JP4740768B2 - Automatic transmission operation input device - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to an operation input device for an automatic transmission mounted on a vehicle such as an automobile.

  Generally, the operation input device includes a shift lever supported so as to be tiltable about a predetermined axis with respect to a vehicle.

  An operation input device of this type is also known in which the shift lever is supported by a vehicle so that it can be tilted around an axis orthogonal to the axis (for example, Patent Document 1).

  The operating device of Patent Document 1 includes a sleeve that is rotatably supported around a shaft member with respect to a vehicle, and a pair of connecting members that sandwich a spherical receiving portion formed as an outer surface of the sleeve. One of the connecting members is fixed to the lower end of the select lever (shift lever).

  Each connecting member is configured to be able to move relative to the sleeve along the spherical receiving portion by slidably holding the spherical receiving portion of the sleeve. In other words, the select lever and the sleeve are connected to each other in a state where they can be swung.

  Further, each connecting member is provided with a restricting portion that protrudes from the spherical receiving portion, while the sleeve is provided with a notch portion that can be received with the restricting portion, and the select lever is provided around the axis orthogonal to the shaft member. When operated to a specific operation position, each of the connecting members and the sleeve are engaged with each other by the notch portion and the restriction portion.

Therefore, when the select lever is tilted around the shaft member in the specific operation position, each connecting member and the sleeve rotate integrally, but the position deviates from the specific operation position. In this state, when the select lever is tilted around the shaft member, the engagement between each connecting member and the sleeve is released, and the select lever is swung with respect to the sleeve.
JP-A-6-94111

  However, in the operation device of Patent Document 1, it is necessary to adjust the distance between the connecting members when the connecting members are sandwiched between the sleeves, and this adjustment is difficult.

  That is, each connecting member needs to be assembled with each other with a slight clearance in order to hold the sleeve slidably inside, but if this clearance is too large, the connecting member and the sleeve There is a backlash in between, which gives a strange feeling to the person who performs the operation.

  In particular, when the clearance increases, even when the restricting portion and the notch are engaged, rattling occurs between the connecting members and the sleeve, so that the sleeve rotates with respect to the person performing the operation. It is difficult to convey the feeling of being directly.

  Therefore, in the operation device of Patent Document 1, the adjustment work is required when attaching the select lever (connecting member) to the vehicle side, and the workability is poor.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide an operation input device for an automatic transmission that can improve workability when a shift lever is attached to a vehicle.

In order to solve the above-described problems, the present invention provides an operation input device for operating an automatic transmission mounted on a vehicle, and includes a base member fixed to the vehicle side, a tilt shaft, and the base member. wherein a guide member is tiltably supported around the tilting axis, said base member and the guide member with at least a portion of the sphere center is arranged on the axis of the tilt shaft by being sandwiched between the against And a defining member that defines a tilting range of the guide member, and the guide member is pivotally supported on the base member by the tilting shaft. , is the distance that can sandwich the clamped surface slidably formed between the guide member and the base member, said base member is tilted out of the range defined by the defining member Thereby rotatably supporting the tilting shaft by accepting tilting axis of the the rotational position of the guide member, the automatic characterized that you avoid tilting axis of said guide member being withdrawn within the tilting range An operation input device for a transmission is provided.

  In the invention according to claim 2, the guide member is formed with a holding groove for removably receiving a middle portion of the shift lever tilted to a specific operation position in the left-right direction around an axis orthogonal to the tilting axis. The shift lever and the guide member are integrally tilted by tilting the shift lever, whose middle portion is held by the holding groove, back and forth around the tilt axis.

  According to a third aspect of the present invention, the shift lever is formed with a protrusion that protrudes from the sandwiched surface in a direction parallel to the axis of the tilting shaft, while the base member is provided with the protrusion. A guide groove that is received in the clamping direction of the clamped surface is formed, and the shift lever can be tilted back and forth around the tilting axis with respect to the base member by inserting a protrusion into the guide groove, and The rotation around the axis is restricted in a state in which it can be tilted to the left and right between the specific operation position and the position that has come out of the holding groove.

  According to the present invention, since an appropriate interval can be formed between the base member and the guide member by simply attaching the guide member to the base member, when the sleeve is sandwiched between the pair of connecting members, Unlike the conventional operation device that requires adjustment of the interval between the connecting members, the shift lever can be supported so as to be tiltable about the tilting axis and the axis orthogonal thereto with respect to the base member, without requiring special adjustment.

  Therefore, according to this invention, workability | operativity at the time of attaching a shift lever to the vehicle side can be improved.

  According to the second aspect of the present invention, the shift lever is operated around the tilting shaft while the intermediate portion is held in the holding groove, and the guide member is tilted, and the shift is performed while the intermediate portion is detached from the holding groove. A state in which the lever is operated around the tilting axis and is swung with respect to the guide member can be used properly.

  Therefore, for example, the shift change of the automatic transmission including the P range, R range, N range, D range, etc. is performed in the driven operation state, and the shift lever is rotated around the axis orthogonal to the tilting axis from the D range. By setting the operation state, it is possible to selectively use, for example, switching to a sport mode in which the shift in the D range is changed step by step.

  According to the invention of claim 3, by inserting the protrusion into the guide groove, the tilting shaft and the shift lever around the axis orthogonal to the tilting shaft can be tilted, and the shift lever about the axis of the shift lever can be tilted. Since the rotation can be restricted, it is possible to suppress a situation in which the occupant fails to grasp the shift lever.

  Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

  FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing the overall configuration of an operation input device for an automatic transmission according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a side view of the automatic transmission of FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view taken along line III-III in FIG. FIG. 4 is an exploded perspective view showing the automatic transmission of FIG. FIG. 5 is an exploded perspective view of the operation member of FIG.

  Referring to FIGS. 1 to 5, the operation input device 1 is provided in the vehicle and is automatically connected to the terminal of the cable 5 by pushing and pulling the cable 5 according to the tilting operation of the shift lever 15. A control lever (not shown) of the transmission is operated.

  Specifically, the operation input device 1 includes a base plate (base member) 2 fixed in a driver's cab of the vehicle, an operation member 3 supported so as to be tiltable with respect to the base plate 2, and an operation direction of the operation member 3. And a cable 5 attached to the operation member 3. In the following description, the direction in which the cable 5 extends from the operation member 3 is defined as the front, and the direction orthogonal to the front-rear direction and the vertical direction is defined as the left-right direction.

  The base plate 2 is a synthetic resin member integrally including a substrate 6 fixed to the vehicle and a pair of left and right mounting plates 7 erected on the substrate 6.

  As shown in detail in FIG. 5, the substrate 6 has a recess 8 formed with a substantially hemispherical clamping surface 8a that opens upward, a guide groove 9 that penetrates the clamping surface 8a to the left, and a clamping surface 8a that penetrates to the right. A support groove 10 is formed.

  The guide groove 9 is a groove that opens upward and is surrounded by a facing surface 9a facing each other with a predetermined front-rear width dimension and a substantially arc-shaped bottom surface (bottom portion) 9b connecting the lower edges of the facing surface 9a. .

  The support groove 10 is a groove that opens upward and is surrounded by a substantially arc-shaped bottom surface 10a in side view.

  Referring to FIGS. 3 and 5, a sleeve 11 and a sleeve 12 are formed on the mounting plate 7 so as to protrude to the opposing sides. The sleeves 11 and 12 are formed in a C-shaped cross section in which slits 11a and 12a are formed, respectively, and the tilting shafts 16a and 17a are rotated by receiving tilting shafts 16a and 17a described later through the slits 11a and 12a. Supports freely.

  The operation member 3 includes a guide bracket (guide member) 14 supported so as to be tiltable about the tilting shafts 16 a and 17 a with respect to the base plate 2, and a shift lever 15 through which the guide bracket 14 is inserted vertically.

  The guide bracket 14 includes a right side plate 16 and a left side plate 17 facing left and right, and a pair of front and rear connection plates 18 and 19 that connect lower portions of the side plates 16 and 17, and are surrounded by the plates 16 to 19. The shift lever 15 is loosely fitted through the range.

  The side plates 16 and 17 are formed with a tilting shaft 16a and a tilting shaft 17a that protrude in the left-right direction and are spaced apart from each other.

  These tilting shafts 16a and 17a are each formed in a substantially bowl shape in cross section. Specifically, the tilting shafts 16a and 17a have a width dimension W1 (see FIG. 2) that can be inserted into the sleeves 11 and 12 through the slits 11a and 12a in the cross-sectional shape, and the longitudinal axis perpendicular to the width dimension W1. Both end surfaces in the direction are arcuate sliding surfaces 20 that can slide within the sleeves 11 and 12 (only the tilting shaft 17a is shown in FIG. 5).

  Here, the slits 11a and 12a are formed at positions where the tilting shafts 16a and 17a can be received in a state where the slits 11a and 12a are in a rotational position outside the tilting range of the guide bracket 14 defined by the defining member 4 described later. Yes. Therefore, in the operation input device 1 after assembling the defining member 4, the tilting shafts 16 a and 17 a are prevented from coming out of the sleeves 11 and 12 regardless of the tilting position of the guide bracket 14.

  The guide bracket 14 is connected to the right side plate 16 at the rear end of the cable 5 and tilts about the tilting shafts 16a and 17a with respect to the base plate 2 as the shift lever 15 tilts. 5 is pushed and pulled.

  A pair of front and rear holding pieces 21 and holding pieces 22 projecting to the left are formed in the upper part of the right side plate 16, and a holding groove 23 for receiving the shift lever from the left side is formed between the holding pieces 21 and 22. .

  Further, as shown in FIG. 5, a guide piece 24 that protrudes in an arc shape in a side view is formed at the lower portion of the right side plate 16. The guide piece 24 is inserted into the support groove 10 and slides on the bottom surface 10a thereof, thereby guiding the tilting operation of the guide bracket 14 around the tilting shafts 16a and 17a.

  A sandwiching surface 25, a sandwiching surface 26, and a sandwiching surface 27 are formed below the right side plate 16 and the connecting plates 18 and 19, respectively. These clamping surfaces 25 to 27 are surfaces that form a part on the same spherical surface having the same radius as that of the clamping surface 8a of the base plate 2 while being centered on the axis of the tilting shafts 16a and 17a.

  The shift lever 15 includes a lever main body 28, a sandwiched portion 29 provided at the lower end portion of the lever main body 28, and a block body 30 provided in the middle of the lever main body 28.

  The sandwiched portion 29 includes a sandwiched surface 29a that forms a spherical surface having the same radius as the sandwiching surfaces 8a and 25 to 27, and a columnar protruding portion that extends from the sandwiched surface 29a in a direction perpendicular to the axis of the lever body 28. 29b.

  The sandwiched surface 29a is slidably sandwiched between the sandwiching surface 8a of the base plate 2 and the sandwiching surfaces 25-27 of the guide bracket 14 with respect to the sandwiching surfaces 8a and 25-27.

  That is, in a state where the guide bracket 14 and the base plate 2 are pivotally supported by the tilting shafts 16a and 17a, the sandwiched surface 29a is interposed between the sandwiching surfaces 25 to 27 of the guide bracket 14 and the sandwiching surface 8a of the base plate 2. The positional relationship between the tilting shafts 16a and 17a and the sleeves 11 and 12 is set in advance so that an interval S1 (see FIG. 3) that can be slidably clamped is formed.

  Therefore, by attaching the guide bracket 14 to the base plate 2 so that the sandwiched surface 29a is sandwiched between the sandwiching surface 8a and the sandwiching surfaces 25 to 27, the sandwiched surface 29a is connected to the base plate 2 and the guide bracket 14 with each other. Is held so as to be slidable with respect to the clamping surfaces 8a and 25-27.

  And, in the state where the sandwiched surface 29a is sandwiched between the sandwiching surface 8a and the sandwiching surfaces 25 to 27, the center portion of the sandwiched portion 29 is arranged on the axis of the tilting shafts 16a and 17a. It has become. Therefore, the lever main body 28 can be tilted in the front-rear direction around the tilting shafts 16a, 17a by tilting the clamped surface 29a with respect to the clamping surfaces 8a and 25-27, and can also tilt in the left-right direction. Supported by

  The protruding portion 29b is disposed inside the guide groove 9 in a state where the sandwiched surface 29a is sandwiched between the sandwiching surface 8a and the sandwiching surfaces 25 to 27.

  Specifically, the protruding portion 29b is disposed coaxially with the tilting shafts 16a and 17a in a state where the lever main body 28 is substantially perpendicular to the base plate 2 (state shown in FIG. 3), and the bottom surface 9b of the guide groove 9 is provided. Is disposed at a position separated by a distance D1.

  On the other hand, when the lever body 28 is operated to a preset leftward tilt limit position, the protruding portion 29b comes into contact with the bottom surface 9b of the guide groove 9 so that the lever body 28 further tilts to the left. Is to regulate.

  The projecting portion 29b is formed on the guide bracket 14 with the tilt shafts 16a and 17a as the center in the state where the lever body 28 is substantially perpendicular to the base plate 2 and the state where the lever body 28 is operated to the tilt limit position. The guide groove 9 is rotatable so as not to restrict tilting.

  Furthermore, the protrusion 29b is arranged in the guide groove 9 to restrict the lever body 28 from rotating around its axis.

  The block body 30 is a block body dimensioned so that it can be inserted into the holding groove 23 of the guide bracket 14 from the left side. When the lever body 28 is operated to a preset right tilt limit position, the right side plate 16, the lever body 28 is further prevented from tilting to the right.

  On the other hand, the block body 30 comes out of the holding groove 23 by tilting the lever body 28 to the left from the right tilt limit position.

  That is, when the lever body 28 is tilted to the right side, the block body 30 is disposed in the holding groove 23 so that the lever body 28 and the guide bracket 14 are connected. In this state, the lever body 28 is moved back and forth. When the tilting operation is performed, the guide bracket 14 tilts around the tilting shafts 16a and 17a.

  On the other hand, when the lever body 28 is tilted to the left, the block body 30 comes out of the holding groove 23 to release the connection state between the lever body 28 and the guide bracket 14. In this state, the lever body 28 is moved back and forth. If the lever is tilted back and forth, the lever body 28 tilts alone.

  1 to 4, the defining member 4 includes a gate plate 31 and a shift panel 32 attached to the upper portion of the gate plate. The shift panel 32 includes an insertion hole 32a formed corresponding to a gate 33 to be described later, and the current position (P range, R range, N range, D range or sport) of the shift lever 15 that is inserted through the insertion hole 32a. Mode) is displayed.

  The gate plate 31 is formed with a gate 33 penetrating in the vertical direction and passing through the shift lever 15.

  As shown in FIG. 6A, in the present embodiment, the gate 33 changes the shift one by one in the D range and the main gate G1 in which the P range, the R range, the N range, and the D range are set. A sub-gate G2 for sport mode is set.

  In the main gate G1, the R range is set at the position where the shift lever 15 is operated in the order of right, down and left from the P range, and the N range is set at the position where the shift lever 15 is operated in the order of down and left from the R range. The D range is set at a position where the shift lever 15 is operated downward from the N range, and the sub-gate G2 is set at a position where the shift lever 15 is operated leftward from the D range.

  The sub-gate G2 can operate the shift lever 15 operated to the left from the D range up and down.

  In the present embodiment, the block body 30 shown in FIG. 5 is disposed in the holding groove 23 in the left-right tilting range E1 of the shift lever 15 in the main gate G1, and the guide bracket 14 is moved along with the tilting operation of the shift lever 15. Also comes to tilt.

  On the other hand, at the left and right positions of the shift lever 15 operated in the sub-gate G2, the block body 30 comes out of the holding groove 23, and the shift lever 15 can be operated independently within the front and rear tilt range E2. Yes.

  In the present embodiment, even in the leftmost operation position of the shift lever 15 defined by the sub-gate G2, the left tilt limit position is not reached, that is, the protruding portion 29b is the bottom surface 9b of the guide groove 9. Is held at a position slightly above.

  As described above, according to the operation input device 1, it is possible to form an appropriate distance S1 between the base plate 2 and the guide bracket 14 simply by attaching the guide bracket 14 to the base plate 2. The shift lever 15 can be supported with respect to the base plate 2 so that it can be tilted around the tilting shafts 16a and 17a and an axis (front-rear shaft) orthogonal to the base plate 2 without requiring special adjustment to form the interval S1. .

  Therefore, according to the operation input device 1, workability when the shift lever 15 is attached to the vehicle side can be improved.

  According to the configuration in which the block body 30 is provided in the middle of the shift lever 15, the guide bracket 14 is tilted by operating the shift lever 15 around the tilting shafts 16 a and 17 a in a state where the block body 30 is held in the holding groove 23. The state in which the shift lever 15 is operated around the tilting shafts 16a and 17a and the guide bracket 14 is swung with respect to the guide bracket 14 can be properly used.

  According to the configuration in which the protruding portion 29b is provided in the sandwiched portion 29, by inserting the protruding portion 29b into the guide groove 9, the shift lever 15 around the tilting shafts 16a and 17a and the axis (front-rear axis) orthogonal thereto. Since the rotation of the shift lever 15 around the axis line can be restricted while the tilting of the shift lever 15 is possible, it is possible to suppress a situation in which the occupant fails to grasp the shift lever 15.

  In addition, the gate 33 of the said embodiment is not limited to what is shown to (a) of FIG. 6, For example, what is shown to (b) and (c) of FIG. 6 can also be employ | adopted. .

  The gate 34 shown in FIG. 6 (b) has a shape obtained by inverting the gate 33 in the left-right direction. A main gate G3 and a sub-gate G4 are set in the gate 34.

  In the main gate G3, the R range is set at the position where the shift lever 15 is operated in the order of left, down and right from the P range, and the N range is set at the position where the shift lever 15 is operated in the order of down and right from the R range. The D range is set at the position where the shift lever 15 is operated downward from the N range, and the sub-gate G4 is set at the position operated to the left from the D range.

  Similarly to the above embodiment, the sub-gate G4 can operate the shift lever 15 operated leftward from the D range up and down.

  In the range E3 excluding the left and right position of the shift lever 15 in the sub-gate G4 in the left and right tilt range of the shift lever 15 in the main gate G3, the block body 30 is disposed in the holding groove 23, and the shift lever 15 The guide bracket 14 is also tilted with the tilting operation.

  On the other hand, at the left and right positions of the shift lever 15 operated in the sub-gate G4, the block body 30 comes out of the holding groove 23, and the shift lever 15 can be operated independently within the front and rear tilt range E4. Yes.

  In the gate 35 shown in FIG. 6C, a main gate G5 and a sub gate G6 set in a straight line are set.

  In the main gate G5, a P range, an R range, an N range, and a D range are set in order from the front, and a sub gate G6 is set at a position operated to the right from the D range.

  In the left-right tilt range E5 of the shift lever 15 in the main gate G5, the block body 30 is disposed in the holding groove 23, and the guide bracket 14 tilts as the shift lever 15 is tilted.

  On the other hand, at the left and right positions of the shift lever 15 operated in the sub-gate G6, the block body 30 comes out of the holding groove 23, and the shift lever 15 can be operated independently within the front-back tilt range E6. Yes.

  Furthermore, in each of the above embodiments, the range in which the shift lever 15 is operated independently (the range of the sub-gates G2, G4, G6) is set, but it is not always necessary to set the range in which the shift lever 15 is operated alone. The above configuration can be adopted for an operation input device that requires a tilting operation in the left-right direction in addition to at least a tilting operation in the front-rear direction.

  Specifically, only the main gate G7 is set in the gate 36 shown in FIG.

  In this main gate G7, the R range is set at the position where the shift lever 15 is operated in the order of left, down and right from the P range, and the N range is set at the position where the shift lever 15 is operated in the order of down and right from the R range. Is set, the D range is set to the position where the shift lever 15 is operated downward from the N range, and the third speed range is set to the position where the shift lever 15 is operated to the right from the D range. The second speed range is set at the position where the shift lever 15 is operated in the order of lower and left, and the first speed range is set at the position where the shift lever 15 is operated downward from the second speed range.

  The block body 30 is arranged in the holding groove 23 in the entire left and right tilt range E7 of the shift lever 15 in the main gate G7. Therefore, in this entire tilting range E7, the cable 5 can be pushed and pulled by tilting the guide bracket 14 as the shift lever 15 tilts.

  Further, a main gate G8 is set in the gate 37 shown in FIG.

  In this main gate G8, the R range is set at the position where the shift lever 15 is operated in the order of left, down and right from the P range, and the N range is set at the position where the shift lever 15 is operated in the order of down and right from the R range. Is set, the D range is set to the position where the shift lever 15 is operated downward from the N range, and the second speed range is set to the position where the shift lever 15 is operated to the left from the D range. The first speed range is set at the position where the shift lever 15 is operated downward.

  Also in the main gate G8, the cable 5 can be pushed and pulled by tilting the guide bracket 14 with the tilt of the shift lever 15 in the entire left and right tilt range E8 of the shift lever 15.

1 is a perspective view showing an overall configuration of an operation input device for an automatic transmission according to an embodiment of the present invention. It is a side view of the automatic transmission of FIG. It is the III-III sectional view taken on the line of FIG. It is a perspective view which decomposes | disassembles and shows the automatic transmission of FIG. It is a perspective view which decomposes | disassembles and shows the operation member of FIG. (A) is a top view which shows the shape of the gate formed in the gate plate of FIG. 4, (b)-(e) has each shown what concerns on another embodiment.

Explanation of symbols

S1 interval 1 operation input device 2 base plate (base member)
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 3 Operation member 4 Regulation | regulation member 5 Cable 8 Recessed part 8a Clamping surface 9 Guide groove 9b Bottom surface 11 Sleeve 12 Sleeve 14 Guide bracket (guide member)
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 15 Shift lever 16a Tilt axis 17a Tilt axis 20 Sliding surface 23 Holding groove 25-27 Holding surface 29 Nipped part 29a Nipped surface 29b Protruding part 30 Block body

Claims (3)

An operation input device for operating an automatic transmission mounted on a vehicle,
A base member fixed to the vehicle side;
A guide member which is tiltably supported around the tilt axis relative to the base member and having a tilt shaft,
A shift lever in which a clamped surface that forms at least a part of a spherical surface centered on the axis of the tilting shaft is formed at the base end by being clamped between the base member and the guide member ;
A regulating member that regulates the tilting range of the guide member ,
The guide member is pivotally supported on the base member by the tilt shaft, so that an interval is formed between the guide member and the base member so that the sandwiched surface can be slidably held .
The base member rotatably supports the tilting shaft by receiving the tilting shaft of the guide member at a rotational position outside the tilting range defined by the defining member, and the guide member is within the tilting range. an operation input device for an automatic transmission which is characterized that you prevent tilting shaft exits of.   The guide member is formed with a holding groove for removably receiving a middle part of the shift lever tilted to a specific operation position in the left-right direction around an axis orthogonal to the tilting axis, and the middle part is held by the holding groove. 2. The operation input device for an automatic transmission according to claim 1, wherein the shift lever and the guide member are tilted together by tilting the shift lever back and forth around the tilt axis. The shift lever is formed with a protrusion that protrudes from the sandwiched surface in a direction parallel to the axis of the tilt axis, while the base member has the projection in the sandwiching direction of the sandwiched surface. A receiving guide groove is formed, and the shift lever can be tilted back and forth about a tilting axis with respect to the base member by inserting a protrusion into the guide groove, and the specific operation position and the 3. The operation input device for an automatic transmission according to claim 2 , wherein the rotation around the axis line is restricted in a state in which it can be tilted to the left and right with respect to the position that has come out of the holding groove.

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