JP2008185105A - Outside joint member for constant velocity universal joint - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an outside joint member for a constant velocity universal joint, allowing the determination on whether the welded condition of a welded portion is good or not in appearance while reducing or omitting manhours for the process of drilling a flange face after welded to reduce cost. <P>SOLUTION: The outside joint member comprises a cup component 13 having a body 1 and a bottom portion 12, and a flange component 2 mounted on the bottom portion 12 of the cup component 13, wherein the bottom portion 12 is provided with a flange component fitting protruded portion 8 to which the flange component 2 is fitted, and an inner diameter face 4 of the flange component 2 is joined to an outer diameter face 3 of the protruded portion 8. Between the flange component 2 and the cup component 13, a clearance S is provided which faces the inside face of the flange component 2 and into which molten metal flows. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2008,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to an outer joint member of a constant velocity universal joint.

  A constant velocity universal joint (for example, a tripod type constant velocity universal joint) mainly includes an outer joint member, a tripod member as an inner joint member, and a roller as a torque transmission member.

  Some of the outer joint members include a cup part 101 and a flange part 102 that is fitted and fixed so as to protrude from the cup part 101. The cup component 101 is formed with a track groove 105 extending in the axial direction at a position of the inner circumference in the circumferential direction. The cup component 101 has a non-cylindrical shape in which a large-diameter portion and a small-diameter portion appear alternately when viewed in an axial cross section. The cup component 101 is formed with a large-diameter portion and a small-diameter portion, so that the three track grooves extending in the axial direction are formed on the inner peripheral surface thereof.

When such an outer joint member is formed, there is a method in which the cup part 101 and the flange part 102 are integrally formed by cold forging, hot forging, or the like (Patent Document 1). Further, as shown in FIGS. 5 and 6, there is a method in which the flange part 102 and the cup part 101 are separately manufactured and joined. As a method of joining, the attachment part 108 of the flange part 102 (a convex part into which the flange part 102 is fitted) is formed on the cup part 101, and the flange part 102 is externally fitted (press-fitted) into the attachment part 108. And the flange part 102 is attached to the cup part 101 by welding the fitting part with a circular welding locus.
JP-A-7-185730

  In the thing of the said patent document 1, in the case of cold forging, since a workability becomes large, shaping | molding of a flange is difficult. In hot forging, it is necessary to perform another process such as broaching after the forging process, which increases the number of manufacturing steps. Also, when manufacturing cup parts with improved internal shape accuracy, it is conceivable to process the internal shape by feeding back the amount of deformation in the heat treatment performed after the broaching process to the broaching process. Difficult depending on form.

  In addition, when the flange part 102 and the cup part 101 are separately manufactured and joined, conventionally, the bead portion 113 (weld trace formed on the welded portion) is swelled on the weld surface, and this bead portion. 113 protrudes from the outer surface (flange surface 111) of the flange component 102. In this case, it is necessary to remove the bead portion 113 by using a means such as cutting in order to perform attachment to the mating member based on the flange surface 111. For this reason, the turning process of the flange surface 111 is required, and the number of processing steps increases and the manufacturing cost increases.

  In order to avoid the removal of the surface of the raised bead portion 113, as shown in FIG. 7, the flange part 102 is cut before welding so that the welded portion does not come into contact with the mounting surface. There is a need. That is, the thickness of the flange part 102 is increased by the protruding amount of the bead part 113, and the welded part is substantially the same as the axial length of the attachment part 108 of the flange part 102. Thereby, the bead part 113 is located in the outer side surface of the flange surface 111. However, the shape of the flange part 102 becomes complicated and the manufacturing cost increases. Furthermore, in order to ensure the strength of the welded portion, it is necessary to increase the thickness of the entire flange part, which increases the material cost. Moreover, in order to judge the quality of the welded state (welding depth) of the welded portion, it is impossible in appearance, and it is necessary to perform a nondestructive inspection such as an ultrasonic flaw detector or an X-ray.

  In view of the above problems, the present invention makes it possible to reduce the number of man-hours or omission of the turning process of the flange surface after welding, to reduce the cost, and to judge the quality of the welded state of the welded portion from the appearance. Provided is an outer joint member of a constant velocity universal joint.

  The outer joint member of the constant velocity universal joint of the present invention includes a cup part having a cylindrical main body part and a bottom part closing one opening of the main body part, and a flange part attached to the bottom part of the cup part. Provided with a flange part fitting protrusion on the bottom, the flange part is fitted to the protrusion, and the inner surface of the flange part and the outer surface of the protrusion are joined together by welding. The joint member is provided with a gap between the flange part and the cup part that faces the inner surface of the flange part and into which molten metal flows.

  In the outer joint member of the constant velocity universal joint of the present invention, the molten metal flows into the gap on the inner surface side of the flange part. For this reason, the bead portion has an axially outer end located on the same side as the outer surface of the flange part or on the inner side of the outer surface. For this reason, the bead portion does not protrude from the outer surface of the flange part. In addition, a bead part means the welding trace formed in the welding part.

  The gap has a tapered shape in which the gap width is increased on the outer diameter side. For this reason, this gap guides the outflow of molten metal from the joint between the inner diameter surface of the flange part and the outer diameter surface of the protrusion.

  The cup part is provided with a tapered surface that forms the tapered gap, and the inclination angle of the tapered surface is set to 3 ° to 20 °. Thereby, formation of the gap into which the molten metal flows is stabilized. Further, the rise of the bead portion can be adjusted by the taper angle.

  The outer surface of the flange part and the outer surface of the protrusion can be arranged on the same surface. That is, the outer surface of the protrusion does not have a lower shape than the outer surface of the flange part.

  The said joining can be joined by laser welding or electron beam welding. Laser welding is a method in which laser light is irradiated as a heat source mainly focused on metal, and the metal is locally melted and solidified for joining. Electron beam welding means heating a filament in a high vacuum, accelerating the emitted electrons at a high voltage, converging it with an electromagnetic coil, causing it to collide with the welded part, and converting the kinetic energy of the electron beam into thermal energy. It is a method of welding.

  Since the outer joint member of the constant velocity universal joint of the present invention can prevent the bead portion from protruding from the outer surface of the flange part, the flange part can be attached to the mating member without turning the bead part. It becomes possible. For this reason, it is possible to reduce or eliminate the man-hours required in the conventional turning process of the bead part, and it is possible to reduce the manufacturing cost of the product (outer joint member) and to improve the yield. And since a bead part does not protrude from the outer surface of a flange component, the improvement of the attachment property to a counterpart member can be aimed at.

  By providing a gap between the flange part and the cup part, this gap guides the outflow of molten metal from the joint between the inner diameter surface of the flange part and the outer diameter surface of the protrusion. In particular, when the taper surface is inclined by 3 ° to 20 ° with respect to the flange component, the formation of the gap through which the molten metal flows is stabilized, so that the bead portion is reliably prevented from rising to the outer surface side of the flange component. be able to. In addition, since the gap formed between the tapered surface and the flange part opens in the outer diameter direction, the molten metal flowing into this gap can be seen, and the welded state (weld depth) of the welded portion can be seen. The quality can be judged by appearance. This eliminates the need for nondestructive inspection such as ultrasonic flaw detectors and X-rays as in the prior art, and can reduce the cost of product inspection.

  The inner diameter side of the flange part, that is, the part where the bead part is formed by welding is cut before welding so that the weld part protrudes from the outer surface of the flange part and does not contact the mounting surface. Disappears. For this reason, a flange component can be made into a simple flat plate shape, and a flange component can be processed by cost-effective processing such as pressing without using cutting. In addition, it is not necessary to increase the thickness of the entire flange part in order to secure the strength of the welded portion, so that the weight can be reduced and the material cost can be reduced.

  Since the said joining can be joined by laser welding or electron beam welding, joining operation can be stabilized and a cup component and a flange component can be fixed firmly. Note that welding using a heat source with a high energy density, such as laser welding or electron beam welding, can be welded at a higher speed than conventional welding methods, and there is very little welding heat effect, resulting in welding deformation. There are advantages such as fewer.

  1st Embodiment of the outer joint member of the constant velocity universal joint which concerns on this invention is described based on FIGS.

  A constant velocity universal joint (for example, a tripod type constant velocity universal joint) mainly includes an outer joint member, a tripod member as an inner joint member, and a roller as a torque transmission member.

  As shown in FIG. 3, the outer joint member is attached to a cup part 13 having a cylindrical main body 1 and a bottom 12 that closes one opening of the main body 1, and a bottom 12 of the cup part 13. A ring-shaped flange part 2.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the flange component 2 is a flat ring-shaped disk, and is provided with through holes 11 at a predetermined pitch (for example, 180 °) along the circumferential direction. The outer joint member can be attached to another member.

  The cup part 13 and the flange part 2 are joined by welding as will be described later. A flange part fitting protrusion 8 is formed on the bottom 12, and the flange part 2 is fitted to the flange part fitting protrusion 8, and in this state, the inner diameter surface 4 of the flange part 2 and the outer diameter surface of the protrusion 8. 3 is welded.

  In this case, as shown in FIG. 1, the flange part fitting protrusion 8 is formed on the cup part 13 by turning the outer peripheral surface of the part corresponding to the bottom 12 of the main body part 1. Further, a tapered surface 10 is provided on the outer surface of the bottom portion 12 so as to increase in diameter from the inner diameter side to the outer diameter side toward the opposite flange side. Accordingly, a gap S is formed on the inner surface side of the flange part 2 in a state where the flange part 2 is fitted to the flange part fitting protrusion 8.

  The inclination angle α of the tapered surface 10 with respect to the flange part 2 is preferably 3 ° to 20 °.

  Next, a method of joining the cup part 13 and the flange part 2 in the outer joint member having the above-described configuration will be described. First, the cup part 13 is arranged so that the opening of the cup part 13 faces downward, and the flange part 2 is externally fitted to the protrusion 8 of the cup part 13. Next, a welding heat source (for example, a laser) is moved, for example, clockwise from a predetermined point (welding start point). At this time, the joint portion W has a circular shape as shown in FIG. At the time of this welding, the molten metal flows into the gap S provided between the inner surface of the flange part 2 and the outer surface of the bottom part 12 of the cup part 13, and the outside of the inner diameter surface 4 and the protrusion 8 of the flange part 2. The radial surface 3 is integrated by welding. The joining is preferably performed by, for example, laser welding or electron beam welding.

  Thus, in the outer joint member of the constant velocity universal joint of the present invention, the molten metal flows into the gap S on the inner surface side of the flange part 2. For this reason, it can prevent that the bead part 18 protrudes from the outer side surface 14 of the flange component 2, and it becomes possible to attach the flange component 2 to the mating member without turning the bead portion 18. As a result, it is possible to reduce or omit the man-hours required for the turning process of the bead portion 18 that has been required in the past, thereby reducing the manufacturing cost of the product (outer joint member) and improving the yield. And since the bead part 18 does not protrude from the outer side surface 14 of the flange component 2, the improvement of the attachment property to a counterpart member can be aimed at.

  The gap S has a tapered shape in which the gap width is increased on the outer diameter side. For this reason, this gap S guides the outflow of molten metal from the joint between the inner diameter surface 4 of the flange part 2 and the outer diameter surface 3 of the protrusion 8. In particular, when the tapered surface 10 is inclined by 3 ° to 20 ° with respect to the flange part 2, the formation of the gap S into which the molten metal flows is stabilized, so that the bead portion 18 rises to the outer surface side of the flange part 2. Can be reliably suppressed. Further, the rise of the bead portion 18 can be adjusted by the taper angle. When the angle of the tapered surface 10 is less than 3 °, the molten metal does not flow through the gap S, and the bead portion 18 rises to the welded portion surface. If the angle exceeds 20 °, there is a large amount of molten metal flowing in the gap S. Therefore, the amount of the bead portion 18 of the welded portion that is recessed from the surface is large, and a welding area (volume) necessary for the strength of the welded portion cannot be ensured. Cracks occur in the bead portion 18.

  Further, since the gap S formed between the tapered surface 10 and the flange part 2 opens in the outer diameter direction, the molten metal that has flowed into the gap S can be seen and the welded state of the welded portion (welding) The quality of the depth can be judged from the appearance. This eliminates the need for nondestructive inspection such as ultrasonic flaw detectors and X-rays as in the prior art, and can reduce the cost of product inspection.

  Since the said joining can be joined by laser welding or electron beam welding, joining operation can be stabilized and the cup component 13 and the flange component 2 can be firmly fixed.

  Next, FIG. 4 shows a second embodiment of the present invention. In this case, the thickness of the flange part 2 is made smaller than the thickness of the flange part 2 of the constant velocity universal joint according to the first embodiment. That is, the outer surface 14 of the flange part 2 and the outer surface 15 of the protrusion 8 are arranged on the same surface.

  The method of attaching the flange component 2 of the second embodiment is also performed by the same method as the method of attaching the flange component 2 of the first embodiment.

  For this reason, the outer joint member of the constant velocity universal joint of the second embodiment also has the same effects as the outer joint member of the constant velocity universal joint of the first embodiment. In particular, the inner diameter side of the flange part 2, that is, the part where the bead part 18 is formed by welding is cut before welding so that the weld part protrudes from the outer surface 14 of the flange part 2 and does not contact the mounting surface. There is no need to make the shape one step lower. For this reason, the flange part 2 can be made into a simple flat plate shape, and the flange part 2 can be processed by low cost processing such as pressing without using cutting. In addition, it is not necessary to increase the thickness of the entire flange part in order to secure the strength of the welded portion, so that the weight can be reduced and the material cost can be reduced. In the outer joint member of the constant velocity universal joint shown in FIG. 4, the same reference numerals as those in FIGS. 1 to 3 are assigned to the same configurations as those of the outer joint member of the constant velocity universal joint shown in FIGS. 1 to 3. The description is omitted.

  As described above, the embodiment of the present invention has been described. However, the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and various modifications are possible. For example, the moving direction of the welding heat source is not limited to the clockwise direction. It may be clockwise. Moreover, when welding, even if it moves the welding heat source side, you may move an outer joint member side conversely.

  The constant velocity universal joint is not limited to the tripod type constant velocity universal joint, and may be other as long as the outer joint member has a flange portion.

It is sectional drawing before the welding of the outer joint member which shows embodiment of this invention. FIG. 2 is a rear view of the outer joint member of FIG. 1. It is sectional drawing of the outer joint member which shows embodiment of this invention. It is sectional drawing of the outer joint member which shows the 2nd Embodiment of this invention. It is sectional drawing of the conventional outer joint member. It is a rear view of the conventional outer joint member. It is sectional drawing of the other conventional outer joint member. It is a rear view of the other conventional outside joint member.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Main-body part 2 Flange components 3 Outer diameter surface 4 Inner diameter surface 8 Flange component fitting protrusion 9 Inner side surface 10 Tapered surface 12 Bottom portion 13 Cup component 14 Outer side surface S Clearance

Claims (5)

A cup part having a cylindrical main body part and a bottom part that closes one opening of the main body part, and a flange part to be attached to the bottom part of the cup part, and provided with a flange part fitting protrusion on the bottom part The outer joint member of the constant velocity universal joint in which the flange part is fitted to the protrusion, and the inner diameter surface of the flange part and the outer diameter surface of the protrusion are joined by welding,
An outer joint member of a constant velocity universal joint, wherein a gap is provided between the flange part and the cup part so as to face an inner surface of the flange part and into which molten metal flows.   The outer joint member of a constant velocity universal joint according to claim 1, wherein the gap has a tapered shape in which the gap width is increased on the outer diameter side.   3. The outer joint member of a constant velocity universal joint according to claim 2, wherein a tapered surface that forms the tapered gap is provided on the cup part, and an inclination angle of the tapered surface is set to 3 ° to 20 °.   The outer joint member of the constant velocity universal joint according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the outer surface of the flange part and the outer surface of the protrusion are arranged on the same surface.   The outer joint member of the constant velocity universal joint according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the joining is performed by laser welding or electron beam welding.

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