JPH06107098A - Steering wheel - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To favorably maintain rising of initial load and to secure an effective impact absorbing stroke when an impact acts on a boss part of a steering wheel. CONSTITUTION:A pad body is mounted on an upper face part 12 of an impact absorbing body 10 through a fixture 13. As this fixture 13 is simply inserted and engaged into a mounting groove 17 of the upper face part 12 of the impact absorbing body 10, the fixture 13 is moved in the mounting groove 17 following deformation of the pad body, when an impact load is applied to the pad body. That is, the pad body is not restricted by the fixture 13 but can be easily deformed. As a result, deformation of the pad body is sufficiently secured and the pad body effectively absorbs impact energy, whereby an effective impact absorbing stroke is realized in combination with plastic deformation of the impact absorbing body 10 arranged in series with the pad body.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a steering wheel in which a shock absorber is arranged on a boss plate of a boss part, and in particular, the shock absorber is attached to a pad body, for example, a horn pad, with an upper surface portion of the shock absorber. Regarding things.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A shock absorber provided on a boss portion of a steering wheel absorbs impact energy by being plastically deformed when an impact is applied. When a predetermined load (for example, a load of about 100 to 120 kg) is rapidly reached (the initial load rises well), and this predetermined load is maintained, a predetermined deformation amount (for example, a deformation amount of about 40 mm) is maintained. It is required to secure (to secure an effective shock absorbing stroke).

In a conventional steering wheel,
Since the shock absorber is made of an iron plate, it is attached to the horn pad by attaching a mounting leg integrally to the iron plate on the top surface, and making a screw hole in this mounting leg. It was screwed in and screwed to the horn pad.

[0004]

However, in this conventional structure for mounting the shock absorber and the horn pad, the rigidity against an impact load is extremely high, and an effective shock absorption stroke is secured even if the initial load rises well. It was impossible to do. This is because the horn pad is often curved like an arch, and the horn pad is fixedly attached to the upper surface of the shock absorber near both ends of the arch. The result is that the arch structure is completed, and therefore the horn pad cannot effectively absorb the impact energy.

The present invention has been made in view of such a problem, and an object thereof is to secure an effective shock absorbing stroke while maintaining a good rise of the initial load.

[0006]

In order to achieve the above object, in the steering wheel of the present invention, a mounting groove is formed in the upper surface of the shock absorber, and the mounting tool is inserted into the mounting groove. It is engaged and the upper surface of the shock absorber is attached to the pad body via the attachment.

[0007]

In the present invention, since the mounting tool is simply inserted and engaged in the mounting groove on the upper surface of the shock absorber, when a shock load is applied to the pad body, it follows the deformation of the pad body. The fixture also moves in the attachment groove. This allows the pad body to be easily deformed without being constrained by the fixture. As a result, since the deformation of the pad body is sufficiently secured and the impact energy can be effectively absorbed, an effective impact is achieved in combination with the plastic deformation of the impact absorber arranged in series with the pad body. An absorption stroke is realized.

[0008]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 shows a steering wheel 1 provided with a shock absorber. Steering wheel 1
Is an annular rim portion 2 and a boss portion 3 located at the center thereof.
And a steering wheel main body 5 comprising a plurality of spokes 4 connecting the rim 2 and the boss 3 and a pad body 6 (for example, a horn pad) is provided on the boss 3. There is.

FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken along the line AA of FIG. In this case, the body cover 7 of the boss portion 3 has a boss plate 8 fixed to a steering shaft (not shown).
The shock absorber 10 is fixed to the boss plate 8 by being screwed onto the boss plate 8. And the boss part 3
The pad body 6 covering the upper surface and the upper side surface of the shock absorber 10 is located at the position of the mounting boss 11 projecting downward from the inner surface of the inner made of hard resin covered with the skin made of soft resin. It is attached by being attached to the attachment 13 of the above with the attaching screw 14.

The shock absorber 10 integrally formed by extruding or casting a metal such as aluminum or extruding or injecting a synthetic resin has openings on the left and right as shown in FIGS. 2 and 3. It has a substantially cylindrical shape, and includes a planar upper surface portion 12 and a lower surface portion 15 and arcuate front and rear side surface portions 16. Based on this configuration, the shock absorber 10 is configured such that the side surface portion 16 is mainly deformed to absorb the shock when the shock is applied from above.

On the lower side surface of the upper surface portion 12 of the shock absorber 10, an appropriate number of mounting grooves 17 for accommodating and holding the mounting tool 13 are provided. The fixture 13 has a slide part 18 inserted into the attachment groove 17, a mount part 20 having a mounting hole 19, and a stopper part 21 connecting the slide part 18 and the mount part 20. At the time of assembly, the attachment 13 is slid and inserted into the attachment groove 17 with the slide portion 18 from the end face side until the stopper portion 21 abuts the end face. In this case, the attachment 13 has the slide portion 18
It is held only by a small frictional force between the mounting groove 17 and the mounting groove 17. Then, the mounting screw 14 is inserted into the mounting hole 19 and the mounting screw 14 is screwed onto the mounting boss 11 of the pad body 6, whereby the pad body 6 is fixed to the shock absorber 10.

The operation of this embodiment will be described below with reference to the test results of this embodiment and the conventional example.

The boss portion 3 of the steering wheel 1
In the case of the shock absorber provided in FIG. 6, the curve of the shock energy absorption characteristic is within the range of the diagonal line surrounded by the two parallel straight lines in the characteristic diagram of FIG. It is said that it is optimal to increase the load to about 120 kg and to secure a deformation amount of about 40 mm while maintaining this load (to secure an effective shock absorbing stroke).

Since the amount of impact energy absorbed is represented by the area under the characteristic curve, it is first necessary to secure this area of a predetermined size, and then the impact energy is absorbed. It is necessary to maintain the load below the specified upper limit in order to prevent the driver from applying excessive repulsive force even if it is momentarily excessive during the process of Is.

Therefore, first, focusing on the characteristic curve of the conventional example shown by the solid line, the load temporarily exceeds the upper limit of the diagonal line in the range of displacement of about 10 to 20 mm, and therefore it is safe for the driver. Not really. This is because the pad body is often curved in the shape of an arch, and the pad body is fixedly attached to the upper surface of the shock absorber near both ends of the arch. It is considered that the structure was completed and therefore the impact energy was not effectively absorbed in the pad body.

On the other hand, the characteristic curve of the present invention is shown in FIG.
As indicated by the chain double-dashed line, the initial load rises well,
The load is maintained within the shaded area until the displacement amount of about 40 mm is reached. This is because the attachment 13 is merely inserted and engaged in the attachment groove 17 of the upper surface portion 12 of the shock absorber 10, and therefore, when an impact load is applied to the pad body 6, it is caused by the mobility of the attachment 13. As a result, the pad body 6 is easily deformed, and as a result, the pad body 6 can also contribute effectively to the absorption of impact energy by the deformation, so that the plasticity of the impact absorber 10 arranged in series with the pad body 6 This is because, together with the deformation, the impact energy is effectively absorbed.

When the shock absorber 10 is integrally formed by extruding a metal such as aluminum, the mounting groove 17 can be easily formed integrally with the shock absorber 10 at the same time.

In this embodiment, the mounting groove 17 is provided on the lower side surface of the upper surface portion 12 of the shock absorber 10, but the mounting groove 17 may be provided at another position, for example, on the upper side surface of the upper surface portion 12. The good thing is right. The point is that the fixture 13 is movably attached to the upper surface portion 12 of the shock absorber 10 so as to assist the deformation of the pad body 6 due to the impact load.

Further, as the shape of the slide portion 18 of the fixture 13, in addition to the shape shown in FIG. 3, a tapered shape or a stepped shape as shown in FIGS. 4 and 5 can be considered.

[0021]

As described above, according to the present invention, when an impact load is applied to the pad body, the pad body is easily deformed due to the movability of the fixture, and as a result, the pad body is also deformed. Since the deformation can effectively contribute to the absorption of the impact energy, the impact energy is effectively absorbed together with the plastic deformation of the impact absorber arranged in series with the pad body.
Therefore, the initial load at the time of impact can be rapidly increased, and a predetermined amount of deformation can be ensured while maintaining the increased load within a predetermined range, thus ensuring the safety of the driver during an impact. be able to.

[0022]

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a plan view of an embodiment of a steering wheel of the present invention.

2 is a cross-sectional view of the steering wheel of FIG. 1 taken along the line AA.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of an embodiment of a shock absorber of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of another embodiment of the fixture of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of another embodiment of the fixture of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing impact energy absorption characteristics of the present invention and a conventional example.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 Steering Wheel 2 Rim Part 3 Boss Part 4 Spoke Part 5 Steering Wheel Main Body 6 Pad Body 7 Body Cover 8 Boss Plate 9 Screw 10 Impact Absorber 11 Mounting Boss 12 Upper Surface 13 Mounting Tool 14 Mounting Screw 15 Lower Surface 16 Side Surface 17 Mounting Groove 18 Sliding part 19 Mounting hole 20 Mounting part 21 Stopper part

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A steering wheel having a shock absorber disposed on a boss portion, wherein the shock absorber has a substantially cylindrical shape having openings on the left and right sides, and is attached to a pad body by its upper surface portion. A mounting groove is formed in the upper surface portion, a mounting tool is inserted and engaged in the mounting groove, and the upper surface portion of the shock absorber is a pad body through the mounting tool. Steering wheel characterized by being attached to.