JP2702626B2 - Cable reel - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a cable reel applied to a steering device of a motor vehicle and the like, and electrically connecting a fixed body and a movable body using a flexible cable.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A cable reel connects a fixed body and a movable body rotatably mounted on the fixed body with a flexible cable, and is similar to a steering device of an automobile. It is used as an electrical connection means between a movable body having a finite number of rotations and a fixed body.

[0003] In this type of cable reel, the ratio of the flexible cable to the total cost is high, and the required length of the flexible cable is shortened to reduce the cost. Is U.S. Pat.
No. 455 specification.

FIG. 6 is a plan view showing a schematic configuration of the cable reel disclosed in the above-mentioned patent specification. As shown in FIG. 1, a movable body 101 is fixed to a cylindrical fixed body 100.
Are mounted rotatably. Flexible cables 103 and 104 are accommodated in a ring-shaped space 102 defined between the fixed body 100 and the movable body 101.
These flexible cables 103 and 104 are led out of the space 102 while being fixed to the fixed body 100 and the movable body 101, respectively.
Are wound in the outer cylinder part and the inner cylinder part of the movable body 101 in a state where the winding direction is reversed, and a U-shaped reversing part is formed at a position where the winding direction is changed. Further, the space 102 has a plurality of rollers 105 along its circumferential direction.
106 groups are arranged, and the flexible cable 103 is provided.
Is looped over one of the rollers 105 group,
The inversion of the flexible cable 104 is looped to one of the other rollers 106.

In the cable reel constructed as described above, for example, when the movable body 101 is rotated clockwise in FIG.
The flexible cable 103, 104 is moved in the circumferential direction, and the flexible cable 103, 104 is in a rewinding state in which the outer cylinder portion side of the fixed body 100 has increased. Conversely, when the movable body 101 is rotated in the counterclockwise direction, the inverted portions of the flexible cables 103 and 104 also move in the same direction, and the flexible cables 103 and 104 are moved toward the inner cylinder of the movable body 101. It will be in a tightly wound state with many windings. During the winding and the rewinding, the rollers 105 and 106 move in the same direction by receiving the force from the reversing portions of the flexible cables 103 and 104.

[0006]

According to the cable reel according to the conventional proposal described above, since the winding direction of the flexible cable is reversed between the inner tube portion and the outer tube portion, the flexible cable is wound. As compared with a cable reel in which is wound in the same direction (in a spiral shape) around the inner tube portion and the outer tube portion, the required length of the flexible cable can be significantly shortened, and the cost can be reduced. Can be reduced. In addition, since a plurality of rollers are arranged between the portion wound around the inner tube portion and the portion wound around the outer tube portion of the flexible cable, the flexible cable can be moved almost all around the ring-shaped space. Can be regulated radially over
Winding or rewinding operations can be performed smoothly.

However, the dimension between the flexible cable wound around the inner cylinder and the flexible cable wound around the outer cylinder (dimension L in FIG. 6) is The L dimension is maximized when all of the flexible cables are rewound to the outer cylindrical portion on the large diameter side, and all of the flexible cables are changed to the inner cylindrical portion on the small diameter side. L dimension becomes minimum when it is wound around. For this reason, even if a plurality of rollers are arranged in a tight state in a space assuming the minimum L dimension, when the flexible cable is tightly rewound toward the outer cylinder and the L dimension increases, each roller becomes large. Play occurs between the cable and the flexible cable. On the other hand, the circumferential dimension of the space defined by the flexible cable wound around the inner tubular portion and the flexible cable wound around the outer tubular portion (dimension indicated by reference numeral M in FIG. 6) also increases. Fluctuates according to the winding state of the flexible cable,
The M dimension is minimized when all of the flexible cables are rewound to the outer diameter part on the large diameter side, and the M dimension is obtained when all of the flexible cables are wrapped around the inner diameter part on the small diameter side. Is maximized. For this reason, even if the rollers are closely arranged in the space assuming the minimum M size, if the flexible cable is tightly wound around the inner cylinder portion and the M size is increased, each adjacent roller is Play occurs between them. Therefore, there is a problem that the rollers collide with each other due to the play and generate abnormal noise. In addition, when the movable body is rotated in a state where there is play between the rollers as described above, particularly, when the movable body is rotated in the rewinding direction, the circumferential gap between the adjacent rollers is increased in a portion where the circumferential gap becomes large. The flexible cable wound around the inner cylinder part swells in the direction of the outer cylinder part on the way to the reversing part and falls into this gap. There was also a problem that the cable was damaged. Furthermore, although a force that tries to rotate in the same direction acts on all the rollers by abutting on the flexible cable, the rollers try to rotate in directions opposite to each other where the adjacent rollers contact each other. Also, there has been a problem that the rotation of the roller is reduced and the movement of the flexible cable is not smooth.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of such a situation of the prior art, and an object of the present invention is to enable a flexible cable to be reliably fed out through a reversing part without using a roller, and to provide a reliable cable. An object of the present invention is to provide a cable reel which has high performance and can reduce noise.

[0009]

In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, the present invention provides a flexible cable which is provided on at least one of an inner peripheral portion and an outer peripheral portion of a space in which a flexible cable is housed and wound. The most main feature is that a guide groove for regulating the radial direction is provided.

[0010]

When the movable body is rotated in one direction, the flexible cable is wound around the inner cylindrical portion or rewound around the outer cylindrical portion by moving the U-shaped inverted portion in the same direction. In this case, since the flexible cable wound around at least one of the inner cylindrical portion and the outer cylindrical portion is restricted by the guide groove from freely moving in the radial direction of the space, the rotational force of the movable body is reversed. And the flexible cable does not buckle on its way to the inversion.

[0011]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a plan view of a cable reel according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a longitudinal sectional view of the cable reel, FIG. 3 is a bottom view of the cable reel, and FIG. Plan view showing the winding state of the cable,
FIG. 5 is a cutaway perspective view showing a guide plate provided on the cable reel.

In these figures, reference numeral 1 denotes a disc-shaped bottom plate having a center hole 2 at the center, and 3 denotes a top plate having a guide hole 4 at the center and an outer cylindrical portion 5 suspended from an outer peripheral edge. 1
The top plate 3 and the top plate 3 are integrated using a screw 6 to form a stator 7. 8 is a cylindrical inner cylinder portion 9 in the center
The movable plate 10 has a lid attached to the upper surface of the movable plate 8, and the movable plate 8 and the lid 10
The rotor 12 is constituted by being integrated by using the rotor 1. A guide plate 13 having a ring shape in a plan view is fitted to the movable plate 8 so as to be vertically movable, and the guide plate 13 is urged downward by the elastic force of a spring 14.

The rotor 12 is rotatably mounted on the stator 7 by the lower end of the inner cylindrical portion 9 being guided by the center hole 2 and the outer peripheral edge of the movable plate 8 being guided by the guide hole 4. The stator 7 and the rotor 12 define a space 15 in a ring shape in plan view. Reference numeral 16 denotes a flexible cable housed and wound in the space 15. The flexible cable 16 is formed by connecting a plurality of round cables each having a conductor covered with an insulating tube and integrating them into a band. In the case of the present embodiment, a strip-shaped cable in which five round wire cables are integrated is used. As shown in FIG. 4, one end of the flexible cable 16 is
Are connected to a first connector 17 fixed to a portion of the stator 7, and are led out of the stator 7 via the first connector 17. On the other hand, the other end of the flexible cable 16 is connected to a second connector 18 fixed to the inner cylindrical portion 9, and is led out of the rotor 12 via the second connector 18. In addition, the flexible cable 16 is wound counterclockwise from the first connector 17 on the inner wall of the outer tubular portion 5 and inverted therefrom into a U-shape (hereinafter referred to as an inverted portion 16a). It is wound in the clockwise direction around the outer wall of the inner cylindrical portion 9 and is housed in the space 15 so as to reach the second connector 18.

Further, guide grooves 19 are formed on the lower surface of the guide plate 13 and the inner peripheral upper surface of the bottom plate 1 opposed thereto, and on the lower surface of the top plate 3 and the outer peripheral upper surface of the bottom plate 1 opposed thereto. Have been. The guide groove 19 extends spirally along the winding direction of the flexible cable 16, and is wound around the flexible cable 16 wound around the outer tube 5 and the inner tube 9. The upper and lower ends of each of the flexible cables 16 are located in the respective guide grooves 19 so that they are restricted from freely moving in the radial direction of the space 15.

Next, the operation of the cable reel according to the embodiment will be described. First, from the state shown in FIG.
Is rotated clockwise, the reversing portion 16a of the flexible cable 16 moves clockwise by a smaller amount of rotation than the rotor 12, and the flexible cable 16 having a length equal to the amount of movement moves to the outer cylinder portion 5 side. From the inner cylinder 9 side. In this case, the flexible cable 1 wound around the outer cylinder 5
6 is regulated by a guide groove 19 formed on the outer peripheral portion of the upper surface of the bottom plate 1 and the lower surface of the top plate 3 so as not to bulge and deviate radially inward (in the direction of the inner cylinder portion 9). It is smoothly fed out and fastened to the inner cylinder portion 9 side.

Conversely, when the rotor 12 is rotated counterclockwise from the state shown in FIG. 4, the reversing portion 16a of the flexible cable 16 moves counterclockwise by a smaller rotation amount than the rotor 12, A flexible cable 16 having a length equal to the moving amount is fed out from the inner cylinder portion 9 side and rewound to the outer cylinder portion 5 side. In this case, the flexible cable 16 wound around the inner cylindrical portion 9 is radially outward (the outer cylindrical portion 5) by a guide groove 19 formed on the inner peripheral portion of the upper surface of the bottom plate 1 and the lower surface of the guide plate 13.
Direction), the rotational force of the rotor 12 is reliably transmitted from the flexible cable 16 wound around the inner cylindrical portion 9 to the reversing portion 16a, and the inner cylindrical portion 9 side The flexible cable 16 is smoothly rewound toward the outer cylinder 5 via the reversing portion 16a.

In the cable reel according to the above embodiment, the flexible cable 16 is required to be wound around the outer tube 5 and the inner tube 9 in the opposite direction via the reversing portion 16a. Flexible cable 16 can be shortened,
As a result, the total cost can be reduced and the size can be reduced. Since the upper and lower ends of the flexible cable 16 wound around the outer tube 5 are regulated by the guide grooves 19, the flexible cable 16 wound around the outer tube 5 during the tightening operation. The flexible cable 16, which is prevented from bulging inward in the radial direction and is similarly wound around the inner cylindrical portion 9.
Since the upper and lower ends are also regulated by the guide grooves 19, the flexible cable 16 wound around the inner cylindrical portion 9 is prevented from bulging outward in the radial direction during the rewinding operation.
Therefore, regardless of the direction in which the rotor 12 is rotated, the rotational force is applied to the reversing portion 16a of the flexible cable 16.
And the flexible cable 16 bulges in the radial direction and buckles on the way to the reversing portion 16a. Further, regarding the inner peripheral portion of the space 15,
Since one guide groove 19 is formed in the guide plate 13 elastically urged by the spring 14, even if the guide groove 19 is set to a sufficient depth, the guide plate 13 is raised against the elastic force of the spring 14. By doing so, it is possible to rewind the flexible cable 16 over the guide groove 19 and rewind to the outer cylinder portion 5 side. Further, since the flexible cable 16 can be regulated in the radial direction by the guide groove 19, the roller group described in the related art becomes unnecessary, and generation of abnormal noise due to collision of the rollers can be prevented.

In the above embodiment, the guide grooves 19 are provided on both the inner and outer peripheral portions of the space 15 so that the flexible cable 16 wound around the inner cylindrical portion 9 and the outer peripheral portion 5 are wound. Although the case in which each of the flexible cables 16 is restricted in the radial direction has been described, although the effect is reduced, it is also possible to omit the guide groove on any one side, and similarly in the above embodiment, The guide grooves 19 are provided on the lower surface of the guide plate 13, the lower surface of the top plate 3, and both the inner and outer upper surfaces of the bottom plate 1. However, although the effect is reduced, the guide grooves 19 are provided at any one place. It may be something.

The shape of the guide groove 19 is not limited to a spiral shape, but can be formed concentrically.

Further, in the above-described embodiment, as an example of the flexible cable 16, a plurality of round wire cables are integrated in a belt shape. Instead, a plurality of parallel conductive wires are connected to a pair of insulating cables. It is also possible to use a flexible cable called a flat cable laminated with a film.

[0021]

As described above, according to the present invention,
Since the guide groove prevents the flexible cable wound around the inner or outer tube from bulging in the radial direction, the flexible cable can be rotated by the rotating force of the movable body without using a roller. It is possible to provide a cable reel that can reliably move the reversing portion in the circumferential direction, and that can achieve high reliability and reduce noise.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a plan view of a cable reel according to one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a longitudinal sectional view of the cable reel.

FIG. 3 is a bottom view of the cable reel.

FIG. 4 is a plan view showing a winding state of a flexible cable provided in the cable reel of FIG. 1;

5 is a cutaway perspective view showing a guide plate provided on the cable reel shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 6 is a plan view of a cable reel according to a conventional example.

[Explanation of symbols]

 Reference Signs List 1 bottom plate 3 top plate 5 outer cylinder 7 stator (fixed body) 8 movable plate 9 inner cylinder 10 lid 12 rotor (movable body) 13 guide plate (guide) 14 spring (elastic body) 15 space 16 flexibility Cable 16a Inversion section 19 Guide groove

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continuation of the front page (56) References JP-A-55-119670 (JP, A) JP-A-1-180526 (JP, U) JP-A-2-139876 (JP, U)

Claims (2)

(57) [Claims] 1. A fixed body, a movable body rotatably mounted on the fixed body, and a flexible cable connecting the fixed body and the movable body, wherein the flexible cable is ,
While being accommodated in the space between the fixed body and the outer cylinder portion provided on the cylindrical portion and the other one provided in one of the movable body, and the inner cylindrical portion via the reversal portion In a cable reel adapted to be wound around the outer cylinder in the opposite direction, at least one of the inner peripheral portion and the outer peripheral portion of the space,
A cable reel having a guide groove for regulating the flexible cable in a radial direction of a space. 2. A guide body which is movable in the axial direction of the space, and an elastic body which urges the guide body is provided, and the guide groove is formed in the guide body. Cable reel.