JPH05169992A - Torque tube attaching structure - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide a torque tube which lowers the longitudinal resistance without lowering the vertical rigidity. CONSTITUTION:A torque tube 1 is formed of a cylindrical pipe formed at its outer peripheral surface with a longitudinal groove la. In the attachment of the torque tube 1, the front end part of the torque tube is coupled to an engine in the front part of a vehicle body through the intermediary of a transmission gear, and the rear end part of the torque tube is coupled the front side of a differential gear. In this arrangement, the groove is positioned being extended horizontally. When an axial input greater than a predetermined value is exerted to the torque tube 1, the part of the torque tube 1 in which the groove 1a is formed cannot bear the longitudinal load so that the tube 1 is deformed being broken along the groove 1a.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention is used in vehicles such as FR vehicles and 4WD vehicles, and is a tube having a shaft installed in the front and rear and having a propeller shaft inserted therein, and a front end portion thereof being a drive unit for an engine or the like. The present invention relates to a mounting structure of a torque tube in which a rear end portion of each unit is rigidly coupled to a transmission unit such as a differential gear.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A conventional torque tube 32 is formed in a highly rigid circular tube shape having no groove on its surface, and has a propeller shaft inserted therein and a shaft extending in the longitudinal direction of the vehicle body. As shown in FIG. 8, a front end portion 32a is coupled to a transmission 31 connected to an engine 30 mounted on the front side of the vehicle body, and a rear end portion 32b is mounted on the rear side of the vehicle body as shown in FIG. It is configured to be connected to the gear 33.

[0003]

However, in the above-mentioned conventional torque tube 32, when the front end 34 of the vehicle body collides with a wall or the like and the front side of the vehicle body is deformed by the impact,
The engine 30 mounted on the front side of the vehicle body due to the impact
Also, a load is applied to the transmission 31 toward the rear of the vehicle body. The load is transmitted to the torque tube 32 via the transmission 31, but the conventional torque tube 31 does not deform due to its high rigidity in the axial direction, and the load is directly transmitted to the differential gear 33. Resulting in.

Then, the differential gear 33 tries to move to the rear of the vehicle body, and the differential gear 33
The gear 33 hits a spare pan 35 for storing a spare tire on the rear end side of the vehicle body, and the spare pan 35 has a large deformation resistance, and further, an SST (space saver tire) is stored in the spare pan 35 as a spare tire. In addition, the deformation resistance of the spare pan 35 is the sum of the deformation resistance of the spare pan itself and the deformation resistance of the SST wheel, and the resistance becomes large.

Therefore, the differential gear 33
Are prevented from moving rearward by the spare pan 35, and thus the rearward movement of the engine 30 coupled via the torque tube 32 is hindered. As a result, the amount of deformation on the front side of the vehicle body is limited, and there is a problem that it is difficult to absorb the impact of the collision. Conventionally, as described in JP-A-2-241834, there is a structure in which a torque tube having a slit formed in the axial direction is attached with the slit facing upward or downward. Since the torque tube has a structure in which both ends thereof are respectively connected to a heavy engine or a differential gear, the main external force to the torque tube is generally a bending moment of vertical movement, and in the conventional structure, The rigidity above or below where the slits are provided decreases. In particular, there is a problem that the vertical rigidity corresponding to the bending moment when the vertical vibration is large such as traveling on a bad road may be insufficient.

The present invention has been made by paying attention to the above problems, and it is possible to reduce the rigidity in the vertical direction without lowering the rigidity.
The purpose is a torque tube with reduced longitudinal deformation resistance.

[0007]

In order to achieve the above object, the torque tube mounting structure of the present invention is such that the front end of the torque tube mounting structure is such that the grooves or slits formed in the torque tube are oriented in the lateral direction. It is characterized in that the rear end portion is connected to the transmission device unit on the rear side of the vehicle body.

[0008]

When a groove extending in the axial direction is provided in the torque tube, the strength of the portion in which the groove is formed is weakened, so that the torque tube tears from the groove as a starting point against a predetermined load or more in the axial direction. In this way, it deforms in the axial direction. Similarly, even if the torque tube is provided with a slit extending in the axial direction, the strength of the portion in which the slit is formed is weakened. The torque tube is axially deformed so that the slit portion expands.

By coating the seal material on at least the portion of the torque tube where the slit is formed, water and dust can be prevented from entering the torque tube through the slit. Therefore, when the front end of the vehicle body collides with a fence or the like and the drive unit moves toward the rear, the load from the drive unit is transmitted to the transmission unit via the torque tube. Is heavy and fixed so that the load concentrates on the torque tube without moving too backwards. Then, as described above, the torque tube is not deformed in the axial direction, and the rearward movement of the drive device unit is not significantly hindered.

When the torque tube is deformed, the propeller shaft inserted through the torque tube is
Since it has a spline connection that can be displaced in the axial direction with the transmission or differential gear,
The propeller shaft is not stretched by the axial displacement of the torque tube following the axial displacement of the torque tube.

Further, the engine on the front side of the vehicle body and the differential on the rear side of the vehicle body which are connected by a torque tube
The gear moves up and down relatively due to unevenness of the road surface during normal traveling. As a result, a vertical bending moment is input to the torque tube that connects the engine and the differential gear, so that a strength of at least a predetermined level with respect to the vertical bending moment of the torque tube is required. Since the torque tube is mounted so that the grooves and slits with low rigidity do not face the vertical direction, the rigidity of the upper and lower parts of the torque tube will be the same strength as before, and the strength against the bending moment in the vertical direction will decrease. There is no.

[0012]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
As shown in FIG. 1, the torque tube 1 of the present embodiment comprises a cylindrical tube portion 1d, and an outer peripheral surface thereof is cut along the axial direction to form a groove 1a. As shown in FIG. 5, the groove 1a of the torque tube 1 is such that a welding bead 8 for bending a flat plate to form a pipe portion 1d and welding the joint is recessed from the outer peripheral surface of the pipe portion 1d. The groove 1a is formed by a method other than the above-described cutting, such as forming the groove 1a by depositing
May be formed.

As shown in FIG. 2, the mounting structure of the torque tube 1 is such that the engine 3 is mounted on the front side of the vehicle body 2,
A transmission 4 is connected to the rear side of the engine 3. A front end portion 1b of the torque tube 1 having a shaft oriented forward and backward is coupled to a rear side of the transmission 4,
A rear end portion 1c of the torque tube 1 is connected to the front side of the differential gear. At this time, the torque tube 1 is attached so that the groove 1a formed in the torque tube 1 is located in the lateral direction.

A propeller shaft (not shown) is inserted through the torque tube 1. The propeller shaft has a front end connected to the transmission 4 by a universal joint and a rear end connected by a spline connection to the differential gear 5. The engine 1 can be slid by a predetermined amount in the vehicle front-rear direction (axial direction), and the power of the engine 1 can be transmitted to the drive wheels (rear wheels).

In the above structure, when the engine 1 is driven, the rotation of the engine 1 is changed by the transmission 4 and transmitted to the differential gear 5 via the propeller shaft in the torque tube 1 to form the drive wheel. Drive the rear wheels. At this time, the rear wheel, which is the driving wheel, dances depending on the condition of the road surface, and the differential gear 5 vibrates vertically to input a vertical bending moment to the torque tube 1. Since the groove 1a is not positioned in the lower part and the lower part, the rigidity of the upper part and the lower part which the bending moment bears most is the same as that of the conventional one, and therefore, the bending strength in the vertical direction is about the same as the conventional strength. Can have.

Further, when the front end of the vehicle collides with a fence or the like,
The front portion of the vehicle is deformed (crushed), and the engine 1 mounted on the front side of the vehicle tries to move to the rear side.
Then, the load is transmitted from the engine 1 in the order of the transmission 4, the torque tube 1, and the differential gear 5. The differential gear 5 is heavy and fixed to the vehicle body, and the vehicle body of the differential gear 5 is Since the rear pan is restrained from moving rearward, the axial load is concentrated on the torque tube 1.

Therefore, the portion of the torque tube where the groove 1a is formed cannot withstand the axial load, and the torque tube 1 is axially split along the groove 1a as shown in FIG. It deforms in the direction and allows the engine 3 to move rearward. As a result, a predetermined amount of deformation on the front side of the vehicle body can be secured, and the impact at the time of a collision is softened as compared with the conventional case.

When the torque tube 1 is deformed in the axial direction, the propeller shaft in the torque tube 1 moves rearward of the engine 1 due to the propeller shaft being stretched because the spline coupling portion slides in the axial direction. Does not interfere. Further, the groove 1a of the torque tube 1 is formed to have the same width and the same depth from the front end to the rear end of the torque tube 1, but the width or depth may be increased toward the middle portion, As shown in FIG. 7, a groove is formed only in the central portion of the torque tube 1 so that the groove forming portion can be deformed so as to tear from the central portion of the torque tube 1. It may be.
Further, in the above-described embodiment, the groove 1a is provided only on one lateral surface of the outer peripheral surface of the torque tube 1. However, the number of grooves 1a is provided as shown in FIG. May be plural. Here, in the torque tube of FIGS. 6 and 7, the up-down direction in the drawings corresponds to the up-down direction when mounted on the vehicle body. The same applies to the other drawings.

Next, the torque tube of the second embodiment will be described. As shown in FIG. 4, this torque tube 1 is formed by bending a flat plate to form a tube portion 1d, and without joining the both ends,
A slit 1e extending axially through the gap between the opposite ends
Further, the entire outer peripheral surface of the tube portion 1d is covered with a sealing material 7 such as rubber or synthetic resin.

Here, the sealing material 7 serves to maintain the shape of the pipe portion 1d and prevent water, dust and the like from entering the pipe portion 1d through the slit 1e. The torque tube 1 is attached so that the slits 1e are directed to the side like the first embodiment. Then, even when a vertical bending moment is input as in the first embodiment, the upper portion and the lower portion of the torque tube 1 have the same conventional strength, and thus have a strength sufficient to withstand the bending moment.

Further, when the vehicle collides forward, the engine 3 moves rearward, and the axial load is input to the torque tube 1, the torque tube is opened so that the slit 1e is opened, as in the first embodiment. 1 is deformed in the axial direction and the engine 3
It is possible to secure a predetermined amount of deformation on the front side of the vehicle body without hindering the rearward movement of the vehicle, and to reduce the impact against the impact as compared with the prior art.

Although the slit 1e in the above embodiment is formed from the front end to the rear end of the torque tube 1, it may be formed only in the central portion like the groove 1a,
A plurality of the slits 1e may be formed. Further, in the above-mentioned embodiment, the seal material 7 is adhered to the entire outer periphery of the torque tube 1, but if the pipe portion 1d itself has such strength that the pipe portion 1d is not deformed during normal traveling, the slit 1e forming portion is formed. The sealing material 7 may be attached only to the above.

Further, in the above embodiment, the transmission 4 is arranged at the front end portion, but it may be arranged between the rear end portion 1c of the torque tube 1 and the differential gear 5. Good.

[0024]

As described above, in the torque tube mounting structure of the present invention, since the deformation resistance in the axial direction is reduced, when the front end portion of the vehicle body collides with a fence or the like and is deformed,
The rearward movement of the engine mounted on the front end is not significantly hindered, so that a predetermined amount of deformation of the vehicle body can be secured, and the impact at the time of impact can be softened as compared with the conventional case.

At this time, if the torque tube is attached so that the grooves and slits do not face the vertical direction, the rigidity against the vertical bending moment, which is the main external force input to the torque tube during normal traveling, will be improved. Compared with this, it has the effect of not being so weak.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view and a sectional view showing a torque tube according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic side view showing a mounting structure of a torque tube according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing a deformed state of the torque tube.

FIG. 4 is a sectional view showing a torque tube of a second embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a sectional view showing a second example of the torque tube of the first embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a sectional view showing a third example of the torque tube of the first embodiment.

FIG. 7 is a sectional view showing a fourth example of the torque tube of the first embodiment.

FIG. 8 is a schematic side view showing a conventional torque tube mounting structure.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Torque Tube 1a Groove 1d Pipe 1e Slit 3 Engine 4 Transmission 5 Differential Gear 7 Sealing Material

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A front end of the torque tube is connected to a drive unit on the front side of the vehicle body, and a rear end of the torque tube is connected to a transmission unit on the rear side of the vehicle, with a groove or slit formed in the lateral direction. Torque tube mounting structure characterized by