JPH0129608Y2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed description of the invention] The present invention relates to an operation control device, and in particular, to a machine groove type in which the operating lever slides parallel to the plate surface of a finish panel, it is possible to effectively prevent backlash in the operating lever. This invention relates to an actuation control device that can prevent the above.

Conventionally, in operation control devices such as automobile air conditioning control devices, an operation lever is slid parallel to an operation display panel such as a finish panel, that is, a front panel of a housing such as an automobile instrument panel. So-called parallel slide machine grooves, which control the operation of predetermined equipment, have been adopted. Various improvements have been made to such machine grooves in order to eliminate rattling of the operating lever and provide a good operating feel. However, the reality is that no conventional machine groove of this type has yet been provided with a configuration that satisfactorily achieves the above objectives.

For example, in the conventional parallel slide machine groove operation control device configured as shown in FIGS.
A block 4, which is interposed between the drive lever 3 and the drive lever 3 that converts linear motion into rotational motion and transmits it to a predetermined device, and is moved together with the drive lever 3, is provided parallel to the back side of the finish panel (not shown). Guide rail 6 made of iron plate with approximately U-shaped cross section
When sliding the sheets 8, 8 in the groove, the sheets 8, 8 are attached to both side walls of the groove, and the sheets 8,
By making the block 4 slide into contact with the lever 8 with an appropriate amount of frictional resistance, play in the longitudinal direction and sliding direction of the operating lever 2 can be prevented, and the operating lever 2 can be moved smoothly. I'm trying to get a feel for how it works.

In addition, when fixing the operating lever 2 to the block 4, as shown in FIG. 12 is formed on the block 4, the proximal end of the operating lever 2 is fixed to the protrusion 12, and a spacer 1 is provided in the gap between the proximal end and the bottom of the guide rail 6.
4, the occurrence of backlash in the direction perpendicular to the plate surface of the operating lever 2, that is, in the direction parallel to the plate surface of the finish panel and perpendicular to the sliding direction of the operating lever 2, is prevented as much as possible. That's what I do.

However, in the operation control device having such a configuration, the guide rail 6 and the block 4 must be processed with extremely high precision because it is necessary to generate a predetermined amount of frictional resistance between the block 4 and the seats 8, 8. Moreover, in order to allow the block 4 to slide within the guide rail 6, the gap between the bottom of the guide rail 6 and the base end of the operating lever 2 is filled with a spacer. 14, and therefore the backlash in the direction perpendicular to the plate surface of the operating lever 2, which is amplified and appears at the front end of the operating lever 2, as shown by the broken line and the dashed-dotted line in FIG. had the disadvantage that it could only be prevented incompletely.

Here, the present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and its purpose is to:
To provide an actuation control device equipped with a parallel sliding machine groove that can stably provide a good operational feeling with almost no rattling of an operating lever.

In order to achieve this purpose, the present invention provides a longitudinal-shaped operation panel that is disposed through a linear slide groove provided in the finish panel and has an operation knob attached to its front end. a lever, and a guide portion of the operating lever that is located on the back side of the finish panel and is provided in a direction parallel to the plate surface of the panel, and that guides the guide portion of the operating lever linearly along the panel. a guide rail having a guide surface consisting of two surfaces facing each other or two surfaces back to back in the penetrating direction of the panel, and controlling the operating state of a predetermined device according to the movement of the operating lever. In the operation control device, the operating lever is provided with a housing portion, and the leaf spring means is housed and held in the housing portion so as to be moved together with the operating lever, and the guide portion of the operating lever is provided with a leaf spring means. By elastically protruding a part of the leaf spring means through the window portion and applying the biasing force of the leaf spring means to one of the two surfaces constituting the guide surface of the guide rail, The guide portion of the operating lever is biased in a direction away from one surface constituting the guide surface so that it can be moved into contact with the other surface, while the slide groove in the finish panel A pair of flexible guide plates protruding by a predetermined length in the penetrating direction of the operating lever are integrally provided along the entire length of the slide groove on both sides thereof, and the pair of guide plates and a portion of the operating lever located between the guide plates, a protrusion that protrudes along the other side is provided along the slide groove to reduce the gap between them as much as possible. I tried to force him to do so.

Therefore, according to the present invention having such a configuration, the guide portion of the operating lever is separated from one surface constituting the guide surface of the guide rail by the leaf spring means disposed within the housing portion of the operating lever. In addition, the operating lever is biased in the direction of contacting the other surface, and the operating lever is moved while in contact with the guide surface of the guide section, so that the operating lever can be operated regardless of the position to which the operating lever is moved. The leaf spring means is always elastically interposed in the gap between the lever and the guide rail, and therefore, the presence of the elastic force effectively prevents play from occurring against the guide rail in the longitudinal direction of the operating lever. In addition, a pair of guide plates are formed protruding along the slide groove of the finish panel, and the gap between the guide plate and the operating lever is such that only one of them Because it is sandwiched as much as possible by the protrusions formed on the front end of the operating lever, play at the front end of the operating lever, particularly in the direction perpendicular to the plate surface of the operating lever, can be extremely effectively suppressed. By using the above-mentioned leaf spring means in combination, it has become possible to effectively prevent the occurrence of backlash in the entire operation lever.

Moreover, in the present invention, for the same reason as mentioned above, that is, the gap between the guide and the portion of the operating lever guided by the guide rail is elastically filled by the leaf spring means. Even if the machining accuracy of the guide rail and the part of the operating lever that is guided by the guide rail is not very high,
This means that a good operational feel can be obtained in a stable manner.

Furthermore, in the present invention, the gap between the pair of guide plates provided on the finish panel and the operating lever inserted between the guide plates is blocked due to manufacturing or processing errors. Even if it comes off,
The flexibility of the guide plate also has the advantage that the sliding properties between these members, that is, the operability of the operating lever can be advantageously ensured.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS In order to clarify the present invention more specifically, one embodiment of the present invention applied to an air conditioning control device for an automobile will be described in detail below with reference to the drawings.

First, FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view showing an example of an air conditioning control system for an automobile. On the left side of the center, there is a long name plate 20 in which the control status of the air conditioner is written, the longitudinal direction of which is perpendicular to the plane of the paper in the figure.
A slit 22 is formed parallel to the longitudinal direction of the name plate 20. A longitudinal operating lever 24 for controlling the air conditioning condition is disposed through the slits 22 so as to be movable within the slits 22.

The operating lever 24 has an operating knob 26 attached to its longitudinal front end, and is connected to a drive lever 30 via a pin 28 at its rear end. Finish panel 1 in 22
When the drive lever 30 is moved parallel to the plate surface of the frame 3, which is a stationary member at its rear end,
The cable 36 is rotated around a shaft 34 formed in the central part 2, and the operation of an air conditioner (not shown) connected to the other end is controlled via the cable 36, which has one end connected to the intermediate part thereof. -ing

In this device, a parallel sliding groove 38 is formed between the frame 32 and the operating lever 24 so that the operating lever 24 is moved parallel to the plate surface of the finish panel 18. The parallel slide groove 38 is provided with a function to prevent the operating lever 24 from wobbling and a groove for operating the operating lever 24 with a good operational feeling. It is.

That is, as shown in an enlarged view in FIG. 4, the parallel slide groove 38 is a cross section parallel to the plate surface of the finish panel 18, which is formed at the front end of the frame 32 on the back side of the finish panel 18. A substantially U-shaped guide rail 40 and a spring accommodating portion 4 of the operating lever 24 accommodated in the groove of the guide rail 40.
2, and a leaf spring 44 that is housed in the spring housing portion 42 and is moved as the operating lever 24 moves.

Of these, the guide rail 40 having the U-shaped cross section has both side walls parallel to the plate surface of the finish panel 18, so that the inner surfaces of the both side walls A guide surface is formed of two surfaces that are opposed to each other in the direction in which the operating lever 24 penetrates the panel 18.

Further, as shown in FIGS. 5 and 6, for example, the spring accommodating portion 42 extends from the intermediate portion of the flat plate portion 46 of the operating lever 24 inserted into the slit 22 at right angles to the plate surface. It consists of a pair of front and rear walls 48, 50 that face each other, and a side wall 52 that connects their ends, and an inner hollow part 54 formed by these walls has a substantially C-shape. A bent leaf spring 44 is accommodated therein. This leaf spring 44 has a protrusion 56 bent so as to protrude outward at the center of its C-shaped portion.
6 is a window 5 formed in the front wall 48 of the spring housing part 42
The spring accommodating portion 42 is housed in the spring accommodating portion 42 so as to protrude forward from the spring 8 . Then, in a state in which the spring accommodating portion 42 of the operating lever 24 that accommodates the leaf spring 44 is accommodated in the guide rail 40, the fourth
As shown in the figure, the protruding portion 56 of the leaf spring 44 is brought into contact with the front wall guide surface of the guide rail 40, and the elastic force of the leaf spring 44 causes the rear wall 56 of the spring accommodating portion 42 to is adapted to come into contact with the rear wall guide surface of the guide rail 40. Then, by setting the elastic force of the leaf spring 44 to an appropriate magnitude in advance,
When the operating lever 24 is slid parallel to the finish panel 18 as shown by the arrow in FIG.
The rear wall 50 is made to come into sliding contact with the front and rear side walls (guiding surfaces) of the guide rail 40 with an appropriate amount of frictional resistance, thereby reducing the overall backlash of the operating lever 24, especially in its longitudinal direction. As a result, not only this, but also a good feeling of operation can be obtained. As is clear from this, in this embodiment, the spring accommodating portion 42 of the operating lever 24 is configured as a guide portion guided by the guide rail 40.

On the wall in front of the guide rail 40, a seventh
As shown in the figure, a plurality of moderation grooves 59 are formed. These moderation grooves 59 are provided to provide a sense of operation when the operating lever 24 has reached a predetermined movement position,
Each time the protrusion 56 is engaged with the moderation groove 59, the operator of the operating lever 24 is provided with a tactile sensation of moderation.

On the other hand, a pair of opposing guide plates 60 are extended rearward from above and below the slit 22 on the back side of the finish panel 18. The so-called slide groove 62 including the slit 22
is formed. That is, the operating lever 24 is provided to pass through this slide groove 62. Then, the guide plate 6 of the operating lever 24
As shown in FIGS. 5 and 6, a protrusion 64 is formed in the region corresponding to 0 in parallel to the sliding direction of the operating lever 24, and the gap between the protrusion 64 and the guide plate 60 is As shown in Figure 4, the structure is made as narrow as possible.

That is, as a result, the movement of the front end of the operating lever 24 in the direction perpendicular to the plate surface of the operating lever 24 is limited to an extremely narrow range.

As is clear from the above description, in the air conditioning control device having such a configuration, the parallel slide machine groove 38
While the play of the operating lever 24 is controlled overall by the elastic force of the leaf spring 44, the protrusion 64 formed on the operating lever 24 is particularly effective at the front end of the operating lever 24 where the play is particularly noticeable. As a result, the gap between the slide groove 62 and the guide plate 60 is narrowed, and the range of movement due to rattling at the front end of the operating lever 24 is kept to an extremely small level, so that the rattling of the operating lever 24 is minimized as a whole. As a result, it was suppressed to an extremely low level.

Furthermore, as described above, when the spring accommodating portion 42 of the operating lever 24 is brought into sliding contact within the guide rail 40, the leaf spring 44 is elastically interposed between them, so that the operating lever 24 can be operated smoothly. Even when the feeling is obtained, the spring housing portion 42 and the guide rail 40 do not need to be machined with such high precision, and a good operational feeling can be stably obtained with normal processing precision.

In addition, the frame 3 including the guide rail 40 is
2 and the operating lever 24 including the spring accommodating portion 42 can both be obtained as synthetic resin molded products, and the manufacturing cost can be significantly reduced compared to conventional ones.

Further, in this air conditioning control device, the protrusion 64 of the operation lever 24 is made to protrude from the guide plate 60 extending rearward from the finish panel 18, thereby narrowing the gap therebetween. Therefore, even if the above-mentioned gap is closed due to such machining errors, the elastic force of the guide plate 60 absorbs the frictional force to some extent, and the operation lever 24 is This has the advantage that the operating feeling is hardly hindered, and since the leaf spring 44 is housed in the spring accommodating portion 42, the leaf spring 44 has a sufficient holding force against the operating lever 24. This has the advantage that stable operation can be advantageously exhibited even when the operating lever 24 is repeatedly operated.

Furthermore, in this embodiment, such a leaf spring 44
is separated from the groove bottom of the guide rail 40 by the lower frame portion of the window 58 of the spring accommodating portion 42 in the operating lever 24.
It also has the advantage that the moving operation in step 4 can be performed more smoothly.

In this embodiment, a window 58 is provided in the front wall 48 of the spring accommodating portion 42 of the operating lever 24, and the protruding portion 56 of the leaf spring 44 is made to protrude from the window 58. The protrusion 56 of the spring accommodating section 42 and the rear wall 50 of the spring accommodating section 42 were brought into sliding contact with the opposing inner walls (guiding surfaces) of the guide rail 40.
By forming the protruding part 56 of the leaf spring 44 on the rear wall 50 and making the protruding part 56 of the leaf spring 44 protrude therefrom, the protruding part 56 of the leaf spring 44 and the front wall 48 of the spring accommodating part 42 are connected to the inner wall (guiding surface) of the guide rail 40. It may also be possible to have it do so. Further, the window 58 of the spring accommodating portion 42 may have a simple slit shape without the lower frame portion.

Furthermore, the present invention can be implemented in other embodiments.

That is, in the case of the parallel slide machine groove, as shown in FIG. Spring housing part 4
In front of 2 is a sliding contact plate 7 parallel to the finish panel.
0, and by this sliding contact plate 70 and the protruding part 56 of the leaf spring 44 protruding from the spring accommodating part 42,
It is also possible to adopt a structure in which the guide rail 66 is held elastically. In this parallel slide machine groove, the front wall of the spring accommodating part 42 and the sliding contact plate 70 form a guide part for the operating lever 68, and both sides of the guide rail 66 form a guide part for the operating lever 68. , a guide surface that guides the guide portion of the operating lever 68 is configured.

Furthermore, although the guide rail 66 and the guide rail 40 in the embodiment described above have been described as stationary members separate from the finish panel, they can also be formed integrally with the finish panel.

In addition, as for the machine groove that suppresses backlash at the front end of the operating lever, as shown in Fig. 9,
The flat plate part 74 of the operating lever 72 is made into a flat shape,
The guide plate 78 that forms the slide groove 76 may be provided with a protrusion 80 that projects toward the operating lever 72 . Note that even in this case, the effect of absorbing the frictional resistance due to machining errors can be obtained by utilizing the elastic force of the guide plate 78, as in the previous embodiment.

In addition, it goes without saying that various modifications and improvements can be made to the present invention based on the knowledge of those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit thereof. For example, the shape of the leaf spring may be approximately U-shaped, and instead of controlling the operation of a predetermined device via a drive lever, the control lever may directly control a predetermined control groove. It makes no difference whatsoever.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an example of a parallel slide machine groove of a conventional operation control device, and FIG. 2 is a sectional view thereof. FIG. 3 is a sectional view showing an embodiment of the actuation control device according to the present invention applied to an air conditioning control device for an automobile, FIG. 4 is an enlarged view of the main part thereof, and FIG.
The figure is a perspective view of a main part showing the operating lever used in the air conditioning control device shown in FIGS. 3 and 4 together with a leaf spring used inside the lever, and FIG. 6 is a view taken in the direction of the arrow. FIG. 7 is an enlarged perspective view of essential parts of the air conditioning control device shown in FIG. 3, viewed from the back side of the finish panel. FIG. 8 is a cross-sectional view showing one embodiment of the parallel slide groove used in the present invention, and FIG. 9 is a cross-sectional view showing one embodiment of the groove that suppresses backlash at the front end of the operating lever. 18... Finish panel, 22... Slit, 24, 68, 72... Operation lever, 26...
Operation knob, 30... Drive lever, 38... Parallel slide machine groove, 40, 66... Guide rail, 42
...Spring housing section, 44...Plate spring, 46, 74...
...Flat plate part, 56...Protrusion part, 58...Window, 59...
...Moderation groove, 60, 78...Guide plate, 62, 76
...Slide groove, 64, 80...Protrusion, 70...
Sliding plate.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claim for Utility Model Registration] A long operating lever that is disposed through a linear slide groove provided in a finish panel and has an operating knob attached to its front end; located on the back side and provided in a direction parallel to the plate surface of the panel, for linearly guiding the guide portion of the operating lever along the panel;
a guide rail having a guide surface consisting of two surfaces facing each other or two back-to-back surfaces in the penetrating direction of the operating lever through the panel, the operating state of a predetermined device being adjusted according to the movement of the operating lever; In the actuation control device, the operating lever is provided with an accommodating portion, and a leaf spring means is accommodated and held in the accommodating portion so that the leaf spring means can be moved together with the operating lever. A part of the leaf spring means is elastically protruded through the window portion provided with the guide portion, and the biasing force of the leaf spring means is applied to one of the two surfaces constituting the guide surface of the guide rail. By activating the operation lever, the guide portion of the operating lever is biased in a direction away from one surface constituting the guide surface so that it can be moved into contact with the other surface. A pair of flexible guide plates projecting a predetermined length in the penetrating direction of the operating lever are integrally provided along the entire length of the slide groove on both sides of the panel across the slide groove, A protrusion protruding toward the other side is provided along the slide groove on either one of the pair of guide plates and a portion of the operating lever located between the guide plates, and a gap therebetween is provided. An actuation control device characterized by reducing the amount as much as possible.