Alps Electric Co., Ltd.

Nissan Motor Company Limited

Hiroyuki Bannai

Hironori Kato

Kunihiko Sasaki

Yuichi Ida

Mitsunori Matsumoto

Takehiko Ito

Nobuo Matsuzaki

Kazuhiko Hiratsuka

Atsushi Masuda

Hiroshi Wakuda

Kazuyuki Mori

Toshiaki Asakura

Masanori Kuramoto

Seishi Takahashi

Yoshihiro Ohashi

Shunichi Toyomasu

I Ka

Nagao Kuroda

Tatsuya Kato

Yoshiro Honda

Marcello Milli

Taichi Miyabayashi

James Ogrady

A manipulation input device has a first detector and a second detector, disposed at different positions on a manipulative member, that detect the displacement of the manipulative member, the displacement being caused when the manipulative member receives a manipulation force, and also has a processor that performs processing to identify a position at which the manipulative member has received the manipulation force according to detection results obtained from the first detector and second detector and to the positions of the first detector and second detector on the manipulative member.

Manipulation input device that detects a manipulation force to move a manipulation member

An in-vehicle input device includes a touch panel including a lower electrode, an upper electrode, and a spacer, and is capable of detecting a capacitance between the lower electrode and the upper electrode. The device has an operation surface located above the upper electrode. The operation surface includes a plurality of operation areas. The spacer has a plurality of openings that coincide with the operation areas in plan view. The device further includes a suppression layer that is disposed between the operation surface and the upper electrode or disposed on an upper surface of the operation surface. The suppression layer eliminates or reduces formation of a capacitance between the upper electrode and an operator. The device detects an input operation based on a change in distance between the lower electrode and the upper electrode in response to pressing any of the operation areas by the operator.

In-vehicle input device

Lead blocks are connected to end portions of flexible cables and are held at predetermined positions of housings. The lead blocks are each composed of a body portion, an extending terminal portion, and a conductor extending portion. A connecting portion for the associated flexible cable is formed in only the body portion. A predetermined number of connecting terminals are distributed to the body portion and the extending terminal portion. According to this configuration, conductors carried in the flexible cables and conductors held in the lead blocks can be connected with each other without dividing end portions of the flexible cables. Besides, it is possible to increase the total number of connecting terminals without increasing the number of lead blocks. Thus, it is possible to realize a multi-circuit configuration of the rotary connector.

Rotary connector

A rotatable connector in which a moving body provided with first and second openings are rotatably arranged within a storage section defined between a stationary housing having an outer cylindrical wall and a movable housing having an inner cylindrical wall; and the width W,of the first opening and the width W,of the second opening are set as W,<W,. The first and second flat cables with both ends thereof fixed on the peripheral surfaces of the outer cylindrical wall and the inner cylindrical wall are wound within the storage section. The turned-back portions of the flat cables are routed through the first and second openings, with the inner end of the first flat cable directly wound around the peripheral surface of the inner cylindrical portion and with the inner end of the second flat cable also wound on the inner cylindrical portion through about one turn of the flat cable, thereby changing the winding diameter of the flat cables in relation to the inner cylindrical portion.

Rotatable connector

An illuminated switch unit according to the present invention is provided with: a case having a recess, a pair of protrusions provided within the recess and holes corresponding to those protrusions; a movable knob housed within the recess of the case, and provided on the protrusions so as to be able to rock or move up and down; a switch capable of bringing a movable contact provided on an elastic member to be driven by the movable knob into and out of contact with a stationary contact; and a substrate having a light source for illuminating the movable knob, wherein the elastic member is provided with light shielding members for preventing the light from the light source from passing through the holes in the case.

Illuminated switch unit

A rotary connector which uses two flat cables and simplifies a process of connecting both the flat cables to a lead block. In this rotary connector, a through hole and a pair of window holes are formed in a supporting element of an outer lead block. Left-hand side and right-hand side groups of a plurality of joint bars are exposed in the window holes. Necessary first and second flat cables are preliminarily connected to one another into a flat cable. Further, each of conductors placed near this flat cable is exposed. Furthermore, the exposed portion of each of the conductors is made to overlap with the exposed portion of a corresponding one of joint bars, which are exposed in both the window holes of the outer lead block. The conductors are connected to the joint bars at two connection portions placed in a direction, in which the conductors extend, by ultrasonic-welding or spot-welding. Subsequently, the conductors exposed to the through hole are cut and divided into those connected to the two flat cables and that are electrically independent of each other.

A rotary connector including a moving member (5) provided with first and second openings (14, 15) which is disposed in a holding space (10) formed between a fixed housing (1) having an upper case (6) and a movable housing (2) having a lower case (7) such that the moving member coaxially rotates with the movable housing (2) relative to the fixed housing (1). A width (W.sub.1) of the first opening (14) is made smaller than a width (W.sub.2) of the second opening (15) (i.e., W.sub.1 &lt;W.sub.2). First and second flat cables (3, 4) are wound in the holding space (10) and have both ends thereof respectively fixed to the peripheral surfaces of the upper case (6) and the lower case (7), and reversal portions (3a, 4a) of the flat cables (3, 4) are passed through the first opening (14) and the second opening (15). The first flat cable (3) is directly wound on the cylindrical section (9) of the first flat cable (3), while the second flat cable (4) is wound on the first flat cable (3) so that the flat cables (3, 4) have different winding diameters relative to the inner cylindrical section (9).

Disclosed is a rotary connector mounting structure which involves no rattling after the mounting to thereby achieve a reduction in noise in spite of the adoption of a snap-in system, which allows the rotary connector to be easily mounted to the steering device of an automobile. A displacement absorbing member such as an elastic member 5 or a cushion member 13 is provided on the bottom surface of a first, stationary housing 1, and a mounting member 4 of the first housing 1 is snapped in on a switch casing 10 of a combination switch, which is the stationary member of a steering device. After this, the bottom surface of the stationary housing and the mounting surface of the stator member are biased by the displacement absorbing member such that they move away from each other, whereby rattling of the stationary housing is prevented.

Rotary connector mounting structure

A rotary connector which prevents separation of a resilient tongue from a flexible cable so as to prevent buckling. The rotary connector includes first and second housings rotatably connected together and forming an annular space therebetween. A flexible cable and a movable member are received in the annular space. The movable member includes a turntable having a stationary cylinder and a reversing roller, the stationary cylinder including a guide projection. The flexible cable is wound in opposite directions on opposite sides of the movable member and includes a U-shaped reverse portion extending through a gap between the stationary cylinder and the reversing roller. A resilient tongue having a free end portion substantially formed in a linear shape in an unloaded condition is affixed to an inner surface of the flexible cable and to an inner cylinder portion of the second housing. An amount of deformation of the free end portion when it is bent between the stationary cylinder and the reversing roller can be reduced, thereby preventing separation of the tip of the resilient tongue from the flexible cable.

A clock spring connector having a high reliability of the connection and excellent workability of the assembly, said clock spring connector being capable of reducing noise. A flexible cable is wound on the outer cylindrical unit of a first housing and the inner cylindrical unit of a second housing so that the directions of the windings are opposite to each other, and a spacer disposed between the outer and inner cylindrical units rotates following the U-shaped turned-back portion of the flexible cable. An elastic tongue piece is disposed along the portion extending from the inner cylindrical unit, of the flexible cable and formed to be curved so that the tongue piece is located between the inner cylindrical unit and the spacer when no load is applied thereto.

Clock spring connector

A clock spring connector including a movable housing rotatably connected to a fixed housing, the movable housing and fixed housings defining an annular cable accommodating area therebetween. A spacer is movably housed in the cable accommodating area. A ribbon cable is housed in the cable accommodating area and includes a first portion wound in a first direction on the fixed housing, a turned-back (U-shaped) portion extending through an opening in the spacer, and a second portion wound in a second direction on the movable housing. The spacer includes a plurality of rollers and raised portions located in gaps formed between each of the rollers, except for the opening through which the turned-back portion is passed, thereby preventing the erroneous threading of the cable when the clock spring connector is assembled. Elastic arms are positioned between the spacer and surfaces of the annular cable accommodating area to elastically bias the spacer away from these surfaces, thereby preventing noise caused by contact between the spacer and the surfaces.

A clock spring connector including a fixed member, a movable member rotatably connected to the fixed member, and a rotary plate fixedly connected to the movable member and rotatably mounted on the fixed member. The movable member includes a ceiling plate and a bottom plate connected together by an outer cylindrical portion, both the ceiling member and the movable member defining central openings. The movable member is received in the central openings such that an annular space is defined between an outer surface of the movable member and the outer cylindrical portion. A flexible cable is accommodated in the annular space and includes a first end and a second end. The first end of the flexible cable is connected to the movable member and to a support section of the rotary plate, the support section being located further from the center of rotation of the movable member than the edges of the central openings of the ceiling and bottom walls. The rotary plate includes a projection which is connectable to the steering wheel at a point which is further from the center of rotation of the movable member than the edges of the central openings of the ceiling and bottom walls, thereby applying a large torque to the movable member through the rotary plate when the steering wheel is rotated by a driver.

The invention relates to a clock spring connector which permits a reduction in the length of a flexible cable and simplification of the alignment mechanism. The clock spring connector has a first housing, and a second housing, a flexible cable wound in opposite directions through a U-shaped reversed portion in the ring-like space defined by the outer cylindrical portion of the first housing and the inner cylindrical portion of the second housing, and a moving member rotating while following the reversed portion. A third mark as an indicator is provided on a spacer which partially forms the moving member so that the third mark can be visually observed from the outside when the second housing is at the neutral position.

A clock spring for use with a steering device of an automobile, including a fixed member, a movable member rotatably mounted on the fixed member with a cable accommodating portion defined therebetween, and a cable accommodated in the cable accommodating portion for effecting electrical connection between the fixed member and the movable member. One end of the cable is fixed to the fixed member and led out of the fixed member, while the other end of the cable is fixed to the movable member and led out of the movable member. One portion of the cable is wrapped in one direction on either of the fixed member or the movable member, while the other portion is wrapped in the opposite direction reverse to the one direction on the other of the fixed member and the movable member, whereby an inverted portion of the cable is formed between the one portion and the other portion. The improvement of the clock spring resides in the point that at least one of opposed surfaces of the fixed member and the movable member is provided with an outwardly expanded portion. With this construction, buckling or rupture due to bending fatigue of the inverted portion of the cable is prevented.

Clock spring

Disclosed is a clock spring connector in which a flexible cable is wound reversely on inner and outer cylindrical units through a U-shaped turned-back portion within an air space defined by these cylindrical units, and a plurality of rollers connected by connecting plates are disposed. A radial movement of the flexible cable is regulated by the rollers connected by the connecting member. A tight-wind or rewind operation of the flexible cable can be surely effected. The connecting member prevents the adjacent rollers from impinging on each other.

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Furukawa, Japan

Hiroyuki Bannai