JP2011178193A - Steering device - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a steering device in which an inner column does not slip out from an outer column even when a telescopic clamp of the inner column is released from the outer column. <P>SOLUTION: Since the completion of assembly of a steering device until the mounting on a vehicle body 41, when an operation lever 54 is rotated in a tightening release direction by mistake, the outer column 11 gets in a free state with respect to a side board of a vehicle body mounting bracket 3 and the inner column 10. However, when the outer column 11 is about to slip out from the inner column 10, a tightening rod gets caught on a closure end at a vehicle body rear end of a long groove 61 of a retaining board 6. Therefore, the outer column 11 can be prevented from further slipping out from the inner column 10. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2011,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention adjusts the telescopic position of a steering wheel by fitting an outer column and an inner column so as to be slidable in the axial direction, and at the time of a secondary collision, the steering wheel is moved forward of the vehicle body. The present invention relates to a steering apparatus that absorbs impact loads by collapsing.

  There is a telescopic steering device that adjusts a telescopic position of a steering wheel by fitting an outer column and an inner column so as to be slidable in an axial direction. There is also a tilt / telescopic steering device that adjusts both the telescopic position and the tilt position of the steering wheel (Patent Documents 1 and 2).

  In such a steering device, after the telescopic position adjustment is completed, the outer column having a slit is reduced in diameter, the outer periphery of the inner column is tightened with the inner periphery of the outer column, and the outer column is moved in the axial direction. The inner column is clamped relatively immovably. In addition, the lower steering shaft engages with the upper steering shaft with the steering wheel mounted on the rear side of the vehicle body so that it can be telescopically moved by spline engagement, etc., and the rotation of the steering wheel is transmitted to the steering gear, and the steering angle of the wheel is increased. Change.

  Before such a steering device is attached to the vehicle body, the operation lever may be operated by mistake to release the telescopic clamp of the inner column relative to the outer column. Then, the inner column may come out from the outer column, and the spline engagement of the steering shaft may be released.

  In an electric power steering device, the input shaft on the steering wheel side and the output shaft on the wheel side are connected by a torsion bar, and the torsion of this torsion bar is detected by a torque sensor. From this detection result, the torque acting on the torsion bar is calculated. Detecting and driving the electric motor, the required steering assist force is applied to the output shaft.

  Therefore, the neutral state of the steering wheel and the neutral state of the wheel side need to be accurately matched, and the phase of the upper steering shaft spline to which the rotation of the steering wheel is transmitted and the lower steering shaft that transmits the rotation to the wheel side are required. The splines are assembled with the phase matched with high accuracy. Therefore, once the spline engagement of the steering shaft is disengaged, there arises a problem that it takes time to reassemble the upper steering shaft and the lower steering shaft by matching the phases of the splines with accuracy.

Japanese Patent No. 3855634 International Publication No. WO2006 / 011378 Pamphlet

  It is an object of the present invention to provide a steering device that prevents the inner column from coming out of the outer column even when the telescopic clamp of the inner column is released from the outer column.

  The above problem is solved by the following means. That is, the first invention is an inner column that can be attached to the vehicle body on the front side of the vehicle body, disposed on the vehicle body rear side of the inner column, and is fitted to the inner column so as to be relatively telescopically movable in the axial direction. Outer column that can be collapsible to the front side of the vehicle at the time of collision Is secured to the inner column and extends to the vicinity of the clamping rod in parallel to the axis of the inner column. The retaining plate has a long groove formed longer than the collapse movement distance through which the clamping rod is inserted. And the rear plate end of the retaining plate on the side plate of the vehicle mounting bracket. It is clamped a steering apparatus according to claim.

  A second invention is a steering device according to the first invention, wherein a plurality of the retaining plates are overlapped.

  The steering device of the present invention has a vehicle body front end fixed to an inner column, a retaining plate extending to the vicinity of the clamping rod parallel to the axis of the inner column, and the retaining plate formed longer than the collapse movement distance. The rear end of the vehicle body of the retaining plate is fastened to the side plate of the vehicle body mounting bracket.

  Therefore, even if the telescopic clamp of the inner column with respect to the outer column is released, the inner column does not come out of the outer column, and the spline engagement of the steering shaft is not released.

1 is an overall perspective view of a steering device according to a first embodiment of the present invention. It is a perspective view which shows the principal part of the steering apparatus of Example 1 of this invention. FIG. 3 is a bottom view of FIG. 2. It is a longitudinal cross-sectional view of FIG. It is a perspective view which shows the principal part of the steering device of Example 2 of this invention, and is FIG. 2 equivalent figure of Example 1. FIG.

  In the following embodiments, an example in which the present invention is applied to a tilt / telescopic steering device that adjusts both the tilt position and the telescopic position of a steering wheel will be described.

  FIG. 1 is an overall perspective view of a steering apparatus according to a first embodiment of the present invention, which is a column assist type rack and pinion type power steering apparatus. The column assist type rack and pinion type power steering apparatus shown in FIG. 1 applies a steering assist force of a steering assist portion (electric assist mechanism) 102 attached to a column 105 to a steering shaft in order to reduce the operation force of the steering wheel 101. In this power steering device, the rack of the rack and pinion type steering gear 103 is reciprocated through the intermediate shaft 106 and the steering wheel is steered through the tie rod 104.

  2 is a perspective view showing a main part of the steering device according to the first embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 3 is a bottom view of FIG. 2, and FIG. 4 is a longitudinal sectional view of FIG. As shown in FIGS. 2 to 4, an outer column 11 is fitted on the outer periphery of the inner column 10 so as to be slidable in the axial direction. A steering shaft 12 is rotatably supported on the outer column 11, and a steering wheel 101 shown in FIG. 1 is fixed to the right end (rear side of the vehicle body) of the steering shaft 12. In the embodiment of the present invention, the outer column 11 is an integrally molded product made of aluminum die casting, but may be a steel pipe welded with a distance bracket. Further, for the purpose of weight reduction, it may be made of magnesium die casting.

  On the left side (front side of the vehicle body) of the outer column 11, the vehicle body mounting bracket 3 is attached so as to sandwich the outer column 11 from both the left and right sides. The vehicle body mounting bracket 3 is detachably attached to the front side of the vehicle body via a capsule 42 made of aluminum alloy or the like fixed to the vehicle body 41.

  In the outer column 11, when a driver collides with the steering wheel 101 during a secondary collision and a large impact force is applied, the vehicle body mounting bracket 3 is detached from the capsule 42 toward the front side of the vehicle body and guided to the inner column 10 to be forward of the vehicle body. Move collapsing to the side. At this time, an impact energy absorbing mechanism (not shown) absorbs the impact energy by energy absorbing means such as plastic deformation. As this impact energy absorbing means, for example, a method of absorbing impact energy at the time of collision by using a wire or plate arranged in the capsule 42 and plastically deforming it by the body mounting bracket 3 is adopted. Can do.

  On the vehicle body front side (left side) of the inner column 10, the right end of the housing 21 of the steering assisting portion 102 (electric assist mechanism) is fixed by press-fitting. The steering assisting unit 102 includes an electric motor 23, a reduction gear box unit 24, an output shaft 25, and the like. The inner column 10 is supported to be tiltable with respect to the vehicle body 41 by a pivot pin 221 of the lower vehicle body mounting bracket 22 directly at the lower portion thereof or indirectly through the steering assisting portion 102.

  The steering assisting unit 102 detects torque acting on the steering shaft 12, drives the electric motor 23, rotates the output shaft 25 with a required steering assisting force, and passes the intermediate shaft 106 to the steering gear 103. It is connected and can change the steering angle of the wheel.

  As shown in FIG. 4, the vehicle body mounting bracket 3 includes an upper plate 32 and side plates 33 and 34 extending downward from the upper plate 32. A distance bracket 13 is integrally formed on the outer column 11 so as to protrude below the outer column 11. The side surfaces 14 and 15 of the distance bracket 13 are slidably in contact with the inner side surfaces 331 and 341 of the side plates 33 and 34 of the vehicle body mounting bracket 3.

  Tilt adjusting long grooves 35 and 36 are formed in the side plates 33 and 34 of the vehicle body mounting bracket 3. The long grooves 35 and 36 for tilt adjustment are formed in an arc shape centering on the pivot pin 221 provided in the lower body mounting bracket 22 described above. The distance bracket 13 is formed with telescopic adjustment long grooves 16 and 17 extending in the left-right direction in FIG. 4 and extending in the axial direction of the outer column 11.

  The round rod-shaped clamping rod 5 is inserted from the left side of FIG. 4 through the long grooves 35 and 36 for tilt adjustment and the long grooves 16 and 17 for telescopic adjustment. A cylindrical head 51 is formed at the left end of the clamping rod 5. A fixed cam 52, a movable cam 53, and an operation lever 54 are externally fitted in this order between the head 51 and the outer surface 332 of the side plate 33. Further, a female screw (not shown) formed on the inner diameter portion of the nut 55 is screwed into a male screw 56 formed on the right end of the tightening rod 5, and the left end surface of the nut 55 is in contact with the outer surface 342 of the side plate 34. .

  A single retaining plate 6 is sandwiched between the outer surface 332 of the side plate 33 and the right end surface of the fixed cam 52 and extends in the telescopic direction (direction perpendicular to the paper surface of FIG. 4). Yes. The retaining plate 6 is parallel to the axial center of the inner column 10 and the outer column 11, the front end of the vehicle body extends in the vicinity of the end portion of the inner column 10 on the front side of the vehicle body, and the rear end of the vehicle body extends to the vicinity of the clamping rod 5. Are arranged.

  The front end of the vehicle body 6 is fixed to a mounting seat 26 formed on the side surface of the housing 21 by a bolt 62. A mounting seat may be formed directly on the front end of the inner column 10 on the vehicle body, and the front end of the vehicle body of the retaining plate 6 may be bolted to the mounting seat. A long groove 61 into which the tightening rod 5 is inserted is formed in the retaining plate 6, and the long groove 61 is formed slightly longer than the collapse movement distance L (see FIG. 2) of the outer column 11.

  Complementary inclined cam surfaces are formed on the opposing end surfaces of the fixed cam 52 and the movable cam 53 and mesh with each other. When the operation lever 54 connected to the left side surface of the movable cam 53 is operated by hand, the movable cam 53 rotates with respect to the fixed cam 52.

  When the operating lever 54 is rotated in the clamping direction, the mountain of the inclined cam surface of the movable cam 53 rides on the mountain of the inclined cam surface of the fixed cam 52, and at the same time the pulling rod 5 is pulled to the left in FIG. Push to the right in FIG.

  The retaining plate 6 is pushed to the right by the right end surface of the fixed cam 52, deforms the side plate 33 inward, and strongly presses the inner side surface 331 of the side plate 33 against the side surface 14 of the distance bracket 13. At the same time, the right nut 55 deforms the side plate 34 inward and strongly presses the inner side surface 341 of the side plate 34 against the side surface 15 of the distance bracket 13.

  In this way, the distance bracket 13 of the outer column 11 can be firmly fastened to the vehicle body mounting bracket 3 via the retaining plate 6. Therefore, the outer column 11 is fixed to the vehicle body mounting bracket 3, and the displacement of the outer column 11 in the tilt direction and the displacement in the telescopic direction are prevented.

  When the automobile collides with another automobile or the like and the driver makes a secondary collision with the steering wheel 101 due to inertia, an impact force to the front side of the vehicle body acts on the outer column 11, and the tightening rod 5, the tilt adjusting long grooves 35, 36 The impact force is transmitted to the vehicle body mounting bracket 3 via.

  By this impact force, the vehicle body mounting bracket 3 comes out of the capsule 42 to the front side of the vehicle body, and moves in a collapse manner to the front side of the vehicle body. The vehicle body mounting bracket 3 and the outer column 11 are smoothly collapsed as the tightening rod 5 is guided by the long groove 61 of the retaining plate 6. During the collapse movement, impact energy is absorbed by an impact energy absorption mechanism (not shown).

  The frictional force between the retaining plate 6 and the right end surface of the fixed cam 52 and the frictional force between the retaining plate 6 and the outer surface 332 of the side plate 33 also work. It is possible to absorb the impact energy. In this case, it is necessary to use a retaining plate 6 that is sufficiently rigid to withstand the frictional force and does not buckle. On the other hand, the retaining plate 6 may be made of a thin steel plate, non-conductive or conductive material so that energy absorption by the retaining plate 6 is not substantially performed. It is also possible to bend easily so that the characteristics of the impact energy absorbing mechanism are not substantially affected.

  Next, when the driver rotates the operation lever 54 in the tightening release direction, the side plate 33 of the vehicle body mounting bracket 3 in which the distance in the free state is set wider than the outer width of the side surfaces 14 and 15 of the distance bracket 13, 34 elastically return in the direction opposite to the clamping direction.

  Therefore, the outer column 11 is free with respect to the side plates 33 and 34 of the vehicle body mounting bracket 3. Accordingly, the tightening rod 5 is displaced in the tilt direction while being guided by the tilt adjusting long grooves 35 and 36, or the telescopic adjusting long grooves 16 and 17 of the distance bracket 13 are guided along the tightening rod 5 while the outer By displacing the column 11 in the telescopic direction, the tilt direction and the telescopic direction of the steering wheel 101 can be arbitrarily adjusted.

  When attaching the vehicle body, it may happen that the operation lever 54 is accidentally rotated in the tightening release direction before the steering device assembled in advance is attached to the vehicle body 41. At this time, if the retaining plate 6 as in the present application is not provided, the outer column 11 is in a free state with respect to the side plates 33 and 34 of the vehicle body mounting bracket 3 and the inner column 10, There is a possibility that the outer column 11 may fall off the inner column 10 when it is lifted for the vehicle body mounting work. In such a case, as described at the beginning, the work for adjusting the phase of the spline is required, so the work efficiency is greatly reduced. However, according to the present invention, when the outer column 11 is about to come out from the inner column 10, the fastening rod 5 is caught by the closed end of the long groove 61 of the retaining plate 6 at the rear end of the vehicle body. Since 11 does not come out, the above work efficiency is not lowered.

  Next, a second embodiment of the present invention will be described. FIG. 5 is a perspective view showing a main part of the steering apparatus according to the second embodiment of the present invention, which corresponds to FIG. In the following description, only structural parts different from the above-described embodiment will be described, and redundant description will be omitted. Further, the same parts will be described with the same numbers.

  The second embodiment is an example in which a plurality of retaining plates are attached to improve impact energy absorption performance at the time of collision by the retaining plates or the like. That is, as shown in FIG. 5, a retaining plate 6A having the same shape as that of the retaining plate 6 of Example 1 is prepared, and the front end of the retaining plate 6A is overlapped with the retaining plate 6 and the bolt 62 Thus, it is fixed to a mounting seat 26 formed on the side surface of the housing 21. Further, after the fastening rod 5 is inserted into the long groove 61 of the retaining plate 6A through the washer 63, the fixed cam 52, the movable cam 53, and the operation lever 54 are interposed between the head 51 and the outer surface 332 of the side plate 33. Insert with.

  If comprised in this way, since the frictional force between the retaining plate 6 and the retaining plate 6A is further applied during the collapse movement, the impact energy at the time of collision can be absorbed more effectively. It is preferable to further increase the number of retaining plates because the impact energy absorption performance at the time of collision is further improved.

  In the above embodiment, the retaining plate is disposed on the outer side surface of the side plate of the vehicle body mounting bracket, but may be disposed between the inner side surface of the side plate of the vehicle body mounting bracket and the side surface of the distance bracket. In the above embodiment, the retaining plate is disposed on the side plate on one side of the vehicle body mounting bracket. However, if it is disposed on the side plates on both sides of the vehicle body mounting bracket, the impact energy absorption performance at the time of collision is further improved. In some cases, it may be considered that the impact energy absorbing mechanism which has been described as having an impact energy absorbing mechanism (not shown) is eliminated and the impact energy is absorbed only by this retaining plate. Further, although an example in which the present invention is applied to a tilt / telescopic steering device has been described, the present invention may be applied to a telescopic steering device capable of adjusting only a telescopic position.

101 Steering wheel 102 Steering assist unit (electric assist mechanism)
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 103 Steering gear 104 Tie rod 105 Column 106 Intermediate shaft 10 Inner column 11 Outer column 12 Steering shaft 13 Distance bracket 14, 15 Side 16, 17 Telescopic adjustment long groove 21 Housing 22 Lower body mounting bracket 221 Pivoting pin 23 Electric motor 24 Reduction gear Box portion 25 Output shaft 26 Mounting seat 3 Car body mounting bracket 32 Upper plate 33, 34 Side plate 331, 341 Inner side surface 332, 342 Outer side surface 35, 36 Long groove for tilt adjustment 41 Car body 42 Capsule 5 Tightening rod 51 Head 52 Fixed cam 53 Movable cam 54 Operation lever 55 Nut 56 Male screw 6 Retaining plate 6A Retaining plate 61 Long groove 62 Bolt 63 Washer

Claims (2)

Inner column that can be attached to the front of the vehicle body,
An outer column disposed on the vehicle body rear side of the inner column, fitted to the inner column so as to be relatively telescopically movable in the axial direction, and collapsible to the vehicle body front side in a secondary collision;
Body mounting bracket that can be mounted on the body,
Tightening rod that clamps the side plate of the vehicle body mounting bracket and clamps the outer column to the inner column so that it cannot telescopically move,
A retaining plate fixed to the inner column at the front end of the vehicle body and extending to the vicinity of the clamping rod in parallel to the axis of the inner column,
The retaining plate is formed longer than the collapse movement distance, and has a long groove through which the clamping rod is inserted,
A steering device, wherein a rear end of a vehicle body of the retaining plate is fastened to a side plate of the vehicle body mounting bracket. The steering apparatus according to claim 1, wherein
A steering apparatus, wherein a plurality of the retaining plates are stacked.

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