JP2010163074A - Mounting structure of steering column - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an inexpensive and lightweight mounting structure of a steering column by which the steering column is easily mounted. <P>SOLUTION: In the mounting structure of the steering column, when the steering column 15 is attached to a vehicle-body-side member 13, a fixing bolt 25 projecting downward from the vehicle-body-side member 13 is inserted into a bolt insertion hole 50 of a capsule 27. A temporarily holding projection 52 inside the bolt insertion hole 50 is engaged with a screw portion 25a of the fixing bolt 25. The steering column 15 is temporarily held to the fixing bolt 25 to which a nut is not fastened yet. It is not necessary to hold the steering column with a hand even before the nut is fastened to the fixing bolt 25. The capsule 27 and the temporarily holding projection 52 are integrally formed of a single material. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2010,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a steering column mounting structure.

  In general, the steering column is fixed to the vehicle body side member using fixing bolts and nuts at two locations, an upper bracket on the vehicle rear side and a lower bracket on the vehicle front side. When the steering column is mounted on a vehicle, it is necessary to temporarily hold the steering column by supporting it from below until the nut is tightened on the fixing bolt.

  The inventor of the present application provides a temporary holding hook on a column bracket fixed to the upper side (vehicle rear side) of the steering column, and temporarily holds the steering column by hooking the temporary holding hook to the hook portion of the vehicle body. Devised. Further, it has been devised that the upper bracket is prevented from falling off by hooking the upper bracket hook provided on the column bracket to the upper bracket during temporary holding.

On the other hand, with the lower part (vehicle front side) of the steering column temporarily fixed to a predetermined part of the vehicle body, the release member assembled to the upper bracket of the steering column is mounted on the upper surface of the column mounting part of the vehicle body side mounting bracket. It has been proposed to temporarily hold the steering column by placing it (see, for example, Patent Document 1).
On the other hand, general temporary fixing structures include the following. That is, as a temporary fixing structure when fixing an electronic device such as a display or a speaker to a bolt with a nut, a temporary fixing part having a circular hole, so that the circular hole and the mounting hole of the attached member are concentric, There has been proposed a structure in which a member to be attached is temporarily fixed by fixing it to the back surface of the member to be attached by engaging the elastic contact piece provided on the inner periphery of the circular hole with a bolt (for example, Patent Documents). 2).

  Further, it has been proposed to use a temporary fixing nut provided with a locking claw for locking to a bolt as a temporary fixing structure for an attachment part (see, for example, Patent Document 3).

JP 2002-59868 A JP 2002-48117 A JP 2005-331068 A

In the temporary holding structure devised by the inventor, the column bracket needs to be provided with a temporary holding hook and an upper bracket hook, so that the column bracket is enlarged. As a result, the weight of the column bracket increases and the manufacturing cost increases.
Moreover, in patent document 2, it is necessary to fix the temporarily fixed components which are components different from a to-be-attached member to the back surface of a to-be-attached member by adhesion | attachment etc., and a manufacturing cost becomes high.

In addition, when Patent Document 3 is applied to a steering column mounting structure, it is necessary to support the steering column from below until the temporary fixing nut is fitted to the bolt, and workability is poor.
Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a steering column mounting structure that is inexpensive, lightweight, and easy to mount a steering column.

  In order to achieve the above object, according to the first aspect of the present invention, a nut (26) is fastened to a fixing bolt (25) projecting downward from the vehicle body side member (13), whereby a steering column ( 15) In the steering column mounting structure (B1) for mounting, the upper bracket (23) fixed to the steering column or fixable to the steering column, and the upper bracket is held with a predetermined holding force, A capsule (27) that can be detached from the upper bracket in the removal direction (Y1) during absorption, and the capsule has a bolt insertion hole (50) for inserting the fixing bolt in the insertion direction (W1). A temporary holding projection (52) is formed on the inner periphery of the bolt insertion hole, and the steering column When the fixing bolt is inserted into the bolt insertion hole of the capsule held by the upper bracket to be attached to the vehicle body side member, the temporary holding protrusion engages with the screw portion of the fixing bolt. As a result, the steering column is temporarily held.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, the capsule and the temporary holding projection are integrally formed using a single resin.
According to a third aspect of the present invention, the temporary holding protrusion has a predetermined direction that is on the same side as the insertion direction and obliquely intersects the insertion direction from the inner periphery of the bolt insertion hole. It includes elastically deformable elastic protrusions protruding in (K1, K2).

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, the bolt insertion hole includes a long hole that is long in the detachment direction of the capsule, and an inner periphery of the long hole as the bolt insertion hole is in a longitudinal direction of the long hole. The provisional holding protrusions include a pair of extending opposing surfaces (53), and the temporary holding protrusions are formed on the opposing surfaces and extend along the longitudinal direction.
In the above description, the alphanumeric characters in parentheses represent reference numerals of corresponding components in the embodiments described later, but the scope of the claims is not limited by these reference numerals.

  According to the first aspect of the present invention, when the steering column is attached to the vehicle body side member, when the steering column is lifted and the fixing bolt is inserted into the bolt insertion hole of the capsule, the inner periphery of the bolt insertion hole is temporarily held. The protrusion engages with the threaded portion of the fixing bolt. As a result, the steering column can be temporarily held on the vehicle body side member, so there is no need to support the steering column by hand until the nut is fastened to the fixing bolt, and therefore the mounting work can be easily performed. Can do. With a very simple configuration in which a temporary holding protrusion is provided in the bolt insertion hole of the original capsule, the steering column mounting workability can be significantly improved at a low cost.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, the temporary holding function can be achieved at a low cost without increasing the component cost and the assembly cost.
According to the third aspect of the present invention, by using the elastic protrusion as the temporary holding protrusion, it is possible to reduce the insertion load of the fixing bolt into the bolt insertion hole, and the mounting workability is also improved from this point. . In addition, the load that can be temporarily held by the temporarily holding protrusions can be increased. In addition, as a capsule, while securing the necessary rigidity when fastened to the vehicle body side member together with the upper bracket, as a temporary holding projection, it is necessary to get over the thread of the fixed bolt inserted through the bolt insertion hole High elasticity can be secured.

  According to the fourth aspect of the present invention, the fixing bolt and the bolt insertion hole are elongated holes as the bolt insertion hole in a state where the steering column is temporarily held by the protrusion as the temporary holding protrusion engaged with the fixing bolt. Therefore, the upper bracket can be easily aligned with the vehicle body side member with respect to the disengagement direction while maintaining the temporary holding state of the steering column.

1 is a schematic diagram illustrating a schematic configuration of a vehicle steering apparatus to which a steering column mounting structure according to an embodiment of the present invention is applied. It is sectional drawing which follows the II-II line of FIG. It is a fragmentary sectional top view of the attachment structure of a steering column. It is a disassembled perspective view of the attachment structure of a steering column. It is a top view of a capsule. It is sectional drawing which follows the VI-VI line of FIG. It is sectional drawing of the principal part of the attachment structure of a steering column, and shows the state which hold | maintains a steering column temporarily using the protrusion for temporary holding of a capsule, when attaching a steering column to a vehicle body side member. It is sectional drawing of the principal part of the attachment structure of a steering column, and shows the state which fixed the steering column to the vehicle body side member by screwing the nut to the bolt after temporary holding.

A preferred embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.
FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing a schematic configuration of a vehicle steering apparatus including a steering column mounting structure according to an embodiment of the present invention. Referring to FIG. 1, a vehicle steering apparatus 1 includes a steering shaft 3 coupled to a steering member 2 such as a steering wheel, an intermediate shaft 5 coupled to the steering shaft 3 via a universal joint 4, and an intermediate shaft. 5 is provided with a pinion shaft 7 connected via a universal joint 6 and a rack shaft 8 as a steered shaft having a rack 8a meshing with a pinion 7a provided in the vicinity of the end of the pinion shaft 7.

  A steering mechanism A1 is configured by a rack and pinion mechanism including the pinion shaft 7 and the rack shaft 8. The rack shaft 8 is supported by a housing 10 fixed to the vehicle body side member 9 so as to be movable in an axial direction along the left-right direction of the vehicle (a direction orthogonal to the paper surface). Although not shown, each end of the rack shaft 8 is connected to a corresponding steered wheel via a corresponding tie rod and a corresponding knuckle arm.

The steering shaft 3 includes an upper shaft 11 and a lower shaft 12 that are connected to each other so as to be able to rotate together and to be relatively movable in the axial direction by using, for example, spline coupling. The steering shaft 3 is rotatably supported by a steering column 15 fixed to the vehicle body side members 13 and 14 via a bearing (not shown).
The steering column 15 includes a cylindrical upper jacket 16 and a cylindrical lower jacket 17 that are fitted so as to be relatively movable in the axial direction, and a housing 18 that is coupled to the lower end of the lower jacket 17 in the axial direction. The housing 18 houses a speed reduction mechanism 20 that decelerates the power of the steering assisting electric motor 19 and transmits it to the lower shaft 12. The speed reduction mechanism 20 includes a drive gear 21 that is connected to a rotation shaft (not shown) of the electric motor 19 so as to be able to rotate together with the drive gear 21 and a driven gear 22 that meshes with the drive gear 21 and rotates along with the lower shaft 12. .

  Although the present embodiment will be described based on the case where the vehicle steering apparatus 1 is an electric power steering apparatus, the present invention may be applied to a vehicle steering apparatus for manual steering. In the present embodiment, the vehicle steering apparatus 1 is described based on the case where the tilt adjustment is possible. However, the present invention may be applied to a vehicle steering apparatus having no tilt adjustment function.

  The steering column 15 is fixed to the vehicle body side members 13 and 14 via an upper bracket 23 on the vehicle rear X1 side and a lower bracket 24 on the vehicle front X2 side. The upper bracket 23 can be fixed to the upper jacket 16 of the steering column 15 via a column bracket described later. The upper bracket 23 uses a fixing bolt (stud bolt) 25 that protrudes downward from the vehicle body side member 13, a nut 26 that is screwed to the fixing bolt 25, and a capsule 27 that is detachably held by the upper bracket 23. The vehicle body side member 13 is fixed.

The lower bracket 24 is fixed to the lower jacket 17 of the steering column 15. Further, the lower bracket 24 is fixed to the vehicle body side member 14 using a fixing bolt (stud bolt) 28 protruding from the vehicle body side member 14 and a nut 29 screwed to the fixing bolt 28.
Referring to FIG. 2, which is a cross-sectional view taken along the line II-II in FIG. 1, a pair of fixing bolts 25 are provided on the left and right, and each fixing bolt 25 passes through the upper bracket 23 and the capsule 27. By tightening the nut 26 to each fixing bolt 25, the upper bracket 23 and the capsule 27 are sandwiched between the vehicle body side member 13 and the nut 26, thereby fixing the upper bracket 23 to the vehicle body side member 13. I have to. The upper bracket 23, the capsule 27, the fixing bolt 25, and the nut 26 constitute a mounting structure B1 for the steering column 15.

  Referring to FIG. 2 which is a cross-sectional view taken along the line II-II in FIG. 1 and FIG. 3 which is a partial cross-sectional plan view of the main part of the mounting structure B1, the upper bracket 23 is formed of sheet metal, for example. The upper bracket 23 includes an upper plate 31 having a pair of left and right mounting seats 30 and a main portion 32 having a groove shape that is fixed to the upper plate 31 and opens downward. The main body 32 has a web 33 as an upper plate fixed to the lower surface of the upper plate 31 and a pair of side plates 34 extending from both ends of the web 33. On the other hand, a column bracket 35 having a groove shape that opens upward is fixed to the upper jacket 16 of the steering column 15. The column bracket 35 has a pair of side plates 36 facing the pair of side plates 34 of the upper bracket 23.

  A tightening shaft 37 made of bolts penetrating the side plates 34 and 36 of the upper bracket 23 and the column bracket 35 is provided. By rotating the nut 38 screwed to the tightening shaft 37 by rotating the operation lever 39, the both side plates 34, 36 are tightened between the head of the bolt as the tightening shaft 37 and the nut 38. The plates 34 and 36 are locked. Thereby, the position of the steering member 2 after the tilt adjustment is locked to achieve the tilt lock.

As shown in FIG. 3, each capsule 27 is held on a corresponding mounting seat 30 of the upper bracket 23 by a retainer 40 and shear pins 41, 42, 43 having a U shape in plan view.
Referring to FIG. 4 which is an exploded perspective view of the mounting structure B1 of the steering column 15, the mounting seat 30 of the upper bracket 23 has a detaching direction Y1 for detaching the capsule 27 from the mounting seat 30 when absorbing the shock. A notch groove 44 that opens toward (rear of the vehicle rear X1) is formed.

  The capsule 27 is made of synthetic resin, and is attached to the notch groove 44 toward the vehicle front X2 side. The capsule 27 includes a first portion 45 as a base, a second portion 46 that is formed on the first portion 45 and has a substantially trapezoidal shape, and each that protrudes on both sides of the second portion 46. A pair of protrusions 47 and 48 are provided. A concave groove is formed between the first portion 45 and the protrusion 47 and between the first portion 45 and the protrusion 48, and each concave groove corresponds to the notch groove 44 of the mounting seat 30. An edge 49 is inserted.

  Further, the capsule 27 is formed with a bolt insertion hole 50 as an attachment hole through which the first portion 45 and the second portion 46 are vertically inserted. The fixing bolt 25 is inserted into the bolt insertion hole 50 and the washer 51 of the capsule 27 and is screwed into the nut 26. On the inner periphery of the bolt insertion hole 50, a temporary holding projection 52 is formed to project. The capsule 27 and the temporary holding projection 52 are integrally formed using a single resin.

  4, 5, and FIG. 6, which is a cross-sectional view taken along the line VI-VI in FIG. 5, the bolt insertion hole 50 is formed in a long hole that is long in the separation direction of the capsule 27. The inner periphery of the long hole as the hole 50 has a pair of opposing surfaces 53 extending in the longitudinal direction Z1 of the long hole. The temporary holding protrusions 52 are formed by protrusions formed on the respective facing surfaces 53 and extending along the longitudinal direction Z1.

As shown in FIG. 6, each temporary holding projection 52 is on the same side as the insertion direction W <b> 1 of the fixing bolt 25 from the corresponding facing surface 53 on the inner periphery of the bolt insertion hole 50 to the bolt insertion hole 50. In addition, it is constituted by elastically deformable elastic protrusions protruding in predetermined directions K1 and K2 that obliquely intersect the insertion direction W1.
Referring again to FIG. 4, the retainer 40 has a substantially U shape and a resin main plate 54 covering the front half of the upper surface of the capsule 27, and a plurality of resin made integrally with the main plate 54. The shear pins 41, 42, 43 are provided. The capsule 27 is attached to the attachment seat 30 by the shear pins 41, 42, 43. The shear pin 41 is inserted into the pin insertion hole 55 of the mounting seat 30. Further, the shear pins 42 and 43 are inserted into pin insertion holes 56 and 57 arranged at the corresponding edge portions 49 of the notch groove 44 of the mounting seat 30, and further sandwich the second portion 46 of the capsule 27. The pin insertion holes 58 and 59 are inserted through the first portion 45 up and down on both sides (see also FIG. 8).

  The function of the temporary holding projection 52 in the bolt insertion hole 50 of the capsule 27 is as follows. That is, in order to attach the steering column 15 to the vehicle body side member 13, when the fixing bolt 25 is inserted into the bolt insertion hole 50 of the capsule 27 held by the upper bracket 23 as shown in FIG. The protrusion 52 engages with the screw portion 25 a of the fixing bolt 25, and as a result, the steering column 15 is temporarily held by the fixing bolt 25 before the nut 26 is screwed.

Thereafter, as shown in FIG. 8, the nut 26 is tightened from the lower end of the fixing bolt 25, and the upper bracket 23 and the capsule 27 are fastened to the vehicle body side member 13.
According to the present embodiment, when the steering column 15 is attached to the vehicle body side member 13, if the steering column 15 is lifted and the fixing bolt 25 is inserted into the bolt insertion hole 50 of the capsule 27, The circumferential temporary holding projection 52 engages with the screw portion 25 a of the fixing bolt 25. As a result, the steering column 15 can be temporarily held on the vehicle body side member 13, so that it is not necessary to support the steering column 15 by hand until the nut 26 is fastened to the fixing bolt 25, thereby facilitating the installation work. Can be done.

Further, the provisional holding projection 52 is provided in the bolt insertion hole 50 of the original capsule 27, so that the mounting workability of the steering column 15 can be remarkably improved at a light weight and at a low cost.
Further, since the capsule 27 and the temporary holding projection 52 are integrally formed using a single resin, the temporary holding function can be achieved at a low cost without increasing the component cost and the assembly cost.

  Further, the temporary holding protrusion 52 protrudes from the inner periphery of the bolt insertion hole 50 in predetermined directions K1 and K2 that are on the same side as the insertion direction W1 of the fixing bolt 25 and obliquely intersect the insertion direction W1. Since it is configured by elastically deformable elastic protrusions, there are the following advantages. That is, the insertion load of the fixing bolt 25 into the bolt insertion hole 50 can be reduced, and the workability is improved from this point. In addition, the load that can be temporarily held by the temporarily holding protrusions 52 can be increased. Further, as the capsule 27, while securing the necessary rigidity when fastened to the vehicle body side member 13 together with the upper bracket 23, the temporary holding projection 52 is a screw of the fixing bolt 25 inserted through the bolt insertion hole 50. The necessary elasticity when climbing over a mountain can be secured.

  Further, the bolt insertion hole 50 of the capsule 27 is a long hole that is long in the detaching direction Y1 of the capsule 27, and each of the pair of opposing surfaces 53 along the longitudinal direction Z1 of the long hole extends along the longitudinal direction Z1. Since these are used as the temporary holding projections 52, there are the following advantages. That is, in the state in which the steering column 15 is temporarily held by the protrusion as the temporary holding protrusion 52 engaged with the fixing bolt 25, the fixing bolt 25 and the bolt insertion hole 50 are elongated in the long hole as the bolt insertion hole 50. Since the steering column 15 can be relatively displaced in the direction Z1, the upper bracket 23 can be easily aligned with the vehicle body side member 13 with respect to the detachment direction Y1 of the capsule 27 while maintaining the temporary holding state of the steering column 15. From this point, workability is also good.

  The present invention is not limited to the above embodiment, and various modifications can be made within the scope of the claims.

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Vehicle steering device, 13 ... Car body side member, 15 ... Steering column, 16 ... Upper jacket, 17 ... Lower jacket, 23 ... Upper bracket, 25 ... Fixing bolt, 26 ... Nut, 27 ... Capsule, 30 ... Mounting seat 35 ... Column bracket, 40 ... Retainer, 41, 42, 43 ... Shear pin, 44 ... Notch groove, 50 ... Bolt insertion hole, 52 ... Temporary holding projection, 53 ... Opposing surface, 55, 56, 57, 58 , 59 ... Pin insertion hole, B1 ... Steering column mounting structure, X1 ... Vehicle rear, X2 ... Vehicle front, Y1 ... Removal direction, Z1 ... Longitudinal direction, W1 ... Insertion direction, K1, K2 ... Predetermined direction

Claims (4)

In the steering column mounting structure for attaching the steering column to the vehicle body side member by tightening the nut to the fixing bolt protruding downward from the vehicle body side member,
An upper bracket fixed to the steering column or fixable to the steering column;
A capsule that is held by the upper bracket with a predetermined holding force and can be detached from the upper bracket in the direction of separation when absorbing the impact,
The capsule has a bolt insertion hole for allowing the fixing bolt to be inserted in the insertion direction, and a temporary holding projection is formed on the inner periphery of the bolt insertion hole,
In order to attach the steering column to the vehicle body side member, when the fixing bolt is inserted through the bolt insertion hole of the capsule held by the upper bracket, the temporary holding protrusion is a threaded portion of the fixing bolt. And a steering column mounting structure, wherein the steering column is temporarily held as a result.   2. The steering column mounting structure according to claim 1, wherein the capsule and the temporary holding protrusion are integrally formed using a single resin.   3. The temporary holding protrusion according to claim 1, wherein the temporary holding protrusion protrudes from the inner periphery of the bolt insertion hole in a predetermined direction that is on the same side as the insertion direction and obliquely intersects the insertion direction. A steering column mounting structure including an elastic protrusion capable of elastic deformation. 4. The bolt insertion hole according to claim 1, wherein the bolt insertion hole includes a long hole that is long in the separation direction of the capsule,
The inner periphery of the elongated hole as the bolt insertion hole includes a pair of opposing surfaces extending in the longitudinal direction of the elongated hole,
The mounting structure for a steering column, wherein the temporary holding protrusion includes a protrusion formed on each of the opposing surfaces and extending along the longitudinal direction.

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