Power window switch which incorporates express up/down and
Contents
1. 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 EP 0 855 488 A2 TABLE continued FIGS 3a and 3b C ufds U Type E T j s T pa sel TT se T j Referring to FIGS 7a and Tb an alternate embodiment of the invention indicated generally at 100 is illustrated wherein the variable impedance devices 26 28 comprise a force responsive variable capacitance Variable capaci tance svvitches are knovvn in the art as for example the device described in U S Patent 5 559 665 may be employed or any other suitable variable capacitance svvitch may be used The variable capacitance device is of relatively thin flat configuration and when installed would have an appearance similar to that shown in FIGS 6a and 6b The embodiment 100 is formed by substitution for the voltage divider 40 in the system of FIG 2 the circuit shown in FIGS 7a and 7b when the variable impedance devices 26 28 comprise a force sensitive variable capacitance switch Referring to FIGS 7a and 7b the circuit receives power at connector terminals J1 and provides through capacitor network comprising capacitors C5 through C11 and the power supply voltage Voc at 5 volts DC The variable capaci tance type devices 26 28 of the embodiment 100 are connected from line 38 at terminals J2 The output signal 44 from the voltage divider 40 comprising a voltage proportional to force applied to the capacitive switch2. 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 EP 0 855 488 A2 DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Referring to FIGS 1 6a and 6b the system of the present invention is indicated generally at 10 and has a control console 12 on a vehicle door 14 with a window 16 raised and lowered in tracks 18 20 by a motorized mechanism indi cated generally at 22 connected to a window channel 24 At least one and typically for a driver s door a plurality of user input controls or variable impedance devices 26 28 are provided on console 12 Each of the devices indicated generally at 26 28 may have an actuator 30 which is directly acted upon or receives a force input from the vehicle operator or driver s hand or fingers such as for example a pushbutton type not shown actuator provided on the console 12 The actuator 30 imparts a force on one of the pressure responsive variable impedance devices 26 28 situated on a base or supporting structure 32 which forms a part of console 12 A rocker type actuator 30 is shown in FIG 6a which acts upon a bar 34 which presses on devices 26 28 Alternatively the devices 26 28 may be acted upon directly by the user s finger as shown in FIG 6b It will be understood that other types of actuators may be employed as for example by eliminating rocker 30 and applying user force directly to bar 34 In one embodiment of the invention devices 26 28 comprise a force sensitive resistive device which provides decreasing elec
3. H21V 1 6n Y3IAIYO ven vn d YIWIL YO LV8VIWOI NO y HILV 1 NOILINNI SSIYAX3 13 EP 0 855 488 A2 NORMAL FUNCTION WINDOW MOVES UP WINDOW MOVES DOWN 1 FIG 5a WINDOW MOVES UP WINDOW MOVES DOWN UN7O ol y ol 7 APPROX 14 O s o Sec JNBO oi j 387 1 05 32 APPROX LEO 3 0 SEC U4 2 I APPROX APPROX JN84 O 30SEC 3 0 SEC 1 EXPRESS FUNCTION FIG 5b 14 EP 0 855 488 A2 7 100 h Vec Ki 15 EP 0 855 488 A2 16 EP 0 855 488 A2 8 914 935 TY 3Wil Ole Den sl 0 0 20 er 9 81S 8 81S v 8 S 2000 6 E IEEE GUA SEE E SE NE e TC CCE EA eee A 7 7 IAEN SS EE RE E SAGE pALEN go 2n vo zn q 1N0 1N
4. applied at the PID The motor speed increases with increasing duty cycle When the voltage at junction 80 falls below which in the present practice of the invention is chosen as 5 volts then comparator 74 by U3B sends out a pulse triggering the U6 timing sequence of 3 second duration This signal inverts at U1 10 and energizes the U10 relay coil 80 for that 3 second duration In addition that signal from U3B 7 pulls the diode D6 low and starts another timing sequence out of U4 3 of a 3 second duration This signal then gates the U9 Mosfet on for that 3 second duration When the Mosfet is on the signal at U10 5 is grounded grounding one side of the motor through pin 8 Therefore a full 12 volts is applied across the motor leads through pin 1 of U10 yielding max imum window speed in the down direction thus the express down mode is activated The timing of the output of the various devices of the circuit of FIGS 3a and 3b is shown graphically in FIGS 5a and 5b for the different modes of operation described above The values of resistances capacitances and the inte grated circuit device designations for the circuit of FIGS 3a and 3b are given in Table below TABLE EEN ELN EOL E A EI eoa mia o mama Pri sano z r T Bao T es A pr 9 j 07 m
5. 7 A system for enabling a vehicle operator to control the speed or rate of raising and lowering of a powered lift window 16 The actuator 30 or switch includes a pressure responsive variable impedance device 26 28 comprising a variable resistance in one embodiment and a variable capacitance in another embodiment Increasing force directly on the variable impedance device by the user s finger or an actuator d gt decreases the impedance which is sensed by a voltage FORGE VV divider 40 which outputs a voltage which increases with increasing force This latter voltage is compared with the output of a triangle wave oscillator 50 and the output of the comparator 48 is a pulse width modu lated signal with pulse width proportional to applied force The pulses are applied to a power device Mosfet which modulates the duty cycle of the current to the window lift mechanism drive motor to give variable motor speed FORCE t 36 SwITCH FORCE ACTUATOR Printed by Xerox UK Business Services 2 16 3 3 4 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 EP 0 855 488 A2 Description BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to an automotive control device and in particular a control employed on a vehicle to enable the vehicle operator to control servo motors operative to raise and lower the windows in the vehicle Typically motor vehicles have a pushbutton or rocker actuated switch provided on a console commo
6. EP 0 855 488 A2 e 19 0 European Patent Office Office europ en des brevets 11 EP 0 855 488 A2 12 EUROPEAN PATENT APPLICATION 43 Date of publication 51 Int 15 EO5F 15 16 29 07 1998 Bulletin 1998 31 21 Application number 98101302 2 22 Date of filing 26 01 1998 Hubbell Ruth Ellen Milwaukee Winsconsin 53223 5258 US 84 Designated Contracting States AT BE CH DE DK ES FI FR GB GR IE IT LI LU MC NL PT SE Gohde Lewis John Designated Extension States Sussex Winsconsin 53089 1440 US AL LT LV MK RO SI e Hummelt Edward John Winsconsin 53228 2457 US Baumann Richard Alan Franksville Winsconsin 53126 9547 US McGinnis Peter Joseph Brookfield Winsconsin 53045 4304 US e Klumb Arlene Marie Richfield Winsconsin 53076 9652 US 30 Priority 28 01 1997 US 789048 71 Applicant EATON CORPORATION Cleveland Ohio 44114 2584 US 72 Inventors Chang Albert Yuan Brookfield Winsconsin 53005 2781 US e Taranowski Michael George 74 Representative Wagner Karl H Dipl Ing Greendale Winsconsin 53129 1926 US WAGNER amp GEYER Pier Brian Thomas Patentanw lte Milwaukee Winsconsin 53212 3047 US Gew rzm hlstrasse 5 e Hansen James Edward 80538 M nchen DE Oak Creek Winsconsin 53154 3064 US 54 Power window switch which incorporates express up down and window motor speed control features using a forge sensitive resistor or capacitor 5
7. devices 26 28 is con nected through terminal J3 along line 46 to the input of comparator 48 The impedance of the force sensitive capacitor devices 26 28 is measured in a voltage divider circuit The voltage divider is comprised of a reference capacitor C3 and the switch 26 28 capacitor to be measured connected in series The capacitors are simultaneously charged and the voltage at the point where the capacitors are connected together junction 102 indicates the impedance of the capacitor of the devices 26 28 The logic uses a four step process to measure the capacitive impedance Device 1 comprises a square wave oscillator which provides an output at pin 3 thereof to the input of a counter device U2 which counts for valid states and then repeats The outputs QA and OB of U2 are inputted to a one of eight decoder U3 such that when the most significant bit goes high QA and QB drive the least significant bit and it rotates through states 4 5 6 and 7 by forcing them low The four steps of the process are generated by the following digital logic Oscillator U1 provides a clock pulse to the counter U2 The first two outputs of the counter which counts in binary from zero to three are connected to the first two inputs of U3 a 3 8 decoder which generates four separate sequential pulses The first and third pulse are inverted by U4 and labeled STB A and STB C on the schematic The second and fourth pulses set and reset respectively a flip f
8. dow and driven by said motor said motor oper ative upon energization by said power signal to lower and raise said vehicle window wherein said motor is increased in speed as said user s manual pressure on said input member increases and f timing means operative to latch said motor at maximum speed when said impedance is decreased below a predetermined threshold 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 EP 0 855 488 A2 11 The system defined in claim 10 wherein said timing means is operative to latch said motor on for a predetermined time period EP 0 855 488 A2 16 6 EP 0 855 488 A2 913 10132 TVNOLIDINIA IB YOLVYVINO OD NOLLONN 3 SSIYd XI YOLVYVIWOI HOLV T112S0 3AVM 319NV141L 39403 N M3QIAIQ NI 9 8b YOLYNLIY HILIMS ONVH 39403 9 82 92 32403 10 ob N EP 0 855 488 A2 r a gt oz E D o os a 18 EN 0 mr m x 4S x 1 Cp o y o ies Mm l o LL 11 EP 0 855 488 A2 FIG 3B 12 EP 0 855 488 A2 82 0 NMOQ 2 HOLVIHVINOI pOld 1 als E 99 I 19 Za gt 82 S E e vin on 0 21 wdfn ta YOLVYVIWOI sn Y3WIL A NO
9. e and the device type designations are given in Table Ill for the circuit of FIGS 7a and 7b TABLE III FIGS 7a 8 7b m ESE The present invention thus provides a simple and effective relatively low cost technique for enabling the vehicle operator to control the rate or speed of raising or lowering of a vehicle powered window lift by the amount of pressure or force the operator applies to the switch or rocker button typically located on a console on the vehicle door The user input device utilizes a pressure responsive variable impedance switch or input device which in one embodiment com prises a pressure sensitive variable resistance device and in another embodiment comprises a pressure responsive variable capacitance Although the present invention has been described hereinabove with respect to the illustrated embodiments it will be understood that the invention is capable of modification and variation and is limited only by the scope of the following claims 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 EP 0 855 488 A2 Claims 1 A variable speed vehicle window power lift system comprising a a force transducer responsive to increasing user finger pressure on an input member to provide a decreas ing electrical impedance b a signal generating circuit connected to an onboard vehicle power source and operative to produce a con trol sig
10. g ing clock pulses from U1 hold U3 in the low or off state When STB A is high this enables pins 5 and 6 of U5 which 20 30 35 40 45 55 EP 0 855 488 A2 goes high and shorts C3 and the capacitance of devices 26 28 to ground and discharges them When STB B is high this causes U5 to supply the 5 volts Voc from pin 2 of 5 to C3 which is in series with the capacitance of devices 26 28 thus forming a voltage divider which has the voltage therefrom applied to U6 which is a high input impedance buffer providing a low impedance output to the comparator through terminals J3 and along line 26 6 5 and C4 form a sample and hold circuit and U6 drives J3 as a low impedance load without discharging C4 When STB C is high five volts is applied in pin 12 of US and US outputs to C4 STB C is high when STB B is high because U4 forms a set reset latch The next clock pulse toggles U2 to reset to 0 0 C4 is a storage element and stores the voltage generated by the force on the capacitive devices 26 28 and thus provides an output proportional to the force Referring to Table Il the states of the devices are shown for the four states 0 0 0 1 1 0 and 1 1 of U2 The timing of the outputs of the various devices of the circuit of FIGS 7a and 7b is illustrated in graphical form in FIG 8 TABLE Il FIGS 7a 8 7b ur us sea sree Top vato sen n Tu The values of capacitance resistanc
11. ired to retain the higher rate of raising or lowering lt thus has been desired to provide a way or means of varying the rate of raising or lowering vehicle windows which is simple and easy for the operator to use and of course a way to accomplish this function which is low in cost and easily installed in mass production of vehicles BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Itis an object of the present invention to provide a vehicle powered window lift control system which has a variable rate of raising and lowering the vehicle windows and which is readily and easily controllable by the vehicle operator Itis a further object of the present invention to provide a variable vehicle powered window lift system which has the rate of raising or lowering increased by the vehicle operator pressing on a button or control input device or switch with greater force t is a further object of the present invention to provide a variable vehicle powered window lift control system in which the rate of raising and lowering of the window is increased by the operator changing the impedance of the input device or switch by increased pressure The present invention employs in one embodiment a device which employs variable resistance sensitive to the applied force which resistance is decreased by the user manually pressing harder or with greater force on the input device or switch which change in resistance is electrically detected to modulate the speed of the powered window lif
12. l direction b engaging said window with lifting structure c connecting said lifting structure to an electrically energized motor d providing a force transducer and decreasing the impedance thereof in impedance responsive to increasing user applied force thereto e detecting changes in the impedance of said transducer f generating an electrical control signal indicative of said changes in impedance and g modulating a driver signal with said control signal and applying said driver signal to said motor and ener gizing said motor 9 The method defined in claim 9 wherein said step of energizing said motor includes latching said motor on at max imum speed when said impedance is decreased below a predetermined threshold 10 A variable speed vehicle window power lift system comprising a a force transducer responsive to increasing user manual pressure on an input member to provide a decreasing electrical impedance b circuit means connected to an onboard vehicle power source and operative to produce a control signal indicative of said decreasing impedance c a power switching circuit connected to an onboard vehicle power source and having its input connected to receive said control signal and operative to provide a power signal modulated according to said control signal d a moveable vehicle window including structure operable for guiding window movement e a bi directional motor and lift linkage connected to said win
13. lop formed by the two remaining gates of U4 This generates the charging control pulse labeled STB B on the sche matic In the first step of the impedance measuring process control pulse STB A activates analog switches in U5 which are connected to both ends of the capacitor divider This causes both capacitors to be completely discharged In the second step the signal STB A is off and STB B is on The analog switches discharging the divider are now off and the STB B signal activates the analog switch in 5 which connects five volts to the capacitor divider thus charging the capacitors In the third step STB B remains on due to the flip flop and STB C is on A buffer amplifier U6 is connected to the junction of the capacitive divider and its output is connected to one of the analog switches of U5 This switch is activated by STB C which samples the voltage and stores the value on C4 The output is buffered by another amplifier In the fourth step STB C is turned off and the flip flop in U4 is reset which deactivates STB B The whole process is then repeated The combination of the analog switch activated by STB C C4 and the buffer amplifier is called a sample and hold circuit The output is a dc voltage which is proportional to the impedance of the capacitance of the devices 26 28 to be measured The clock gates the output states and the output of is low only when UT is low As the outputs of U2 are chan
14. nal indicative of said change in impedance c a power amplifier circuit connected to an onboard vehicle power source and having its input connected to receive said control signal and operative to provide a power driver signal modulated according to said control signal d a movable vehicle window including structure operative for guiding window movement and e a bi directional motor and a lift linkage connected to said window and driven by said motor said motor oper ative upon said energization to lower and raise said vehicle window wherein said motor is increased in speed as said user s finger pressure on said input member increases 2 The system defined in claim 1 wherein said control signal is pulse width modulated 3 The system defined in claim 1 wherein said window motor includes a bi directional relay 4 The system defined in claim 1 wherein said amplifier includes a Mosfet device 5 The system defined in claim 1 wherein said force transducer includes a polymer film with carbon interspersed therein and said decreasing impedance comprises decreasing resistance 6 The system defined in claim 1 wherein said decreasing impedance comprises generating increasing capacitance 7 The system defined in claim 1 wherein said force transducer provides a decreasing resistance 8 A method of varying the speed of raising and lowering a vehicle powered window lift comprising a guiding a vehicle window for movement in a generally vertica
15. ndow lift system of the embodiment 10 As applied pressure increases on PID1 or PID2 the voltage at junction 68 increases U2 amplifies this signal and produces an increasing voltage at U8B 5 This signal combined with the output from the 1 kHz triangle wave oscillator inputted at U8B 6 yields a pulse width modulated sig nal at U8b 7 This voltage controls the duty cycle of the signal produced at U8B 7 Then this PWM signal controls the gate of the U9 Mosfet producing this same signal at U10 5 This PWM signal is seen on the relay at U10 5 Also this PWM signal is seen by the motor and the speed will increase proportionately in response to the applied PID pressure and the window speed controlled by the motor speed will follow exactly When PID1 is pressed the voltage at junction 70 decreases proportionately with the applied force When this volt age falls below 1 which in the present practice of the invention is chosen as 9 volts the relay comparator 72 is acti vated U7A 1 goes high and U1 13 goes low thus energizing U10 relay coil 78 through pin 7 thereof The motor speed responds to the PWM signal and the window moves up at a speed determined by the amount of force applied at the PID The motor speed increases with increasing duty cycle When the voltage at junction 70 falls below V2Rer which in the present practice of the invention is chosen as 5 volts the express function comparator 74 is activated the output of U3A 1 goes l
16. nly mounted on the inside of the door to enable the vehicle operator or passengers to selectively activate motors for raising or lowering a partic ular window or any combination of windows The window motors are each activated by a relay energized by the operator pushing the button on the console Heretofore with relays energizing the window motors the motor could only be oper ated at full voltage from the onboard vehicle power supply or left in the off state e g the switch was an on off device lt has been desired to provide a way or means of providing a variation in the speed or rate at which a window is raised or lowered Where it is desired to set the window at a certain position or opened only a relatively small amount for providing a desired amount of ventilation it has been found difficult to accurately position the window because of the relatively high rate at which the motor raises and lowers the window In such instances the vehicle operator or passen ger as the case may be would experience difficulty in energizing the motor for a sufficiently limited time to prevent over running of the desired window position Thus in this mode of operation it has been desired to have a slower rate of raising and lowering to enable accurate window positioning On the other hand when it is necessary to provide an immediate raising or lowering of the window for example to prevent intrusion or entry of wind smoke dust or rain it is des
17. ow then the timed latch on function 76 is energized U5 timing sequence starts producing a 12 volt pulse of a 3 second duration at U5 3 This inverts at U1 14 and energizes the U10 relay coil 78 at pin 7 In addition that signal from U3A pulls the diode D5 low and starts 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 EP 0 855 488 A2 another timing sequence out of U4 3 of a 3 second duration This signal then gates the U9 Mosfet on for that 3 second duration When the Mosfet is on the signal at U10 5 is grounded Therefore a full 12 volts is applied across the motor leads yielding maximum window speed in the up direction thus the express up mode is activated Referring to FIG 4 when U9 grounds pin 5 of relay U10 one side of the motor is at ground potential at one of pins 1 and 8 of U10 and if either up coil 78 or down coil 80 is energized by U1 full voltage is then applied from pin 4 of U10 to the opposite side of the motor through the other of pins 1 and 8 When PID2 is pressed the voltage at junction 80 decreases proportionately with the applied force When this volt age falls below Viper e 9 volts the relay comparator 72 i e U7B 7 goes high and U1 11 goes low thus energiz ing U10 relay coil 80 through pin 2 thereof The motor polarity is thus reversed the motor speed responds to the PWM signal from U9 and pin 5 and the window moves down at a speed determined by the amount of force
18. t motor In another embodiment increasing user pressure on the input device or switch increases the capacitance of the force sensitive switch which is electrically detected to modulate the window lift motor speed BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG 1 is a diagram of the powered window lift control system of the present invention installed in a vehicle door FIG 2 is a block diagram of the system of FIG 1 employing a force sensing variable resistive switch FIG 3a is the lefthand portion of an electrical schematic of the system of FIG 2 divided along parting line A A FIG 3b is the righthand portion of the schematic of FIG 3a divided along parting line A A FIG 4 is a schematic of the motor relay for the system of FIG 2 FIG 5a is a timing diagram of the output of various circuit components of FIGS 3a and 3b FIG 5b is a timing diagram similar to FIG 5a for the express function FIG 6a is a view of the force sensitive variable impedance switch with actuator FIG 6b is a view of the force sensitive variable impedance switch directly actuated by the user FIG 7a is the left hand portion of an electrical schematic divided along parting line A A of an alternate embodiment of the invention of FIG 2 employing a variable capacitance FIG 7b is the right hand portion of the schematic of FIG 4a divided along parting line A A and FIG 8 is a timing diagram for the outputs of the various devices of the circuit of FIGS 7a and 7b
19. ted PWM signal The output of the comparator 48 along line 54 is connected to the input of a power driver device or driver 60 such as a Mosfet device which provides a modulated driver signal along its output line 62 to a bi directional motor relay 64 which operates the window lift motor 66 Referring to FIGS 3a and 3b in the embodiment 10 of the invention the variable impedance devices 26 28 com prise separate variable resistance force sensitive resistors PID1 and PID2 comprising resistors Ri and R2 respec tively connected in parallel and having the resistance values R1 R2 in the present practice of the invention of about 3 4 kilo ohms in the fully actuated state e with maximum force applied thereto Devices PID1 and PID2 are preferably formed of force transducer ink with polymer film conductors Referring to FIG 6a the devices 26 28 have a force impressed thereon by switch actuator 34 and rocker 12 upon the driver pushing on the rocker actuator 30 associated with the individual device Alternatively the driver may apply finger pressure directly to the devices 26 28 as shown in FIG 6b Such force sensitive resistance devices are known and commercially available such as that supplied by Interlink Electronics Inc Camorillo California and shown and described in U S Patent 5 302 936 Referring to FIGS 3a and 3b the signal processing of the circuitry is set forth below with respect to various modes of operation of the powered wi
20. trical resistance with increasing pressure from bar 34 In another embodiment of the invention as will be described hereinafter in greater detail a variable capacitor is employed to provide an increased capacitance with increased force input The force versus impedance signal characteristics of the devices 26 28 are indicated graphically at 36 in FIG 2 Referring to FIG 2 The devices 26 28 are connected along line 38 to a voltage divider network 40 The voltage divider network 40 is operative to sense the variable impedance of the devices 26 28 and to convert it to a voltage sig nal increasing with force as indicated graphically at 44 and provided at the output line 46 A low level force signal is indicated at 44 and a high force level signal is indicated at 44 in the graphical representation of the voltage 44 The output of the voltage divider 40 is connected along line 46 to the input of the comparator 48 which receives at another input along line 42 the output of a triangle wave oscillator 50 having an output as shown graphically at 52 in FIG 2 The output of the comparator 48 along line 54 is indicated graphically as a series of pulses shown in solid outline at 56 for the voltage signal 44 for a low force input and in dashed line at 58 for the voltage signal 44 for a high force input as compared with the output signal 52 of the triangle wave oscillator The output of this variable impedance devices 26 28 is thus converted to a pulse modula
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