Lever operation device
AssigneeAlps Electric Co., Ltd.
InventorTadashi Sano
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A rotating knob is rotatably attached to an outer peripheral portion of an operation lever. The rotating knob has a lead thread portion on the inner surface thereof, and the lead thread portion meshes with external teeth of a ring gear. Internal teeth of the ring gear mesh with speed-increasing gears, and permanent magnets are fixed to the speed-increasing gears. A circuit board is arranged in the operation lever so as to extend along the axial direction thereof, and magnetic sensors mounted on the circuit board are opposed to the permanent magnets at positions close thereto. Accordingly, the operation position of the rotating knob can be detected by the magnetic sensors. The gears, the circuit board, etc., are supported by a support case and a cover case to form a switch unit.
Claims7
A lever operation device comprising:
- at least one operation member including a rotating knob attached to an outer peripheral portion of a cylindrical operation lever, the rotating knob being rotatable along a circumferential direction of the outer peripheral portion, the rotating knob having a lead thread portion provided on an inner peripheral surface thereof;
- a circuit board disposed in the operation lever so as to extend along an axial direction of the operation lever;
- a magnetic sensor mounted on the circuit board;
- a transmission gear driven by the lead thread portion of the rotating knob, the transmission gear rotating in a plane parallel to the circuit board;
- a speed-increasing gear driven by the transmission gear, the speed-increasing gear rotating in the plane parallel to the circuit board;
- and
- a permanent magnet fixed to the speed-increasing gear so as to face the magnetic sensor in a vicinity thereof,
- wherein the rotating knob rotates the speed-increasing gear via the transmission gear such that the permanent magnet rotates with respect to the magnetic sensor while maintaining a constant distance therebetween.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.