Abstract:
A device for movable support for an input/output unit, especially a flat screen, which is electromotively pivotable from a lying non-use position into an upright position of use and vice versa and which in the non-use position is covered by a cover. The movement of the cover is coupled_with the movement of the input/output unit by means of a cam plate as coupling element.

Description:
TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION  
       [0001]     The invention relates to a device for movable support of an input/output unit.  
         [0002]     The invention is intended in particular for installation and use in motor vehicles, and is basically suitable for use in other land, air or water vehicles as well. The input/output unit under consideration is in particular a flat screen or a display. The input/output unit can also have keys or other input elements.  
         [0003]     The input/output unit of the device according to the invention is pivotable about in particular a horizontal axis out of a lying non-use position into an upright position of use and vice versa, the terms “lying” and “upright” relating to a planned installation position of the device. In its upright position of use, the input/output unit is visible to and can be read by or operated by the occupants of the vehicle. In its non-use position, the input/output unit is let in flush, for example, in a kind of housing in a dashboard. Pivoting of the input/output unit is effected by means of a preferably electromotive drive.  
         [0004]     Furthermore, the device according to the invention has a cover, which covers the input/output unit in its non-use position. The cover is in that case in a closed position. It closes off, for example, a dashboard opening, through which the input/output unit pivots upwards into the upright position of use. In the opened position, the cover is located preferably behind the input/output unit in its upright position of use, the description “behind” relating to the line of sight of the occupants.  
         [0005]     To guide and move the cover, the device according to the invention comprises a positive, planar, multi-link gear mechanism, which forms a kinematic chain.  
       DESCRIPTION OF RELATED ART  
       [0006]     A device for movable support of an LCD flat screen in a dashboard of a motor vehicle is disclosed in DE 100 08 887 A1. The known device comprises a screen pivotable about a horizontal axis, the screen being pivotable out of an obliquely downwardly directed non-use position let in flush in an opening in the dashboard, into a vertically or obliquely upright position of use. In the position of use, the screen of the known device projects upwards out of the opening in the dashboard and is visible to the vehicle occupants. A cover of the known device closes off the opening in the dashboard and covers the screen when the screen has been pivoted downwards into the non-use position and let in flush in the dashboard. As the screen is pivoted into the position of use, the cover pivots about a likewise horizontal axis into the opening in the dashboard and back behind the screen. The screen and the cover of the known device are constrained to pivot jointly with one another; they are coupled by means of a slotted control means. The known device requires a large installation space for the pivoting movements of the screen and the cover.  
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
       [0007]     The invention is based on the technical problem of proposing a device of the kind explained above that allows a construction taking up little space.  
         [0008]     The device according to the invention comprises a coupling element, which synchronises the movement of the input/output unit and the movement of the cover. The coupling element is driven by the drive of the input/output unit and in turn drives the gear mechanism of the cover. Synchronisation is to be understood to mean a co-ordination of the movements of the cover and of the input/output unit that prevents collision of the cover and the input/output unit during opening and setting up into the position of use respectively and during the reverse movements of the cover and the input/output unit. Synchronisation means, although not necessarily so, a simultaneous movement of the cover and the input/output unit or a movement with a speed ratio that is always constant. In phases of the movements, the cover or input/output unit can be slower or faster than in other phase of the movement, and the cover and/or input/output unit can also be stationary during phases of the movements.  
         [0009]     The coupling element facilitates the drive of the input/output unit and of the cover using a common drive. A further advantage of the coupling element is the synchronisation of the movements of the input/output unit and of the cover and the prevention of a collision of the two parts.  
         [0010]     The coupling element can be, for example, a cam plate or similar. In one construction according to the invention the coupling element is pivotally mounted. It is, for example, pivotally mounted in a fixed position on a lateral wall of a housing of the device. One construction according to the invention provides for the coupling element to have a curve, which is followed by the drive as the input/output unit is pivoted, the drive moving the coupling element, which in turn activates the gear mechanism of the cover. The curve can be, for example, a cranked track and the coupling element can be a cam plate or slotted plate. The shaping of the curve allows the input/output unit and the cover to be synchronised in the desired manner and the ratio of the speeds of the movements of the input/output unit and the cover to be altered in the desired manner during pivoting of the input/output unit.  
         [0011]     One construction according to the invention provides intermeshing toothings of the coupling element and the gear mechanism of the cover for driving the gear mechanism, and hence the cover, by the coupling element. The toothings can be circular in the manner of gearwheels or alternatively in the form of a gearwheel meshing with a toothed rack. At least one of the two intermeshing toothings can be straight or be formed with a curvature other than circular, that is, with a curved course. The toothings have the advantage that they ensure the synchronous running of the coupling element and the cover; the position of the coupling element determines the position of the cover explicitly.  
         [0012]     One construction according to the invention provides a drive track, along which the drive of the device moves as the input/output unit is pivoted. The drive track can be a housing toothing or stationary toothing in the manner of a toothed rack with which an electromotively driven gearwheel of the drive meshes. The toothed rack need not be straight; it may run in a curve or arc.  
         [0013]     One construction according to the invention provides a four-bar linkage as gear mechanism and guidance for the cover of the device. If the four-bar linkage is in the form of a parallelogram, during opening and closing the cover is displaced parallel on a circular arc-shaped path. If the linkage is other than a four-bar linkage, in addition to its translatory motion the cover can be pivoted on a circular arc-shaped path. With a four-bar linkage, a low-priced, stable and reliable guidance of the cover is possible in a simple manner. The geometry of the four-bar linkage allows a desired movement of the cover to be achieved. 
     
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0014]     The invention is explained in greater detail below with reference to an exemplary embodiment illustrated in the drawings.  
         [0015]     FIGS.  1  to  3  show side views of a device according to the invention in different positions. 
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS  
       [0016]     The device  1  according to the invention illustrated in the drawings comprises a box-form housing  2  having an opening  3 , which in a planned installation position is situated at a top face of the housing  2  and occupies more than half of the top face of the housing  2 . The device  1  is intended for installation in a dashboard (not shown) of a motor vehicle. The housing  2  is shown transparent, to render built-in parts visible. A screen  4 , for example an LCD flat screen, which forms an output unit and is intended as multi-function display for driver information, is housed in the housing  2 . In principle, the screen  4  can also have keys and other operating elements, or can be what is known as a touch screen, and hence form an input/output unit. In a closed position illustrated in  FIG. 1 , the screen  4  is let in flush in the housing  2  in a lying position, with its viewing side directed downwards. A cover  5  closes off the opening  3  of the housing  2 . In an opened position illustrated in  FIG. 3 , the cover  5  is raised a little above the opening  3  and moved backwards. The screen  4  is raised projecting upwards out of the opening  3  of the housing  2  and has a slight backward inclination. It is easily visible to and readable by vehicle occupants, especially the driver and/or a passenger. The cover  5  is behind the screen  4 , seen in the line of sight of the driver and/or passenger.  
         [0017]     The screen  4  has an electromotor  6  with a flange-mounted reduction gear unit for the drive. The electromotor  6  drives a drive shaft  7 , which passes transversely through the housing  2  and at each end has gear wheels  8  fixed to it in a rotationally secure manner. The gearwheels  8  are located in slots  9  in the lateral walls of the housing  2 . An edge of each slot  9  has a toothing, i.e. it forms a toothed rack  10  with which the gearwheel  8  meshes. In the exemplary embodiment of the invention illustrated, the slots  9  and the toothed racks  10  are straight, although in principle it is also possible for the slots  9  and the toothed racks  10  not to run straight. Through rotary driving of the drive shaft  7  and the gearwheels  8  fixed thereon in a rotationally secure manner by means of the electromotor  6 , the lower, rear end of the screen  4 , where the electromotor  6  is mounted, can be moved forwards and backwards in the housing  2 , and the screen  4  can hence be pivoted out of the lying position illustrated in  FIG. 1  with the viewing side directed downwards, via the intermediate position illustrated in  FIG. 2 , into the upright position illustrated in  FIG. 3  with the viewing side directed to the front, i.e. facing the driver and/or passenger or in general an occupant of the vehicle.  
         [0018]     The term “front” means a side facing towards the interior of the vehicle, in which the device  1  has been installed, or rather the side facing an occupant. The term “rear” accordingly means a side facing away from the vehicle interior or rather an occupant. Approximately at mid-height, the screen  4  is connected in an articulated manner to the housing  2  by means of a rocker  11 . The rocker  11  forms a pivoted lever, one end of which is connected in an articulated manner to the screen  4  and the other end of which is connected in an articulated manner to the lateral walls of the housing  2 .  
         [0019]     The cover  5  is guided by means of a four-bar linkage on each lateral wall of the housing  2 . The two four-bar linkages form positive, multi-link planar gear mechanisms, and are located on outer sides of the lateral walls of the housing  2 . Each four-bar linkage comprises two pivoted levers  12 ,  13 , one end of each of which is pivotally mounted on the respective lateral wall of the housing  2 . The other ends of the pivoted levers  12 ,  13  are pivotally connected to a third lever  14 , with which a curved arm  15  projecting rigidly downwardly from the cover  5  is rigidly connected. The arm  15  of the cover  5  passes through the opening  3  in the housing  2  and passes through a circular arc-shaped slot  24  in the lateral wall of the housing  2 . By pivoting the pivoted levers  12 ,  13  forwards and backwards, the cover  5  is raised upwards out of the closed position illustrated in  FIG. 1  from the opening  3  of the housing  2  and moved backwards via the position illustrated in  FIG. 2 . The two pivoted levers  12 ,  13  are not exactly parallel with one another, they do not form an exact parallelogram with the lever  14 . The movement of the cover  5  is consequently not an exclusively translatory movement on a notional circular arc path, the cover  5  pivots a little during its movement.  
         [0020]     The drive of the cover  5  is effected by means of an electromotor  6 , which is mounted at the bottom on the rear side of the screen  4  and drives the same. On outer sides of the gearwheels  8  the drive shaft  7  has journals, which engage in a channel  16  of a cam plate  17 . The cam plate  17  forms a coupling element that couples the movement of the cover  5  with the movement of the screen  4 . The channel  16  of the cam plate  17  can also be referred to as a curve or as a guide channel or cranked path and the cam plate  17  can be referred to as a slotted plate. The cam plate  17  is pivotally mounted on an outer side of the lateral walls of the housing  2  by means of a journal bearing  18 . The curve  16  is angled, it has a short section  19  and a long section  20 , which run at an angle to one another and meet at a vertex  23 . In each pivoted position the curve  16  has an intersection point with the slot  9  in the lateral wall of the housing  2  or it runs congruent with the slot  9 .  
         [0021]     If the drive shaft  7  moves through rotating drive by means of the electromotor  6  forwards from the rear in the slot  9 , i.e. out of the closed position illustrated in  FIG. 1  into the open position illustrated in  FIG. 3 , its journal moves from the end of the short section  19  of the channel  16  to the vertex  23  and then along the long section  20  of the channel  16 . During movement in the short section  19 , the journal of the drive shaft  7  pivots the cam plate  17  out of the position illustrated in  FIG. 1  into the position illustrated in  FIG. 2 . In the position of the cover  5  and the screen  4  illustrated in  FIG. 2 , the journal of the drive shaft  7  is located approximately at the vertex  23  of the angled channel  16 . The cam plate  17  is pivoted so that the long section  20  of the channel  16  is congruent with the slot  9  in the lateral wall of the housing  2 . Upon further movement of the drive shaft  7 , its journal moves in the long section  20  of the curve  16 . Since the long section  20  runs parallel to the slot  9  in which the drive shaft  7  is moving, the cam plate  17  no longer causes pivoting. The cover  5  consequently also no longer moves, the cover  5  has thus already reached its open position in  FIG. 2  and no longer moves, whilst the screen  4  is first pivoted a little upwards and is then pivoted upwards into the upright position illustrated in  FIG. 3 . The journal of the drive shaft  7  locks the cam plate  17  when the journal is located at a distance from the vertex  23  of the channel  16  in its long section  20  congruent with the slot  9 . In co-operation with the slot  9  in the lateral wall of the housing  2 , and of the drive shaft  7  with the gearwheel  8  and the journal engaging in the channel  16  of the cam plate  17 , the cam plate  17  constitutes a locking device for the cover  5 , and locks this when it has reached its open position, to be seen in  FIGS. 2 and 3 .  
         [0022]     The cam plate  17  comprises a circular arc-shaped toothing  21 , which meshes with a gearwheel-form toothing  22  of one of the two pivoted levers  13 . The pivoted drive of the cam plate  17  causes the one pivoted lever  13  to pivot and overall drives the gear mechanism in the form of a four-bar linkage comprising the pivoted levers  12 ,  13  and the lever  14  and guiding and moving the cover  5 .  
         [0023]     The described components that move the screen  4  and the cover  5  are provided congruently on both sides of the housing  2  and move synchronously. Synchronisation is effected by means of the drive shaft  7 , which passes transversely through the housing  2  and in each lateral wall of the housing  2  meshes with the toothed rack  10 .