JP7108072B1 - door handle structure - Google Patents

Abstract

A door handle structure capable of suppressing adhesion of foreign matter such as water to a sensor arrangement portion and preventing erroneous detection is provided. A door handle (3) projecting outward from a rear door (2) of a vehicle (1) and a sensor section (4) for detecting a user's operation according to a change in capacitance of an electrode (5) are provided. The door handle 3 has a sensor placement portion 6 in which the sensor portion 4 is placed, and an adjacent portion 7 provided adjacent to the sensor placement portion 6 . The upper wall surface 9 of the sensor placement portion 6 has a gentler inclination angle with respect to the horizontal direction than the upper wall surface 10 of the adjacent portion 7 . [Selection drawing] Fig. 1

Description

The present invention relates to a door handle structure.

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, as a door handle structure, there is known a structure in which an electrode arranged on a door handle detects a touch operation on an outer handle (for example, Patent Document 1).

JP 2018-84121

In such a conventional door handle structure, when a touch operation is detected according to a change in the capacitance of the electrode, if the sensor placement part gets wet due to rain or water during car washing, it will not respond to the user's touch operation. , there is a possibility of erroneous detection.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide a door handle structure capable of suppressing adhesion of foreign matter such as water to a sensor arrangement portion and preventing erroneous detection.

A door handle structure of the present invention includes a door handle projecting outward from a vehicle door, and a sensor unit that detects a user's operation in accordance with a change in capacitance of an electrode. The door handle has a sensor placement portion where the sensor portion is placed, and an adjacent portion provided adjacent to the sensor placement portion. The upper wall surface of the sensor placement portion is characterized in that the angle of inclination with respect to the horizontal direction is gentler than that of the upper wall surface of the adjacent portion.

ADVANTAGE OF THE INVENTION According to this invention, the door handle structure which can suppress adhesion of foreign substances, such as water, to a sensor arrangement|positioning part, and can prevent an erroneous detection is provided.

It is a side view explaining the structure of the door handle provided in the door part of a vehicle by the door handle structure of embodiment of this invention. FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view along the line II-II in FIG. 1 for explaining the configuration of the essential parts of the door handle structure of the present embodiment; FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of the door handle structure of the present embodiment taken along line III-III in FIG. 1; FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of the door handle structure of the present embodiment taken along line IV-IV in FIG. 1; FIG. 4 is a side view for explaining how water w flows down the door handle provided on the door portion of the vehicle in the door handle structure of the present embodiment; 1A is a cross-sectional view of a portion corresponding to a position along line III-III in FIG. 1. FIG. (b) is a cross-sectional view corresponding to a position along line II-II in FIG. (c) is a cross-sectional view corresponding to a position along line IV-IV in FIG. FIG. 3 is a side view illustrating a door handle having an adjoining portion provided in a door portion of a vehicle and provided adjacent to a sensor arrangement portion in the door handle structure of the present embodiment; FIG. 8 is a cross-sectional view of the door handle structure of the present embodiment taken along line VIII-VIII in FIG. 7; FIG. 2 is a plan view of a portion of the door handle structure of the present embodiment where the door handle is attached, seen from above the vehicle, partially through the inside of the door.

An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings as appropriate. The same reference numerals are given to the same components, and overlapping descriptions are omitted. The same reference numerals are given to the same components, and overlapping descriptions are omitted. Unless otherwise specified, directions are basically explained based on front and rear, left and right, or up and down as seen from the driver. Further, the "vehicle width direction" is synonymous with the "left-right direction".

First, the structure of the door handle structure of this embodiment will be described.
As shown in FIG. 1, a door handle 3 projecting outward from a rear door 2 of a vehicle 1 and a sensor unit 4 for detecting a user's operation according to a change in capacitance of an electrode 5 are provided. Prepare.
The door handle 3 has a sensor placement portion 6 in which the sensor portion 4 is placed, and adjacent portions 7 and 8 provided adjacent to the left and right sides of the sensor placement portion 6, respectively.

As shown in FIG. 2, the upper wall surface 9 of the sensor placement portion 6 has an inclination angle α1 with respect to the horizontal direction that is gentler than the inclination angle α2 of the upper wall surface 10 of the adjacent portion 7 shown in FIG. 3 (α1<α2). . In addition, the upper wall surface 9 of the sensor placement portion 6 has an inclination angle α1 with respect to the horizontal direction that is gentler than the inclination angle α3 (see FIG. 4) of the upper wall surface 11 of the adjacent portion 8 shown in FIG. 4 (α1<α3). . Furthermore, in the door handle structure of the present embodiment, the inclination angle α2 of the upper wall surface 10 of the adjoining portion 7 and the inclination angle α3 of the upper wall surface 11 of the adjoining portion 8 are set to the same inclination angle (α2=α3). .

As shown in FIG. 1, the starting point s1 of the inclination of the upper wall surface 9 of the sensor placement portion 6 coincides with the starting points s2 and s3 of the upper wall surfaces 10 and 11 of the adjacent portions 7 and 8 in the vertical direction.
Water w flowing down the outer surface of the rear door 2 tends to flow more easily on a surface with a steeper angle of inclination than on a surface with a gentler angle of inclination.
In this embodiment, the upper wall surfaces 9 and 10 of the adjoining portions 7 and 8, which are adjacent to the left and right sides of the upper wall surface 9 of the sensor placement portion 6, which has a gentle inclination angle, have relatively large inclination angles.
Therefore, as shown in FIG. 5 , the water w flowing down the outer surface of the rear door 2 from above the sensor placement portion 6 avoids the sensor placement portion 6 and diverges toward the adjacent portions 7 and 8 . It becomes w1 and w2 and flows down. Therefore, it is possible to suppress the water w from splashing onto the electrode 5 (see FIG. 1) of the sensor placement portion 6 .

Further, as shown in FIG. 5, the door handle 3 of the present embodiment is formed vertically symmetrical with respect to a horizontal line L extending in the longitudinal direction of the vehicle. Therefore, as shown in FIGS. 6A to 6C, the upper wall surface 9 and the lower wall surface of the sensor placement portion 6 and the upper wall surfaces 9 and 10 and the lower wall surfaces of the adjacent portions 7 and 8 are vertically The substantially symmetrical shape can improve the appearance quality.
In the door handle 3 of this embodiment, the surfaces 21 to 23 arranged in the vehicle front-rear direction are provided so that the height positions (the left and right positions in the vehicle width direction) are aligned. Therefore, the appearance quality of the door handle 3 can be improved.

Further, as shown in FIG. 1, the starting points s1 to s3 of the inclinations are aligned in the vertical direction. Furthermore, the width in the vertical direction is the same as that of the handle gripping portion 13 formed in the adjacent portion 8 . Therefore, as shown in FIG. 7, the area of the surface 21 of the sensor placement portion 6 viewed from the outside of the vehicle can be set larger than the areas of the surfaces 22 and 23 of the adjacent portion 8 viewed from the outside of the vehicle.
Therefore, the sensor arrangement portion 6 has excellent visibility, and the area touched by the user can be set large, which facilitates the touch operation.

Furthermore, in the door handle structure of the present embodiment, a concave portion 15 having the electrode 5 is provided in the middle position in the vertical and horizontal directions of the sensor placement portion 6 (see FIG. 8). The recessed portion 15 has a substantially square shape in a side view and is formed so as to be recessed one step lower toward the inner side in the vehicle width direction (see FIG. 2).
As shown in FIG. 8, an open/close sensor 14 electrically connected to the electrode 5 is provided inside the sensor placement portion 6 . Further, in the door handle structure of the present embodiment, a recess 15 is provided at an outer position facing the electrode 5 in the sensor placement portion 6 .
The sensor placement portion 6 of the present embodiment is formed so as to be thinner than its surroundings due to the concave portion 15 formed therein. Therefore, the finger of the user and the electrode 5 of the open/close sensor 14 are brought closer. Therefore, it is possible to improve detection accuracy when the user performs a touch operation.

Further, as shown in FIG. 9, the sensor unit 4 has an opening/closing sensor 14 that detects a user's touch operation and opens/closes the rear door 2 .
The door handle 3 has a handle grip portion 13 that is gripped by the user to operate the rear door 2 .
The sensor placement portion 6 is arranged in parallel with the door handle 3 with a predetermined distance D in the front-rear direction of the vehicle with the adjoining portion 8 interposed therebetween.
Therefore, when the user holds the handle holding portion 13, the sensor placement portion 6 can be easily removed from the range touched by the finger. Therefore, when the user performs an action of gripping the door handle 3, an unintended touch operation can be prevented.

That is, in the vehicle 1 in which the rear door 2 can be automatically opened and closed by touching the electrode 5 for detecting the touch operation, the rear door 2 is manually opened and closed by gripping and operating the handle grip portion 13. There are things that make it possible.
For example, an arrangement in which the electrodes 5 for detecting touch operations are provided on the handle gripping portion 13 or an arrangement in which the electrodes 5 are provided above the handle gripping portion 13 is known. In such an arrangement, unintended opening and closing operations of the rear door 2 may occur, for example, the sensor unit 4 responds to the desire to open the rear door 2 manually, and the rear door 2 automatically opens. have a nature.
Therefore, it is preferable that the sensor placement portion 6 and the handle grip portion 13 are arranged side by side in the vehicle front-rear direction. Furthermore, it is preferable to provide the sensor placement portion 6 at a position out of reach of the user's fingers when the handle grip portion 13 is gripped.

As described above, the door handle 3 projecting outward from the rear door 2 of the vehicle 1 and the sensor unit 4 detecting the user's operation according to the change in the capacitance of the electrode 5 are provided. .
The door handle 3 has a sensor placement portion 6 in which the sensor portion 4 is placed, and an adjacent portion 7 provided adjacent to the sensor placement portion 6 .
The upper wall surface 9 of the sensor placement portion 6 has a gentler inclination angle α2 with respect to the horizontal direction than the inclination angle α1 of the upper wall surface 10 of the adjacent portion 7 .

In the door handle structure of the present embodiment configured in this way, it is possible to prevent the sensor arrangement portion 6 from being splashed with water. When the user touches the sensor placement portion 6 while it is wet, it is possible to suppress malfunctions such as the user's capacitance being deprived and the sensor not responding.
Specifically, as shown in FIG. 5, the water w flowing down the outer surface of the rear door 2 has an inclination angle α2, compared to the upper wall surface 9 (see FIG. 2) of the sensor placement portion 6, which has a gentle inclination angle α1. , α3 tend to flow in the direction of the upper wall surfaces 10 (see FIG. 3) and 11 (see FIG. 4) of the adjacent portions 7 and 8, which are steeper.
In this embodiment, when the water w that has flowed down the outer surface of the rear door 2 to the door handle 3 reaches the upper wall surface 9 of the sensor placement portion 6, the water w reaches a relatively steeper inclination angle α2 than the upper wall surface 9. , .alpha.3. The left and right waters w1 and w2 bypass the sensor placement portion 6 and pass through the adjacent portions 7 and 8. As shown in FIG. Therefore, it is possible to prevent the sensor portion 4 from being splashed with the water w flowing down along the outer surface.

Furthermore, in the door handle structure of the present embodiment, the inclination angle α2 (see FIG. 3) of the upper wall surface 10 of the adjacent portion 7 and the inclination angle α3 (see FIG. 4) of the upper wall surface 11 of the adjacent portion 8 are the same. It is set so that (α2=α3). Therefore, the flow rate of the water w1, w2 is less likely to be biased toward either one of the adjacent portions 7,8.

As shown in FIG. 1, the starting point s1 of the inclination of the upper wall surface 9 of the sensor placement portion 6 vertically coincides with the starting points s2 and s3 of the inclination of the upper wall surfaces 10 and 11 of the adjacent portions 7 and 8 in the vertical direction. there is
The door handles 3 of the present embodiment are arranged on the same straight line in the longitudinal direction of the vehicle so that the starting points s1, s2, and s3 of the inclinations are aligned in the vertical direction.
Therefore, as shown in FIG. 6, the vertical width of the sensor placement portion 6 is larger than the vertical width of the adjacent portions 7 and 8 . The area of the surface 21 seen from the outside of the vehicle is larger at the sensor placement portion 6 than at the adjacent portions 7 and 8 (see the hatched portion in FIG. 7). Therefore, as shown in FIG. 7, the sensor arrangement portion 6 has excellent visibility, and the area touched by the user can be set large. Therefore, the touch operability of the sensor section 4 can be improved.

As shown in FIG. 8, it has an electrode 5 arranged inside the sensor placement portion 6 and a recess 15 recessed at an outer position facing the electrode 5 of the sensor placement portion 6 .
The recess 15 formed in the sensor placement portion 6 shortens the distance to the internal electrode 5 . Therefore, detection performance can be improved.

As shown in FIG. 9 , the sensor section 4 has an opening/closing sensor 14 that detects a user's touch operation and opens/closes the rear door 2 . The door handle 3 has a handle grip portion 13 that is gripped by the user to operate the rear door 2 . The sensor placement portion 6 is arranged in parallel with the steering wheel grip portion 13 with a space therebetween in the longitudinal direction of the vehicle.

When manually gripping the door handle 3, the handle gripping portion 13 is gripped from above.
In the present embodiment, the sensor placement portion 6 and the handle grip portion 13 are arranged side by side with an adjacent portion 8 interposed therebetween in the longitudinal direction of the vehicle.
Therefore, the rear door 2 can be automatically opened and closed by touching the electrodes of the sensor section 4, and the rear door 2 can be manually opened and closed by gripping and operating the handle grip section 13. .

For example, the electrodes of the sensor section 4 may be provided on the handle gripping section 13 or may be provided above or near the handle gripping section 13 . In such a case, there is no risk of unintended operation of the rear door 2, such as the rear door 2 automatically opening when the user wishes to open the rear door 2 manually.

The present invention is not limited to the embodiments described above, and various modifications are possible. The above-described embodiments are exemplified for easy understanding of the present invention, and are not necessarily limited to those having all the described configurations. Also, part of the configuration of one embodiment can be replaced with the configuration of another embodiment, and the configuration of another embodiment can be added to the configuration of one embodiment. Moreover, it is possible to delete part of the configuration of each embodiment, or to add or replace other configurations. Possible modifications to the above embodiment are, for example, as follows.

As shown in FIG. 8, the sensor placement portion 6 of the present embodiment has a recess 15 at an outer position facing the electrode 5 . However, it is not particularly limited to this. For example, recess 15 may be rectangular, trapezoidal, round, oval, or the like, and recess 15 may not be provided. That is, the shape, quantity and material of the recess 15 are not particularly limited as long as they are recessed at the outer position facing the electrode of the sensor placement portion 6 .

Moreover, in the present embodiment, the door handle 3 is applied to the rear door 2 on the rear left side of the vehicle 1, but the present invention is not particularly limited to this. For example, the door handle 3 may be applied to the rear door 2 on the right side, or the door handle 3 may be applied to either the left or right front door. That is, the type, quantity and material of the door on which the door handle 3 is provided may be of any type.

Furthermore, in the door handle structure of this embodiment, as shown in FIGS. Compared with the inclination angle α1 of the upper wall surface 9, the inclination angle α2=α3 is set to be moderate.
However, the present invention is not limited to this, and the angles may be different from each other as long as the inclination angle α2 or the inclination angle α3 is gentler than the inclination angle α1.
Further, the areas of the respective surfaces 22 and 23 of the adjacent portions 7 and 8 viewed from the outside of the vehicle may be the same or different. That is, the shape, quantity and material of the surfaces 22 and 23 of the adjacent portions 7 and 8 are not particularly limited to those of this embodiment.

1 vehicle 2 rear door (door)
3 door handle 4 sensor section 6 sensor arrangement section 7, 8 adjacent section 9, 10 upper wall surface

Claims (4)

a door handle projecting outward from the vehicle door;
a sensor unit that detects a user's operation according to a change in the capacitance of the electrode,
The door handle has a sensor arrangement portion for arranging the sensor portion and an adjacent portion provided adjacent to the sensor arrangement portion,
The door handle structure according to claim 1, wherein the upper wall surface of the sensor placement portion has a gentler inclination angle with respect to the horizontal direction than the upper wall surface of the adjacent portion. 2. The door handle structure according to claim 1, wherein the starting point of the inclination of the upper wall surface of the sensor placement portion coincides with the starting point of the inclination of the upper wall surface of the adjacent portion in the vertical direction. an electrode arranged inside the sensor arrangement portion;
a recess provided at an outer position facing the electrode of the sensor placement portion,
The door handle structure according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that: The sensor unit has an opening/closing sensor that detects a user's touch operation and opens and closes the door,
The door handle has a handle grip portion that is gripped by a user to operate the door,
4. The door handle structure according to claim 3, wherein the sensor arrangement portion is arranged side by side with a space in the front-rear direction of the vehicle with respect to the handle grip portion.

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