JPH07293623A - Rotary damper - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To provide a rotary damper minimized with the effect of gravitation. CONSTITUTION: This rotary damper 10 comprises a housing 12, a cover 16, a rotor 24 provided with vanes 34, a coil spring 54, and an annular seal 40. In a gap space 48, a recess 50, and a small gap 36, viscous fluid such as silicone oil is filled. In using the rotary damper 10 for braking a cover of a glove box in an automobile, for example, a pinion 2 7 is engaged with a rack. In assembling it, the spring 54 is energized in a cover opening direction when the cover is closed. When unlocked, shock of opening of the cover is extremely small.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a rotary damper having a rotor and a viscous fluid in a housing.

Rotary dampers are used in connection with motor vehicle actuating members such as handles, glove box covers, ashtrays and the like. The movement of the glove box cover, as caused by the weight of the cover, is abruptly stopped by the abutment. The result is an overly accelerated opening movement and some appreciable noise. This movement can be controlled by a rotary damper.

[0003]

2. Description of the Related Art West German Published Patent No. 3316756 or West German Utility Model No. 8707936 (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 63-3125).
31) discloses a rotary damper in which a sealed chamber of the housing contains a viscous fluid. The shaft extending into the chamber has at least one vane with a circular contour at its periphery. A radial gap is provided between the vane and the chamber wall through which fluid must flow when the housing and shaft are rotated relative to each other. Furthermore, it is also known to provide the vane with one or several through holes.

German Published Patent No. 4244484 describes
It describes a rotary damper in which different braking is applied in opposite directions of rotation. The rotary damper comprises vanes that are tilted with respect to the radial line of the rotor and are pivotable about an axis. Therefore, the vanes are swirled as the shaft in the chamber is rotated. Then, depending on the direction of inclination of the vanes, the vanes either stand up or are swiveled towards the axis to increase their distance from the cylindrical chamber wall. In this way, the cross section of the fluid flow is different in response to the direction of rotation, and thus different damping is provided.

The movement of the braked member, such as the swivel cover to be opened, is defined by both spring and gravity. In the design of the rotary damper, a corresponding combination means should be provided. In particular, the spring must be adapted to the properties of the rotary damper. This requires a certain outlay.

[0006]

The problem to be solved by the present invention is to provide a rotary damper in which the effects of gravity are minimized.

[0007]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention is a rotary damper having a rotor and a viscous fluid in a housing, wherein a spring is provided between the rotor and the housing to allow the housing to move in one direction of rotation. This problem was solved by urging the rotor.

In the rotary damper of the present invention, a spring is provided between the rotor and the housing, and the spring biases the rotor against the housing in one direction of rotation. The spring integrated in the rotary damper makes it possible to select high torque levels for the spring and the damper. In other words, the spring may have a relatively high bias in the opening direction and the rotary damper may provide a relatively high damping.
The higher the torque level, the less the influence of torque caused by gravity.

Another advantage of the present invention is that the rotary damper is a closed system which eliminates adjustment between the damper and the external spring.

According to one embodiment of the invention, the spring is provided with a helical coil spring. According to another embodiment of the invention, the spring is arranged in an annular recess which is sealed against the gap. The offset end of the helical coil spring cooperates with a corresponding recess in the housing wall portion facing it. The seal may be provided by an annular seal having an inner sealing edge that engages the peripheral portion of the rotor to seal the rotor shaft extending outward through the opening in the housing. This allows the recess containing the helical coil spring to be kept free of any fluid. Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in more detail with reference to the drawings.

[0011]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT The illustrated rotary damper 10 includes a cup-shaped member 14
With a housing 12 having an open end of the member 14 closed by a lid 16. The cup-shaped member 14 is
When the housing 12 is inserted into the hole 20 of the sheet metal member 18, the flange 22 comes into contact with the edge of the hole 20 on the front side of the sheet metal member, and at that time, The spring portion 15 engages behind the edge of the hole 20. The outer diameter of the portion of the cup-shaped member 14 located in the hole 20 corresponds approximately to the diameter of the hole. As a result, the housing 12 is firmly held by the sheet metal member 18.

The housing 12 has a bearing opening 2 in the lid 16.
8 houses a rotor 24 having an integral shaft 26 rotatably mounted therein. The pinion 27 is mounted on the outer shaft 26 outside the housing 12.

The cylindrical rotor portion 30 comprises a cup-shaped member 1
Around the periphery thereof are provided a plurality of circumferentially spaced radial vanes 34 which engage the bottom central extension 32 of the cup-shaped member 14 and whose outer diameter corresponds approximately to the inner diameter of the wall of the cup-shaped member 14.
The vanes 34 extend to the bottom of the cup-shaped member 14 and are spaced from the bottom only by a small gap 36.

An annular seal 40 is supported against the shoulder 38 of the cup-shaped member 14, the seal on the other side being the lid 16.
And the lid 16 has an axial region 42 that engages within the annular groove of the seal. In this way, the seal 40 is safely retained by the housing. The inner sealing edge 44 engages the free portion 46 of the rotor portion 30. As a result, the interstitial space 48 provided between the rotor portion 30 and the cup-shaped member 14 is sealed to the shaft 26. The interstitial space 48 is filled with a viscous fluid such as silicone oil. As you can see, vane 34
The ends of are spaced from the seal 40 so that a fluid flow path is provided when the rotor 24 is rotated.

Recess 5 provided radially outside the extension
0 is the rotor 24 into the space filled with silicone oil
It is not possible to allow the insertion of vents and to provide ventilation holes.

The rotor portion 30 has an axial annular recess 52 that opens toward the lid 16 and receives a helical coil spring 54. The helical coil spring has a first offset end 56 that engages in a corresponding rearwardly extending bore of the rotor portion 30.
have. At the other end, the deflecting end 58 of the helical coil spring 54 engages within a blind hole 60 inside the lid 16.

The illustrated rotary damper serves, for example, for braking the cover of an automobile glove box. The bond to the cover is obtained by the pinion 27. Assembly is such that the helical coil spring 54 biases the cover in the opening direction when the cover is closed. This bias is chosen to be of a relatively high level. Nevertheless, it results in a gentle opening of the cover when the locking mechanism is released, because the damping effect of the illustrated damper is also relatively high. As a result, the effect of gravity during the opening movement is minimized.

[0018]

As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to obtain a rotary damper at a low cost, which has a very small influence of gravity.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a sectional view of a rotary damper according to the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 12 Housing 16 Lid 24 Rotor 26 Shaft 34 Vane 38 Shoulder 40 Annular Seal 44 Inner Sealing Edge 46 Free Portion 48 Gap Space 52 Axial Annular Recess 54 Spiral Coil Spring 58 Deflection End 60 Blind Hole

 ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (72) Inventor Krauz Schmitz Germany D-24558 Henschütz-Ulzburg Sinsterbeck 10

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. A rotary damper comprising a housing, a rotor rotatably supported in the housing, and a gap (48) between the housing and the rotor filled with a flowable viscous substance. 54) is the rotor (24)
Between the spring (5) and the housing (12).
The rotation damper (4) biases the rotor (24) against the housing (12) in one direction of rotation. 2. The rotary damper according to claim 1,
A rotary damper characterized in that the spring (54) is a spiral coil spring. 3. The rotary damper according to claim 2, wherein
The rotor (24) has an annular recess (52) sealed against the gap (48), and the spiral coil spring (54).
Are housed in the recess (52) and secured against rotation, and the eccentric end (58) of the helical coil spring (54) faces the associated housing wall portion (16). ) Recess (6
Rotation damper characterized by cooperating with 0). 4. The rotary damper according to claim 3,
An annular portion where the rotor (24) is abutted by an inner edge (44) of an annular seal (40) that seals the gap (48) with respect to a shaft (26) coupled to the rotor (24). A rotary damper having (46). 5. The rotary damper according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the rotor (24) has the gap (4).
8) A rotary damper having at least one blade (34) swiveling in.