Single lever shift assembly for an electronically controlled transmission

Abstract

An assembly for shifting gear positions (10 and 110) in an electronically controlled transmission including a single lever control for moving between various gear positions. The assembly includes a shift lever (118) mounted to either a column support (14) or a base (112). The shift lever (118) either moves a detent finger (38) between a plurality of gear positions or moves a plurality of detent valleys (26) of a detent housing (20) into contact with a detent finger mechanism (22). The distal end (36) of the detent finger (38) includes a magnet (32) for generating a magnetic field. The detent valleys (26 and 126) represent each gear position and a Hall effect sensor (30) is disposed in the predetermined depth of each detent valley (26 and 126). The sensor (30) is activated by the magnetic field generated by the magnet (32) attached to the distal end (36) of the detent finger (38). In response, the sensor (30) generates an output voltage to a control module. The control module verifies the accuracy of the output voltage and signals the electronically controlled transmission to change gear positions. The assembly provides the feel of locking the shift lever (118) into a gear position through use of the detent valleys (26 and 126) while using a minimal amount of components.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.