US 11,725,723 B2
One bump rotary monostable shifter
Calogero Alu, Shelby Charter Township, MI (US); Christopher Soave, Oxford, MI (US); and Michael Benedetto D'Annunzio, Shelby charter Township, MI (US)
Assigned to Kuster North America, Inc., Troy, MI (US)
Filed by Kuster North America, Inc., Troy, MI (US)
Filed on Dec. 17, 2020, as Appl. No. 17/124,549.
Claims priority of provisional application 62/949,515, filed on Dec. 18, 2019.
Prior Publication US 2021/0190202 A1, Jun. 24, 2021
Int. Cl. F16H 59/08 (2006.01); F16H 61/24 (2006.01); F16H 59/02 (2006.01)
CPC F16H 59/08 (2013.01) [F16H 61/24 (2013.01); F16H 2059/026 (2013.01); F16H 2059/0295 (2013.01); F16H 2059/081 (2013.01)] 10 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A rotary shifter assembly, comprising:
a knob bi-directionally and biasingly supported upon a cylindrical shaped housing in a monostable and return-to-center orientation and including a pair of outwardly spring biased pawls;
said knob including upper and lower assembleable components, said lower assembleable component having inner sloped surfaces with peaked locations opposing said pawls for influencing said knob to said return-to-center orientation, said housing including a window;
a printed circuit board assembly incorporated into said housing and including a sensor and a processor;
a display component sandwiched between said upper and lower assembleable components and including a connector extending to said printed circuit board assembly;
a spur gear rotatably supported within said housing above said printed circuit board assembly and partially projecting through said window, said spur gear having a shaft portion supporting a magnet in proximity to said sensor;
said lower assembleable component integrating an inner circumferential ring gear located below said inner sloped surfaces, said inner circumferential ring gear exhibiting inner circumferential arrayed teeth which surround and meshingly interengage opposing exterior teeth of said spur gear projecting through said window;
rotation of said knob causing said ring gear to rotate said spur gear, with rotational displacement of said supported magnet relative to said sensor causing said processor to instruct said display component as to a change in shifter position.