Sensor module

• US 8,456,317 B2
• Filed: 08/28/2008
• Issued: 06/04/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 09/07/2007
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Magna Electronics Europe Gmbh & Co. Kg
• Original Assignee: Magna Electronics Europe Gmbh & Co. Kg
• Inventors: Werner, Heribert, Stegmann, Rainer
• Primary Examiner(s): Zimmerman, Brian
• Assistant Examiner(s): Nguyen, An T
• Application Number:
  US12/676,624
• Publication Number:
  US 20100308094A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,741 Days
• Field of Search: 340/693.9, 340/545.1, 340/545.7, 340/545.8, 340/601, 340/602, 340/425.5, 340/439, 224/482, 224/483, 250/214, 250/239
• US Class Current: 340/693.9
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 1/04 mounted inside vehicle B60R1/025, B60R1/08 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 2001/1223 with sensors or transducers
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 2300/302 combining image information with GPS information or vehicle data, e.g. vehicle speed, gyro, steering angle data
• CPC Class Codes: B60S 1/0885 the sensor being integrated in a rear-view mirror module
• CPC Class Codes: G01K 1/146 arrangements for moving thermometers to or from a measuring position

Abstract

A sensor module is mounted at a windshield of a vehicle. The sensor module can be connected, via a fastening section that is arranged on a module housing, to an element that is fixed to the vehicle body or to an element which is connected to a part that is fixed to the vehicle body. A sensor is accommodated in the module housing and is retained such that it can be displaced and/or pivoted from a first starting position into a second end position in order to rest against the windscreen. The adjusting movement can be initiated by an adjusting element which can be preloaded in the direction of the end position by means of a spring element and can be blocked in the starting position by means of a blocking element. Also, a delaying element is provided that can influence a parameter of the adjusting movement.

Claims

1. A sensor module for releasable attachment of a sensor to a window of a motor vehicle, characterized in that the sensor module is connectable via a fastening section arranged on a module housing to an element which is fixed to the vehicle body or is connected to a part fixed to the vehicle body, a sensor being accommodated in the module housing and being held displaceably and/or swivelably from a first starting position to a second end position in order to rest against the window, this adjusting movement being able to be initiated by means of an adjusting element and the adjusting element being preloadable in the direction of the end position by means of a spring element and being blockable in the starting position by means of a blocking element, and in that there is further provided a delaying element by which a parameter of the adjusting movement can be influenced, characterized in that the adjusting element is in the form of a piston-cylinder arrangement which comprises a piston mounted in a longitudinally displaceable manner in a cylinder housing, characterized in that the sensor is connected to the adjusting element by an articulated joint, characterized in that the articulated connection comprises a ball head mounted in a joint socket, characterized in that the spring element is a torsion spring, one arm of which bears against the underside of a lever and the other arm of which bears against the module housing, and characterized in that the delaying element is a friction lining arranged between cylinder housing and piston.

2. The sensor module as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that the adjusting element is in the form of a pivoted lever.

3. The sensor module as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that the delaying element includes a timing element which releases the adjusting movement of the sensor from the starting position to the end position after a predetermined time.

4. The sensor module as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that the blocking element is in the form of a horizontally movable pin which engages behind a downwardly-oriented blocking catch in the front region of the lever.