CN101258299A

CN101258299A - Viscous strand damper assembly

Info

Publication number: CN101258299A
Application number: CNA2006800326635A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 查德·K.·泽伦加; 约瑟夫·J.·贝拉
Original assignee: Illinois Tool Works Inc
Current assignee: Illinois Tool Works Inc
Priority date: 2005-11-14
Filing date: 2006-11-08
Publication date: 2008-09-03

Abstract

A damper assembly includes a fixed rack gear (32), a rotary gear damper (16) having a gear engaged with the rack gear and a tether (20) movable with the damper along the rack gear and connected to the movable object to be controlled by the damper.

Description

Viscous strand damper assembly

The mutual reference of related application

This regular U. S. application requires the right of 60/736, No. 236 U.S. Provisional Application of submission on November 14th, 2005.

Technical field

The present invention relates generally to the damper of the motion that is used to control object, the present invention more is specially adapted to use the viscous damper that is connected the rope between controlled device and the damper.

Background technology

The known motion of in various assemblies, using movement-damper to come the Control Component parts.In some cases, damper is used for the motion of control assembly, and described parts will carry out the motion more unexpected or stronger than expection.Damper can be controlled motion that is caused by gravity or the motion that is caused by spring or other actuator.Pull out the application apparatus that thing is to use damper on known door, drawer and the furniture.In vehicle, damper is known to be used in glove box door, console lid, sun mirror case, collapsible glass stand and other storage box or the storage area.

Known have various types of dampers, comprises various types of unidirectional and two way dampers.As its name suggests, one-way damper is controlled motion in one direction only, apply the minimum resistance of motion simultaneously on the backhaul direction, and two way damper provides resistance or controlled motion on both direction.

Known have a viscous damper (viscous damper).In viscous damper, rotor is rotatable in the housing that holds viscous damping liquid.The internal construction of rotor and/or housing has been set up the mouth that is used for damping fluid and rotor relative movement, and the degree of required impedance or " damping " is provided thus.

The effectively running in many application of various types of dampers.But, also constantly need new improved damper designs.For example, in vehicle, the space is very valuable.Need feasible inner passenger space and memory space maximum.Therefore, need damper little or in the zone of not reducing other useful freight space space, move.

Some existing damping system, especially air damper start not steady.Damping capacity may just begin in a period of time after starting.In some cases, need to suppress lingeringly not start rapidly.

Summary of the invention

The invention provides and a kind ofly can be fixed to conventional viscous damper in the controlled moving object along path movement and by rope.

According to an aspect of the present invention, its provide fixed pedestal with band tooth bar, can be with respect to the carriage of base motion with by the damper assembly of the rotary damper of described carriage carrying.Described damper has rotor and can be with the damper gear of described rotor rotation.Described damper gear engages tooth bar on pedestal.Rope is connected to described carriage.

According to a further aspect in the invention, it provides a kind of damper assembly, and described damper assembly has stationary rack; Rotary damper, the damper gear that has rotor and rotate with described rotor, described damper can move along described tooth bar; And rope, be connected for following the motion of damper in fact with respect to the motion of tooth bar.

According to aspect in addition of the present invention, it provides a kind of damper assembly, described damper assembly has trapped orbit, stationary rack, have the carriage of the driven member that engages slidably with described track, have the rotary damper of the damper gear that engages with described tooth bar, the damper and the rope that can move with described carriage, and described rope one end is connected in described carriage and second end can be connected in movable object by described damper assembly control.

An advantage of the present invention has been to provide a kind of damper from installing at the object remote that will control that does not use the zone, and described damper can not reduce the free space of object or the environment around it.

Another advantage of the present invention has been to provide a kind of being not activated to change and the damper of stable operation.

Of the present invention also have an advantage to be to provide a kind of damper system that can be used in the various types of dampers that comprise unidirectional and two way damper.

After detailed description below having read, claim and the accompanying drawing, further feature of the present invention and advantage will be conspicuous for a person skilled in the art, and in the accompanying drawings, identical numeral is used for representing identical parts.

Description of drawings

Fig. 1 is the phantom drawing according to viscous strand damper assembly of the present invention;

Fig. 2 is the decomposition view of the viscous strand damper assembly shown in Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is the phantom drawing of the damper shown in the exploded view of Fig. 2, but shows a side relative with a side shown in Figure 2;

Fig. 4 is the phantom drawing of the carriage shown in Fig. 2, but also shows a side relative with the side shown in Fig. 2;

Fig. 5 is the phantom drawing of removing according to the part of viscous strand damper assembly of the present invention, shows the installation of the opening that is used to control the vehicle glove box, and shown glove box is in closed condition; And

Fig. 6 is the phantom drawing similar to Fig. 5, but shows the glove box that is in open mode.

Before specifying embodiments of the present invention, should be appreciated that, in an application of the invention, the details and the configuration of components of the structure shown in that the present invention is not limited to describe in the following description or the accompanying drawing.The present invention can have other embodiment, and can implement in every way or realize.Be appreciated that also that herein the wording used and term are to be used for illustrative purposes and should not to be considered limiting.Herein " the comprising " of Shi Yonging, " comprising " with and modification comprise that the project listed thereafter and its are equal to project, and other project and its equivalent.

The specific embodiment

Now will be more specifically with reference to accompanying drawing, especially with reference to Fig. 1 and 2, numeral 10 expressions are according to viscous strand damper assembly of the present invention.Damper assembly 10 comprises pedestal 12, and damper assembly 10 is positioned and fixed to use by pedestal.The motion of carriage 14 engaged with base 12, and by being carried in the carriage 14 and can moving back and forth along pedestal 12 along the correlation of the damper 16 of pedestal 12 operations.In an exemplary embodiment, provide spring 18 so that carriage 14 moves along a direction; But, should be appreciated that, can use other return structures.Rope 20 is connected to carriage 14 at the one end, is connected to object to be controlled at its other end.

Pedestal 12 comprises the base plate 30 that is used near installation component 10 article of controlled motion.Therefore, base plate 30 can have suitable structure (not shown), for example be used for securing member hole, one the overlap joint connector or base plate 30 can be fastened to similar item on another object.Pedestal 12 has formed the tooth bar 32 that is used to engage damper 16, and after this this will describe more fully.Tooth bar 32 is from extending near the end of pedestal 12 near the opposite end of pedestal 12.Be used to engage carriage 14 along first track 34 at 30 1 edges of base plate with along base plate 30 with the second track 36 edge opposed edges with track 34.On the end of pedestal 12, it has also formed groove 38 and has been used to guide and the guide portion 40 of guide rope 20.In the opposite end of pedestal 12, it has formed

spring installation portion

42,44.

Carriage 14 is configured as and is used to hold damper 16, and with its operation, simultaneously engaged with base 12 and traverse along pedestal 12 slidably.Therefore, carriage 14 comprises main body 50, and main body has the well portion 52 that is used for damper 16 operations.First driven member 54 on first edge of main body 50 straddles along first track 34 of pedestal 12.Second driven member 56 with on the edge opposed edges with driven member 54 in main body 50 straddles along second track 36 of pedestal 12.Those skilled in the art will readily understand, can also use various structures to carry out realizing the physical engagement between carriage 14 and the pedestal 12 and having slidably relation by

track

34,36 and driven member 54,56.For example, can use overlapping edge, carriage 14 is snapped on the pedestal 12, and after engaging, can also slide along pedestal 12 with it.

Well portion 52 is hollow depression portion or pocket recess, is used for holding therein damper 16.Well portion 52 portion within it comprises (Fig. 4) lock rib 58 and the rib 60 of freely advancing, and after this its operation will described more fully.Carriage 14 also comprises

spring installation portion

62,64 and arm 66.

Damper 16 is the swing pinion dampers with shell or external shell 70, and it can for example pass through ultra-sonic welded multiple connection parts fastened to each other one by one.Housing 70 is formed with rib 72, and in an exemplary embodiment, rib 72 centers on housing 70 at an end of damper 16.Rib 72 is the retaining elements with respect to housing 70, and can be integrally formed on the housing 70.Damper 16 also comprises rotor 74, and described rotor 74 can rotate and extend to the outside of housing 70 on housing 70.Damper gear 76 is installed on the rotor 74, with its rotation.Damper 16 is viscous swing pinion dampers, and it holds the damping fluid (not shown) and is the relational structure (not shown) of housing 72 and/or rotor 74 in housing 70, in order to opposing rotation relatively between housing 70 and rotor 74.One of ordinary skill in the art will readily recognize that the characteristic and the internal construction that are used for the operation of damper 16 can be unidirectional or two way dampers in some application of the present invention and in the use.

Spring 18 has spring body 80, can be fixed in first spring terminal 82 of

spring installation portion

42,44 and can be fixed in second spring terminal 84 on the spring installation portion 62,64.In exemplary embodiment, spring body 80 is helical coil springs; But it will be understood by those skilled in the art that contraction elements or the structure that also can use except spring, for example elastic component.

Rope 20 is cord, line, cable, band or similar item, and its first end 90 is connected in arm 66, the second ends 92 and is connected in by damper 16 and influences on object, device or the article of its motion.In exemplary embodiment (Fig. 5 and 6), rope 20 second end 92 is connected in case 94, and described case is for example for can rotatably being connected in vehicle glove box on the fixed structure 98 by rotating shaft 96.

In the intact form of the assembling of damper assembly 10, driven

member

54,56 engage

rail

34,36 allow carriage 14 to move axially along pedestal 12 so that carriage 14 is fixed on the pedestal 12 simultaneously.Damper 16 is contained between well portion 52 and the base plate 30, and the gear 76 of damper 16 is engaged in tooth bar 32.By

spring terminal

82,84 is separately fixed between paired

spring installation portion

42,44 and 62,64, spring 18 laterally is connected between pedestal 12 and the carriage 14.Rope 20 is connected in the arm 66 of carriage 14, and extend to groove 38 and guide portion 40 along pedestal 12, it is transported to or is directed to the object that will control by particular course herein, and it is transported or be directed to case 94, the second ends 92 by particular course and is connected in this case in an example shown.

In exemplary embodiment, show the installation of one-way damper.When glove box or case 94 were opened, rope 20 was drawn out, and 20 continued pulling carriage 14 with being connected of arm 66 by restricting.Carriage 14 beginning is moved along pedestal 12, and the slight relative motion between carriage 14 and the damper 16 all will make the part rib 72 that lock rib 58 on the carriage 14 engages on the damper housings 70.Therefore, housing 70 has been limited the rotation in well portion 52, and gear 76 along tooth bar 32 when pulled, makes rotor 74 rotate in housing 70.The damping action of damper 16 is sent to the pivoting action of glove box/bin 94 around rotating shaft 96 by the rotational resistance of rotor 74 in housing 70, and described rotational resistance prevents the rotation and gear 76 the moving along tooth bar 32 of gear 76.This resistance is applied to carriage 14 successively along the moving of pedestal 12, and it is converted to case 94 by restricting 20 open.

When glove box/bin 94 is moved to when closing, be released from the tractive force on the rope 20 of case 94.Spring 18 is in opposite direction from foregoing position pulling carriage 14.When carriage 14 is actuated by spring 18, the slight relative motion between carriage 14 and the damper 16 will make the lock rib 58 on the carriage 14 break away from from the rib 72 on the damper housing 70.The rib 72 of housing 70 can still can not engage the rib 60 of freely advancing in the face of the rib 60 of freely advancing in the well portion 52.Rib 72 can be with respect to rib 60 motions of freely advancing.Therefore, applied in the rotation of the housing 70 of minimum resistance in the well portion 52.The bigger resistance of resistance than the rotation of the housing in the well portion 52 70 has been born in the rotation of the rotor 74 in the housing 70, and when spring 18 pulling carriages 14 and gear 76 when tooth bar 32 moves, between rotor 74 and housing 70, produce rotation relatively hardly.What replace is that housing 70 rotates in well portion 52.Therefore, there is not damping action to be applied in the backhaul of carriage 14.

Should be appreciated that,, can provide bidirectional damper by using two way damper and limiting carriage in damper housing when either direction is moved and the relative rotation between the carriage on the pedestal 12.For example, the two way damper housing can be permanently fixed to carriage by fastening, adhesion or positive engagement.

Aforesaid modification and improvement are all within the scope of the invention.Be appreciated that the present invention disclosed herein and that limit extend to by text and/or accompanying drawing mention or conspicuous each feature in two or more all various combinations.All these are different has constituted various aspect of the present invention.Shuo Ming embodiment has been explained and has been used to realize best mode of the present invention and makes those skilled in the art can realize the present invention herein.Claims are interpreted as comprising the various embodiments under the degree that prior art allows.

To state various feature of the present invention in the following claims.

Claims

1. damper assembly comprises:

Fixed pedestal has tooth bar;

Carriage can be with respect to described base motion;

Rotary damper, by the carrying of described carriage, described damper has rotor and can be with the damper gear of described rotor rotation, and described damper engages with described tooth bar on the described pedestal; With

Rope is from described carriage.

2. damper assembly according to claim 1, described pedestal has track, and described carriage has the driven member that engages with described track.

3. damper assembly according to claim 2, described pedestal has first track and second track along opposed edges, and described carriage has first driven member and second driven member that engages with described first track and second track.

4. damper assembly according to claim 2 comprises the spring that is connected between described pedestal and the described carriage.

5. damper assembly according to claim 1 comprises the spring that is connected between described pedestal and the described carriage.

6. damper assembly according to claim 1, described carriage has well portion, have rib in the described well portion, and described damper has rib on its outer surface, be used for engaging the described rib of described well portion, to limit the relative rotation between described damper and the described well portion.

7. damper assembly according to claim 1, described damper has housing, and described carriage has the rib that engages described housing at described carriage with respect to described pedestal when first direction moves; And described rib breaks away from from described housing when described carriage moves in opposite directions.

8. damper assembly according to claim 7 comprises the spring that is connected between described pedestal and the described carriage.

9. damper assembly according to claim 8, described pedestal has first track and second track along opposed edges, and described carriage has first driven member and second driven member that engages with described first track and second track.

10. damper assembly comprises:

Stationary rack;

Rotary damper has rotor and can be with the damper gear of described rotor rotation, and described damper can move along described tooth bar; With

Rope is connected for following the motion of described damper with respect to the motion of described tooth bar in fact.

11. damper assembly according to claim 10 also comprises carriage, described damper has housing, and described rotor is rotatable in described housing; And described damper is carried by described carriage.

12. damper assembly according to claim 11, described rope is connected to described carriage.

13. damper assembly according to claim 11, described housing has rib, when described carriage along described tooth bar when first direction moves at least, described rib is engaged in described carriage and limits the rotation of described housing with respect to described carriage.

14. damper assembly according to claim 13 comprises spring, described spring one end is connected in described carriage, and has with respect to described tooth bar and be fixed on opposite end in the appropriate location.

15. damper assembly according to claim 14, when described carriage along described track when second direction is moved, described rib breaks away from from described housing.

16. damper assembly according to claim 10 comprises spring, described spring one end is connected for following described damper along the moving of described tooth bar, and has with respect to described tooth bar and be fixed on the other end in the appropriate location.

17. damper assembly comprises:

Trapped orbit;

Stationary rack;

Carriage has the driven member that engages with described track slidably;

Rotary damper has the damper gear that engages with described tooth bar, and described damper can be with described movement of bracket; With

Rope, described rope one end is connected in described carriage, and has second end that can be connected in by the movable object of described damper assembly control.

18. damper assembly according to claim 17, described rotary damper have the housing that selectively engages with described carriage, and described housing selectively rotates and do not rotate with respect to described carriage.

19. damper assembly according to claim 18 comprises contraction elements, it connects described carriage and with respect to the fixed point of described tooth bar.

20. damper assembly according to claim 17 comprises second trapped orbit, described tooth bar is arranged between the described trapped orbit, and described carriage has second driven member that engages with described second track.