JPH0633602Y2 - Optical axis adjustment device - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Industrial field of application] The present invention relates to an optical axis adjusting device in, for example, a vehicle headlight or a fog lamp.

[Conventional technology]

A holding mechanism of a conventional optical axis adjusting device will be described with reference to FIGS. 4 to 6.

In the figure, 1 is a fixed body, which is a housing in this embodiment. This housing is provided with a through hole 10 (FIG. 5) for inserting a bolt 35 of a retainer 33, which will be described later, a through hole 11 for inserting an adjusting screw 6, which will be described later, and screws on both sides of the through hole 11 for inserting the adjusting screw. Holes 12 and 12 are provided respectively.

Reference numeral 2 denotes a movable body, and in this embodiment, a reflector 21 (FIG. 6) having a reflecting surface 20 of a paraboloid of revolution, and a lens 23 adhered to the entire opening of the reflector 21 with an adhesive 22.
A light room defined by its lens 23 and reflector 21
And a bulb (not shown) as a light source disposed in the vicinity of the focal point (not shown) of the reflecting surface 20 in the inside 24. At the lower right corner of the rear portion of the reflector 21, a shaft portion 31 of the ball bearing 3 described later is provided.
And a mounting portion 26 for the screw mounting 4 which will be described later at the lower left corner and the upper right corner of the rear portion.
Are provided respectively. A through hole 27 and a hemispherical concave spherical surface 28 are provided in the mounting portion 26.

3 is a ball support mechanism, and this ball support mechanism 3 has a ball head 30 at one end.
And a retainer 33 having a concave spherical surface 32. The threaded portion 34 at the other end of the shaft portion 31 thus formed is screwed into the attachment portion 25 of the reflector 21, and the retainer 33 is attached to the housing 1 by the bolts 35 and nuts 36 planted in the retainer 33. The spherical head portion 30 of the shaft portion 31 is fitted into the concave spherical surface 32 of the retainer 33. As a result, the reflector 21 and the lens 23 as the movable body 2 are attached to the housing 1 as the fixed body so as to be rotatable and tiltable around the center O of the ball head 30.

The screw mounting 4 has a spherical shape and is provided with a screw hole 40.

5 is a bracket for mounting the screw mounting 4, and this bracket 5 has a hemispherical concave spherical surface 50 at the center thereof.
Through hole 53 is provided at the center of the concave spherical surface 50, and through holes 51 are provided at both ends of the bracket 5. Thus, the screw mounting 4 is set on the concave spherical surface 28 of the mounting portion 26 of the reflector 21, the concave spherical surface 50 of the bracket 5 is set on the screw mounting 4, and the bracket 5 is screwed on the mounting portion 26 of the reflector 21. Install by 52. As a result, the screw mounting 4 is attached to the movable body 2
Is attached to the reflector 21.

Reference numeral 6 denotes an adjusting screw. The adjusting screw 6 is provided with a collar portion 60 integrally at an intermediate portion, and a screw portion 61 is provided from the collar portion 60 to one end side.

Reference numeral 7 denotes a mounting member. The mounting member 7 has a through hole 70 formed at the center thereof, and a recess 71 is provided at the peripheral edge of the through hole 70 on one surface side, and screws are provided at both ends.
72 Open a through hole 73 for insertion. The adjusting screw 6 described above is inserted into the through hole 11 of the housing 1, and the collar portion 60 of the adjusting screw 6 is set on the periphery of the through hole 11 of the housing 1. A mounting member 7 is externally fitted to the adjusting screw 6 through the through hole 70, and a recess of the mounting member 7 is formed.
The 71 is brought into contact with the collar portion 60 of the adjusting screw 6. The screw 72 is inserted into the through hole 73 of the mounting member 7, and the screw 72 is screwed into the screw hole 12 of the housing 1. As a result, the adjusting screw 6 is sandwiched by the housing 1 and the mounting member 7 at the flange portion 60, and is rotatably and axially immovably mounted on the housing as a fixed body. The screw portion 61 of the adjusting screw 6 is screwed into the screw hole 40 of the screw mounting 4.

Thus, the adjusting screw 6 (the adjusting screw 6 (6A) for the left and right direction and the adjusting screw 6 (6B) for the up and down direction) is rotated. Then, the rotational force is transmitted from the screw portion 61 of the adjusting screw 6 to the screw hole 40 of the screw mounting 4. At this time, since the adjusting screw 6 is restricted from moving in the axial direction with respect to the housing 1, the screw mounting 4 advances and retracts, and as a result, the movable body 2 moves in the left-right direction about the center O of the ball bearing 3, or The optical axis is adjusted by rotating and tilting in the vertical direction.

[Problems to be solved by the device]

However, in the conventional optical axis adjusting device described above, the outer surface of the screw mounting 4 which is a contact point between the reflector 21 of the movable body 2 and the adjusting screw 6 and the concave spherical surface of the mounting portion 26 of the reflector 21 on which the screw mounting 4 is mounted. Since the 28 and the concave spherical surface 50 of the bracket 5 are formed as a spherical surface, the screw mounting 4 is attached to the mounting portion 26 of the reflector 21 and the bracket 5 in the axial direction of the adjusting screw 6 and the rotational direction of the shaft. It can be rotated and tilted. Therefore, when the adjusting screw 6 is rotated when adjusting the optical axis,
Due to the contact frictional force between the screw portion 61 of the adjusting screw 6 and the screw hole 40 of the screw mounting 4, which are screwed together, the adjusting screw 6 and the screw mounting 4 rotate integrally (so-called co-rotation).
However, the screw mounting 4 may not move back and forth with respect to the screw portion 61 of the adjusting screw 6, and the optical axis may not be adjusted.

Further, it is difficult to expect that the sphere and the spherical seat are in contact with each other ideally, and in reality, the backlash is likely to occur due to the processing accuracy.

An object of the present invention is to provide an optical axis adjusting device in which the optical axis can be adjusted reliably without backlash.

[Means for Solving the Problems]

The basic principle of the present invention created to achieve the above object is as follows.

A bracket provided on a movable body (for example, a lamp housing) is provided with a circular hole (a hole having a cylindrical inner wall surface) orthogonal to the adjusting screw, and the screw mounting is rotatably fitted in the circular hole.

Furthermore, in order to eliminate play between the circular hole and the screw mounting, the screw mounting is provided with a plurality of elastic pieces, and the elastic pieces are bent and inserted into the circular hole,
The restoring force of the elastic piece causes the inner wall surface of the circular hole to slide.

Then, the screw mounting is provided with a positioning projection (for preventing play) so that the screw mounting does not cause play in the axial direction of the circular hole with respect to the bracket.

[Action]

If the tilting direction of the movable body is indefinite, it must be supported by a spherical seat as in the screw mounting shown in FIGS. 6 and 7 (conventional example), but the tilting direction is the same as in the headlight. Then, even if it is not the sphere / sphere seat pair, the cylinder / round hole pair is sufficient.

If the elastic piece is bent and press-fitted as described above, play is prevented.

Further, although there is a risk of co-rotation in the sphere / spherical seat pair as in the conventional example, there is no risk of co-rotation in the column / circular hole pair. Although there is a risk of rattling due to the sliding in the axial direction in such a pair of the cylindrical column and the circular hole, the rattling in the axial direction is prevented by the positioning protrusion provided on the screw mounting.

〔Example〕

FIG. 2 is an exploded perspective view showing an embodiment of the optical axis adjusting device according to the present invention.

A bracket 81 is integrally connected to the reflector 21, and a circular hole 82 which intersects the adjusting screw 6 at a right angle is provided in the bracket 81. In the present invention, the circular hole means a hole having a cylindrical surface.

FIG. 1 (A) shows a cross section of a plane that passes through the axis of the adjusting screw 6 and is orthogonal to the circular hole 82. FIG. 1 (B) is a sectional view taken along a plane including the axis of the circular hole 82 and the axis of the adjusting screw 6.

The screw mounting 83 is inserted into the circular hole 82. FIG. 3 shows a perspective view of the screw mounting 83 as a single unit. FIG. 1A is a perspective view seen from the oblique lower side, and FIG. 3B is a perspective view seen from the oblique upper side.

The screw mounting 83 has a screw hole 83a passing through the body 83b, and four elastic pieces 83C _{-1 to} 83C _-4 are integrally connected to the body 83b. There is.

In the free state shown in FIG. 3, four elastic pieces 83 _C-1 to 8
The outer peripheral surface of 3 _C-2 has a cylindrical surface shape (which does not need to be a strict cylindrical surface) having a diameter slightly larger than that of the circular hole 82, and these elastic pieces are bent to cause the elastic member to bend as shown in FIG. It is press-fitted into the circular hole 82 as shown in A). For this reason, the elastic piece is pressed against the inner wall surface of the circular hole 82 and slides against it, thereby preventing looseness. And Fig. 1 (A)
As can be easily understood from the above, the screw mounting 83 is provided with a stopper (stopper protrusion) 83e for limiting the rotation angle thereof, although the screw mounting 83 can rotate slightly within the circular hole 82.

As shown in FIG. 2, the screw mounting 83 is inserted into the circular hole 82 in the axial direction of the circular hole as indicated by an arrow a,
The adjusting screw 6 is screwed in the direction of arrow b.

Referring to FIG. 1 (A), the screw mounting 83 is inserted into the circular hole 82 in the direction perpendicular to the paper surface.

Further, as shown in FIG. 1 (B), it is inserted in the direction of arrow a.

In the above insertion operation, screw mounting 83
Is elastically deformed and the positioning protrusion 83d is pushed in. When the screw mounting 83 is pushed into place, the first
As shown in FIG. (B), the positioning projection 83d engages with the insertion hole 81a of the adjusting screw 6 formed in the bracket 81 to perform the positioning operation in the left-right direction in the figure.
Prevent backlash.

[Effect of device]

As described above, according to the optical axis adjusting device of the present invention, there is no risk of rattling between the adjusting screw and the screw mounting, and there is also no risk of the screw mounting rotating together with the adjusting screw. It is possible to adjust the optical axis.

[Brief description of drawings]

1 to 3 show one embodiment of the optical axis adjusting device according to the present invention, and FIG. 1 (A) is a sectional view taken along a plane including the axis of the adjusting screw and orthogonal to the axis of the circular hole, Fig. 1 (B)
FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view of a plane including the axis of the adjusting screw and the axis of the circular hole. FIG. 2 is an exploded perspective view. FIG. 3 (A) is a perspective view of the lower surface side of the screw mounting, and FIG. 3 (B) is a perspective view of the upper surface side. FIG. 4 is a front view of a vehicle headlamp equipped with a conventional optical axis adjusting device, FIG. 5 is a sectional view taken along line VV in FIG. 4, and FIG. 6 is a sectional view taken along line VI-VI in FIG. FIG. 7 is a perspective view of the screw mounting. 1 ... Housing (fixed body), 2 ... Movable body, 21 ... Reflector, 23 ... Lens, 26 ... Mounting part, 3 ... Ball support mechanism, 6 ... Adjust screw, 7 ... Mounting member,
81 …… Bracket, 82 …… Circular hole, 83 …… Screw mounting, 83a …… Screw hole, 83b …… Body, 83 _C-1 , 83
_C-2 , 83 _C-3 , 83 _C-4 …… Elastic piece, 83d …… Positioning protrusion, 83
e …… Stopper, 84 …… Screw mounting, 84a
...... Screw hole, 84b …… Body, 84 _{C-1 to} 84 _C-4 …… Elastic piece.

Claims (1)

[Scope of utility model registration request] 1. A ball support mechanism for supporting a movable body on a fixed body so that the movable body can be rotated and tilted, a screw mounting mounted on the movable body, and an adjusting screw screwed on the screw mounting and mounted on the fixed body. (A) fixing the bracket to the movable body, (b) providing a circular hole orthogonal to the adjusting screw in the bracket, and (c) fitting the screw mounting into the circular hole. (D) the screw mounting is provided with a plurality of elastic pieces that are pressed against the inner wall surface of the circular hole and slide against it, and (e) the screw mounting is abutted against the bracket and An optical axis adjusting device comprising a positioning protrusion for locking the sliding of the circular hole in the axial direction.