JPH0751972Y2 - Steering wheel - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION (Industrial field of application) The present invention relates to a steering wheel that absorbs the impact force of a driver when the driver collides with the steering wheel.

(Prior Art) The steering wheel is set to a predetermined rigidity,
It is known that when a driver collides with the steering wheel in the event of a collision accident, the steering wheel bends and absorbs the impact force, which alleviates the driver's collision force and protects the driver. There is. The steering wheel 1 shown in FIG. 5 has spokes 2 and rims 3 forming the skeleton thereof connected to each other by welding, and has a substantially triangular shape on the upper side of the welded portion, that is, the upper edge of the end of the spokes 2 and the inner peripheral edge of the rim. Corner patch 4 is stuck.

When a collision accident occurs, the driver is thrown forward due to inertia and collides with the steering wheel 1. At this time,
The steering wheel 1 bends to absorb and absorb this impact force. Explaining in detail based on FIG. 6, first, the driver's chest collides with the lower portion of the rim 3 (hereinafter referred to as the lower rim) 3a,
The lower rim 3a bends and moves to the position shown by the chain double-dashed line in the figure, and absorbs this impact force. Next, the driver's head rotates around the chest and the upper part of the rim 3 (hereinafter referred to as the upper rim) 3b
The upper rim 3b bends by a distance n and moves to the position shown by the one-dot chain line in the figure, and absorbs this impact force.

(Problems to be solved by the invention) However, in the above conventional steering wheel 1, when the driver's head collides with the upper rim 3b,
Since 3b is located relatively forward, the head travels a long distance and then collides with the upper rim 3b. Therefore, the interference stroke n of the driver's head, that is, the driver's head and upper rim
The distance n between the collision position of 3b and the position where the upper rim 3b bends and receives the head, in short, the distance n at which the upper rim 3b absorbs the impact force of the head is relatively small. Therefore, the impact force of the head is rapidly absorbed, and there is a problem that the impact relaxation property is poor.

The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned problems, and in the event of a collision accident, etc., when the driver collides with the steering wheel, the impact force acting on the driver's head is gently absorbed. The purpose of the present invention is to provide a steering wheel having excellent shock absorbing properties.

(Means for Solving the Problems) In order to achieve the above object, according to the present invention, a pair of spokes extending from the boss in a substantially diametrical direction of the rim in opposite directions to each other between the boss and the annular rim. A steering wheel that supports the rim by connecting the outside of these spokes to the inner peripheral surface of the rim, and is fixed only to the rim at a position corresponding to the connection part of the rim with the spoke. A reinforcing member is provided, and the reinforcing member extends over a predetermined area on both sides in the circumferential direction of the rim with respect to the outer end of the spoke.

(Operation) When the driver is thrown forward due to a collision accident or the like, the driver's chest first collides with the lower portion of the rim, and then the head rotates around the chest and collides with the upper portion of the rim. Since the reinforcing member is fixed to the outer peripheral surface of the rim, even if the chest collides, the rim hardly bends, and the spokes are twisted and deformed,
Get up to stand upright. Therefore, the collision position between the head and the rim moves to the driver side as compared with the conventional steering wheel, so that the interference stroke of the driver's head becomes large.

Embodiment An embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

1 to 3 show an embodiment of a steering wheel to which the present invention is applied. The steering wheel 10 is composed of a skeleton portion 11 and a covering portion 12 and the like, and the skeleton portion 11 is a boss 13 and a concentric circle to the boss 13. Rims 14 that are arranged in a standard manner, and the rims 14 are bosses
It is composed of spokes 15 connected to 13.

The spokes 15 are composed of a pair of spokes, and are arranged between the boss 13 and the annular rim 14 so as to extend from the boss in directions substantially opposite to each other in a substantially diametrical direction of the rim. These spokes
The outer ends of 15 are connected to the inner peripheral surface of the rim 14 to support the rim. Then, a semi-cylindrical outer peripheral patch 16 is fixed to only the rim so that the rim is sandwiched between the outer peripheral surface of the rim 14 and the outer ends of the spokes 15. The outer peripheral patch 16 extends in a predetermined region on both sides in the circumferential direction of the rim 14 with respect to the outer end of the spoke 15.

The cover 12 is made of an elastic material such as urethane foam,
As shown by the chain double-dashed line in FIG. 1, it covers both ends of the rim 14 and the spokes 15 to form an appearance and absorb a slight impact force by its elastic force.

The operation will be described below.

When a collision accident or the like occurs, the driver is thrown forward due to traveling inertia, and the upper half of the body collides with the steering wheel 10. Explaining the situation at the time of collision based on FIG. 4, first, the driver's chest collides with the lower rim 4a, but the side portion of the rim 14 is reinforced by the outer peripheral patch 16, and the cross section of this outer peripheral patch 16 Since the shape is substantially U-shaped as shown in FIG. 3, the rigidity is high. Therefore, the conventional rim 3 shown in FIG.
Rim 14 hardly bends at the fixed part of spoke 15, compared to
The spokes 15 are twisted and deformed to absorb the impact force of the chest. Therefore, the rim 14 rises upright by a distance 1 as shown by the chain double-dashed line in the figure.

Next, the head rotates about the chest and collides with the upper rim 14b, and the rim 14 is bent as shown by the alternate long and short dash line in the figure, whereby the impact force of the head is absorbed. At this time, the collision position between the head and the upper rim 14b is the distance l that the upper rim 14b rises up.
Since it is displaced toward the driver side as compared with the conventional steering wheel 1, the head and the upper rim 14b come into contact with each other at an early stage, and the interference stroke m of the head causes the steering wheel 1 to move.
The interference stroke n is increased by a distance l.

Although the collision speed between the head and the rim 14 increases due to the rising of the rim 14, the mass of the steering wheel 10 is much smaller than the mass of the head, and therefore the impact of the head with the increase in the collision speed. There is almost no increase in power.

Further, in the present embodiment, the outer peripheral patch 16 is formed into a substantially U-shaped cross-section that opens in a direction substantially perpendicular to the bending direction of the rim 14.
Although it is fixed to the outer peripheral wall of the rim 14, it is not limited to this, and it may be a substantially plate-shaped member fixed to the upper surface or the lower surface of the rim 14.

(Effect of the Invention) As described above, according to the present invention, a reinforcing member fixed only to the rim is provided at a position corresponding to the connecting portion of the rim with the spoke, and the reinforcing member is attached to the spoke. Since it is configured to extend over a predetermined area on both sides in the circumferential direction of the rim with respect to the outer end, when the driver's chest collides with the lower portion of the rim, the spokes are twisted and deformed so that the rim stands upright. As a result, the impact force of the chest is absorbed, while the upper portion of the rim approaches the driver side. As a result, the head of the driver and the upper part of the rim come into contact with each other at an early stage, so that the collision speed against the rim becomes weak and the impact force of the head can be alleviated.
Also, when the head collides with the upper part of the rim, the upper part of the rim bends, and the amount of interference stroke between the driver's head and the upper part of the rim is sufficient because the upper part of the rim approaches the driver. Therefore, there is an excellent effect that the impact force acting on the driver's head is gently absorbed and the impact relaxation property is improved.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a schematic plan view showing an embodiment of a steering wheel to which the present invention is applied, FIG. 2 is an enlarged perspective view showing an essential part of FIG. 1, and FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line III-III in FIG. 1, FIG. 4 is a side view showing a deformation state of a steering wheel at the time of a collision, and FIG. 5 is a schematic plan view configuration diagram of a conventional steering wheel, FIG. [Fig. 6] is a side view showing a deformation state of the conventional steering wheel shown in Fig. 5 at the time of a collision. 10 ... Steering wheel, 13 ... Boss, 14 ... Rim, 15 ...
Spokes, 16 ... perimeter patch.

 ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (56) Reference JP-A-58-63573 (JP, A) JP-A-58-63572 (JP, A) Actual opening Sho-55-52476 (JP, U) Actual opening Sho-56- 57171 (JP, U) Actual Open Sho 58-33367 (JP, U) Actual Open Sho 62-108171 (JP, U)

Claims (1)

[Scope of utility model registration request] 1. A pair of spokes extending from the boss in an approximately diametrical direction of the rim in opposite directions to each other are arranged between the boss and an annular rim, and outer ends of the spokes are provided on an inner peripheral surface of the rim. In a steering wheel that supports the rim by connecting, a reinforcing member fixed only to the rim is provided at a position corresponding to a connecting part of the rim with the spoke, and the reinforcing member is an outer end of the spoke. On the other hand, the steering wheel is characterized in that it extends over a predetermined region on both sides in the circumferential direction of the rim.