JP3246766B2 - Rotary damper - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention provides predetermined braking for opening and closing an ashtray and a small case of an automobile, rotation of a cord reel of a home appliance, and opening and closing of a cover plate for covering the front of an operation panel of an audio product. In addition, the present invention relates to a rotary damper for slowly performing the operation.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art As a rotary damper used in the above-described equipment, a viscous fluid is filled in a filling portion of a housing closed by a cap, and the vibrating fluid rises rotatably from the filling portion of the housing. It is widely known to provide a rotor shaft for shearing a viscous fluid in a filling section.

However, the above-mentioned rotary damper applies a braking force to the rotation of the rotor shaft due to the viscosity of the viscous fluid, and the same braking force acts in both directions of rotation of the rotor shaft. Therefore, conventionally, in order to make the braking force different depending on the rotation direction of the rotor shaft, for example, Japanese Patent Publication No.
As disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 860, a spring is disposed outside a housing of a rotary damper, and a spring is applied to a rotor shaft to apply a spring force of the spring in any rotational direction.

[0004]

By the way, in the rotary damper in which the spring is disposed outside the housing of the rotary damper as described above, since the viscosity of the viscous fluid and the spring force of the spring act separately, the braking force is reduced. Setting or adjustment was difficult. Further, since the spring is arranged outside the housing, there is a problem that downsizing is difficult and operability of assembly is poor.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the above problems, and an object of the present invention is to store a viscous fluid and a spring in a filling portion of a casing to reduce the viscosity of the viscous granules and the spring force of the spring. It is an object of the present invention to provide a rotary damper that can obtain a desired braking force by the joint action of the above and can reduce the size as much as possible.

In view of the characteristic of a spring in which the reaction force against winding is extremely reduced during the initial several windings, the spring is wound several times in advance so that a desired reaction force can be obtained. An object of the present invention is to provide a rotary damper that can be attached to a device to be used while maintaining a state.

In addition, in view of the fact that air is mixed into the filling portion of the viscous fluid at the time of assembling, the rotational force of the rotating shaft varies, so that a rotary damper in which no air remains in the filling portion after assembly is provided. To provide.

[0008]

The rotary damper according to the present invention is intended to achieve the above-mentioned various objects, and comprises a housing provided with a viscous fluid filling portion and a cap for closing the housing. A casing, a rotating shaft that stands up rotatably from the filling portion of the casing and protrudes to the outside, and is housed in the filling portion of the casing,
On one end said rotary shaft, the other end is fixed to the filling portion wall surface of the casing, and consists of a spring for storing a restoring force wound up upon rotation in one direction of the rotation axis, of the spring forming a between gap between the peripheral portion and the casing
In the rotary damper that, mounting the gear to the rotary shaft which protrudes outside the cap, the rotation of the gear, and the restraint by the temporary fixing clip detachably attached to the Ke <br/> pacing It is characterized by the following.

[0009]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS One embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. Reference numeral 1 denotes a housing provided with a filling portion 1a for filling a viscous fluid such as grease, oil, or the like.
The groove 1b is formed in a part of the inner peripheral wall which constitutes the above, and the hole 1c is formed in the bottom surface.

Reference numeral 2 denotes a rotary shaft whose lower end is positioned in a hole 1c of the housing 1. A circular flange 2a is formed at a substantially middle portion thereof, and a split groove portion is formed below the flange 2a. 2b is formed, while a predetermined angular shaft portion 2c is formed above the flange portion 2a.

Note that, as shown in FIG.
Is a hollow shape with an open upper end, and a flange 2a
And an air vent hole 2 through which the filling portion 1a of the housing 1 communicates with the outside of the rotary damper through the split groove portion 2b.
and c _1, the peripheral wall 2c ₂ surrounding the said air vent holes are formed. As described later, the peripheral wall 2c ₂ is during assembly is thermally dissolved, to close the hole 2c _1. The air vent hole can be formed in, for example, a cap described later.

Reference numeral 3 denotes a groove 1 of the housing 1
b, and the inner peripheral end 3b is
The spring is inserted into the spring b. A spring force is always applied to the spring to open outward.

Reference numeral 4 denotes a cap having an engaging piece 4a for engaging with a plurality of projections 1d formed on the outer peripheral wall surface of the housing 1. The center of the cap is a square shaft portion 2c of the rotary shaft 2. Is formed in the hole 4b. And
The cap 4 and the housing 1 constitute a casing A. Reference numeral 5 denotes an O-ring disposed between the inner peripheral surface of the housing 1 and the cap 4.

Reference numeral 6 denotes a substantially U-shaped temporary fixing clip which is made of an elastic material and covers the cap from above, and has an engaging recess 4c formed on the outer periphery of the cap 4 at both ends of the clip. A lockable claw 6a is formed. When the temporary fixing clip 6 is attached to the cap 4, a pair of stoppers 6b formed on the lower surface side of the temporary fixing clip protrude between adjacent teeth in a gear to be described later, and free rotation of the gear is performed. to bound.

When assembling the rotary damper according to the above configuration, the spring 3 is inserted into the split groove 2b of the rotary shaft 2.
The lower end of the rotating shaft 2 is inserted into the hole 1c of the housing 1 in a state where the inner peripheral end 3b is inserted. At the same time, the outer peripheral end 3a of the spring 3 is fitted into the groove 1b of the housing 1. Next, a viscous fluid 7 such as grease or oil is filled in the filling portion 1a.

Thereafter, the O-ring 5 is arranged on the inner peripheral surface of the opening of the housing 1 and the cap 4 is attached to the rotating shaft 2.
Of the housing 1 while allowing the square shaft portion 2c of the
Cover the opening. Then, by engaging the engaging piece 4a of the cap 4 with the projection 1d of the housing 1, the cap 4 and the housing 1 are integrated, and in a series of operations, the air mixed in the filling portion 1a is removed from the air vent hole 2c.
Escape outside by _one . Then, the peripheral wall 2c ₂ of the rotating shaft ₂
Was hot melt (Fig. 3 the solid line), by closing the air vent hole 2c _1, the filling portion 1a becomes a sealed state filled only by the spring 3 and the viscous fluid 7.

When the cap 4 is fixed to the housing 1, a gap G forming a flow path for the viscous fluid 7 is formed between the peripheral portion of the spring 3 and the lower surface of the cap 4. Reference numeral 8 denotes a gear fixed to the angular shaft portion 2c of the rotating shaft 2 protruding outside the cap 4 and meshing with a rack or the like formed on the equipment to be used.

In the state where no external force is applied, the spring 3 of the rotary damper of the present invention configured as described above is spread outward by its own spring force as shown in FIGS. 7A and 7B. I have. Therefore, the gear 8 is turned so that the spring 3 is tightened, and when the desired reaction force is obtained, the temporary fixing clip 6 is put on from above and the claw 6a
Into the engagement recess 4c of the cap 4 and the stopper 6b
Project between the teeth of the gear 8 to restrict the rotation of the gear 8.

In the above state, for example, a cover plate covering the front surface of the operation panel of the audio product is operated in a closing direction, the gear 8 is engaged with a rack formed on the cover plate, and the temporary fixing clip 6 is attached. After removal, when the rotating shaft 2 is rotated in a direction in which the gear 8 is rotated to wind the spring 3, the spring 3
The viscous fluid 7 inside is gradually moved outward through the gap G. At the time of winding of the spring 3, the spring 3 that is taken either around the rotary shaft 2 by the first turn, the viscous resistance in the viscous fluid 7 is relatively small, therefore, use such as one-way depending whether the set Is also possible.

Next, the spring 3 is completely wound as described above, and the spring force is sufficiently accumulated (FIGS. 8A and 8B).
When the lock of the cover plate is released, the rotating shaft 2 is in a free state via the cover plate and the gear 8, so that a spring force is exerted on the spring 3 so as to spread outward. At this time,
The pressure at which the spring 3 tends to spread outward is applied to the viscous fluid 7 outside the spring 3, so that the viscous fluid 7 is gradually pushed out into the gap G as shown by an arrow in FIG. 8B under a predetermined resistance. Move inward.

Then, as the spring 3 spreads, the viscous fluid 7 enters between each turn of the spring 3 as shown in FIG. 9B, and eventually returns to the initial mounting state.
In the series of movements, the force of the spring 3 to expand is regulated by the viscous resistance of the viscous fluid 7 moving from the outside to the inside of the housing 1 while being pushed into the gap G, and the rotation of the rotary shaft 2 is braked. As a result, a cover plate or the like covering the front surface of the operation panel of the acoustic product is quietly and gently opened.

[0022]

According to the present invention, as described above, since the viscous fluid and the spring are sealed in the filling portion of the housing, the spring is wound by rotating a rotating shaft having an inner peripheral end of the spring fixed.
Alternatively, the viscous fluid moves through a gap formed between the spring and the casing with the movement of releasing the spring. Therefore, a desired braking force is applied to the rotating shaft during the movement, and as a result, a predetermined damper effect is obtained.

In addition, different braking forces can be obtained when the rotating shaft is rotated in the direction in which the spring is wound and in the opposite direction, and a desired braking force is obtained depending on the combination of the spring and the viscous fluid. It becomes possible. Further, since the spring and the viscous fluid are housed integrally, the size of the damper can be reduced.

In addition, since the spring can be attached to the equipment to be used while maintaining the state where the reaction force of the spring (rotational force of the rotating shaft) has reached a desired value, the reaction force of the spring decreases at the time of tightening at the beginning of use. It is possible to provide a high-quality rotary damper excellent in usability without fear of occurrence.

Further, in the rotary damper as described above, a hole is formed in at least one of the casing and the rotating shaft for communicating the filling portion of the housing with the outside air, and at the time of assembling, the air mixed in the filling portion is discharged to the outside. Escape, then
Since the holes are closed, it is possible to prevent the rotational force of the rotating shaft from being uneven due to air remaining in the filling portion, and to provide a high-quality rotary damper.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a front view showing an assembled state of a rotary damper of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a plan view of the same.

FIG. 3 is a sectional view taken along line XX of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional plan view of FIG.

FIG. 5 is a plan view of a rotary shaft used in the rotary damper of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a sectional view taken along the line YY of the above.

FIG. 7 shows a state in which a spring is released in the rotary damper of the present invention. FIG. 7A is a cross-sectional plan view, and FIG. 7B is a partially enlarged side view of FIG.

8 shows a state in which the spring is wound around the rotary damper of the present invention from the state shown in FIG. 7 and is wound around a rotary shaft. FIG. 8A is a sectional plan view, and FIG. .

9 shows a state in which the winding of the spring is completed in the rotary damper of the present invention, wherein FIG. 9A is a cross-sectional plan view and FIG. 9B is a partially enlarged side view of FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

 A Casing G Gap 1 Housing 2 Rotary shaft 3 Spring 4 Cap 6 Temporary clip 7 Viscous fluid

Continuation of the front page (58) Field surveyed (Int.Cl. ⁷ , DB name) E05F 3/14 F16F 9/12

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] 1. A casing comprising a housing provided with a filling portion of a viscous fluid and a cap for closing the housing, a rotating shaft rotatably rising from the filling portion of the casing and projecting to the outside, housed in the filling section, one end of said rotary shaft, the other end is fixed to the filling portion wall surface of the casing, and, restoring force wound up during rotation of <br/> one direction of the rotary shaft A rotary damper having a gap formed between a peripheral portion of the spring and the casing.
A gear is mounted on the rotating shaft protruding from
A temporary fixing clip detachable from the casing.
A rotary damper characterized in that it can be restrained by a rotary damper.