JP2009018658A - Guide apparatus of guideway bus - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a guide apparatus of a guideway bus for a super low floor capable of storing driving links such as a guide wheel arm in a space surrounded by a longitudinal wall of a drop part of a front axle, an upper part of the axle, and a knuckle so as to make ground clearance of a vehicle lower than a conventional two step bus. <P>SOLUTION: In the guide wheel arm bracket 3 arranged in a front axle 9 of a low floor vehicle, and a protrusion fixed at an end of a body width direction of the horizontal part 9b of the axle 9 and externally protruding in the body width direction, an intermediate part of the guide wheel arm 2 in which the guide wheel rolling on a guide wall surface is pivoted on a front end side, and a tie rod 6 is connected to a rear end side is pivotally attached so as to horizontally turn. A first knuckle arm 4 of the knuckle 13 is connected to the rear end side of the guide wheel arm 2 with a connecting rod 5. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2009,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a guide device for a guideway bus that is steered in conjunction with the movement of a guide wheel that rolls following a guide wall surface of a dedicated track.

  As one of guideway bus guide devices that travel by being steered according to the movement of a guide wheel that rolls following a guide wall surface of a dedicated track, the technology of Patent Document 1 (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 5-338534) is provided. Yes.

  In Patent Document 1, as shown in FIGS. 5 and 6, in a guideway bus, a guide mechanism pin 03 fixed to an axle 01 via a guide mechanism bracket 02 and attached perpendicularly to a road surface. A guide wheel 07 having guide wheel arms 04 and 06 attached thereto via a guide mechanism pin 03 so as to be swingable in a plane parallel to the road surface around the guide mechanism pin 03; A traveling wheel 014 attached to both ends via a knuckle 010, means for operating the traveling wheel 014 by rotating the knuckle arms 011 and 012 of the knuckle 010, the guide wheel arms 04 and 06, and the knuckle The arms 011 and 012 are connected to each other, and the swing of the guide wheel arms 04 and 06 is transmitted to the knuckle arms 011 and 012 so that the traveling wheel 0 It is characterized in that a universal link 08 to perform the automatic steering of 4.

  That is, Patent Document 1 shows a structure in which the guide wheel arms 04 and 06 are supported via a guide mechanism bracket 02 attached to the lower portion of the axle 01. And the structure applied to the vehicle of the guideway bus | bath called what is called a 2 step bus | bath with the high position of the axle 01 is shown.

JP-A-5-338534

  The guideway bus as in Patent Document 1 is provided with a link mechanism for traveling along a guide wall of a dedicated track on the lower side of the front axle (axle 01) to automatically steer the traveling wheel 014. We are trying to make the flexible links to be compact. And even when a guideway bus enters a general road from a dedicated track, the minimum ground clearance is ensured and the general road can be traveled without any problem. When traveling on this general road, the guide wheel arm 06 is pivoted to the inside of the vehicle about the pivot shaft 05 so that the guide wheel 07 can be stored inside the vehicle.

As described above, the two-step guideway bus can travel with a minimum ground clearance even when the guideway bus enters a general road from a dedicated track.
However, in recent years, buses with excellent boarding / exiting characteristics such as so-called ultra-low floor buses have come to be frequently used as general public road buses.
Such an ultra-low floor bus has an ultra-low floor, so that the space below the front axle (axle) is narrow. Therefore, as in Patent Document 1, a guide wheel arm or the like for automatically steering the traveling wheel 014 is provided. A structure in which the links are provided below the front axle 01 cannot be adopted.

  In view of the problems of the prior art, the present invention is surrounded by the vertical wall of the drop portion of the front axle, the upper portion of the axle, and the knuckle without installing links such as a guide wheel arm below the front axle. The purpose of the present invention is to provide a guideway bus guide device for ultra-low floors, which can store drive links such as guide wheel arms in the space, and lowers the minimum ground clearance of the vehicle from the conventional two-step bus. To do.

The present invention achieves the above-mentioned object, and a wheel is pivotally attached to both ends so as to be steerable, and a central portion has a horizontal portion extending in a horizontal direction at a position lowered by a drop portion. A low-floor vehicle axle extending in the width direction;
A guide wheel arm bracket provided with a protruding portion that is fixed to an end portion in the vehicle width direction of the horizontal portion of the axle and protrudes outward in the vehicle width direction;
A guide wheel having an intermediate portion pivotally attached to the guide wheel arm bracket so as to be pivotable in the horizontal direction, a guide wheel rolling on a guide wall surface of a dedicated track on the front end side, and a tie rod arm connected to the rear end side. Arm,
A first knuckle arm that holds a wheel on the axle via a king pin, protrudes inward in the vehicle width and is connected to a drag link, and a second knuckle arm that is connected to the first knuckle arm and protrudes rearward of the vehicle. A knuckle consisting of
A connecting rod that has one end connected to the projecting portion of the second knuckle arm and the other end connected to the rear end side of the guide wheel arm to transmit the operation of the guide wheel arm to the knuckle;
It is provided with.

  In particular, in the present invention, preferably, the connecting rod, the connecting portion between the connecting rod and the guide wheel arm, and the connecting portion between the connecting rod and the second knuckle arm are at a position behind the axle, It is arranged in a space corresponding to the upper part of the axle and the inside of the vertical wall of the drop part.

According to the present invention, the guide wheel arm bracket is fixed to the end portion in the vehicle width direction of the horizontal portion of the axle, and the guide wheel arm is disposed on the projecting portion disposed on the guide wheel arm bracket and projecting outward in the vehicle width direction. Since the middle part of the guide shaft is pivotably mounted in the horizontal direction, it is possible to avoid installing the guide wheel arm below the horizontal part one step down, and the minimum ground clearance is small for the guide wheel device including the guide wheel arm. Can be prevented.
In addition, since the connection of the guide wheel arm and the knuckle is connected to the protruding portion of the second knuckle arm protruding rearward of the vehicle via a connecting rod, the number of links arranged on the front side portion of the axle is reduced, and the driver It is possible to configure the guide device while avoiding interference with the link mechanism configuring the operated steering mechanism.

  In particular, in the present invention, the connecting rod, the connecting portion between the connecting rod and the guide wheel arm, and the connecting portion between the connecting rod and the second knuckle arm are located at a position rearward of the axle, Since the upper part of the axle and the space part corresponding to the inside of the vertical wall of the drop part are arranged, the inside of the space formed by the upper part of the axle and the vertical wall of the drop part of the axle is effectively used to guide Since the guide wheel arm, the connecting rod, the connecting part between the connecting rod and the guide wheel arm, and the connecting part between the connecting rod and the second knuckle arm are arranged, the guide device is located below the horizontal part of the axle. Protruding can be prevented, and the guide device can be easily configured for a vehicle having an extremely low floor with a low minimum ground clearance.

  Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the embodiments shown in the drawings. However, the dimensions, materials, shapes, relative arrangements, and the like of the component parts described in this example are not intended to limit the scope of the present invention only to specific examples unless otherwise specified. Only.

FIG. 1 is a partial perspective view of a guide wheel arm of a guideway bus according to an embodiment of the present invention from an oblique rear side. FIG. 2 is a plan view of the guide wheel arm of the guideway bus (when the vehicle travels on a straight path). FIG. 3 is a plan view of the guide wheel arm of the guideway bus (when the vehicle is traveling on a curved road). FIG. 4A is a plan view showing a connection mode between the guide wheel arm and the steering linkage. (B) is explanatory drawing which shows the inner side space of the upper part of an axle and a vertical wall in the Z arrow directional view of FIG.
1-4, the apparatus described below is configured in a line-symmetric relationship with respect to the center line 101 in the vehicle width direction.
As shown in FIG. 1, reference numeral 9 denotes a front axle for a low-floor vehicle, where wheels 50 are connected to both ends via a knuckle 13 of a steering device, and the center is lowered one step via a drop portion 9a. And a horizontal portion 9b extending in the horizontal direction.

Reference numeral 1 denotes a guide wheel (see FIG. 2) that rolls following the guide wall surface 100 of the dedicated track. Reference numeral 2 is a guide wheel arm pivotally mounted on one end of the guide wheel 1, and 12 is a king pin.
A spring seat 14 is provided on the top of the vertical wall 9c of the drop portion 9a of the front axle 9 to form a mounting seat for an air spring constituting a suspension mechanism of the vehicle. Further, a knuckle 13 is attached to the front end portion of the upper portion 9 d of the front axle 9 via the king pin 12.

In the dedicated track, when the guide wheel 1 is pushed back along the shape of the guide wall surface 100 (see FIGS. 2, 3, and 4), the knuckle 13 swings around the king pin 12, and the wheel 50 attached to the knuckle 13. The direction of is automatically steered.
On the other hand, on the general road, the first drag link 16 and the second drag link 7 that are operated by a manual steering operation (steering operation of the steering wheel) by the driver are connected to each other. The second knuckle arm 10 of the knuckle 13 is connected to the end of the second drag link 7. The steering operation by the driver is transmitted from the first drag link 16 and the second drag link 7 to the knuckle 13 via the second knuckle arm 10 so that the wheel 50 is steered.

A connecting portion between the second knuckle arm 10 and the second drag link 7 is located at a lower portion of the upper portion 9d of the front axle 9 during the straight traveling of FIG. When traveling on the curved road of FIG. 3, the vehicle protrudes forward as shown in FIG. 3.
Thus, on the front side of the front axle 9, a link that constitutes a steering mechanism by the driver is located. 11 is a link support part.

On the other hand, as shown in FIGS. 2 to 4, the guide wheel arm 2 is formed to have a substantially L shape, and the guide wheel 1 is rotatably supported at the tip of the short side portion. A link support device 3z of a guide wheel arm bracket 3 to be described later is connected to an intermediate portion of the long side portion, and support shafts 17 and 18 are provided at a tip portion on the side opposite to the guide wheel 1 of the long side portion. Yes. One end of the connecting rod 5 is connected to the guide wheel arm 2 by the support shaft 17, and the other end of the connecting rod 5 is connected to the tip of the first knuckle arm 4 of the knuckle 13.
Further, a tie rod 6 for swinging left and right at the same time is connected to the rear end portion of the guide wheel arm 2 by a support shaft 18.

As schematically shown in FIG. 1, the guide wheel arm bracket 3 is formed in a box shape. That is, the guide wheel arm bracket 3 is formed in a U-shaped cross section, and three attachment surfaces are extended outward in the vehicle width direction and connected to the link support device 3z.
Each side portion of the U-shape is fastened to the front and rear surfaces of the front axle 9 so as to surround the front and rear surfaces and the bottom surface of the front axle 9. That is, bolts 15 are inserted into a total of eight mounting holes (four on the front side and four on the rear side) drilled in the mounting surfaces on the front and rear surfaces, and the mounting surface is moved to the front axle 9 by the bolts 15. It is firmly fastened to both sides in the vehicle longitudinal direction.

  Further, the link support device 3z has a shape bifurcated up and down, and vertical shaft support holes are formed in the upper end support portion 21 and the lower end support portion 22, respectively. A support pin 20 is fixed to the support pin 20, and a support portion of the guide wheel arm 2 is rotatably supported by the support pin 20 by two taper roller bearings (not shown) provided opposite to each other in the axial direction of the support pin 20. It is supported.

Further, two projecting portions 3s project in the vehicle front-rear direction on the side surface of the guide wheel arm bracket 3 on the vehicle front side,
One end of a lower radius rod 8 constituting the front suspension mechanism is fixed to a mounting hole 2a drilled in each projecting portion 3s via a bolt 19.

  According to this embodiment, the guide wheel arm bracket 3 is fixed to the end portion in the vehicle width direction of the horizontal portion 9 b of the front axle 9, and protrudes outward in the vehicle width direction provided on the guide wheel arm bracket 3. Since the link support device 3z is provided at the center, and the middle part of the guide wheel arm 2 is pivotally mounted so as to be pivotable in the horizontal direction, the guide wheel arm 2 is installed below the horizontal part 9b which is one step lower than the front axle 9. It is possible to prevent the minimum ground clearance from being reduced due to the guide wheel device including the guide wheel arm, and it is possible to install the guide wheel arm even in a vehicle having a low minimum ground clearance such as an ultra-low floor bus. it can.

  Further, within the area A shown in FIG. 4A, the guide wheel arm 2 and the knuckle 13 are connected to each other through the connecting rod 5 at the protruding portion of the first knuckle arm 4 protruding rearward of the vehicle. Thus, the number of links arranged in the front portion of the axle is reduced, and it is possible to configure the guide device while avoiding interference with the link mechanism constituting the steering mechanism operated by the driver.

  In particular, in the present invention, the connecting rod 5, the connecting portion between the connecting rod 5 and the guide wheel arm 2, and the connecting portion between the connecting rod 5 and the first knuckle arm 4 are more vehicles than the front axle 9. The rear position, that is, the region A in FIG. 4A, is arranged in the upper region 9d of the front axle 9 and the inner region of the vertical wall 9c of the drop portion 9a, that is, the region B in FIG. 4B.

  Therefore, by effectively utilizing the space formed inside the upper portion 9d of the front axle 9 and the vertical wall 9c of the drop portion 9a, the guide wheel arm 2, the connecting rod 5, and further the connecting rod constituting the guide device. 5 and the guide wheel arm 2 and the connecting rod 5 and the first knuckle arm 4 are disposed below the horizontal portion 9b of the front axle 9 and further forward of the vehicle than the front axle 9. The guide device such as a guide wheel arm can be prevented from protruding, and the guide device can be easily configured for a vehicle having an extremely low floor with a low minimum ground clearance.

  Further, the guide wheel arm bracket 3 is fixed to the end portion of the horizontal portion 9b of the front axle 9 in the vehicle width direction, and the shaft support portion of the guide wheel arm 2 and the horizontal portion 9b are arranged substantially linearly in the vehicle width direction. Further, it is possible to suppress the movement by the guide steering of the guide wheel arm 2 as much as possible in a narrow space and to secure a gap for avoiding interference with other parts.

  According to the present invention, it is possible to store driving links such as a guide wheel arm in the vertical wall of the drop portion of the front axle, the upper portion of the axle, and the space surrounded by the wheels, so that the minimum ground clearance of the vehicle is reduced to the conventional two steps. It is possible to provide a guideway bus guide device for an ultra-low floor lowered from the bus.

It is a fragmentary perspective view from the slanting back of the guide wheel arm of the guideway bus which concerns on the Example of this invention. It is a top view (at the time of driving | running | working a straight path of a vehicle) of the guide wheel arm of the guideway bus in the said Example. It is a top view of the guide wheel arm of the guideway bus in the embodiment (when the vehicle is traveling on a curved road). (A) is a top view which shows the connection aspect of a guide wheel arm and an axle. (B) is explanatory drawing which shows the inner side space of the upper part of an axle shaft and a vertical wall in the Z arrow directional view of FIG. It is a front view which shows a prior art. It is a top view of FIG. 5 which shows a prior art.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Guide wheel 2 Guide wheel arm 3 Guide wheel arm bracket 3s Protrusion part 3z Link support device 4 2nd knuckle arm 5 Connecting rod 6 Tie rod 7 2nd drag link 8 Loar radius rod 9 Front axle 9a Drop part 9b Horizontal part 9d Vertical wall 10 First knuckle arm 12 King pin 13 Knuckle arm 17 Support shaft 18 Support shaft 19 Bolt 50 Wheel 100 Guide wall surface

Claims (2)

A low-floor vehicle axle extending in the vehicle width direction having a horizontal portion extending in the horizontal direction at a position lowered one step through a drop portion at a center portion, and pivoting wheels on both ends.
A guide wheel arm bracket provided with a protruding portion that is fixed to an end portion in the vehicle width direction of the horizontal portion of the axle and protrudes outward in the vehicle width direction;
A guide wheel having an intermediate portion pivotally attached to the guide wheel arm bracket so as to be pivotable in the horizontal direction, a guide wheel rolling on a guide wall surface of a dedicated track on the front end side, and a tie rod arm connected to the rear end side. Arm,
A first knuckle arm that holds a wheel on the axle via a king pin, protrudes inward in the vehicle width and is connected to a drag link, and a second knuckle arm that is connected to the first knuckle arm and protrudes rearward of the vehicle. A knuckle consisting of
A connecting rod that has one end connected to the projecting portion of the second knuckle arm and the other end connected to the rear end side of the guide wheel arm to transmit the operation of the guide wheel arm to the knuckle;
A guideway bus guide device.   The connecting rod, the connecting portion between the connecting rod and the guide wheel arm, and the connecting portion between the connecting rod and the second knuckle arm are located at the rear of the vehicle relative to the axle, and the upper portion of the axle and the drop portion The guideway bus guide device according to claim 1, wherein the guideway bus guide device is disposed in a space corresponding to the inside of the vertical wall.

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