JPS6144045A - Vehicle mirror housing drive device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To obtain a compact and cheap vehicle mirror housing drive device which generates no noise in a radio raceiver and no gear sound, by disposing a shape memory alloy between a mirror housing and a support section formed in a base member. CONSTITUTION:When a mirror housing 6 incorporating, in its front opening, a mirror 7, is rotatably supported to an L-like cross-sectioned shape base member 8, a short cylindrical support part 11 is formed on the top surface section 10 of the lateral support section 8b of the base member 8. Further, this is fitted into a hole 13a in a circular cap-shape supported member 13 secured to the bottom surface of the housing 6. Further, spiral leaf springs 1, 2 wound respectively clockwise and counterclockwise and made of shape memory alloy are stored in an annular space between the support part 11 and the supported member 13. The springs 1, 2 are fixed at their inner end parts to the outer peripheral surface of the support part 11 and at their outer end parts to the inner peripheral surface of the supported member 13. With this arrangement, the spiral leaf springs 1, 2 are alternatively energized to make the mirror housing 6 tiltable.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION (Field of Industrial Application) The present invention relates to a vehicle mirror housing drive device that changes the support angle of the mirror housing by remote control from inside the vehicle.

(Prior Art) Generally, a mirror attached to a vehicle tends to have a large area in order to ensure a rearward visibility range. As a result, the mirrors protrude from the side of the car body, for example in narrow garages.
When entering and exiting a parking lot, when passing passenger cars, when putting on a body cover, etc., there is a problem in that the mirror tends to come into contact with other objects.

Also, when entering a main road from an expressway approach road, or changing lanes on a wide road with two or more sides, the mirror must be tilted further outward than the mirror position on a general road. It is difficult to recognize a car diagonally behind you.

In order to eliminate these problems, the end of the main part of the mirror body on the vehicle body side is supported swingably, and the part of the mirror is tilted around the support part using a drive unit containing a motor and gear mechanism. 2. Description of the Related Art Electric mirrors are known in which the viewing angle can be changed or the position can be changed between a used position and a non-used position by remote control.

(Problems to be Solved by the Invention) Incidentally, as described above, such electric mirror devices have a built-in motor, especially a DC motor that operates on battery power, so sparks are generated from the brush inside the motor during operation. This becomes a noise source for the radio receiver mounted on the vehicle, and since a reduction gear is used in the power transmission mechanism of the motor, space is required for it, and problems such as gear noise occur.

Furthermore, these drive mechanisms are required to be resistant to vibrations and the like, resulting in high costs.

Therefore, the present invention uses a shape memory alloy in the drive device in order to eliminate such problems, and its problems are as follows:
To provide a compact, low-cost drive device for a mirror housing for a vehicle that does not generate noise in a radio receiver or gear noise, has excellent vibration resistance.

(Means and operations for solving the problem) In order to achieve the above problem, the present invention provides a support part (8b) provided on the vehicle body.
) and its support member (8b)
It is rotatably supported by the
)t, storage,, 7, Uji, gu (6), is provided between this mirror housing (6) and the support member (8b), and allows the mirror housing (6) to rotate by changing its shape. Shape memory alloy (1).

(2) Since no motor is used in the drive device, no noise enters the radio receiver, and since a reduction gear is not required, it is compact and does not generate gear noise.

Furthermore, since the number of mechanical power transmission mechanisms can be reduced compared to the case where a motor is used, vibration resistance is excellent and cost is reduced.

(Embodiments) Preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described below based on the accompanying drawings.

1 and 2 are diagrams showing a first embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 81 is a partially cutaway front view showing a rotation drive section of a door mirror, and FIG. 2 is a shape memory provided in this rotation drive section. It is a perspective view showing an alloy.

First, in order to make the explanation easier to understand, the explanation will be started from FIG.

Symbols (1) and (2) are spiral leaf springs formed by spirally winding a shape memory alloy that has a linear shape and has a memory shape above the martensitic transformation temperature; (1) is a right-handed spiral spring; 2) is wound left-handed. Here, when electrodes are connected to the inner end (la) and outer end (1b) of the spiral leaf spring (1) and the switch (3) is closed to energize the power terminals a and b, the spiral leaf spring ( A current flows through 1). As a result, the shape memory alloy itself heats up due to resistance heat generation and tries to return to its original shape, that is, a straight state. Therefore, at this time, the inner end (la) is fixed and the outer end (la) is fixed.
If the outer end (lb) is left free, the outer end (lb) will be rotationally displaced in the direction indicated by the arrow.

On the other hand, regarding the spiral leaf spring (2), the inner end (2
Connect the electrodes to a) and the outer end (2b) and switch (4)
When the power terminals a and b are energized by closing, current flows through the spiral leaf spring (2) and heats it up. At this time, the inner end (2a) is fixed and the outer end (2b) is free. If the spiral leaf spring (2) is wound in a direction opposite to that of the spiral leaf spring (1), the outer end (2b) will rotate and displace. (1) Outer end (1b)
rotationally displaced in the opposite direction, that is, in the direction of the arrow. and the first
Examples are spiral leaf springs (1), (
Use 2).

Reference numeral (5) in FIG. 1 is the main body of the mirror. Reference numeral (6) denotes a mirror housing formed in the form of a case with a front opening that is substantially rectangular in front, and a mirror (7) is held in the opening of this mirror housing (8) in such a manner as to close the opening.

On the other hand, reference numeral (8) is a base member having an L-shaped cross section, which has a vehicle body attachment part (8a) in the vertical direction, and a rotation drive part (8) and a mirror main body (5) in the horizontal direction. A support part (8b) for mounting and supporting is provided. And this support part (8b)
The upper surface part (10) has a short cylindrical support part (
11) is fitted into the hole (+3a) of the circular cap-shaped supported member (13) fixed on the bottom of the mirror housing (6) at a position biased toward the vehicle body.
) is supported rotatably within a substantially horizontal plane around the support portion (11). The supported member (13) is inserted into a circular hole (6a) provided on the bottom of the mirror housing (6) at a position that is biased toward the vehicle body, and is inserted into a flange formed on the outer peripheral surface of the supported member (13). The part (12) comes into contact with the circular step part (6b) provided on the outer periphery of the hole (6a) and the screw (
17) To be stopped.

At this time, a ring-shaped space is provided between the support part (11) and the supported member (!3), and the spiral leaf spring (1) made of the shape memory alloy described in FIG.
2), with their inner ends (la) and (2a) above and below the outer peripheral surface of the support part (11), and the outer ends (lb) and (2b)
is fixed to the inner peripheral wall of the circular cap-shaped supported member (13).

In such a configuration, a switch (3
) is closed, the spiral leaf spring (1
) is deformed, and the mirror main body (5) rotates about the support part (]1) in the back direction perpendicular to the plane of the paper (the direction in which the mirror opens).

On the other hand, when the switch (3) is opened and the switch (4) is closed, the mirror body (5) rotates in the direction perpendicular to the page (the direction in which the mirror closes), and the mirror is driven by a conventional motor. Alternatively, the mirror housing can be driven by a shape memory alloy.

Fortunately, in this embodiment, a shape memory alloy is used in the shape of the spiral leaf spring, so that a space that is short in height but has a large lateral area can be effectively utilized as a space for installing a mirror drive device.

In addition, the code|symbol (15) is a harness for finely adjusting the mirror surface (7), and this is the support part (ab), the groove|channel (8d) provided in the lower part, and the insertion hole provided in the support part (11). (ll
It connects the interior of the vehicle and the inside of the mirror housing (6) through a).

3 and 4 are diagrams showing a second embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 3 is a partially cutaway front view showing the rotational drive section of the mirror like FIG. 1, and FIG. It is a figure showing the shape memory alloy provided in the part.

First, explanation will be given starting from FIG.

Reference numerals (20) and (21) are formed by winding a shape memory alloy whose shape is memorized in a linear shape into a coil spring shape, and both are wound in the same direction. Electrodes are provided at the upper ends (21a), (21a), and lower ends (2ob), (2+b) of these coil springs, and by closing the switches (22) and (23), the power terminals a and b are energized. , each coil spring (20), (21
) is heated by resistance heat generation and tries to return to its original shape, that is, a straight line state. At this time, if the lower end (20b) of the coil spring (20) and the upper end (21a) of the coil spring (21) are fixed, their other ends, that is, the upper end (20a) of the coil (20) are fixed. ) and coil (2
1) The lower end portions (21b) are arranged in opposite directions (arrows C and D).
direction).

In other words, in the second embodiment, the memory alloy is wound in the same direction.
It uses several coil springs.

Reference numeral (25) in FIG. 3 is a mirror main body, which is different from the mirror main body (5) shown in FIG. 1 in a supporting part (8C) and a rotation drive part (2B). That is, the support part (8C) is the first
The protrusion toward the outside of the vehicle body is smaller than the support portion (8b) shown in the figure. An elongated cylindrical support part (28) is provided on the upper surface part (27) of the support part (8c) upwardly perpendicular to the surface. on the other hand,
The first mirror housing (6) is located on the bottom side of the vehicle body.
The supported member (
28) is a double structure wall (211a), (2Elb
), and is a cylindrical body with approximately the same length and height as the support part (28), and the support part (28) is fitted into this hole (211c), and the mirror main body (25) is attached to the supported member. (28) and is rotatably supported within a substantially horizontal plane.

The shape memory alloy coil springs (20) and (21) shown in FIG.
inside, that is, on the outer peripheral surface of the inner wall (29a).
2+).

(20) are sequentially inserted and compressed to provide the upper and lower parts. The lower end (20b) of the coil spring (20) and the upper end @1i (21a) of the coil spring (21) are connected to the inner wall (21
1b) and the respective holes (29b-1) and (
211b-2) to the outer peripheral surface of the support part (28), while the upper end (20a) of the coil spring (20)
The lower ends (21b) of the coil spring (21) are respectively fixed to the upper and lower outer walls of the supported member (28). The reference numeral (31) indicates these coil springs (20) and (2).
1) This is a ring plate provided to avoid mutual interference.

With such a configuration, also in this embodiment, the mirror can be driven by the shape memory alloy in the same manner as in the first embodiment.

By the way, in the second embodiment, the shape memory alloy is used as a coil spring and is arranged in a row in the length direction.
Contrary to the case of the embodiment, a space having a narrow lateral area but a high height can be effectively utilized.

5 and 6 are diagrams showing the N43 embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 5 is a partially cutaway front view showing the rotating drive section of the mirror as in FIG. 1, and FIG. 6 is a partially cutaway front view showing the rotation drive section of the mirror. It is a figure showing the shape of the shape memory alloy provided in the.

First, explanation will be given from FIG.

Reference numerals (40) and (41) are linear memory alloys whose shapes are memorized and are formed by winding them into coils, which are wound once in opposite directions. These coils (40)
, (41), electrodes are provided at the upper ends (40a), (41a) and lower ends (40b), (41b), and the switch (42)
) and (43) to energize power terminals a and b, each coil (40) and (4+)
is heated by resistance heat generation and tries to return to its original shape, that is, a straight line. At this time, the lower end (40b) of each coil (40), (4+).

(41b), their upper ends (40a
).

(41a) lf, since the winding directions of the coils are opposite, rotational displacement occurs in mutually opposite directions (directions of arrows E and F). The third embodiment uses two coils formed by winding this shape memory alloy in opposite directions.

Reference numeral (45) in FIG. 5 is a mirror main body, which is a supported member ( The shape of 4B) is slightly different. That is, the supported part (46) of the third embodiment has two concentric grooves (48a) and (46b) on the lower surface of the ring plate having the flange part (47) on the outer peripheral surface.

The coil (4o) is inserted into this inner II (48a), and its upper end (40&) is attached to the supported member (46).
The lower end portion (40b) is fixed to the support portion (8d). on the other hand,
A coil (41) is inserted into the outer groove (46b), and its upper end (41a) is connected to the supported member (48).
41b) Attach to all supports (8d).

The coils (40) and (41) of the third embodiment can further reduce the space in the height direction compared to the spiral leaf springs (1) and (2) of the first embodiment.

Fig. P/47, Fig. 8, and Fig. 9 are diagrams showing the fourth embodiment of the present invention, Fig. 7 is a cross-sectional plan view showing the mirror rotation mechanism, and Fig. 8 and Fig. 9 are diagrams showing a shape memory mechanism. It is a figure which shows the rotational drive means made of an alloy.

First, explanation will be given from figure w48.

The symbol (50) is a connecting member (52) provided at the center of the negative side of the disk (53), and a cylinder (54) on the other side.
A coil spring (55) made of a shape memory alloy is wound around the outer peripheral surface of this cylinder (54), and one end (
55a) is fixed to a part of the disc (53), and a connecting member (57) is provided at the center of the negative side of the disc (56), and a connecting member (57) is provided on the other side of the disc (56) with a diameter slightly larger than that of the cylinder (54). A small cylinder (58) is formed, a coil spring (58) made of a shape memory alloy is inserted into this cylinder, and one end (511a) of the coil spring (511a) is fixed to a part of the disc (56). After inserting the cylindrical body (58) into the cylindrical body (54), the other ends (55b) and (58b) of the coil springs (55) and (59) are connected to the opposing discs (
56) and (53). By the way, the coil spring (55) is tJ
The shape of the coil spring (59) is stored in the state shown in Figure IJB, ie, the contracted state, whereas the shape of the coil spring (59) is stored in the state shown in Figure 9, ie, the expanded state.

Therefore, now both ends (55a) of the coil spring (55)
and (55b), and when the power terminal is energized by the switch (60), the coil spring (55) self-heats due to resistance heat generation, and becomes contracted as shown in Fig. 8, and the cylindrical body (58) Cylindrical body (54) along its entire length
the mirror drive member retracts.

At this time, the coil spring (59) is plastically deformed into a contracted state. In response, the switch (60) is opened and both ends (59a) and (511b) of the coil spring (59) are opened.
When the coil spring (59) self-heats due to resistance heat generation and expands as shown in Fig. 9, the cylindrical body (58) becomes shorter than the cylindrical body (54) by its length. Most protrude and the drive member (50) extends.

The fourth embodiment utilizes the expansion and contraction of a coil spring made of this shape memory alloy.

Reference numeral (65) in FIG. 7 is a main body of the mirror, and a part (66) on the vehicle body side of this housing (6) is rotatably provided at the tip of the base member (8). ) and the mirror main body (65) respectively.
50) to the rear of the vehicle in the lateral direction #i, and attach the connecting parts (52) and (57).

In such a configuration, when the switch (80) is closed, the drive member (50) retracts to the state shown by the solid line in FIG.
In other words, the main body of Mira is in the used state, and the switch (60
) and close the switch (61), the drive member (50)
extends, the Mira body (65) rotates in the direction of arrow G,
It is in the state shown by the imaginary line in FIG. 7, that is, in the used state.

In addition, the code (67) is the back side of the mirror part (7), the housing (
6) for finely adjusting the angle of the mirror surface.

In this manner, in the fourth embodiment, the mirror main body (65) is rotatably attached to the base member (8), and the driving member (50) is provided at an appropriate position between the mirror main body and the base member (8). This allows the mirror housing to be driven.
The space of the mirror housing (6) is not limited.

Although this embodiment has been described using a door mirror as an example, the present invention can be similarly applied to a fender mirror.

(Effects of the Invention) As is clear from the above explanation, the present invention provides the following effects.

Firstly, since no motor is used to drive the mirror body,
No noise is generated on the radio receiver.

Second, since no motor is used, there is no need for a reduction gear, etc., and the space of the mirror housing can be reduced. The mirror can be driven quietly without any noise or gear noise.

Thirdly, the structure of the power transmission mechanism is simple, has excellent vibration resistance and durability, and can reduce costs.

Fourthly, by appropriately changing the shape of the shape memory alloy (1st to 4th embodiments), the shape of the drive section can be changed, and the surplus space can be used effectively.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

1 and 2 are diagrams showing the first embodiment of the present invention, and FIG.
5 and 6 are diagrams showing a third embodiment of the present invention, and FIGS. 7 to 9 are diagrams showing a fourth embodiment of the present invention. It is a figure which shows an example. In the drawings, (1), (2), (20), (21),
(40), (41). (51), (59) are shape memory alloys, (6) is a mirror housing, (8) is a base member, (8b) is a support part, (
5). (25), (45), and (65) are Mira bodies. Patent applicant Matsuyama Seisakusho Co., Ltd. Agent
Patent Attorney Part 2 1) Part 1 Patent Attorney
Kuni Ohashi, Patent Attorney Koyama
Yes Figure 6 4ω Figure 7 V'

Claims (1)

[Claims] A base member that has a support part provided on the vehicle body, a mirror housing that is rotatably supported by the support part and stores a mirror inside, and a mirror housing that is provided between the mirror housing and the support part, and whose shape changes. A drive device for a vehicle mirror housing comprising a shape memory alloy that rotates the mirror housing.