JP2000076838A - Front panel device for onboard apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To restrain a rattle noise from being caused by a vibration from the outside and to turn a moving noise smoothly in a front panel device of a type by which the moving nose is turned so as to be interlocked with the forward and backward movement of a slide member. SOLUTION: A front panel device is constituted in such a way that support shafts which are installed in lower parts on both side faces of a moving nose 5 are connected, to be freely rotatable, to a slide member 1 which is moved forward and backward in the front direction and the rear direction by using a motor as a driving source, that guide pins 8 which are installed in upper parts on both side faces of the moving nose 5 are coupled to guide grooves 10 which are formed on the inside wall of a front panel 2 and which are extended to the upper direction and the lower direction, that a pair of torsion coiled springs 25, 26 are wound and placed on the connection part of the slide member 11 to the support shafts and that the moving nose 5 is elastically urged to a rise direction.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a front panel device arranged on the front of a main unit of a vehicle-mounted device such as a car audio device, and more particularly to a type in which a movable nose is rotated in conjunction with a reciprocating movement of a slide member. And a front panel device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Generally, a cassette tape player or C
In-vehicle devices such as D players are provided with various operation keys, a display unit, or an insertion port for inserting a medium such as a tape cassette on a front panel attached to the front of the main unit. When the display unit becomes large and the number of operation keys increases with the increase in the number of functions, all of these display units, operation keys, and insertion ports can be arranged in a limited space on the front panel. It becomes difficult.

On the other hand, the front panel device disclosed in Japanese Utility Model Laid-Open Publication No. 6-4612 and the like has an insertion port provided on the side of the front panel attached to the opening of the main unit and covers the front panel. A display unit and various operation keys are provided on the movable nose side, and the movable nose is rotated by a slide member to selectively open and close the insertion port. The slide member is movable in the front-rear direction of the main unit by using a motor as a drive source, and spindles provided on both lower side surfaces of the movable nose are rotatably connected to the tip of the slide member. Further, guide grooves extending vertically are provided on both inner side walls of the opening of the main body device, and guide pins provided on both upper side surfaces of the movable nose are movably engaged along the guide grooves. .

In the front panel device configured as described above, when the slide member is retracted to the retracted position, the movable nose is in an upright state, and the insertion opening is covered by the movable nose. In this state, when the motor is driven to rotate in one direction and the slide member is moved from the retracted position to the forward position, a pair of spindles provided on both lower side surfaces of the movable nose move forward together with the slide member. A pair of guide pins provided on both upper side surfaces move from the upper end to the lower end along the guide groove, so that the movable nose rotates with the support shaft as a fulcrum and the lower side protrudes forward. The insertion opening is exposed with the rotation of the movable nose. Also, in this state, when the motor is rotationally driven in the other direction and the slide member is moved from the advanced position to the retracted position, the guide pin moves from the lower end of the guide groove toward the upper end, and the movable nose moves in the opposite direction. The lower side is retracted while rotating with the support shaft as a rotation fulcrum, and stands up, and the insertion opening is again covered by the movable nose.

Therefore, according to such a movable nose type front panel device, the entire surface of the movable nose in the closed state can be used as a display area or a key operation area, and the movable nose is used only when a medium is inserted or ejected. Since it is sufficient that the insertion opening is rotated to expose the insertion opening, there is an advantage that a relatively large display unit and many operation keys can be arranged in a limited space.

[0006]

By the way, in the above-mentioned conventional movable nose type front panel device, the guide pin provided on the upper side surface of the movable nose is engaged with the guide groove provided on the inner wall of the opening of the main body device. The movable nose is configured to rotate in conjunction with the reciprocation of the slide member in the front-rear direction by pivotally supporting a support shaft provided on the lower side surface of the movable nose with the slide member. If some clearance is not secured between the guide pin and the guide groove, the guide pin cannot be smoothly moved along the guide groove.

However, the clearance tends to cause play on the guide pin due to such clearance. In particular, when vibration is applied from the outside when the movable nose is opened in an inclined state, the guide pin is moved to the wall surface of the guide groove. There is a problem in that a collision generates abnormal noise called rattle noise. In addition, when the opening angle of the movable nose is set to be close to horizontal, the guide pin suddenly falls in the guide groove immediately before the fully opened state due to the weight of the movable nose,
There is also a problem that smooth rotation of the movable nose is hindered.

[0008]

According to the present invention, a torsion coil spring is wound around a connecting portion between a slide member which reciprocates in a front-rear direction and a lower fulcrum provided on a side surface of a movable nose.
The movable nose is always urged in the upright direction by the elastic force of the torsion coil spring. When such a torsion coil spring is attached, the upper fulcrum of the movable nose is pressed against the wall surface of the guide groove, so that rattle noise caused by external vibration can be suppressed, and the opening angle of the movable nose can be reduced. Even when is set large, the movable nose can be smoothly rotated.

[0009]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS In a front panel device for a vehicle-mounted device according to the present invention, a movable nose disposed on the front of a main unit and a pair of lower fulcrums provided on both side surfaces of the movable nose are rotatable. A connected slide member, driving means for reciprocating the slide member back and forth in the main unit, and a guide for guiding a pair of upper fulcrums provided on both side surfaces of the movable nose in the vertical direction of the main unit. In a front panel device for a vehicle-mounted device having a groove, a torsion coil spring is wound around a connecting portion between the lower fulcrum and the slide member, and the movable nose is resilient by the torsion coil spring. Is always urged in the upright direction.

With this configuration, the upper fulcrum of the movable nose is pressed against the wall surface of the guide groove by the resilient force of the torsion coil spring, so that rattle noise caused by external vibration can be suppressed. Further, even when the opening angle of the movable nose is set to a large value, a sharp drop when the movable nose is opened is prevented by the torsion coil spring, and the force required to raise the movable nose in the open state is increased. Since the movable nose can be smoothly rotated, the movable nose can be smoothly rotated.

The torsion coil spring only needs to be provided on at least one side surface of the movable nose. When the torsion coil spring is wound around the connecting portions of the lower fulcrum and the slide member, the left and right torsion springs are provided. The balance is favorable. In this case, when an elastic force is applied to one of the two torsion coil springs in the direction in which the winding portion extends in the axial direction, the play of the movable nose in the left-right direction can be suppressed, which is more effective. Therefore, rattle noise can be suppressed.

[0012]

Embodiments will be described with reference to the drawings.
FIG. 1 is a side view of a front panel device according to an embodiment, FIG. 2 is a plan view showing a driving mechanism of a slide member, FIG. 3 is an exploded perspective view showing a main part of the front panel device, and FIG. FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view taken along line AA of FIG.
FIG. 6 is a sectional view taken along line BB of FIG.

As shown in FIG. 1, a front panel 2 is attached to the front of a chassis 1 of a car audio device, and the chassis 1 and the front panel 2 constitute a main unit. A first insertion slot 3 and a second insertion slot 4 are provided on the front panel 2 in two steps, and the first insertion slot 3 is an opening for inserting and ejecting a CD, for example.
The first insertion port 4 is an opening for inserting and discharging a tape cassette, for example. A movable nose 5 is arranged in a recess of the front panel 2 and has first and second insertion ports 3 and 4.
Is opened and closed by a rotating operation of the movable nose 5. As shown in FIG. 3, a liquid crystal display 6 is provided on the surface of the movable nose 5.
A plurality of operation keys 7 including an open / close button 7a are provided, and a guide pin 8 as an upper fulcrum and a support shaft 9 as a lower fulcrum are provided on a side surface of the movable nose 5 at a predetermined interval in a vertical direction. It is protrudingly provided. The guide pin 8 and the support shaft 9 are provided on both left and right sides of the movable nose 5, respectively. Guide grooves 10 extending in the vertical direction are provided on both left and right inner side walls of the front panel 2, and guide pins 8 are provided.
Is movably engaged with the guide groove 10.

As shown in FIG. 2, a slide member 11 is mounted on the chassis 1, and the slide member 11 can be moved in the front-rear direction of the chassis 1 by using a motor 12 as a drive source. That is, the worm gear 13 attached to the rotating shaft of the motor 12 meshes with a part of the gear train 14,
The other part of the gear train 14 meshes with a rack 11 a provided on the slide member 11. The motor 12 is a bracket 15
As shown in FIG. 5, the bracket 15 includes a pair of studs 1 erected on the bottom surface of the chassis 1.
6 is fixed using screws 17. This stud 1
6, a metal roller 18, a resin washer 19 having excellent lubricity, a bending washer 20 formed into a circular bowl shape, and a synthetic resin spacer 21 are inserted in this order from the bottom. Slot 1 drilled in
1b. As described above, since the structure in which the resin washer 19 and the bending washer 20 are interposed between the slide member 11 and the spacer 21 without directly contacting the slide member 11 and the spacer 21 is adopted, the slide member 11 caused by external vibration is used. Vertical play can be absorbed by the bending washer 20, and the sliding property of the sliding member 11 can be enhanced by the resin washer 19 having excellent lubricity. As shown in FIG. 6, a leaf spring 22 is riveted to the back surface of the slide member 11, and the leaf spring 22 is elastically brought into contact with the surface of the chassis 1 to thereby establish a conductive state between the chassis 1 and the slide member 11. Is to be maintained. The leaf spring 22 also has a function of absorbing the vertical play of the slide member 11. A coil spring 23 is stretched between the rear end of the chassis 1 and the rear end of the slide member 11. The coil spring 23 absorbs back and forth play of the slide member 11 and
1 has a function of supplementing the driving force of the motor 12 for retracting the motor 1.

Returning to FIGS. 1 and 3, a pair of arms 11c projecting obliquely upward is formed at the tip of the slide member 11, and a screw 24 is attached to the two support shafts 9 from outside the arms 11c.
The movable nose 5 and the slide member 1
1 is rotatably connected with both support shafts 9 as pivot points. A first torsion coil spring 25 is interposed between the left arm portion 11c and the left side surface of the movable nose 5, and both ends of the first torsion coil spring 25 are hooked to the movable nose 5 and the slide member 11, so that the first The torsion coil spring 25 biases the movable nose 5 in the upright direction. First torsion coil spring 2
The winding part 25 a of 5 is tightly wound and is positioned by being inserted into the support shaft 9. A second torsion coil spring 26 is interposed between the right arm 11c and the right side surface of the movable nose 5, and both ends thereof are hooked to the movable nose 5 and the slide member 11, respectively. The second torsion coil spring 26 also urges the movable nose 5 to turn in the upright direction. As shown in FIG. 4, the winding portion 26a of the second torsion coil spring 26 is loosely wound under no load, and the winding portion 26a is inserted into the support shaft 9 to move the movable nose 5
By compressing between the arm part 11c and the second torsion coil spring 26, a resilient force in a direction extending in the axial direction of the winding part 26a is also applied to the second torsion coil spring 26. Since the movable nose 5 is constantly elastically urged leftward by the resilient force of the winding portion 26a in the axial direction, play in the left and right directions of the movable nose 5 caused by vibration from the outside is absorbed, and Noise can be suppressed.

In the front panel device thus constructed, when the movable nose 5 is in the upright position shown by the solid line in FIG. 1, the first and second insertion openings 3 and 4 opened in the front panel 2 are movable. The slide member 11 is in the retracted position, which is covered by the nose 5. When the open / close button 7a is pressed while the movable nose 5 is in the upright state, the motor 12 rotates forward and its rotational force is reduced.
3 is transmitted to the rack 11a via the gear train 14, and the slide member 11 starts moving from the retracted position to the advanced position. When the slide member 11 moves forward, a pair of support shafts 9 provided on both lower side surfaces of the movable nose 5
1, the pair of guide pins 8 provided on both upper side surfaces of the movable nose 5 move from the upper end to the lower end along the guide groove 10.
The lower nose protrudes toward the front while rotating about the pivot fulcrum, and the movable nose 5 is in an open state indicated by a two-dot chain line in FIG. Since the opening angles of both ends of the first and second torsion coil springs 25 and 26 are narrowed with the turning operation of the movable nose 5, the guide pin 8 moves slowly in the guide groove 10 by the reaction force. It is possible to prevent the movable nose 5 from falling down and suddenly falling due to its own weight immediately before the fully opened state. When the movable nose 5 is fully opened, the first and second insertion ports 3 and 4 are exposed, so that a medium such as a CD or a tape cassette can be inserted and ejected from these insertion ports 3 and 4. .

When the open / close button 7a is pressed while the movable nose 5 is open, the motor 1
2 is reversed, and the reverse operation is performed. That is, when the slide member 11 starts moving from the advanced position to the retracted position, and the guide pin 8 moves from the lower end to the upper end of the guide groove 10 in accordance with the movement, the movable nose 5 moves as shown in FIG.
It returns to the standing state indicated by the solid line. At that time, the slide member 1
1 requires a large force to raise the movable nose 5 in the fully opened state, but the reaction force of the sufficiently bent first and second torsion coil springs 25 and 26 raises the movable nose 5. The movable nose 5 rotates in the upright direction because the first and second torsion coil springs 25,
Supplemented by 26. Moreover, in the present embodiment, since the coil spring 23 is stretched between the rear end of the chassis 1 and the rear end of the slide member 11, the coil spring 23 promotes the force for retracting the slide member 11, The movable nose 5 can be smoothly rotated in the upright direction.

It is also possible to provide a tilt function for setting the movable nose 5 to a free open angle between the standing position and the fully open position. In this case, the movable nose 5 is opened obliquely at a predetermined tilt angle. Even if vibration is applied from the outside during the operation, the guide pin 8 is pressed against the wall surface of the guide groove 10 by the elastic force of the first and second torsion coil springs 25 and 26, Rattle noise caused by the vibration of the vehicle can be suppressed.

[0019]

The present invention is embodied in the form described above and has the following effects.

A torsion coil spring is wound around a connecting portion between a slide member that reciprocates in the front-rear direction and a lower fulcrum provided on a side surface of the movable nose, and the movable nose is resilient by the elastic force of the torsion coil spring. Is always urged in the upright direction, the upper fulcrum of the movable nose is pressed against the wall of the guide groove by the elastic force of the torsion coil spring, thereby suppressing rattle noise caused by external vibration. be able to. Further, even when the opening angle of the movable nose is set to a large value, a sharp drop when the movable nose is opened is prevented by the torsion coil spring, and the force required to raise the movable nose in the open state is increased. Since the movable nose can be smoothly rotated, the movable nose can be smoothly rotated.

It is preferable that the torsion coil springs are wound around the connecting portions of the lower supporting points and the slide member, so that the right and left balance can be obtained. Further, any one of the two torsion coil springs can be used. When the resilient force in the direction in which the winding portion extends in the axial direction is applied to the movable nose, the play of the movable nose in the left-right direction can be suppressed, and the rattle noise can be more effectively suppressed.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a side view of a front panel device according to an embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a plan view showing a drive mechanism of a slide member.

FIG. 3 is an exploded perspective view showing a main part of the front panel device.

FIG. 4 is a side view of a second torsion coil spring.

FIG. 5 is a sectional view taken along line AA of FIG. 2;

FIG. 6 is a sectional view taken along the line BB of FIG. 2;

[Explanation of symbols]

 Reference Signs List 1 chassis 2 front panel 3 first insertion opening 4 second insertion opening 5 movable nose 8 guide pin (upper fulcrum) 9 support shaft (lower fulcrum) 10 guide groove 11 slide member 12 motor 25 first torsion coil Spring 25a winding part 26 second torsion coil spring 26a winding part

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page F term (reference) GA28 GB13 GB14

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A movable nose disposed on a front surface of a main body device, a slide member rotatably connected to a pair of lower fulcrums provided on both side surfaces of the movable nose, and the slide member being connected to the main body device. A front panel device of an in-vehicle device, comprising: a driving unit that reciprocates in a front-rear direction; and a guide groove that guides a pair of upper fulcrums provided on both side surfaces of the movable nose in a vertical direction of the main device. A torsion coil spring is wound around a connecting portion between the lower fulcrum and the slide member, and the movable nose is constantly urged in a rising direction by the elastic force of the torsion coil spring. Front panel device for equipment. 2. The front panel device for an in-vehicle device according to claim 1, wherein the torsion coil spring is wound around each connecting portion between the lower fulcrum and the slide member. 3. The on-vehicle device according to claim 2, wherein one of the two torsion coil springs is provided with an elastic force in a direction in which the winding portion extends in the axial direction. Front panel equipment.