JPH03136972A - Shock absorption device of steering column - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To secure a specific shock absorption amount and to absorb the shock smoothly by composing the system to make both rollers sandwich a tube member and give a plastic deformation thereon while moving relatively to the other end of the tube member, following the movement of a steering column in the axial direction. CONSTITUTION:When both rollers 19 and 19 roll on one end 2a of a tube member 20, in the initial stage of the movement of a steering column 2, the shock absorption amount is small shown as (a), but when the moving amount of the steering column 2 is increased and both rollers 19 and 19 roll on the middle part 20c, the plastic deformation amount at the middle part 20c is increased, and the shock absorption amount at the middle part 20c is increased shown as (c). And when the steering column 2 moves further and both rollers 19 and 19 reach the other end 20b, the plastic deformation amount of the other end 20b is increased further, and the shock absorption amount is increased further shown as (b).

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION (Field of Industrial Application) The present invention relates to a shock absorbing device for a steering column in a steering device for an automobile.

(Prior Art) When a car collides, the driver may apply an impact force to the steering column due to the inertia of the driver. in this case,
Shock absorbing devices for absorbing the above-mentioned impact force on the steering column side have been proposed in the past, such as one disclosed in Japanese Utility Model Application Publication No. 63-142256, for example.

According to this, a steering column is supported on the stationary side of the vehicle body, one end of a band-shaped plate extending linearly to the stationary side of the vehicle body is connected, and the other end of this plate is slidably connected to a straining mechanism attached to the steering column. It is movably locked.

Then, when the steering column moves in the axial direction due to an impact on the steering column, and as the mechanism slides on the plate material as a result of this movement, the plate material undergoes plastic deformation at the sliding part, thereby absorbing the above-mentioned impact. It is now possible to do so.

(Problems to be Solved by the Invention) By the way, in the above-mentioned conventional configuration, when trying to obtain a shock absorption characteristic that absorbs shock as smoothly as possible, it is necessary to reduce the amount of shock absorption per unit length in the amount of movement of the steering column. (energy absorption amount) is reduced, and by that amount,
It is conceivable to increase the amount of movement of the steering column to ensure a predetermined amount of shock absorption.

However, since the space in the vehicle interior is limited and narrow, there is a limit to increasing the amount of movement of the steering column as described above, and therefore it is not easy to obtain the above-mentioned shock absorption characteristics.

(Object of the Invention) This invention was made in view of the above-mentioned circumstances, and is designed so that even if the amount of movement of the steering column is short, the amount of shock absorption increases non-linearly as the amount of movement increases, The purpose of this is to obtain characteristics such that shocks to the steering column are smoothly absorbed.

(Structure of the Invention) A feature of the present invention for achieving the above object is that a steering column is supported on the stationary side of the vehicle body, and a pair of rollers are provided on either the stationary side of the vehicle body or the steering column side. The cylinder is supported rotatably around its axis, one end of the cylinder is connected to the other side, and the other end of the cylinder is sandwiched between the two rollers, and the width dimension of the cylinder in the direction in which it is pinched by these rollers. increases toward the other end, so that when an impact is applied to the steering column, the steering column can be moved in its axial direction, and as the steering column moves, both rollers move toward the cylindrical member. The cylindrical member is sandwiched and plastically deformed while moving relatively toward the other end.

(for production) The effects of the above configuration are as follows.

When an impact is applied to the steering column 2 and the steering column 2 moves in the axial direction, both rollers 19 and 19 roll toward the other end 2Ob of the cylinder 20 as a result of this movement. The material 20 is sandwiched and plastically deformed. In this case, the cylindrical member 20 is formed such that the width of the cylindrical member 20 in the direction in which it is sandwiched between the rollers 19 and 19 increases as it moves toward the other end 2Ob. The amount of plastic deformation described above in 20 increases as the steering column 2 moves.In other words, the amount of shock absorption per unit length in the amount of movement of the steering column 2 increases non-linearly as this amount of movement increases. .

(Example) Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

In FIG. 2, l is a steering device of an automobile, and this steering device l has a steering column 2,
This steering column 2 is composed of a fixed tube 2a and a movable tube 2b. The fixed tube 2a is fixed to the stationary side of the vehicle body.
The lower end of the movable tube 2b is fitted onto the upper end of the steering column 2 so as to be slidable in the axial direction of the steering column 2, and the fixed tube 2a and the movable tube 2b are usually
are locked together. Further, the movable tube 2b is also locked to a dash panel 3 on the stationary side of the vehicle body by a locking means 4.

The steering column 2 has a steering shaft 6.
The lower end of the steering shaft 6 is connected to a front wheel (not shown), and a handle 7 is attached to the upper end. When the handlebar 7 is turned, the front wheels are steered via the steering shaft 6.

1 to 6, the locking means 4 has a pair of left and right blocks 9.9, each block 9 having a rectangular parallelepiped shape and screwed to the dash panel 3 by bolts IO. Further, sliding grooves 11 extending parallel to the steering column 2 are formed on both left and right side surfaces of each block 9, respectively.

On the other hand, a pair of left and right bracket plates 12.degree. 12 are protruded from the movable tube 2b corresponding to the blocks 9.9, and a notch 13 is formed in the upper edge of each bracket plate 12. The left and right side edges of this notch 13 are slidably fitted into the corresponding sliding grooves 11, respectively. In addition, in this insertion part, the block 9
and the bracket plate 12 are locked to each other by four resin shear bins 14, respectively.

When a downward impact is applied to the movable tube 2b in its axial direction during a collision of a car, and the impact force exceeds a predetermined value, the locking of the movable tube 2b to the fixed tube 2a is released. At the same time, each shear bin 14 is sheared, and the movable tube 2b moves as shown by arrow A and imaginary lines in FIGS. 1 and 3.

In the above configuration, a shock absorbing device 1 that absorbs the shock
7 is provided. This shock absorbing device 17 has a pair of front and rear rollers 19 19 supported by pivot shafts 18 at the lower ends of each of the bracket plates 12 .
9 is rotatable around each pivot shaft 18. Also,
One end 20a of a steel bar 20 is screwed together with the block 9 to the dash panel 3 side by the bolt 10, and the other end 2Ob of this bar 20 is attached to both the rollers 19.1.
9 are sandwiched from the front and back.

Further, the front and rear width dimensions of the tube member 20 in the direction sandwiched by these rollers 19 and 19 are the other end 2Ob.
This cylindrical material 20 is arranged so that it gradually becomes larger as it goes to the side.
is formed.

To explain this more specifically, the material of the tube member 20 is a cylindrical pipe, and one end 20a of the tube member 20 is compressed into a flat plate shape as shown in FIG. 4, and its width dimension β is It has been made smaller. This one end 20a is normally held between both rollers 19 and 19. Further, the middle portion 20c of the cylindrical member 20 is compressed into an elliptical shape, as shown in FIG. 5, and the one width dimension β' is slightly larger. Further, the other end 20b of the cylindrical member 20 has the same shape as the material of the cylindrical vibrator, and its width 12' is further increased. In addition, each of the above-mentioned displacement parts has a tapered part 2.
0d, e.

When an impact is applied to the steering column 2 and the steering column 2 moves in the axial direction as shown by arrow A and imaginary lines in FIGS. 1 and 3, both rollers 19 .19 is the other end 2O of the cylinder material 20
While rolling toward the b side, the cylindrical member 20 is pinched and plastically deformed.

In this case, the cylindrical member 20 has both rollers 19.1
Since the width dimension of the tube member 20 in the direction in which it is sandwiched by the steering column 2 increases toward the other end 2Ob, the amount of plastic deformation of the tube member 20 increases as the steering column 2 moves. In other words, the amount of shock absorption per unit length in the amount of movement of the steering column 2 increases non-linearly as shown in FIG.

That is, according to FIG. 7, at the beginning of the movement of the steering column 2, both rollers 19 and 19 touch one end 2 of the cylindrical member 20.
0a, the amount of shock absorption is small as shown by a in the figure, but when the amount of movement of the steering column 2 increases and both rollers 19, 19 roll on the middle part 20c, the amount of shock absorption in this middle part 20c increases. The amount of plastic deformation increases, and the amount of shock absorption increases accordingly, as shown by C in the figure. Furthermore, when the steering column 2 moves and both rollers 19 and 19 reach the other end 20b, the amount of plastic deformation at the other end 20b becomes even larger, and the amount of shock absorption increases accordingly, as already shown in the figure. Further increase. Note that d and e in the figure correspond to the respective tapered portions 20d and e.

Furthermore, in the above configuration, by loosening the bolt IO, the cylindrical member 20 can be easily replaced with another shape (length, width, etc.).

Incidentally, although the above is based on the illustrated example, the cylindrical member 20 may have a trumpet shape in which the width dimension gradually increases, the cross section of the cylindrical member 20 may be rectangular, and each roller 19 may be attached to the dash panel 3 side, and the tube member 20 may be connected to the steering column 2 side.

(Effects of the Invention) According to the present invention, when an impact is applied to the steering column and the steering column moves in the axial direction, both rollers move relative to each other toward the other end of the cylindrical member as a result of this movement. As it moves, it pinches this cylindrical material and causes it to plastically deform.

Further, the cylindrical member is formed such that the width of the cylindrical member in the direction in which it is sandwiched between the rollers increases toward the other end.

For this reason, the above-mentioned amount of plastic deformation of the cylindrical material increases as the steering column moves.

The amount of shock absorption per unit length in the amount of movement of the steering column increases non-linearly, so that even if the amount of movement of the steering column is short, a predetermined amount of shock absorption is ensured,
Furthermore, it is possible to obtain characteristics such that the above-mentioned impact is smoothly absorbed.

In addition, the above-mentioned bar can be replaced with one of a different shape by using the roller as is.
Another advantage is that the degree of freedom in design is improved.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

The figures show an embodiment of the invention, and Figure 1 is 1-1 in Figure 3.
Fig. 2 is an overall side view of the steering device; Fig. 3 is an enlarged view of Fig. 2 taken along line f-f;
The figure is a view taken along the line IV-IV of Fig. 3, and Fig. 5 is a view of the same as above.
A sectional view taken along the line V-V in the figure, and FIG. 6 is a Vl-
A sectional view taken along the Vl line and FIG. 7 is a graph. 2. Steering column, 3. Dash panel (vehicle stationary side), 17. Shock absorption device, 19. Roller.
20...tube material, 20a...one end. 20b...Other end, g, I2', β'...Width dimension.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A steering column is supported on the stationary side of the vehicle body, a pair of rollers are supported on either the stationary side of the vehicle body or the steering column side so as to be rotatable about their respective axes, and one end of a cylindrical member is connected to the other side. The other end of the cylindrical material of the lever is sandwiched between the two rollers, and the width of the cylindrical material in the direction in which it is sandwiched by these rollers increases as it moves toward the other end, so that a shock is applied to the steering column. When the steering column is moved in the axial direction, both rollers move relatively toward the other end of the cylindrical material and sandwich the cylindrical material. A shock absorbing device for the steering column that causes plastic deformation.