JP2021123907A - Electronic key apparatus of vehicle door - Google Patents

Abstract

To provide an electronic key apparatus of a vehicle door capable of mounting an antenna detecting that an electronic key is existing outside a vehicle on the vehicle at low cost.SOLUTION: An electronic apparatus of a vehicle door is configured to lock and unlock the door by wirelessly communicating with an electronic key outside a vehicle. An external antenna unit 10 capable of wirelessly communicating with the electronic key is stored between a wheel arch portion 20 of a floor panel 2 of a cab of the vehicle and a scuff plate 30 covering the wheel arch portion 20.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 3

Description

The present invention relates to an electronic key device for a vehicle door.

In recent years, an electronic key system that locks and unlocks a vehicle door without using a mechanical key has been put into practical use. The electronic key system locks and unlocks the door by wireless communication between the antenna installed on the vehicle side and the electronic key carried by the owner (driver) of the vehicle. Such an electronic key system is provided with an antenna to detect whether the electronic key exists inside the vehicle or outside the vehicle. An antenna that detects the presence of an electronic key inside the vehicle (hereinafter referred to as an in-vehicle antenna) is installed inside the instrument panel inside the vehicle, and an antenna that detects the presence of an electronic key outside the vehicle (hereinafter referred to as an antenna). , Shown as an antenna outside the vehicle) is installed on a door or the like located on the outside of the vehicle.

For example, in Patent Document 1, both the above-mentioned external antenna and the non-contact communication outdoor antenna capable of communicating with the non-contact IC tag built in the electronic key suppress the interference of radio waves, and the door handle is enlarged. An electronic key system that accommodates while restraining is disclosed.

Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2010-222841

By the way, as in Patent Document 1, when the external antenna is provided on the door handle (or door), there is a problem as described below. Since the door handle is in contact with the outside of the vehicle, waterproof treatment is required to prevent the ingress of water due to rain or car wash, and dustproof treatment is required to prevent the ingress of dust and dirt in the air. In addition, it is necessary to take strength measures at the antenna mounting part so as to cope with the vibration of the door opening / closing operation. Due to such processing and handling, the cost of a vehicle in which an external antenna is installed is high compared to a vehicle that does not have an electronic key.

The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and an object of the present invention is an electronic key device for a vehicle door, which can inexpensively mount an antenna for detecting the presence of an electronic key outside the vehicle on a vehicle. Will be provided.

The present invention has been made to solve at least a part of the above-mentioned problems, and can be realized as the following aspects or application examples.

The vehicle door electronic key device according to the present application example is a vehicle door electronic key device for locking and unlocking the door by wirelessly communicating the antenna installed in the vehicle and the electronic key. The antenna is housed in a wheel arch portion of the floor panel of the cab and a cover portion attached to the wheel arch portion, and is attached to the floor panel.

According to the electronic key device of the vehicle door according to the above application example, the antenna that communicates with the electric key outside the vehicle is accommodated between the wheel arch portion of the floor panel of the cab and the cover portion that covers the wheel arch portion. , The cover portion that covers the wheel arch portion can ensure waterproofness and dustproofness. In addition, the cover portion has sufficient rigidity to withstand a load when a person gets on and off, and vibration and impact on the antenna can be suppressed without opening and closing operations like a door. Therefore, the antenna for the electronic key can be mounted on the vehicle at low cost without the need for special waterproof and dustproof measures and strength measures for the antenna mounting portion.

It is a schematic perspective view of the floor panel of the vehicle provided with the electronic key device which concerns on one Embodiment of this invention. It is an enlarged perspective view of the part surrounded by the broken line of FIG. It is sectional drawing which follows AA of FIG.

Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. In the figure, the X-axis means the vehicle front-rear direction, the Y-axis means the vehicle width direction, and the Z-axis means the vehicle height direction.

FIG. 1 is a schematic perspective view of a floor panel of a vehicle provided with an electronic key device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

The vehicle to which the electronic key device 1 of the present embodiment is applied is a cab-over type truck having a cab (not shown) at the front. The cab is roughly box-shaped, and mainly has a front panel and front window on the front, a back panel on the rear, side panels forming vehicle doors and door openings on both sides, a roof panel on the upper surface, and a floor panel 2 on the lower surface. It forms the passenger compartment.

The front end of the floor panel 2 is connected to a front panel (not shown) to form a base of the floor at the feet of the occupants substantially horizontally toward the rear, and the floor panel front 2a and the floor panel from the front rear end to the rear. A floor panel central portion 2b that rises from the floor panel central portion 2b and a floor panel rear portion 3a that extends substantially horizontally from the rear end portion of the floor panel central portion 2b to the rear of the cab and connects to a back panel (not shown) are formed.

Side sills 2d are formed on the left and right ends of the floor panel 2. In particular, a wheel arch portion 20 curved along the front wheels of the vehicle is formed on the rear portion of the side sill 2d.

The side sill 2d is a part on which a person may put his / her hand or put his / her foot on when getting on and off. Therefore, a scuff plate 30 (cover portion) is attached to cover and protect the upper surface of the side sill 2d. Further, a fender portion 40 is formed further outside in the vehicle width direction than the wheel arch portion 20.

The electronic key device 1 of the present embodiment includes an external antenna unit 10 (antenna) capable of wireless communication with an electronic key possessed by a person (for example, a driver) outside the vehicle. The electronic key is provided with a transmitter capable of transmitting radio waves of a specific frequency, for example, and the external antenna unit 10 is an antenna unit that receives radio waves transmitted from the electronic key. The electronic key device 1 of the present embodiment includes an external antenna unit 10 for detecting an electronic key outside the vehicle, but is a so-called so-called electronic key device 1 for detecting the presence of the electronic key inside the vehicle. An in-vehicle antenna unit is also provided. For example, the in-vehicle antenna unit is installed inside the instrument panel, which is the front part of the cab and is near the center in the vehicle width direction.

The vehicle exterior antenna unit 10 of the electronic key device 1 of the present embodiment is provided on each of the wheel arch portions 20. Since the electronic key device 1 has the same configuration on the left and right sides of the vehicle, the electronic key device 1 on the left side of the vehicle will be described below, and the description on the right side will be omitted.

FIG. 2 shows an enlarged perspective view of the wheel arch portion 20 on the left side of the vehicle surrounded by the broken line in FIG. 1, and FIG. 3 shows a cross-sectional view taken along the line AA of FIG. In FIG. 2, the outer shape of the scuff plate 30 is shown by a thick line.

As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, the scuff plate 30 has a long curved shape in the front-rear direction of the vehicle along the wheel arch portion 20 and covers the wheel arch portion 20.

Specifically, as shown in FIG. 3, the wheel arch portion 20 forming the vehicle width direction end portion of the floor panel 2 has a side surface portion 22 extending downward from the vehicle width direction end side of the flat surface portion 21. The side surface portion 22 of the wheel arch portion 20 is in contact with the side surface portion 41 inside the fender portion 40 in the vehicle width direction and is connected by a bolt or the like (not shown).

On the other hand, the scuff plate 30 has an outer wall 32 extending downward from the outer side of the upper wall 31 in the vehicle width direction and an inner side wall 33 extending downward from the inner side of the upper wall 31 in the vehicle width direction. It has an open shape. The outer side wall 32 covers up to the side surface portion 22 of the wheel arch portion 20. As a result, the scuff plate 30 prevents water and foreign matter from entering the flat surface portion 21 of the wheel arch portion 20 from the outside.

Further, in the scuff plate 30, a first rib 34 and a second rib 35 extending downward from the upper wall 31 are formed between the outer wall 32 and the inner side wall 33. The first rib 34 and the second rib 35 extend in the front-rear direction of the vehicle, and the lower end thereof is in contact with the flat surface portion 21 of the wheel arch portion 20. As a result, the scuff plate 30 maintains rigidity against a load from above.

The material of the floor panel 2 including the wheel arch portion 20 is made of metal, while the scuff plate 30 is made of resin. This makes it possible to ensure the stability of communication without blocking the radio waves to the external antenna unit 10.

As shown in FIG. 2, the vehicle exterior antenna unit 10 has a main body portion 11 formed of a substantially rectangular parallelepiped casing that is long in the vehicle width direction, a cable 12, and a connector 13.

For example, an LF band ferrite bar antenna is built in the main body 11. Further, the front end and the rear end of the main body portion 11 are fixed to the wheel arch portion 20 of the floor panel 2 by bolts. Specifically, as shown in FIG. 3, the main body portion 11 is located between the first rib 34 and the second rib 35 of the scuff plate 30 and is fixed to the flat surface portion 21 of the wheel arch portion 20.

Further, a cable 12 extends from the rear portion of the main body portion 11, and a connector 13 is provided at the tip of the cable 12. In addition, in FIGS. 2 and 3, the cable 12 is extended outward in the vehicle width direction for easy viewing in the drawings, but in actual wiring, it is preferable to extend it to the rear of the vehicle or inward in the vehicle width direction. The connector 13 is electrically connected to the wiring inside the vehicle (not shown), and enables communication between the main body 11 and the control device mounted on the vehicle and power supply from the power source via the cable 12.

When the vehicle exterior antenna unit 10 of the electronic key device 1 configured in this way receives a specific radio wave emitted by the electronic key from the outside of the vehicle on the side surface of the cab, that is, near the door, it sends a signal to the control device. Then, the control device locks or unlocks the door in response to a signal from the external antenna unit 10.

As described above, by accommodating the vehicle exterior antenna unit 10 that communicates with the vehicle exterior electric key between the wheel arch portion 20 of the floor panel 2 of the cab and the scuff plate 30 that covers the wheel arch portion 20, the wheel arch portion The scuff plate 30 that covers 20 can ensure waterproofness and dustproofness. In addition, the scuff plate 30 has sufficient rigidity to withstand a load when a person gets on and off, and vibration and impact on the external antenna unit 10 can be suppressed without opening and closing operations like a door. Therefore, according to the electronic key device 1 of the present embodiment, the antenna for the electronic key can be mounted on the vehicle at low cost without the need for special waterproof and dustproof measures and strength measures of the antenna mounting portion.

The description of the embodiment of the electronic key device for the vehicle door according to the present invention is completed above, but the aspect of the present invention is not limited to this embodiment.

In the above embodiment, as shown in FIG. 1, since the vehicle exterior antenna unit 10 is provided on the rear side of the wheel arch portion 20, the vehicle exterior antenna unit 10 is arranged at a high position in the vehicle height direction, and thus is outside the vehicle. It has the advantage of being easier to receive radio waves from the electronic key, but it does not necessarily have to be located behind the wheel arch.

1 Electronic key device 2 Floor panel 2a Floor panel front 2b Floor panel center 2d Side sill 3a Floor panel rear 10 External antenna unit (antenna)
11 Main body 12 Cable 13 Connector 20 Wheel arch 21 Flat surface 22 Side surface 30 Scuff plate (cover)
31 Upper wall 32 Outer side wall 33 Inner side wall 34 1st rib 35 2nd rib 40 Fender part 41 Side part

Claims (1)

An electronic key device for vehicle doors for locking and unlocking doors by wirelessly communicating with an electronic key outside the vehicle.
An antenna capable of wirelessly communicating with the electronic key is housed between a wheel arch portion of a floor panel of a vehicle cab and a cover portion covering the wheel arch portion. Key device.

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