JP2003021161A - Flexible coupling - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a flexible coupling that reduces manufacturing cost and has stable torsion spring characteristic and durability. SOLUTION: Bobbins 3 and 4 comprise a first collar 11 having collar parts 112 and 112 at axial both ends and a pair of second collars 12 that are forced into the inner periphery of the first collar from the axial both ends and have collar parts 122 facing to the collar parts 112 of the first collar 11 at the end on the non-press-fit side. A first connection band 5 is wound on the first collar 11, and a second connection band 6 is wound between mutually facing collar parts 112 and 122 of the first collar 11 and the second collars 12. Bending parts 123 between inner peripheral cylindrical parts 121 of the second collars 12 and the collar parts 122 project from the collar parts 122 to the outside in the axial direction.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention elastically connects the shaft ends of a drive-side rotating shaft and a driven-side rotating shaft to transmit rotational torque and absorb axial vibration and bending between both shafts. A flexible coupling, in particular, a structure in which a bobbin provided on a connector with a drive-side rotating shaft and a bobbin provided on a connector with a driven-side rotating shaft are connected via a loop-shaped connecting band. With regard to.

FIG. 4 is a sectional view showing a conventional flexible coupling taken along a plane orthogonal to its axis, and FIG. 5 is a sectional view taken along line VV in FIG. In the flexible coupling shown in this figure, a plurality of drive-side connectors 11 and driven-side connectors 12 of the same number are alternately arranged in the circumferential direction, and the drive-side connectors 11 adjacent in the circumferential direction are arranged.
A connecting band 105 made of a polyester wire or the like having appropriate tensile elasticity, which is formed by winding a bobbin 103, 104 having outer circumferences thereof and a driven-side connector 12 respectively attached thereto in a loop shape.
An annular elastic body 107 made of rubber or the like for connecting the bobbins 103, 104 and the connecting bands 105, 106 with each other.
It is one that is embedded and integrated in.

As shown in FIG. 5, each of the bobbins 103 and 104 comprises a sleeve 108 and a pair of collars 109 having a substantially U-shaped cross section, which are press-fitted and fixed to the outer peripheral surface thereof at a predetermined axial distance. The connecting band 105 is the sleeve 108 of the bobbin 103 attached to the drive side connector 11.
The part between the collars 109, 109 on the outer peripheral surface of
Sleeve 1 of bobbin 104 mounted on driven-side connector 12
09 is wound around a portion between the collars 109, 109 on the outer peripheral surface of the 09, and is adjacent to the connecting band 106 in the circumferential direction.
Are wound around the collars 109 and 109 of the bobbin 103 mounted on the drive-side connector 11 and the collars 109 and 109 of the bobbin 104 mounted on the driven-side connector 12, respectively. That is, the driving-side connectors 11 and the driven-side connectors 12, which are alternately arranged at equal intervals in the circumferential direction, are connected to each other by one bundle of connecting bands 105 and two bundles of connecting bands 106, 106. The directions are alternately connected.

In this flexible coupling, the drive side connector 11 is attached to the yoke at the shaft end of the drive side rotating shaft by bolts (not shown) arranged at equal intervals in the circumferential direction, while the driven side connector 12 is attached. It is attached to the yoke at the shaft end of the driven side rotating shaft by bolts (not shown) arranged at equal intervals in the circumferential direction, thereby transmitting the rotational torque of the driving side rotating shaft to the driven side rotating shaft and at the same time Due to the deformation characteristics of 105 and 106 and the annular elastic body 107, rotation transmission is allowed in a connected state (twisted state) in which the directions of the drive-side rotation shaft and the driven-side rotation shaft are different from each other, and between the two shafts. It absorbs the transmitted vibration.

[0005]

FIG. 6 shows a symbol VI in FIG.
It is sectional drawing which expanded the part shown by. That is, in the above-described conventional flexible coupling, the bobbin 103, 104 is a sleeve 108 in which the steel pipe is drawn and the inner peripheral portions of both end surfaces are chamfered 108a by cutting.
It is manufactured by press-fitting a collar 109 formed by press-forming a steel plate on the outer peripheral surface of. The chamfer 108a is provided on the outer circumference of the drive-side connector 11 or the driven-side connector 12 by the sleeve 1
It is formed to facilitate press-fitting of 08.
However, the bobbins 103, 104 produced in this way
Has a problem in that the manufacturing cost becomes high because the steel pipe needs to be drawn out and chamfered by cutting the inner peripheral portions of both end surfaces of the steel pipe.

Further, in the above conventional technique, the bobbin 1
03 and 104 are connected to the outer circumference of the sleeve 108 by the connecting band 10.
Two collars 1 each separated by 5 winding spaces
09, and both ends of the sleeve 108 in the axial direction are projected from the collars 109, 109 so that the required covering thickness due to the portions 107a of the annular elastic body 107 on both sides of the bobbin 103, 104 in the axial direction. Since it is necessary to secure the height, each collar 109 has a small axial width W ₀ .

Further, the collar 109 includes a pair of collar portions 109.
It has a U-shaped cross section having a and 109b,
By press molding from a flat plate, such axial width W ₀
Since it is difficult to form a U-shaped cross-section having a small size, variations in the plate thicknesses t ₁ and t ₂ and the outer diameter dimensions d ₁ and d ₂ of the collar portions 109a and 109b are likely to occur, and the connecting band 10
Difficult winding of 5,106 becomes difficult. as a result,
There is a problem that variations in torsion spring characteristics and durability due to the connecting bands 105 and 106 become large.

The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and its main technical problem is to reduce the manufacturing cost and to provide a flexible torsion spring having stable characteristics and durability. To provide the coupling.

[0009]

As a means for effectively solving the above-mentioned technical problems, a flexible coupling according to the invention of claim 1 comprises a plurality of driving means arranged alternately at predetermined intervals in the circumferential direction. A side bobbin and a driven bobbin, a first connecting band wound in a loop over the drive side bobbin and the driven bobbin adjacent to each other in the circumferential direction, and each of the first adjacent to each other in the circumferential direction. A second connecting band wound in a loop shape across the drive-side bobbin and the driven-side bobbin adjacent to each other in the circumferential direction between the connecting bands, the driving-side bobbin, the driven-side bobbin, and the first and second A ring-shaped elastic body that is formed by embedding a connecting band and is continuous in the circumferential direction, and each of the bobbins has a first collar having flange portions at both axial ends, and an inner circumference of the first collar from both axial sides. It is press-fitted and faces the collar portion of the first collar at the end portion on the non-press-fitting side. A pair of second collars each having a portion, the first connecting band is wound around the first collar, and the second connecting band is wound between the flange portions of the first collar and the second collar that face each other. Can be hung.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the flexible coupling according to the first aspect, the bent portion between the inner peripheral cylindrical portion of the second collar and the collar portion is more axial than the collar portion. Protruding outward in the direction.

[0011]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Preferred embodiments of the flexible coupling according to the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS. FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view showing the flexible coupling according to the present embodiment cut along a plane orthogonal to its axis, and FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line AA or BB in FIG. In the following description, the “circumferential direction” is the direction of the circumference centered on the axis of the flexible coupling.

The flexible coupling of this embodiment has a structure as shown in FIG. That is, in FIG. 1, reference numeral 1 is a cylindrical drive-side connector in which three drive-side bobbins 3 are attached to each outer periphery, and three reference-value 1 are arranged at 120 ° intervals in the circumferential direction. Drive side connector 1,
6 at each intermediate position between 1 and the drive side connector 1.
It is a cylindrical driven-side connector in which three driven-side bobbin windings 4 are mounted on each of the outer circumferences, with three arranged at 120 ° intervals in the circumferential direction with phases different from each other by 0 °. Reference numerals 5 and 6 are first and second connecting bands that are alternately arranged in the circumferential direction. The drive-side bobbin 3 (driving-side connector 1) and the driven-side bobbin 4 (driven-side connection) are circumferentially adjacent to each other. Child 2) is connected to each other. Reference number 7
Is an annular elastic body that is continuous in the circumferential direction and is vulcanized and molded by an elastomer material such as rubber in a state in which the bobbins 3 and 4 and the coupling bands 5 and 6 are embedded.

The drive-side connector 1 and the driven-side connector 2 are made of a cylindrical metal member, and are arranged so that their axes are parallel to the axes of the flexible coupling. The drive side bobbin 3 and the driven side bobbin 4 are shown in FIG.
As shown in FIG. 1, a first collar 11 having a substantially U-shaped cross section taken along a plane passing through the axis, and the first collar 11
An inner peripheral cylindrical portion 121 is press-fitted into the inner periphery of the shaft from both sides in the axial direction, and includes a pair of second collars 12 and 12 having a substantially L-shaped cross section cut along a plane passing through the shaft center.

More specifically, the driving side bobbin 3 and the driven side bobbin 4
The first and second collars 11 and 12 are each manufactured by press-forming a steel plate. Among them, the first collar 11 includes the inner cylindrical portion 111 and the axially outer ends thereof. It has a pair of collar portions 112, 112 that are expanded to. The second collars 12 and 12 each include an inner peripheral tubular portion 121 and a flange portion 122 that extends from the end that is the non-press-fit side of the inner peripheral tubular portion 121 to the outer peripheral side.
The inner peripheral cylindrical portion 121 of the second collars 12 and 12 is press-fitted into the inner peripheral cylindrical portion 111 of the first collar 11 from both sides in the axial direction, and the tip portions 121a and 121a of the second collars 12 and 12 of the first collar 11 respectively. The inner peripheral cylindrical portion 111 abuts or closely faces each other on the inner periphery of the central portion in the axial direction.

The second collar 12 has a collar portion 122.
Is retracted axially inward (on the side of the first collar 11) with respect to the outer end of the inner cylindrical portion 121, in other words, the collar 12
The bent portion 123 between the inner peripheral tubular portion 121 and the inner peripheral tubular portion 121 is the collar portion 1.
22 is projected outward in the axial direction. As a result, a required covering thickness is secured by the part 71 of the annular elastic body 7 that covers the outside of the collar portion 122 in the axial direction, in other words, both sides of the drive side bobbin 3 and the driven side bobbin 4 in the axial direction.

Collar portions 112, 11 of the first collar 11
2 are opposed to each other with an axial width W _1, and between the collar portions 112, 112, in other words, the outer circumference of the inner peripheral tubular portion 121 of the first collar 11 is the same as the winding portion of the first connecting band 5. Has become. In addition, the collar portion 122 of each second collar 12
Is opposed to the collar portion 112 of the first collar 11 with an axial width W ₂ corresponding to approximately 1/2 of the axial opposing width W ₁ of the collar portions 112, 112 of the first collar 11, Between the collar portions 122 and 112, in other words, the first collar 1 of the inner peripheral tubular portion 121 of each second collar 12.
The outer periphery of the portion projecting from 1 serves as a winding portion of the second connecting band 6.

The first connecting belts 5 are arranged in a bundle at three positions in the circumferential direction at a phase interval of 120 °, and the first collar 11 in the driven-side bobbin 4 and the driven-side bobbin 4 are arranged in the circumferential direction. It is wound in a loop over the first collar 11 of the adjacent drive side bobbin 3. The second connecting belts 6 are arranged at three positions in the circumferential direction, with two bundles each on a phase different from the first connecting belt 5 by 60 °, and the collar portions 1 of the drive-side bobbin 3 are respectively arranged.
12 and 122, and between the collar portions 112 and 122 of the driven-side bobbin 4 circumferentially adjacent to the driving-side bobbin 3 are wound in a loop shape. That is, the drive-side connectors 1 and the driven-side connectors 2 are alternately arranged in the circumferential direction at a phase interval of 60 °, and a bundle of first wires wound around the drive-side and driven-side bobbins 3 and 4 is wound. The one connection band 5 and the two bundles of the second connection bands 6 and 6 are connected alternately in the circumferential direction.

The first and second connecting belts 5 and 6 are wire rods 51 and 6 made of a polymer material having a required tensile elasticity such as polyester, nylon or Kevlar (trademark).
1 is wound in multiple layers. Then, as described above, the width W ₂ of the winding portion of the second connecting belt 6 between the collar portions 122 and 112 is equal to the width W ₁ of the winding portion of the first connecting belt 5 by the first collar 11. The cross-sectional area of the first connecting band 5 (the number of turns of the wire rod 51) and the cross-sectional area of the second connecting bands 6 and 6 on the both sides in the axial direction (the number of turns of the wire rod 61) are approximately 1/2.
The sum of is almost equal to each other.

The annular elastic body 7 is formed of an elastomeric material such as rubber so as to wrap around the drive-side bobbin 3 and the driven-side bobbin 4 and the first and second connecting bands 5 and 6 extending therebetween. A window 7a is formed in the middle of each driving-side bobbin 3 and each driven-side bobbin 4. The window portion 7a is for preventing the annular elastic body 7 between them from being cracked due to compression due to the relative displacement of the drive side bobbin 3 and the driven side bobbin 4 due to the twisting input to the flexible coupling. is there.

The flexible coupling according to the above-mentioned embodiment is similar to that according to the prior art, and each drive side connector 1 is provided.
Are attached to the yoke at the shaft end of the drive side rotary shaft at intervals of 120 ° in the circumferential direction by bolts (not shown) inserted in each of them, while bolts (not shown) inserted in each driven side connector 2 respectively. Attached to the yoke at the shaft end of the driven side rotation shaft facing the shaft end of the drive side rotation shaft at intervals of 120 ° in the circumferential direction. As a result, the rotation of the drive-side rotary shaft is transmitted to the driven-side rotary shaft via the first and second connecting bands 5 and 6, and the first and second connecting bands 5 and 6 are also transmitted.
The deformation characteristics of the annular elastic body 7 allow rotation transmission in a twisted state in which the directions of the drive-side rotation shaft and the driven-side rotation shaft are different from each other, and absorb the transmission vibration between the both shafts.

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view showing the driving side bobbin 3 or the driven side bobbin 4 and the second collar 12 separated and cut along a plane passing through the axis. The drive side bobbin 3 and the driven side bobbin 4 are, as shown in the figure, a pair of second collars 12, which are arranged symmetrically to each other on both sides in the axial direction, on the inner peripheral surface of the inner peripheral tubular portion 111 of the first collar 11. 12 inner peripheral cylindrical portion 121,
The 121 is assembled by press-fitting the tip portions 121a, 121a so that they abut or closely face each other at the inner periphery of the axial center portion of the inner cylindrical portion 111 of the first collar 11.

At the time of press-molding the first collar 11, the bent portion 113 between the inner peripheral cylindrical portion 111 and the collar portion 112 is formed into an R surface shape, and this surface is the inner surface of the second collar 12, 12. It serves as a guide when press-fitting the tip 121a of the peripheral tubular portion 121. Therefore, the second collars 12 and 12 can be easily press-fitted.

The first collar 11 is formed by pressing a steel plate into an annular shape having a U-shaped cross section.
Since it forms the winding portion of the first connecting belt 5 in which the number of windings of the wire is large and the mounting width thereof is large, the axial width thereof is sufficient as compared with the mounting width W ₂ of the second connecting belt 6. In other words, the width in the axial direction is sufficiently larger than that of the collar 109 used in the conventional technique shown in FIG. It is possible to suppress variations in the plate thickness and outer diameter of the portion 112. For this reason, it is possible to closely wind the first connecting band 5.

Further, since the second collar 12 forming the winding portion of the second connecting band 6 has a substantially L-shaped cross section having the flange portion 122 only on one side in the axial direction, press forming from a steel plate is possible. It's easy. Therefore, this second collar 12
Also, since the variation in the plate thickness and the outer diameter dimension of the collar portion 122 is reduced, the second connection band 6 can be closely wound.
Moreover, during press molding of the second collar 12, the bent portion 123 between the inner peripheral tubular portion 121 and the collar portion 122 is formed into an R surface shape, so that this surface is the drive side connector 1 or the driven side connection. It becomes a portion corresponding to a chamfered portion for facilitating press-fitting of the child 2. Therefore, the second collar 12 does not need to be separately chamfered.

[0025]

According to the flexible coupling of the first aspect of the present invention, the first collar located at the axial center of each bobbin has a shape having flanges at both ends in the axial direction, and is positioned on both sides in the axial direction. By forming the pair of second collars having a collar portion at the end portion on the outer side in the axial direction, it becomes easy to manufacture the first collar and the second collar by press molding of a metal plate, and the drive side connector. Alternatively, the chamfering process by cutting the second collar for facilitating press-fitting into the driven-side connector is not necessary, so that the cost can be reduced.
Moreover, since the manufacturing is easy, the dimensional variation can be suppressed, so that the coupling band can be closely wound, and as a result, the variation in the torsion spring characteristics and durability due to the coupling band can be suppressed and the performance can be improved. Can be stabilized.

According to the flexible coupling of the second aspect of the present invention, since the bent portion between the inner peripheral cylindrical portion of the second collar and the flange portion projects outward in the axial direction from the flange portion, The covering thickness at both axial ends of the annular elastic body that covers the outside of the collar portion in the axial direction is ensured.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view showing a preferred embodiment of a flexible coupling according to the present invention, taken along a plane orthogonal to its axis.

FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken along line AA or BB in FIG.

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view showing a first collar and a second collar in a drive side spool or a driven side spool of the flexible coupling of the present embodiment, which is separated and cut along a plane passing through an axis.

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view of a conventional flexible coupling taken along a plane orthogonal to its axis.

5 is a sectional view taken along line VV in FIG.

FIG. 6 is an enlarged cross-sectional view of a portion indicated by reference numeral VI in FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 Drive side connector 2 Driven side connector 3 Drive side bobbin 4 Driven bobbin 5 First connection zone 6 second connection belt 7 annular elastic body 11 first color 111, 121 inner cylindrical portion 112,122 Tsuba 113,123 Bent part 12 Second color

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A plurality of drive-side bobbins (3) and driven-side bobbins (4) alternately arranged at predetermined intervals in the circumferential direction, and the driving-side bobbin (3) and the driven-side bobbin that are circumferentially adjacent to each other. (4)
First connection belt (5) wound in a loop over the
And a loop-shaped winding that spans between the drive-side bobbin (3) and the driven-side bobbin (4) that are circumferentially adjacent to each other between the first connecting bands (5) that are circumferentially adjacent to each other. The second connecting band (6), the driving-side bobbin (3), the driven-side bobbin (4), and the first and second connecting bands (5, 6) are embedded and formed in an annular shape that is continuous in the circumferential direction. A first collar (11) having an elastic body (7), each of the bobbins (3, 4) having flanges (112, 112) at both axial ends; and the first collar (11).
A pair of second collars (12) that are press-fitted into the inner periphery of the shaft from both sides in the axial direction and that have a flange (122) facing the flange (112) of the first collar (11) at the end on the non-press-fitting side. The first connecting band (5) is wound around the first collar (11), and the flange portions (112, 1) of the first collar (11) and the second collar (12) facing each other are formed.
22) A flexible coupling, characterized in that the second connecting band (6) is wound between the two. 2. The inner cylindrical portion (12) of the second collar (12)
The flexible coupling according to claim 1, wherein a bent portion (123) between the collar portion (122) and the collar portion (122) protrudes outward in the axial direction from the collar portion (122).