JPH0326767B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a wheel inclination measurement device, and more particularly to a wheel inclination measurement device suitable for measuring the toe of individual wheels of an automobile.

Vehicle wheels, especially front wheels, have toe, camber, caster, and kingpin angles set to improve steering stability. It is necessary to appropriately set these various conditions to stabilize the driving performance of the vehicle itself. Among these, correct setting of toe is particularly important as it is directly related to matching the direction of the steering wheel with the direction of travel of the vehicle. Here, the toe of the automobile refers to the inclination θ of the wheels 2 with respect to the traveling direction D of the vehicle 1 when the automobile is viewed from above as shown in FIG. When it slopes inward, it is called toe-in, and when it slopes outward, it is called toe-out.

In order to match the direction of the steering wheel with respect to the direction of travel of the vehicle, it is necessary to measure the inclination of each wheel relative to the direction of the vehicle, that is, the toe, and correct it individually so that the left and right sides are equal. Conventionally, the toe measurement value was affected by tire size, tire type, tire air pressure, etc., and the method of abutting the detection plate on one side caused changes in the suspension, making accurate toe measurement difficult. Ta.

In addition, in recent years, an increasing number of automobiles have independent suspension on all four wheels in order to reduce unsprung weight and improve riding comfort. It is also necessary to measure and manage the toe value.

The present invention has been made in view of the above points, and it is an object of the present invention to provide a wheel inclination measurement device that can accurately and simultaneously measure the inclination of individual wheels of various vehicles.

Hereinafter, the configuration of the present invention will be explained based on specific examples. FIG. 2 is a schematic plan view showing a toe measuring and adjusting device for automobile wheels as an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 3 is a schematic plan view showing one of the toe detecting devices. Figure 4 is its elevation view. Incidentally, for the sake of explanation, the floating table 18 and its support plate 19 are omitted in FIG. In FIG. 2, the rear wheel detection unit _10B ,
The front wheel detector _10A is provided at a distance E corresponding to the distance between the wheel bases of the vehicle from the rear wheel detector _10B . In addition, in order to make it possible to measure automobiles having different distances between wheel bases, by applying any known technique, the distance between the centers of the rear wheel detecting section _10B and the front wheel detecting section _10A can be measured. It is preferable to adopt a configuration in which the distance E can be changed. The rear wheel detecting section _10B and the front wheel detecting section _10A have the same configuration, so the same constituent parts are given the same reference numerals and the explanation will be omitted.

Floating tables 18 _R and 18 _L on which wheels to be measured are placed are placed along the surface of the ground G at both ends of the groove-shaped rear wheel detection section 10 _B.
It is movable along a support plate 19 fixed to the vehicle, and is configured to be locked when entering the vehicle and released when measuring.
Inside the rail 11, rails 11 are laid parallel to each other and extending laterally. Support plates 12 _R and 12 _L are provided on these rails 11 _and 11 so as to be movable along the longitudinal direction of the rails _. They are operatively connected by a vessel 13. The center point 13a of the coupler 13 forms a fixed point and therefore the left and right support plates 12 _R , 1
2 _L is controlled to move symmetrically to a position equidistant from this fixed point 13a. Moreover, the rear wheel detection section 10
A straight line H connecting the fixed point 13a of the coupler 13 in _B and the fixed point 13a of the coupler 13 in the front wheel detection section _10A forms a measurement standard straight line. This makes it possible to measure the toe of many types of automobiles with different tread lengths, and also makes it possible to automatically maintain the center of the automobile in alignment with this measurement reference straight line H when performing toe measurement. Become.
In this specification, the vehicle center line of the automobile to be measured is defined as a straight line formed by connecting the tread center between the front wheels and the tread center between the rear wheels. As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, on each of the support plates 12 _R and 12 _L , a cross-shaped turn in this example is rotatably provided along the respective support plates via a shaft 43. A table 14 is provided.

Wheels 2 are mounted on each turntable 14 and placed on a floating table _18R , which are movable toward and away from each other by an appropriate link mechanism.
A toe detection device is provided that includes a pair of detection plates 15, 15 that sandwich the toe from both sides and detect the inclination of the toe. Each detection plate 15 has a support part 15
c, a pair of spacers 15b that are vertically slidably joined to both ends thereof via, for example, ball bearings 15d, and these spacers 15b and ball bearings 15e.
The wheel 2 is slidably connected in the horizontal direction via the
and a pair of contact plates 15a that are in direct contact with the side surfaces of. Thereby, as shown in FIG. 5a, the support points Q when clamping the detection plate 15 to both sides of the inclined wheel 2 can be secured on the normal movement line T along the pressing direction. That is, when the contact plate 15a starts to rotate around point O, which is the first point in contact with the inclined wheel side surface 2a, the spacer 15b does not follow this rotation and slides at the joint C, so that the support point Q is It can move along the pressing direction T. Therefore, since the pressing force F applied from both sides stably acts on the wheels 2 while facing each other along the pressing direction T, the pair of detection plates can be reliably applied without generating a moment on the wheels 2. 15,15
The accuracy of toe measurement is improved. Furthermore, as shown in FIG. 5b, the wheels 2
Even with respect to the camber which is the inclination with respect to the vertical direction, the joint portion between the spacer 15b and the support member 15c
A similar sliding mechanism using a ball bearing 15d provided at C' functions to prevent the pressing support point Q' from being displaced from the pressing direction T by the camber. This further improves the accuracy of toe measurement. As shown above, the inclined wheels are sandwiched from both sides and wheel 2 is assembled.
By detecting the degree of inclination, compared to the conventional method of pressing contact from one side,
The toe of the wheel 2 can be detected by clamping the wheel 2 in that state without applying a force to restore the inclination of the wheel 2. Therefore, the reproducibility of measured values is improved and accurate toe measurement can be easily carried out.

Each detection plate 15 is connected to a shaft 16a by a stay 16.
The stays 16 are supported on the turntable 14 along the same straight line, so that the stays 16 can be rotated around the wheel 2, that is, can follow the vertically inclined camber of the wheel 2. It is slidably erected on a pair of guide rails 14a and 14b laid over a long length. Further, on the turntable 14, for example, an air cylinder 17 as a driving means for the detection plate 15 is disposed between the detection plates 15, 15 in a direction perpendicular to the rail 14a. Rod 1 extends from both ends of the rod and moves linearly back and forth along its axial direction.
At the tips of 7a and 17a, corresponding stays 1 are attached.
6 is rotatably connected via a shaft 17c by a link rod 17b. Therefore, as air is introduced into the air cylinder 17 from a compressor (not shown) and the rods 17a, 17a protrude in opposite directions, a pair of opposing stays connected to them via the link mechanism described above 1
6, 16 and the detection plates 15, 15 supported thereon move toward each other along the rail 14a, and the wheels 2
It is structured to sandwich the For example, in the case of the toe measuring device for the right wheel _2R shown in FIG.
The tips of the sensors 21, 21 that detect the amount of movement are brought into contact with each other, and these sensors 21, 21 are connected to the second
It is connected to the measuring section 22 as shown in the figure.
Note that the respective sensors 21, 21 are set so that the state in which the detection plate 15 is positioned parallel to the measurement reference line H described above serves as a reference. As a result, wheel 2
The turntable 14 rotates in accordance with the angle formed by the reference line H with respect to the reference line H, and the corresponding movement amount of each axis 17c is input from the sensors 21, 21 to the measurement unit 22, where both values are differentially measured. Through arithmetic processing, the inclination angle of the wheel 2 with respect to the reference line H is calculated.

The four measurement units 22 corresponding to the respective wheels 2 are connected to a computer 23, as shown in FIG. The toe value of is calculated. The computer 23 is connected to front and rear wheel toe value display sections 24a and 24b, and the toe value of each wheel calculated by the computer 23 is displayed. Note that the toe measurement values of each wheel may be displayed in one place.

The operation of the above embodiment configured as described above will be explained below.

The automobile to be measured is driven by itself, and the corresponding wheels 2 are placed on four locked floating tables 18, and then stopped. Then, after releasing the lock (not shown) of the floating table 18, when air is introduced into each air cylinder 17, the respective opposing detection plates 15, 15 come close to each other and securely sandwich each wheel 2. . At this time, each contact plate 15a of the detection plate 15 securely contacts the side surface of the wheel 2 while sliding with respect to the support portion 15c via the spacer 15b as described above, and accordingly, the turntable 14 measures the wheel 2. It rotates around the axis 43 according to the inclination angle with respect to the reference line H. The sensor 21 detects the amount of movement of the pair of shafts 17c, 17c on one side at this time, and outputs it to the measuring section 22 as a detection signal.

In this case, in FIG. 4, the wheel 2 has its center plane C ₁ in the width direction more or less
Normally, the support plate 1 is placed on the floating table 18 with a deviation from the center plane C ₂ of the support plate 1.
2 and the movable mechanism provided in the floating table 18, the clamping operation of the detection plate 15 is carried out, and the central plane of the table 14 is automatically and easily moved without requiring much force.
C ₂ is aligned with the center plane C ₁ of wheel 2.

In the measuring section 22, a pair of sensors 21, 21
The detection signal of the amount of movement of each shaft 17c inputted from is calculated, and the inclination angle of each wheel 2 with respect to the measurement reference line H is calculated. The inclination angles of the individual wheels 2 are sent to the computer 23 and processed according to a predetermined program to obtain the toe values of the individual wheels 2, that is, the inclinations of the wheels 2 with respect to the longitudinal direction D of the vehicle. These calculated values are sent to each display section 24 and displayed. The operator corrects the toe of each wheel 2 while visually observing the toe value of each wheel displayed on each display section 24 so that the toe values of both left and right wheels become equal. Thereby, the direction of the steering wheel is aligned with the longitudinal direction D of the automobile.

In this embodiment, the floating table 18 is not necessarily required, and the wheels 2 may be placed directly on the support plate 19 fixed to the ground G, and the equalizer 13 is also connected to each toe detection device. It is also possible to omit this by setting the measurement reference line parallel to one direction. Therefore, in this case, the rails 11 may not be extended from side to side, but may be laid only in the required range in which the support plate 12 is to be moved. Furthermore, it is also possible to use only one sensor 21 and measure the toe of each wheel from the amount of movement of one location. In addition, by providing an angle sensor (not shown) on the shaft 16a that connects the detection plate 15 and the stay 16 that supports it, it is also possible to measure the camber, which is the degree of inclination of the wheel 2 in the vertical direction.

Next, other embodiments of the present invention will be described.
FIG. 6 is a schematic plan view showing a toe measurement and adjustment device for an automobile, and FIGS. 7 and 8 are a schematic plan view and a schematic elevation view showing one of the toe detection devices, respectively. It is. In addition, in FIG. 7, the floating table 32 and its support plate 33 are omitted for the sake of explanation. In FIG. 6, the front wheel detecting section 30 _A and the rear wheel detecting section 3 are connected as in the previous embodiment.
_0B is provided. A pair of floating tables 32 _R , 3 are provided at both ends of each detection unit 30 .
2 _L are movably provided on a pair of support plates 33 fixed to the ground G parallel to each other. Inside each detection section 30, one rail 31 is connected to the other detection section 30 along the longitudinal direction.
It is laid parallel to the rail 31 laid inside. Incidentally, this rail 31 may be configured so that one rail 31 is not extended and is selectively laid in a required range along the same straight line.

Therefore, on each rail 31, there are toe detection devices for both the left and right wheels that are movable along the longitudinal direction of the rails.
_R and _L are provided. As shown in FIGS. 7 and 8, each toe detection device is provided with a pair of opposing detection plates 35, 35 which are constructed in the same manner as in the previous embodiment and can be moved closer to each other. That is,
Each detection plate 35 is three-dimensionally rotatably supported at its center by a stay 36 via a ball joint 37, and the stay 36 is slidably erected on the rail 31. In addition, the opposing detection plate 3
5, 35, an air cylinder 38 is mounted on a slide table 34 that is slidably provided on the rail 31, with its longitudinal direction extending in a direction perpendicular to the rail 31. ing. Rods 38a protrude from both ends of the air cylinder 38 and move linearly back and forth along the axial direction thereof.
The tip of the stay 38a and the lower ends of the stays 36, 36 on both sides are connected by a link rod 38b to be rotatable around the shaft 38c. As a result, as in the previous embodiment, the air cylinder 38 is driven and the opposing one
A pair of stays 37, 37 and detection plates 35, 35 supported thereon move toward each other along the rail 31, and sandwich the wheel 2 from both sides as shown.

For example, in this example, one end of the support portion 35c of one of the pair of detection plates 35 is brought into contact with the tip of a sensor 39 that detects the amount of movement of the detection plate 35. is connected to the measuring section 40 as shown in FIG. Note that each sensor 39 is connected to the detection plate 3 in a direction perpendicular to the rail 31.
The state where 5 is positioned is set as the reference (zero point). Therefore, the pair of detection plates 35, 35 sandwich the wheel 2, and at the same time each rotates around the ball joint 37 according to the inclination angle of the wheel 2, and the sensor 39 detects the amount of movement of the contact point. It is detected and sent as a detection signal to the measuring section 40, and based on this, the measuring section 40 calculates the inclination angle of the wheel 2 with respect to the vertical direction of the rail 31. Each measuring section 40, computer 41, front and rear wheel toe value display sections 42a, 42b, and sensors 44a, 44b, 4
A toe value calculation/display system is comprised of an off-center value display section 42c that displays an off-center value of the vehicle center line from the virtual reference line H based on signals from 4c and 44d.

With this embodiment configured as described above, toe measurement and adjustment operations for each wheel are performed in substantially the same manner as in the previous embodiments. However, in the above embodiment,
The entire toe detection device disposed on the turntable rotates according to the toe of the wheel to measure toe, whereas in this embodiment, the device that rotates following the wheel is the one that sandwiches the wheel. A pair of detection plates 3 attached
The difference is that there are only 5 and 35.

In addition, even in this embodiment, a configuration may be adopted in which a plurality of sensors 39 are arranged to increase the measurement accuracy.
Furthermore, by providing an appropriate angle sensor on the ball joint 37, it becomes possible to directly measure not only the toe but also the camber of the wheel.

In the two enriched examples, both
The configuration is such that a sensor detects the inclination angle of one side of a pair of opposing detection plates, and as shown in FIG. It is also possible to adopt a configuration in which the two are detected separately. As a result, it is possible to reduce errors in toe measurement values caused by, for example, the protrusion 2b representing the tire manufacturer's name on the wheel 2. That is, in the figure, the inclination angle of the right detection plate 15 _R with respect to the measurement reference line H is θ _R , and the inclination angle of the left detection plate 15 _L is θ _L
Then, the inclination angle θ of the wheel 2 with respect to the reference line H is
can be determined as θ=(θ _R +θ _L )/2 if the protrusion 2b is formed symmetrically with respect to the center plane C of the wheel 2.

As detailed above, according to the present invention, each wheel is sandwiched from both sides by a pair of detection plates and its inclination is detected, thereby reliably sandwiching the wheels without changing the inclination state of the wheels. toe measurements can be carried out. Therefore, the accuracy of toe measurement is improved and its reproducibility is improved, making it possible to easily obtain an accurate toe value. Further, by configuring the device so that the degree of inclination of each of the pair of detection plates can be detected separately, it becomes possible to accurately measure the degree of inclination of various wheels. Furthermore, it is also possible to measure and adjust the alignment of the wheels of a two-wheeled vehicle by means of a pair of front and rear toe detection devices according to the invention on the left or right half shown in FIG. It should be noted that the present invention is not limited to the specific embodiments described above, and it goes without saying that various modifications can be made within the technical scope of the present invention.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Fig. 1 is an explanatory diagram showing the toe of an automobile, Fig. 2 is a schematic diagram showing one embodiment of the present invention, and Figs. 3 and 4 are each a diagram showing one embodiment of the present invention. A plan view and an elevation view showing the toe detection device, FIG. 5a,
FIG. 5b is a plan view and an elevation view of the main parts showing the wheel clamping operation in one embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram showing another embodiment of the present invention. 7th
8 and 8 are respectively 1 in other embodiments of the present invention.
FIG. 9 is a schematic diagram showing a modification of the toe detection device of the present invention. (Explanation of symbols), 2: Wheel, 15, 35: Detection plate, 17, 37: Air cylinder, 21, 39: Sensor, 22, 40: Measuring section, 23, 41: Computer, 24, 42: Display section.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A wheel inclination measurement device that measures the inclination of each wheel mounted on a vehicle, comprising: a pair of detection plates that can come into contact along both sides of a wheel placed on a mounting table;
a movement control means capable of controlling the movement of the pair of detection plates in a direction toward and away from each other; and a degree of inclination of the wheel with respect to a predetermined reference line with the pair of detection plates in contact with both sides of the wheel. A wheel inclination measuring device characterized by having a detection means for detecting. 2. In claim 1, when the vehicle is a four-wheeled vehicle, the predetermined reference line is formed by connecting the tread center between a pair of front wheels and the tread center between a pair of rear wheels. A wheel inclination measurement device characterized in that the device is defined by a straight line.