ELECTROMAGNETIC ACTUATOR FOR A MECHANICAL FEEDBACK UNIT

Abstract

The electromagnetic actuator (10) as an actuator of a mechanical feedback unit of a control device for a vehicle component is provided with a stator (12) and a translator (24), which can be moved in translation along a movement axis (36) and which, whilst maintaining a distance to the stator (12), can be moved back and forth between a rest position and at least one end position and preferably one of two end positions, which, relative to the rest position, are arranged in opposite directions along the movement axis (36) starting from the rest position. The actuator (10) further comprises a guidance arrangement (40) for guiding the translator (24) in translation while its moving, wherein the guidance arrangement (40) has at least one leaf spring (38), which extends transversely to the movement axis (36) and has a central attachment portion (46) and a fixing portion (42) on either side of the attachment portion (46). Either the translator (24) is mechanically coupled with the attachment portion (46) of the leaf spring (38) and the fixing portions (42) thereof are mechanically coupled to the stator (12), or the stator (12) is mechanically coupled to the attachment portion (46) of the leaf spring (38) and the fixing portions (42) thereof are mechanically coupled to the translator (24).

Claims

1. Electromagnetic actuator for a mechanical feedback unit of an operating device, particularly provided for a vehicle component, for a tactile feedback of an operation of the operating device, comprising a stator, a translator which can be moved in translation along a movement axis and which can be moved back and forth be-tween a rest position and at least one end position, whilst maintaining an air gap distance, directed orthogonally to the movement axis, to the stator, and a guidance arrangement for guiding the translator in translation while its moving, wherein the guidance arrangement comprises at least one leaf spring which extends transversely to the movement axis and to the alignment of the air gap distance of stator and translator and has a central attachment portion and a fixing portion on either side of the attachment portion, and wherein either the translator is mechanically coupled with the attachment portion of the leaf spring and the fixing portions thereof are mechanically coupled with the stator, or the stator is mechanically coupled with the attachment portion of the leaf spring and the fixing portions thereof are mechanically coupled with the translator.

2. Electromagnetic actuator according to claim 1, wherein the translator, whilst maintaining an air gap distance, directed orthogonally to the movement axis, to the stator, can be moved back and forth between a rest position and one of two end position, which, relative to the rest position, are arranged in opposite directions along the movement axis starting from the rest position.

3. Electromagnetic actuator according to claim 1, wherein the attachment portion of the at least one leaf spring comprises an attachment lug protruding from the attachment portion, wherein the leaf spring is attached to the translator by means of the attachment lug, and in that each fixing portion of the at least one leaf spring is provided with a protruding fixing lug, wherein the leaf spring is mounted to the stator by means of the fixing lug.

4. Electromagnetic actuator according to claim 1, wherein the attachment portion of the at least one leaf spring comprises an attachment lug protruding from the attachment portion, wherein the leaf spring is attached to the stator by means of the attachment lug, and in that each fixing portion of the at least one leaf spring is provided with a protruding fixing lug, wherein the leaf spring is mounted to the translator by means of the fixing lug .

5. Electromagnetic actuator according to claim 1, wherein the guidance arrangement comprises two leaf springs extending transversely to the movement axis of the translator, each having a central attachment portion and two fixing portions arranged on either side of the attachment portion, and in that the two leaf springs, viewed in the direction of the movement axis of the translator, are arranged at a distance from one another and, in particular, at opposite ends of either the translator or the stator.

6. Electromagnetic actuator according to claim 1, wherein the stator comprises two plate-like stator elements, and in that the translator is adapted as a plate-like translator element arranged between the stator elements.

7. Electromagnetic actuator according to claim 1, wherein either the stator comprises at least one permanent magnet and/or at least one stator coil and the translator comprises at least one translator coil cooperating with the permanent magnet of the stator and/or the stator coil for the purpose of a linear movement of the translator, or the translator comprises at least one permanent magnet and/or at least one translator coil and the stator comprises at least one stator coil cooperating with the permanent magnet of the translator and/or the translator coil for the purpose of a linear movement of the translator, and in that a control unit for controlling the at least one stator coil and/or the at least one translator coil is provided.

8. Operating device for a vehicle component, comprising a housing 420, a manually operable operating element arranged in and/or at the housing and having an operating surface, wherein the operating element is laterally movable and/or movable along a movement axis comprising a lateral component, and an electromagnetic actuator according to any one of the pre-ceding claims, which can be activated for the tactile confirmation of a manual operation of the operating surface of the operating element, wherein the stator of the actuator is mechanically coupled with the housing and the translator of the actuator is mechanically coupled with the operating element, or the stator of the actuator is mechanically coupled with the operating element and the translator of the actuator is mechanically coupled with the housing.

Description

[0027] In the following, the invention is described in more detail with reference to the drawing, in which:

[0028] FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an exemplary embodiment of an electro-magnetic actuator according to the invention, comprising two leaf springs extending transversely to the movement axis of the translator,

[0029] FIG. 2 is a side view showing the electromagnetic actuator according to FIG. 1,

[0030] FIG. 3 is a plan view showing the electromagnetic actuator according to FIG. 1,

[0031] FIGS. 4 and 5

[0032] are a plan view showing the electromagnetic actuator after being activated to move the translator from its rest position into one of the two possible end positions respectively,

[0033] FIG. 6 is a perspective view showing an alternative exemplary embodiment of an electromagnetic actuator comprising two leaf springs extending transversely to the movement axis of the translator according to the invention, and

[0034] FIG. 7. schematically shows the structure of an operating device for a vehicle component, wherein an operating element of the operating device is mechanically excited by means of the electromagnetic actuator according to FIGS. 1 to 5 in order to provide a tactile feedback and thus a confirmation of an operator input.

[0035] FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an electromagnetic actuator 10 according to an exemplary embodiment of the invention, wherein FIGS. 2 and 3 are a side view and a plan view, respectively, showing the electromagnetic actuator. Actuator 10 comprises a stator 12 which, in this exemplary embodiment, comprises two spaced stator plate elements 14,16 arranged one above the other. Said stator plate elements 14,16 are provided with permanent magnets 18, 20. Two bolt-shaped spacers 22 connect the two stator plate elements 14,16 to each other.

[0036] A translator 24, which is adapted is this exemplary embodiment as a translator plate element 26, is arranged between two stator plate elements 14,16. Translator plate element 26 is provided with at least one electric coil 28. An electric line 30 leads to translator 24, which, for example, can be electrically connected to a control unit 34 by means of a plug indicated with reference numeral 32. By controlling coil 28, translator 24 moves, depending on the direction of the flow, in one of two opposite directions. The movement axis, along which translator 24 moves, is indicated in FIG. 1 with reference numeral 36 (see e.g. FIG. 6).

[0037] A coupling element 37 is connected to translator 24 and implements the mechanical connection between translator 24 and an object to be moved by translator 24, for example a spring-elastically mounted operating element of a vehicle operating device (see e.g. FIG. 6).

[0038] According to the invention, translator 24 is softly coupled with one of the two stator plate elements 14,16 in the direction of extension of movement axis 36 and is stiffly coupled transversely thereto. The stiff coupling ensures that translator 24 cannot move towards the direction of stator 12 when moving along movement axis 36. Thus, the air gap above and below translator 24 relative to the stator plate elements 14,16 remains unchanged when translator 24 moves. This stiff coupling also prevents the actuator gap from changing under a load transverse to movement axis 36.

[0039] This special mechanical coupling of translator 24 with, in this exemplary embodiment, upper stator plate element 14 is achieved by two leaf springs 38 which ensure a guidance arrangement 40 for the translatory guidance of translator 24 while maintaining the air gap relative to the stator plate elements 14,16. Each leaf spring 38 comprises at its two ends respectively one fixing portion 42, each of which is provided with an angled fixing lug 44 protruding laterally from the corresponding end of the leaf spring 38. Between the to fixing portions 42 of each leaf spring 38 an attachment portion 46 is provided which is centered between the ends of the corresponding leaf spring 38. The attachment lugs 48 protrude from each of the attachment portions 46. In this exemplary embodiment, the attachment lugs 48 are mounted to the upper stator plate element 14 while the fixing lugs 44 are mounted to translator 24. The upper stator plate element 14 comprises, in the area of the attachment portions 46 of the leaf springs 38, protruding attachment projections 50, which are aligned opposite to each other, to which the attachment lugs 48 are mounted. Due to this attachment projections 50, a space 54 relative to each adjacent leaf spring 38 is formed between each of the (front and rear) ends 53 of stator plate element 14 located along movement axis 36, so that translator 24 can now be moved along movement axis 36 in both directions by a specific path without that the fixing portions 42 of the leaf springs 38 taken along by translator 24 collide with the upper stator plate element 14. This situation is illustrated in FIGS. 4 and 5.

[0040] FIG. 6 shows the structure of actuator 10, which represents an alternative embodiment, wherein the elements constructively and functionally corresponding to those of actuator 10 in FIGS. 1 to 5 are denoted by the same reference numerals.

[0041] In contrast to actuator 10 according to FIGS. 1 to 5, the leaf springs 38 of actuator 10 in FIG. 6 are mounted in the corresponding attachment portion 46 to an attachment projection 50 of translator 24 and are connected at the fixing portions 42 to both stator plate elements 14, 16. Thus, the leaf springs 38 also function as spacers for the stator plate elements 14,16; however, separate spacers 22 can also be provided, as shown dashed in FIG. 6.

[0042] In the following, a possibility of using the electromagnetic actuator for an operating device for a vehicle component with force feedback functionality is described with reference to FIG. 1.

[0043] FIG. 7 is a side view and schematically shows an operating device 110 comprising an operating element 112. In this exemplary embodiment, operating element 112 is configured as a display assembly with an operating surface 114 on which a plurality of symbol fields can be displayed. Operating element 112 is normally backlit.

[0044] To carry out an actuating movement in the vertical movement direction (see double arrow 118) and to confirm such an actuation movement in the lateral direction (see double arrow 120 in FIG. 7), the operating element 112 is elastically mounted to a housing 126 via schematically indicated first and second springs 122, 124. A sensor 128 can be used to determine that operating element 112 has moved along the vertical movement axis 118. This is determined in the evaluation and control unit 34, whereupon said evaluation and control unit controls actuator 10 (or 10). The fixed stator 12 of actuator 10 (or 10) is supported on housing 126, while translator 24 is mechanically coupled with operating element 112 by means of coupling element 37 (or vice versa). The active movement axis of translator 24 is illustrated by double arrow 36.

[0045] The larger and more complex operating element 112 is constructed, the heavier it is, and the more installation space is takes up. If it is now requested that the haptic feedback should be that same over the entire operating surface 114, then operating element 112 should only perform a translatory movement during haptic feedback. The linear guidance of translator 24 contributes to this.

[0046] According to FIG. 7, the entirely translatory movement of operating element 112 during active haptic feedback comprises both a lateral and a vertical component. The fact that this feedback movement is not entirely lateral plays no role in the fact that the haptic sensation should be the same across the entire operating surface 114 of operating element 112. It is decisive that operating element 112 does not undergo any rotatory movement proportion during active haptic feed-back, which means that operating element 112 is advantageously exclusively parallelly displaced in space, which is also supported by the linear guidance of translator 24.

[0047] The above-described arrangement of actuator 10 (or 10) in operating unit 110 of FIG. 6 is not necessarily required for the invention but provides certain advantages with regard to haptic feedback, which is also described in the PCT application PCT/EP2017/051416, the content of which is hereby incorporated by reference into the present patent application.

LIST OF REFERENCE NUMERALS

[0048] 10 actuator [0049] 10 actuator [0050] 12 stator [0051] 14 upper stator plate element [0052] 16 lower stator plate element [0053] 18 permanent magnet [0054] 20 permanent magnet [0055] 22 spacer [0056] 24 translator [0057] 26 translator plate element [0058] 28 coil [0059] 30 line [0060] 32 plug [0061] 34 control unit [0062] 36 movement axis of translator [0063] 37 coupling element [0064] 38 leaf springs [0065] 40 guidance arrangement for leaf springs [0066] 42 fixing portion [0067] 44 fixing lug [0068] 46 attachment portion [0069] 48 attachment lug [0070] 50 attachment projection [0071] 52 ends of each stator plate element located in extension of movement axis [0072] 54 space between a stator plate element end and adjacent leaf springs [0073] 110 operating unit [0074] 112 operating element [0075] 114 operating surface [0076] 116 symbol field [0077] 118 vertical movement axis [0078] 120 double arrow [0079] 122 springs [0080] 124 springs [0081] 126 housing [0082] 128 sensor