JP3230411B2 - Manufacturing method of composite shaft - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a method of manufacturing a composite shaft having a flange integrally formed at an end of a shaft body made of fiber reinforced plastic.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, as the demand for reducing the weight of automobiles has increased, the production of propeller shafts using fiber reinforced plastic (FRP) has been promoted.
By the way, since a propeller shaft is usually interposed between a transmission having a different installation height and a differential, it is necessary to connect the propeller shaft so that a predetermined bending angle (joint angle) can be obtained. If large joint angles are not required, flexible joints are used for their connection. One example of this flexible joint is a disc joint 1 as shown in FIG.

In the disc joint 1, a plurality of (six in this case) bolt insertion holes 2 are arranged on the same pitch circle, and a portion having the bolt insertion holes 2 is formed as a thick portion 3, and The thin portions 4 are formed between the thick portions 3. In such a disc joint 1, a transmission and a differential are bolted using every other three bolt insertion holes 2, and a propeller shaft is bolted using the remaining three bolt insertion holes 2. It is stopped, and a predetermined joint angle can be obtained by bending the thin portion 4.

Accordingly, the propeller shaft used as described above requires a flange having substantially the same shape as the disc joint 1 at its end. Conventionally, this flange is formed from metal and is separately formed. The end of the shaft body made of fiber reinforced plastic (made of FRP) is bonded to the end using an adhesive (for example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 5-87).
No. 116).

[0005]

However, according to the method in which the flange is made of metal and bonded to the end of the shaft body made of FRP using an adhesive as described above, sufficient bonding strength cannot be obtained. Alternatively, there is a problem in that the weight of the flange is increased and the advantage of lightening the shaft body by FRP is impaired.

As a countermeasure, the present inventors have developed a method of winding a resin-impregnated fiber around a mandrel to form a shaft body, and then expanding the end thereof to form a flange. This is disclosed in Japanese Patent Application No. 6-34213 (unknown). However, according to this method, since the angle is changed between the shaft main body and the flange using the pin, there is another concern about the strength near the pin.

[0007] The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and an object thereof is to provide a method in which a flange is partially formed with an F.
An object of the present invention is to obtain a composite shaft that is lightweight and has sufficient strength by making the RP and improving the method of connecting the flange and the shaft body.

[0008]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a plate having a fitting hole and a plurality of cylindrical members protruding around the fitting hole. Then, fibers impregnated with resin are laminated in the axial direction of the fitting hole while being wound around the cylindrical member to form a flange that partially contacts the virtual cylindrical surface including the inner surface of the fitting hole. The flange is fitted to the end of a shaft body formed by winding a fiber impregnated with resin separately around a mandrel by using the fitting hole, and thereafter, the flange and the shaft body are subjected to hardening treatment. And is integrated.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect, a resin is impregnated between the flange and the shaft body before the hardening process is performed after the flange is fitted to an end of the shaft body. The wound fiber is wound.

Further, according to a third aspect of the present invention, there is provided a plate having a fitting hole and having a plurality of cylindrical members projecting around the fitting hole, and using the plate with the fitting hole. Then, a fiber impregnated with resin is separately fitted around the end of the shaft body formed by winding the fiber around the mandrel, and then the fiber impregnated with resin between the cylindrical member on the plate and the shaft body is formed. And a hardening process is performed thereafter to integrate the flange with the shaft main body.

[0011]

In the above three inventions, since the flange portion excluding the plate and the cylindrical member is formed of the fiber impregnated with the resin, the weight is reduced as compared with the flange made entirely of metal. . In addition, since the flange and the shaft body are integrated together with the hardening process, the bonding strength between them is sufficient, and the strength of the connecting portion is improved by using the cylindrical member protruding from the plate to connect with the mating member. Will be enough.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, the fiber impregnated with the resin is further wound between the flange and the shaft main body, so that the contact area of the fiber between the flange and the shaft main body is increased, and between the two. The bonding strength is further increased. Further, in the third aspect, since the flange is formed on the shaft main body, the flange can be formed efficiently by sharing the mandrel forming the shaft main body.

[0013]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

FIGS. 1 to 4 show a first embodiment of the present invention. In the first embodiment, a triangular plate 11 having a circular fitting hole 10 in the center and a cylindrical member 13 having a shaft hole 12 are prepared as shown in FIG. Mounting hole 14 provided in advance inside the part
The boss 13 a provided at one end of the tubular member 13 is press-fitted into the plate 13 to fix the tubular member 13 to the plate 11. In addition,
This fixing may be performed by welding or bonding. Also,
The plate 11 has two triangular prism-shaped first guide members 15 protrudingly located between the adjacent mounting holes 14, and one quadrangular prism-shaped one positioned between the two guide members 15. The second guide member 16 is protruded. The first guide member 15 has one vertex directed toward the second guide member 16 and a bottom surface 15 facing the vertex.
a to the side of the mounting hole 14 and one of the side surfaces 15b to the fitting hole 10
Are arranged on the plate 11. The cylindrical member 13 and the first and second guide members 15,
The lengths 16 are set so that the protruding lengths from the plate 11 are equal.

The first guide member 15 also has a mounting hole 14.
The bottom surface 15a facing the side of the cylindrical member 13 is a curved surface following the outer peripheral surface of the cylindrical member 13 and forms a predetermined gap S1 between the outer peripheral surface of the cylindrical member 13 fixed to the mounting hole 14. . The first guide member 15 has a side surface 15 b facing the fitting hole 10 extending parallel to a tangent to the fitting hole 10, and a virtual cylindrical surface (cylindrical surface) including the inner surface of the fitting hole 10. A predetermined gap S2 is formed between the virtual cylinder surface and the closest cylindrical position.

The plate 11 having the cylindrical member 13 and the first and second guide members 15 and 16 protruding therefrom serves as a jig for forming a flange 17 (FIG. 4) described later and is a component of the flange 17. It is used as In forming the flange 17, the plate 11 is fitted and fixed to the mandrel 18 by using the fitting hole 10 as shown in FIGS. Then, a fiber 19 impregnated with a resin (hereinafter referred to as a resin-impregnated fiber) 19 is wound around the cylindrical member 13 (inside the first guide member 15 (one side 1 side).
5b), continuously wind from the outside of the second guide member 16 to the outside, and sequentially laminate in the axial direction of the fitting hole 10 of the plate 11. At this time, the resin-impregnated fibers 19 are crossed and extended inside the tubular member 13, whereby the fibers 1 are impregnated.
9 is linearly extended in the direction of the second guide member 16 along the side surface 15b of the first guide member 15, and the gap S2
(FIG. 3). As a result, the fiber laminated portion 20 around the fitting hole 10 becomes hexagonal, and comes into contact with the virtual cylindrical surface including the inner surface of the fitting hole 10, that is, the peripheral surface of the mandrel 18 at six locations in the circumferential direction. The resin-impregnated fibers 19
May fill the gap S2 and slightly protrude inside the fitting hole 10.

In this way, the resin-impregnated fibers 19 are laminated to the full length of the cylindrical member 13 (including the first and second guide members 15, 16), thereby including the plate 11, and A flange (uncured flange) 17 formed by connecting the tubular members 13 to each other with the resin-impregnated fibers 19 is completed. When the flange 17 is formed, the resin-impregnated fibers 19 are wound around the cylindrical member 13 by the first guide member 15.
Is raised by the bottom surface 15a, so that the swelling is restricted, and the appearance quality is improved. The guide member 15 also has a role of filling the gap between the flanges 17, and may be removed at the time of forming the flange and attached after the formation.

Next, the uncured flange 17 is removed from the mandrel 18 and, as shown in FIG.
Using 0, a resin impregnated fiber is separately wound around the mandrel 21 and fitted into a shaft body (uncured shaft body) 22. By this fitting, the fiber laminated portion 20 around the fitting hole 10 comes into contact with the peripheral surface of the shaft main body 22 at six places in the circumferential direction, similarly to the mandrel 18 in FIG.
The resin in the resin-impregnated fibers 19 forming the flange 17 and the resin in the resin-impregnated fibers forming the shaft body 22 are fused. Thereafter, a hardening process is performed while maintaining the fitted state,
Thereby, the flange 17 and the shaft main body 22 are firmly integrated, and a composite shaft with a flange is completed. In the composite shaft completed in this way, the cylindrical member 13 protruding from the plate 11 can be used as it is for connection with the counterpart member, and the strength of the connection portion is sufficient.

Here, the flange 17 and the shaft main body 22 are
The same fiber may be used. For example, the flange 17 is formed of carbon fiber (CFRP), and the shaft body 22 is formed of glass fiber (GFRP). Is also good. Further, as a resin impregnated in these fibers, for example, an epoxy resin, a polyimide resin, an unsaturated polyester resin, or the like can be used.

By setting the diameter of the fitting hole 10 of the plate 11 to be slightly smaller than the outer diameter of the shaft body 22, when the uncured flange 17 is fitted to the uncured shaft body 22, The fibers on the 22 side are crushed to increase the contact area between the two, and the bonding strength between the two is further increased. Further, the flange 17 may be formed by sharing the mandrel 21 forming the shaft main body 22. In this case, one end of the mandrel 21 is extended and the extended portion thereof is made the same as the flange forming mandrel 18. A diameter portion is provided, and the plate 11 is fitted to this portion to form a flange 17, and this flange is attached to the shaft body 2 formed simultaneously.
2 and a curing treatment is performed in the same manner as described above. By sharing the mandrel 21 forming the shaft main body 22 in this manner, the labor for transferring the flange from the mandrel to the mandrel can be omitted, and workability is improved.

FIGS. 5, 6 and 7 show a modification of the first embodiment. In the example shown in FIG. 5, the first guide member 15 is removed from the plate 11 and the resin-impregnated fiber is removed. 19 from the outside of the cylindrical member 13 to the second guide member 16
In the example shown in FIG. 6, the second guide member 16 in addition to the first guide member 15 is also omitted, and the resin impregnated fiber 19 is simply wound around the outside of the tubular member 13. In the example shown in FIG. 7, the resin-impregnated fibers 19 are transferred to the cylindrical member 1 using the same plate 11 as that shown in FIG.
Each of the cylindrical members 13 is wound around the cylindrical member 13 while intersecting with each other. In any of the embodiments, the cylindrical member 13
By properly setting the size and installation position of the
The fiber lamination portion 20 surrounding the shaft body 22 partially contacts the virtual cylindrical surface including the inner surface of the fitting hole 10, and this contact portion is
And sufficient bonding strength can be obtained. However, in these modified embodiments, the winding shape of the resin-impregnated fibers 19 is triangular and the contact points with the shaft body 22 are three places in the circumferential direction. This is disadvantageous in connection strength. In each embodiment, a protrusion may be provided on the plate 11 for the purpose of filling the gap between the flanges.

FIGS. 8 and 9 show a second embodiment of the present invention. In the second embodiment, the jig used in the first embodiment is replaced with the first guide member 15.
A plurality of guide pins 25 project from an outer side surface 15c of the first guide member 1 toward the side of the plate 11.
A holding jig 26 is protruded from the end face of the fitting 5 so as to extend in the direction of the shaft main body of the fitting hole 10 so as to be detachable. Multiple guide pins 25
Are arranged diagonally so as to be closer to the second guide member 16 toward the connection end (proximal end) with the plate 11, and are fixed to the first guide member 15.

In the second embodiment, after the flange 17 is formed in the same manner as in the first embodiment, the flange 17 is formed.
The mandrel 2 formed separately using the fitting hole 10
1 is fitted to the upper shaft body 22. Then, resin impregnated fiber 2
7 is wound around one corner (corresponding to one cylindrical member 13) of the flange 17, the direction is changed by hanging on a guide pin 25, and further wound around the shaft main body 22.
Repeat while multiplying by 5. At this time, the resin impregnated fiber 2
Numeral 7 passes through the inside of the holding jig 26 to regulate the swelling. Then, the above-mentioned winding operation is repeated for the remaining two corners of the flange 17, whereby the flange 1
The shaft 7 and the shaft body 22 are in contact with each other via the resin-impregnated fiber 27 over a wide area in front of the end face of the flange 17, and thereafter, by performing a hardening treatment, the two are more firmly joined. The holding jig 26 is removed from the plate 11 after or before the curing process.

In the second embodiment, in particular, since the position of the guide pin 25 on the first guide member 15 is changed in the axial direction and the circumferential direction, the intersection 27a of the resin impregnated fiber 27 (see FIG. 9) are unevenly distributed in the direction of the shaft main body, and as a result, the resin-impregnated fibers 2 between the first guide members 15
7 is suppressed and the appearance quality is improved. In addition, since the swelling of the resin-impregnated fibers 27 on the shaft main body 22 is regulated by the holding jig 26, when the completed composite shaft main body is joined to the mating member, the bolt head or nut through which the cylindrical member 13 is inserted is inserted. Therefore, the peripheral surface of the shaft body does not interfere, and the assembly workability is not hindered.

In the second embodiment, the flange 17
After forming the shaft body 22 and the shaft body 22 separately, the two are combined and the resin-impregnated fiber 27 is post-wound, and the resin-impregnated fiber 27 wound thereafter is used to increase the bonding strength between the two.
According to the present invention, a flange can be formed directly on the shaft main body 22 in the same manner as in the second embodiment. In this case, the plate 11 used in the second embodiment is replaced with a mandrel 21 (FIG. 4).
After fitting onto the upper shaft body 22, the resin-impregnated fibers 27 are applied to the plate 11 by the same procedure as shown in FIGS.
A flange is formed while being wound between the upper cylindrical member 13 and the shaft main body 22, and then a hardening process is performed to form the flange 1.
7 and the shaft body 22 are integrated. However, plate 11
Guide pin 25 provided on the upper first guide member 15
In FIGS. 8 and 9, the number is increased as much as possible to increase the degree of fiber accumulation, and the second guide member 16 (FIGS. 8 and 9) is omitted from the plate 11.
In the present embodiment (third embodiment), since the mandrel 21 forming the shaft main body 22 is shared, it is not necessary to move the jig including the plate 11, and the composite shaft can be manufactured with higher efficiency. .

[0026]

As described in detail above, according to the method of manufacturing a composite shaft according to the present invention, a part of the flange can be made of fiber reinforced plastic to reduce the weight of the flange. In addition, the light weight advantage that the shaft main body is made of fiber reinforced plastic can be maximized, and the use value thereof is significantly increased. In addition, since the flange and the shaft body are integrated at the same time as the hardening treatment, and the cylindrical member protruding from the plate is used for connection with the mating member, not only the coupling strength between the flange and the shaft body becomes sufficient, The strength of the connecting portion to the member is also sufficient, and the durability reliability of the obtained composite shaft is significantly improved. If the separately formed flange and the shaft body are fitted together and the fiber impregnated with resin is further wound between them before the curing treatment, the contact area of the fiber between the flange and the shaft body must be increased. Thereby, the bonding strength between the two is further increased, and the durability reliability of the obtained composite shaft is further improved. Further, when a plate having a cylindrical member is fitted to the shaft main body and a flange is formed on the shaft main body, the flange can be efficiently formed by sharing the mandrel forming the shaft main body, and the manufacturing cost is reduced. Reduce. Also,
The cost can be reduced by changing the type of fiber between the shaft main body and the flange, and using inexpensive fiber for the flange, for example. Further, since the bonding or press-fitting step is omitted and only one curing is required, the composite shaft can be manufactured efficiently.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a plan view schematically showing a flange forming step according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a front view schematically showing a flange forming step in the first embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a partially exploded plan view showing the structure of the jig used in the first embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a front view schematically showing a step of connecting the flange and the shaft body in the first embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a plan view schematically showing a flange forming step as a modified example of the first embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a plan view schematically showing another flange forming step as a modified example of the first embodiment.

FIG. 7 is a plan view schematically showing still another flange forming step as a modified example of the first embodiment.

FIG. 8 is a plan view schematically showing a joining step of a flange and a shaft body according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 9 is a front view schematically showing a joining process of the flange and the shaft main body in the second embodiment.

FIG. 10 is a plan view showing a shape of a disc joint which is one of mating materials of a composite shaft manufactured by the present invention.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Fitting hole 11 Plate 13 Cylindrical member 15 Guide member 16 Guide member 17 Flange 19 Resin impregnated fiber 21 Shaft main body forming mandrel 22 Shaft main body 27 Resin impregnated fiber

────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continued on the front page (72) Inventor Yoshiji Shimoda 1 Toyota Town, Toyota City, Aichi Prefecture Inside Toyota Motor Corporation (56) References JP-A-7-174131 (JP, A) JP-A-6-174 74248 (JP, A) JP-A-6-87341 (JP, A) JP-A-59-109319 (JP, A) JP-A-55-65538 (JP, A) (58) Fields investigated (Int. ⁷ , DB name) B29C 69/00-69/02 B29C 67/14 B60K 17/22 F16C 3/02

Claims (3)

(57) [Claims] 1. A plate having a fitting hole and a plurality of cylindrical members protruding around the fitting hole is prepared, and a fiber impregnated with resin is wound around the cylindrical member. The fitting hole is laminated in the axial direction to form a flange that partially contacts the virtual cylindrical surface including the inner surface of the fitting hole, and the flange is separately impregnated with resin using the fitting hole. A method of manufacturing a composite shaft, comprising: fitting a fiber that has been wound around a mandrel to an end of a shaft body formed by forming the flange and the shaft body. 2. After fitting the flange to the end of the shaft body,
The method for manufacturing a composite shaft according to claim 1, wherein a fiber impregnated with a resin is wound between the flange and the shaft main body before performing the hardening treatment. 3. A plate having a fitting hole and a plurality of cylindrical members protruding around the fitting hole is prepared, and the plate is separately impregnated with resin using the fitting hole. Fitted to the end of the shaft body formed by winding the made fiber around the mandrel,
Next, a flange is formed while winding fibers impregnated with resin between the cylindrical member on the plate and the shaft main body, and thereafter, a hardening process is performed to integrate the flange with the shaft main body. A method of manufacturing a composite shaft, comprising: