Today's automotive trends lead to more user-friendly human-machine interfaces, requiring firm confirmation of user input actions without distracting the driver from the road. Context-sensitive haptic feedback is one of the most effective tools for the input devices of the HMI system. A high quality rating of the input device both in passive and active feedback mode is required, and each car manufacturer prefers his individual characteristic feedback ensemble. At the same time a cost-efficient and robust design is mandatory. The quality rating of input devices with haptic feedback is a very complex topic, combining contradicting customer demands as no disturbing noise emission and sharp, crisp feedback, no visual movement of the input device and surface accelerations in the range of two-digit G-ranges. All these demands have to be fulfilled in a wide temperature range and over the increasing lifetimes of modern automotive products. The challenge of matching all these requirements is even tightened by the available space - design considerations inside the car limit the space available for the whole system to a minimum. To create active haptic feedback for modern multimedia input devices inside an automotive environment, a 6 mm thin planar actuator using cost-efficient coil-, spring- and damping designs was developed. Beside the core requirement to provide a variable context sensitive haptic feedback, the design is able to be scaled to almost any mechanical size. Its structure is based on a PCB with surface etched coils, realizing a sandwich structure which further minimizes the assembly costs. To guarantee a high quality haptic feedback a guiding system based on parallel hinges was included. It moves the planar anchor in parallel to the pole-shoes reducing the force-inhomogenity of different contact location on the touched surface. Due to the high packaging rate, the energy density of the actuation unit reaches densities of capacitive actuators, without requiring the complex and cost sensitive electronic stages for voltage amplifications. This paper discusses the actuator in its technical and performance-related aspects, the process of magnetic design, and formulates an outlook for its series application in future Continental HMI products.
Cost-efficient planar actuator for context-sensitive haptic feedback in an automotive environment
2012
4 Seiten, 8 Bilder, 8 Quellen
Conference paper
English
Actuator for tactile interface module with haptic feedback
European Patent Office | 2015
|Actuator for a tactile interface module with haptic feedback
European Patent Office | 2018
|Device and method for haptic feedback for automotive vehicle
European Patent Office | 2019
|