JPS5963271A - Steering device of vehicle - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To enable to let any front wheel steering gear generate a predetermined steering angle function necessary for rear wheel steering and freely set the pivoting ratio of an offset arm by a structure wherein the offset arm is integrally provided on the shaft of a gear engaging with a steering shaft. CONSTITUTION:A pair of bevel gears 26 and 27 are engaged perpendicularly with each other and the shaft 28 of the second bevel gear 27 is arranged hangingly down to the lower part of the lower wall of a gear box so as to fix the basic part of the offset arm integrally at the lower end of the shaft 28. When a steering wheel is operated for steering, the rotation of the offset arm 29, which is formed integrally with the second bevel gear 27 perpendicularly engaged with the first bevel gear 26 fixing onto the steering shaft 2, is resulted. Said rotation causes the rear wheels to steer through the backward and forward and rightward and leftward rocking of a push-pull link 31 via a steering tie rod and a knuckle arm. Because of the pivoting motion of the offset arm 29, the rear wheels are controlled in the predetermined steering angle function, resulting in realizing favorable maneuverability.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a steering system for a vehicle that steers both front wheels and rear wheels by steering operation of a steering wheel, and particularly relates to a vehicle equipped with any gear box for steering front wheels. The present invention also relates to an applicable vehicle steering system.

an offset arm that rotates in conjunction with a steering wheel, an actuating member whose front end is connected to the arm and can freely move back and forth, and a conversion mechanism that is connected to the rear end of the actuating member and moves a rear wheel steering tie rod left and right. The present applicant previously provided a vehicle steering device (Japanese Patent Application No. 57-47743) which simultaneously steers front wheels and rear wheels by operating the steering wheels.

Such a steering device extracts the rotation necessary for rear wheel steering from the front wheel steering mechanism as the rotation of the offset arm, has an actuating member that moves back and forth in conjunction with the arm, and converts the back and forth movement of the actuating member into left and right movement. The steering angle function is configured to generate a desired steering angle function for the rear wheels via a conversion mechanism that causes the rear wheels to rotate.

This makes it possible to steer the rear wheels in the same direction as the front wheels by operating a small steering angle of the steering wheels, and to steer them in the opposite direction by operating a large steering angle. In addition to improving the vehicle's steering angle, the steering angle can be increased to obtain a smaller turning radius when making U-turns or manoeuvring in parking lots.
1: Good easiness.

However, the front wheel steering gear for the front wheel steering system was also a rack-and-binion type.

A system in which the offset arm is directly attached to the steering shaft has also been proposed, but with this, it is difficult to set the rotation ratio of the offset arm arbitrarily.

The present invention is not limited to rack and pinion type gears, but can also be applied to front wheel steering gears such as recirculating pole type gears.
In addition to generating the same steering angle function as described above in the rear wheels,
The rotation ratio of the offset arm was designed to be able to be set arbitrarily, and the purpose of this is that the rotation ratio of the offset arm can be set as desired by simply adding a simple structure to the front wheel steering gear box, such as a recirculating ball type. This function can be performed without rotating the offset arm uniformly together with the steering shaft.
To provide a vehicle steering device in which the rotation ratio can be freely set.

In order to achieve such an object, the present invention provides a rotatable offset mechanism which is pivotally connected to the tip of an actuating member that is movable back and forth and whose rear end is pivotally connected to a conversion mechanism that moves a tie rod for rear wheel steering left and right. A shaft such as a bevel gear is integrally provided on the arm, and a bevel gear or the like is also fixed on the steering shaft, and a pair of gear mechanisms such as the bevel gears are meshed with each other.

A preferred embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings. Fig. 1 is a perspective view showing the general basic structure of a four-wheeled vehicle equipped with a steering system according to the present invention, Fig. 2 is a bottom view of the inside of the gearbox, and Fig. 3 is a second drawing showing the main parts thereof. FIG. 3 is a left side view taken in three directions indicated by middle arrows.

The steering shaft 2 of the steering wheel 1 that is steered by the driver is a universal joint 3
Its tip is incorporated into a recirculating ball type front wheel steering gear box 20, and a pole nut 22 is fitted to the outer periphery of the tip of the steering shaft 2 via a worm, a ball circuit, and a ball as is known. A rack tooth pattern 23 is formed on the left side of the outer periphery of the pole nut 22.

A sector gear 24 is attached to the rack teeth 23 of the pole nut 22.
are in mesh with each other, and the shaft 25 of the gear 24 constitutes a pitman shaft,
A base portion of a pitman arm 4 is fixed to the lower end of a pitman shaft 25 that extends downwardly and protrudes below the case lower wall 21 of the gear box 20.

The right end of a connecting rod 5 is pivotally connected to the tip of the pitman arm 4, while the tip of an idler shaft is pivotally connected to the left end of the rod 5.
An idler shaft 7 at the base of the arm 6 is supported by a bearing bracket 8.

Tie rods 9, 9 are connected to the left and right ends of the connecting rod 5, and knuckle arms 10.10 are connected to the outer ends of the tie rods 9, 9.
is the axle 1 protruding outward from the knuckle arms 10, 10.
1.11.

Front wheel 12.120 steering is performed by steering the steering wheel 1, that is, by 20 rotations of the steering shaft, the pole nut 22 moves back and forth through the shera ohm, ball circuit, and ball, and engages with the rack teeth 23 of the pole nut 22. The pitman arm 4, which is integrated with the sector gear 24, swings horizontally in the left-right direction, which causes the connecting rod 5 and both tie rods 9, 9 to move left and right, and the knuckle arms io, i
.

rotates in the left-right direction, and the front wheels 12.12 are steered.

A first bevel gear 26 is fixedly installed on the outer periphery of the steering shaft 2 in front of the pole nut 22 within the recirculating ball type gear box 20, and a second bevel gear 27 is meshed with the first bevel gear 26.

That is, as shown in the figure, the pair of bevel gears 26 and 27 are orthogonally meshed, and the shaft 28 of the second bevel gear 27 is provided to extend downwardly below the case lower wall 21 of the gear box 20, and the offset arm 29 is attached to the lower end of the shaft 28. The base is fixed and integrated.

Then, an operating member is placed at the tip of the offset arm 29,
The front end of a push-pull link 30 which is long in the front-rear direction is pivotally connected, and one end of a swinging link 31 having a flattened shape is pivotally connected to the rear end of the push-pull link 30.

The base of the swing link 31 is supported by a shaft 33 vertically disposed on a bracket 32, and the other ends of the link 31 connect and support left and right tie rods 13, 13.

Knuckle arms 14 are attached to the outer ends of both tie rods 13 and 13.
．． 14 is connected, and a rear axle 16.degree. 16 is supported by axles 15, 15 that protrude outward from the knuckle arm 14.degree.

The gear box 20 and both brackets 8 and 32 are fixed to the vehicle body.

When the steering wheel 1 is steered, the second bevel gear 27, which is orthogonally meshed with the first bevel gear 26 fixed to the steering shaft 2, rotates to either the left or right. The rotation is output.

The rotation taken out from the recirculating ball type front wheel steering gear box 20 causes one end of the swing link 31 to swing back and forth through the back and forth and left and right swings of the push-pull link 30, and thus causes the swing link 31 to swing back and forth. The other end of the movable link 31 is swung left and right, and the rear wheels 16, 16 are steered via the tie rod 13.13 and the knuckle arm 14.14.

At this time, the rear wheels 16 are controlled with a predetermined steering angle function by the rotation of the offset arm 29. That is, a small steering angle operation of the steering wheel 1 turns the rear wheels 16 in the same direction as the front wheels 12, while a large steering angle function turns the rear wheels 16 in the same direction as the front wheels 12. By steering the steering angle in the opposite direction, it improves maneuverability during high-speed driving, and when making U-turns or maneuvering people in parking lots, the steering angle is increased to reduce the turning radius. As a result, maneuverability of the vehicle is improved.

As described above, even with the recirculating ball type front wheel steering gear box 20, it is possible to generate a predetermined steering angle function necessary for steering the rear wheels 16, and in addition, a pair of gear mechanisms 26. The above can be achieved by simply adding a simple structure consisting of 27.

Furthermore, since the configuration is such that rotation is indirectly output from the steering shaft 2 to the offset arm 29 via the gear mechanisms 26 and 27, the rotation ratio of the offset arm 29 to the steering shaft 2 is determined by the gears of the pair of gear mechanisms 26 and 27. It can be set arbitrarily by rearranging the ratio.

Moreover, in addition to the above-mentioned configuration of the circulating pole type, any type of front wheel steering gear such as a rack and pinion type ring can of course be implemented.

In the embodiment, the new gear mechanisms 26 and 27 are orthogonally meshed, but the meshing angle can be arbitrarily set variously.Also, although the push-pull link 30 is used as the operating member, a cable, It is also possible to use a chino or the like, and the conversion mechanism is not limited to the planar square-shaped swinging arm 31, and it goes without saying that other configurations can be adopted as appropriate.

As is clear from the above description, according to the present invention, a predetermined steering angle function necessary for rear wheel steering can be generated in any vehicle equipped with a front wheel steering gear box, and the It requires only a simple structure to be added to the system, and it has various features such as being able to freely set the rotation ratio of the offset arm.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

The drawings show an embodiment of the present invention; FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing the basic structure of a four-wheeled vehicle equipped with a steering device according to the present invention; FIG. 2 is a bottom view of the inside of a gear box; Third
The figure is a view taken in three directions as seen by the arrows in FIG. In the drawings, 1 is a steering wheel, 2 is a steering shaft, 12 is a front wheel 13 is a tie rod for steering rear wheels, 16 is a rear wheel, 20 is a gear box for steering front wheels, 26 and 27 are gear mechanisms, 29 is an offset arm, 30 is an actuation member, and 31 is a conversion mechanism. Patent applicant Honda Motor Co., Ltd. agent Patent attorney 2 1) Production department Patent attorney Kuni Ohashi Production volume Patent attorney Yu Koyama

Claims (1)

[Claims] An offset arm that rotates in conjunction with a steering wheel, an actuating member whose front end is connected to the arm and can freely move back and forth, and a conversion mechanism that is connected to the rear end of the actuating member and moves a tie rod for rear wheel steering left and right. In a vehicle steering system which steers both the front wheels and the rear wheels by the steering operation of the steering wheel, a gear mechanism is provided on the steering shaft, and the offset arm is integrated with the shaft of the gear that meshes with the steering shaft. A steering system for a vehicle that is equipped with a