JP7269138B2 - steering column device - Google Patents

Description

The present application relates to a steering column device that has a telescopic function and moves forward of the vehicle body to absorb the impact in the event of a secondary collision.

Patent Literature 1 describes a steering device having an outer tube and a lower tube that are fitted via a retainer so as to be able to slide relative to each other, that is, telescopically.

In such a conventional steering device, for example, when the lock mechanism is released in the state of the steering device alone before being attached to the vehicle, even if both tubes are about to separate from each other, the steering device is fixed to the outer tube. The regulating member abuts against a predetermined portion of the retainer in the axial direction, thereby preventing both tubes from being separated from each other.

JP 2008-213521 A

However, in the above-described conventional steering device, the restricting member is provided only for the purpose of preventing both tubes from separating from each other when the steering device is in a single state before being attached to the vehicle. Once installed, it is no longer needed.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present application is to provide a steering column device in which a regulating member provided for the purpose of detachment before being attached to a vehicle body can be used for other purposes after being attached.

In order to achieve the above object, a steering column device according to claim 1 includes a steering column including an upper jacket, a lower jacket, and a restricting member which are fitted so as to be relatively slidable in the axial direction and which rotatably support a steering shaft. In the device, the restricting member has a head, a body extending from the head, and legs extending from the body, and the body of the restricting member is inserted into the hole formed in the lower jacket. The control member is fixed to the lower jacket in a state in which the head portion of the control member protrudes from above the lower jacket by inserting and rotating the portion and the leg and tightening the lower jacket.

A steering column device according to claim 2 is the steering column device according to claim 1, wherein the restricting member is made of resin.

A steering column device according to claim 3 is the steering column device according to claim 1, wherein the restricting member is made of metal.

A steering column device according to claim 4 is the steering column device according to claims 1 to 3, wherein the regulation member adjusts the magnitude of energy absorbed in a secondary collision according to the thickness of the trunk. It is characterized by

According to the steering column device of claim 1, a single restricting member serves both to restrict the separation of the lower jacket from the upper jacket and to absorb energy in the event of a secondary collision. This makes it possible to further reduce the manufacturing cost of the steering column device.

Further, according to the steering column device according to claim 4, it is possible to easily adjust the magnitude of the energy absorbed in a secondary collision by simply changing the thickness of the body portion of the restricting member. .

1 is a perspective view showing an appearance of part of a configuration included in a steering column device according to an embodiment of the present application; FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing how a resin pin is inserted into a lower jacket included in the configuration of FIG. 1; FIG. FIG. 2 is a plan view showing a configuration in which an upper bracket is removed from the configuration in FIG. 1; FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view ((a)) along line PP of FIG. 3, a partially enlarged view ((b)) of the same cross-sectional view, and a perspective view ((c)) of a resin pin.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present application will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 shows the appearance of part of the configuration of a steering column device according to an embodiment of the present application. The steering column device of this embodiment has a tilt function and a telescopic function, but the present invention is made to solve the problems that arise when the telescopic function is provided, so the tilt function is not mentioned. . 1 to 4, when referring to directions, the directions of the arrows shown in each drawing are used. However, the front-rear direction is the axial direction.

The steering column device of this embodiment includes a steering column 10 as shown in FIG. The steering column 10 is mainly composed of an upper shaft 11, a lower shaft 15, and an upper jacket 12 and a lower jacket 16 that rotatably support the upper shaft 11 and the lower shaft 15, respectively. A steering wheel (not shown) is attached to the tip of the upper shaft 11 .

As shown in FIG. 4A, the upper shaft 11 and upper jacket 12 and the lower shaft 15 and lower jacket 16 are configured to be slidable relative to each other, and the steering column 10 as a whole is configured to be extendable in the longitudinal direction. It is

An upper bracket 30 is attached to the upper jacket 12 as shown in FIG. The upper bracket 30 is for fixing the upper jacket 12 to the vehicle body (not shown). That is, the upper jacket 12 is attached to the vehicle body via the upper bracket 30. As shown in FIG.

On the other hand, a lower bracket 40 is also attached to the lower jacket 16 , and the lower jacket 16 is also attached to the vehicle body via the lower bracket 40 .

When the steering column 10 is attached to the vehicle body via the upper bracket 30 and the lower bracket 40, the telescopic function is mainly realized via the upper jacket 12. Therefore, the telescopic mechanism for realizing the telescopic function is the upper bracket 30 and the lower bracket 40. It is provided around the jacket 12 .

A lock bolt 26 is inserted through the upper jacket 12 as shown in FIG. At this time, the lock bolt 26 is also inserted through the elongated hole 20a of the friction plate 20 (see FIG. 1). The lock bolt 26 is tightened or loosened by an operation lever (not shown) to bring a plurality of friction plates including the friction plate 20 into contact with or separate from the upper jacket 12, thereby locking or releasing the telescopic function. can be done.

In conjunction with the locking of the telescopic function, the telescopic pole 24 pushes down the pressing portion 22 to press the upper jacket 12, thereby suppressing rattling between the upper jacket 12 and the lower jacket 16. I'm trying

At a predetermined position of the lower jacket 16, as shown in FIG. 2, a hole 16a is provided for inserting and rotating a resin pin 50 to fix it on the lower jacket 16. As shown in FIG. When the steering column device of this embodiment is in a single state before being attached to the vehicle body, the resin pin 50 allows the lower jacket 16 to separate from the upper jacket 12 even if the locking of the telescopic function is unintentionally released. play a regulatory role.

The resin pin 50 has a semicylindrical head 51, a columnar body 52 extending downward from the bottom surface of the head 51, and tapered legs extending laterally from the body 52. 53. The hole 16a of the lower jacket 16 is formed in such a shape that the trunk portion 52 and the leg portions 53 of the resin pin 50 can be inserted with the leg portions 53 facing forward and backward. Therefore, when the resin pin 50 is inserted into the hole 16a with both legs 53 facing in the front-rear direction and then rotated by 90°, the resin pin 50 is moved by the bottom surface of the head 51 and the upper surfaces of the legs 53. , is fixed on the lower jacket 16 by clamping the lower jacket 16 . As a result, the head 51 of the resin pin 50 protrudes from the surface of the lower jacket 16 .

The fixing of the resin pin 50 to the lower jacket 16 is performed in a state where the lower jacket 16 and the upper jacket 12 are fitted together as shown in FIG. However, FIG. 3 shows the state after fixing the resin pin 50 to the lower jacket 16 .

After the resin pin 50 is fixed to the lower jacket 16 in a state where the lower jacket 16 and the upper jacket 12 are engaged with each other in this way, the lock of the telescopic function is released against the operator's intention, for example, and the lower jacket 16 is released. 16 slides away from the upper jacket 12 . In FIG. 4A, sliding the lower jacket 16 away from the upper jacket 12 means sliding the lower jacket 16 forward. In this case, since the resin pin 50 moves forward as the lower jacket 16 moves, the resin pin 50 (head portion 51 thereof) is provided on the upper jacket 12 as shown in FIG. After coming into contact with the pressing portion 22, the lower jacket 16 does not move forward any more. That is, the resin pin 50 can prevent the lower jacket 16 from separating from the upper jacket 12 .

On the other hand, when a secondary collision occurs after the steering column device of this embodiment is attached to the vehicle body, the upper jacket 12 moves forward in FIG. 4(a). As a result, (the head 51 of) the resin pin 50 is pressed by the upper jacket 12, and if the pressing force exceeds the pressure required to shear the head 51 and body 52 of the resin pin 50, for example, 4(c), the head portion 51 and body portion 52 are sheared at a portion (52a) indicated by a dashed line.

This shearing absorbs the energy of a secondary collision and mitigates the impact on the driver. Since the pressing force required for shearing, that is, the load depends on the diameter length of the trunk portion 52 of the resin pin 50, the load during shearing can be adjusted by adjusting the diameter length of the trunk portion 52, which in turn prevents the secondary collision. You can also adjust the absorption power of the energy at the time of .

As described above, the steering column device of this embodiment includes a steering column including the upper jacket 12 and the lower jacket 16 which are fitted so as to be able to slide relative to each other in the axial direction and which rotatably support the upper shaft 11 and the lower shaft 15. A column 10 , a head 51 , a body 52 extending from the head 51 , and a resin pin 50 having legs 53 extending from the body 52 are provided.

In the steering column device of this embodiment, the body portion 52 and the leg portion 53 of the resin pin 50 are inserted into the hole 16a formed in the lower jacket 16 and rotated to rotate the leg portion 53 and the head portion 51 of the resin pin 50. By tightening the lower jacket 16, the resin pin 50 is fixed to the lower jacket 16 with the head 51 of the resin pin 50 projecting from above the lower jacket 16, and the lower jacket 16 is separated from the upper jacket 12. When the upper jacket 12 slides in the direction, the upper jacket 12 comes into contact with the head portion 51 of the resin pin 50, thereby restricting the separation of the lower jacket 16 from the upper jacket 12, and the steering column 10 is attached to the vehicle body. After that, when a secondary collision occurs, the upper jacket 12 moves forward of the vehicle body in response to the driver pushing the steering column 10, shearing the head portion 51 of the resin pin 50 from the body portion 52. By doing so, the energy in the secondary collision is absorbed.

Thus, in the steering column device of the present embodiment, one resin pin 50 serves both to prevent the lower jacket 16 from separating from the upper jacket 12 and to absorb energy in the event of a secondary collision. , it is possible to further reduce the manufacturing cost of the steering column device of the present embodiment.

Incidentally, in this embodiment, the resin pin 50 is an example of a "regulating member".

In addition, the resin pin 50 adjusts the amount of energy absorbed in the secondary collision according to the diameter length of the trunk portion 52 .

This makes it possible to easily adjust the amount of energy absorbed during a secondary collision by simply changing the diameter length of the trunk portion 52 of the resin pin 50 .

Incidentally, the diameter length is an example of "thickness".

It should be noted that the present invention is not limited to the above embodiments, and various modifications can be made without departing from the spirit of the present invention.

(1) In the above embodiment, the resin pin 50 is integrally made of resin, but it is not limited to this, and may be integrally made of metal.

(2) In the above embodiment, the body portion 52 of the resin pin 50 is formed in a columnar shape, but it is not limited to this and may be formed in a polygonal columnar shape.

1 Steering Column Device 10 Steering Column 11 Upper Shaft 12 Upper Jacket 15 Lower Shaft 16 Lower Jacket 16a Hole 22 Pressing Portion 50 Resin Pin 51 Head 52 Body 53 Leg

Claims (4)

A steering column device including an upper jacket, a lower jacket, and a regulating member that are fitted in an axially slidable manner and rotatably support a steering shaft,
The regulating member has a head, a trunk extending from the head, and legs extending from the trunk. By inserting and rotating the body portion and the leg portions and tightening the lower jacket, the regulating member is fixed to the lower jacket with the head portion of the regulating member protruding from the lower jacket. ,
steering column device. 2. The steering column device according to claim 1, wherein said restricting member is made of resin. 2. The steering column device according to claim 1, wherein said restricting member is made of metal. 4. The steering column device according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein said regulating member adjusts the amount of energy absorbed in a secondary collision according to the thickness of said trunk.

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