JP5683050B2 - Friction adjustment tool and friction adjustment method - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a friction adjusting tool and a friction adjusting method for reproducing a road surface having a low friction coefficient (low μ), and more specifically, a friction adjusting tool for reproducing a running surface that has become low μ due to ice, snow, water, or the like. And a friction adjustment method.

  In the development of automobile suspensions, skid prevention devices, ABS (anti-lock braking system), etc., experiments on low μ road surfaces that occur under weather conditions such as ice, snow, water, etc. are required. However, the area, time, and weather conditions where the necessary experiments are possible are limited. Conventionally, in order to prepare a low μ road surface, it is necessary to provide a dedicated artificial low μ road surface in which tiles are laid and watered with a watering device on the road surface, which is a large-scale facility.

  For example, in order to conduct tests on ice and snow in the summer of Japan in the Northern Hemisphere, it was necessary to send the equipment to the Southern Hemisphere for testing.

  Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 11-321597 describes a vehicle travel control device and a test travel path for testing its braking characteristics. As test running paths, dry roads, water courses, snowy roads, and frozen roads are provided, and test running is performed on these.

JP 11-321597 A

  In order to prepare a road surface suitable for each weather condition, the cost increases when moving to a remote place. In addition, in order to provide a road surface that reproduces each weather condition, there is a problem that a place for a running test is limited and a special device is required for preparation for reproducing the road surface. In addition, there was a demand to reproduce the road surface condition in bad weather on asphalt, which is a normal running surface.

  SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide a friction adjuster and a method for the same that can run on a general running surface such as an asphalt on a vehicle assuming a low μ road surface.

  In order to solve the above-described problem, the friction adjuster according to the present invention reproduces a predetermined state of the traveling surface during traveling of the vehicle, and adjusts parameters of the vehicle equipment between the vehicle and the traveling surface. A friction adjuster that adjusts friction, an inelastic contact member that contacts the traveling surface, an elastic fixing member that is fixed to a wheel of the vehicle, and a contact member engaging portion that is provided on the contact member A fixing member engaging portion provided on the fixing member for engaging with the contact member engaging portion, and the contact member engaging portion and the fixing member engaging portion are deformed by deformation of the fixing member. The contact member is fixed to the fixing member by engaging. The vehicle equipment includes at least one of ABS, ESP, VDC, and suspension.

  Furthermore, the friction adjuster of the present invention is a friction adjuster that adjusts the friction between the vehicle and the traveling surface in order to reproduce a predetermined state of the traveling surface when the vehicle is traveling, and is in contact with the traveling surface. An inelastic contact member, an elastic fixing member fixed to the wheel of the vehicle, a contact member engaging portion provided in the contact member, and the fixing member for engaging with the contact member engaging portion The contact member engagement portion and the fixation member engagement portion are engaged by deformation of the fixation member, and the contact member is fixed to the fixation member.

  The predetermined state is one of snow, rain, sleet, and dryness. In the friction adjuster, the contact member is made of a material having a low friction coefficient compared to rubber. The material is any one of polytetrafluoroethylene, polycarbonate, ABS, ultrahigh molecular weight polyethylene, metal, or a combination of these.

  One of the contact member engaging part or the fixing member engaging part is a convex part, and the other of the contact member engaging part or the fixing member engaging part is a concave part. The contact member and the fixing member are annular, and the concave portion and the convex portion are an annular concave portion and an annular convex portion, respectively. One of the contact member or the fixing member is provided with an intersecting recess that intersects one of the annular recess or the annular projection, and the other of the contact member or the fixing member has the annular recess or the annular projection. The crossing concave part and the crossing convex part engage with each other.

  The contact member includes a pair of half-contact members, and the pair of half-contact members are fixed by a fastening member with the fixing member interposed therebetween. The outer surface of the contact member includes at least one of a plurality of grooves, a plurality of uneven strips, and a plurality of circular recesses. The contour of the outer surface of the contact member is a symmetric arc shape or an asymmetric arc shape. Furthermore, the method of the present invention is a method of adjusting the friction between the vehicle and the running surface using the friction adjuster.

  With the friction adjusting tool or the friction adjusting method of the present invention, it is possible to reproduce the friction of the running surface equivalent to snow or ice, even on a dry running surface, regardless of the weather or equipment.

  If the friction adjuster itself is slippery as in the present invention, a running surface such as a normal dry asphalt can be used, so that restrictions on the course and the running pattern can be reduced. That is, by using the friction adjuster of the present invention, driving training simulating low μ, for example, drift running, can be performed under arbitrary conditions such as a weak car, a narrow place, a low speed, and a general running surface. .

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS (a) Sectional drawing of a tire and a wheel based on the 1st Embodiment of this invention, (b) Sectional drawing which shows the deformation | transformation of a fixing member, (c) Sectional drawing explaining attachment / detachment of a contact member and a fixing member. . It is the side view which looked at the contact member of FIG. 1 from the annular direction. (A) The side view which looked at the fixing member from the annular direction, (b) The sectional view of the AA direction in the expansion state of the fixing member, (c) The sectional view of the AA direction in the contraction state of the fixing member . (A) Cross section of wheel and fixing member, (b) Cross section showing arrangement for fixing contact member to wheel and fixing member, (c) Wheel according to second embodiment of the present invention It is sectional drawing which shows the fixed state of a tire, (d) It is a front view of a half-contact member. It is sectional drawing which shows the contact surface shape of the contact member of 1st Embodiment. It is sectional drawing of the contact member which shows the modification of the tread surface of the contact member of 1st Embodiment, (b) And (c) The external view of a contact member.

  Hereinafter, embodiments according to a friction adjusting tool and a friction adjusting method for reproducing a running surface having a low friction coefficient according to the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. In addition, the friction adjustment tool which concerns on each embodiment is a tire, and can be used for arbitrary vehicles, such as a motor vehicle and a motorcycle. Further, in the present invention, unlike the conventional technique, the road surface is not made low friction, but the friction on the tire side is lowered to reproduce the low μ road surface between the road surface and the tire.

  As shown in FIG. 1A, the tire 1 according to the first embodiment includes a contact member 3 that contacts a road surface such as asphalt, and a fixing that is located inside the contact member 3 and fixes the contact member 3 to a wheel 7. It is comprised from the member 5. The contact member 3 and the fixing member 5 are annular as a whole.

  An annular recess 31 is formed in the annular inner surface of the contact member 3 along the ring. The outer surface of the contact member 3 constitutes a contact surface 32 that contacts a road surface or the like. The material of the contact member 3 is an inelastic material. Specifically, the material of the contact member 3 is a hard material with significantly lower friction than ordinary rubber tires for automobiles, for example, fluorine resin such as polytetrafluoroethylene, polycarbonate, ABS resin, ultrahigh molecular weight polyethylene, etc. Non-fluororesin and metal can be used.

  An annular convex portion (rib) 51 is formed on the annular outer surface of the fixing member 5. An elastic material such as rubber can be used as the material of the fixing member 5. The fixing member 5 has a hollow portion 52 inside thereof, and a tube (not shown) made of an elastic material such as rubber is disposed in the hollow portion 52, and air is introduced into the tube from a valve (not shown). Then, the contact material fixing part 5 is reversibly deformed from the contracted state 5A shown in FIG. 1 (b) to the expanded state 5B.

  When attaching the contact member 3 to the fixing member 5, first, the fixing member 5 is mounted on the wheel 7 by a tire changer in a state where the internal pressure of the tube of the fixing member 5 is low, and the hard contact member 3 is fitted on the outer periphery thereof. . Next, when the internal pressure of the tube of the fixing member 5 is increased to a specified value, the contact member expands and the contact member is fixed to the fixing member. The fixing member 5 is in the contracted state 5A in FIG. 1B when the internal pressure is low, and is in the expanded state 5B in FIG. 1B when the internal pressure is high.

  Due to the expansion of the fixing member 5, the annular convex portion 51 engages with the annular concave portion 31, and the state shown in FIG. When removing the contact member 3 from the fixing member 5, if the fixing member 5 is contracted, the annular convex portion 51 is detached from the annular concave portion 31, and the contact member 3 can be pulled out from the side of the wheel 7 and the fixing member 5.

  As shown in the front view of FIG. 2, on the annular inner surface side of the contact member 3, an annular recess 31 indicated by a wavy line is formed along the ring. Further, eight linear recesses 33 are formed at intervals of 45 ° in the circumferential direction on the inner surface side of the contact member 3 in a direction intersecting with the annular recess 31 (preferably in a direction orthogonal). In addition, the linear recessed part 33 is not limited to eight, Arbitrary plural can be provided in the circumferential direction at equal intervals.

  As shown in the front view of FIG. 3A, an annular convex portion 51 is formed on the outer surface of the fixing member 5. Furthermore, on the outer surface of the fixing member 5, eight linear convex portions 53 are formed at intervals of 45 ° in the circumferential direction in a direction intersecting with the annular convex portion 51 (preferably in a direction orthogonal). In addition, the linear convex part 53 is not limited to eight, Arbitrary plural can be provided in the circumferential direction at equal intervals.

  The annular concave portion 31 shown in FIG. 2 and the annular convex portion 51 shown in FIG. 3 are engaged with each other in a state where the contact member 3 is attached to the fixing member 5, and the contact member 3 and the fixing member 5 are used when the tire 1 is used. Are prevented from shifting laterally toward each other in the annular center direction. The linear concave portion 33 shown in FIG. 2 and the linear convex portion 53 shown in FIG. 3 are engaged with each other with the contact member 3 mounted on the fixing member 5, so that the contact member 3 and the fixing member are used when the tire 1 is used. 5 are prevented from spinning around each other.

  A second embodiment of the tire of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. Secondly, in the tire 1 ′ of the embodiment, the same members as those of the first embodiment are denoted by the same reference numerals, and description thereof is omitted. The tire 1 ′ according to the second embodiment is mainly composed of a contact member 9 and a fixing member 5.

  The attachment of the tire 1 'of the second embodiment to the wheel 7 will be described with reference to FIGS. First, as shown in FIG. 4A, the fixing member 5 is attached to the wheel 7 by a tire changer. As shown in FIGS. 4B and 4C, the pair of half-contact members 91 and 91 are fixed with the wheel 7 on which the fixing member 5 is mounted being sandwiched. The contact member 9 includes a pair of half contact members 91 and 91. Each of the half-contact members 91 has a flat contact surface 93 that is annular and contacts each other, and an opening 95 for attaching the bolt 8a and the nut 8b. The pair of half-contact members 91 and 91 are fastened by bolts 8a and nuts 8b and fixed to the fixing member 5 as shown in FIG. As shown in FIG. 4D, the half contact members 91 and 91 each include a plurality of openings 95. Eight openings 95 are formed at 45 ° intervals in the circumferential direction. In addition, the opening part 33 is not limited to eight, Arbitrary plural can be provided in the circumferential direction at equal intervals.

  In the second embodiment, the contact member 9 and the fixing member 5 are fixed by a fastening member made up of a bolt 8a, a nut 8b, and the like, thereby preventing idle rotation and displacement. Moreover, although FIG. 4 does not show an annular recess, a linear recess, an annular projection, or a linear recess, these can also be provided.

  An example of the outer surface shape of the tire according to the first embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. As shown in FIG. 5 (a), the outer surface 32 of the contact member 3 may be formed in a symmetrical arc shape, and the outer surface 32 ′ of the contact member 3 is inclined as shown in FIG. 5 (b). You may form in circular arc shape (asymmetrical circular arc shape). As shown in FIG. 5, by preparing a plurality of types of round shapes of the contact member 3, it becomes possible to match the purpose of use and the characteristics of the vehicle. In addition, when a hard tire having the same tread shape as a conventional tire is used, the change in area and contact pressure with the road surface is large with respect to the change in the tire camper (the contact angle between the tire and the running surface). It may not be a substitute for the μ road surface. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 5, this influence can be adjusted and mitigated by rounding the tread surface.

  For the purpose of adjusting the vertical and horizontal friction characteristics generated by the tires according to the first and second embodiments, a tread pattern having a predetermined shape can be formed on the outer surface of the friction member 3 as necessary. For example, vertical and horizontal grooves can be formed on the outer surface of the contact member 3 in order to reproduce the characteristics of running on snow or ice on asphalt only with the tire according to the present embodiment. Moreover, as shown in FIGS. 6 (a) and 6 (b), a plurality of grooves, that is, uneven grooves 35 are provided on a part or all of the outer surface 32 of the contact member 3, thereby improving the vertical and horizontal grip characteristics of the tire. It is also possible to change. Moreover, you may provide the some circular recessed part 37 in a part or all part of the outer surface 32 of the contact member 3, as shown in FIG.6 (c).

  5 and 6 are shown as modified examples of the first embodiment, but these are also applicable to the second embodiment.

  In order to reproduce the friction characteristics on the low μ road surface by the conventional rubber tire, it is preferable to adopt a shape different from that of the conventional rubber tire as the shape of the contact member as shown in FIGS. The reason for this is to prevent an excessive load from being applied to the contact member made of a non-elastic and hard (high rigidity) material in response to a change in the geometry of the automobile suspension.

  According to the first or second embodiment, the contact member 3 or 9 with advanced wear after use can be replaced, and the engaging portion between the fixing member 5 and the wheel 7 is equivalent to a conventional rubber tire. Because of its shape and structure, no special wheel is required.

  According to the tires according to the first and second embodiments, since the conventional wheel can be used for mounting on the vehicle and a special wheel is not required, the introduction cost can be kept low. In addition, since the contact member that is worn by contact with the running surface and the fixing member that joins the contact member to the wheel are divided, when the contact member is worn, only the contact member needs to be replaced. Running costs can be kept low.

  According to the tires of the first and second embodiments, the tire changer is unnecessary for exchanging the contact member, and the friction characteristics of the tire can be changed by exchanging only the contact member.

  Since the tires according to the first and second embodiments fix the contact member to the wheel via the fixing member, the fixing member containing the air is compared with the case where the hard contact member is directly attached to the wheel. Therefore, since the tires of the first and second embodiments have elasticity, the characteristics can be brought close to those of rubber tires.

  The friction adjuster (tire) according to the present invention is an “apparatus for performing vehicle conformity development in an automobile development test”, that is, “a vehicle adapted to a low friction road surface such as snow or ice on a traveling surface such as asphalt”. It can be used as a “device for development”. For example, the present invention can be used for suspension development, ABS development, ESP (Electronic Stability Program) development, and VDC (Vehicle Dynamics Control) development. Furthermore, although the tire according to the present invention is mainly used for development testing of automobiles, it can be applied not only for development testing purposes but also for driving training and stunt photography. For example, it can also be used for drift running practice and for car chase video shooting in movies and television. More specific modes of use include “automobile driving training” and “drifting at low speed and low acceleration by lowering the vehicle limit”.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Tire 1 'Tire 3 Contact member 5 Fixing member 7 Wheel 31 Circular recessed part 32 Contact surface 33 Linear recessed part (cross recessed part)
35 Concavity and convexity 37 Circular concave portion 51 Annular convex portion 52 Hollow portion 53 Linear convex portion (cross concave portion)

Claims (9)

A friction adjuster that reproduces a predetermined state of a traveling surface during traveling of the vehicle and adjusts friction between the vehicle and the traveling surface,
An inelastic contact member that contacts the running surface;
An elastic fixing member fixed to the wheel of the vehicle;
A contact member engaging portion provided on the contact member;
A fixing member engaging portion provided on the fixing member to engage with the contact member engaging portion;
By the deformation of the fixing member, the contact member engaging portion and the fixing member engaging portion are engaged, and the contact member is fixed to the fixing member ,
The contact member is constituted by a semi-contact member of a pair of annular friction adjuster said pair of annular semi-contact member by a fastening member, characterized by Rukoto fixed across the fixing member. The friction adjuster according to claim 1,
A friction adjuster that tests parameters of a vehicle device using the friction adjuster. The friction adjuster according to claim 2 ,
The vehicle equipment includes at least one of an anti-lock brake system , an ESP, a VDC, and a suspension. In the friction adjustment tool according to any one of claims 1 to 3 ,
The friction adjusting device according to claim 1, wherein the predetermined state is one of snow, rain, sleet, and dry. In the friction adjuster according to any one of claims 1 to 4 ,
The contact adjusting member is made of a material having a lower coefficient of friction than rubber. In the friction adjuster according to claim 5 ,
The friction adjuster is characterized in that the material is any one of polytetrafluoroethylene, polycarbonate, ABS resin , ultrahigh molecular weight polyethylene, metal, or a combination thereof. In the friction adjuster according to any one of claims 1 to 6 ,
The outer surface of said contact member has a plurality of grooves, a plurality of concave-convex, friction adjuster, characterized in that it comprises at least one of the plurality of circular recesses. In the friction adjustment tool according to any one of claims 1 to 7 ,
The friction adjuster characterized in that the contour of the outer surface of the contact member is a symmetric arc shape or an asymmetric arc shape. A method for adjusting the friction between the vehicle and the running surface using the friction adjuster according to claim 1.

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