JPH08227776A - Cord fixing structure in rotary connector device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To provide a fixing structure which does not require many parts and has good workability. CONSTITUTION: A delivery part 25 for delivering a cord 61 connected to a flexible cable 4 to the outside is provided on the upper surface of a rotor housing 2. A plurality of irregularities 251-254 are provided on the inner part of the delivery part 25. The cord 61 is nipped in meandering form by the irregularities 251-254. Thus, a relay cord for electrically connecting the flexible cable housed in the housing to an external ware can be surely fixed to the housing.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an improvement of a rotary connector device for supplying power to an airbag or the like provided on a pad portion of a steering wheel of an automobile, for example.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Recently, a technique for deploying an airbag to protect an occupant from an impact in the event of a car accident has been put into practical use. In this airbag, particularly in the airbag provided on the pad portion of the steering handle, it is necessary to supply power from the vehicle body side to the inflator of the airbag of the pad portion via the rotating portion of the steering handle. As means for supplying power, there are mainly one using a slip ring and one using a flexible cable wound in a spiral shape like the rotary connector device of the present invention. Conventionally, various types of rotary connector devices of this type have been proposed. For example, in a rotary connector device disclosed in Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 4-54714, a stator housing, a rotor housing rotatably mounted on the stator housing, and a flexible cable housed in a spiral shape in a space formed by the both housings. And a guide (peripheral wall) for guiding the end of the flexible cable into the space, and an attachment (rotating ring) for connecting the stator housing and the rotor housing. In this type of rotary connector device, a relay cord is fixed to the housing in order to electrically connect the flexible cable housed inside the housing and the external electric wire, and this relay cord improves the reliability of the rotary connector device. In order to secure it, it was fixed to the housing using parts such as a binding band and a heat shrink tube.

[0003]

However, in the case of the prior art, the cord is fixed to the housing by using the parts such as the binding band and the heat shrink tube as described above, and the number of parts increases or the workability is poor. There was a problem I said.

[0004]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned problems, and ensures that a relay cord for electrically connecting a flexible cable housed inside a housing and an external electric wire to the housing. It is an object of the present invention to provide a cord fixing structure in a rotary connector device which does not require many parts to be fixed to the rotary connector device and has good workability.

The present invention provides the following means in order to achieve the above object. That is, in a rotary connector device including a stator housing, a rotor housing rotatably mounted on the stator housing, and a flexible cable housed in a spiral shape in a space formed by the two housings, the stator housing and the rotor At least one of the housings has a lead-out portion for leading the cord connected to the flexible cable to the outside, and the cord is sandwiched by a plurality of irregularities provided inside the cord fixing in a rotary connector device. Provide structure.

Further, as an embodiment of the above invention, there is provided a cord fixing structure in a rotary connector device, characterized in that the cord is sandwiched by a plurality of irregularities provided inside the lead-out portion.

[0007]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The accompanying drawings show preferred embodiments according to the present invention. However, the flexible cable 4 is not shown in the drawings other than FIG. In the figure,
1 is a stator housing, 2 is a rotor housing, 3 is an attachment, 4 is a flexible cable, 5 and 6 are terminals, and 7 is a sliding sheet, which will be described below.

First, the stator housing 1 is a portion fixed to a combination switch (not shown) of an automobile, for example. The stator housing 1 is configured by combining a side housing 11 and a bottom housing 12. More specifically, the side housing 11 has a fitting hole 111.
The bottom housing 12 has fitting claws 121, and the side housing 11 and the bottom housing 12 are joined by fitting the fitting claws 121 into the fitting holes 111. The side housing 11 and the bottom housing 12
The stator housing 1 may be formed by integrally molding and.

Side housing 11 and bottom housing 1
2 is dimensioned so that the respective base ends 112 and 122 are flush with each other, and when the stator housing 1 is fixed to the combination switch, the respective base ends 112 and 122 abut on the combination switch. Therefore, even if an external force is applied to the bottom housing 12 from the direction indicated by arrow A in FIG. 1A, the bottom housing 12 is prevented from being deformed in the direction of arrow A by the contact of the base end 122 with the combination switch. As a result, the fitting claw 121 of the bottom housing 12 is prevented from falling out of the fitting hole 111 of the side housing 11.

The stator housing 1 has a first gap 13 extending in the radial direction at a portion where the side housing 11 and the bottom housing 12 are joined, and the first gap 13 has a first side of the sliding seat 7 in the first gap 13. 71 is plugged in.

The bottom housing 12 also has a guide 15 for supporting the end of the flexible cable 4 and for guiding the flexible cable 4 in the space defined by the two housings 1, 2. The guide 15 has a space-side first surface 151 that houses the flexible cable 4 in a spiral shape, and a second surface 152 that is a back surface with respect to the first surface 151. Is provided so as to penetrate between the first surface 151 and the second surface 152. Then, the second side 72 of the sliding sheet 7 is inserted into the second gap 14.

The rotor housing 2 is a portion which is rotatably mounted on the stator housing 1 and is connected to a steering handle (not shown) by a connecting pin 21. The rotor housing 2 has, on its inner circumference 22, a claw 23 that fits with a fitting portion 31 provided on the attachment 3 and a step portion 24 that comes into contact with a protrusion 32 provided on the attachment 3. Also rotor housing 2
Is provided with a lead-out portion 25 for leading the cord 61 of the terminal 6 to the outside, and a caution label 26 on which a cautionary note regarding handling of the rotary connector device is attached. The lead-out portion 25 is provided with a plurality of irregularities 251 to 254 therein, and the cord 61 is sandwiched by the irregularities 251 to 254. As a result, the cord 61 is firmly fixed to the rotor housing 2. Further, the rotor housing 2 has a contact portion 27 on the side facing the upper end 113 of the side housing 11, that is, on the lower side, and the contact portion 27 is formed with respect to the surface formed by the upper end 113 of the side housing 11. As shown in (a), the contact portion 17 is tilted outward by an angle θ.
The height on the outer peripheral side of C is higher than that on the central axis side by, for example, C = about 1 to 2 mm.

Next, the attachment 3 connects the two housings 1 and 2, and has a fitting portion 31 that elastically fits into the claw 23 of the rotor housing 2 and a protrusion that abuts against the step portion 24 of the rotor housing 2. And a piece 32. Further, the attachment 3 has a groove-shaped grease reservoir 33 formed over the entire circumference of the joint surface with the bottom housing 12 in the stator housing 1. By filling the grease reservoir 33 with grease, the attachment 3 and the bottom housing Rotational resistance generated between 12 and 12 is reduced.

As the flexible cable 4, for example, a so-called flat cable having a structure in which a conductive wire is sandwiched between resin films is used. The flexible cable 4 is housed in a doughnut-shaped space formed by the stator housing 1 and the rotor housing 2. One end of the flexible cable 4 is the terminal 5 of the stator housing 1 and the other end is the rotor housing 2.
Are electrically connected to the respective terminals 6.

The sliding sheet 7 reduces the sliding resistance of the flexible cable 4 when the flexible cable 4 slides in the doughnut-shaped space formed by the housings 1 and 2 so that no abnormal noise is generated. The sheet is made of, for example, tetrafluoroethylene resin (PTFE) having excellent lubricity and formed into a substantially donut shape. For example, about 80% or more of the outer circumference of the sliding sheet 7 is a first side 71, the remaining part of the outer circumference is a second side 72, and the inner circumference is a third side 73. By the way, the first side 71 and the third side 73 form an arc shape,
The second side 72 has an uneven shape adapted to be inserted into the second gap 14 provided in the guide 16.

The rotary connector device having the above structure operates as follows. In the rotary connector device having the above configuration, the terminal 6 is connected to, for example, an airbag device (not shown) on the steering handle side, and the other terminal 5 is connected to, for example, an airbag controller (not shown) on the vehicle body side. As a result, for example, when a vehicle has a collision accident, an electric signal from the airbag controller is transmitted to, for example, the airbag device of the steering pad through the flexible cable 4 of the rotary connector device to ignite the inflator and ignite the airbag. Will be inflated.

[0017]

Since the present invention has the above-described function, it has the following effects. (1) That is, at least one of the stator housing and the rotor housing has a lead-out portion for leading the cord connected to the flexible cable to the outside, and the cord is sandwiched by a plurality of concaves and convexes provided therein, so that the cord is stored inside the housing Since the relay cord for electrically connecting the flexible cable and the external electric wire is securely fixed to the housing, many parts are not required and the workability is good. (2) Since the cord is sandwiched in a zigzag shape by a plurality of concavities and convexities provided inside the lead-out portion, the cord can be more reliably fixed, and the cord is not easily fixed even if a traction force is applied to the cord.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a view showing a preferred embodiment of the present invention,
(A) is sectional drawing, (b) is a perspective view.

2 is an exploded view of what is shown in FIG. 1. FIG.

3 is a drawing showing the bottom housing shown in FIG. 2, in which (a) is a plan view of the bottom housing seen from the direction of arrow B shown in FIG. 2, and (b) is a guide part of the bottom housing. It is a principal part detailed perspective view which shows the state which inserts the 2nd side of a sliding sheet.

FIG. 4 is a plan view of the rotor housing and the stator housing shown in FIG. 1 as seen from the space side for housing the flexible cable, in which (a) shows the rotor housing and (b) shows the stator housing.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Stator Housing 2 Rotor Housing 3 Attachment 4 Flexible Cable 5, 6 Terminal 7 Sliding Seat 11 Side Housing 12 Bottom Housing 13 First Gap 14 Second Gap 15 Guide 25 Drawout 27 Contact Part 33 Gris Reservoir

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A stator housing (1), a rotor housing (2) rotatably mounted on the stator housing (1), and a spiral housing in a space formed by the both housings (1, 2). In the rotary connector device including the flexible cable (4), at least one of the stator housing (1) and the rotor housing (2) leads out a cord (61) connected to the flexible cable (4) to the outside. Part (25)
Having a plurality of irregularities (251 to 25
4) A cord fixing structure in a rotary connector device, characterized in that the cord (61) is sandwiched by the cord. 2. The invention according to claim 1, wherein a plurality of irregularities (251) provided inside the lead-out portion (25).
To 254), the cord (61) is sandwiched in a meandering shape, and a cord fixing structure in a rotary connector device.