JPH05341868A - Control pedal for vehicle and manufacture of the same - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To attain a light weight and a superior strength performance by forming a frame and seat part and a support part of a high tensile aluminum alloy, and integrally connecting them through a mechanic fixing means without welding them. CONSTITUTION:In a pedal constitution such as a brake and a crutch, a frame part 1, support part 3, and seat part 4 are constituted of the high tensile high aluminum alloy (2024 and 7075 or the like). A frame seat and seat part 7 and 8 in which the frame part 1 and the seat part 4 are integrally constituted is cut and worked from an extruded tube 6. The support part 3 formed of the same high tensile aluminum extruded tube is inserted into a fixing hole provided at the frame part 1, the frame and seat part 7 and 8 and the supporting part 3 are mechanically connected and fixed, the entire part is hardened, and an age-hardening is operated, so that the pedal constitution can be attained. That is, the high tensile aluminum alloy is used as a constituting material, and the frame and seat part 7 and the supporting part 3 are integrally connected through the mechanic fixing means without welding them, so that the superior specific strength and the light weight can be attained.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to improvements in operating pedals for automobiles such as brakes and clutches, and more particularly to a lightweight and highly safe operating pedal made of aluminum alloy material.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art An operation pedal such as an automobile brake or clutch is conventionally manufactured by integrally joining a support portion and a seat portion to a frame made of steel by welding, and the weight is about 1 kg. It gets heavy. Therefore,
In order to reduce the weight of the vehicle body based on low fuel consumption, it is necessary to replace these members with a light material such as aluminum alloy.

In order to change the conventional operation pedal made of steel material to an aluminum-based material, it is necessary to use an aluminum alloy having a strength comparable to that of steel material. However, since high strength aluminum alloys such as 7075 alloy and 2024 alloy have poor weldability, there is a problem that the support portion and the seat portion cannot be integrally connected to the frame portion by conventional welding. It is possible to use an A7NO1 alloy with good weldability, but it is not possible to expect to achieve weight reduction with this alloy unless the plate thickness is about three times that of steel from the viewpoint of strength, because equivalent rigidity cannot be obtained.

In order to solve this problem, the inventors of the present invention have previously devised a pedal made of a high-strength aluminum alloy material whose pedal structure is improved to an integrated structure without using welding.
-Filed as a No. However, since the pedal of this invention mechanically fixes the seat portion to the frame portion by bolting or the like, there is a risk of loosening during long-term use. There is still room for improvement in terms of weight reduction.

[0005]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In view of the above situation, an object of the present invention is to make a sheet portion and a frame portion integrally formed of an extruded profile so that no problems will occur in long-term use. In addition, it is an object of the present invention to provide an automobile operation pedal that achieves further weight reduction.

[0006]

In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, an operating pedal for an automobile and a method of manufacturing the same according to the present invention include a main frame portion, a support portion serving as a supporting point of the frame portion, and a pedal surface. In the pedal structure in which the seat portion is integrally connected, the frame portion and the seat portion are formed by an integral extruded shape member made of a high-strength aluminum alloy, and a tubular support is provided in a fixing hole formed at one end of the frame portion. 340 is formed by mechanically fixing the frame sheet by inserting the frame portion into the frame and the sheet portion formed by extruding a high-strength aluminum alloy. ~ 4
After the softening treatment at 10 ° C., the extruded tube of the high strength aluminum alloy softened at 340 to 410 ° C. is also subjected to the above-mentioned flare treatment.
The structural feature is that it is inserted into a fixing hole formed in the hole portion, fixed by caulking, and the whole is aged.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view illustrating an automobile operation pedal according to the present invention. Reference numeral 1 is a frame portion having a support shaft hole 2 whose tip portion is processed into a predetermined bending shape, and 3 is a base end of the frame portion 1. A support portion 4 serving as a support point of the portion and a seat portion 4 serving as a pedal surface.

As the high-strength aluminum alloy as the constituent material of the present invention, heat-treatable aluminum alloys having high tensile strength, such as 2014 alloy, 2017 alloy, 2024 alloy, 7075 alloy, etc. are preferably used, and are mainly used as constituent members. The frame portion 1 and the sheet portion 4 continuous with the frame portion 1 are formed of an integral extruded profile made of the high-strength aluminum alloy. For example, a pedal material, in which the frame portion 1 and the seat portion 4 are integrated, and frame sheet portions 7 and 8 are cut out from an extruded shape member 6 having a U-shaped cross section as shown in FIG. Then, the support shaft hole 2 and the fixing hole 5 into which the tubular support portion 3 is inserted are bored for finishing. The support portion 3 is also preferably formed of a tubular extruded material of the high-strength aluminum alloy.

The extruded profile of a high strength aluminum alloy is preferably softened by air cooling or furnace cooling in order to improve workability. Softening temperature is 340-410 ℃
It is preferable to set in the range of. If it is less than 340 ° C, the softening effect is insufficient, and if it exceeds 410 ° C, it may approach the quenching temperature, age-harden, and not be softened. In addition,
The softening treatment may be performed after cutting out the frame sheet portion from the extruded profile. Further, the frame sheet portion may be bent according to the specifications.

The frame sheet portion and the support portion are integrally connected to each other by first fixing the softened frame sheet portion to the fixing hole of the frame sheet portion, which is also softened in the form of a tubular support. The part is inserted and fixed by mechanical means such as caulking, and the whole is quenched and age-hardened (T6 treatment). For example, in the case of 7075 alloy, T6 treatment is performed by solution treatment at 460 to 480 ° C., water cooling, and aging treatment at 115 to 125 ° C. FIG. 3 is an explanatory view showing a state in which the tubular support portion 3 is inserted into a fixing hole 5 formed at one end of the frame portion 1 and fixed by caulking.

[0011]

According to the present invention, the frame portion, the support portion, and the seat portion are made of a high-strength high-strength aluminum alloy, and among these members, the frame portion and the sheet portion are integrated. Cutting the sheet from the extruded profile,
Since the support portion made of the extruded pipe material is inserted into the fixing hole formed in the frame portion and coupled by using a mechanical means, the entire structure is quenched and age-hardened to form a pedal structure. It is possible to provide a vehicle operation pedal such as a brake or a clutch having excellent specific strength and light weight.

[0012]

【Example】

Examples, Comparative Examples 1 and 2 A material made of a high-strength aluminum alloy 7075 was extruded by hot extrusion into a U-shaped cross-section (wall thickness 8 mm). -After cutting the sheet, the sheet was held at 380 ° C for 2 hours to be air-cooled and softened.
The frame and sheet are bent and the holes are fixed.
And the support shaft hole 2 was bored.

On the other hand, the tubular support portion 3 similarly formed by extruding 7075 alloy is inserted into the fixing holes of the frame portion, pressed from both ends and swaged and fixed in the state of FIG. Heat at 480 ° C for 1 hour, cool with water, and
T6 treatment was performed under the condition of holding at 125 ° C. for 4 hours.

For comparison, A7N01 having good weldability
Made of aluminum alloy, the frame part (thickness 10, 12
mm) with a support part and a seat part integrally joined by arc welding (Comparative Example 1), and using a conventional steel plate material, the support part and the support part are arc-welded to the frame part (thickness 10 mm). An integrally-operated automobile operation pedal (Comparative Example 2) was produced.

As shown in FIG. 4, the strength of each of the above-mentioned automobile operation pedals is measured by fixing the support portion 3 and the support shaft hole 2 of the frame portion 1 to the beam, and loading from the seat portion 4 which is the pedal tread surface. It was carried out by the method of measuring the displacement in the load direction when applied with. The results are shown in Table 1 and FIG. 5 [load (KN)
Relationship graph of load direction displacement (mm)].

[0016]

From the results shown in Table 1 and FIG. 5, the operation pedal for an automobile of the present invention has a strength substantially equal to that of a steel pedal having a plate thickness of 10 mm when the plate thickness of the frame sheet is 8 mm. It was confirmed that the specific strength was twice the mass.

[0018]

As described above, according to the present invention, the high-strength aluminum alloy is used as the constituent material, and the frame sheet portion and the support portion are integrally connected through the mechanical fixing means without using welding. By doing so, it is possible to provide a vehicle operation pedal that is lightweight and has excellent strength performance.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view illustrating a vehicle operation pedal according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing a state in which a frame sheet portion is cut out from an extruded profile.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory view showing a fixed state of a frame portion and a support portion.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram of a state of a strength test in an example.

FIG. 5 is a graph showing the relationship between load and displacement in the load direction obtained in the example.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Frame part 2 Support shaft hole 3 Support part 4 Seat part 5 Fixing hole 6 Extruded profile 7 Frame sheet part 8 Frame sheet part

─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁵ Identification code Office reference number FI technical display location C22F 1/04 Z

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. In a pedal structure in which a main frame portion, a support portion serving as a support point of the frame portion, and a seat portion serving as a pedal surface are integrally connected, the frame portion and the seat portion are made of a high-strength aluminum alloy. An operating pedal for an automobile, which is formed of an integral extruded shape member and is mechanically fixed by inserting a tubular support portion into a fixing hole formed at one end of a frame portion. 2. A frame sheet part, which is a combination of a frame part and a sheet part, is cut from an extruded profile of a high strength aluminum alloy and softened at 340 to 410 ° C. Similarly, an extruded tube of a high-strength aluminum alloy softened at 340 to 410 ° C. is inserted into a fixing hole formed in the frame portion and fixed by caulking, and the whole is quenched and age-hardened. A method for manufacturing a characteristic automobile operating pedal.