JPH0564046U - Slip ring device - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Abstract] [Purpose] A device having a plurality of pairs of slip rings and contacts, which can meet the requirements of reliability of conduction, and suppresses an increase in sliding torque and noise. , Improve durability. [Structure] Five slip rings 4 to 8 are concentrically provided on a base 1, and a rotating member 9 rotated integrally with a steering wheel is pressed against each slip ring 4 to 5
Individual contacts 11 to 15 are provided. Pressing force W1 to W of each contact 11 to 15 for each slip ring 4 to 8
Set 5 so that the inner contact becomes larger according to the diameter of the slip ring.

Description

[Detailed description of the device]

[0001]

[Industrial applications]

 The present invention relates to a slip ring device provided with a plurality of sets of slip rings and contacts in pressure contact with the slip rings.

[0002]

[Prior Art]

 For example, in an automobile, a slip ring device is provided between a steering wheel and a base of a steering column in order to supply electric power to a device arranged on a steering wheel, for example, an alarm switch.

The slip ring device basically has a configuration in which one of the base and the steering wheel is provided with a slip ring, and the other is provided with a contact that is in pressure contact with the slip ring, and the steering wheel is rotated. Regardless of the rotational position of the contact, the contact is always in pressure contact with the slip ring to form a current path.

In recent years, in addition to an alarm switch, a steering wheel has been provided with an auto-drive switch for keeping a vehicle speed constant, and a device such as an airbag.

For this reason, in recent slip ring devices, a plurality of sets of slip rings and contacts in pressure contact with the slip rings are provided for each device. In this case, the plurality of slip rings are generally arranged concentrically around the steering shaft.

[0006]

[Problems to be solved by the device]

 By the way, in this type of slip ring device, it is required to improve the reliability of conduction especially by equipping an airbag. In this type of slip ring device, the reliability of conduction can be improved by increasing the pressure contact force of the contact with the slip ring.

However, if the pressure contact force of the contact with respect to each slip ring is simply increased, the sliding torque between the slip ring and the contact during rotation operation of the steering wheel and thus the rotation torque is increased, and the slip ring and the contact with the slip ring are increased. There is a problem that the amount of wear between the contact ring and the contact is increased and the durability is reduced, and the sliding noise generated between the slip ring and the contact is increased.

As an alternative to the slip ring device, there is a so-called roll connector arranged spirally around the steering shaft. In this case, since there is no contact, the reliability of conduction is high, but there is a problem that the cost is abnormally higher than that of the slip ring device and the number of rotations of the steering wheel is limited.

[0009] Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a slip ring device which can meet the requirement of reliability of conduction, and can suppress increase of sliding torque and sliding noise and improve durability. To provide.

[0010]

[Means for Solving the Problems]

 In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, the present invention includes a base, a rotating member provided to rotate with respect to the base, and a concentric circle provided on one of the base and the rotating member. A plurality of slip rings, and a plurality of contacts that are provided on the other of the base and the rotating member so as to come into pressure contact with each of the slip rings, and that slide relative to the corresponding slip rings as the rotating member rotates. In the slip ring device provided with, the contact pressure force of the contact with respect to each of the slip rings is set so that the contact on the inside is larger than the contact on the outside.

[0011]

[Action]

 Generally, there is a proportional relationship between the pressure contact force of the contact with the slip ring, the amount of wear between the slip ring and the contact, the sliding torque, and the loudness of the sliding noise (sound pressure) generated between them. The amount of wear, the sliding torque, and the amount of sliding noise are proportional to the diameter of the slip ring.

That is, for example, when the pressure contact force of the contact with respect to the slip ring is set to be the same in each set, the outer set having a large slip ring diameter has a small slip ring diameter. Sliding torque, amount of wear, and sliding noise will be greater than those of the inner set.

Therefore, if it is attempted to set the wear amount, sliding torque, and sliding noise of the inner group to be the same as that of the outer group, the inner group is It is possible to set the contact pressure force of the contact to the slip ring of the set larger than that of the outer set.

Therefore, as shown in the above means, the contact pressure of the contact with respect to the slip ring is set so that the contact inside is larger than the contact outside, and reliability of conduction is required. For ones, it is possible to meet the requirement of conduction reliability by using an inner set of circuits with a large pressure contact force. And for those that don't require as much conduction reliability, it is sufficient to use another set of circuits.

Further, since it is not necessary to set the pressure contact force of the contact to the slip ring to be large for all the sets, the contact pressure of the contact is set to be large for all the sets. The torque and sliding noise can be prevented from increasing and the durability can be improved.

[0016]

【Example】

 An embodiment in which the present invention is applied to an automobile slip ring device will be described below with reference to FIG.

The base 1 is fixedly arranged on a steering column portion (not shown), and has a container shape with an open upper surface. A steering shaft 3 is inserted through a through hole 2 formed in the center of the base 1 in a penetrating state. Although not shown, a steering wheel is attached to the upper end of the steering shaft 3.

On the upper surface of the inside of the base 1, a plurality of, in this case, five first to fifth slip rings 4 to 8 are provided concentrically around the insertion hole 2.

On the other hand, the rotating member 9 is rotatably arranged with respect to the base 1 in a state of covering the upper opening of the base 1, and is adapted to rotate integrally with the steering wheel. ing.

A contact holder 10 that rotates integrally with the rotating member 9 is provided inside the rotating member 9, and the contact holder 10 is pressed against the first to fifth slip rings 4 to 8. First to fifth contacts 11 to 15 each made of a leaf spring are provided. Each of these contacts 11 to 15 has two contact points 11a to 15a.

The first to fifth slip rings 4 to 8 and the corresponding first to fifth contacts 11 to 15 form first to fifth circuits 16 to 20, respectively. ..

As will be described later, the pressure contact forces of the first to fifth contacts 11 to 15 against the first to fifth slip rings 4 to 8 are set to the inner contact side (the first contact 11 side side). ) It is set to be large.

Thus, in this case, when the steering wheel is rotated, the first to fifth contact members 11 to 15 move with respect to the first to fifth slip rings 4 to 8 as the rotating member 9 rotates. The contacts 11 to 15 are constantly in pressure contact with the slip rings 4 to 8 regardless of the rotational position of the steering wheel to form an energization path of equipment provided on the steering wheel side.

Although not shown, the steering wheel side is equipped with an alarm switch, an automatic drive switch, and an airbag as devices.

Assuming that the contact pressure force of the contact with respect to the slip ring is W, the radius of the slip ring is r, the number of rotations of the contact required for durability is N, and the rotation speed of the contact is V, the slip ring and the contact are The amount of wear A between the two, the sliding torque B of the contact, and the loudness C of the sliding sound between the slip ring and the contact are expressed as follows.

Amount of wear A = α × N × W × 2πr (where α is a proportional constant) (1) Sliding torque B = β × W × r (where β is a proportional constant) (2) Sliding Sound C = γ × W × V (where γ is a proportional constant) = γ × W × k × 2πr (where k is a proportional constant) (3) As can be seen from these expressions, The amount of wear A between the slip ring and the contact, the sliding torque B, and the sliding noise C are in a proportional relationship. Moreover, the wear amount A, the sliding torque B, and the sliding noise C are proportional to the radius r of the slip ring.

That is, for example, when the pressure contact force W of the contact to the slip ring is set to be the same for each set, the wear amount A, the sliding torque B, and the sliding sound C are as follows: The fifth circuit 20 having the largest size has the largest size, and the first circuit 16 having the smallest diameter of the slip ring has the smallest size.

Therefore, the wear amount A, the sliding torque B, and the sliding noise C of the outermost fifth circuit 20 are used as a reference, and the fifth circuit 20 and the other first to fourth circuits 16 are used. The conditions for making the wear amount A, the sliding torque B, and the sliding noise C the same for each of .about.19 are obtained as follows.

The pressure contact forces of the first to fifth contact points 11 to 15 are represented by W1 to W5, and the radii of the first to fifth slip rings 4 to 8 are represented by r1 to r5.

First, regarding the relationship A between the fifth circuit 20 and the first circuit 16, the wear amount A is expressed as α × N × W5 × 2πr5 = α × N × W1 × 2πr1∴W1 = W5 × (R5 / r1) For sliding torque B, from equation (2), β × W × r5 = β × W × r1∴W1 = W5 × (r5 / r1) For sliding noise C, from equation (3), γ × W5 × k × 2πr5 = γ × W1 × k × 2πr1∴W1 = W5 × (r5 / r1) Therefore, in order to make the wear amount A, the sliding torque B, and the sliding noise C of the first circuit 16 the same as those of the fifth circuit 20, the pressure contact force W1 of the first contact 11 is set to the fifth value. The pressure contact force W5 of the contact 15 can be set to be (r5 / r1) times greater.

Similarly, from the relationship between the fifth circuit 20 and the second circuit 17, W2 = W5 × (r5 / r2) From the relationship between the fifth circuit 20 and the third circuit 18, W3 = W5 × (r5 / r3) From the relation between the fifth circuit 20 and the fourth circuit 19, the relational expression W4 = W5 × (r5 / r4) holds. Therefore, in this embodiment, by setting the pressure contact forces W1 to W5 of the first to fifth contactors 11 to 15 on the basis of the above relational expressions, the pressure contact force becomes larger as the inner contact has a smaller radius of the slip ring. (W5 <W4 <W3 <W2 <W1).

In the present embodiment, the inner first and second circuits 16 and 17 are for airbags, and the intermediate third and fourth circuits 18 and 19 are for automatic drive switches. The outermost fifth circuit 20 is set to be used for the alarm switch.

According to the present embodiment as described above, the pressure contact forces W 1 to W 5 of the first to fifth contact 11 to 15 are set so that the inner contact becomes larger according to the diameter of the slip ring. , For example, for airbags that require reliability of conduction, it is possible to meet the requirements of reliability of conduction by using the inner first and second circuits 16 and 17 having a large pressure contact force. .. And, although the reliability of conduction is not so required, it can be sufficiently dealt with by using the other third to fifth circuits 18 to 20.

Further, according to the present embodiment, the contact pressure contact forces W1 to W5 with respect to the slip ring are not set to be large for all circuits, so the contact pressure contact forces W1 to W5 are set to be large for all circuits. Compared with the case, the sliding torque and the sliding noise can be suppressed from increasing and the durability can be improved.

In the above embodiment, the contact pressures W1 to W5 of the contacts are set to increase sequentially from the outer side (W5) to the inner side (W1). For example, W1 and W2 May be set to be the same, or W3 and W4 may be set to be the same.

Further, the slip rings 4 to 8 may be provided on the rotating member 9 and the contacts 11 to 15 may be provided on the base 1.

[0037]

[Effect of the device]

 As described above, according to the present invention, in a device including a plurality of concentric circularly arranged slip rings and a plurality of contacts that are in pressure contact with the slip rings, the contact pressure force of the contacts with respect to each slip ring exists outside. By setting the contact inside the contact to be larger than that of the contact, it is possible to meet the demand for reliability of conduction, and to suppress the increase of sliding torque and sliding noise. It has an excellent effect of improving durability.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a vertical sectional view showing an embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 is a base, 3 is a steering shaft, and 4 to 8 are first
To a fifth slip ring, 9 is a rotating member, 11 to 1
Reference numeral 5 is first to fifth contacts, and 16 to 20 are first to fifth circuits.

Claims (1)

[Scope of utility model registration request] 1. A base, a rotary member provided to rotate with respect to the base, a plurality of slip rings concentrically provided on one of the base and the rotary member, and the base and the rotary member. In each of the other members, the plurality of contacts are provided so as to be in pressure contact with each of the slip rings, and each of the slip rings is relatively slid with respect to the corresponding slip ring as the rotary member rotates. The contact pressure force of the contact to the ring,
The slip ring device is characterized in that the contacts on the inside are set to be larger than the contacts on the outside.