JPH0737665A - Connector device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To wind a flexible cable smoothly by preventing the occurrence of buckling of the flexible cable irrespective of a kind of the flexible cable being used. CONSTITUTION:A spiral spring 5 in an auxiliary winding member 2 winds a flat cable 7 tightly round a winding member 1, and when the auxiliary winding member 2 is rotated thereby, the flat cable is wound tightly round a winding core 6. Counterclockwise directional elastic force (restoring force) is generated in the spiral spring 5 by the tight winding. Thereby, when the flat cable 7 is unwound loosely by the member 1, the auxiliary member 2 is rotated in the counterclockwise direction in a prescribed position of the second case 10 by the counterclockwise directional elastic force generated by the spring 5, and winds the cable 7 round the periphery. Thereby, since a condition of the cable 7 itself in order to wind the cable 7 round a winding core 3 becomes unnecessary, the cable can be wound accurately always in the same position irrespective of the kind of the cable being used.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a connector device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, as a connector device used in a steering device for a vehicle, the applicant of the present invention has one end fixed to a rotating member 35 and the other end outside the rotating member 35 as shown in FIG. The flat cable 37 fixed to the fixing member (fixed shaft) 36 in the rotary member 35 and the fixed shaft 36.
It is wound around both sides a plurality of times, and the rotating member 35, the fixed shaft 36
And a connector device in which the flat cable 37 is housed in a case 38 is first filed (Japanese Patent Application No. 5-531).
No. 00).

In this type of connector device, the flat cable 37 is wound loosely and spread to enable winding on the fixed shaft 36. However, when the winding state around the fixed shaft 36 becomes loose, the flat cable 37 becomes
Since it does not become coaxial and spreads loosely in one direction, it interferes with the inner peripheral surface of the case 38 in this spreading direction and the flat cable 37 is not wound around the fixed shaft 36, resulting in flatness. There is a problem that the cable 37 buckles.

Therefore, in the above-mentioned connector device previously filed by the applicant, in order to solve the above problem, the fixed shaft 3
6 is not provided at the center of the case 38, but is eccentrically positioned toward the side close to the cable outlet in a direction substantially orthogonal to the direction in which the flat cable 37 is pulled out.

[0005]

However, in the connector device described above, when a flat cable having a low elastic force is used, it is wound around the flat cable 37 wound around the rotating member 35 and the fixed shaft 36 due to aging. When I loosened the flat cable 37 due to my habit,
In some cases, it may spread in a direction different from that when the device is manufactured.

Then, even if the installation position of the fixed shaft 36 is eccentric in advance as in the connector device described above, if the flat cable spreading direction changes due to aging, the flat cable 37 and the flat cable 37 in this spreading direction will change. There is a problem that interference with the inner peripheral surface of the case 38 cannot be avoided and the flat cable 37 buckles.

Therefore, the present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and prevents buckling of the flexible cable regardless of the type of the flexible cable to be used, thereby making the flexible cable smooth. An object of the present invention is to provide a connector device that can be wound up.

[0008]

Therefore, according to the present invention, a flexible cable having one end fixed to a rotary member and the other end fixed to a fixed member is wound around the rotary member and the fixed member a plurality of times. In a connector device in which these are housed in a case, the connector device is rotatably provided at a predetermined position between the fixing member and the case, engages a part of the flexible cable, and has an outer periphery thereof. A rotation assisting member in which the flexible cable is wound a plurality of times, and provided on the rotation assisting member,
An elastic member that generates an elastic force by the rotation of the rotation assisting member, and when the flexible cable is wound or loosened, the rotation assist is performed according to the tightening or loosening. The member rotates at the predetermined position, and when the flexible cable is wound around the rotating member and then loosened, the rotation assisting member causes the rotation assisting member to move by the elastic force generated by the elastic member. The connector device is characterized in that the flexible cable that is rotated at a predetermined position and loosened is wound around the outer periphery of the rotation assisting member.

[0009]

With the above construction, when the flexible cable is wound or loosened, the rotation assisting member is rotated at a predetermined position in accordance with the winding or loosening, and
When the flexible cable is wound around the rotating member and then loosened, the rotation assisting member is rotated at a predetermined position by the elastic force generated by the elastic member to rotate the loosened flexible cable. It is wound around the outer periphery of the motion assisting member.

Therefore, unlike the connector device previously filed by the applicant of the present invention, in which the flexible cable is wound around the fixing member when the flexible cable is loosened and spread, unlike the connector device of the present invention, in the present invention, elasticity is provided. Since the rotation assisting member is forcibly rotated by the elastic force of the member and the flexible cable is wound around the winding assisting member, a condition for loosening and expanding the flexible cable (for example, The elastic force and the like required for the flexible cable can be eliminated.

[0011]

The present invention will be described below based on the embodiments shown in the drawings. In this embodiment, a case will be described in which the present invention is applied to a connector device that connects an airbag device which is an occupant protection device and a vehicle-mounted power source. 1 and 2 are configuration diagrams showing an embodiment of the connector device according to the present invention, and FIG.
FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view showing an example in which this connector device is mounted on a steering wheel of a vehicle.

In FIG. 4, a steering shaft 20 housed in a casing 21 has a steering wheel 22 at its end and a winding member 1 of the connector device 100 around the steering wheel 22.
When the steering wheel 22 is operated, the winding member 1 mounted around the steering shaft 20 rotates. In the steering wheel 22,
An airbag 24 stored under the pad 25 and an inflator 23, which is a gas generator configured with an ignition device, a gas generating agent, and the like, for deploying the airbag 24 in the event of a vehicle collision are configured. The inflator 23 is electrically connected to the connector device 100 via the first connection cable 8 for connecting the airbag and the first connection terminal.

A connector device 100 having a flat cable 7 corresponding to a flexible cable is provided with a second connecting cable 9 for circuit connection and a second connecting terminal, and is electrically connected to a vehicle-mounted power source (not shown). Connected. Then, the vehicle-mounted power source and the inflator 23 are electrically connected by the first and second connection cables, the first and second connection terminals, and the flat cable 7.

Next, the operation of the above configuration will be described. In FIG. 4, when a collision of a vehicle is detected, the collision signal generated by the collision detection is the second connection cable 9, the connector device 100, and the first connection cable 8.
Is supplied to the inflator 23 via. Then, the inflator 23 generates gas in response to the input of the collision signal,
The air bag 24, into which the gas has flown, breaks through the pad 25 and inflates, thereby protecting the driver from a vehicle collision.

Next, the details of the connector device 100 of the present invention will be described. 1 shows a connector device 10
2 is a horizontal sectional view showing a state in which the flat cable 7 is completely wound clockwise in FIG.
FIG. 6 is a horizontal sectional view showing a state in which the flat cable 7 is completely unwound in the counterclockwise direction at 0. 1, FIG. 2, and FIG. 4, a connector device 100 is fixed to a steering shaft 20, and a winding member 1 (corresponding to a rotating member) that rotates with an operation of a steering wheel 22,
A first case 6 having a smooth inner peripheral surface, which is provided around the winding member 1 at a predetermined interval, a flat cable 7, and a second case 10 for winding the flat cable 7 (case A winding core 3 (corresponding to a fixing member) that is fitted or integrally formed with the second winding core 3, and a second inner peripheral surface that is provided around the winding core 3 at a predetermined interval and has a smooth inner peripheral surface. A case 10 is provided between the second case 10 and the winding core 3 with a predetermined space therebetween.
A winding auxiliary member 2 (corresponding to a rotation auxiliary member) that is rotatable with the winding core 3 coaxially, and the winding auxiliary member 2
And a winding assisting member 2 for the winding core 3
Walls 11 are arranged on both sides to connect the plate-shaped spiral spring 5 (corresponding to an elastic member) that generates an elastic force by the rotation of the cable and the cable outlets of the first case 6 and the second case 10. And a cable passage 12.

As shown in FIG. 1, the winding core 3 has a diameter smaller than that of the winding member 1, and has an outer peripheral surface of the winding core 3 and an inner peripheral surface of the winding auxiliary member 2. The flat cable 7 is wound around the winding core 3 multiple times.
It is relatively large so that c can be loosened or tightened around the winding core 3. On the other hand, the distance between the outer peripheral surface of the winding member 1 and the inner peripheral surface of the first case 6 is set so that the flat cable 7 wound around the winding member 1 does not spread when unwinding when it is unwound. Case 1
It is made relatively small so that it can be sent to the 0 side. The winding core 3 is arranged substantially at the center of the second case 10.

As shown in FIG. 5, the flat cable 7 has two flat conductors 7a and the conductors 7a.
It is composed of a synthetic resin insulator 7b formed in a flat plate shape so as to cover the periphery of a. One end of the flat cable 7 is electrically connected and fixed to the winding member 1 and the other end thereof is electrically connected to the winding core 3. The conductor 7a is not limited to two.

The wall 11 provided to define the winding member 1 and the winding core 3 and to form the cable passage 12 is a first case 6 or a second case 10.
By acting as a guide for the flat cable 7 and eliminating the space in which the flat cable 7 can move freely, buckling of the flat cable 7 between the winding member 1 and the winding core 3 is suppressed.

The winding assisting member 2 is provided with an opening 4 through which the flat cable 7c in the winding assisting member 2 is wound around the winding core 3 a plurality of times. Is delivered between the inner peripheral surface of the second case 10 and the outer peripheral surface of the winding assisting member 2, and the winding member 1
Has reached. At this time, a part of the flat cable 7 is engaged and fixed to the winding assisting member 2 in the vicinity of the opening 4.

The number of turns of the flat cable 7c and the spiral spring 5 wound around the winding core 6 in the winding assist member 2 is set by using the following parameters. That is, the required number of rotations of the winding auxiliary member 2 corresponding to the required number of rotations predetermined for the winding member 1 is N, and the flat cable 7c in the winding auxiliary member 2 is
And the number of turns of the flat cable 7c and the spiral spring 5 when the spiral spring 5 is tightened are n ₁ , the flat cable 7c in the winding assist member 2 and the flat cable 7c when the spiral spring 5 is loosened, If the number of turns of the spiral spring 5 is n ₂ , the required number of rotations N is expressed as follows.

[0021]

## EQU1 ## N = n ₁ -n _{2 If} the thickness of the flat cable 7 is t ₁ and the thickness of the spiral spring 5 is t ₂ , the total thickness t is expressed as follows.

[0022]

[Mathematical formula-see original document] t = t ₁ + t ₂ These equations 1 and 2, the outer diameter d ₁ of the winding core 6, the inner diameter d _{2 of the} winding auxiliary member 2 (the flat cable 7c and the spiral in the winding auxiliary member 2) (Corresponding to the outer diameter when the spring 5 is unwound)) and the number of turns of the flat cable 7c and the spiral spring 5 wound around the winding core 6 in the winding auxiliary member 2 is set. be able to.

That is, the number of turns of the flat cable 7c and the spiral spring 5 wound around the take-up core 6 in the take-up assisting member 2 is the required number of rotations which is predetermined for the take-up member 1 ( For example, when the winding auxiliary member 2 is rotated by the number of rotations of the winding auxiliary member 2 corresponding to the steering rotation speed), the flat cable 7c and the spiral spring 5 in the winding auxiliary member 2 cause the winding auxiliary member 2 to rotate.
The inner space is set so that it can be tightened or loosened properly.

Inside the winding auxiliary member 2, there is provided a plate-shaped spiral spring 5 having one end fixed to the winding core 6 and the other end fixed to the vicinity of the opening 4 of the winding auxiliary member 2.
The spiral spring 5 is provided along the side surface of the flat cable 7c provided inside the winding assisting member 2. As shown in FIG. 3, the winding assisting member 2 has a bearing portion 2a provided on the winding assisting member 2.
And the protrusion 10a provided on the second case 10 are loosely fitted. As a result, the winding auxiliary member 2 can rotate at a predetermined position with respect to the winding core 6 and the second case 10.

Further, one end of the first connection cable 8 is electrically connected to and fixed to the first connection terminal, the other end is connected to the winding member 1, and one end of the second connection cable 9 is secondly connected. The terminal and the other end are electrically connected and fixed to the winding core 3. Next, the connector device 100 having the above configuration
The operation of will be described. 1 to 4, when the steering wheel 22 is started to be rotated clockwise from its neutral position, the winding member 1 is rotated clockwise in accordance with the operation of the steering wheel 22 and is loosened around the winding member 1. The flat cable thus obtained is wound around the winding member 1. Then, the flat cable 7 unwound around the winding assisting member 2 of the second case 10 is pulled out, wound up by the winding member 1 and stored in the first case 6.

Further, when the flat cable loosened around the winding assisting member 2 of the second case 10 is tightened around the winding member 1, the winding assisting member 2 is pulled out in response to the pulling out of the flat cable 7. When the winding core 6 is made coaxial and starts to rotate clockwise, the winding assist member 2
The flat cable 7c and the spiral spring 5 in FIG.
As shown in, the winding core 6 is gradually tightened.

On the contrary, when the steering wheel 22 is turned clockwise and the steering wheel 22 is started to be turned counterclockwise, the winding member 1 starts to rotate counterclockwise in response to the operation of the steering wheel 22. The flat cable 7 is unwound from the winding member 1. Here, the spiral spring 5 in the winding auxiliary member 2 is tightened around the winding cable 1 by winding the flat cable 7 around the winding member 1 and thus the winding auxiliary member 2 is rotated and thus is wound around the winding core 6. , By the tightening, the spiral spring 5
A counterclockwise elastic force (restoring force) is generated in.

Therefore, when the flat cable 7 is unwound from the winding member 1, the counterclockwise elastic force generated by the spiral spring 5 causes the winding auxiliary member 2 to move in the second case defined by the protrusion 10a. It is rotated counterclockwise at a predetermined position of 10. Then, the flat cable 7 fed into the second case 10 through the cable passage 5 is wound around the winding assisting member 2 and stored in the second case 10, and at the same time, the winding assisting member. As shown in FIG. 2, the flat cable 7c and the spiral spring 5 inside 2 are gradually loosened from the winding core 6 as shown in FIG.

By thus loosely fitting the bearing portion 2a of the winding assisting member 2 and the protrusion 10a of the second case 10, the winding assisting member 2 is a predetermined protrusion of the second case 10 called the protrusion 10a. It is rotatably provided at a position, and when the flat cable 7 is wound around the winding member 1 and then loosened, the winding assist member 2 is rotated by the elastic force generated by the spiral spring 5, The loosened flat cable 7 can be wound around its outer circumference.

Therefore, even if a flat cable having a low elastic force or a flat cable that undergoes thermal deformation at high temperature and the elastic force becomes low,
The spiral spring 5 provided on the winding assisting member 2 even if the flat cable is loosened due to aging so that the spreading direction is eccentric to a direction different from that at the time of manufacturing the device.
As a result, the winding assisting member 2 is forcibly rotated in a rotation direction opposite to the rotation direction at the time of winding tightening.
The unwound flat cable 7 is always wound around the winding assisting member 2 at a predetermined position of the second case 10 called the protrusion 2a.

As described above, in the above-described embodiment, the winding auxiliary member 2 and the spiral spring 5 are provided so that when the flat cable 7 is loosened, the elastic force of the spiral spring 5 is used to wind the flat cable 7. The flat cable 7 is wound by rotating the auxiliary member 2 at a predetermined position of the second case 10 called the protrusion 10a. As a result, the flat cable 7 loosens and spreads, and the winding core 3
Unlike the connector device previously filed by the applicant of the present application shown in FIG. 10 in which the flat cable 7 is wound around,
In the connector device according to the above-described embodiment, since the spiral spring 5 is forcibly wound, the condition for the flat cable 7 to loosen and spread (for example, the elastic force required for the flat cable 7) is unnecessary.

Therefore, regardless of the type of the flat cable used, the winding can always be performed accurately at the same position, so that the buckling of the flat cable can be prevented and the flat cable 7 can be smoothly wound. The take-up member 1 can be wound up. Next, another embodiment will be described. It should be noted that the drawing numbers in FIG.
Regarding the parts having the same numbers as those in FIG. 3, the parts equivalent to the drawing numbers in FIGS. 1 to 3 are shown.

FIG. 6 is a sectional view showing a cross section in the vicinity of the winding assisting member in another embodiment. In the above example,
Although the plate-shaped spiral spring 5 is arranged between the flat cables 7c in the winding auxiliary member 2, as shown in FIG. 6, a flange is formed on the inner peripheral surface of the cylindrical main body 2a ₁ of the winding auxiliary member 2. the 2a ₂ is provided, the flange 2a ₂ upper arranged a spiral spring 5 of the plate, the flange 2a ₂ lower may be disposed flat cable 7c. At this time, one end of the plate-shaped spiral spring 5 is engaged with the winding core 3 and the other end is engaged with the cylindrical main body 2a ₁ of the winding auxiliary member 2.

By doing so, not only the same effect as in the above-described embodiment can be obtained, but also the diameter of the winding assisting member 2 can be reduced. The number of turns of the plate-shaped spiral spring 5 provided inside the winding assisting member 2 in this embodiment can be calculated by setting t ₁ = 0 in Formula 2. The calculated number of turns of the plate-shaped spiral spring 5 is substantially the same as the number of turns of the flat cable 7c in the winding assisting member 2 in the configuration shown in FIG.

Next, still another embodiment will be described. It is to be noted that, in the drawing numbers of FIG. 7, the parts having the same numbers as the drawing numbers of FIGS. 1 to 3 are equivalent to the drawing numbers of FIGS. 1 to 3. FIG. 7 is a cross-sectional view showing a cross section in the vicinity of a winding auxiliary member in still another embodiment. Although the flange 2a ₂ is provided on the inner peripheral surface of the winding assisting member 2 in the other embodiment described above, as shown in FIG.
The flange 2c ₂ may be provided not only on the inner peripheral surface but also on the outer peripheral surface.

[0036] That is, as shown in FIG. 7, the flange 2c ₂ provided on the cylindrical outer peripheral surface of the main body 2c _1, the flange 2c ₂ part of the main body outer peripheral surface disposed a spiral spring 5 of the plate,
A flat cable 7c may be arranged below the flange 2a _{2 on the} peripheral surface of the body. At this time, the plate-shaped spiral spring 5 has one end engaged with the winding core 3 and the other end engaged with the second case 10.

By doing so, it is possible to obtain the same effect as that of the above-mentioned embodiment. In each of the above embodiments, the plate-shaped spiral spring 5 is provided as the elastic member provided in the winding auxiliary member 2, but as shown in FIG. 8, the spiral spiral spring 5a is adopted. May be. Also,
In each of the above-described embodiments, the bearing portion 2a is provided on the winding assisting member 2 and the protrusion 10a is provided on the second case 10. However, as shown in FIG. 9, the bearing portion 10 is provided on the second case 10.
b is provided, and the cylindrical main body 2d of the winding auxiliary member 2 is provided.
The bearing portion 10b may be loosely fitted.

Further, in each of the above-mentioned embodiments, an example in which the winding device 1 and the winding assisting member 2 are applied to the connector device 100 in which the rotating directions are the same at the time of tightening and loosening the winding has been described. The above embodiments may be applied to the connector device in which the rotation directions of the member 1 and the winding assisting member 2 are different from each other.

[0039]

As described above, according to the present invention, the winding assisting member and the elastic member do not require the condition for the flexible cable to loosen and spread, and the flexible cable is wound at the same position. Therefore, regardless of the type of flat cable used, winding can always be performed at the same position, which prevents buckling of the flat cable and allows the flexible cable to be wound smoothly. It has an excellent effect that it can be done.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a horizontal sectional view showing a state in which a flat cable is completely wound in a clockwise direction in a connector device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a horizontal cross-sectional view showing a state in which the flat cable is completely unwound in the counterclockwise direction in the connector device.

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view showing a cross section in the vicinity of the winding assisting member in the above embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view showing an example in which the connector device is mounted on a steering wheel of a vehicle.

FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view showing an example of a flat cable.

FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view showing a cross section in the vicinity of a winding auxiliary member in another embodiment.

FIG. 7 is a cross-sectional view showing a cross section in the vicinity of a winding auxiliary member in still another embodiment.

FIG. 8 is a configuration diagram showing another shape of the spiral spring.

FIG. 9 is a schematic configuration diagram showing a modified example of each of the above embodiments.

FIG. 10 is a configuration diagram of a connector device previously filed by the applicant.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 winding member 2 winding auxiliary member 3 winding core 5 spring member 6 first case 7 flat cable 10 second case

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A flexible cable having one end fixed to a rotating member and the other end fixed to a fixing member is wound around the rotating member and the fixing member a plurality of times, and these are housed in a case. In the connector device, the flexible member is rotatably provided at a predetermined position between the fixing member and the case, engages a part of the flexible cable, and the flexible cable is provided a plurality of times on the outer periphery thereof. A wound rotation assisting member, and an elastic member that is provided on the rotation assisting member and that generates an elastic force by the rotation of the rotation assisting member. The flexible cable is tightened or loosened. In this case, the rotation assisting member rotates at the predetermined position in accordance with the tightening or loosening of the winding, and when the flexible cable is wound around the rotating member and then loosened. Is generated by the elastic member The connector device, wherein the rotation assisting member is rotated at the predetermined position by an elastic force to wind the loosened flexible cable around the outer periphery of the rotation assisting member.