CN113474216A

CN113474216A - Storage box for motor vehicle

Info

Publication number: CN113474216A
Application number: CN202080012886.5A
Authority: CN
Inventors: M.伦特; J.韦德迈耶
Original assignee: Volkswagen Automotive Co ltd
Current assignee: Volkswagen Automotive Co ltd
Priority date: 2019-03-15
Filing date: 2020-03-06
Publication date: 2021-10-01
Also published as: DE102019203535A1; WO2020187613A1

Abstract

The invention relates to a storage compartment (1) for a motor vehicle, comprising a basin-shaped housing part (2) having an opening (3); a closing element (4) which is arranged displaceably between an open position (B) and a closed position (A) for releasing and closing an opening (3) in the housing part (2); and a lighting device (10) having at least one controllable lighting means (11) which is constructed and/or arranged for at least substantially illuminating into the housing part (2); and a sensor device (12) for detecting a displacement position of the closing element (4), wherein the lighting device (10) is designed to control the lighting means (11) as a function of the detected displacement position. Provision is made for the closing element (4) to be arranged pivotably on the housing part.

Description

Storage box for motor vehicle

The invention relates to a storage compartment for a motor vehicle, having a basin-shaped housing part, which has an opening; a closing element arranged displaceably between an open position and a closed position for releasing and closing an opening in the housing part; and a lighting device having at least one controllable lighting means, which is constructed and/or arranged for at least substantially illuminating into the housing part; and a sensor device for detecting a displacement position of the closing element, wherein the lighting device is configured to control the lighting means depending on the detected displacement position.

Storage bins of the type mentioned at the outset are already known from the prior art. Thus, for example, the publication DE 102014222954 a1 discloses a console locker with the features of the preamble of claim 1. The storage compartment has a basin-shaped housing part with an opening, which can be closed and released by means of a roller blind as a closing element. The roller blind can be moved into the retraction device and can be wound up there. In the stowage device, a sensor device is arranged, which detects a stowage state of the roller blind, wherein the illumination device is controlled as a function of a stowage position of the roller blind, which corresponds to a closed position of the roller blind above the opening, in order to illuminate the interior space of the housing part when the roller blind is stowed in the stowage device.

Furthermore, a lighting device for a storage compartment is known from the publication DE 102012024667 a1, which has a light conductor that is separated or connected depending on the closed position of the closing element. Furthermore, a lighting device for a storage compartment is known from the publication DE 102012017597 a1, which also has a light conductor that establishes or interrupts the light conduction as a function of the displaced position of the closing element. A storage compartment with a lighting device is known from the publication DE 102007017477 a1, wherein the storage compartment is free of a closure element.

The object of the present invention is to provide an improved storage compartment for a motor vehicle, which is simple to handle and can be implemented inexpensively.

The object of the invention is achieved by a storage compartment having the features of claim 1. The storage compartment is characterized in that the closing element is pivotably arranged on the housing part and the sensor device is configured to operate in a contactless manner. Since the closing element is pivotably arranged on the housing part, a simpler cover mechanism suffices for pivoting the closing element, thereby ensuring an inexpensive implementation of the locker itself. In connection with the invention, a storage compartment is understood to mean not only a center console storage compartment (as already described above), but also a glove compartment, an accessory compartment or a trunk compartment of a motor vehicle.

Preferably, the sensor device has at least one inclination sensor (or inclination sensor), which is arranged on the closing element. The displacement position of the closing element is thus known from the inclination of the displacement position by means of the inclination sensor. Thereby, no further elements of the sensor device on the fixed part of the storage compartment are necessary in order to detect the displacement position of the closing element. The storage compartment can thereby be shown particularly compactly. Preferably, the inclination sensor is designed to detect an absolute inclination relative to the horizontal. Alternatively, the tilt sensor only detects a change in tilt. The tilt sensor is preferably designed as a mechanical tilt switch or as an intelligent evaluation sensor, in particular as a gyroscope sensor. At least in the last case, the inclination sensor is preferably assigned an evaluation unit, for example with a microcontroller, in order to evaluate the sensor data of the gyro sensor. Preferably, the evaluation unit and the associated inclination sensor are arranged together on a common carrier substrate, in particular on a common circuit board, on which preferably also a lighting device is arranged.

Preferably, the lighting device and/or the inclination sensor are calibrated (or calibrated) in such a way that the lighting means are active in the open position of the closing element and are deactivated in the closed position. This ensures a simple control of the lighting device, knowing the inclination to be expected of the inclination sensor in the open position and in the closed position. For this purpose, the expected tilting angles in the open position and in the closed position are preferably stored in a non-volatile memory in order to control the lighting element by simple comparison with the currently detected tilting angle. Preferably, the desired tilt angles in the open position and in the closed position are each assigned a tolerance range within which the lighting device is controlled or activated or deactivated, wherein the tolerance range comprises for example +/-5 °.

According to a preferred embodiment of the invention, the closing element is mounted so as to be pivotable through a pivot angle of more than 30 °, in particular 42 °, or more than 42 °. By setting the pivoting angle to be greater than 30, it is taken into account that public roads generally do not exceed or only rarely exceed a slope angle of 15 ° (+/-). If a higher slope angle is desired, the pivot angle can be adjusted accordingly. The advantageous selection of the pivot angle results in that the closing element can be pivoted by a pivot angle which is greater than the maximum gradient change of the road along which a motor vehicle having a storage compartment is moving. This results in that the closing element cannot be changed in its orientation by a change in road gradient beyond a preset pivot angle. This ensures a reliable differentiation of the user-induced movement of the shut-off element from a change in the road gradient, so that a faulty control of the lighting device is simply prevented by the lighting device. Thus, the lighting device is for example controlled or switched, i.e. switched on or off, only when the closing element has been displaced over the entire pivoting angle.

According to a preferred embodiment of the invention, the lighting device and/or the inclination sensor are calibrated such that the lighting means are switched only when a predefinable switching angle between the open position and the closed position is exceeded. Thus, a switching angle, in particular at least substantially centered, between the open position and the closed position is selected as a trigger threshold for controlling the lighting device. Thereby, the lighting device has been switched on when the closing element has not been moved fully into the open position or switched off when the closing element has not been moved fully into the closed position. This simplifies the comfort of the person using the storage compartment, since the lighting device is already switched on or off in advance.

Particularly preferably, the switching angle is 5 ° to 10 ° below the horizontal orientation. The horizontal orientation that can be simply detected by the tilt sensor is in this respect a reference orientation from which the switching angle is determined.

According to a preferred embodiment of the invention, the closing element in the closed position has a section which is pivotably supported at one end on the housing part and has an end section which is oriented at an angle thereto at the other end, wherein the inclination sensor is arranged on the end section. The inclination sensor is therefore arranged remote from the pivot axis of the section on the housing part, so that there is as large a lever arm as possible which ensures reliable detection of the inclination change or the inclination change at the inclination point by the inclination sensor. In particular, when the storage compartment is conventionally installed in a motor vehicle, the end section is oriented obliquely such that it is oriented obliquely to the horizontal in the open position and in the closed position and passes through the horizontal in the path from the open position to the closed position. This ensures that the movement of the closing element into the open position is advantageously detected, since a zero crossing (negative to positive inclination angle) can be detected when the closing element is moved from the open position into the closed position or vice versa. If the tilt sensor is designed as a mechanical tilt switch, it is inexpensive to implement "unintelligent". However, as described above, a safe use for the lighting operation is ensured by an optimized orientation and arrangement of the sensors on the closing element. If the inclination sensor is designed as an intelligent sensor, in particular as a gyroscope sensor, its orientation and arrangement on the closing element is more flexible. Such smart tilt sensors are now widely used in mobile cellular phones or mobile computers and are therefore inexpensive, ensuring inexpensive implementation of the storage compartment even when smart sensors are used. The angle parameters or angle corrections can then be adjusted or optimized by a software program.

According to a further embodiment of the invention, the sensor device has at least one hall sensor, reed contact, capacitive sensor and/or optical sensor in order to detect the displacement position of the closing element. In particular, the last-mentioned embodiment of the sensor device ensures that it can be detected whether the closing element is in the closed position. The pivot angle detection is or may be disabled. This embodiment allows an inexpensive and simple determination of whether the closing element is in the closed position. The lighting device is designed to deactivate the lighting means when the sensor device described identifies that the closing element is in the closed position. In this case, this embodiment is preferably provided as an addition or alternative to the presence of the inclination sensor. This is used, in particular, for plausibility checking/verification of the data of the inclination sensor if this embodiment is additionally present. If this embodiment is alternatively present with respect to the inclination sensor, it is thus not possible, for example, to detect a continuous detection of the pivoting angular position of the closing element, but only whether the closing element is in the closed position. Simplified evaluation and control of the lighting device can thereby be achieved.

Furthermore, it is preferably provided that the sensor device described in the preceding paragraph has a signal receiver and a signal transmitter, wherein the signal receiver is arranged on the closing element or the storage compartment and the signal transmitter is arranged on the storage compartment or the closing element, and wherein the lighting device is configured to deactivate the lighting means when the presence of the signal transmitter is detected by the signal receiver. This embodiment is particularly advantageous when constructing sensor devices having hall sensors, reed contacts, capacitive sensors and/or optical sensors, since they are constructed in two parts and each comprise a signal receiver (e.g. a magnetic field sensor or an optical sensor) and a signal transmitter, e.g. a magnetic element or an optical element, the relative position of which with respect to one another can only be detected by the sensor device at least when the signal transmitter is within the detection range of the signal receiver. This ensures a simple and inexpensive determination of the closing position of the closing element.

Furthermore, it is preferably provided that the signal receiver and/or the inclination sensor on the one hand and the lighting device on the other hand are arranged on a common circuit board. This ensures a compact construction of the storage compartment and also a simple and time-saving installation of the storage compartment.

The invention is explained in detail below with reference to the drawings. Wherein:

fig. 1 shows a storage compartment of a motor vehicle in a simplified illustration; and is

Fig. 2A to 2C show the operating principle of the storage compartment according to a simplified illustration.

Fig. 1 shows a simplified perspective sectional view of a storage compartment 1 according to an advantageous embodiment for a motor vehicle, which is not shown in detail here. The storage compartment 1 has a basin-shaped housing part 2, which has an opening 3, through which a user can move an item into the interior space of the housing part 2 and can place it there, or through which a user can remove an item from the housing part 2. The opening 3 is provided with a closing element 4, which is designed as a cover 6 that is mounted pivotably about a pivot axis 5 on the housing part 2. The closing element 4 is designed such that it can be pivoted between a closed position, in which it in particular completely closes the opening 3 of the housing part 2, so that access to the interior of the housing part 2 is blocked, and an open position, in which it releases the opening, so that a user can access the interior of the housing part 2 or the stowage space formed thereby. In fig. 1, the closing element is shown once in the closed position according to position a and once in the open position according to position B.

According to the present exemplary embodiment, the closing element 4 has a first section 7, which extends at least substantially horizontally in normal use or in a normal arrangement of the storage compartment 1 in a motor vehicle when the closing element 4 is in the closed position. The first section 7 is connected to an end section 8 which is oriented obliquely with respect to the section 7 in the direction of the bottom of the base part, so that the end section 8 at the same time forms an end wall of the storage compartment 1. On its outer side, i.e. on its side facing away from the interior of the housing part 2, the end section 8 has an actuating handle 9, by means of which the user simply grips the closing element 4 and can pull it from the closed position into the open position, as is shown in fig. 1 in position B, for example. The end section 8 is formed here on the end of the closing element 4 facing away from the pivot axis 5.

Furthermore, a lighting device 10 is arranged on the end section 8, which lighting device has at least one controllable lighting means 11, which is designed to at least substantially illuminate the interior of the housing part 2 or the storage compartment 1. By "at least substantially illuminated" is understood here that more than 50% of the light radiated by the illumination means enters the interior of the housing part with the closing element 4 switched on. For this purpose, the lighting means 11 are arranged inside the end section 8. The illumination means 11 is arranged on the circuit board 17, and the sensor device 12 is arranged on the circuit board. According to the present embodiment, the sensor device 12 has a tilt sensor 13, which is fixed on the same circuit board 17 as the lighting device 11. The lighting device and/or the sensor device furthermore has a control unit and a non-volatile memory, wherein the control unit is designed to recognize whether the closing element 4 is in the closed position or in the open position as a function of the inclination angle of the closing element 4 detected by the inclination sensor 13.

According to the present exemplary embodiment, closing element 4 is mounted so as to be pivotable through a pivot angle of 42 °, wherein, in normal use, storage compartment 1 is oriented such that the horizontal orientation of inclination sensor 13 and thus of end section 8 is located in a displacement position of closing element 4 between the open position and the closed position, but closer to the open position. According to the present embodiment, the starting position or horizontal position (0 °) is a below the open position₁-17 ° and +25 ° above the closed position.

The lighting device 10 is now designed to control, i.e. activate and deactivate, the lighting means 11 as a function of the pivot position of the closing element 4. For this purpose, the control unit compares, for example, the current tilt angle detected by the tilt sensor 13 with a limit value or characteristic value stored in a non-volatile memory. In this case, the switching angle α 3 of the horizontal orientation at approximately 0 ° is currently selected as the characteristic value as the switching criterion for the lighting means 13. The switching angle is in particular approximately 5 ° to 10 °, in particular 4 ° below the horizontal, as shown in fig. 1. Thus, the switching point or angle is spaced more than 15 ° from the open position and the closed position, respectively. It is achieved in particular by the advantageous configuration of the storage compartment that the lighting means 11 cannot be mishandled even when a maximum road gradient occurs and therefore a correspondingly large pivoting of the storage compartment 8 occurs. This ensures in particular that the illumination remains switched on when the storage compartment 8 is open, even when the road inclination changes by 30 °. This applies correspondingly in the case of a closed storage compartment. According to a further embodiment, two switching angles are provided, one for switching on when the closing element is open and one for switching off when the closing element is moved into its closed position. Depending on the angle change, when the closing element is moved, it is recognized by means of the inclination sensor whether it is closed or open. This enables a particularly flexible design of the opening angle. Preferably, the tolerance of the switching point or of the detection of the closing or opening of the closing element is preset as a function of the accuracy of the sensor used and the evaluated consumption.

Fig. 2A to 2C show for this purpose in simplified illustration representations of a storage compartment or of an illumination device 10 of a storage compartment in the case of different road gradients. Fig. 2A shows the behavior in the case where the road gradient is 0%. The horizontal orientation of the end section 8 of the tilt sensor or closing element 4 is shown as 0 °. By means of the dashed line 14, which is inclined by the pivot angle α 3 from the starting position of 0 °, the pivot region is divided into a pivot region I, in which the lighting device 1 is activated, and a pivot region II (between the line 14 and the closed position of the closing element), in which the lighting device 11 is deactivated. A reliable activation of the lighting means 11 is ensured if the driver pivots the closing element 1 from the closed position B to the open position a in this state. When the closing element 4 is pivoted into the closed position B, the lighting means 11 are accordingly reliably deactivated.

Fig. 2B shows the situation at the point in time when the road inclination is 15 deg. while driving uphill, and fig. 2C shows the situation when the road inclination is-15 deg. (downhill).

It is evident that, in the case of an uphill or downhill slope with a maximum gradient, an unintentional activation or deactivation of the lighting means 11 is prohibited due to the advantageous configuration of the storage compartment 1. Although the dimensional proportions of the regions I and II vary from one another as a function of the road inclination, it is ensured that even in the case of maximum gradients when driving uphill, the lighting means are deactivated in the off state of the shut-off element 4, as in the maximum gradients when driving downhill (downhill). This prevents the lighting device 11 from being activated in the closed state, so that light escapes from the joint between the closing element and the housing part 2 to the outside and can interfere with this. Since the illumination means always remain deactivated in the closed state of the storage compartment 1, energy is also saved.

Alternatively or additionally to the provision of the inclination sensor 13, the sensor device has at least one further contactless sensor, in particular a hall sensor, a reed contact, a capacitive sensor and/or an optical sensor. They have in common that they each have a signal receiver 15 arranged on the closing element 4 and a signal transmitter 16 arranged on the base part, wherein the signal receiver 15 is designed to detect the presence of the signal transmitter 16. The sensor device is expediently configured here such that the presence of the signal transmitter 16 is only detected in the immediate vicinity of the signal receiver 15, so that the closed position of the closing element 4 can thus be reliably detected. This is used, for example, for checking the plausibility of the control of the lighting means 11 determined by the inclination sensor 13 or as an alternative thereto.

Although the present embodiment describes and in the drawings shows a center console storage compartment, according to another embodiment the storage compartment is configured as a trunk, fitting compartment or glove compartment of a motor vehicle, or for example as a storage compartment in or on a vehicle seat.

List of reference numerals

1 storage box

2 housing part

3 opening

4 closing element

5 pivoting axis

6 cover

7 section

8 end section

9 operating handle

10 Lighting device

11 illumination device

12 sensor device

13 Tilt sensor

14 lines

15 signal receiver

16 signal transmitter

17 circuit board

A closed position

B open position

Claims

1. A storage box (1) for a motor vehicle, the storage box having:

a tub-shaped housing part (2) with an opening (3);

a closing element (4) arranged to be displaceable between an open position (B) and a closed position (A) in order to release and close the opening (3) in the housing part (2); and

a lighting device (10) having at least one controllable lighting device (11), which is constructed and/or arranged to illuminate at least substantially into the housing part (2); and

Sensor device (12) for detecting a displacement position of a closing element (4), wherein the lighting device (10) is designed to control a lighting device (11) as a function of the detected displacement position, characterized in that the closing element (4) Pivotably arranged on the housing part.

2 . The storage box according to claim 1 , wherein the sensor device ( 12 ) has at least one tilt sensor ( 13 ), which is arranged on the closing element ( 4 ). 3 .

3. Storage box according to any of the preceding claims, characterized in that the lighting device (10) and/or the tilt sensor (13) are calibrated such that the lighting device (11) is in The closing element (4) is activated in the open position (B) and deactivated in the closed position (A).

4 . The storage box according to claim 1 , wherein the closing element ( 4 ) is supported in such a way that it can be pivoted by a pivot angle of more than 30°, in particular by a pivot angle of 42°. 5 . Pivot angle.

5. Storage box according to any of the preceding claims, characterized in that the lighting device (10) and/or the tilt sensor (13) are calibrated such that the lighting device (11) is in Switched by exceeding a presettable switching angle between the open position and the closed position.

6. The storage box according to any of the preceding claims, wherein the switch angle is 5° to 10° below the horizontal orientation.

7. Storage box according to any of the preceding claims, characterized in that the closing element (4) has a region which is pivotally, displaceably arranged at one end on the housing part (2) segment ( 7 ) and at the other end an end section ( 8 ) oriented obliquely thereto, wherein the inclination sensor ( 13 ) is arranged on the oblique segment ( 8 ).

8. Storage box according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the inclined section (8) is inclined at the pivot angle relative to the first section (7).

9. Storage box according to any of the preceding claims, characterized in that the sensor device (12) is a Hall sensor, a reed contact, a capacitive sensor and/or an optical sensor.

10. Storage box according to claim 9, characterized in that the sensor device (12) has a signal receiver (15) and a signal transmitter (16), wherein the signal receiver (15) is arranged on the closing element ( 4 ) or the storage box ( 1 ), and the signal transmitter ( 16 ) is arranged on the storage box ( 1 ) or the closing element ( 4 ), and the lighting device ( 10 ) is constructed with Thus, when the presence of the signal transmitter (16) is detected by the signal receiver (15), the lighting device (11) is deactivated.

11. Storage box according to claim 10, characterized in that the signal receiver (15) and/or the tilt sensor (13) on the one hand and the lighting device (11) on the other hand are arranged in a common on the circuit board (17).

12. A vehicle, in particular a motor vehicle, having at least one storage compartment (1) according to any one of claims 1 to 11.