JP2003221946A - Door outside handle device for vehicle - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a door outside handle device for a vehicle, which is simple in structure and protects an antenna from being damaged. <P>SOLUTION: The door outside handle device for the vehicle is comprised of the antenna 2 which is housed in the handle 1, for communicating with the outside of the vehicle, and a capacitance-operated sensor 3 for detecting approach to or contact with the handle 1, and changing the antenna 2 into a communication state. According to the door outside handle device, a surface of the antenna 2, opposed to a door panel 4 is covered with a detecting electrode 5 of the capacitance-operated sensor 3, which detecting electrode is formed of a metallic material, over almost the entire length of the antenna 2. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2003,JPO

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a vehicle door outside handle device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In constructing a keyless entry system, as a conventional example in which an antenna is arranged in an outside handle device which is an element exposed from a vehicle body, for example, one disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication No. 2001-520337 is disclosed. Are known. In this conventional example, an antenna is housed inside the handle, and a change in capacitance due to insertion of a hand into the gap formed between the antenna or the conductive plated cover of the handle and the vehicle body is detected. To shift the antenna to the communication state.

[0003]

However, the antenna is fragile because it is formed by winding a conductive wire around a core made of a ferromagnetic material such as ferrite, and also serves as a handle when the door is opened and closed. Since a large force is applied to the handle at the time of opening / closing the door, particularly at the time of opening the door, there is a drawback that the handle is easily broken at the time of opening / closing the door.

An outside handle device disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2000-160897 has been proposed as a device which does not cause such a problem.
In this case, it is necessary to form the handle case with a metal material, which has a disadvantage of increasing manufacturing cost.

The present invention has been made to solve the above drawbacks, and an object of the present invention is to provide a vehicle door outside handle device capable of preventing damage to an antenna with a simple structure.

[0006]

According to the present invention, the above object is to provide an antenna 2 for communication with the outside of the vehicle housed inside the steering wheel 1 and the antenna 2 for detecting approach or contact to the steering wheel 1. Is a vehicle door outside handle device provided with a capacitance sensor 3 for transitioning to a communication state, wherein the surface of the antenna 2 facing the door panel 4 is formed of a metal material over substantially the entire length. This is achieved by providing a vehicle door outside handle device covered by the detection electrode 5 of the capacitance sensor 3.

A vehicle door outside handle device is
The door is fixed to the outer wall surface of the door panel 4, and the door is opened and closed by operating the handle 1, so that good communication can be performed with the mobile terminal device of the vehicle user approaching from outside the vehicle body. The antenna 2 is housed inside the handle 1 exposed on the outer wall of the vehicle body.

The electrostatic capacitance sensor 3 arranged inside the handle 1 functions as a switch for transitioning the antenna 2 to a communication state when a change in electrostatic capacitance is detected, and the detection electrode 5 of the electrostatic capacitance sensor 3 is used. Is arranged on the rear wall of the handle 1, that is, on the wall surface side facing the surface of the door panel 4.

Therefore, in the present invention, when the door is opened, even if a large force is applied to the surface of the handle 1 facing the door panel 4, the antenna 2 has a metal detection electrode 5 with high rigidity. Has been placed,
The antenna 2 is protected from the operation force, and the antenna 2 is prevented from being damaged.

The metal detection electrode 5 can generally be expected to have rigidity. However, if the metal detection electrode 5 is formed in a thin plate shape and cannot be expected to have rigidity, for example, a flange 6 is provided in the longitudinal direction to increase the second moment of area and prevent bending. The resistance can be increased. When the detection electrode 5 is formed as an outer wall surface on the side facing the door panel 4, the outer wall surface is subjected to an appropriate design treatment such as being formed as a curved surface. The secondary moment increases, and a predetermined rigidity can be secured.

Since the detection terminal formed of a metal material functions as an electromagnetic shield for the antenna 2, the height of the flange 6 is adjusted to cover a predetermined area of the side wall of the antenna 2. By doing so, the radiation direction of the antenna 2 can be regulated.

[0012]

1 and 2 show an embodiment of the present invention. The outside handle device is formed by mounting the handle 1 on a handle base 7 fixed to a vehicle door panel 4. By rotating the handle 1 around the pivot axis 7a with the handle base 7, the operation portion 8 connected to the door lock device (not shown) disposed inside the door is operated, and the door lock device is released.

The handle base 7 is provided with an auxiliary lock 9 operable by a key plate and a lock switch 10 formed by a mechanical button type switch, and by operating the auxiliary lock, locking / unlocking of a door lock device can be performed. By pressing the lock switch 10, the door lock device can be locked.

FIG. 2 shows the handle 1 of the handle device.
The handle 1 includes a handle body 1c made of a synthetic resin, which has a connecting portion 1a to the handle base 7 at one end and is formed to be long in the vehicle longitudinal direction (vehicle length direction), and a cover 1d. A recessed groove 1e opened toward the door panel 4 is provided in almost the entire area of the arm 1c except the arm portion 1b. An antenna unit including the antenna 2 and the capacitance sensor 3 is housed in the groove 1e,
It is closed by a cover 1d made of synthetic resin.

The antenna 2 of the antenna unit is formed into a rod shape long in the longitudinal direction of the handle 1 by winding a conductive wire around a core made of a ferromagnetic material such as ferrite.
It is arranged at the center of c.

The capacitance sensor 3 is a circuit in which a detection electrode 5 made of a metal material such as stainless steel and a capacitance detection circuit for detecting a change in capacitance of the detection electrode 5 are sealed in a package. And a circuit portion 3a,
The conductive wire of the antenna 2 is gathered in the cable 11 and drawn out of the handle 1.

The detection electrode 5 is arranged over substantially the entire length of the concave groove 1e, and as shown in FIG. 2 (a), it is fastened together with the cover 1d and the handle body 1c by the bolt 12.
As shown in FIG. 2B, the detection electrode 5 is arranged along the back surface of the antenna 2 so as to sandwich the antenna 2 in cooperation with the handle body 1c, and in order to increase the rigidity in the longitudinal direction, A flange 6 is provided on both side edges so as to rise to the front surface side of the handle 1. In this embodiment, the flange 6 is provided at the minimum required height to increase the rigidity so that the radiation direction of the radio wave from the antenna 2 spreads as much as possible. Can be changed in height, position and the like as appropriate.

Therefore, in this embodiment, when a human body approaches the handle 1 or touches the handle 1 to open the door, a change in the capacitance of the detection electrode 5 is detected by the capacitance detection circuit. The detected signal is input to a control unit (not shown) mounted inside the vehicle via the cable 11. Upon receipt of the detection signal, the control unit drives the communication circuit to emit a communication radio wave from the antenna 2 to communicate with the mobile terminal device on the driver side, and it is confirmed that the IDs of the mobile terminal devices match. And unlock the locking device. When the driver goes out of the vehicle and presses the lock switch 10 arranged on the handle base 7, the lock device shifts to the locked state.

Further, even if a strong force is applied to the handle 1, particularly the cover 1d by putting a hand on the handle 1 and pulling the door strongly, the capacitance is not easily deformed because the rigidity is increased by the flange 6. Since the detection electrode 5 of the sensor 3 covers and protects the back surface of the antenna 2, no load is applied to the antenna 2 and damage to the antenna 2 is prevented.

Further, in FIG. 1, the lock switch 1
0 is shown to be arranged on the handle base 7 side, but it is also possible to arrange it on the handle 1 side. In this case, as shown in FIG. 3, the fact that the detection electrode 5 has rigidity is utilized. Then, the detection electrode 5 can be used as a support substrate of the lock switch 10. Further, although the lock switch 10 is configured by a capacitance type touch sensor in FIG. 3, it can be formed by a mechanical button as shown in FIG. 1.

FIG. 4 shows a second embodiment of the present invention.
In the description of the present embodiment, constituent elements that are substantially the same as those in the above-described embodiment will be assigned the same reference numerals in the drawings and description thereof will be omitted. In this embodiment, the handle 1 is formed by closing the concave groove 1e of the handle body 1c with the detection electrode 5, and the detection electrode 5 constitutes the back wall of the handle 1.

At one end of the detection electrode 5, a substrate housing portion 5a is provided.
And the mounting substrate 13 on which the electrostatic capacitance detection circuit is mounted is accommodated in the substrate accommodating portion 5a.
4 and the like. A wire or the like can be used to connect to the mounting board 13, but when the detection electrode 5 is formed of a good conductor material, the screw 15 or the like for fixing the mounting board 13 is used as an input / output terminal. it can.

[0023]

As is apparent from the above description, according to the present invention, the antenna housed in the handle is covered with the detection electrode of the capacitance sensor having high rigidity, so that the antenna is damaged during use. Never.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is an overall view showing the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a view showing a handle, in which (a) is a longitudinal sectional view and (b) is a sectional view taken along line 2B-2B of (a).

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a modified example of FIG.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a second embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 handle 2 antenna 3 Capacitance sensor 4 door panels 5 detection electrodes 6 flange

   ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continued front page    (72) Inventor Kazuo Tsukada             1-6-8 Fukuura, Kanazawa-ku, Yokohama-shi, Kanagawa               Alpha Technical Center Co., Ltd.

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A vehicle door out equipped with an antenna for communication with the outside of the vehicle, which is housed inside the steering wheel, and a capacitance sensor for detecting an approach to or a contact with the steering wheel to shift the antenna to a communication state. A side handle device for a vehicle door, wherein a surface of the antenna facing the door panel is covered with detection electrodes of a capacitance sensor formed of a metal material over substantially the entire length. 2. The vehicle door outside handle device according to claim 1, wherein the detection electrode has a flange extending longitudinally therethrough. 3. The vehicle door outside handle device according to claim 1, wherein the detection electrode forms an outer contour of a surface of the handle facing the door panel. 4. The vehicle door outside handle device according to claim 1, 2 or 3, wherein the detection electrode covers a predetermined region of a side wall portion of the antenna to regulate a radio wave radiation direction from the antenna.