JP2008030542A - Position adjustment type steering device - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To attain stability of action of a rattling removal block and to more smoothly perform telescopic adjustment. <P>SOLUTION: The position adjustment type steering device has an upper clamp 7; a distance bracket 8 fixed to an upper jacket 4; a bolt 9 penetrated through tilt long holes 19, 21 of the upper clamp and telescopic long holes 38, 40 of the distance bracket; a cam mechanism 11 for controlling locking by changing of an axial dimension; the rattling removal block 110 vertically slid by penetrating a bolt through a cam follow hole 112 and rotation of a lift cam 9d on the bolt, engaged with a lower jacket 5 at locking and releasing engagement at unlocking; and a guide block 120 for performing action guide of the rattling removal block. One end of a compression coil spring 46 for leaving a locking tooth part 47b from a telescopic locking tooth part 34 is received by the guide block 120. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2008,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a position-adjustable steering apparatus capable of tilt adjustment and telescopic adjustment of the position of a steering wheel.

  A tilt adjustment function that adjusts the height of the steering wheel according to the driver's physique and driving posture, and so-called telescopic (simply called telescopic) that adjusts the front and back position of the steering wheel along the axial direction of the steering shaft 2. Description of the Related Art A position-adjustable steering device with an adjustment function added is known.

In this type of position-adjustable steering device, a cam mounted on a lower jacket (lower tube) constituting the steering column so as to rotate integrally with the bolt on the lower jacket (lower tube) constituting the steering column in general, at the same time as telescopic adjustment. Are brought into pressure contact with each other to remove the play (gap in the radial direction) between the lower jacket and the upper jacket (upper tube) (see, for example, Patent Document 1).
JP 2001-322552 A

  By the way, in the technique of patent document 1, it forms so that a bolt and a cam may rotate integrally by forming a serration on the outer periphery of a bolt, and fitting a cam to that part. However, there is a problem that the cost is increased.

  Therefore, instead of forming a cam with a small diameter on the bolt and displacing the backlash removal block in the radial direction of the bolt by rotating the cam, the cam is not directly press-fitted to the lower jacket, but the backlash removal block. It is conceivable to press-fit the belt to the lower jacket.

  However, if the backlash removal block is freely displaceable on the bolt, the operation of the backlash removal block will not be stable, and the backlash removal block will tilt when unlocked and will not be completely separated from the lower jacket. In addition, the telescopic adjustment operation may be affected.

  In the present invention, in consideration of the above circumstances, the backlash removal block arranged on the bolt is displaced by the rotation of the cam on the bolt and is engaged with the lower jacket. An object of the present invention is to provide a position-adjustable steering device that can eliminate the adverse effects of telescopic adjustment.

  The invention of claim 1 includes an upper clamp fixed to a vehicle body, a distance bracket fixed to an upper jacket of a steering column including a lower jacket and an upper jacket, and disposed on the inner side of the upper clamp, and a shaft portion. Further, a lift cam whose radial dimension gradually changes along the circumferential direction is integrally formed on the shaft portion, and a long slot for tilt formed in the upper clamp, and a shaft of the steering column in the distance bracket A telescopic elongated hole formed along the direction, a bolt having the shaft portion inserted therethrough, an operating lever that rotates integrally with the bolt, and a cam follow hole. The lift cam is inserted into the cam follow hole. However, it is located inside the distance bracket and can rotate relative to the bolt on the outer periphery of the bolt. The backlash removing block, the through hole, and the housing portion are disposed, and the shaft portion is inserted into the through hole, and is disposed inside the distance bracket, and the backlash removal block is disposed in the housing portion. And a guide block that is slidably arranged along the radial direction of the steering column, and the backlash removal block is separated from the lower jacket in the unlocked state, and is pressed and held on the lower jacket by the lift cam in the locked state. It is characterized by being.

  The invention according to claim 2 is the position-adjustable steering apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the cam mechanism is assembled on the shaft portion of the bolt, and the dimension of the bolt axial direction is changed by relative rotation of the two cam members. A telescopic lock tooth portion disposed in a peripheral portion of the telescopic elongated hole of the distance bracket, and a lock tooth portion engageable with the telescopic lock tooth portion on the bolt inside the upper clamp, and a bolt A tooth member arranged so as to be movable in the axial direction, and one end supported by the guide block while urging the tooth member on the bolt in a direction away from the telescopic lock tooth portion, and the other end Is provided with an urging member supported by the tooth member, and the locking tooth portion of the tooth member is opposed to the urging member by changing the dimension in the bolt axial direction. A serial telescopic locking toothing, characterized in that the meshes.

  A third aspect of the present invention is the position-adjustable steering apparatus according to the first or second aspect, wherein the guide block is made of a resin material at the periphery of the through hole of the guide block and is inserted into the telescopic elongated hole. A convex portion is formed.

In the first aspect of the invention, when the operation lever is turned from the unlocked position to the locked position and the backlash block is pressed against the lower jacket, the lower jacket is pressed against the upper jacket and the lower jacket and the upper jacket are fixed. The Also, if the operating lever is rotated from the locked position to the released position and the backlash block is moved away from the lower jacket, the lower jacket is released from being pressed against the lower jacket, and the upper jacket is operated with a small operating force relative to the lower jacket. Telescopic adjustment (can be moved in the axial direction).
When the control lever is rotated from the locked position to the unlocked position, the guide block guides the movement of the rattling block, so the vertical movement of the rattling block and the position of the bolt in the axial direction can be regulated, so unlocking Sometimes, the backlash removal block does not tilt, the backlash removal block is reliably separated from the lower jacket, and the operation of the backlash removal block is stabilized, so that telescopic adjustment can be performed more smoothly.

  According to the invention of claim 2, since the tooth member is arranged inside the upper clamp and the guide block is used as a receiving portion of the urging member for separating the tooth portion for telescopic locking, the urging member Can be placed in the position inside the bolt in the axial direction as much as possible, that is, in the position inside the upper clamp, and the size of the bolt protruding from the upper clamp can be made as small as possible. Can be planned.

  According to the invention of claim 3, since the buffer convex portion made of a resin material is located between the bolt and the telescopic elongated hole end portion, when performing the telescopic adjustment, the bolt is the telescopic elongated hole of the distance bracket. Even when it hits the end in the longitudinal direction, it is possible to prevent the occurrence of hitting sound.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is an exploded perspective view of a position-adjustable steering device according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is an enlarged perspective view showing a part of the configuration, and FIG. 3 is a main part of the position-adjustable steering device. FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view taken along arrow IV-IV in FIG. 3, FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view taken along arrow V-V in FIG. 3, and FIG. FIG. 7 is a sectional view taken along arrow VII-VII in FIG. 6.

  As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, a position-adjustable steering device (hereinafter also simply referred to as “steering device”) 1 according to the present embodiment has a steering wheel (not shown) at the upper end in the axial direction (the right end in FIG. 1). Is provided with a steering column 3 that rotatably supports a steering shaft 2 to which the shaft is fixed. The steering shaft 2 includes an upper shaft 2a and a lower shaft 2b, and is fitted so as to be relatively slidable in the axial direction.

  The steering column 3 includes an outer upper jacket 4 and an inner lower jacket 5 that are fitted so as to be slidable relative to each other in the axial direction. These jackets 4 and 5 are constituted by tubes that rotatably support the steering shaft 2.

  The lower end portion in the axial direction of the lower jacket 5 is supported on the vehicle body (not shown) via the lower mounting bracket 202 and the tilt shaft 203 by being fixed to the lower support bracket 201 by welding or the like. The entire steering column 3 is rotatable around the tilt shaft 203.

  In addition, the steering device 1 is welded to an upper clamp 7 having an approximately U-shape, which is disposed on the upper end side in the axial direction of the steering column 3 and is fixed to the vehicle body. A distance bracket 8 fixed inside the upper clamp 7, a bolt 9 that penetrates the upper clamp 7 and the distance bracket 8, and an operation lever 10 that is rotated around the axis of the bolt 9. A cam mechanism 11 is provided for achieving tilt lock and telescopic lock by clamping the distance bracket 8 by the upper clamp 7 as the operation lever 10 rotates.

  The bolt 9 has a hexagonal head portion 9a and a shaft portion 9c having a screw portion 9b at the tip, and a lift cam 9d having an elliptical cross section is formed in the middle portion in the longitudinal direction of the shaft portion 9c. The upper clamp 7 penetrates from one side to the other side. Then, the upper clamp 7 and the distance bracket 8 are sandwiched between the head 9 a of the bolt 9 and the nut 51 by screwing the nut 51 into the screw portion 9 b at the tip of the bolt 9.

  The upper clamp 7 includes a pair of opposite side plates 12 and 13 and an upper plate 14 that connects the upper portions of the side plates 12 and 13 to each other, and is fixed to a vehicle body (not shown) by a mounting bracket 16. ing. The side plates 12 and 13 of the upper clamp 7 are formed with elongated tilt holes 19 and 21 having an arc shape along the vehicle vertical direction.

  The cam mechanism 11 includes an annular first cam member 22 and an annular second cam member 23 that are fitted to a shaft portion 9c between the head portion 9a of the bolt 9 and the lift cam 9d so as to be axially movable. The first and second cam members 22 and 23 have cam projections 22b and 23b on their opposing surfaces, and the cam projections 22b and 23b are in phase with each other (cam projection 22b). , 23b are riding on each other), the axial dimension between the cam members 22, 23 is large, and when the phase is shifted, the axial dimension between the cam members 22, 23 is small. It becomes. The cam mechanism 11 locks or unlocks the distance bracket 8 to the upper clamp 7 by changing the axial dimension in this way.

  The first cam member 22 is connected to the operation lever 10 and the bolt 9 so as to rotate together. Specifically, the guide convex portion 22a on the outer surface of the first cam member 22 is press-fitted and fixed in a square press-fitting hole 10a formed at the base end portion of the operation lever 10, and the vicinity of the base end portion of the operation lever 10 Further, a stopper plate 26 in which a square engagement hole 26a is engaged with a square head 9a at one end of the bolt 9 in a relatively non-rotatable manner is fixed by a screw 25, whereby the first cam member 22 and The operation lever 10 and the bolt 9 are coupled so as to rotate integrally.

  The second cam member 23 has a guide convex portion 23a that is slidably engaged with the long slot 19 for tilting on the surface opposite to the side where the cam projection 23b is provided. The second cam member 23 is guided through the convex portion 23a so as to be movable along the longitudinal direction of the long slot 19 for tilting, and at the same time, the rotation of the second cam member 23 is restricted.

  The distance bracket 8 has a substantially U-shape that is open upward, and includes a pair of side plates 31 and 32 and a bottom plate 41 that connects the lower ends of the side plates 31 and 32. A large press-fitting hole 33 is formed in one side plate 31 of the distance bracket 8, and a convex portion 37 of a groove-shaped member 34 having a telescopic long hole 38 is fitted into the press-fitting hole 33. The other side plate 32 of the distance bracket 8 is also formed with a telescopic elongated hole 40 parallel to the telescopic elongated hole 38 of the channel member 34.

  The groove-shaped member 34 has a web 34a and a pair of flanges 34b, and the convex portion 37 is projected from the outer surface of the web 34a. The telescopic elongated hole 38 is provided on the convex portion 37 of the web 34a, extends through the web 34a, and extends linearly in the lateral direction (the axial direction of the steering column 3). Telescopic lock teeth 34c (see FIGS. 3 and 6) are formed on the wall surface around the telescopic long hole 38 on the inner surface of the web 34a (upper and lower wall surfaces of the long telescopic hole 38). The telescopic lock tooth portion 34 c is formed by arranging a large number of teeth along the longitudinal direction of the telescopic elongated hole 38.

  Between the both side plates 31 and 32 of the distance bracket 8, a backlash removal block 110 through which the bolt 9 is inserted and a guide block 120 for guiding the operation of the backlash removal block 110 in a certain direction are disposed. The backlash removal block 110 is slidably fitted in a rectangular guide hole 121 that is a housing portion in which a rectangular parallelepiped body portion 111 is formed so as to penetrate the guide block 120, and is formed in the backlash removal block 110 and the guide block 120. The bolt 9 penetrates the cam follow hole 112 and the through hole 123 that are relatively rotatable.

  As shown in FIG. 4, the cam follow hole 112 of the backlash removal block 110 is formed in a size that allows the elliptical lift cam 9d to freely rotate, and the flat ceiling surface 112a of the cam follow hole 112 is formed. (See FIG. 2) is a contact surface of the lift cam 9d. Accordingly, when the elliptical lift cam 9 d rotates with the bolt 9, the backlash block 110 is displaced in the vertical direction with respect to the guide block 120.

  When the bolt 9 and the cam mechanism 11 are operated to the locked position, the backlash block 110 is displaced upward by the rotation of the lift cam 9d, and in this state, the upper surface 115 passes through the opening 4a on the peripheral wall of the upper jacket 4 and The lower jacket 5 is press-fitted to the peripheral surface, thereby eliminating play (radial play) between the lower jacket 5 and the upper jacket 4. Further, when the bolt 9 and the cam mechanism 11 are operated to the unlocking position, the backlash removal block 110 is displaced downward by the rotation of the lift cam 9d and is separated from the lower jacket 5.

  Further, flanges 113 project from both side surfaces of the body portion 111 of the backlash removal block 110, and when the backlash removal block 110 is displaced downward as shown in FIG. Since the position of the backlash movement block in the vertical direction and the axial direction of the bolt can be regulated by riding on the upper edge 122a of the both side walls 122 that are notched and recessed in the 120 rectangular guide holes 121, the backlash removal block 110 is The guide block 120 is stably held.

  Moreover, the guide block 120 is comprised with the resin molded product, and has the buffer convex part 124 around the through-hole 123 on one end surface. Then, as shown in FIG. 5, the buffer projection 124 is slidably fitted into the telescopic slot 40 as a buffer material when the bolt 9 hits the longitudinal end of the telescopic slot 40 of the distance bracket 8. It is combined. In FIG. 5, Ha represents a movement stroke from the neutral position to one side, and Hb represents a movement stroke to the other side.

  As shown in FIGS. 1 and 3, the shaft portion 9 c of the bolt 9 includes a press-fitting hole 10 a of the operation lever 10, a first cam member 22, a second cam member 23, a long slot 19 for tilting the upper clamp 7, The tooth member 47, the telescopic long hole 38 of the groove-shaped member 34, the compression coil spring 46 (biasing member) for unlocking and the press-fitting hole 33 of the distance bracket 8, the through hole 123 of the guide block 120, and the cam of the backlash removal block 110 After sequentially inserting the follow hole 112, further, the telescopic elongated hole 40 of the distance bracket 8, the elongated elongated hole 21 of the upper clamp 7, the buffer member 43, the spacer 42, the thrust bearing 49, and the washer 50 are sequentially inserted further. The nut 51 is screwed into the screw portion 9b at the tip, and is fixed.

  The tooth member 47 is a rectangular piece having a flange 47a on the upper and lower sides and a rectangular guide convex portion 47c on one end face, and a groove shape in which the rectangular guide convex portion 47c is disposed inside the upper clamp 7. It arrange | positions in the state fitted to the telescopic long hole 38 of the member 34 so that sliding was possible. On the surfaces of the upper and lower flanges 47a, there are provided lock tooth portions 47b that can be engaged with telescopic lock tooth portions 34c formed on the upper and lower wall surfaces of the telescopic elongated hole 38 of the channel member 34, and both tooth portions 34c, 47b. , The groove member 34 and the distance bracket 8 are telescopically locked to the bolt 9 with a force stronger than a simple frictional engagement.

  Further, a guide convex portion 23a is provided on the end surface of the second cam member 23 opposite to the side on which the cam projection 23b is provided. The guide protrusion 23 a is slidably fitted in the tilt long hole 19 of one side plate 31 of the upper clamp 7, and guides the movement of the bolt 9 and the distance bracket 8 along the tilt long hole 19.

  The compression coil spring 46 for unlocking is interposed in a compressed state between the end surface of the guide block 120 and the end surface of the guide convex portion 47c of the tooth member 47, and locks the tooth member 47 from the telescopic lock tooth portion 34c. The tooth portion 47 b is biased in the direction of separation, and the second cam member 23 is pressed against the first cam member 22 via the tooth member 47. Accordingly, when the phases of the cam protrusions 22b and 23b of both the cam members 22 and 23 are shifted, both the cam members 22 and 23 are operated in a direction in which the axial dimension is reduced. Further, since the compression coil spring 46 biases the end surface of the guide block 120, it is pressed against one side surface of the distance bracket 8, and the guide block 120 is positioned with respect to the bolt 9.

  Further, the buffer member 43 is an annular body, is slidably fitted in the tilt long hole 21 of the side plate 13 of the upper bracket, is fitted in the recess on the end surface of the spacer 42, and the bolt 9 is tilted long. An abnormal noise is prevented from coming into contact with the end face of the hole 21.

  Next, the operation will be described. As shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, the operating lever 10 is rotated from the unlocked position to the locked position, and the axial dimension of the cam mechanism 11 is lengthened to increase the length of the cam mechanism 11. On the other hand, the distance bracket 8 is clamped via the groove member 34, and the second cam member 23 pushes the tooth member 47 to lock the telescopic lock tooth portion 34c of the groove member 34 and the tooth member 47. When the teeth 47b are engaged with each other and the backlash block 110 is engaged with the lower jacket 5, the upper clamp 7 and the distance bracket 8 can be clamped between the head 9a of the bolt 9 and the nut 51 so as not to move relative to each other. Thus, both the tilt adjustment and the telescopic adjustment of the steering wheel can be disabled. Further, the lower jacket 5 can be pressed against the upper jacket 4, and the lower jacket 5 and the upper jacket 4 are fixed.

Also, as shown in FIGS. 6 and 7, the operating lever 10 is rotated from the locked position to the unlocked position to shorten the axial dimension of the cam mechanism 11, and the backlash block 110 is separated from the lower jacket 5. As a result, the clamp of the distance bracket 8 by the clamp 7 is released, the meshing of the telescopic lock tooth portion 34c and the lock tooth portion 47b is also released, and the upper clamp 7 and the distance between the head portion 9a of the bolt 9 and the nut 51 are released. The bracket 8 can be moved relatively, and both the tilt adjustment and the telescopic adjustment of the steering wheel can be performed. Further, the pressing of the lower jacket 5 to the upper jacket 4 can be released, and the upper jacket 4 can be telescopically adjusted (movable in the axial direction) with a small operating force with respect to the lower jacket 5.
In this apparatus, since the guide block 120 guides the vertical movement of the backlash removal block 110 and the axial direction of the bolt 9, the backlash removal block 110 does not tilt when unlocked as shown in FIG. The backlash removal block 110 is reliably separated from the lower jacket 5 and the movement of the backlash removal block 110 is stabilized, so that telescopic adjustment can be performed more smoothly.

  In addition, since the guide block 120 and the tooth member 47 arranged on the bolt 9 are used as a receiving portion of the compression coil spring 46 that separates both the tooth portions 34c and 47b in order to stabilize the operation of the backlash removal block 110. The tooth member 47 and the compression coil spring 46 can be arranged at the inner position as much as possible in the axial direction of the bolt 9, that is, at the inner position of the upper clamp 7. Since it can be made as small as possible, the entire apparatus can be made compact.

  Further, as shown in FIG. 5, since the buffer protrusion 124 provided on the end face of the guide block 120 is used as a buffer material, the bolt is used to adjust the telescopic adjustment in the longitudinal direction of the telescopic elongated hole of the distance bracket. It is possible to prevent the occurrence of hitting sound even when hitting.

1 is an exploded perspective view of a position-adjustable steering device according to an embodiment of the present invention. It is an expansion perspective view which takes out and shows the one part structure. It is a longitudinal cross-sectional view which shows the state at the time of the lock | rock of the principal part of the position adjustment type steering apparatus. FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view taken along arrow IV-IV in FIG. 3. It is a VV arrow directional cross-sectional view of FIG. It is a longitudinal cross-sectional view which shows the state at the time of lock release similar to FIG. It is VII-VII arrow sectional drawing of FIG.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Position adjustment type steering apparatus 3 Steering column 4 Upper jacket 5 Lower jacket 7 Upper clamp 8 Distance bracket 9 Bolt 9a Head 9b Screw part 9c Shaft part 9d Lift cam 10 Operation lever 11 Cam mechanism 19, 21 Tilt long hole 22 1st Cam member 23 Second cam member 34c Telescopic lock tooth portion 38, 40 Telescopic elongated hole 46 Compression coil spring (biasing member)
47 tooth member 47b lock tooth portion 51 nut 110 backlash removal block 112 cam follow hole 120 guide block 121 rectangular guide hole (accommodating portion)
123 Through hole 124 Buffer convex part

Claims (3)

An upper clamp fixed to the vehicle body,
A distance bracket fixed to an upper jacket of a steering column having a lower jacket and an upper jacket, and disposed inside the upper clamp;
A lift cam having a shaft portion and a radial dimension gradually changing along the circumferential direction is integrally formed on the shaft portion, and the long slot for tilt formed in the upper clamp, and the distance bracket A bolt in which the shaft portion is inserted into a telescopic elongated hole formed along the axial direction of the steering column;
An operating lever that rotates integrally with the bolt;
There is a cam follower hole, and the lift cam is inserted into the cam follower hole, the inner part of the distance bracket is located on the outer periphery of the bolt, and a play removing block arranged to be relatively rotatable with the bolt;
The shaft portion is inserted into the through-hole, and the shaft portion is disposed inside the distance bracket, and the backlash removing block extends along the radial direction of the steering column. And a guide block arranged slidably,
The position-adjustable steering apparatus, wherein the backlash block is separated from the lower jacket in the unlocked state, and is pressed and held by the lower jacket by the lift cam in the locked state. The position-adjustable steering device according to claim 1,
A cam mechanism assembled on the shaft portion of the bolt and having a bolt axial dimension changed by relative rotation of two cam members;
A telescopic lock tooth portion disposed around the telescopic slot of the distance bracket;
A tooth member on the bolt inside the upper clamp, which has a lock tooth portion engageable with the telescopic lock tooth portion, and is arranged to be movable in the axial direction of the bolt;
A biasing member having one end supported by the guide block and the other end supported by the tooth member while biasing the tooth member on the bolt in a direction away from the telescopic lock tooth portion. ,
A position-adjustable steering device, wherein the locking tooth portion of the tooth member and the telescopic locking tooth portion are engaged with each other against the biasing member by changing the dimension in the bolt axial direction. The position-adjustable steering device according to claim 1 or 2,
A position-adjustable steering apparatus, characterized in that a buffer protrusion made of a resin material and inserted into the telescopic slot is formed on the periphery of the through hole of the guide block.

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