JP2006292099A - Shift lever device - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a shift lever device improving defective engagement of a worm wheel and a worm gear and operation feeling of a shift lever, and stabilizing operation torque in reversing. <P>SOLUTION: This shift lever device 1 comprising: the shift lever 20 rotatably supported by a base member 10; the worm wheel 50 held on the shift lever 20, and an assist force applying means 40 comprising the worm gear 42 engaged with a gear portion 51 of the worm wheel 50 and adding the assist force to the shift lever 20 through the worm gear 42. The worm wheel 50 is vertically movable to the base member 10, and is retainably urged toward the worm gear 42. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a shift lever device that reduces the burden of a range selection operation by applying an assist force (support force) to a manual operation force of a shift lever that switches a range position of an automatic transmission of an automobile.

FIG. 8 shows an automatic transmission for a vehicle disclosed in Patent Document 1. The vehicle automatic transmission includes a shift lever 120 that manually switches the position of the automatic transmission, torque detection means that detects a switching operation force of the shift lever 120, and a support force for the manual operation force of the shift lever 120. And an assist force applying means 140 for switching to a desired position by transmitting to the automatic transmission via the transmitting means, and a lever of the shift lever 120 on the input shaft 131a of the rotating shaft 131 of the torque detecting means. The base is attached, the output gear 143 of the assist force applying means 140 is attached to the output shaft of the rotating shaft 131 of the torque detecting means, and the rotating shaft of the shift lever 120, the rotating shaft 131 of the torque detecting means, and the rotation of the assist force applying means 140 are rotated. By arranging the shaft in a straight line, the number of parts can be reduced and the entire device can be made smaller and lighter. You have me.
JP 2004-203088 A

  However, in the structure shown in FIG. 8, since the worm wheel 143 of the shift lever 120 and the worm 142 of the assist force applying means 140 are directly linked, the worm wheel and the worm are caused by the gap of the shift lever fulcrum portion with respect to the lever base. When the shift lever 120 is operated by backlash or other backlash, the operation feeling deteriorates and the engagement between the worm wheel and the worm gear teeth occurs. There is a problem that the operating torque becomes large at the time of reverse shift due to the pressing between the two surfaces.

  Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a shift lever device that can improve the poor meshing between the worm wheel and the worm gear, the operation feeling of the shift lever, and stabilize the operating torque at the time of reversal.

  The shift lever device according to claim 1 comprises a shift lever rotatably supported by the base member, a worm wheel held by the shift lever, and a worm gear meshing with a gear portion of the worm wheel, A shift lever device comprising an assist force applying means for adding an assist force to the shift lever via a worm gear, wherein the worm wheel is movable in a vertical direction with respect to a base member. It is characterized by being biased and held toward the worm gear.

  According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the shift lever device according to the first aspect, the worm wheel has the fan-shaped gear portion on one end side and a rectangular slide portion on the other end side, and the worm wheel A wheel box having a slide accommodating portion that slidably accommodates the slide portion of the wheel is formed integrally with the shift lever, and is formed between a bottom portion of the slide accommodating portion and an end portion of the slide portion of the worm wheel. An elastic member held between the worm wheel and the worm wheel is biased and held toward the worm gear by a repulsive force.

  According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the shift lever device according to the second aspect, a rotating shaft that supports the shift lever on the base member has a substantially oval cross section, and the worm wheel has a cross section of the rotating shaft. The worm wheel is provided with a substantially oval-shaped hole through which the substantially oval-shaped portion penetrates, the interval between the two width portions forming the approximately oval shape of the rotating shaft is the same, and the vertical width is large. Is engaged with the rotation shaft in the rotation direction, rotates integrally, and is movable in the vertical direction.

  The invention according to claim 4 is the shift lever device according to claim 1, wherein the worm wheel has a fan-shaped gear portion on one end side and an arcuate outer peripheral sliding portion having elasticity on the other end side. The base member has an arc-shaped inner peripheral sliding portion having a curvature similar to that of the arc-shaped outer peripheral sliding portion, and the outer peripheral sliding portion is elastic in the inner peripheral sliding portion. The worm wheel is supported between the base member and the worm gear so as to be in contact with each other, and the worm wheel is biased and held toward the worm gear by the repulsive force of the outer peripheral sliding portion.

  A fifth aspect of the present invention is the shift lever device according to any one of the first to fourth aspects, wherein the worm gear is a shaft of the worm wheel and the worm gear by urging means provided on the base member. It is characterized by being biased in the direction.

  According to the present invention, the worm wheel can move in the vertical direction with respect to the base member, and the worm wheel is biased and held toward the worm gear, thereby eliminating the poor meshing between the worm wheel and the worm gear. As a result, the transmission efficiency of the operating torque can be improved, and by eliminating backlash, the generation of abnormal noise due to backlash is eliminated, the shift lever is free of backlash, and the operation feeling of the shift lever is improved and the operation at the time of reversal is also achieved. Torque can be stabilized.

  Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the illustrated embodiments. FIG. 1A is a front cross-sectional view showing the entire first embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 1B is a main cross-sectional view taken along the line AA of FIG. 1A, and FIG. It is.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the shift lever device 1 of this embodiment includes a shift lever 20 that is rotatably supported on a base member 10 by a rotating shaft 11, an actuator 40 as assisting force applying means, and a check mechanism 60. A potentiometer 70 for detecting the position of the shift lever 20 is attached.

  The shift lever 20 is rotated to switch the range position of an automatic transmission (not shown), and the output lever 12 provided at the end of the rotating shaft 11 is turned by the rotation operation to the shift lever 20. To the automatic transmission and move to each position of P (parking range), R (reverse range), N (neutral range), D (drive range), 2 (second range), and L (low range). It is like that.

  The shift lever 20 includes a shift rod (not shown) to which an operation knob is attached at the upper end, a cylindrical lever main body 23 into which the shift rod is inserted, and a U-shaped lever base 24 provided at the lower end of the lever main body 23. It has. The shift lever 20 is provided with a worm wheel 50 to which an assist force from the actuator 40 is input via a lever base 24 and a wheel box 30 fixed to the lever base 24. The lever base 24 is installed so that the bush 16 protrudes toward the base member 10 and is sandwiched between the base member 10 and the lever base 24 with the shift lever 20 assembled to the base member 10. Has been.

  The wheel box 30 is integrally fixed to the lever base 24 by two fixing screws 13. The wheel box 30 has a box shape and is provided with a slide accommodating portion 31 that opens downward and accommodates the slide portion 52 of the worm wheel 50 so as to be slidable in the vertical direction. Both side wall portions 30a and 30b of the wheel box 30 are provided with substantially oval shaped holes 32a and 32b having the same shape as the rotating shaft so that the approximately oval shaped rotating shaft 11 having a two-sided width penetrates. It has been. Further, the through bolt 14 passes through the collar 15 disposed at the lower end of the slide housing 31 in the hole 32 c provided in the wheel box 30, and the worm wheel 50 together with the through portion of the rotating shaft 11 is inserted into the slide housing. It guide | induces so that it may slide up and down smoothly, without biting in 31.

  The worm wheel 50 includes a fan-shaped gear portion 51 on one end side located below and a rectangular slide portion 52 located on the other end side located above, and the slide portion 52 is placed in the slide accommodating portion 31 of the wheel box 30. It is slidably accommodated in the vertical direction. Further, the worm wheel 50 is provided with a substantially oval hole 53 having a two-sided width for allowing the rotary shaft 11 to pass therethrough and a hole 54 through which the collar 15 passes. Both of the holes 53 and 54 are formed as long holes along the upper and lower sliding directions so that the rotating shaft 11 and the collar 15 do not interfere with the sliding when the worm wheel 50 slides in the slide accommodating portion 31. In particular, the vertical dimension of the hole 53 is larger than the vertical dimension of the rotary shaft.

  A winding spring 33 as an elastic member is sandwiched between the bottom portion of the slide accommodating portion 31 of the wheel box 30 and the upper end portion of the slide portion 52 of the worm wheel 50. A spring accommodating portion 34 is formed at the bottom of the slide accommodating portion 31, and a spring locking portion 55 is provided at the upper end portion of the worm wheel 50, and one end side of the winding spring 33 is accommodated in the spring accommodating portion 34. However, the other end side of the winding spring 33 is locked by the spring locking portion 55, and the winding spring 33 is held between them. The worm wheel 50 is biased and held toward the worm gear 42 by the repulsive force of the winding spring 33. Further, a plurality of protrusions 52 a are provided on the upper end portion of the slide portion 52, and the slide amount is defined by abutting against the bottom surface of the slide housing portion 31 when the worm wheel 50 slides upward.

  The actuator 40 is attached to the base member 10. The actuator 40 includes an electric motor 41 and a worm gear 42 fixed to the output shaft 43 of the electric motor 41. The worm gear 42 of the actuator 40 meshes with the gear portion 51 of the worm wheel 50, and is connected so that the worm wheel 50 swings when the electric motor 41 is driven. Further, the distal end portion of the output shaft 43 is rotatably supported by a bearing portion 17 provided on the base member 10. That is, the output shaft 43 has one end supported by the base member 10 by the electric motor 41 and the other end supported by the base member 10 by the bearing portion 17, thereby resisting the urging force of the winding spring 33. . Further, both end portions of the worm gear 42 are urged and held toward the worm wheel 50 by U-shaped springs 80 as urging means provided on the base member.

  Further, both end portions 80a, 80a of the U-shaped spring 80 are in contact with the worm gear, urging the worm gear to the neutral position, and the tip portions 80a, 80a are arranged so as to easily hold the output shaft. It is letter-shaped or semicircular.

  The rotating shaft 11 has a substantially oval cross-sectional shape having a two-sided width. The lever base 24 is provided with a substantially oval shaft hole 25 having the same shape as that of the rotary shaft 11, and the shaft hole 25 is engaged with a portion having a two-sided width. Rotate together. That is, the rotation shaft 11 supports the shift lever 20 on the base member 10 as the rotation center of the shift lever 20 and transmits the rotation operation of the shift lever 20 to the automatic transmission via the output lever 12.

  When assembling the shift lever device 1 of this embodiment, first, the winding spring 33 is disposed in the spring accommodating portion 34 of the wheel box 30. Then, with the collar 15 inserted into the hole 54 of the worm wheel 50, the slide portion 52 is accommodated in the slide accommodating portion 31, and the winding spring 33 is engaged with the spring engaging portion 55 to form a unit. Next, this unitized product is fixed to the lever base 24, and the rotating shaft 11 is inserted into the hole 53.

  In addition, although the potentiometer is not shown in figure, it is attached to the side in which the worm wheel and worm gear of the base member 10 are installed.

  The potentiometer and the check mechanism are also assembled in this embodiment, but will be described in detail in the second embodiment with reference to the drawings.

  With the configuration as described above, in this embodiment, the worm wheel 50 is biased and held toward the worm gear 42, thereby eliminating the poor meshing between the worm wheel and the worm gear, thereby improving the transmission efficiency of the operating torque. In addition to improving backlash, preventing abnormal noise due to backlash and eliminating the backlash of the shift lever 20 improves the operational feeling of the shift lever 20 and stabilizes the operating torque during reversal. be able to. In other words, the worm wheel 50 is biased and held by the worm gear 42, thereby eliminating the poor meshing between the worm wheel and the worm gear due to variations in the gap between the rotating shaft 11 of the shift lever 20 and the base member 10 due to tolerance. In addition, the transmission efficiency can be improved and the occurrence of backlash and sound can be reduced. That is, even if there is play between the rotating shaft 11 and the base member 10, the worm wheel 50 slides, so that the engagement between the worm wheel 50 and the worm gear 42 is maintained.

  Further, the U-shaped spring 80 urges the worm gear 42 in a direction to mesh with the worm wheel 50 and also urges it in the axial direction. Therefore, in the axial direction, the worm gear is urged toward the worm wheel similarly to the winding spring 33, and the same effect as the urging provided on the worm wheel is obtained. In particular, with respect to the axial bias, the operating torque increases when the electric motor 41 starts to operate due to the pressing between the meshing surfaces of the worm gear 42 and the worm wheel 50. Since the assist is performed in the direction in which the surfaces are separated, the operating torque at the time of reversal can be stabilized.

  Further, since the wheel box 30, the worm wheel 50, and the winding spring 33 are integrated into a unit and assembled to the lever base 24, the assembling workability is improved.

  When the shift lever itself moves upward, the wheel box and the base bracket come into contact with each other to prevent the worm wheel and the worm gear from being disengaged.

  Further, the bush 16 is installed so as to be sandwiched between the base member 10 and the lever base 24, thereby preventing the shift lever 20 from rattling in the lateral direction.

  In the present embodiment, the winding spring is used as means for urging the worm wheel, but a leaf spring may be used.

  Next, a second embodiment will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. FIG. 3 is a front sectional view showing the whole of the second embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 4 is a rear view of the second embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 5 is a sectional view of an essential part along line BB in FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line CC of FIG. 5, and FIG. 7 is a perspective view showing the worm wheel of the present embodiment. Note that the same members as those in the first embodiment are denoted by the same reference numerals, and detailed description thereof is omitted.

  As shown in FIG. 3, an arc-shaped inner peripheral sliding portion 18 having a curvature similar to that of an arc-shaped outer peripheral sliding portion 56 described later is formed on the upper inner peripheral surface of the base member 10b.

  As shown in FIG. 7, the worm wheel 50 b is formed in a substantially oval shape, and has a fan-shaped gear portion 51 on the front end side positioned on the lower side on one end side and an elastic side on the upper side on the other end side. An arc-shaped outer peripheral sliding portion 56 having A groove 57 is formed in the outer peripheral sliding portion 56 along the outer peripheral edge, and elasticity is given by adjusting the thickness of the groove 57.

  The worm wheel 50b is provided with a substantially rectangular insertion hole 58 through which the lever base 24 and the rotary shaft 11 are inserted. In the state where the lever base 24 is inserted into the insertion hole 58, the worm wheel 50b is fixed to the hole 59a provided in the worm wheel 50b and the hole 27 provided in the lever base 24 from the inner surface side of the lever base 24. It is fixed with screws 13b. As a result, the worm wheel 50b is supported between the base member 10 and the worm gear 42 so that the outer peripheral sliding portion 56 contacts the inner peripheral sliding portion 18 of the base member 10 in the elastic region, and the outer peripheral sliding portion 56 is supported. The worm wheel 50 is biased and held toward the worm gear 42 by the repulsive force of the moving portion 56. That is, the gear portion 51 of the worm wheel 50 b is biased and held toward the worm gear 42 together with the shift lever 20.

  Therefore, the shift lever 20, the rotary shaft 11, and the worm wheel 50 can be integrally moved in the vertical direction by the gap between the base member 10 and the rotary shaft 11.

  A round hole 59 is provided on the surface of the worm wheel 50 b facing the lever base 24, and a hemispherical locking projection 26 is provided on the portion of the lever base 24 facing the round hole 59. .

As a result, when the worm wheel 50b is assembled to the lever base 24, the locking projection 26 is locked to the round hole 59 to facilitate positioning of the worm wheel 50b to the lever base 24.

  The potentiometer 70 detects the rotation direction and the assist position of the shift lever 20 by rotating the rotating shaft provided therein, and detects the rotation direction and the assist position of the shift lever 20. 4 and is fixed to the outer surface of the base member 10 with screws as shown in FIG.

  As shown in FIG. 6, the check mechanism 60 is formed by a concavo-convex portion 61 formed at the tip portion of the lever base 24 and a check roller 62 fixed to the base member 10. The concave-convex portion 61 is formed so that each concave portion corresponds to each range position of the shift lever 20. The check roller 62 has a cylindrical roller 64 rotatably supported on the distal end side of a mounting arm 63 made of a leaf spring, and a base end side is fixed to the bottom of the base member 10. The roller 62 is engaged so as to press the concave and convex portion 61.

  When the roller 64 is rotated in a state of being pressed against the uneven portion 61 by the rotation operation of the shift lever 20, the check roller 62 is moved from the concave portion to the convex portion or from the convex portion to the concave portion in the concave and convex portion 61 according to the range position of the shift lever 20. In this movement, the pressure contact force changes, and this change is transmitted to the shift lever 20. Thereby, a sense of moderation can be given to the operation of the shift lever 20 that switches the range position.

  Similarly to the first embodiment, the worm gear is provided with a U-shaped spring for urging the worm gear toward the worm wheel side and in the worm gear axial direction.

  With the configuration as described above, the same effect as the above embodiment can be obtained, and in this embodiment, the worm wheel 50b is held biased toward the worm gear 42, thereby engaging the worm wheel and the worm gear. By eliminating the problem, the transmission efficiency of the operating torque can be improved, and by eliminating backlash, the generation of abnormal noise due to backlash can be prevented, and the shift lever 20 can be prevented from rattling. In addition, the operating torque during reversal can be stabilized.

  Further, since the elastic portion is formed integrally with the worm wheel 50b by adjusting the thickness of the groove portion 57 of the worm wheel 50b, the configuration is simplified, the number of parts is reduced, and the cost is reduced. Can be reduced.

  Since the outer peripheral sliding portion 56 of the worm wheel 50b comes into contact with and slides on the inner peripheral sliding portion 18 of the base member 10, the worm wheel 50b and the worm gear 42 are prevented from being disengaged, and the inner peripheral sliding portion 18 is also prevented. And the outer peripheral sliding portion 56 are both formed as arcuate surfaces, the operating force of the shift lever 20 is not deteriorated.

(A) is front sectional drawing which shows the whole 1st Embodiment of this invention, (b) is principal part sectional drawing along the AA of (a). It is a principal part disassembled perspective view of 1st Embodiment. It is front sectional drawing which shows the whole 2nd Embodiment of this invention. It is a rear view of 2nd Embodiment of this invention. It is principal part sectional drawing along the BB line of FIG. It is sectional drawing along CC line of FIG. It is a perspective view which shows the worm wheel of this embodiment. It is sectional drawing of the conventional shift lever apparatus.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Shift lever apparatus 10 ... Base member 20 ... Shift lever 23 ... Lever main body 40 ... Assist force provision means 42 ... Worm gear 50 ... Worm wheel 51 ... Gear part

Claims (5)

A shift lever rotatably supported by the base member, a worm wheel held by the shift lever,
A shift lever device comprising a worm gear meshing with a gear portion of the worm wheel, and an assist force applying means for adding an assist force to the shift lever via the worm gear,
A shift lever device characterized in that the worm wheel is movable in the vertical direction with respect to a base member, and the worm wheel is biased and held toward the worm gear. The shift lever device according to claim 1,
The worm wheel has the fan-shaped gear portion on one end side and a rectangular slide portion on the other end side,
A wheel box having a slide accommodating portion that slidably accommodates the slide portion of the worm wheel is formed integrally with the shift lever;
An elastic member sandwiched between a bottom portion of the slide housing portion and an end portion of the slide portion of the worm wheel biases and holds the worm wheel toward the worm gear by a repulsive force. Shift lever device. The shift lever device according to claim 2,
The rotating shaft that supports the shift lever on the base member has a substantially oval cross-sectional shape,
The worm wheel has a substantially oval shape in which the cross-sectional shape of the rotary shaft passes through, the interval between the two width portions forming the substantially oval shape of the rotary shaft is the same, and the width in the vertical direction is large. The shift lever device is characterized in that the worm wheel engages with the rotation shaft in the rotation direction, rotates integrally, and is movable in the vertical direction. The shift lever device according to claim 1,
The worm wheel has the fan-shaped gear portion on one end side and an arc-shaped outer peripheral sliding portion having elasticity on the other end side,
The base member has an arcuate inner periphery sliding portion having the same curvature as the arcuate outer periphery sliding portion,
The worm wheel is supported between the base member and the worm gear so that the outer peripheral sliding portion comes into contact with the inner peripheral sliding portion in an elastic region,
A shift lever device characterized in that the worm wheel is biased and held toward the worm gear by a repulsive force of the outer peripheral sliding portion. The shift lever device according to any one of claims 1 to 4,
The worm gear is biased and held in the axial direction of the worm wheel and the worm gear by biasing means provided on the base member.

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