JPH06247317A - Steering shock absorption structure - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To enlarge the movement distance of a steering wheel by making the constitution of a steering shock absorption portion in such a way that at the time of a rotary shaft having gone into a yoke relatively by receiving large force, a projection portion comes off an engagement groove and the rotary shaft bends against the yoke. CONSTITUTION:A steering wheel is connected to a steering gear box through a column pipe, shear pin, a steering shaft and a middle universal joint at whose middle portion a shock absorption portion is provided. This shock absorption portion possesses a rotary shaft 12 provided with an engagement groove 11 and a yoke 13 of a U-shape that is by side surface viewing, or the like, and a projection portion 14 provided at the yoke 13 is made to mesh with the engagement groove 11. When large force acts on the rotary shaft 12 due to collision or the like and a bolt 16 is moved to the right end of the oblong hole 15 of the yoke 13 and at the same time the projection portion 14 comes off the engagement groove 11 that has been moved right, the rotary shaft 12 is swung around the bolt 16, and the middle universal joint falls into a bent state, and impact power transmission to the column pipe is deterred.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to improvements in steering shock absorbing structure technology.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A steering shock absorbing structure in which a shock absorbing portion is provided in a steering system connecting a steering wheel and a steering gear box to absorb a shock force at the time of a collision and prevent the steering wheel from protruding into a vehicle interior. That is, various methods have been proposed.

FIG. 7 is a schematic view showing an example of a conventional steering shock absorbing structure.
Is a column pipe 102, shear pins 103, 103,
The steering angle is transmitted to the steering gear box 106 via the steering shaft 104 and the intermediate universal joint 105. 107 is an engine.

FIG. 8 is an explanatory view of the operation of the conventional steering shock absorbing structure, and the state of FIG. 7 is reproduced by an imaginary line. If the vehicle collides with the obstacle 110, it is expected that the vehicle will deform as shown by the solid line. That is, the steering gear box 106 moves backward together with the engine 107, and the steering gear box 10
6 moves the steering shaft 104 backward by the stroke L1 via the intermediate universal joint 105. This is called a primary collision. Next, it is conceivable that the occupant comes into contact with the steering wheel 101. This is called a secondary collision. If the secondary collision is of a certain magnitude or more, the shear pins 103, 103 are broken and the column pipe 102 can move forward, and as a result, the steering wheel 101 moves forward by the stroke L2. The sum of the stroke L1 and the stroke L2 is the shock absorbing stroke L in the steering shock absorbing structure.

[0005]

The stroke L2 of the strokes L is directly related to the protection of the occupant, and the larger the stroke, the better. However, the stroke L1 varies considerably depending on the arrangement of the engine 107 and the steering gear box 106 and the form of the collision, and this stroke L1
When 1 becomes larger, the stroke L2 becomes smaller according to the formula of L2 = L-L1. Although the stroke L is made as large as possible so that the stroke L2 has a margin, the steering wheel 101 and the steering gear box 1
It is not easy to secure a large stroke L with respect to 06 because of the device configuration. Therefore, the object of the present invention is to set the stroke L.
The purpose of the present invention is to provide a steering shock absorbing structure that can sufficiently secure the number 2.

[0006]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a shock absorbing portion, a rotary shaft, a yoke, a protrusion provided on one of the rotary shaft or the yoke, and the rotary shaft or the yoke. It is composed of an engaging groove provided on the other side.

[0007]

Operation: Normally, the projection engages with the engaging groove to transmit the rotational force by steering. When the rotating shaft relatively enters the yoke due to a large external force, the protruding portion disengages from the engaging groove, and the rotating shaft bends with respect to the yoke.

[0008]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings. The drawings should be viewed in the direction of the reference numerals.
FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a steering device including a steering shock absorbing structure according to the present invention.
Is connected to the steering gear box via the column pipe 2, shear pin (not shown), steering shaft 4, and intermediate universal joint 5 including the shock absorbing portion 10 as described in the section of the prior art. .

FIG. 2 is a partially cutaway side view of the shock absorbing portion of the present invention. The intermediate universal joint 5 is referred to as a hook type universal shaft joint, and cross-shaped metal fittings 6 and 6 are provided at both ends to intersect two shafts. The rotation can be transmitted even if the angle changes. The shock absorbing portion 1 is provided at the intermediate portion of the intermediate universal joint 5 as described above.
0 is configured. The shock absorbing portion 10 includes a rotary shaft 12 having an engaging groove 11 formed therein and a yoke 13 having a U-shape in a side view.
And a protrusion 14 provided on the yoke 13 and meshing with the engaging groove 11, and elongated holes 15 and 1 formed in the yoke 13.
5 (major axis is in the axial direction) and these long holes 1
It is composed of a bolt 16 that locks the end of the rotary shaft 12 to the yoke 13 via 5, 15 and a spring 17.

FIG. 3 is a view taken in the direction of arrow 3 in FIG.
The positional relationship among the protrusion 14, the elongated hole 15, and the bolt 16 is shown. That is, since the projection 14 is meshed with the engagement groove 11, for example, when the yoke 13 is rotated, the rotary shaft 12 also integrally rotates. Further, the rotating shaft 12 is pushed by the pushing force of the spring 17, and as a result, the bolt 16 is stopped at the end of the elongated hole 15. On the contrary, when the rotating shaft 12 is strongly pushed in the direction of the arrow (1), the rotating shaft 12 including the engaging groove 11 enters the yoke 13 deeper. The entering operation is possible until the bolt 16 is attached to the other end of the long hole 15. In this case, the protrusion 14 is relatively moving in the engagement groove 11. These operations will be described in detail in the following section of operation.

The operation of the shock absorbing mechanism having the above structure will be described below. 4 (a) to 4 (c) are action diagrams of the shock absorbing portion, FIG. 4 (a) shows a normal state, and the rotary shaft 12
Since no particular axial force is applied to the yoke 13 and the spring 13, the spring 17 extends sufficiently to press the bolt 16 against the left end of the slot 15 in the figure. At this time, the protrusion 14 is engaged with the engagement groove 11. Therefore, in FIG. 4A, since the rotary shaft 12 is connected to the yoke 13 at the two locations of the protrusion 14 and the bolt 16, the rotary shaft 12 is positioned on the shaft of the yoke 13.
In this state, the rotation of the yoke 13 is transmitted to the rotary shaft 12 via the bolt 16.

FIG. 4 (b) shows an arrow on the rotating shaft 12 due to a collision or the like.
Shows a state in which a large force is applied, and the bolt 16 moves to the right end of the elongated hole 15 in the figure due to an external force, and the rotary shaft 12 and its engaging groove 11 move largely together with the bolt 16 and remain as a result with the yoke 13. The protrusion 14 is the engaging groove 11
Get out of. The external force indicated by the above-mentioned arrow rarely exactly matches the longitudinal direction of the rotating shaft 12. In a collision, the direction of the external force changes with time, and the external force also becomes a composite of forces in multiple directions. Therefore, as shown in FIG.
As shown in (c), the rotary shaft 12 swings about the bolt 16 as the swing center as shown by the arrow (1).

FIG. 5 is a diagram for explaining the operation of the steering shock absorbing structure of the present invention. The imaginary line shows a normal state and the solid line shows a state after a collision. The engine 21 and the steering gear box 22 move backward due to the collision. Although the thrust force acts toward the column pipe 2, the intermediate universal joint 5 is easily bent in the manner shown in FIGS. 4 (b) and 4 (c). Therefore, the column pipe 2 is characterized in that the force due to the primary collision hardly acts on the column pipe 2.

A secondary collision caused by an occupant contacting the steering wheel 1 disconnects the shear pins 3 and 3, and the steering wheel 1 can move forward together with the column pipe 2 by a stroke L3. Since the conventional stroke L1 shown in FIG. 8 can be ignored in FIG. 5, the total stroke L is the same as the stroke L3. Since the total stroke L required in FIGS. 5 and 8 is the same, the stroke L3 is much larger than the conventional stroke L2. Further, since there is no conventional stroke L1 which is a variation value, the stroke L3 is obtained as designed.

FIG. 6 is a graph showing G (gravitational acceleration) acting on the occupant's chest at the time of a collision. The horizontal axis represents the amount of movement of the occupant's chest, and the vertical axis represents G (gravitational acceleration) acting on the occupant's chest. is there. The comparative example is the conventional example shown in FIGS. 7 and 8, and the peak of G (gravitational acceleration) acting on the chest of the occupant is large. On the other hand, in the embodiment including the shock absorbing mechanism of the present invention, the peak of G (gravitational acceleration) acting on the occupant's chest is small, and the reaction given to the occupant can be weakened.

[0016]

As described above, according to the present invention, the shock absorbing portion of the steering is provided on the rotary shaft, the yoke, the protrusion provided on one of the rotary shaft or the yoke, and the other of the rotary shaft or the yoke. With the engagement groove provided, when the rotating shaft relatively enters the yoke due to a large external force, the protrusion is disengaged from the engaging groove and the rotating shaft is bent with respect to the yoke. , It is possible to increase the moving stroke of the steering wheel. Therefore, according to the present invention, the peak of G acting on the occupant's chest is reduced, and the reaction to the occupant can be weakened.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a steering device including a steering shock absorbing structure of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a partially cutaway side view of the shock absorbing portion of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a view on arrow 3 of FIG.

FIG. 4 is an operation diagram of the shock absorbing portion of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory view of the operation of the steering shock absorbing structure of the present invention.

FIG. 6 G (gravitational acceleration) acting on the chest of the occupant during a collision
Showing the graph

FIG. 7 is a schematic view showing an example of a conventional steering shock absorbing structure.

FIG. 8 is an operation explanatory view of a conventional steering shock absorbing structure.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 ... Steering wheel, 10 ... Shock absorber, 11 ...
Engaging groove, 12 ... rotary shaft, 13 ... yoke, 14 ... protrusion,
15 ... long hole, 16 ... bolt, 17 ... spring, 22 ... steering gear box.

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[Procedure amendment]

[Submission date] March 15, 1993

[Procedure Amendment 1]

[Document name to be amended] Statement

[Correction target item name] 0010

[Correction method] Change

[Correction content]

FIG. 3 is a view taken in the direction of arrow 3 in FIG.
The positional relationship among the protrusion 14, the elongated hole 15, and the bolt 16 is shown. That is, since the projection 14 is meshed with the engagement groove 11, for example, when the yoke 13 is rotated, the rotary shaft 12 also integrally rotates. Further, the rotating shaft 12 is pushed by the pushing force of the spring 17, and as a result, the bolt 16 is stopped at the end of the elongated hole 15. Conversely, when the rotary shaft 12 is strongly pushed in the direction of the arrow, the rotary shaft 12 including the engagement groove 11 enters the yoke 13 deeper. The entering operation is possible until the bolt 16 is attached to the other end of the long hole 15. In this case, the protrusion 14 is relatively moving in the engagement groove 11. These operations will be described in detail in the following section of operation.

[Procedure Amendment 2]

[Document name to be amended] Statement

[Correction target item name] 0012

[Correction method] Change

[Correction content]

FIG. 4B shows a state in which a large force indicated by an arrow is applied to the rotary shaft 12 due to a collision or the like. The external force causes the bolt 16 to move to the right end of the elongated hole 15 in FIG. The engaging groove 11 is largely moved, and as a result, the protrusion 14 remaining with the yoke 13 is
Get out of. The external force indicated by the above-mentioned arrow rarely exactly matches the longitudinal direction of the rotating shaft 12. In a collision, the direction of the external force changes with time, and the external force also becomes a composite of forces in multiple directions. Therefore, as shown in FIG.
As shown in (c), the rotary shaft 12 swings around the bolt 16 as the swing center as shown by the arrow.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A steering shock absorbing structure in which a shock absorbing part is provided in a steering system connecting a steering wheel and a steering gear box, wherein the shock absorbing part is slidable and bendable between a rotary shaft and a yoke. And a protrusion is provided on one of the rotary shaft or the yoke, and the other of the rotary shaft or the yoke is normally engaged with the protrusion to transmit the rotational force by steering, and the rotary shaft is relatively moved to the yoke. A steering shock absorbing structure, characterized in that the protrusion is disengaged from the groove when entering, and an engaging groove is provided with respect to the yoke to allow bending of the rotating shaft.