JP2018083443A - Grille shutter mechanism - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a grille shutter mechanism that has a relatively simplified configuration and needs relatively reduced space in a longitudinal direction of a vehicle.SOLUTION: A grille shutter mechanism 10A disposed at a front side of a radiator of a vehicle includes: a body 11 having an opening part 12; a shutter member 13 moving in parallel to an opening face of the opening part 12 to open and close the opening part 12; and a drive motor 20. In grille shutter mechanism, the drive motor 20 rotates while a pinion 21 at a side of the drive motor 20 is engaged with a rack 13a provided at a side of the shutter member 13, to move the shutter member 13.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

  The present invention relates to a grill shutter mechanism that can be arranged in a narrow space in a vehicle.

  Some vehicle cooling systems have a grill shutter device mounted on the front side of a radiator disposed at the front of the vehicle. This grill shutter device is provided with an opening for introducing running wind to the front of the radiator during normal running, but when you do not want to give running wind to the radiator or engine when the engine is warming up, or during high-speed running In order to maintain the cooling effect of the radiator on the engine coolant within an appropriate range, and to prevent excessive air from being sucked into the engine room and increasing the air resistance, the opening should be closed. It has become.

  The grill shutter device includes, for example, an outer grill having an opening penetrating in the front-rear direction, an inner grill attached to the rear side thereof, and a shutter between the two, and this shutter is set between the outer grill and the inner grill. In addition, a grill shutter device has been proposed in which an opening is opened and closed by rotating around a shutter axis to adjust the amount of air introduced to the front of the radiator (see, for example, Patent Document 1).

JP 2013-226924 A

  By the way, in the grill shutter device described above, the shutter is switched between the open state and the shield state by rotating 90 degrees, and a relatively large space is required in the front-rear direction. In a vehicle having a small space in front of the engine, the installation may be difficult from the viewpoint of space.

  An object of the present invention is to provide a grill shutter mechanism that has a relatively simple configuration and requires a relatively small installation space in the front-rear direction of the vehicle.

  In order to achieve the above object, a grill shutter mechanism of the present invention includes a grill shutter mechanism disposed on a front side of a radiator of a vehicle, wherein the grill shutter is disposed on a main body having an opening and an opening surface of the opening. A shutter member that moves in parallel and opens and closes the opening, and a rotary drive body are configured, and a pinion on the rotary drive body side is engaged with a rack provided on the shutter member side to perform the rotation. The shutter member is moved by rotating the driving body.

  According to the grill shutter mechanism of the present invention, the configuration is relatively simple and the installation space in the front-rear direction of the vehicle can be relatively small.

It is the figure seen from the vehicle diagonal back which shows the grill shutter mechanism of 1st Embodiment which concerns on this invention. It is the figure seen from the vehicle back which shows the composition of the grill shutter mechanism of Drawing 1, and is a figure showing the state where an opening is opened. It is the figure seen from the vehicle rear which shows the structure of the grill shutter mechanism of FIG. 1, and is a figure which shows the state which the opening part has closed. It is the figure seen from the vehicle left-right direction which shows the structure of the grill shutter mechanism of FIG. 1, and is a figure which shows the state which the opening part has closed. It is the figure seen from the vehicle diagonal back which shows the grill shutter mechanism of 2nd Embodiment which concerns on this invention. It is the figure seen from the vehicle rear which shows the composition of the grill shutter mechanism of Drawing 5, and is a figure showing the state where an opening is closed. It is the figure seen from the vehicle left-right direction which shows the structure of the grill shutter mechanism of FIG. 5, and is a figure which shows the state which the opening part has closed.

  Hereinafter, a grill shutter mechanism according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. The grill shutter mechanism according to the embodiment of the present invention is disposed on the front side of a radiator that is a part of a cooling system for an engine of a vehicle such as a truck, and the amount of air introduced into the radiator through the front grill It is a mechanism that adjusts.

  In the grill shutter mechanism 10 </ b> A according to the first embodiment shown in FIGS. 1 to 4, the grill shutter mechanism 10 </ b> A moves in parallel with the main body 11 having the opening 12 and the opening surface of the opening 12. The shutter member 13 that opens and closes the portion 12 and a drive motor (rotary drive body such as an electric motor) 20 are configured. The moving direction, that is, the opening / closing direction of the shutter member 13 is normally the vertical direction (Z direction) of the vehicle on which the grill shutter mechanism 10A is mounted. However, the moving direction is not limited to this direction. You may make it into the left-right direction (Y direction) of a vehicle. It should be noted that the closing member 14 is arranged so as to overlap the portion of the main body 11 where the shutter member 13 is disposed when the opening 12 is opened and so that the shutter member 13 is also closed when the opening 12 is closed. Arrange it.

  Further, by providing a rack 13a extending in the moving direction on the shutter member 13 side, engaging the pinion 21 on the drive motor 20 side, and rotating the drive motor 20, the rack 13a and the rack 13a are provided. The shutter member 13 is moved along the guide 11a on the main body 11 side.

  The rack 13a can be easily formed by providing the shutter member 13 with a concave portion or a convex portion. In particular, when the concave portion is configured by a groove or a hole, the thickness of the shutter member 13 does not increase even when the rack 13a is provided, so that the installation space in the vehicle front-rear direction of the shutter mechanism 10A can be further reduced.

  Further, a pinion 21 is attached to the rotating shaft of the drive motor 20, and the pinion 21 is engaged with the rack 13a. In this case, if the diameter of the pinion 21 is increased, the moving speed of the shutter member 13 is increased and the opening / closing time is shortened. However, the space occupied by the pinion 21 is increased, and the grille shutter mechanism 10A in a narrow space such as an engine room. Placement becomes difficult. On the other hand, when the diameter of the pinion 21 is reduced, the space occupied by the pinion 21 is reduced, but the moving speed of the shutter member 13 is reduced and the opening / closing time is also extended.

  Further, regarding the arrangement of the drive motor 20, when the diameter of the drive motor 20 is relatively large, the depth of the grill shutter mechanism 10A (the length in the vehicle front-rear direction (X direction)) becomes large. When viewed from the side, at least a part of the drive motor 20 is disposed outside the main body 11. As a result, the drive motor 20 is placed at a position that does not interfere with the radiator (not shown) and the other members (the frame 30 having a U-shaped cross section in FIG. 1) that is also disposed behind the grill shutter mechanism 10A. Can be placed. Furthermore, it is preferable to arrange the drive motor 20 so that a part of the drive motor 20 overlaps with the main body 11 when viewed from the left-right direction of the vehicle, thereby further reducing the installation space in the front-rear direction.

  When the rotating shaft of the drive motor 20 or the pinion 21 is arranged outside the main body 11 when viewed from the front side of the vehicle, the rack 13a is extended to the outside from the main body 11, and the pinion 21 is formed outside the main body 11. You may respond by engaging the extended rack 13a. Thereby, the freedom degree of the arrangement position of the drive motor 20 increases remarkably.

  In the grill shutter mechanism 10B of the second embodiment shown in FIGS. 5 to 7, an intermediate gear 22 is provided on the rotation shaft of the drive motor 20, and the pinion 21 is engaged with the intermediate gear 22. That is, the intermediate gear 22 is interposed between the pinion 21 and the drive motor 20. The number of teeth of the pinion 21 is made smaller than the number of teeth of the intermediate gear 22. Other configurations are the same as those of the grill shutter mechanism 10A of the first embodiment.

  With the configuration in which the intermediate gear 22 is interposed, in the grill shutter mechanism 10B, the rotational speed of the pinion 21 can be made larger than the rotational speed of the drive motor 20 due to the relationship between the number of teeth of the intermediate gear 22 and the number of teeth of the pinion 21. Therefore, the moving speed of the shutter member 13 can be increased, and thereby the opening / closing time of the opening 12 can be shortened. Furthermore, since the degree of freedom of the positional relationship between the rack 13a and the drive motor 20 is increased by the amount of the intermediate gear 22, the degree of freedom of the arrangement position of the drive motor 20 can be increased. For example, it is relatively easy to dispose the rotational shaft of the drive motor 20 outside the main body 11 when viewed from the front of the vehicle.

  Furthermore, in the grill shutter mechanisms 10A and 10B of the first and second embodiments described above, the opening 12 is provided at one location. However, the opening 12 is defined as the moving direction of the shutter member 13 or the moving direction. A plurality of shutter members 13 that open and close each of the openings 12 may be divided or integrally provided in a plurality of orthogonal or intersecting directions. In this case, since several openings can be provided in accordance with the design of the front of the vehicle, a plurality of openings can be provided instead of providing a large opening. Can be avoided.

  As described above, according to the grill shutter mechanisms 10A and 10B of the first and second embodiments, a relatively simple configuration is achieved and the installation space in the front-rear direction of the vehicle can be relatively small. .

10A, 10B Grill shutter mechanism 11 Main body 11a Guide 12 Opening portion 13 Shutter member 13a Rack (concave groove)
20 Drive motor (rotary drive)
21 Pinion 22 Intermediate gear 30 U-shaped frame (other members)

Claims (5)

In the grill shutter mechanism arranged on the front side of the radiator of the vehicle,
A main body having an opening, a shutter member that moves in parallel with the opening surface of the opening to open and close the opening, and a rotary driving body, and a rack provided on the shutter member side A grille shutter mechanism characterized in that the shutter member is moved by engaging a pinion on the rotary drive body and rotating the rotary drive body.   The grill shutter mechanism according to claim 1, wherein a pinion is provided on a rotation shaft of the rotary drive body, and the rack is formed by a concave portion or a convex portion provided in the shutter member.   The grille shutter mechanism according to claim 1, wherein a pinion is meshed with an intermediate gear provided on a rotation shaft of the rotary drive body, and the number of teeth of the pinion is smaller than the number of teeth of the intermediate gear.   The grille shutter mechanism according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein at least a part of the rotary drive body is disposed outside the main body as viewed from the front of the vehicle.   The grille shutter mechanism according to any one of claims 1 to 4, further comprising a plurality of the openings and a shutter member that opens and closes each of the openings.

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