CN205554302U - Steering column and energy absorber that contracts bursts thereof - Google Patents

Abstract

The utility model relates to a steering column and energy absorber that contracts bursts thereof, the ulcerate that wherein the is used for car steering column energy absorber that contracts, including steering column (1), upper bracket (2), two piston shoes (3, 3'), wherein be equipped with the concave part that is used for installing piston shoes (3, 3') (4, 4') on two sides of upper bracket (2) respectively to two piston shoes (3, 3') respectively by in the concave part of crimping on the both sides face of upper bracket (2) (4, 4'), its characterized in that, and two piston shoes (3, 3') are equipped with respectively and are meetting can cracked thin zone of weakness when strikeing. The utility model provides an energy that is used for car steering column's the ulcerate energy absorber simple structure that contracts, and can absorb steering column effectively and accompany when contracting because of the striking takes place to burst.

Description

Steering column and crumpling energy absorption mechanism thereof

Technical Field

The utility model relates to an automobile steering system especially relates to a crumple energy-absorbing mechanism of car steering column.

Background

With the popularization of automobiles in China, the safety of automobiles is gradually valued by consumers, so that how to ensure that drivers are protected sufficiently in the collision process of automobiles is very important. An automobile steering column is an important component of an automobile steering system and is a steering mechanism for connecting a steering wheel and a steering gear. During a collision of the vehicle, the driver will hit the steering wheel due to inertia, during which the driver's chest is subjected to a great impact force from the steering wheel. In order to protect the driver, the steering column to which the steering wheel is attached needs to have an energy absorbing function to absorb the energy of the steering wheel hitting the driver. In order for the steering column to provide the function of absorbing impact energy, it must be ensured that the steering column will collapse in the event of a vehicle collision and provide a controlled force during collapse. This force cannot be too small, not enough to absorb energy; this force is also applied to the driver and therefore not too great, which would otherwise injure the driver.

One type of prior art collapsible steering column includes a collapse energy absorbing mechanism in which shoes are attached (e.g., riveted) to both sides of an upper bracket of the steering column. And the skid shoe is fixed to the instrument desk beam by a bolt. When a vehicle is impacted, the sliding shoe is kept still due to the fixing effect of the bolt, and the steering column and the upper support are collapsed and moved to absorb energy generated by the impact. This means that the shoe will disengage from the upper bracket and the shoe generates a disengagement force. However, in the prior art, the tolerance size requirement on the connecting area between the sliding shoe and the upper bracket is extremely high and strictly controllable, and the connecting process of the sliding shoe is complex and has slight deviation, namely the force of the sliding shoe separating from the upper bracket is influenced, and the energy absorption effect of the steering column is further influenced.

SUMMERY OF THE UTILITY MODEL

The utility model aims at providing a novel a contract energy-absorbing mechanism that bursts that is used for car steering column to the problem that the piston shoe mechanism to current steering column exists, should contract energy-absorbing mechanism and when providing good energy-absorbing characteristic for the steering column, still have advantages such as simple structure easily assembles.

To achieve the above object, according to one aspect of the present invention, a collapsing energy-absorbing mechanism for a steering column of an automobile is provided. The crumple energy absorption mechanism comprises a steering column, an upper bracket and two sliding shoes, wherein two side faces of the upper bracket are respectively provided with a concave part for installing the sliding shoes, and the two sliding shoes are respectively pressed in the concave parts on the two side faces of the upper bracket.

Preferably, the central connection portion of the skid shoe is provided with a rectangular through hole, wherein a bolt passes through the rectangular through hole to fixedly connect the skid shoe to the instrument desk cross member.

Preferably, the area of weakness of the slipper is provided in the form of an upper groove in the upper surface of the slipper, and the upper groove is provided on both sides of the rectangular through hole.

Preferably, a lower groove corresponding to the upper groove is provided in the lower surface of the slipper.

Preferably, the height of the rectangular through hole is higher than the height of the side edge of the slipper.

Preferably, at least one small through hole is provided through the upper and lower grooves in the area of weakness of the slipper.

Preferably, the shape of at least one small through hole is at least one of rectangle, square, ellipse and circle.

Preferably, the side end face of the sliding shoe is provided with a mounting clamping groove for clamping the side face of the upper bracket.

Preferably, the side end face of the slipper is further provided with riveting means for fastening the slipper to the upper bracket.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is also provided an automobile steering column product using the structure described above.

The utility model provides a burst energy-absorbing mechanism and corresponding car steering column system that contracts for car steering column simple structure, cost advantage are obvious, can absorb the steering column effectively because of the striking takes place to burst the energy that accompanies when contracting, guarantee the reliability of steering column energy-absorbing characteristic, improve the security of product, but wide application is on current various types of steering column.

Drawings

The present invention will be described in more detail with reference to exemplary embodiments thereof as shown in the accompanying drawings. For purposes of clarity, the same reference numbers will be used in different drawings to identify the same elements. Wherein,

fig. 1 shows a schematic view of a crumple energy-absorbing mechanism of an automotive steering column according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 shows a schematic view of the mounting of the crush energy absorption mechanism of the vehicle steering column of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 shows a schematic structural view of a slipper according to an embodiment of the present invention; and

fig. 4 shows a cross-sectional view of a slipper according to an embodiment of the invention along line a-a' of fig. 3.

Detailed Description

Exemplary embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings. For the sake of clarity and brevity, actual embodiments are not limited to the features described in this specification. It will be appreciated that in the development of any such actual embodiment, as in any specific implementation, numerous implementation-specific decisions must be made to achieve the developers' specific goals, such as compliance with system-related and business-related constraints, which will vary from one implementation to another. The present embodiment is implemented on the premise of the technical solution of the present invention, and detailed embodiments and processes are given, but the scope of the present invention includes, but is not limited to, the following embodiments.

Fig. 1 shows a schematic diagram of a crumple energy absorption mechanism of an automobile steering column according to an embodiment of the present invention. As shown in fig. 1, the energy absorbing mechanism for collapse of a steering column of an automobile comprises a steering column 1, an upper bracket 2 and at least two skid shoes 3, 3'. On both sides of the upper bracket 2 there are provided recesses 4, 4 ', respectively (see fig. 2), the recesses 4, 4 ' being intended to receive the respective shoes 3, 3 ', respectively. The skid shoe 3 is centrally provided with a through hole 5 and the skid shoe 3 'is centrally provided with a through hole 5', wherein bolts (not shown in the figure) pass through the through holes 5, 5 'to fix the skid shoes 3, 3' to, for example, an instrument desk cross member (not shown in the figure) of the vehicle, respectively. According to an embodiment of the invention, the through-holes 5, 5' may be rectangular in shape.

FIG. 2 shows a schematic view of the installation of the crush energy absorption mechanism of the vehicle steering column of FIG. 1. As shown in fig. 2, the shoe 3 is pressed into the recess 4 of the upper bracket 2, and the shoe 3 'is correspondingly pressed into the recess 4' of the upper bracket 2. Pressing the shoes 3, 3 'into the upper bracket 2 involves a minimum pressing force, which makes it possible to rigidly connect the shoes 3, 3' to the upper bracket 2. The structure of the slipper according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to fig. 3 and 4.

Fig. 3 shows a schematic structural view of the slipper 3 according to an embodiment of the present invention, and fig. 4 shows a cross-sectional view of the slipper 3 according to an embodiment of the present invention along the line a-a' shown in fig. 3. As shown in fig. 3 and 4, the slipper 3 is a sheet-like body provided with a through hole 5 for passing a bolt (not shown) at a central connecting region 31. The through-hole 5 may be rectangular, for example. And the slipper 3 is provided with a weak area which is broken when the steering column 1 is struck, so that the slipper 3 is detached from the upper bracket 2. According to one embodiment of the invention, the area of weakness of the slipper 3 is provided in the form of an upper groove 6. The upper groove 6 is in the upper surface 8 of the slipper 3 and is located on both sides of the central connection zone 31 and the through hole 5, as shown in fig. 3. According to another embodiment of the invention, a lower groove 7 corresponding to the upper groove 6 is correspondingly provided in the lower surface 8' of the slipper 3, so that the upper groove 6 and the corresponding lower groove 7 together form a weak area of the slipper 3, as shown in fig. 4. According to an embodiment of the present invention, as shown in fig. 4, the height of the central connection region 31 of the slipper 3 (i.e., the height of the through hole 5) is greater than the height of the side edge of the slipper 3, thereby ensuring that the bolt is connected only at the center of the slipper 3 and both sides of the slipper 3 are connected with the upper bracket 2, thereby breaking only at the weak region when the impact occurs. As shown in fig. 4, the difference in height of the central connecting area 31 of the slipper 3 from the side edge is marked h. According to a preferred embodiment, as shown in fig. 4, more than one small through hole 9 may be provided in the zone of weakness of the slipper 3, the small through holes 9 extending through the upper groove 6 and the lower groove 7 for improving the fracture characteristics of the zone of weakness. According to a preferred embodiment, the shape of the small through hole 9 is at least one of rectangular, square, oval, circular, preferably rectangular. As shown in fig. 4, the two side end surfaces of the slipper 3 are respectively provided with a clamping groove 10, and the clamping grooves 10 are used for clamping with the side edge of the concave part 4 of the upper bracket 2, so that when the slipper 3 is pressed and installed on the side surface of the upper bracket 2, the rigid clamping of the slipper 3 and the upper bracket 2 is realized. Since the shoe 3 is snapped onto the upper bracket 2, it is necessary to prevent the shoe 3 from being accidentally pulled out of the upper bracket 2. That is, the withdrawal force should be less than the breaking force of the weak area of the slipper 3. To ensure this, according to a preferred embodiment, the side end surface of the slipper 3 may be further provided with a riveting device 11 for tightly connecting the slipper 3 to the upper bracket 2 when the slipper 3 is mounted to the upper bracket 2 through the catching groove 10. Those skilled in the art can easily conceive of various riveting devices for the purpose of riveting, and the description thereof is omitted here. With the clamping groove 10 and/or the rivet pressing device 11 as described above, the slipper 3 can be firmly connected to the upper bracket 2, so that in the event of an impact, the weak area of the slipper 3 will break and generate a collapsing force.

With the energy absorbing mechanism according to the embodiment of the present invention, when the steering column is impacted, the sliding shoe 3 will break in its weak area after the force exceeds a certain threshold value due to the fixing effect of the bolt, so that the sliding shoe 3 breaks away from the upper bracket 2 of the steering column, and the steering column can further collapse under the impact force. According to the utility model discloses novel crumple energy-absorbing system has realized the energy-absorbing effect of striking in-process well.

According to another preferred embodiment of the present invention, there is also provided a steering column system for a vehicle using the crumple energy absorption mechanism shown in fig. 1-4. Since the core components and structure thereof have been described in detail above, they are not described in detail herein.

The utility model provides a car steering column crumples energy-absorbing mechanism and corresponding car steering column system simple structure, easily assembly, can absorb the steering column effectively because of the striking takes place to crumple the energy that accompanies when contracting, guarantees the reliability of steering column energy-absorbing characteristic, improves the security of product, but wide application is on current various types of steering column.

Although the present invention has been described in detail based on the preferred embodiments, those skilled in the art should understand that the claimed invention is not limited to the preferred embodiments. Without departing from the spirit and substance of the invention, a person skilled in the art, on understanding the present invention, is capable of carrying out numerous changes and modifications to the embodiments and therefore falling within the scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims.

Claims (10)

1. A crumple energy absorption mechanism of an automobile steering column comprises a steering column (1), an upper bracket (2) and two sliding shoes (3, 3 '), wherein two side faces of the upper bracket (2) are respectively provided with a concave part (4, 4') for installing the sliding shoes (3, 3 '), and the two sliding shoes (3, 3') are respectively pressed in the concave parts (4, 4 ') on the two side faces of the upper bracket (2), and the crumple energy absorption mechanism is characterized in that the two sliding shoes (3, 3') are respectively provided with a weak area which can be broken when encountering impact.

2. The crush absorber according to claim 1, wherein the central connection portion (31) of the slipper (3, 3 ') has a rectangular through hole (5, 5') therein, wherein a bolt passes through the rectangular through hole (5, 5 ') to fixedly connect the slipper (3, 3') to the instrument desk beam.

3. A crush energy absorber according to claim 2, wherein the weakened area of the slipper (3, 3 ') is provided in the form of an upper groove (6) in the upper surface (8) of the slipper (3, 3 '), the upper groove (6) being provided on both sides of the rectangular through hole (5, 5 ').

4. A crush energy absorber according to claim 3, wherein a lower groove (7) corresponding to the upper groove (6) is provided in the lower surface (8 ') of the slipper (3, 3').

5. The crush absorber according to claim 3, wherein the height of the rectangular through-hole (5, 5 ') is greater than the height of the side edge of the slipper (3, 3').

6. A crush energy absorber according to claim 4, wherein at least one small through hole (9) is provided through the upper groove (6) and the lower groove (7) in the area of weakness of the slipper (3, 3').

7. The crush energy absorption mechanism according to claim 6, wherein the at least one small through hole (9) has a shape of at least one of a rectangle, a square, an ellipse, and a circle.

8. The energy absorbing mechanism according to any one of claims 1-7, wherein the side end face of the slipper (3, 3') is provided with a mounting slot (10) for clamping the side of the upper bracket (2).

9. The crush absorber according to claim 8, wherein the side end faces of the shoes (3, 3 ') are further provided with riveting means (11) for fastening the shoes (3, 3') to the upper bracket (2).

10. A steering column, characterized in that it has a crumple energy absorption mechanism for an automotive steering column according to any of claims 1-7.