JPH11115519A - Propeller shaft made of fiber reinforced plastic - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To easily and surely fix a balance piece by inserting the balance piece between the inner peripheral surface of an annular member and the outer peripheral surface of a cylindrical drum part, and filling the gap between them with an adhesive material to mold-fix the balance piece. SOLUTION: With a balance piece 5 positioned and elastically held, a gap between the large-diameter part 4c of an annular member and a cylindrical drum part 2 is filled with an adhesive 6. In filling the adhesive 6, not to produce an air reservoir in the interior, a stepped part 4b of an annular member is provided with a small hole 4d, thereby letting air escape. The gap is filled with the adhesive 6 up, to the opening surface thereof, and the balance piece 5 is buried in the adhesive 6. The adhesive 6 is gradually hardened, and after the elapse of designated time, the buried balance piece 5 is integrally fixed to the end of the cylindrical drum part 2 of a FRP-made propeller shaft 1 with the annular member. Accordingly, the balance piece 5 can be surely fixed by simple operation to be prevented from being slipped off.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a fiber reinforced plastic (hereinafter referred to as "FRP") generally used for automobiles.
The present invention relates to a propeller shaft.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Propeller shafts for automobiles transmit the driving force of an internal combustion engine to wheels and rotate at high speed. Therefore, it is necessary to balance the rotation by attaching a balance piece to a necessary portion after the main body is manufactured.

[0003] With a metal propeller shaft, a heavy metal balance piece can be easily attached to a required portion by welding. However, when a FRP type is used for weight reduction, the balance piece is attached. Is more problematic.

Conventionally, an annular plate is joined to the outer peripheral surface of a cylindrical body of an FRP propeller shaft, and a balance piece is fixed to a required portion of the annular plate by spot welding (Japanese Utility Model Laid-Open No. 55-61637). However, the use of such welding is not preferable because the propeller shaft made of FRP is affected by heat even in spot welding.

The propeller shaft made of fiber-reinforced plastic described in Japanese Utility Model Laid-Open Publication No. 3-91554 is an example in which a balance piece is caulked and fixed at a predetermined position by using a mounting auxiliary member.

That is, as shown in FIG. 8, a ring member is attached to the end of the FRP tubular body 01 where the base end of the yoke 02 is fitted.
03 is integrally fixed, the tubular body 01 and the ring member
Insert a part of balance piece 04 into the gap between 03 and
The end of the ring member 03 is fixed by caulking to the groove 04a of the balance piece 04.

[0007]

Since the welding step is not required, the FRP tubular body 01 is not affected by heat, but the caulking equipment becomes large and the assemblability is poor.

[0008] Further, the balance piece 04 fixed by caulking is partially inserted into the ring member 03 and caulked, so that
Although the other part of the balance piece 04 is covered with the ring member 03 but exposed outside, there is a risk of falling off if a stepping stone or the like hits the vehicle during traveling, and there is a problem in durability reliability.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and an object thereof is to provide a balance piece fixing structure which can easily and surely fix a balance piece with simple equipment and has excellent durability. The point is to provide a fiber reinforced plastic propeller shaft.

[0010]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In order to achieve the above object, the present invention relates to a fiber reinforced plastic propeller shaft in which an annular member is externally fitted to a cylindrical body portion, and an inner peripheral surface of the annular member is provided. A balance piece was inserted between the shaft and the outer peripheral surface of the cylindrical body, filled with an adhesive, and the balance piece was molded and fixed to form a fiber-reinforced plastic propeller shaft.

Since the balance piece is molded between the inner peripheral surface of the annular member and the outer peripheral surface of the cylindrical body, the balance piece is completely fixed and there is no danger of falling off, and the durability can be improved. . In addition, the balance piece is inserted between the inner peripheral surface of the annular member and the outer peripheral surface of the cylindrical body, and the balance piece can be securely fixed by a simple operation of filling the adhesive material. There is no influence.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the fiber reinforced plastic propeller shaft according to the first aspect, the annular member has a small diameter portion having an inner diameter equal to an outer diameter of a cylindrical body of the fiber reinforced plastic propeller shaft. And a cylindrical member consisting of a large diameter portion expanded through a step portion, wherein the balance piece is inserted between an inner peripheral surface of the large diameter portion and an outer peripheral surface of the cylindrical body portion, and It is characterized by being filled with an adhesive.

The small-diameter portion of the annular member is fitted to the cylindrical body to easily position the annular member, and a balance piece is provided between the inner peripheral surface of the large-diameter portion and the outer peripheral surface of the cylindrical body by an adhesive. Is molded and fixed integrally, so that the balance piece can be securely fixed by a simple operation.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the fiber reinforced plastic propeller shaft according to the first or second aspect, the balance piece includes an inner peripheral surface of the annular member and an outer peripheral surface of the cylindrical body. When inserted between the balance pieces, they are sandwiched by the elastic force of the balance piece itself.

The balance piece inserted between the inner peripheral surface of the annular member and the outer peripheral surface of the cylindrical body is held by the elastic force of the balance piece itself, so that the positioning of the balance piece is easy and accurate. I can do it. In addition, since the displacement of the balance piece can be prevented until the adhesive is cured after the filling of the adhesive, the workability is good.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a fiber reinforced plastic propeller shaft according to any one of the first to third aspects, wherein a yoke base end of a cylindrical body of the fiber reinforced plastic propeller shaft is provided. The annular member is externally fitted to an end where the part is fitted inside.

An annular member is externally fitted to the end of the cylindrical body to which the base end of the yoke is fitted, so that when the balance piece is molded and fixed with an adhesive in the annular member, the cylindrical body is closed. The rigidity of the fitting portion with the yoke base end is increased, and as a result, the fitting strength between the cylindrical body and the yoke base end can be improved.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, in the fiber-reinforced plastic propeller shaft according to any one of the first to fourth aspects, it is preferable that the annular member covers the balance piece at least in the axial direction. Features.

Since the balance piece is axially covered by the annular member, it is possible to prevent the balance piece from falling off due to a direct collision of a flying stone or the like.

[0020]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS One embodiment according to the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 1 is an exploded perspective view showing an attachment structure of a balance piece at an end of an FRP propeller shaft 1 according to the present embodiment,
FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing a state where the balance piece is attached.

Referring to FIG. 1, at the end of cylindrical body 2 of propeller shaft 1 made of FRP, a base end of yoke 3 is fitted and fixed integrally. The annular member 4 fitted to the end of the cylindrical body 2 is composed of a small-diameter portion 4a having an inner diameter equal to the outer diameter of the cylindrical body 2 and a large-diameter portion 4c expanded through a step 4b. It is a cylindrical member made of metal or resin.

Small holes 4d are formed in the step portion 4b at four equally-spaced positions in the circumferential direction. The balance piece 5 is a rectangular plate-shaped metal weight member having a predetermined thickness slightly curved in an arc shape, and has some elasticity. The radius of the inner arc surface is smaller than the radius of the outer peripheral surface of the cylindrical body 2.

First, the annular member 4 is connected to the small-diameter portion 4a at the end of the cylindrical body 2 where the base end of the yoke 3 is fitted inside.
Is fitted first, and the large-diameter portion 4c is fitted at a position where the end face of the large-diameter portion 4c is flush with the end face of the cylindrical body 2, and the annular member 4 is fitted outside. Then, since there is a gap between the inner peripheral surface of the large diameter portion 4c of the annular member 4 and the outer peripheral surface of the cylindrical body 2, the balance piece 5 is inserted into this gap.

The balance piece 5 has a radius of an inner circular arc surface smaller than a radius of an outer peripheral surface of the cylindrical trunk portion 2, and a pair of edges 5 a, 5 a of the inner circular arc surface directed in the axial direction are formed by the cylindrical trunk portion 2. The center line 5b on the back of the outer circular arc surface is inserted into contact with the inner peripheral surface of the annular member 4 by being elastically deformed so that the central portion is pressed and slightly flattened.

Therefore, since the balance piece 5 is held in the gap between the large diameter portion 4c of the annular member 4 and the cylindrical body 2 by its own elastic force, a predetermined value is obtained based on the result of the previous unbalance measurement. In this position, the balance piece 5 can be easily elastically held in the position, and the balance piece 5 is completely submerged in the large-diameter portion 4c of the annular member 4 in the axial direction as shown in FIG. It can be positioned at an appropriate position to balance the rotation.

With the balance piece 5 positioned and elastically held in this manner, the gap between the large diameter portion 4c of the annular member 4 and the cylindrical body 2 is filled with the adhesive 6. When the adhesive 6 is filled, a small hole 4d is formed in the step portion 4b of the annular member 4 so that air does not accumulate inside so that air can escape. The adhesive 6 is filled up to the opening surface of the gap, and the balance piece 5 is buried in the adhesive 6.

The adhesive 6 hardens gradually and after a predetermined time has passed, the FRP is
Since it is integrally fixed to the end of the cylindrical body portion 2 of the propeller shaft 1 together with the annular member 4, the balance piece 5 can be securely fixed by a simple operation without a large-scale facility, and can be prevented from falling off. The performance is also improved.

Since the outer surface of the balance piece 5 is entirely covered in the axial direction by the annular member 4 and is buried in the adhesive material 6, the balance piece 5 may fall off due to a direct impact of a stepping stone or the like. Absent. In addition, there is no process such as welding and there is no influence of heat.

Since the balance piece 5 is elastically held in the gap between the annular member 4 and the cylindrical body 2 by its own elastic force, the positioning of the balance piece 5 can be performed easily and accurately, and the adhesive material can be used. After the filling of the adhesive 6, the positional displacement of the balance piece 5 until the adhesive 6 hardens can be prevented, so that workability is good.

Since the annular member 4 is externally fitted to the end of the cylindrical body 2 where the base end of the yoke is fitted, the balance piece 5 is molded and fixed with the adhesive 6 in the annular member 4. The rigidity of the fitting portion of the cylindrical body 2 with the base end of the yoke is increased, and as a result, the fitting strength between the cylindrical body 2 and the base end of the yoke can be improved.

Although the balance piece 5 is curved in an arc shape from the beginning, a flat piece may be used. That is, using a rectangular flat balance piece 10 as shown in FIG. 5, the balance piece is formed in a gap between the inner peripheral surface of the large diameter portion 4c of the annular member 4 and the outer peripheral surface of the cylindrical body portion 2. S
When the 10 is inserted, the balance piece 10 is slightly curved in an arc shape and deformed as shown in FIG. 6, so that the balance piece 10 is held by the elastic force to be restored.

Accordingly, the positioning of the balance piece 10 is easily and reliably performed. Thereafter, an adhesive is filled and fixed integrally as in the case of the above embodiment.

In the above embodiment, the annular member 4 is fitted to the end of the cylindrical body 2 of the propeller shaft 1 made of FRP with its small diameter portion 4a by press-fitting. May be adhered.

For example, in the embodiment shown in FIG. 7, the other members except for the annular member 20 are the same as those of the above-described embodiment (the same reference numerals are used).
a, a step portion 20b, and a large-diameter portion 20c. Four circular holes 20e are formed in the small-diameter portion 20a at four equally-spaced positions in the circumferential direction.

After the annular member 20 is externally fitted to the end of the cylindrical body 2 of the FRP propeller shaft 1, four circular holes 20e are formed.
The adhesive 21 is poured into the substrate to overflow the crest. When the adhesive 21 cures in this manner, the annular member 20 has its small diameter portion 20
a is securely fixed to the cylindrical body 2.

The subsequent insertion of the balance piece and the filling of the adhesive into the gap between the annular member 20 and the cylindrical body 2 are the same as those in the above-described embodiment. 7 shows.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an exploded perspective view of a yoke mounting end of an FRP propeller shaft showing a mounting structure of a balance piece according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a yoke attachment end of an FRP propeller shaft with a balance piece attached.

FIG. 3 is a sectional view of the same.

FIG. 4 is a sectional view taken along the line IV-IV of FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of a balance piece according to another embodiment.

[FIG. 6] FR with the balance piece attached
FIG. 5 is a sectional view corresponding to FIG. 4 of a yoke mounting end of a P propeller shaft.

FIG. 7 is a cross-sectional view of a yoke mounting end of an FRP propeller shaft in a state where a balance piece according to another embodiment is mounted.

FIG. 8 is a sectional view of a yoke mounting end of a conventional FRP propeller shaft.

[Explanation of symbols]

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... FRP propeller shaft, 2 ... cylindrical body part, 3 ... yoke, 4 ... annular member, 5 ... balance piece, 6 ... adhesive material, 10 ... balance piece, 20 ... annular member, 21 ... adhesive material.

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. An annular member is externally fitted to a cylindrical body of a fiber reinforced plastic propeller shaft, and a balance piece is inserted between an inner peripheral surface of the annular member and an outer peripheral surface of the cylindrical body. A propeller shaft made of fiber-reinforced plastic, wherein the balance piece is molded and fixed by filling with an adhesive. 2. The annular member is a cylindrical member having a small-diameter portion having an inner diameter equal to the outer diameter of a cylindrical trunk portion of the fiber-reinforced plastic propeller shaft, and a large-diameter portion expanded through a step portion. The fiber reinforced plastic according to claim 1, wherein the balance piece is inserted between an inner peripheral surface of the large diameter portion and an outer peripheral surface of the cylindrical body, and the adhesive is filled. Propeller shaft. 3. The balance piece, when inserted between the inner peripheral surface of the annular member and the outer peripheral surface of the cylindrical body, is held by the elastic force of the balance piece itself. The fiber reinforced plastic propeller shaft according to claim 1 or 2, wherein: 4. The fiber-reinforced plastic propeller shaft according to claim 1, wherein the annular member is externally fitted to an end of the cylindrical body of the propeller shaft where a base end of the yoke is fitted. Item 3. The fiber reinforced plastic propeller shaft according to any one of the items 3 to 3. 5. The fiber reinforced plastic propeller shaft according to claim 1, wherein the balance member is covered at least in the axial direction by the annular member.