JPH10244948A - Seal structure of steering shaft - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide the seal structure of a steering shaft in which the installation parts for fixing a seal member is not required, the other structure can be arranged in the space for the tightening tool of the installation parts and also the noise from the outside of a cabin can be restrained. SOLUTION: In this seal structure, a steering shaft 3 is inserted in a steering column 2 supported in a state stood up slantly upward toward the rear side of a car body and the steering shaft 3 is penetrated and arranged to a dash panel 10. A flange member 15 is fixed to the lower end of the steering column 2 and a slant surface 10a orthogonally crossing with the steering column 2 is formed in the lower part of the dash panel 10 and also a through hole 14 for penetrating the steering shaft 3 is bored in the slant surface 10a and a seal member 16 is arranged between the flange member 15 and the peripheral edge of the through hole 14 and fixed by push-pressing by the flange member 15.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a seal structure for a steering shaft mounted on an automobile.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a steering device of a steering device for controlling the direction of a tire is disposed at a position in front of a driver's seat in a passenger compartment of a four-wheeled vehicle. In this steering apparatus, as shown in FIG. 6, a steering column 53 and a steering shaft 54 are provided as a mechanism for transmitting the rotation of the steering wheel 51 to a steering gear 52 or the like outside the vehicle compartment. That is, in the steering column 53, a steering shaft 54 is provided.
Is inserted and held, and the steering shaft 54
A steering wheel 51 is attached to the upper end of the steering wheel 51. An upper bracket 55 and a lower bracket 56 are attached to the upper and lower ends of the steering column 53, and the upper ends of the upper bracket 55 and the lower bracket 56 are attached to the vehicle body. Therefore, the steering column 52 includes the brackets 55 and 56.
And is supported by the vehicle body in a state of rising diagonally upward toward the rear of the vehicle body.

As shown in FIG. 7, the lower end of the steering column 53 (including the steering shaft 54) is disposed so as to pass through a vertical surface of a dash panel 57. It is structured to be connected to the box 58. Therefore, the dash panel 57 includes the steering column 53
A through-hole 59 is formed to penetrate the boot 6 from the outside of the passenger compartment.
The boot 60 seals the inside and outside of the vehicle compartment.

[0004]

However, in the conventional sealing structure described above, the panel mounting portion 60a of the boot 60 is fastened and fixed to the outside of the dash panel 57 by the bolt 62 and the nut 63 via the retainer 61. Since the column mounting portion 60b is configured to be fixed to the outer peripheral surface of the steering column 53 by the clamp 64, it is necessary to use a large number of mounting components to fix the boot 60. Due to the large number of work steps, high costs were incurred. Further, the steering column 53 is disposed in a state of standing obliquely upward toward the rear of the vehicle body, and the dash panel 57 is provided vertically, so that the through holes are provided to allow the steering column 53 to move vertically and horizontally. Since the diameter of the tire 59 is large, it is necessary to take measures for soundproofing, such as forming the boot 60 to have a multi-layer thick wall against the noise from the outside of the vehicle room (engine room) penetrating the boot 60. .

The present invention has been made in view of such circumstances, and an object of the present invention is to eliminate the need for a mounting part for fixing a seal member, and to provide another structure in a space for a fastening tool of the mounting part. It is another object of the present invention to provide a steering shaft seal structure capable of disposing a steering shaft and suppressing noise from outside the vehicle compartment.

[0006]

According to the present invention, a steering shaft is inserted into a steering column supported in a state where the steering shaft rises obliquely upward toward the rear of the vehicle body. In a seal structure for a steering shaft in which the steering column or the steering shaft is penetrated through a dash panel, a pressing portion is provided at a lower end portion of the steering column, and a lower portion of the dash panel is orthogonal to the steering column and the steering shaft. In addition to forming an inclined surface, a through hole for penetrating the steering column or the steering shaft is formed in the inclined surface, and a seal member is provided between a pressing portion of the steering column and a peripheral portion of the through hole of the dash panel. Place the said pressing part It is fixed by pressing the seal member.

[0007]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in detail based on illustrated embodiments.

FIGS. 1 and 2 show an embodiment of a seal structure for a steering shaft according to the present invention.
In the figure, reference numeral 1 denotes a steering device for controlling the direction of a front tire (not shown) of a four-wheeled vehicle, and the steering device 1 is disposed at a front position on the driver's seat side in the vehicle compartment. The steering device 1 includes a steering column 2 that is supported in a state of standing diagonally upward toward the rear of the vehicle body, a steering shaft 3 that is inserted and held in the steering column 2, and an upper end (rear end) of the steering shaft 3. And a lower end of the steering shaft 3 is connected to a steering mechanism (not shown) so that the rotation of the steering wheel 4 is converted into a reciprocating motion of a front tire. For this reason, the steering shaft 3 is rotatably supported by the steering column 2, and the steering wheel 4 is mounted to be rotatable about the steering shaft 3 as a central axis.

The steering column 2 is a cylindrical body located at an intermediate portion of the steering shaft 3 and has a shock-absorbing mechanism that can be extended and contracted in the axial direction. In this case, the steering shaft 3 is compressed to a preset shrinkage allowance to absorb the load. An upper bracket 5 is attached to an upper portion of the steering column 2, and a lower bracket 6 is attached to a lower portion of the steering column 2 by welding. The upper bracket 5 and the lower bracket 6 are spaced apart in the axial direction. It is arranged. The upper end of the upper bracket 5
It is fastened to the hanger bracket 7 using bolts 8 and nuts 9 and is fixedly supported by a steering support member (not shown) via the hanger bracket 7. And the upper end of the lower bracket 6 is the dash panel 1
It is fastened to the pedal bracket 11 mounted on the dash panel 11 from above and below using bolts 12 and nuts 13, and is fixedly supported on the dash panel 10 via the pedal bracket 11.

The lower end of the steering shaft 3 is
The steering column 2 is disposed so as to protrude outward from the lower end 2 a of the steering column 2, and is disposed so as to pass through the dash panel 10, and is connected to a steering gear box (not shown) outside the vehicle compartment (engine room) O. It has a structure. The dash panel 10 is a partition plate that separates the vehicle interior R from the vehicle exterior O, and has a lower surface formed with an inclined surface 10 a having an angle perpendicular to the axis of the steering column 2 and the steering shaft 3. Moreover, a through hole 14 is formed in the inclined surface 10 a of the dash panel 10 so as to penetrate the lower end of the steering shaft 3.

On the other hand, a flange member 15 serving as a pressing portion is fixed to the distal end surface of the lower end 2a of the steering column 2 by welding. This flange member 15
It is formed in a ring shape having an outer diameter larger than the outer diameter of the steering column 2, and is arranged at an outer peripheral position of the steering shaft 3 penetrated. Further, between the flange member 15 and the peripheral portion of the through hole 14 of the dash panel 10, a seal member 16 for sealing the inside and outside of the vehicle compartment R and O is disposed so as to be interposed therebetween.

For this reason, the seal member 16 is formed in a ring shape using, for example, a rubber sponge material, and its inner diameter is slightly larger than the outer diameter of the steering shaft 3 to be penetrated. The steering shaft 3 is formed so as not to be displaced. The outer diameter of the sealing member 16 is
4 is formed to be larger than the diameter of the seal member 16, and the outer peripheral edge of the seal member 16 is disposed at the peripheral edge of the through hole 14.
That is, the seal member 16 is pressed by the flange member 15 and is sandwiched and fixed between the flange member 15 and the inclined surface 10 a of the dash panel 10.

In the embodiment of the present invention, since the lower bracket 6 is fastened to the lower surface of the pedal bracket 11 from above and below, the sealing member 16 is tightened when the lower bracket 6 is fastened in such an attachment structure. It is necessary to fix while crushing in the axial direction of the steering column 2,
The bolt 12 and the nut 13 are tightened after the seal member 16 is pressed against the dash panel 10 by the weight of the steering column 2.

In the seal structure according to the embodiment of the present invention, the flange member 15 of the steering column 2 presses the seal member 16 for sealing the vicinity of the penetrating portion of the steering shaft 3, and the seal member 16 is pressed by the flange member 15.
And the inclined surface 10a of the dash panel 10 for fixing, so that various components for fixing the sealing member 16 used in the conventional sealing structure are not required, and the component is not required. There is no need to reserve a space for the tightening tool near the through portion of the steering shaft 3. Further, since the inclined surface 10a having an angle perpendicular to the axis of the steering column 2 and the steering shaft 3 is formed in the lower portion of the dash panel 10, even if the diameter of the through hole 14 is smaller than the conventional case, the steering shaft 3 is Movement in the up, down, left, and right directions can be allowed, and the volume of sound passing through the through hole 14 from outside the vehicle compartment O can be reduced. Further, the steering column 2 does not fix the lower bracket 6 directly to the dash panel 10 by fixing the lower bracket 6 to the pedal bracket 11.
, And is fixed to the dash panel 10 via the pedal bracket 11, so that the mounting workability of the lower bracket 6 can be improved.

FIG. 3 shows another embodiment of the steering shaft seal structure according to the present invention. In this embodiment, the lower end 2a of the steering column 2 is also arranged to pass through the through hole 14, and the flange member 15 is fixed to the outer peripheral surface of the lower end 2a of the steering column 2 by welding. The operation is similar to that of the embodiment of the invention shown in FIGS.

FIG. 4 shows still another embodiment of the steering shaft seal structure according to the present invention. In this embodiment, the tip of the lower end 2a of the steering column 2 bent substantially at right angles toward the axis is formed as a pressing portion instead of the flange member 15, and the tip of the lower end 2a seals. The member 16 is pressed. Other configurations and operations are the same as those of the embodiment of the present invention shown in FIGS. In the embodiment of the present invention, since the flange member 15 is not used to press the seal member 16, the number of components can be further reduced.

Although the embodiments of the present invention have been described above, the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, and various modifications and changes are possible based on the technical idea of the present invention. is there.

For example, in the above-described embodiment, the lower bracket 6 of the steering column 2 is tightened from above and below and is fixed to the pedal bracket 11, but as shown in FIG. It is also possible to attach to the pedal bracket 11 by performing from the rear to the front. According to such a structure, it becomes possible to further press the seal member 16 by the force in the vehicle exterior direction generated when the lower bracket 6 is attached to the pedal bracket 11, and the seal member 16 can be fixed more reliably. Workability is improved.

[0019]

As described above, the seal structure for a steering shaft according to the present invention is such that the steering shaft is inserted into a steering column supported in a state of being raised obliquely upward toward the rear of the vehicle body. A shaft is penetrated through a dash panel, and a pressing portion is provided at a lower end portion of the steering column, and an inclined surface orthogonal to the steering column and the steering shaft is formed at a lower portion of the dash panel. A through-hole for penetrating the steering column or the steering shaft is formed on the inclined surface, and a seal member is arranged between a pressing portion of the steering column and a peripheral portion of a through-hole of the dash panel. Since the seal member is pressed and fixed, There is no need for mounting parts for fixing the sealing member used in the conventional sealing structure, and the space for the tightening tool of the mounting parts can be used for installation of other structures, thereby preventing vibrations such as vibration prevention. Performance can be improved. In addition, the seal structure of the present invention
Since the diameter of the through-hole can be made smaller than the conventional one by the inclined surface formed at the lower part of the dash panel, noise from outside the vehicle compartment can be suppressed.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a side view showing a steering shaft to which a seal structure according to an embodiment of the present invention is applied.

FIG. 2 is a sectional view showing the vicinity of a through hole of a dash panel through which the steering shaft passes.

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view of a steering shaft to which a seal structure according to another embodiment of the present invention is applied, showing a vicinity of a through hole of a dash panel through which the steering shaft passes.

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view of a steering shaft to which a seal structure according to still another embodiment of the present invention is applied, and showing a vicinity of a through hole of a dash panel that penetrates the steering shaft.

FIG. 5 is a side view showing a lower bracket mounting portion of a steering column to which a seal structure according to a modification of the embodiment of the present invention is applied.

FIG. 6 is a perspective view showing a conventional steering device.

7 is a cross-sectional view showing the vicinity of a through hole of a dash panel through which a steering column of the steering device in FIG. 6 passes.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Steering device 2 Steering column 2a Lower end of steering column 3 Steering shaft 5 Upper bracket 6 Lower bracket 7 Hanger bracket 8 Bolt 9 Nut 10 Dash panel 10a Inclined surface of dash panel 11 Pedal bracket 12 Bolt 13 Nut 14 Through hole 15 Flange member 16 Sealing member

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A steering shaft seal structure in which a steering shaft is inserted into a steering column supported in a state of being raised obliquely upward toward the rear of the vehicle body, and the steering column or the steering shaft is arranged to penetrate a dash panel. , A pressing portion is provided at a lower end of the steering column, an inclined surface orthogonal to the steering column and the steering shaft is formed below the dash panel, and the steering column or the steering shaft is penetrated through the inclined surface. A hole is formed, a seal member is disposed between a pressing portion of the steering column and a peripheral portion of a through hole of the dash panel, and the seal member is pressed and fixed by the pressing portion. Steering shaft seat Structure. 2. The seal structure for a steering shaft according to claim 1, wherein the pressing portion is constituted by a flange member fixed to a steering column. 3. The seal structure for a steering shaft according to claim 1, wherein the pressing portion is formed by bending a lower end portion of a steering column.