Patent ID: 8269903

Claim:
A display panel drive apparatus for movably mounting a display panel for an electronic device in a vehicle cabin, comprising: a mounting unit that can be mounted on the electronic device, positioned in the vehicle cabin, a display panel, with a display side having a display device providing information to a driver of the vehicle on a front surface of the display panel, the display panel is displaceably moved with respect to said mounting unit, an electrical drive unit is mounted on a rear surface of the display panel to move said display panel relative to the electronic device to enable access to the electronic device by a user in the vehicle cabin, wherein one end of an arm section is rotatably joined to said mounting unit, the other end of said arm section is rotatably joined to said display panel, said display panel is supported only by the joined section of said other end of said arm section and said display panel, said mounting unit comprises a fixed gear having at least a circular-arc gear section mounted to be stationary on the mounting unit, a panel gear having at least a circular-arc gear section, mounted to be stationary, is fixed to said display panel, the circular-arc gear section is fixed coaxially to the rotation axis of the joined section of said other end of said arm section and said display panel and rotatable in conjunction with said display panel, said arm section has a rotatable idle gear which is provided between said fixed gear and said panel gear so as to be engaged with the respective fixed gear and the panel gear and which is rotated by said electrical drive unit, said display panel is displaceably between a position where said display panel covers the front surface of said electrical drive unit relative to the user and another position where said display panel moves to the lower end of said electrical drive unit to expose the front surface of said electrical drive unit to the user, the electrical drive unit is mounted on the rear side of the display side of said display panel so as to be displaceable together with the display panel as the arm section is driven by the electrical drive unit to rotate the idle gear.