensor conductor plate is disposed on a surface such that the operator can touch the sensor conductor.

5. The vehicle accessory touch switch according to claim 3, wherein the sensor conductor plate is disposed on a surface opposite to the surface touched by the operator.

6. The vehicle accessory touch switch according to claim 3, wherein the sub-conductor plate is disposed on a surface opposite to the surface touched by the operator.

7. The vehicle accessory touch switch according to claim 1, wherein the touch section is disposed on a vehicle door pocket, and the sub-conductor plate is disposed at a position in the door pocket not touched by the person.

8. The vehicle accessory touch switch according to claim 1, wherein the touch switch controls the on or off state of a lamp disposed within the door pocket.