US 12,071,071 B2
Vehicle steering wheel with an improved electromechanical triggering device for triggering an acoustic output by an acoustic warning device of the vehicle
Oliver Katzenberger, Burglauer (DE); Stefan Wahl, Bad Neustadt a.d. Saale (DE); Dirk Ruetzel, Ebersburg (DE); Martin Schäfer, Hohenroth (DE); and Sebastian Schrenk, Oberelsbach-Ginolfs (DE)
Assigned to PREH GMBH, Bad Neustadt a. d. Saale (DE)
Appl. No. 17/442,304
Filed by Preh GmbH, Bad Neustadt a.d. Saale (DE)
PCT Filed Feb. 17, 2020, PCT No. PCT/EP2020/054063
§ 371(c)(1), (2) Date Sep. 23, 2021,
PCT Pub. No. WO2020/200571, PCT Pub. Date Oct. 8, 2020.
Claims priority of application No. 102019108460.1 (DE), filed on Apr. 1, 2019; and application No. 102019127120.7 (DE), filed on Oct. 9, 2019.
Prior Publication US 2022/0153193 A1, May 19, 2022
Int. Cl. B60Q 5/00 (2006.01); B60R 21/203 (2006.01); B62D 1/04 (2006.01)
CPC B60Q 5/003 (2013.01) [B60R 21/2037 (2013.01); B62D 1/046 (2013.01)] 20 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A vehicle steering wheel, comprising:
a steering wheel body with a hub region for attachment to a steering shaft, with a steering wheel rim and with at least one spoke for attaching the steering wheel rim to the hub region;
an airbag initiation device;
an electromechanical triggering device for triggering an acoustic output by means of an acoustic warning device of the vehicle, wherein the triggering device has an impact absorber cover, which covers the hub region on the steering wheel body at least partially while forming an actuating surface, wherein the impact absorber cover is configured so as to be bridging an accommodating space, which is provided between the hub region and the impact absorber cover and provided for at least partially accommodating the airbag initiation device, and the impact absorber cover is mounted on the steering wheel body so as to be, under the influence of an actuating force on the actuating surface, elastically displaceable in a direction of the hub region and also self-resetting and/or is configured so as to be elastically deformable in the direction of the hub region and also self-resetting, and the impact absorber cover has at least one projection projecting laterally in a direction of the steering wheel rim beyond the accommodating space; and
an operating member disposed solely in the volume of the at least one spoke, and the impact absorber cover is disposed laterally adjacent to the operating member;
wherein the electromechanical triggering device further has at least one force transducer, which is disposed between the at least one projection and the steering wheel body and via which the impact absorber cover is supported on the steering wheel body, for measuring a force value that can be associated with an actuating force acting on the actuating surface of the impact absorber cover;
wherein the electromechanical triggering device further has at least one electronic evaluation unit connected in an electrically conductive manner to the at least one force transducer in order to determine an actuating force value by means of the force value measured by the at least one force transducer and trigger the acoustic output of the acoustic warning device of the vehicle when a prescribed actuating force value condition is met; and
wherein the at least one force transducer is attached to a circuit board of the operating member.