JPH0225833B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a steering device for a vehicle, and in particular, a steering column that is held through a steering shaft is supported on the vehicle body side by a spherical bushing, and when a load is applied to the steering shaft and steering column, the steering column is bent. The present invention relates to a steering device that reduces moments, responds to them in the forward direction relative to the direction of load application, and allows the shaft and column to smoothly absorb energy.

If one or both of the vehicle's steering shaft and steering column is configured to slide axially in the event of a collision to absorb energy,
A load acts around the steering wheel, and the load does not necessarily act on the steering column or steering shaft in the forward direction of its axis, but there are cases where the load acts in the axial direction and acts as a bending moment. be. Under such circumstances, friction occurs in the axial sliding of the columns and shafts, and improvements are desired to ensure smooth and rapid sliding of these.

The present invention has been made to improve the above-mentioned problems, and its purpose is to support the steering column in a spherical bushing so as to be able to swing freely while restricting axial movement toward the vehicle body, and to install the steering column within the column. By inserting and supporting the steering column and shaft, the column and shaft are made to follow and swing in the direction of the load, and the axial directions of the column and shaft are aligned with the load, thereby reducing the bending moment to the steering column and steering shaft, thereby reducing the friction generated by this. It is an object of the present invention to provide a steering device for a vehicle, which reduces the amount of energy absorbed by the column and the shaft, thereby smoothly and quickly performing the energy absorption effect due to the axial sliding of the column and shaft.

Next, a preferred embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

Figure 1 is a longitudinal side view of the steering device, showing the instrument panel 1 installed at the front of the vehicle interior.
A steering column 3 is supported at the rear under the driver's side of the vehicle via a bracket 2 fixed to the vehicle body side, and a steering shaft 4 is mounted inside the column 3.
A steering wheel 5 is fixed to the rear end of the shaft 4, and a high pressure gas container 7 and a nozzle device 8 are attached to the center of the steering wheel 5 via a mounting base 6. An air bag 9 is folded around the air bag 9 and is attached to surround it, and the space S in which these are stored is a pad 1 that covers the central surface of the steering wheel 5.
It is blocked by 0. When a vehicle collides, if this exceeds a predetermined value, the gas container etc. is released and high pressure gas etc. is supplied into the air bag 9 through the nozzle device 8, causing it to expand and deploy.
0 is destroyed through the fragile part, and the bag 9 is expanded and deployed in front of the driver, absorbing and mitigating the impact.

In the above, the steering column 3 is made up of two hollow parts, the front member 31 and the rear member 32, and the rear part of the front member 31 and the front part of the rear member 32 are fitted and wrapped, and the wrap part 33 is A gap is formed in the shape of a ring, and bushes 34, 35 made of synthetic resin or the like, which are divided into front and rear parts, are interposed between the gaps, and the front and rear members 31, 32 are connected by the friction of the bushes 34, 35. The steering shaft 4 that passes through the column 3 is composed of two members 41 and 42 at the front and rear, the front member 41 is hollow and the rear member 42 is fitted to the rear part of this, and both are fitted with a pin 44 that is sheared under a predetermined load. The wrap portions 43 are coupled together to restrict axial movement, and the cross sections of both wrap portions 43 are, for example, rectangular in order to transmit rotational force. The front member 41 extends forward, and is provided with a universal joint 45 at its front end to be connected to a steering mechanism.

A stay 21 is provided hanging down and extending in the front part of the bracket 2, a mounting window 22 is opened in the front and back direction in the stay 21, a ring-shaped holder 11 is fitted into the window 22, and the holder 11 projects in the inner diameter direction. The front part of the ring-shaped flange part 11a is provided with a ring-shaped flange part 11a.
A play hole 12 through which the shaft front portion 41 passes is provided in the middle portion of the shaft. The holder 11 has a concave spherical surface 13 on its rear inner diameter.
is formed, and a ring-shaped convex spherical surface 14 is formed on the outer periphery.
Fit the spherical bushing 15 having the
A bush 16 shaped like a flat bearing is fitted into the inner diameter part of the shaft 5, and a shaft front member 41 is fitted and inserted into the inner diameter part 16a of the bush 16. A short narrowed portion 36 is provided at the front end of the column front member 31 described above, and the end portion 3 of the narrowed portion 36 is
7 against the bush 16, and press the front end 38 of the main body in front of the narrowed part 36 into the inner diameter part 1 of the spherical bush 15.
5a, and 17 and 18 in the figure are O-rings. The bushes 15 and 16 described above are made of a material having a small coefficient of friction, such as polyacetal.

The rear member 32 of the steering core ram 3 is mounted and supported at the rear of the bracket 2, and as is well known, the mounting part is made up of a fragile part such as a shear pin, and the fragile part is sheared by the impact during a vehicle collision. Then, the support of the rear member 32 is released.

Next, to explain its functions and effects, when a vehicle crashes, the air bag inflates and deploys as described above, but at the time of a collision, the load is applied to the column 3 and shaft 4 by the occupant through the steering wheel 5. As a result, the support of the column rear member 32 to the rear part of the bracket 2 is released as described above. If the load acts in the forward direction relative to the axial direction of the column and shaft, the column and shaft will slide smoothly in the axial direction at the lap parts 33 and 34, but the load will not act on the central part of the steering wheel 5. , when it acts on the peripheral part, a bending moment acts on the column 3 and shaft 4, but as mentioned above, the column 3 is supported by the spherical bush 15, so it swings so that the load direction and the axial direction of this are aligned. . This is shown in Fig. 3. As a result, the direction of the load matches the axial direction of the column 3 and shaft 4, and the column 3 and shaft 4 can slide smoothly in the axial direction while suppressing the occurrence of friction due to bending moment. The Rukoto.
Therefore, the energy absorption effect due to the axial sliding of the column 3 and shaft 4 is achieved smoothly and quickly.

As is clear from the above, according to the present invention, the axes of the column and shaft can be aligned with the direction of the load regardless of the collision situation of the driver with the steering wheel, and the energy absorption effect of the column and shaft can be smoothly achieved. It has many advantages, such as being able to carry out the process quickly, supporting the column with a spherical bushing, having a simple structure, and being able to achieve the intended purpose at low cost.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

The drawings show one embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 1 is a longitudinal sectional side view of the steering device, FIG. 2 is an enlarged sectional view of the essential parts, and FIG. 3 is an explanatory view of the same operation. In the drawing, 3 is a steering column, 4 is a steering shaft, and 15 is a spherical bush.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. Energy absorption with a structure in which the support of the rear part of the steering column against the vehicle body is released due to the load at the time of a collision, and both the steering shaft and the steering column are allowed to slide in the axial direction at their intermediate portions. In the type steering device, the front part of the steering shaft is fitted into the front end of the steering column so as to be able to slide in the axial direction, and the front end of the steering column is connected to the stay on the vehicle body via a spherical bushing with a convex outer periphery. A vehicle steering device characterized in that the steering device is coupled to enable only rocking.