KR100858687B1 - System for measuring looseness of steering handle of automobile and method for measuring the same - Google Patents

Abstract

A system and a method for measuring bias of a steering handle for a vehicle are provided to reduce the inspection time and cost by shortening the time required for measuring bias of a steering handle. A system for measuring bias of a steering handle for a vehicle comprises a bias measuring device and a front wheel movement detector. The bias measuring device is mounted on a steering handle to measure the diameter and rotating angle of the steering handle. The front wheel movement detector is installed at a front wheel of the vehicle to detect movement of the front wheel. The bias measuring device has knobs(17a,17b) at both ends thereof. First and second fastening members(13a,13b) are formed at the knobs, respectively. A fastening device(12) is fixed to the steering handle. A diameter measuring device(18) is installed at one side of the fastening device to measure the diameter of the steering handle. A rotating angle measuring device measures the rotating angle of the steering handle.

Description

Automotive steering wheel clearance measurement system and clearance measurement method {SYSTEM FOR MEASURING LOOSENESS OF STEERING HANDLE OF AUTOMOBILE AND METHOD FOR MEASURING THE SAME}

1 is a block diagram of a vehicle steering wheel clearance measurement system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

2 is a plan view of a clearance measuring apparatus in a vehicle steering wheel clearance measuring system according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

3 is a rear view of the play gauge in the vehicle steering wheel play measurement system according to the embodiment of the present invention.

4 is a side view of a clearance measuring instrument in a vehicle steering wheel clearance measurement system according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a view illustrating a rotation angle sensor mounted on a clearance measuring instrument in a vehicle steering wheel clearance measurement system according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a view illustrating a state in which a play gauge is mounted on a steering wheel of a vehicle in a vehicle steering wheel clearance measuring system according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

7 is a flowchart illustrating a process of measuring play using a vehicle steering wheel play measurement system according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

8 is a diagram illustrating a clearance distance in an automobile steering wheel.

Explanation of symbols on the main parts of the drawings

1: clearance measuring system 10: clearance measuring instrument

11: housing 12: fixing means

18: displacement sensor 19: rotation angle sensor

20: processor 21: liquid crystal monitor

30: front wheel movement detection means 40: control PC

50: steering wheel

The present invention relates to a system for measuring the play of a steering wheel of a vehicle and a method for measuring the play using the system. More specifically, the play of the steering wheel according to wear and tear of each component constituting the steering device of a vehicle in an automobile inspection agency or a repair shop. In measuring change, it is possible to automate and computerize the clearance measurement, and at the same time, to measure the clearance easily and accurately, which not only eliminates the inspection error between the inspector and the inspection organization, but also significantly reduces the manpower and time required for clearance measurement. It relates to a clearance measurement system and method that can be.

The play of the steering wheel refers to a difference between the steering wheel operation time and the time when the tire starts to react when the driver operates the vehicle steering wheel. In other words, the play of the steering wheel is an inspection item indicating the reaction state of the vehicle to the driver's operation. The smaller the play, the faster the tire's response and the larger the play, the slower the tire's response.

Accordingly, the automobile manufacturer is leaving the vehicle in a state in which the play of the steering wheel is properly adjusted, but as the use of the car wears on each component constituting the steering device, the play of the steering wheel also increases.

If the play of the steering wheel becomes greater than a certain amount, the response of the tire to the driver's steering wheel operation is also delayed, thereby increasing the risk of a traffic accident. Therefore, the steering steering of the car is strictly managed during the inspection of the car.

The allowable range of play according to automobile regulations is that, as shown in FIG. 8, the "play distance" shown must be within 12.5% of the steering wheel diameter.

Meanwhile, in the conventional inspection organization, the inspector checks the diameter of the steering wheel and manually displays the reference position at the time of rotation, and then grasps visually the timing of the tire reaction while rotating the steering wheel. It measures the play by measuring with a ruler.

However, according to the conventional play measurement method by manual work, since it depends on the eyes of the inspector, even if the same vehicle differs depending on the inspector or inspection organization, the measurement contents are reduced, which reduces the reliability of the inspection and threatens the safety of the vehicle. It is a problem.

Also, from the viewpoint of the automobile inspection agency, the clearance measurement of the steering wheel of the automobile takes longer than other inspection items, so that the automobiles that have completed the inspection of other inspection items wait for a long time for the clearance measurement, thereby improving the efficiency of other measurement equipment. It has been reduced, and has been a factor in increasing inspection time and inspection cost per vehicle.

The present invention was devised to solve the problems of the aforementioned conventional steering wheel clearance measurement method for a vehicle, and a steering wheel clearance measurement system and method capable of eliminating a deviation according to an inspection organization or an inspector by measuring the clearance accurately mechanically. It aims to provide.

In addition, another object of the present invention is to provide a gap measurement system and method that can reduce the inspection time and inspection cost of the vehicle by a simple and convenient and significantly shortening the gap measurement time.

The vehicle steering wheel clearance measurement system according to the present invention for achieving the above object is a clearance measuring instrument mounted on the steering wheel to measure the diameter and rotation angle of the steering wheel, and disposed on one side or both sides of the front wheel of the vehicle of the front wheel And a front wheel movement detecting means for detecting a movement, wherein the clearance measuring means has a fixing means fixed across the opposite end of the steering handle, and a diameter measuring means arranged at one side of the fixing means to measure the diameter of the steering handle. And rotation angle measuring means for measuring the rotation angle of the steering wheel, a processor for controlling the respective measuring means and the sensing means and calculating measured data, and measuring data of each measuring means or calculation data of the processor. Including a display device for displaying, there is a configuration feature.

According to the system of the present invention, since the inspector simply calculates the clearance through the front wheel movement detecting means, the rotation angle measuring means, the diameter measuring means and the processor, simply by mounting and rotating the clearance measuring instrument to the steering wheel, In addition to reducing measurement errors, the manpower and time required for clearance measurement can be significantly reduced.

In addition, according to the system of the present invention, the diameter measured by the diameter measuring means and the rotation angle measured by the rotation angle measuring means when the movement of the front wheel from the front wheel movement detecting means by detecting the rotation of the steering wheel The processor is characterized in that for calculating the play of the steering wheel.

The fixing means may be divided into first and second fixing members having a handle portion formed at both ends and a lower portion of the handle portion having a locking portion fixed to the steering wheel. The other end of the member is connected to each other through the elastic member, it characterized in that the length is elastically adjustable.

According to this configuration, since the inspector only grabs the handles formed at both ends of the fixing means and places the handles in the state of being extended to match the size of the steering wheel of the vehicle, the fixing means are mounted to the steering handle by the elastic force of the elastic member. The steering wheel is very easy to mount, thus reducing inspection time.

In addition, the processor and the front wheel movement detecting means may be provided with a wired communication means capable of communicating with each other, a wireless communication means may be used in the inspection engine of the environment difficult to provide a wired.

The system may further include a computer, and may be provided with a wired or wireless communication means capable of mutual communication between the computer, the processor, and the front wheel movement detecting means.

As such, when wired and wireless communication is possible between the processor of the play measurement system and a computer (for example, a management computer of an inspection organization), the data measured by the play measurement system is stored or managed together with the data measured by other inspection equipment. This can increase the management efficiency of the inspection body.

In addition, the present invention, (a) having a fixing member at both ends and fixing both ends of the fixing means adjustable in length to the opposite end of the steering wheel; (b) measuring the diameter of the steering wheel through diameter measuring means disposed in the fixing means; (c) rotating the steering wheel; (d) detecting the movement of the front wheels through the front wheel movement detecting means disposed on the front wheels of the vehicle according to the rotation of the steering wheel; (e) measuring the rotation angle of the steering wheel through the rotation angle measuring means disposed on the fixing means at the moment when the movement of the front wheel is detected; And (f) calculating the play of the steering wheel through the diameter of the steering wheel measured in step (b) and the rotation angle of the steering wheel measured in step (e). To provide.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in more detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. However, the following examples are merely exemplary, and various modifications are possible within the technical spirit of the present invention, and the present invention is not limited thereto.

1 is a block diagram of a vehicle steering wheel clearance measurement system according to an embodiment of the present invention. As shown, the steering wheel clearance measurement system 1 according to the embodiment of the present invention is composed of the clearance measurement device 10, the front wheel movement detection means 30 and the control PC (40).

As shown in FIGS. 2 to 4, the gap measuring instrument 10 has a disk shape and a housing 11 made of synthetic resin, and a central portion thereof is fixed to an inner side of the housing 11, and both ends thereof have a disk shape. Consists of the fixing means 12 protruding to face opposite ends of the housing (11).

Inside the housing 11, the displacement sensor 18 for measuring the displacement of the fixing means 12 to measure the diameter of the steering wheel and the angle of rotation when the steering wheel 50 of the vehicle is rotated. A rotation angle sensor 19 and a processor 20 for controlling the sensors 18 and 19 and calculating measured values are disposed below the liquid crystal monitor 21, and in the center portion of the upper surface of the housing 11. The liquid crystal monitor 21 which displays the measurement and calculation result of the sensor 18 and 19 and the processor 20 is fixedly arranged. In addition, on the upper side of the upper surface of the housing 11, status indicators 22 made up of green, orange and red LEDs indicating the state of the clearance measuring instrument 10, i.e., "normal", "check" and "power supply", respectively. Is installed. In addition, three "power supply", "initialization", and "front wheel sensors" buttons 23 required for the operation of the play gauge 10 are provided below the upper surface of the housing 11.

The fixing means 12 forms a rectangular plate shape and at one end forms a rectangular plate shape, similarly to the first fixing member 13a having a yaw groove 14 having a “c” shape. It is divided into a second fixing member (13b) having a protrusion 15 is formed so as to be inserted into the groove (14), the inner side of the groove 14 of the first fixing member (13a) of the coil spring (16) One end is fixed and the other end of the coil spring 16 is fixed to the end of the protrusion 15 of the second fixing member 13b, so that the fixing means 12 can be elastically variable in the longitudinal direction. It is supposed to be. In addition, both ends of the first and second fixing members 13a and 13b protruding from the housing 11 have hollow oval first and second handles 17a and 17b, respectively, for easy inspection by the inspector. It is formed integrally. At the boundary between the first and second handles 17a and 17b and the first and second fixing members 13a and 13b, as shown in FIG. 4, the first and second fixing protrusions 24a and 25a are disposed downward. Is formed, and semicircular grooves 24b and 25b are formed at lower ends of the fixing protrusions 24a and 25a to stably receive the steering wheel inward. Meanwhile, although the coil spring is used in the exemplary embodiment of the present invention, all of the known methods that can be elastically variable in the first and second fixing members 13a and 13b may be applied.

The displacement sensor 18 uses a known contact or non-contact displacement sensor, and is disposed on the side of the first fixing member 13a as shown in FIG. 3, and the measured value is measured by the processor 20. Send to.

As shown in FIG. 5, the rotation angle sensor 19 includes a circular glass tube 26 disposed along an outer circumferential portion of the disc-shaped housing 11, and water injected into the glass tube 26. And a 2 to 3 mm diameter steel ball 27 having a predetermined weight, and a magnet scale 28 disposed above and below the glass tube 26 along the circumference of the glass tube 26. As shown in FIG. 6, since the steering wheel 50 of the vehicle is installed to be inclined, the iron ball 27 disposed on the glass tube 26 is always positioned at the lower center portion of the glass tube 26 by its own weight. . Accordingly, when the steering wheel 50 rotates, when the magnet scale 28 is read at the position where the steel ball 27 is located, the steering wheel 50 rotates from the reference position, that is, the left and right rotations. The angle can be measured.

The front wheel movement detecting means 30 is a sensor tip 31 disposed in contact with the front wheel 60 in front of the front wheel 60 of the vehicle and the electric signal detected by the sensor tip 31 for the control PC or processor Communication device 32 for transmitting to or sensing by a control command from the controlling PC or processor. In addition, the front wheel movement detecting means 30 can be mounted and detached by a manual or automated machine.

The control PC 40 is a PC 40 for the purpose of collectively and controlling all inspection items to be inspected by the vehicle inspection engine, by the predetermined program, to the clearance measuring instrument 10 or the front wheel movement detecting means 30. It is used to store and output data by sending measurement signals or receiving measured results.

Next, a method of measuring the clearance of the steering wheel of the vehicle using the clearance measurement system 1 according to the present invention will be described.

7 is a flowchart illustrating a process of measuring play using a vehicle steering wheel play measurement system according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

As shown in the figure, it is detected by the front wheel detecting means (not shown) whether or not the vehicle that has completed the inspection of the other inspection items of the automobile inspection engine has reached the correct position of the front end of the play gauge 10 (S100). Next, when the front wheel 60 is detected, the front wheel movement detecting means is mounted on the front wheel (S101), and then the inspector moves both handles 17a and 17b of the fixing means 12 as shown in FIG. After holding and stretching by applying a force, the clearance measuring instrument 10 is placed on the steering wheel of the vehicle, and the fixing members 13a and 13b of the fixing means are moved by the elastic restoring force of the coil spring 16 provided in the fixing means 12. By reducing the fixing protrusions (24a, 25a) provided in the lower portion thereof, as shown in Figure 6, the clearance gauge 10 is mounted on the steering wheel (S102), wherein the clearance gauge 10 is provided The displacement sensor 18 measures the diameter of the steering wheel 50 automatically. (S103).

Subsequently, a message for performing "initialization" is output to the liquid crystal monitor 21 of the play gauge 10 (S104), and it is determined whether the inspector has pressed the "initialization" button (S105), and the "initialization" button is not pressed. If not, the "initialization" message is continuously output, and if it is in the "initialization" state, the front wheel movement detecting means and the rotation angle sensor are initialized (S106).

When the initialization is completed, a "handle rotation" message is output to the LCD monitor (S107). When the inspector rotates the steering wheel of the vehicle according to the message, it is determined whether the front wheel movement detecting means detects the movement of the front wheel of the vehicle (S108). If the movement of the front wheel of the vehicle is not detected, the "handle rotation" message is continuously output, and if the movement of the front wheel is detected, the rotation angle sensor measures the rotation angle of the left or the right according to the rotation direction of the inspector (S109, S110). .

Once the rotation angle is measured, initialization of the front wheel movement detecting means and the rotation angle sensor is performed again (S111). Then, it is determined whether both the left and right rotation data are measured (S112), and if not all of the measurements, the step S107 is performed again, and if all the measurements are measured, the processor 20 bases on what is shown in FIG. Using the Pythagorean theorem to calculate the play distance (L) as shown in the following [Equation 1] (S113).

[Equation 1]

Clearance distance (L) = 2 × r × sin (θ / 2)

r is the radius of the steering wheel

θ is the rotation angle

When the clearance is calculated, the front wheel movement detecting means is detached (S114), and when the detachment of the front wheel movement detecting means is completed, the liquid crystal monitor 21 has a calculated play distance L and steering based on the calculated result. If the percentage (%) of the diameter (D) of the handle (ie, 100 × (L / D) (%)) is less than 9%, it is "normal", and if it is 9% or more and less than 12.5%, it is "check", 12.5% or more If the results are each displayed as a "bad" (S115), the clearance gauge mounted on the steering wheel is removed (S116), if there is a vehicle waiting for inspection, the above-described process is repeated.

According to the clearance measurement system and method according to the present invention, since the diameter measurement of the steering wheel, the movement of the front wheels during the rotation of the steering wheel, and the rotation angle of the steering wheel at this time are measured mechanically, an accurate measurement is possible so that the inspection organization or the inspector Can reduce the measurement deviation, thereby increasing the reliability of the measurement.

In addition, the clearance measurement system according to the present invention is easy to carry and convenient to use, and is easy to automate and computerize, thereby shortening the clearance measurement time, thereby maximizing the efficiency of other inspection equipment of the automobile inspection organization. .

Claims (6)

A clearance measurement system for measuring the clearance of a steering wheel of a vehicle, a clearance measuring device mounted on a steering wheel to measure the diameter and rotation angle of a steering wheel, and a front wheel disposed on one or both sides of a front wheel of a vehicle to detect movement of the front wheel. Including motion detecting means, The clearance measuring device is formed by being divided into first and second fixing members having a handle portion formed at both ends and a locking portion fixed to the steering wheel at the lower portion of the handle portion, and the other ends of the first and second fixing members. Fastening means interconnected via an elastic member and fixed across opposite ends of the steering handle; A diameter measuring means disposed on one side of the fixing means to measure a diameter of the steering wheel; Rotation angle measuring means for measuring a rotation angle of the steering wheel; A processor which controls the respective measuring means and the sensing means and calculates measured data; And a display device for displaying the measurement data of each measuring means or the operation data of the processor. The processor of claim 1, wherein the processor comprises a diameter measured by the diameter measuring means, and a rotation angle measured by the rotation angle measuring means when the movement of the front wheel is detected by the front wheel movement detecting means by rotating the steering wheel. The vehicle steering wheel clearance measurement system, characterized in that for calculating the play of the steering wheel. delete The vehicle steering wheel clearance measurement system according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the processor and the front wheel movement detecting means are provided with wired or wireless communication means capable of communicating with each other. The vehicle steering wheel according to claim 1 or 2, further comprising a computer, wherein a wired or wireless communication means is provided between the computer, the processor, and the front wheel movement detecting means. Clearance measurement system. This is a measuring method for measuring the play amount of the steering wheel of a car. (a) fixing the both ends of the fixing means having adjustable members at both ends to the opposite ends of the steering wheel, and disposing the front wheel movement detecting means on the front wheel of the vehicle; (b) measuring the diameter of the steering wheel through diameter measuring means disposed in the fixing means; (c) rotating the steering wheel; (d) detecting the movement of the front wheels through the front wheel movement detecting means disposed on the front wheels of the vehicle according to the rotation of the steering wheel; (e) measuring the rotation angle of the steering wheel through the rotation angle measuring means disposed on the fixing means at the moment when the movement of the front wheel is detected; (f) calculating the play of the steering wheel by using the steering wheel diameter measured in the step (b) and the rotation angle of the steering wheel measured in the step (e). How to measure.

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