JPH0842597A - Power assist device for clutch for vehicle - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To perform reliable clutch operation of a clutch mechanism by a light operation feeling by adding a motor drive force as a power assist amount to an operation cable through directional engagement of a rotary body with a reel by exerting an operation force on the operation cable. CONSTITUTION:A rotor 38 mounted on a hub 37 on the motor output shaft 35 side through drive of a motor 34. Meanwhile, when through manual operation of a clutch lever, an operation cable is pulled, the reel of 44 of a clutch operation auxiliary device 18 is pressed against the rotor 38 through the tensile force of the operation cable for frictional engagement. The rotor 38 is fastened by the reel 44 to exert a rotation force on the reel 44. This constitution applies the rotation drive force of a motor 34 on the operation cable as power assist through the reel 44. Thus, since a fastening operation force enough to press the reel 44 against the rotor 38 side for frictional engagement suffices for operation of a clutch lever, lever operation of the clutch lever is extremely light to make.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a vehicle clutch power assist device for operating a clutch mechanism via an operation cable, and more particularly to a vehicle clutch power assist device in which the operating force of a clutch lever or a clutch pedal is reduced. Regarding the device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Motorcycles and automobiles are provided with a clutch mechanism for connecting and disconnecting the rotational driving force of an engine to a drive system below a transmission at the time of starting or shifting. In this clutch mechanism, the clutch operation force is transmitted through the operation cable by the manual operation of the clutch lever or the stepping operation of the clutch pedal, and the clutch mechanism is operated intermittently. At that time, the lever principle is adopted for the clutch lever and the clutch pedal, and the operation feeling is reduced by increasing the lever ratio.

Further, there are hydraulic power clutches for motorcycles and automobiles in which the clutch mechanism is operated intermittently with a light operation feeling. In this power clutch, the clutch mechanism is intermittently operated by utilizing the negative pressure of the engine intake manifold and the hydraulic pressure generated by the oil pump, so that the operation force of the clutch lever and the clutch pedal is reduced.

[0004]

The conventional hydraulic power clutch is not compatible with the clutch mechanism adopting the operation cable in which the clutch operation force is transmitted via the operation cable, and the conventional hydraulic power clutch cannot be used in the conventional motorcycles and automobiles. In the model,
It is difficult to retrofit this hydraulic power clutch. In order to retrofit a hydraulic power clutch to a conventional model, it is necessary to remake many related parts, which requires a lot of labor and time, which is a factor of cost increase.

Further, in the clutch mechanism employing the operation cable, the operating force of the clutch lever and the clutch pedal is reduced by taking the lever ratio, but the clutch operating force cannot be reduced significantly. Particularly in motorcycles, when traveling on a mountain road with many curves or slopes or traveling in a traffic jam, the shift operation must be frequently performed, and the lever operation of the clutch lever is required each time. However, if you frequently operate the clutch lever,
Since the clutch operating force cannot be sufficiently reduced only by the lever ratio, the operation feeling is poor, the burden of manual operation is heavy, and it is difficult to enjoy comfortable driving.

The present invention has been made in consideration of the above-mentioned circumstances, and is a vehicle clutch that improves the operability of the clutch lever and the clutch pedal and can surely perform the clutch operation of the clutch mechanism with a light operation feeling. An object of the present invention is to provide a power assist device.

Another object of the present invention is to add a motor driving force as a power assist amount to an operation cable by a clutch operation assisting device to reduce an operation force of a clutch lever or a clutch pedal and to improve clutch disengagement. A power assist device for a vehicle clutch is provided.

Still another object of the present invention is to provide a power assist device for a vehicle clutch in which the power assist effect is stabilized.

[0009]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, a vehicle clutch power assist device according to the present invention has a plurality of rotating bodies driven by a motor, as described in claim 1. A reel consisting of split reel pieces is provided slidably in contact with the reel, and an operation cable for operating the clutch mechanism is wound around this reel to form a clutch operation assisting device. The clutch operation assisting device applies an operating force to the operation cable. The rotor and the reel are frictionally engaged with each other to add the motor driving force to the operation cable as a power assist amount, while the rotor is connected to the motor through a hub, and the hub, the rotor, and the reel are main bodies. A bearing for supporting the hub is provided on the inner surface of the case cover that is housed in the casing and covers the main body casing. It is.

[0010]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION An embodiment of a power assist device for a vehicle clutch according to the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 is an overall side view showing a motorcycle to which the present invention is applied, and FIG. 2 is a view showing a power assist device for a vehicle clutch in a developed state.

In the motorcycle, an engine 2 is mounted on the lower center of a body frame 1, and a fuel tank 3 is provided above the engine 2. A seat 4 continues behind the fuel tank 3, and the seat 4 is installed on a seat rail 5 of the vehicle body frame 1.

A steering mechanism 7 is rotatably provided on the head pipe 6 of the vehicle body frame 1, and a handle 8 is attached to an upper bracket 7a of the steering mechanism 7. A front wheel 10 is provided at the lower end of the front hawk 9 extending downward from the steering mechanism 7.

On the other hand, a swing arm 11 is swingably supported in a cantilever shape at the lower center of the body frame 1, and a rear wheel 12 is attached to the rear end of the swing arm 11.

By the way, the left and right handles 8 attached to the upper bracket 7a of the steering mechanism 7 are
A clutch lever 15 as an initial clutch operating member and a brake lever (not shown) are additionally provided. An operation cable 16 is extended from the clutch lever 15 as a clutch cable as shown in FIG.
A clutch operation assisting device 18 is provided midway. The other end of the operation cable 16 is connected to the clutch release lever 19.

The clutch release lever 19 is linked to the clutch mechanism 21 via a mechanical operation force transmission mechanism 20 such as a pinion rack mechanism, so that the clutch mechanism 21 operates the clutch against the spring force of the spring 22. There is. The rotational driving force transmitted from the crankshaft 24 of the engine 2 is intermittently applied to the drive system below the transmission 25 by the clutch operation of the clutch mechanism 21. Clutch mechanism 21 is always spring 2
The rotational driving force from the engine 2 is transmitted to the transmission 25 by the spring force of 2.

The operating cable 16 from the clutch lever 15 is guided along with the starter cable 28, the throttle cable 29, and the wire harness 30 by the cable guide 31 as shown in FIG. It is connected to the clutch release lever 19.

The clutch operation assisting device 18 provided in the middle of the operation cable 16 is a battery 3 as shown in FIG.
2 has an electric motor 33 that is driven by a motor 2, and the output of this motor is output via a reduction gear 34 to an output shaft 35 as shown in FIG.
Is transmitted to The output shaft 35 has a body casing 36.
The hub 37 housed therein is attached integrally with the rotation by taper or spline connection. The hub 37 is fixed to the motor output shaft 35 and constitutes a part of the motor output shaft 35. The speed reducer 34 attached to the motor 33 is attached and fixed to the main body casing 36.

The body casing 36 is covered with a case cover 41. A bearing 42 is provided on the inner surface of the case cover 41 on the main body casing 36 side. The bearing 42 supports the hub 37 and guides its rotation.

On the other hand, the boss portion 37a of the hub 37 is fitted with a sleeve-shaped rotor 38 which constitutes a rotating body. An engaging pin 39 projecting in the axial direction is planted in the rotor 38, and the engaging pin 39 is engaged with an arc-shaped long hole 40 formed in the outer flange 37b of the hub 37 as shown in FIG. It The rotor 38 rotates relative to the hub 37 by the stroke of the elongated hole 40.

A reel 44 is slidably provided on the outer periphery of the rotor 38. The reel 44 has two cable guide paths 45 and 46 formed on the outer peripheral side, and has a divided structure.
A plurality of, for example, four arc-shaped divided reel pieces 44a,
44b, 44c, 44d are arranged in the circumferential direction. The number of split reel pieces may be two or more.

One of the divided reel pieces 44a to 44d is formed with engaging holes 47 and 48 which are circumferentially spaced from each other so as to traverse the cable guide paths 45 and 46, respectively. As shown in FIG. 6, the end piece 50 of the drive side clutch cable 16a of the operation cable 16 is in the engagement hole 47, and the end piece 51 of the driven side clutch cable 16b is in the other engagement hole 48.
Are engaged with each other. The drive-side and driven-side clutch cables 16a, 16b are wound around the reel 44 for at least a half turn or more, and are substantially wound for one turn or more as a whole.

The drive side clutch cable 16a and the driven side clutch cable 16 of the operation cable 16 are also included.
End pieces 52 and 53 are also provided on the other end side of b. The end piece 52 of the drive side clutch cable 16a is in the engagement hole 55 of the clutch lever 15, and the end piece 53 of the driven side clutch cable 16b is the clutch release lever. 19 engaging holes are respectively engaged and connected.

Of these, the clutch lever 15 is attached to the lever holder 56 as shown in FIGS.
It is provided so that it can rotate around. While the lever holder 56 is fixed to the handle 8, an ON-OFF switch 5 such as a micro switch is provided near the rotation center A of the lever holder 56.
8 is attached.

As shown in FIGS. 8 and 9, the ON-OFF switch 58 has a fixed contact 5 on the lever holder 56 side.
9a is provided with a movable contact 59b on the clutch lever 15 side, and is turned ON-OF by rotating the clutch lever 15.
F is activated. When the clutch lever 15 is not operated, the ON-OFF switch 58 is turned on as shown in FIG.
It is set to the FF state, and is turned on in the idle section of the operation cable 16 during the operation stroke of the clutch lever 15,
It is set to be OFF at the maximum stroke.

ON-O of this ON-OFF switch 58
The FF operation turns on the power supply circuit 60 as shown in FIG.
-OFF operation is performed, and the electric motor 34 is started and stopped.

When the clutch lever 15 is gripped with the left hand, the operation cable 16 is pulled. As soon as the operation cable 16 is pulled, the ON-OFF switch 58 is turned on and the electric motor 3 of the clutch operation assisting device 18 is turned on.
4 is activated. By driving the motor 34, the rotor 38 attached to the hub 37 on the motor output shaft 35 side is rotated.

On the other hand, when the operation cable 16 is pulled by manual operation of the clutch lever 15, the reel 44 of the clutch operation assisting device 18 is pressed against the rotor 38 by the pulling force of the operation cable 16 and frictionally engages with the rotor 44. 38 is fastened to the reel 44 and gives a rotational force to the reel 44. As a result, the rotational driving force of the motor 34 is applied as power assist to the operation cable 16 via the reel 44. Therefore, the lever operation of the clutch lever 15 is very light because the tightening operation force required to press the reel 44 toward the rotor 38 and frictionally engage the reel 44.

When the clutch operation assisting device 18 is operated by operating the clutch lever 15, the motor drive force is applied to the operation cable 16 together with the lever operation force to operate the clutch release lever 19.
A sufficiently large clutch operating force can be obtained and the clutch mechanism 21 can be disengaged well. Further, the clutch operation causes the clutch mechanism 21 to operate as a clutch to act as a clutch to prevent the rotational output of the engine 2 from being transmitted to the transmission 25.

Further, when the clutch lever 15 is manually operated and pulled by the maximum stroke, the ON-OFF switch 5
8 is turned off, and the driving of the electric motor 34 is stopped. As a result, the rotor 3 of the clutch operation assisting device 18
8 and the reel 44 can be prevented from sliding relative to each other more than necessary in the frictional contact state.

When the clutch lever 15 is released, the spring force of the clutch spring 22 of the clutch mechanism 21 acts on the clutch lever 15 via the operation cable 16 to return the clutch lever 15 to the original position. At this time, the hub 37 and the rotor 38 of the clutch operation assisting device 18
And are held in a relationship in which the operating force of the operating cable 16 acts immediately. Specifically, the engagement pin 39 of the rotor 38 and the engagement hole 40 of the hub 37 are engaged with each other at the position shown by the solid line in FIG. 6, and the operating force of the clutch lever 15 is immediately transmitted to the clutch mechanism 21 side. It has become.

Motor output shaft 35 side, hub 37, rotor 3
By maintaining the engagement relationship with 8 (position of the engagement pin) as shown in FIG. 6, even if the electric motor 34 should fail, it is transmitted to the operation cable 16 by the manual operation of the clutch lever 15. The operated force is transmitted directly to the clutch release lever 19 via the reel 44, and the clutch mechanism 21 can be operated by the clutch.

Further, since the hub 37 forming a part of the motor output shaft 35 is supported by the bearing 42 provided on the inner surface of the case cover 41, both ends of the motor output shaft 35 are supported, and the electric motor 34 is supported. Wear of a bearing (not shown) inside is prevented. As a result, rattling (rotational runout) of the motor output shaft 35 is reduced, and the power assist effect applied to the operation cable 16 is stabilized.

Furthermore, since it is not necessary to extend the motor output shaft 35 to support both ends of the motor output shaft 35, a general-purpose motor can be used, parts can be used in common, cost can be reduced, and weight can be reduced.

In the embodiment of the present invention, an example in which the power assist device is applied to a motorcycle is shown, but the power assist device may be applied to a motorcycle or a four-wheeled vehicle.

FIG. 10 shows an example in which the power assist device for a vehicle clutch is applied to an automobile. One end of an operation cable 63 is connected to a clutch pedal 62 as an initial clutch operation member of an automobile, and the other end of the operation cable 63 is connected to a clutch release lever 64. The clutch release lever 64 is connected to a clutch mechanism 66 via a mechanical operation force transmission mechanism 65 such as a worm mechanism, and the clutch mechanism 66 is operated by a clutch.

The electric motor 6 is provided in the middle of the operation cable 63.
7 is provided with a clutch operation assisting device 68, and the electric motor 67 of the clutch operation assisting device 68 is also turned on / off in conjunction with the clutch pedal 62.
It is started and stopped by a switch (not shown).

The clutch operation assisting device 68 does not differ from the clutch operation assisting device 18 of the motorcycle shown in FIGS.

Although the ON-OFF switch 58 is provided in association with the clutch lever 15 in the embodiment,
The ON-OFF switch 58 may be provided so as to interlock with the operation cable.

[0040]

As described above, in the power assist device for a vehicle clutch according to the present invention, a reel composed of a plurality of divided reel pieces is slidably provided on a rotating body driven by a motor. A clutch operation assisting device is configured by winding an operation cable for operating the clutch mechanism, and this clutch operation assisting device frictionally engages the rotating body with the reel by applying an operation force to the operation cable, and a motor is applied to the operation cable. While the driving force is added as a power assist amount, the rotating body is connected to the motor via a hub, the hub, the rotating body and the reel are housed in a main body casing, and an inner surface of a case cover covering the main body casing. Since the bearing that supports the hub is installed in the operation cable, it is necessary to operate the clutch mechanism. The operating force can be greatly reduced, and the operability of the initial clutch operating members such as the clutch lever and clutch pedal can be greatly improved, and you can enjoy comfortable driving with a very light operating feeling. The rattling (rotational runout) of the motor output shaft is reduced, and the power assist effect applied to the operation cable is stabilized.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is an overall side view of a motorcycle to which the present invention is applied.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an embodiment of a power assist device for a vehicle clutch according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a plan view showing a wiring relationship of operation cables of the power assist device shown in FIG.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a clutch operation assisting device incorporated in the power assist device for a vehicle clutch according to the present invention.

5 is a side view showing the clutch operation assisting device shown in FIG. 4 with a case cover removed.

FIG. 6 is a view showing a coupling relationship between a clutch operation assisting device and an operation cable.

FIG. 7 is a plan view showing a clutch lever of the motorcycle.

8 is a view showing a lever holder to which the clutch lever shown in FIG. 7 is attached from below.

9 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line IX-IX of FIG. 8, showing the structure of an ON-OFF switch attached to the lever holder of FIG.

FIG. 10 is a diagram showing an example in which the power assist device for a vehicle clutch according to the present invention is applied to an automobile.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Body Frame 2 Engine 8 Handle 15 Clutch Lever (Initial Clutch Operating Member) 16,63 Operation Cable 16a Drive Side Clutch Cable 16b Driven Side Clutch Cable 18,68 Clutch Operation Auxiliary Device 19,64 Clutch Release Lever 21,66 Clutch Mechanism 25 Transmission 32 Battery 34 Electric Motor 35 Motor Output Shaft 36 Body Casing 37 Hub (Motor Output Shaft) 38 Rotor (Rotating Body) 39 Engaging Pin 40 Long Hole 41 Case Cover 42 Bearing 44 Reel 44a to 44d Split Reel Piece 56 Lever Holder 62 Clutch pedal (initial clutch operating member)

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A reel 4 comprising a plurality of split reel pieces 44a to 44d on a rotating body 38 driven by a motor 33.
4 is provided so as to be slidable, and the clutch mechanism 2 is attached to the reel 44.
A clutch operation assisting device 18 is configured by winding an operation cable 16 for operating 1 and the clutch operation assisting device 18 applies an operation force to the operation cable 16 to frictionally engage the rotating body 38 and the reel 44. While the motor driving force is added to the operation cable 16 as a power assist amount, the rotating body 38 is connected to the motor 33 via a hub 37, and the hub 37, the rotating body 38, and the reel 44 are provided in the main body casing 36. A power assist device for a vehicle clutch, characterized in that a bearing 42 for supporting the hub 37 is provided on an inner surface of a case cover 41 that is housed and covers the main body casing 36.