JPH0268243A - Aligner for roll connector - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To make alignment reproducible by forming a recess and a projection in a stator and a rotor respectively, setting this projection to an engagement or separation position to or from the recess by rotator rotation, and making the projection so as to give resistance to rotation with a position holding means at this engagement or separation position. CONSTITUTION:A recess 5 is formed in a stator 3 constituting a casing of a roll connector, likewise a projection 7 of a star member 6 is attached to a rotor as rotatably to a shaft 8, and this projection 5 is engaged or separated to or from the recess 5 by rotation of this rotor 4. A plate spring 12 is made contact with a root part 9 of the star member 6, and resistance is given to rotation of the star member 6. These recess and projection parts 5, 7 is made into a state of being engaged at a neutral position of the roll connector and thereby they are aligned. When the rotor 4 is rotated with strong force by a handle, the engagement is released and the plate spring is moved to respective parts 10, 11, and the handle is made freely rotatable in keeping its separated state maintained intact. Therefore alignment of the connector roll is simply reproducible.

Description

[Detailed description of the invention] [Industrial application field]

The present invention provides a method for aligning and temporarily fixing the neutral position of a steering shaft and the neutral position of a spiral coil tape member in a steering column in an electrical connection mechanism between a vehicle steering column and a steering column. The present invention relates to a roll connector positioning device.

[Prior art]

Around the steering shaft of an automobile, a connector device is required that is structured to electrically connect the steering wheel and steering column while allowing rotation of the shaft. A casing is made up of a stator and a rotor that is attached to the steering shaft and is rotatable together with the shaft, and a spiral coil tape (band-shaped covered wire) is housed inside the casing to make up a roll connector device. This coil tape maintains electrical connection while allowing the steering shaft to rotate by loosening or tightening its spiral state, regardless of whether the steering shaft rotates clockwise or counterclockwise. However, because of the spiral shape, if the shaft is too loose or too tight, it will not be possible to allow the shaft to rotate equally in both directions. Therefore, the neutral position of the rotation angle of the steering shaft (straight steering state),
It is necessary to assemble both parts in a state where the coil tape is aligned with the neutral position where the amount of rotation in both directions is approximately equal, and the handle is attached to the steering shaft with this position aligned and temporarily secured. It turns out. After the installation of the handle is completed, the above-mentioned temporary fixing must be released again. Furthermore, this positioning must be reproducible each time the roll connector device is disassembled and assembled.

[Problem to be solved by the invention]

There are various conventional techniques used for the above-mentioned positioning, but most of them involve providing positioning holes at predetermined locations on the stator and rotor, and inserting and extracting pin members into the holes. This allows temporary fixing and release operations. However, the current situation is that there is not enough operating space around the locations where each of these operations is actually performed, and the insertion and removal of the pin member is forced to be a fairly complicated operation. In particular, when removing the pin member from the temporary fixing, the column cover becomes an obstacle, making the operation difficult. There was also a fear that the pin member that had been pulled out would be lost. The present invention has been devised in view of the problems of the prior art as described above and to effectively solve the problems. Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a roll connector and a positioning device in which temporary fixing and releasing operations during positioning are extremely simple.

[Means to solve the problem]

The roll connector positioning device according to the present invention solves the problems of the prior art as described above and has the following configuration in order to achieve the object. That is, the recess means and the protrusion means, which are removable from each other by a combination of the recess and the protrusion, are separately provided in each of the stator and rotor that form a pair with each other and constitute the casing of the roll connector, and the recess means or the protrusion means Either one of the convex means is rotatable with respect to the stator or rotor to which it is attached, and the other means is fixed to the member (stator or rotor) to which it is attached. The rotatable means is configured such that its rotation is resisted by the position holding means in the engaged and disengaged positions relative to the fixed means.

[Effect]

In the roll connector positioning device according to the present invention, the convex portion means and the concave portion means are engaged and disengaged from each other by relative movement, and this relative movement is achieved by rotational movement of the rotor of the roll connector with respect to the stator. It will be done. Also,
When engaging and disengaging the protrusion means and the recess means, either the protrusion means or the recess means can escape from the other means by rotation of the means itself. In addition, in both the engaged state and the disengaged state, the position holding means provides resistance to the rotatable means to restrict its rotation, so that when the rotatable means is attempted to rotate. It attempts to maintain its current state in response to a relatively small force. As a result, when the convex means and the concave means are engaged with each other, the rotation of the rotatable means is somewhat restricted by the resistance given by the position holding means, and a slight force is required to prevent the rotation of the rotatable means. The engagement is not released and presents a so-called temporarily fixed state. Therefore, in this state, it is only necessary to arrange the convex part means and the concave part means so that the neutral position of the steering shaft matches the neutral position of the spiral coil tape member in the steering column. is attached to the steering shaft, and after the installation is completed, by turning the handle a little forcefully, the engagement between the convex part means and the four part means will be released by overcoming the resistance by the position (υ holding means). In the detached state, even if the rotor rotates relative to the stator, the rotatable means maintains the detached state, so the protrusion means and the four-part means come into contact with each other. Therefore, the rotational movement of the rotor is not hindered.

[Embodiments] Preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS. 1 to 3. FIG. 1 is a plan view showing a roll connector positioning device according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken along the line - H in FIG. 1. What is shown is the appearance of a roll connector, in which a casing 1 has an insertion hole 2 opened in the center for a steering shaft (not shown). The casing 1 is composed of a stator 3 and a rotor 4. The stator 3 is
The rotor 4 is fixedly attached to the steering column (not shown) with the upper bottom wall and the outer peripheral wall of the casing 1 forming the upper bottom wall and the inner peripheral wall of the casing 1, and the rotor 4 is connected to the steering shaft by forming the upper bottom wall and the inner peripheral wall of the casing 1. is attached to. Therefore, the rotor 4 rotates clockwise and counterclockwise with respect to the fixed stator 3 as the steering shaft rotates. Although not shown, a spiral coil tape is housed in the casing 1, similar to a roll connector for boat fishing, and its inner end is connected to the contact terminal of the rotor 4, and its outer end is connected to the contact terminal of the stator 3. are connected to each. Therefore, there is a neutral position where the coil tape can be rotated approximately in the direction in which the winding state is tightened or in the direction in which it is loosened. A recess 5 is formed in the stator 3 at a location facing the outer peripheral end of the upper bottom wall of the rotor 4, and the recess 5 is located at a position opposite to the outer peripheral end of the upper bottom wall of the rotor 4, and the neutral position of the coil tape and the neutral position of the steering shaft, that is, the position of the steering column where the wheels are in a straight-ahead state. At a position on the rotor 4 facing the four parts 5 of the stator 3, there is a star-shaped member 6 as a convex part means.
is rotatably supported on the rotor 4. This star-shaped member 6 has one of its tops protruding from the other tops to form a convex part 7, and a first valley on the opposite side of the convex part 7 with respect to the rotation axis 8. The second section is located on both sides of the section 9.
, a third trough 10.11 are located respectively. This convex part 7 enters into and engages with the concave part 5 of the rotor 4, but as the rotor 4 rotates, it is pushed against the side wall surface of the fourth part 5, so that the star-shaped member 6 rotates around the rotation axis 8. The convex portion 7 is rotated and removed from the concave portion 5. On the other hand, in the engagement shape 73 between the convex portion 7 and the concave portion 5, the leaf spring member 1 is attached to the first valley portion 9.
2 are in contact with each other, and the resilient force acts in the direction of the rotating shaft 8. Therefore, the star-shaped member 6 cannot freely rotate around its rotation axis 8, and a force larger than the rotation regulating force by the leaf spring member 12 tries to rotate the star-shaped member 6. It can only rotate when it acts. A force greater than the rotation regulating force can be easily obtained by attaching the handle to the steering shaft and then turning the handle. When the star-shaped member 6 rotates and separates from the convex portion 7 and the concave portion 5, one end of the leaf spring member 12 comes into contact with the second trough lO or the third trough 11. Even in this state, the rotation regulating force acts, so the star-shaped member 6 maintains its position. Therefore, even when the handle is turned, the protrusion 7 and the recess 5 do not interfere with each other and do not inhibit the rotation of the handle. Note that the leaf spring member 12 has one end fixed to the upper bottom wall of the rotor 4 and a free end in contact with the star-shaped member 6. In this way, by rotating the star-shaped member 6, the roll connector can be aligned and temporarily fastened in that state, and release of the temporary fastening can be completed by simply turning the handle after attaching the handle to the steering shaft. can. FIG. 3 is a plan view showing convex means and concave means in another embodiment of the present invention, in which the concave and convex portions are reversed from those in the above-described embodiment. That is, a convex portion 7° is formed on the stator 3', and a concave portion 5' is formed on one top of the rotatable star-shaped member 6'. In each of the above-mentioned embodiments, the unevenness means are formed on the bottom surface of the casing because the joints of the stator and rotor are located on the bottom surface of the casing.
Of course, when this joint portion is located on the circumferential side surface, these means are constructed on the circumferential side surface. Further, the rotatable star-shaped member 6 or 6° is connected to the stator 3
Alternatively, the concave portion 5 or the convex portion 7” may be formed at the rotor 4 or 4°. In that case, the recess 5 or the convex portion 7” is formed at the rotor 4 or 4°. In other words, it is easy to align the roll connector, temporarily fasten it in that state, and release it.Especially, releasing the temporary fasten can be done by attaching the handle to the steering shaft and then turning the handle. It can be completed by just

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a plan view showing a positioning device for a roll connector according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line R in FIG. 1, and FIG. 3 is another embodiment of the present invention. It is a top view which shows the convex part means and the recessed part means in. DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1... Casing, 2... Steering shaft insertion hole, 3... Stator, 4... Rotor, 5... Recessed part as recessed part means, 6... Star-shaped member as convex part means, 7... Convex portion, 8 - Rotation shaft, 9... First valley part as position holding means, lO... Second valley part as position holding means, 11... First valley part as position holding means 3 Tanibe, 1
2... When a temporary spring member is used as a position holding means.
Applicant: Tokai Rika Denki Seisakusho Co., Ltd. Representative: Patent attorney: Seihaku Ao (1 other person) Fig. 1 Fig. 2

Claims (2)

[Claims] (1) A stator (3) in which a concave part means (5) and a convex part means (6) which are removable from each other by a combination of a concave part and a convex part form a pair with each other and constitute a casing (1) of a roll connector. and the rotor (4), and either the recess means (5) or the convex means (6) is rotatable with respect to the stator (3) or rotor (4) to which it is attached. and the other is fixed with respect to the attached member, the pivotable means (6) retaining position in the engaged and disengaged positions with respect to the fixed means (5). Means (9, 10
, 11, 12) provides resistance to rotation of the roll connector. (2) The convex portion means comprises a star-shaped member (6) rotatably supported and having a plurality of apexes, and the star-shaped member (6)
One of the plurality of apexes protrudes from the other apexes to form a convex portion (7), and the star-shaped member (6)
A first trough (9) at a position opposite to the convex portion (7) with respect to the rotation axis (8), and second and third troughs on both sides of the first trough (9).
troughs (10, 11) are formed, and the position holding means (
9, 10, 11, 12) are the respective valleys (9, 10, 1
2. The roll connector positioning device according to claim 1, wherein a spring member (12) is brought into contact with any one of the positions of (1).