JPS62187651A - Steering support device for automobile - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To enlarge the downward rotational displacement of a steering wheel so as to support a driver's head coming forward while being inclined by providing a means which makes the swing radius of a control rod small at the time of a vehicle clash. CONSTITUTION:At the time of a vehicle clash, an engine 5 and the like move backward to the direction A whereby striking themselves against a dash lower panel 6, then when the panel 6 moves backward to the position 'a', impact force is transmitted to a steering shaft 1 by way of an universal joint 7. In this state, a restraint bracket 22 is displaced as much as to the position 'a' by the impact force transmitted from the panel 6 through a sleeve 26, a master cylinder mounting bracket 23 and a support plate 24, consequently, a control rod 4 is bent to the direction B. then when the panel 6 moves backward to the position 'b', the rod 4 is swung to the direction C for displacing the circumferential upper end 11 of the shaft 1 to the direction D so as to support elastically a driver's head 9 coming forward while being inclined.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION (Field of Industrial Application) The present invention relates to a steering support device for an automobile, and particularly to a steering support device for an automobile that can reduce the impact force applied to a driver in the event of a vehicle collision.

(Prior Art) Various energy absorbing structures have been proposed to alleviate the impact force that a driver receives from a steering shaft or a steering wheel during a vehicle collision. For example, in the steering dirge disclosed in JP-A No. 56-157671, the steering shaft and the steering gear box are connected by a rubber coupling, and the vehicle body structure behind the heavy body mounting position of the steering gear box is relatively strengthened. Set up the weak part of
At the time of a vehicle collision, buckling deformation is caused in the vehicle body structure around that part, and the steering gear box is rotated in an axial direction substantially perpendicular to the axial direction of the steering shaft, causing the rubber coupling to break. ing. Also, if! disclosed in Jitsuma IJrI55-121770 publication! The 7 impact absorption steering wheel has an energy absorber installed in the center of the wheel. However, these conventional (1η) baits were complicated in construction, so there was an additional point in manufacturing.

Therefore, a steering support device as shown in FIG. 7 can be considered as one that can realize the above energy absorbing structure with a simple configuration.

That is, in this device, a control rod 4 is provided on the vehicle front side of an upper support bracket 3 that is provided at an axially intermediate portion of a steering shaft 1 and that supports the shaft 1 on a vehicle body 2. is connected to the vehicle body, and its lower end is connected to the steering shaft 1. When the vehicle collides, the lower end panel 6 is deformed due to the retreat of the engine 5, etc., and the steering shaft 1 is connected to the steering shaft 1.
When the universal joint 7 at the front end is pushed toward the rear of the vehicle, the control arm 4 swings and the steering wheel 8 at the rear end of the steering shaft 1 pivots downward about the upper support bracket 3. This prevents the driver's head 9 from colliding with the center part 10 of the steering wheel 8, and prevents the driver's head 9 from colliding with the center part 10 of the steering wheel 8 by stopping the support at the upper outer end 11 of the steering wheel 8, which has a large amount of elastic deformation. be. This steering support device focuses on the fact that the amount of rearward displacement of the darts lower panel 6 at d3 in the event of a vehicle collision is greater at the bottom of the panel 6 than at the top, considering the backward trajectory of the engine 5, etc. It is constructed.

By adopting the above-mentioned steering support device, it is possible to protect the driver by absorbing impact energy with a simple structure, but it is also possible to protect the driver in the event of a vehicle collision more reliably. In order to achieve this, it is desirable to roughly increase the amount of downward rotational displacement of the steering wheel.

(Object of the Invention) The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and has been devised to provide an impact energy absorbing R4 structure with a simple configuration that can sufficiently protect the driver from the impact force at the time of a vehicle collision. The object of the present invention is to provide a steering support device for an automobile that can be realized in the following manner.

(Structure of the Invention) The steering support device for an automobile according to the present invention increases the amount of downward rotational displacement of the steering wheel by providing means for reducing the swing radius of the J3 control rod during a vehicle collision. This is how it was done. Suddenly, the steering wheel was fixed at the end of the incline,
A steering shaft having an axially intermediate portion supported by the vehicle body, a control rod having a lower end connected to the front of the intermediate portion of the steering shaft supported by the vehicle body, and an upper end connected to the vehicle body. An automobile steering support device [? l, a restraint bracket that restrains the intermediate portion of the control rod and bends the control [] rod at the indented middle r111 of the rod to reduce the swing radius of the rod;
It is characterized by being fixed to the vehicle body.

The intermediate portion of the control rod is restrained by the restraint bracket by utilizing the difference between the amount of displacement of the restraint bracket fixed portion of the vehicle body and the amount of rocking displacement of the control rod at the time of a vehicle collision. It is not limited to a specific form as long as the rod can be bent to reduce its swing radius during the process.

(Example) Examples of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 is a side view showing a steering support device for an automobile according to a first embodiment. In the figure, the same parts as in FIG. 7 are given the same reference numerals, and detailed explanation thereof will be omitted.

The steering shaft 1 has a steering wheel 8 fixed to its rear upper end, and a rotation transmission rod 1 whose front lower end passes through the needlework lower panel 6 and extends into the hollow 12.
3 via a universal joint 7. This steering shaft 1 has a collapsible structure that can absorb shock by contracting in the axial direction in the event of a collision.
)V DrJFIB 55-2230! Although illustrations and detailed explanations are omitted since this is known from the Ej Publication etc., the steering shaft 1 is divided into upper and lower halves within a jacket 14 that rotatably supports the steering shaft 1, and the two halves are divided into two halves. J3 has a double-shaft structure in which one protrudes into the inside of the other, and both are connected by a sharp pin that can be broken by impact. Also, Jacquera: -14,
It has a double shaft structure so that it can contract in the axial direction as the steering shaft 1 contracts. The steering shaft 1 having such a configuration is supported by an upper support bracket 3 attached to the jacket 14 at its intermediate portion, and this upper support bracket 3 is
Bolts 16 are attached to the support bracket 15 installed on the vehicle body 2.
Fixed by

A lower support bracket 17 is fixed to the lower end of the socket 14, and the lower support bracket 17 includes:
The lower end of the control rod 4 is connected. The upper end of this control rod 4 is attached to a support bracket 1 installed on the vehicle body 2 at the upper end of the darts lower panel 6.
~18.

Figure 2 shows the (growth) of the attachment part of the control rod 4.
1) From the l1lllll line direction of steering shaft 1
In the figure shown in the h direction, the control rod 4 is
A horizontally extending portion 4a and a portion 4b extending obliquely upward from this portion at a right angle form a single character shape, and the horizontal portion 4a is attached to the lower support bracket 17 by a relatively long bolt 19 passing through the inside thereof. The upper end of the connected and upwardly extending portion 4b is attached to a support bracket 18 fixed to the heavy body 2 by a bolt 20. 21 is a reinforcing plate for the controller 1 to the roll rod 4. Based on various experiments, the support bracket 18 is attached at a position where displacement during a collision is relatively small.

As shown in FIG. 1, a restraint bracket 22 is provided in the middle of the control rod 4 so as to abut it from the front side of the vehicle. This restraint bracket 22 is fixed by bolts 25 to a support plate 24 (see FIG. 3) that extends laterally and is joined to a mask cylinder bracket 23 that is located on the side of the control rod 4 and fixed to the vehicle body 2. has been done. The mask cylinder bracket 23 and the dart lower panel 6 are fixed by bolting via a sleeve 2G that maintains a predetermined distance between them.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing the restraint bracket 22 as a single item, in which the portion that contacts the control rod 4 is
It is formed in a semicircular arc shape along the cross section.

Next, the operation of this embodiment will be explained.

In Fig. 1, the engine 5, etc. is damaged by the arrow Δ due to a vehicle collision.
When the darts lower panel 6 is moved backward and hits the darts lower panel 6, the darts lower panel 6 is also deformed and displaced backward, but the lower part of the darts lower panel 6 is larger than the upper part at this time. Become. Datsush lower panel 6
When the universal joint 7 retreats to the position shown by the dashed line in the figure, the universal joint 7
The impact force is transmitted to the steering shaft 1 via
During this time, the restraint bracket 22 is displaced to the position shown by the dashed line in the figure by the WI impact force transmitted from the needlework lower panel 6 through the sleeve 26, the mask cylinder mounting bracket 23, and the support plate 24. Along with this, the control rod 4 is also pushed rearward, but as mentioned above, since the impact force has not yet been transmitted to the steering shaft 1, the control rod 4
The lower end of the control rod 4 is in a fixed state, and the upper end of the control rod 4 is also in a fixed state because the support bracket 18 hardly moves back. Therefore, the control rod 4 does not bend at the part where the restraint bracket 22 comes into contact with it. (arrow B in the figure) As the engine 5 and other components move backward, the darts lower panel 6 is further displaced rearward from the position shown by the one-dot chain line in the figure, and finally retreats to the position shown by the two-dot chain line in the figure. The shaft 1 is contracted and displaced, and the support bracket 18 is displaced rearward and slightly diagonally upward. Since the amount of displacement of the support bracket 18 is small with respect to the displacement position of the front end of the steering shaft 1, the control rod 4 is oscillated as shown by arrow C.

When the control rod 4 is oscillated to the position shown by the two-dot chain line in the figure, the lower end connecting portion of the rod 4 is oscillated upward relative to the axis of the steering shaft 1 before the collision. It will be displaced by the sum of the displacement due to movement and the displacement due to bending. Therefore, the steering shaft 1 rotates about the upper support bracket 3, and the steering wheel 8 at the rear end of the shaft 1 rotates downward. The outer circumferential upper end 17 of the sharpened steering wheel 8 is displaced as shown by the arrow, and elastically deforms to catch the driver's head 9, which is tilted forward at the time of a vehicle collision, thereby alleviating the impact force. The broken line indicates the position of the outer circumferential upper end 11 of the steering wheel 8 in the case where the roll rod 4 is not bent when it swings.

FIG. 5 is a side view showing the main parts of a steering support device for an automobile according to a second embodiment.

In this embodiment, a restraint bracket 22' having a shape as shown in FIG. 6 is used, and is fixed to the support plate 24 so as to restrain a slightly upper portion of the control rod 4 than in the first embodiment. It is b. Similar to the restraint bracket 22 in the first embodiment, the restraint bracket 22' restrains the left and right sides of the control rod 4 and the front side of the vehicle, and also roughly restrains the rear side of the vehicle. The operation of bending the control rod 4 toward the rear of the vehicle (arrow B in FIG. 1) in the first embodiment is different from that of the first embodiment.
The operation up to the arrow B' corresponding to B' is almost the same, but after that, in the first embodiment, the control rod 4 is released from the restraint by the restraint bracket 22 and the rod 4
While the control rod 4 swings around the upper end (arrow C in FIG. 1), in this embodiment, the control rod 4 continues to be restrained and is bent in the opposite direction again by the restraining bracket 22' (arrow C'). . By doing so, it is possible to further reduce the swing radius of the control rod 4, and therefore, the amount of downward rotational displacement of the steering wheel can also be increased.

(Effects of the Invention) As detailed above, the automobile steering support device according to the present invention supports the steering shaft in the event of a vehicle collision.
A control rod is provided that swings upward in front of an axially intermediate portion of the shaft where the shaft is supported by the vehicle body, and the control rod is restrained to reduce the swing radius of the rod. Because the restraint bracket i. The upper end of the outer periphery of the steering wheel, which has a large impact absorption capacity, can stop and buffer G-forces, providing sufficient protection for the driver. Moreover, this can be realized with a simple structure.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

Fig. 1 is a side view showing an example of an automobile steering support device according to the present invention, Fig. 2 is a sectional view taken along the line ■-■ in Fig. 1, and Fig. 3 shows a mask cylinder bracket and a support plate of the support device. FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing the restraint bracket of the support device as a single item; FIG. 5 is a side view of essential parts showing another example of the automobile steering support device according to the present invention; FIG. FIG. 7 is a perspective view showing the restraining bracket of the support device as a single item, and FIG. 7 is a side view showing the action of the automobile steering support device which is a part of the structure of the present invention. 1... Steering shaft 2... Vehicle body 3... Upper support bracket 4... Control rond 8... Steering wheel 22.22'... Restraint bracket 5th gear Figure 6

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] A steering shaft having a steering wheel fixed to its rear end and whose axially intermediate portion is supported by the vehicle body; and a lower end connected to the front of the intermediate portion of the steering shaft supported by the vehicle body; A steering support device for an automobile, comprising a control rod whose upper end is connected to a vehicle body, and in which the control rod swings and displaces the position of the steering wheel downward in the event of a vehicle collision, A restraint bracket is fixed to the vehicle body to restrain the intermediate portion of the control rod and bend the control rod at the intermediate portion of the rod to reduce the swing radius of the rod in the event of a vehicle collision. Steering support device for automobiles.