JP3238843B2 - Housing interference prevention structure in rotary connector device - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an improvement of a rotary connector device for supplying power to an airbag or the like provided on a pad portion of a steering handle of an automobile.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, a technology for deploying an airbag in the event of a car accident to protect an occupant from impact has been put to practical use. In this airbag, particularly in an airbag provided in a pad portion of a steering handle, it is necessary to supply power to the inflator of the airbag in the pad portion from the vehicle body via a rotating portion of the steering handle. Means for supplying power include those mainly using a slip ring and those using a flexible cable wound spirally as in the rotary connector device of the present invention. Conventionally, various kinds of rotary connector devices of this type have been proposed. For example, in a rotary connector device disclosed in Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 4-54714, a stator housing, a rotor housing rotatably mounted on the stator housing, and a flexible cable spirally housed in a space formed by the two housings are disclosed. And a guide (peripheral wall) for guiding the end of the flexible cable into the space, and an attachment (rotating ring) for connecting the stator housing and the rotor housing. In a rotary connector device of this type, when the rotor housing and the stator housing interfere with each other under an external force, abnormal noise is generated due to the mutual interference. In order to prevent this, it has been generally considered to set the axial dimension such that the contact portion of the rotor housing to the stator housing is sufficiently separated from the stator housing.

[0003]

However, when the rotary connector device is mounted on, for example, a steering shaft of an automobile, it is necessary to incorporate the rotary connector device together with other combination switch devices, a steering angle sensor, and the like into a limited space of the steering shaft portion. However, it is desirable that the rotary connector device be thin, and as described above, there is a problem in increasing the axial dimension of the housing in order to prevent mutual interference between the two housings.

[0004]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned problems, and prevents mutual interference between a rotor housing and a stator housing without increasing the axial dimension of the housing. An object of the present invention is to provide a housing interference prevention structure in a rotary connector device that contributes to a reduction in the thickness of the rotary connector device.

[0005] The present invention provides the following means to achieve the above object. That is, in a rotary connector device including a stator housing, a rotor housing rotatably mounted on the stator housing, and a flexible cable spirally housed in a space formed by the two housings, a lower surface of the rotor housing The height of the contact part on the outer circumference side is higher than the height on the center axis side
Between the contact portion and the surface formed by the upper end of the stator housing.
The distance from the central axis of the rotor housing to the outer periphery
Provided is a housing interference preventing structure in a rotary connector device characterized by having a large width .

[0006] As an embodiment of the invention, the outer and the contact portion with respect to the upper end forms a surface of the stator housing
Provided is a housing interference preventing structure in a rotary connector device characterized by being inclined upward by a predetermined angle. 1

[0007]

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS The accompanying drawings show preferred embodiments according to the present invention. However, the flexible cable 4 is not shown in the drawings other than FIG. In the figure,
1 is a stator housing, 2 is a rotor housing, 3 is an attachment, 4 is a flexible cable, 5 and 6 are terminals, and 7 is a sliding sheet, which will be described below.

First, the stator housing 1 is a portion fixed to, for example, a combination switch (not shown) of an automobile. The stator housing 1 is configured by combining a side housing 11 and a bottom housing 12. More specifically, the side housing 11 has a fitting hole 111.
The bottom housing 12 has fitting claws 121, respectively, and the side housing 11 and the bottom housing 12 are connected by fitting the fitting claws 121 into the fitting holes 111. The side housing 11 and the bottom housing 12
May be integrally formed to form the stator housing 1.

[0009] Side housing 11 and bottom housing 1
2 is set so that the respective base ends 112 and 122 are flush with each other, and when the stator housing 1 is fixed to the combination switch, the respective base ends 112 and 122 abut on the combination switch. Therefore, even if an external force is applied to the bottom housing 12 from, for example, the direction indicated by the arrow A in FIG. 1A, the bottom housing 12 is prevented from being deformed in the direction of the arrow A by the base end 122 abutting on the combination switch. As a result, the fitting claws 121 of the bottom housing 12 are prevented from dropping out of the fitting holes 111 of the side housing 11.

The stator housing 1 has a first gap 13 extending in the radial direction at a portion where the side housing 11 and the bottom housing 12 are joined, and a first side of the sliding sheet 7 is provided in the first gap 13. 71 is inserted.

The bottom housing 12 has a guide 15 that supports the end of the flexible cable 4 and guides the flexible cable 4 into the space defined by the housings 1 and 2. The guide 15 has a first surface 151 on the space side in which the flexible cable 4 is spirally housed, and a second surface 152 which is a back surface with respect to the first surface 151. Are provided so as to penetrate between the first surface 151 and the second surface 152. Then, the second side 72 of the sliding sheet 7 is inserted into the second gap 14.

The rotor housing 2 is a part that is rotatably mounted on the stator housing 1 and is connected to a steering handle (not shown) by a connecting pin 21. The rotor housing 2 has on its inner periphery 22 a claw 23 that fits with a fitting portion 31 provided on the attachment 3 and a step portion 24 that comes into contact with a projection 32 provided on the attachment 3. Also rotor housing 2
Has a lead-out part 25 for leading out the cord 61 of the terminal 6 to the outside on the upper surface, and affixes a caution label 26 with a precautionary note concerning handling of the rotary connector device. The lead-out section 25 is provided with a plurality of irregularities 251 to 254 inside thereof, and the cord 61 is sandwiched between the irregularities 251 to 254. Thus, the cord 61 is firmly fixed to the rotor housing 2. Further, the rotor housing 2 has a contact portion 27 on the side opposed to the upper end 113 of the side housing 11, that is, the lower side, and the contact portion 27 is formed on the surface formed by the upper end 113 of the side housing 11 in FIG. As shown in FIG. 3A, the contact portion 17 is inclined upward by an angle θ.
Is higher, for example, by C = 1 to 2 mm than the height on the central axis side.

Next, the attachment 3 connects the two housings 1 and 2 to each other, and has a fitting portion 31 elastically fitted to the claw 23 of the rotor housing 2 and a protrusion abutting against the step portion 24 of the rotor housing 2. And a piece 32. Further, the attachment 3 forms a groove-shaped grease reservoir 33 over the entire circumference of the joint surface of the stator housing 1 with the bottom housing 12, and the grease reservoir 33 is filled with grease to form the attachment 3 and the bottom housing. 12 is reduced.

As the flexible cable 4, for example, a so-called flat cable having a structure in which a conductive wire is sandwiched between resin films is used. The flexible cable 4 is housed in a donut-shaped space formed by the stator housing 1 and the rotor housing 2. One end of the flexible cable 4 is connected to the terminal 5 of the stator housing 1, and the other end is connected to the rotor housing 2.
Are electrically connected to the respective terminals 6.

The sliding sheet 7 reduces the sliding resistance of the flexible cable 4 when the flexible cable 4 slides in the donut-shaped space formed by the housings 1 and 2 so that no abnormal noise is generated. And is formed in a substantially donut shape using, for example, ethylene tetrafluoride resin (PTFE) having excellent lubricity. In the sliding sheet 7, for example, about 80% or more of the outer circumference is a first side 71, the remaining outer circumference is a second side 72, and the inner circumference is a third side 73. Incidentally, the first side 71 and the third side 73 form an arc shape,
The second side 72 has an uneven shape adapted to be inserted into the second gap 14 provided in the guide 16.

The rotary connector device having the above configuration operates as follows. In the rotary connector device having the above configuration, the terminal 6 is connected to, for example, an airbag device (not shown) on the steering handle side, and the other terminal 5 is connected to, for example, an airbag controller (not shown) on the vehicle body side. Thus, for example, when an automobile crashes, the electric signal from the airbag controller is transmitted to the steering pad, for example, the airbag device via the flexible cable 4 of the rotary connector device, and the airbag is ignited by igniting the inflator. Will be expanded.

[0017]

According to the present invention, the following effects can be obtained since it has the above-mentioned structure and operation. (1) That is, since the height on the outer peripheral side of the contact portion provided on the lower surface of the rotor housing is made higher than the height on the center axis side, mutual interference generated between the rotor housing and the stator housing is reduced. This can be prevented without increasing the dimension in the direction, which can contribute to, for example, a reduction in the thickness of the rotary connector device. (2) Since the contact portion of the rotor housing is inclined by a predetermined angle with respect to the surface formed by the upper end of the stator housing,
When the rotor housing receives an external force, the entire contact portion deforms flexibly, preventing the mutual interference occurring between the rotor housing and the stator housing without difficulty, and a specific portion of the contact portion protrudes and contacts the flexible cable. The problem of damaging the flexible cable does not occur.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a view showing a preferred embodiment of the present invention,
(A) is a sectional view, and (b) is a perspective view.

FIG. 2 is an exploded view of what is shown in FIG.

3A and 3B are views showing the bottom housing shown in FIG. 2, wherein FIG. 3A is a plan view of the bottom housing viewed from a direction of an arrow B shown in FIG. 2, and FIG. It is a principal part detailed perspective view which shows the state which inserts the 2nd edge of a sliding sheet.

FIGS. 4A and 4B are plan views of the rotor housing and the stator housing shown in FIG. 1 as viewed from a space for accommodating a flexible cable, wherein FIG. 4A shows the rotor housing and FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Stator housing 2 Rotor housing 3 Attachment 4 Flexible cable 5, 6 Terminal 7 Sliding sheet 11 Side housing 12 Bottom housing 13 First gap 14 Second gap 15 Guide 25 Outgoing part 27 Contact part 33 Grease reservoir

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on front page (58) Field surveyed (Int.Cl. ⁷ , DB name) H01R 35/04 B60R 16/02 B62D 1/04

Claims (2)

(57) [Claims] 1. A stator housing (1), a rotor housing (2) rotatably mounted on the stator housing (1), and spirally housed in a space defined by the two housings (1, 2). A flexible connector (4) provided with a contact portion (2) provided on a lower surface of the rotor housing (2).
7) The height of the outer periphery is higher than the height of the center shaft ,
The contact part (27) and the upper end of the stator housing (1)
The distance between the rotor housing and the surface formed by (113) is
(2) A housing interference prevention structure in a rotary connector device, wherein the width is increased from a center axis toward an outer periphery . 2. A invention of claim 1, a predetermined angle outside up the contact portion (27) to the plane formed by the upper end (113) of the stator housing (1)
A housing interference preventing structure in a rotary connector device characterized by being inclined by (θ) .