JPS61190620A - Control lever - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To improve the operability and self-hold a lever in an optical position by providing a potentiometer and a motor on a revolving shaft of the lever and setting a detent position in a storage device by the switch operation of the lever. CONSTITUTION:A lever 1 is attached to a frame 2 freely turnably around the revolving shaft, and a potentiometer 3 is attached to one end of this revolving shaft, and a motor 8 is attached to the other end. A switch 9 for setting the detent position is provided in the upper end of the lever. The potentiometer 3 is connected to a comparator 10, and a storage device 13 is provided to store the output value of the potentiometer 3 as the detent value by turning on of the switch 9. This stored value and the output value of the potentiometer 3 are compared with each other by the comparator, and a position control signal which self-holds the rotation angle of the lever 1 at the stored value is outputted, and the torque of the motor 8 is controlled through a position control part 11. If there is not the stored value, the lever is controlled by a repulsion control part 12 so that he lever is returned to the neutral position.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Field of Industrial Application The present invention relates to lever operation in working machines such as cranes.
This relates to the now control lever which converts the signal into an electric signal to control the machine.

Prior Art An example of a conventional control lever is shown in FIGS. 3 and 4. The lever 1 is rotatably supported by a frame 2, and the rotation axis of the lever 1 has a rotation amount. Potentiometer 3 that converts the signal into an electrical signal, and lever 1
A return spring 4 is provided that urges the back to the neutral position.

The mechanical detent used for this control lever has a plate 5 arranged around the rotation axis of the lever 1, as shown in FIG. 6, and this plate 5 has a groove at a position corresponding to the detent angle. It is formed. Furthermore, it is comprised of a hard ball 6 which is fitted into the groove of the plate 5 by the biasing force of a spring 7 supported by the frame 2 and stops the rotation of the plate 5.

Problems to be Solved by this Invention The relationship between the operating angle and operating force of the conventional control lever is shown by the solid line in Figure 5 (the broken line is for return). Therefore, as the amount of operation increases, the reaction force increases, making the lever heavy and difficult to operate.If the spring is weakened, the reaction force near neutral becomes too light, making it difficult to operate.

Further, FIG. 7 shows an example of the lever return force near the detent. Here, when the lever is tilted to the right from the neutral position, the lever return force increases as the lever tilts, as shown by the solid line. When entering the detent area, the hard ball 6 biased by the spring is forced to move toward the bottom of the groove, causing the lever return force to decrease rapidly, sometimes reaching a negative value and causing the ball to be sucked into the bottom of the groove against the operator's will. It's getting smaller.

As the lever is further pushed down, the lever return force increases rapidly as the hard ball goes over the groove, and as soon as it crosses the groove, the return force decreases rapidly and returns to normal force.

As described above, since the return force changes drastically near the detent, it is difficult to perform fine operation in this area, and even when returning the lever to the neutral position, the same problem occurs as shown by the broken line.

Furthermore, since the detent is of a geometric type, the self-holding position of the detent is predetermined and cannot be stopped at an arbitrary position, which has the disadvantage that it takes up mechanical space and cannot be made compact.

Therefore, the present invention improves the disadvantages of the conventional control lever as described above, and improves the operability by ensuring that the operating force hardly increases even if the operating angle of the lever increases. To provide a control lever that has a self-holding area (detent area) in its operating range and eliminates discontinuity in operating reaction force there.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a self-returning control lever that allows the lever to be self-held at any position within the lever operation range, has a compact overall structure, and can be easily returned to the neutral position. It is in.

Structure of the Invention A control lever according to the present invention includes a potentiometer and a motor attached to the rotating shaft of the lever, and further includes a switch provided on the lever and a memory that stores the output value of the potentiometer at the time the switch is operated. and a comparator that compares the value in the memory with the value of the potentiometer, the detent position can be set in the memory by operating the switch, and the detent position can be set in the memory by operating the switch again or by pressing the lever in advance. If the lever is operated to exceed the set tolerance, the detent position set in the memory is canceled and the motor is controlled to return the lever to the neutral position.

Embodiments The following will explain the embodiments shown in the drawings. As shown in Fig. 1, a lever l is attached to the frame 2 so as to be freely rotatable around a rotating shaft, a potentiometer 3 is housed at one end of the rotating shaft, and a motor is mounted at the other end. 8 is installed.

Further, a switch 9 for setting the detent position is attached to the upper end of the lever l.

A potentiometer 3 attached to the rotating shaft of the lever 1 converts the amount of rotation, which is the operating angle of the lever 1, into an electric signal, and a motor 8 generates a reaction force to return the lever 1 to the neutral position and a self-holding force at the detent position. It is Dorukumo-Yu that gives.

These potentiometers3. Motor 8 and switch 9
are connected to the control block as shown in Figure 2.

In this control block, the potentiometer 3 is connected to the comparator 0, and the comparator 1o is connected to a memory 13 for mutually inputting and outputting data. Therefore, an electrical signal indicating the amount of rotation of the lever l is input to the comparator 10 and the memory 13.

In addition, a switch 9 is connected to the memory device 13, and as will be explained in detail in the operation section below, when the switch 9 is turned on while the lever 1 is being operated, the output value of the potentiometer 3 at that time is set to the detent position. is stored as.

Further, when the switch 9 is turned on while the lever is held at the detent position thus set, the detent position stored in the memory 13 is cleared.

If a memory value indicating the detent setting position is stored in the memory 13, the comparator 10 compares this memory value with the output value of the potentiometer 3 to self-maintain the lever rotation angle at the memorized value. Outputs position control signal. This position control signal is output to the position control section 11 connected to the output side of the comparator 10, and the position control section 11 torque-controls the motor 8 so as to self-hold the lever 1 position.

Further, when the detent position set value is not stored in the memory 13, the comparator 10 outputs a reaction force control signal according to the output value of the potentiometer 3 so as to always return the lever 1 to the neutral position.

This reaction force control signal is input to the reaction force control section 12, which controls the torque of the motor 8 so as to return the lever 1 to the neutral position.

Here, the detent setting value stored in the memory 13 is cleared once the detent is stored and the switch 9 is turned on again in a state where the lever 1 is self-held.

Furthermore, in the self-holding state due to the detent setting, if the lever 1 is operated so that the value of the potentiometer 3 compared in the comparator 10 exceeds the allowable value of the stored value (for example, ±1% of the stored value), the above case will occur. The stored value is cleared in the same way.

The configuration of this embodiment is as described above, and the operation will be explained based on the flowchart in FIG.

When the power is turned on, first, in step a, the stored value in the memory 13 is cleared, and in step b, the state of the switch 9 is checked. Here, if the switch 9 is in the OFF state, the process moves to step 1, and depending on the direction in which the lever 1 is tilted, the lever 1 is returned to the neutral position in step j or k.

If the switch 9 is turned on in step b, the process proceeds to step C, and the value of the potentiometer 3 indicating the angle of one rotation of the lever at that time is read into the memory and stored. Next, in step d, it is checked whether the lever l is within a permissible width centered on this memorized value, and if it exceeds the permissible width, the process returns to step a and the memorized value in the memory 13 is erased. Repeat the process up to step d.

As a result, in order to return the lever 1 held at the detent position during -shifting to the neutral position, apply an appropriate external force to the lever 1 and move the lever 1 by more than the allowable width, and the lever 1 will return to the neutral position. For this reason, unlike conventional control levers, when there are two or more detents, there is no problem where the next detent gets caught and the lever does not return to neutral, and unlike levers that do not have self-returning force, there is no need to manually return them to the neutral position. This improves operability.

Further, when the lever 1 is within the allowable width in step d, the motor 8 is controlled in step e+f 1g to hold the lever 1 at the position stored as the detent setting value. This allows the lever 1 to be held at any position for full operation.

In step d described above, even during self-holding with detent, it is checked whether the external force applied to lever l has deviated from the allowable width, and in step h, the state of switch 9 is checked,
When it is turned ON again, the process returns to step a, erases the stored value, cancels self-holding, and returns to the neutral position.

Therefore, there is no discontinuity when the detent part self-retains and comes out, allowing fine operation.

Although this embodiment describes a general rotary lever, the present invention can also be applied to levers that move linearly.

Effects of the Invention The control lever according to the embodiment of the present invention has the above-mentioned length of 1 m, and has the following effects.

Even if the operating angle of the lever increases, the operating force (reaction force) hardly increases, and while the lever has a self-holding area (detent area) within the lever operating range, there is no discontinuity in the operating force. The properties become better.

In addition, the control lever embodiment is a self-returning type that allows the lever to be self-held at any position within the lever operation range, making the whole compact, and easily returning to the neutral position.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

Fig. 1 is a partially cutaway front view of the embodiment, Fig. 2 is a control block diagram of Fig. 1, Figs. 3 and 4 are configuration diagrams of the conventional example, and Fig. 5 is the operating angle and operation of the conventional example. FIG. 6 is a side view of the configuration of a conventional detent, FIG. 7 is a return force characteristic diagram of a conventional detent portion, and FIG. 8 is an operation flowchart of the embodiment. L... Lever, 2... Frame, 3... Potentiometer, 4... Return spring, 5... Plate, 6...
...Hard ball, 7...Hane, 8 """ Mori, 9...
Switch, 10... Comparator, 11... 1st generation control section, 12... Reaction force control section, 13... Memory device. −Nayabem

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] A control lever having a lever that self-returns to a neutral position, the potentiometer being attached to the rotating shaft of the lever and converting the rotation angle corresponding to the amount of operation of the lever into an electrical signal and outputting the electrical signal. a motor that is attached to the rotating shaft of the lever and that holds the operating position of the lever and controls the reaction force to the lever's neutral position; and a motor that is attached to the lever that allows the daytent to be set at any operating position of the lever. a switch; when the switch is turned on while the lever is being operated, the potentiometer output value at that point is input and the detent setting position is memorized, and the switch is turned on while the lever is held in the detent position; and a memory device that clears the set position; and a comparison device that inputs the output of the potentiometer and compares it with a stored value of the detent set position in the memory device to maintain the operating position of the motor or output a reaction force signal to the motor. The comparator outputs a position holding signal to maintain the lever operating position if the potentiometer output is within a preset tolerance with respect to the stored value, and if it is outside the tolerance, the comparator outputs a position hold signal to maintain the lever operation position. The control lever is configured to output a reaction force signal to clear the detent setting value in the memory and return the lever to a neutral position.