JPS5836760A - Steering unit for vehicle - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To absorb smoothly and promptly impact exerted on a column and a shaft by car clashing by supporting a steering column swingably with a sphere bushing on the side of a car body and by allowing the axes of the column and shaft to coincide with their load directions. PURPOSE:A stay 21 is extended downward in the front space of a bracket 2 fixed to the side of a car body. A holder 11 is fitted to a fitting hole 22-opened in the stay 21. A concave sphere surface 13 is formed in the rear inside of holder 11, and a sphere bushing 15 is fitted into the concave inside the bushing 15, bushing 16 of plain bearing form is fitted. A front member 41 of a steering shaft 4 is arranged to go through an inside member 16a of the bushing 16 and a loose fitting hole 12 of the holder 11. A front member 31 of a steering column 3 is clamped with both bushings 15 and 16 at its front end, while the end of a narrowed part 36 of the front member 31 is arranged to hit the bushing 16. When a bending moment acts on the column 3 and the shaft 4, upon car collision the column 3 is swayed so that the direction of load coincides with that of the axis, thereby absorbing impact at lap members 33 and 34.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a steering device for a vehicle, and more particularly, a steering column that is held through a steering shaft is supported on the vehicle body side by a spherical bushing.
This relates to a steering device that reduces the bending moment when a load is applied to the steering column, causes it to respond in the same order and direction to the direction of load application, and allows the shaft and column to smoothly absorb energy. It is.

If a vehicle's steering shaft and/or steering column is configured to slide axially in the event of a collision to absorb energy, a load acts around the steering wheel, causing the steering column or steering shaft to absorb energy. On the other hand, the load does not necessarily act in the forward direction of the axis, and the load may act in the form of a bending moment while acting in the axial direction. Under such circumstances, friction occurs in the axial sliding of the columns and shafts, and improvements are desired to ensure smooth and rapid sliding of these.

The present invention was developed in order to improve the above, and its purpose is to support the steering column with a spherical bush so that it can swing freely while restricting axial movement toward the vehicle body, and to provide a steering column with a spherical bushing inside the column. The column and shaft are caused to follow and swing in the direction of the load so that the load coincides with the axial direction of the column and shaft, as if the steering shaft is inserted and supported,
A vehicle steering system that reduces the bending moment to the steering plum and steering shaft, thereby reducing the friction that occurs, and thereby allowing the energy absorption effect due to axial sliding of the column and shaft to occur smoothly and quickly. We are here to provide you with the equipment.

Next, a preferred embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 is a longitudinal side view of the steering device, in which a steering column 3 is supported under the driver side of an instrument panel 1 provided at the front of the vehicle interior via a bracket 2 fixed to the vehicle body side. A steering shaft 4 is inserted and supported within the shaft, a steering wheel 5 is fixed to the rear end of the shaft 4, and a starting device 7 is attached to the center of the steering wheel 5 via a mounting base 6.
and a nozzle device 8 are attached, and an airbag 9 is folded around the nozzle device 8 and attached so as to surround it, and a space S in which these are accommodated is closed with a pad 10 that covers the surface of the central part of the steering wheel 5. ing. In the event of a vehicle collision,
If this is more than a predetermined value, the activation device 7 is activated,
Release the gas container (not shown), supply high pressure gas, etc. into the Y airbag 9 through the nozzle device 8, inflate and deploy it, and at this time destroy the pad 10 through the fragile part,
The bag 9 is inflated and deployed in front of the driver, absorbing and mitigating the impact. In the above, the steering column 3 consists of two hollow parts, a front member 31 and a rear member 32.
1 and the front part of the rear member 32 are fitted and wrapped,
A ring-shaped gap is formed between the wrap portions 33, and a bushing 34 made of synthetic resin or the like is divided into front and rear parts between the gaps.
．． 35 is interposed, and the front and rear members 31 and 32 are connected by the friction of the bushes 34 and 35. The steering shaft 4 that passes through the column 3 has two members 41 at the front and rear.
．． 42, the front member 41 is hollow, and the rear member 42 is fitted to the rear part of this, and both are connected by a pin 44 that is sheared under a predetermined load to restrict axial co-movement. The cross section of 43 is, for example, rectangular in order to transmit rotational force.

The front member 41 extends forward, and is provided with a universal joint 45 at its front end to be connected to a steering mechanism.

A stay 21 is installed to hang down and extend from the front part of the bracket 2.

The stay 21 has a mounting window 22 in the front and back direction, and a ring-shaped holder 11 is fitted into the window 22, and the holder 11 has a ring-shaped flange part 1'D projecting in the inner diameter direction at the front part. , the shaft front portion 41 is located in the middle of the flange portion 111L.
It is provided with an idle hole 12 through which the . A concave spherical surface 13 is formed on the rear inner diameter part of the holder 11, and a ring-shaped spherical bushing 15 having a convex spherical surface 14 on the outer periphery is fitted into the concave spherical surface 13.
A bushing 16 in the form of a flat bearing is fitted into the inner diameter part of 5, and the shaft front member 41 is fitted and inserted into the inner diameter part 161L of this bushing 16. A short narrowed portion 36 is provided at the front end of the column front member 31 described above.
The end 37 of the narrowed part 36 is butted against the bushing 16, and the front end 38 of the body in front of the narrowed part 36 is fitted into the front part of the inner diameter part 15a of the spherical bushing 15. 0
It's a ring. The above bushings 15 and 16 are made of a material having a small coefficient of friction, such as polyacetal.

Next, I will explain its functions and effects in the event of a vehicle collision.

Although the airbag inflates and deploys as described above, a load is applied to the column 3 and shaft 4 by the occupant through the steering wheel 5 at the time of a collision. If the load acts headward relative to the axial direction of the column and shaft, the axial sliding of the column and shaft will be smooth at the lap portions 33 and 34, but the load will not act on the central portion of the steering wheel 5. When applied to the peripheral portion, a bending moment acts on the column 3 and shaft 4, but since the column 3 is supported by the spherical bushing 15 as described above, it swings so that the direction of the load and its axial direction are aligned. This is shown in Figure 3,
As a result, the direction of the load coincides with the axial direction of the column 3 and shaft 4, and the column 3 and shaft 4 can smoothly slide in the axial direction while suppressing the occurrence of friction due to bending moment. Therefore, the energy absorption effect due to the axial sliding of the columns 3, 7 and shafts 4 is achieved smoothly and quickly.

As is clear from the above, according to the present invention, regardless of the collision situation of the driver with the steering wheel, the column,
The axis of the shaft and the load direction can be matched,
Therefore, the column and shaft have many advantages such as being simple in structure and achieving the intended purpose at low cost.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

The drawings show one embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 1 is a longitudinal sectional side view of the steering device, FIG. 2 is an enlarged sectional view of the essential parts, and FIG. 3 is an explanatory view of the same operation. In the composition, 3 is a steering column, 4 is a steering shaft, and 15 is a spherical bush. Patent Applicant Honda Motor Co., Ltd. Agent Patent Attorney Part 2 1) Part 1 Patent Attorney Kunihiko Ohashi Procedural Amendment (
Voluntary) Commissioner of the Japan Patent Office Shima 1) Haruki Tono 1, Indication of the case Patent Application No. 134678/1978 2, Name of the invention Vehicle steering device 3, Person making the amendment Relationship with the case Patent applicant (532) Honda Motor Co., Ltd. □ Kogyo Co., Ltd. 4, Agent 7, Contents of the amendment (1) Page 3, line 14 of the specification, “Starting device 7” (2) Figures 2 and 3 are corrected as attached. . 8. List of attached documents

Claims (1)

[Claims] In an energy-absorbing steering device that allows the steering shaft and steering column to slide in the axial direction due to the load at the time of a collision, the steering column is supported so that it can only swing toward the vehicle body via a spherical bushing. Characteristic vehicle steering device.