JPH04337134A - Rotary damper - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide a rotary damper easy to handle, easy to obtain desired torque and easy to assemble and disassemble, durable, simple in structure and free from torque reduction. CONSTITUTION:In a casing 11 having an internal space, a shaft part having a flange part 32 in one end is inserted so as to house the flange part 32 and protruded to the outside, and a braking mechanism for giving resistance to relative rotation between both the casing and the shaft part is constituted such that elastic parts 7, 7 are fixed to opposed surfaces between a bottom part of the casing 11 and the flange part 32 of the shaft part 31 to roll a plurality of rolling units 5 in a holding press contact condition by the elastic members 7, 7 in a bearing space 6 formed therebetween. Based on compression deformation of these elastic members 7, 7, braking torque is generated between a holding member and a shaft member.

Description

[Detailed description of the invention]

0001

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a rotary damper that is applied to rotating and linearly moving parts of various opening/closing lids, drawer devices for storage compartments, wind direction adjusting devices for temperature control equipment, and the like.

0002

[Prior Art] A rotary damper resists a unidirectional bias from a spring or the like acting on the rotating part or the linearly moving part.
It has a function of applying braking to the movement and slowly operating the rotating part and the linear moving part.

Examples of such rotary dampers are disclosed in, for example, Japanese Utility Model Application No. 57-8604 and Japanese Utility Model Application No. 61-133134.
It is disclosed in the publication No. In both of these structures, grease is interposed in the bearing space formed by loosely fitting a protrusion on the rotating shaft member into a recess on the holding member, and the viscous resistance of this grease is used to hold the rotating shaft. It generates braking torque in the member.

0004

However, the above rotary damper suffers from various problems as listed below. ■ Handling during assembly and disassembly is not easy and inconvenient. ■ High machining accuracy is required as precision of the mating surfaces is required to eliminate grease leakage. - The shapes of the holding member and rotating shaft member are complicated, making it difficult to achieve the required machining accuracy. ■ Grease-resistant materials must be used for the holding member and rotating shaft member, which makes them expensive. ■ It is difficult to obtain the set torque. ■ Torque decrease occurs due to deterioration of grease.

Therefore, the object of the present invention is to solve all of the above-mentioned problems.It is easy to handle, it is easy to obtain the desired braking torque, and it has a durable and simple rotating structure that is easy to disassemble and assemble. It provides a damper.

[0006]

[Means for Solving the Problems] In order to achieve the above object, the present invention comprises a holding member having a casing, and a shaft member having one end inserted and supported within the casing of the holding member. The rotary damper includes a braking mechanism that provides resistance to relative rotation between members, the braking mechanism including a plurality of dampers interposed in a bearing space formed between a casing of the holding member and an insertion portion of the shaft member. The basic configuration is that the rolling element is composed of an elastic member disposed in a pinching state, and the rolling element rolls while being pressed by the elastic member.

[0007] In one embodiment, the shaft member has a flange portion at the tip of the insertion portion, and the elastic member is disposed on opposing surfaces of the flange portion and the casing bottom, and further, the flange portion The center of the casing is rotatably supported by the lid of the casing. In other embodiments, the flange may include position adjustment means for adjusting the axial position of the flange portion, or support means may be provided for supporting the plurality of rolling elements so as to be able to freely roll on the same plane. be.

[0008]

[Operation] The rotary damper according to the present invention includes a casing of a holding member, a shaft portion of a shaft member, a rolling element, and an elastic member. The holding member in the present invention means a member that holds the shaft member, and may include a sliding plate (not shown) in addition to the above-mentioned casing, and the shaft member in the present invention means a member that holds the shaft member. It may have a gear (not shown) at one end that extends to the other end. Therefore, either the holding member and the shaft member may rotate while the other does not, or both may rotate.

As an example of the present invention, the operation of a rotary damper in which the shaft portion has a flange portion at the casing insertion end will be described. When the holding member and the shaft member rotate relative to each other, the plurality of rolling elements move toward the bottom of the casing. It rolls between the casing bottom and the flange while being compressed by each elastic member fixed to the flange, and a desired braking torque is generated between the holding member and the shaft member based on the elastic members. .

0010

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The present invention will be specifically explained below based on illustrated embodiments. 1 and 2 show a rotary damper structure that is a typical embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 1 is an exploded view of the damper, and FIG. 2 is a longitudinal sectional view of the damper.

The rotary damper according to the present invention includes a casing 11, which is one of the components of the holding member, as described above.
Four members, the shaft portion 31, which is one of the components of the shaft member, the rolling elements 5, and the elastic member 7, constitute the main components. In the following description of the embodiments, the casing 11, which is one of the components of the holding member, and the shaft portion 31, which is one of the components of the shaft member, will be mainly described.

In FIGS. 1 and 2, reference numeral 11 denotes a casing made of hard synthetic resin, which is one of the constituent elements of the holding member 1 consisting of a cylindrical body 12 with a bottom and a circular lid 13; A shaft insertion hole 14 is formed at the center of the bottom of the shaft 12 . Further, a conical positioning protrusion 1 is provided at the center of the surface of the circular lid 13 on the side facing the casing 11.
5 is formed. Reference numeral 31 denotes a shaft portion made of hard synthetic resin, which is one of the constituent elements of the shaft member 3. A flange portion 32 is formed at one end of this shaft portion, and the shaft portion 31 of the flange portion 32 is formed at one end of the shaft portion 31. A similarly conical positioning groove 33 into which the positioning protrusion 15 of the shaft portion 31 fits is formed at the center of the surface opposite to the protruding side. The rolling elements 5 are made of a hard material such as hard rubber, hard synthetic resin, or metal. The elastic member 7 is made of an elastic material that can be elastically deformed, such as rubber, silicone, urethane foam, or thermoplastic elastomer, and is made of an elastic material that can be elastically deformed.
1 by adhesive or the like, and in the illustrated example, it has a disk shape with a hole in the center.

As shown in FIG. 1, the assembly begins with a bottomed cylindrical body 12 having a disk-shaped elastic member 7 fixedly attached to the bottom surface.
A plurality of (three in the illustrated example) rolling elements 5, 5,
..., and then the disk-shaped elastic member 7 fixed to the back surface of the flange portion 32 of the shaft portion 31 is inserted into the shaft insertion hole 14 formed at the center of the bottom of the bottomed cylindrical body 12. 5,
The shaft portion 31 of the shaft member is inserted so as to be in contact with.... Thereafter, the open edge of the bottomed cylindrical body 12 is arranged so that the positioning protrusion 15 protruding from the center of the circular lid 13 of the casing 11 is fitted into the positioning groove 33 formed on the flange surface of the shaft portion 31. It is fixed to the end surface using, for example, an adhesive. At this time, the rolling elements 5, 5, .
An elastic member 7 fixedly attached to each of the flange portions 32 of
, 7.

In the rotary damper according to this embodiment assembled in this manner, when the holding member 1 and the shaft member 3 rotate relative to each other, the rolling elements 5, 5, . . . It is pressed between elastic members 7, 7 fixed to both sides, and rolls while compressing and deforming the elastic members 7, 7 to generate a desired braking torque between the holding member 1 and the shaft member 3. let

3 and 4 show another embodiment of the present invention, with FIG. 3 being an exploded view of the rotary damper, and FIG. 4 being a longitudinal sectional view thereof. In this example, a ring member 21 is newly added as a component apart from the above-mentioned example, and three rod-shaped support members 22 are formed protruding toward the center of the ring member 21, and one rolling element 5 The rod-shaped support member 2 is on the rolling axis of
A support member insertion hole 51 into which the second member is inserted is formed to pass through the support member insertion hole 51 . When the rotary damper is assembled, each of the supporting members 22 is inserted through each of the elastic bodies 5, and as is clear from FIGS. At the same time, the rolling surfaces of the rolling elements 5 are kept constant so that relative rotation between the holding member 1 and the shaft member 3 is not hindered.

FIG. 5 shows still another embodiment of the present invention, in which the shaft portion 31 is moved back and forth in the axial direction within the casing 11 to adjust the clamping force of the rolling element 5 between the bottom of the casing 11 and the flange portion 32. I have to. In the illustrated example, an external thread 18 is formed on the outer peripheral surface of a circular lid 13 having a rotation operation groove 17 at the center of the external surface, and an internal thread 19 is formed on the inner surface of the open end of the bottomed cylindrical body 12. By making the lid 13 movable in the axial direction of the bottomed cylindrical body 12 and moving the circular lid 13 forward and backward with respect to the bottomed cylindrical body 12 using an operating tool (not shown), the bottom of the casing 11 and the shaft portion 31 can be moved back and forth. The clamping force applied to the rolling element 5 by the flange portion 32 is adjusted, and the magnitude of the relative braking torque between the holding member 1 and the shaft member 3 is adjusted. Note that the screw fitting between the bottomed cylindrical body 12 and the circular lid 13 is achieved by forming the circular lid 13 into a dish shape to form an internal thread and forming an external thread on the bottomed cylindrical body 12, contrary to the illustrated example. Then, the circular lid 13 may be screw-fitted to cover the bottomed cylindrical body 12.

FIGS. 6 and 7 show how the dish-shaped circular lid 13 is fitted and fixed to the bottomed cylindrical body 12 in one operation. In the example shown in FIG. An annular projection 23 is formed on the outer peripheral surface of the open end, and an annular groove 24 that fits into the projection 23 is formed on the inner peripheral surface of the circular lid 13. In the example of FIG. A plurality of engaging arms 26 having engaging claws 25 at their tips extending parallel to the axial direction are provided, and each of the engaging claws 2 on the outer circumferential surface of the bottomed cylindrical body 12 is provided.
Engagement grooves 27 and 2 are provided at positions corresponding to 5, 25, and so on, respectively.
7,... is formed. With this configuration, the circular lid 13 can be fitted and fixed onto the bottomed cylindrical body 12 with a one-touch operation.

Although three spherical rolling elements 5 are used in the above example, the number of rolling elements is not limited to three.

As is clear from the above description, the present invention is not limited to the above-mentioned embodiments. For example, the inner circumferential surface of the bottomed cylinder and the shaft may be formed by using only the shaft without providing a flange portion on the shaft. An elastic member is fixed to the part, and the bearing space between the elastic members is set to an appropriate size, and the elastic member is compressively deformed so that the outer peripheral surface of the shaft part and the inner peripheral surface of the casing cause the rolling element to have a predetermined shape. If you press with a pinching force,
It is also possible to generate a predetermined braking torque in the holding member and the shaft member, and such a configuration is also included in the scope of the present invention.

[0020]

According to the present invention, the following excellent effects that cannot be expected from conventional rotary dampers using grease or governors are achieved.

[0021] Since everything is composed of solid parts with a simple structure, it is easy to handle during assembly and disassembly. ■ There is no need to worry about fluid leakage, so high machining accuracy is not required. ■ Both the holding member and rotating shaft member have simple shapes and are easy to process. (2) Since it is sufficient to consider only the strength of the materials for the holding member and the rotating shaft member, costs can be reduced. ■ Easy to obtain set torque. ■ Since the rolling element is simply rolled while the elastic member is in a deformed state, there is no torque down and it is highly durable. ■ Generated torque is always stable even in high and low temperature ranges.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is an exploded view of a rotary damper showing a typical embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a longitudinal sectional view of the same.

FIG. 3 is an exploded view of a rotary damper showing another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a longitudinal sectional view of the same.

FIG. 5 is a longitudinal sectional view showing a modification of the casing of the rotary damper.

FIG. 6 is a longitudinal sectional view showing another modification of the casing of the rotary damper.

FIG. 7 is a structural explanatory diagram showing still another modification of the casing of the rotary damper.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 Holding member 11 Casing 12 Bottomed cylindrical body 13 Circular lid 14 Shaft insertion hole 15 Positioning protrusion 17
Operation groove 18 External thread 19 Internal thread 21 Ring member 22 Rod-shaped support member 23
Annular projection 24 Annular groove 25 Engagement claw 26 Engagement arm 27 Engagement groove 3 Shaft member 31 Shaft portion 32 Flange portion 33 Positioning groove 5 Rolling element 51 Rod-shaped support member insertion hole 6
Bearing space 7 Elastic member

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A holding member having a casing, and a shaft member having one end inserted and supported within the casing of the holding member, and comprising a braking mechanism that provides resistance to relative rotation between the holding member and the shaft member. The damper is a rotary damper, and the braking mechanism includes an elastic member disposed to press a plurality of rolling elements interposed in a bearing space formed between a casing of the holding member and an insertion portion of the shaft member. A rotary damper characterized in that the rolling element rolls while being pressed by the elastic member.