WO2007003810A2

WO2007003810A2 - Pedal arrangement for motor vehicle and associated motor vehicle

Info

Publication number: WO2007003810A2
Application number: PCT/FR2006/050433
Authority: WO
Inventors: Cédric DAUTRY
Original assignee: Peugeot Citroen Automobiles Sa
Priority date: 2005-05-24
Filing date: 2006-05-12
Publication date: 2007-01-11
Also published as: EP1883881B1; DE602006017686D1; FR2886421B1; FR2886421A1; WO2007003810A3; ATE485549T1; EP1883881A2

Abstract

The invention relates to a pedal arrangement for a motor vehicle and to the associated motor vehicle. The inventive arrangement (11) comprises a pedal (19) which is mounted to a pedal support (17) such that it can pivot between a rest position and an activation position. The pedal (19) comprises means (43) for linking same to return means (13, 15) which always return the pedal (19) to the rest position thereof. The pedal also comprises assistance means (21) which bias the pedal (19) to the activation position thereof from an intermediate position. The arrangement (11) comprises additional pedal assistance correction means (23) which are active from a position between the intermediate position and the activation position and which oppose the aforementioned assistance means (21). The additional assistance correction means (23) and the assistance means (21) exert different forces on the pedal (19) in at least one given pedal position around the axis thereof.

Description

Motor vehicle pedal arrangement and associated motor vehicle

The present invention relates to a motor vehicle control pedal arrangement of the type comprising:

- a pedal support; an actuating pedal pivotally mounted on the support around a pivot axis between a rest position and an activation position, the pedal including means for connecting means for permanently returning the pedal towards its position; rest;

- Support means for actuating the pedal, articulated on the pedal and the support, the assisting means biasing the pedal to the activation position at least from an intermediate position of the pedal; and

additional pedal assist correction means active from an assistance correction position located between the intermediate position and the activation position.

FR-A-2458 433 discloses a clutch pedal arrangement of the aforementioned type, which comprises a pedal assisting spring. This spring is mounted in support between a sleeve articulated on the pedal, and a piston rod sliding in the sleeve and articulated on the support.

Between the rest position and an intermediate position of the pedal about its axis, the assistance spring exerts a restoring force on the pedal to ensure its maintenance in its rest position.

Beyond an intermediate position of the pedal about its axis, the assistance spring exerts a force on this pedal to facilitate disengagement.

The arrangement further includes an auxiliary assist correction spring for reducing the assist force of the assisting spring.

This spring is mounted in the sleeve, opposite the piston rod relative to the assistance spring. When the clutch is disengaged, this auxiliary spring exerts, at the end of travel of the pedal, a force directed towards the rest position. Thus, after the clutch, the force exerted on the driver's foot remains high enough to prevent the driver feels a "vacuum" in the actuation of the pedal.

Such an arrangement does not give complete satisfaction. Indeed, the assistance spring and the auxiliary spring act one after the other, and the resulting force exerted on the pedal by these springs is difficult to control along the pedal stroke.

An object of the invention is to provide a control pedal arrangement of a motor vehicle, provided with means for assisting the actuation of the pedal which apply to the pedal an easily controllable force along its stroke.

For this purpose, the subject of the invention is an arrangement of the aforementioned type, characterized in that the assistance means and the additional assistance correction means are connected in parallel between the pedal and the support, the additional correction means assistance and the means of assistance exerting on the pedal, in at least one given position of the pedal around its axis of pivoting, forces of distinct axes.

The arrangement according to the invention may comprise one or more of the following characteristics, taken separately or in any technically possible combination.

the additional assistance correction means are articulated on the pedal and on the support and form, with the assistance means, a hinge quadrilateral connecting the pedal to the support;

- The hinge quadrilateral is substantially included in the plane of rotation of the pedal about its pivot axis;

the assistance means urge the pedal towards the rest position when the pedal is between the rest position and the intermediate position;

the additional assistance correction means comprise an elastic biasing member; the elastic biasing member is carried by one of the support and the pedal, the additional assistance correction means comprising an abutment carried by the other of the support and of the pedal, and the stop is located at gap a free end of the elastic biasing member when the pedal is between the rest position and the assistance correction position, the stop resting on the free end when the pedal is beyond the correction position of the audience; the elastic biasing member comprises a region of substantially zero stiffness, biased when the pedal is between the rest position and the assistance correction position, and a region of non-zero stiffness requested when the pedal is in beyond the correction position of the audience; the additional assistance correction means comprise a support sleeve for the biasing member articulated on one of the support and of the pedal, and a guide rod articulated on the other of the support and the pedal, the guide rod being slidably mounted in the sleeve; and

- The connecting means are intended to be connected to a motor vehicle clutch.

The invention also relates to a motor vehicle, characterized in that it comprises an arrangement as defined above.

The invention will be better understood on reading the description which follows, given solely by way of example, and with reference to the appended drawings, in which:

- Figure 1 is a perspective side view of a clutch pedal arrangement according to the invention;

- Figure 2 is a sectional view along the inclined plane M-II of Figure 1 additional means of assistance correction of the pedal arrangement of Figure 1;

FIG. 3 is a graph showing the force generated by the assistance means and by the additional assistance correction means of the arrangement of FIG. 1, along the pedal travel;

- Figure 4 is partial perspective view of the additional assistance correction means of a variant of the arrangement of Figure 1.

In all that follows, the chosen orientations are the usual orientations of a motor vehicle. Thus, the terms "higher", "lower", "Forward", "rear", "left" and "right" mean the normal direction of traffic of a motor vehicle and the position of a driver.

Figure 1 shows a first arrangement of clutch pedal 11, connected to a clutch 13 by a control rod 15. The arrangement 11 comprises a pedal support 17, a clutch pedal 19, pivotally mounted on the support 17 around a transverse axis A-A ', means 21 for assisting the actuation of the pedal 19, and additional means 23 of pedal assist correction 19 which oppose the assistance means 21 The pedal support 17 comprises a substantially vertical base 25 in FIG. 1, a clevis 27 of pedal articulation secured to the base 25, and a pivot point 29 connecting the clevis 27 to the pedal 19.

The yoke 27 comprises two vertical plates 31A, 31B facing one another and interconnected by a rear stop 33 and a front stop 35.

The right plate 31A comprises a lower rear articulation tongue 37 to the assistance means 21 which extends the lower edge of the plate 31 A rearwards, on the left in the drawing.

The left plate 31 B comprises a lower front tongue 39 which extends the plate downwards from a lower edge of this plate 31A. The lower end of the tongue 37 is located substantially in the same vertical plane as the lower end of the tongue 39, behind this tongue 39.

The pivot 29 is mounted transversely between the upper rear corners of the plates 31A, 31B. The pedal 19 comprises, near its upper end 41, a lever arm 43 and at its lower end 44, a terminal activation pad 45.

The pedal 19 is rotatably mounted about the axis A-A on the pivot 29 between a rest position bearing against the rear stop 33 and an active disengaging position bearing on the front stop 35.

The lever arm 43 is articulated to the control rod 15, so that the control rod 15 forms, with the clutch 13, biasing means permanent pedal 19 to its rest position. The rod 15 passes through the base 25 through an opening.

The assistance means 21 comprise a sleeve 47, a piston 49 slidably mounted in the sleeve 47 and an assistance spring 51 interposed between the sleeve 47 and the piston 49.

The sleeve 47 is articulated on the pedal 19 at a first point 53. It comprises a low annular seat 54 for receiving the spring 51.

The piston 49 is articulated at a second point 55 located at the lower end of the rear tongue 37. It comprises a high annular seat 59 located opposite the low seat 54.

The assist spring 51 is compression mounted between the up and down annular seats 59 and 54.

As will be seen below, when the first point 53 is located behind the axis BB 'connecting the second articulation point 55 and the pivot 29, the assistance spring 51 exerts a restoring force on the pedal 19 which requests the pedal 19 to its rest position. On the contrary, when the first point 53 is located in front of the axis B-B ', the assistance spring 51 exerts an assisting force which urges the pedal 19 towards the active disengaging position. An intermediate position of the pedal 19 is defined when the first point 53 is located on the axis B-B '.

The additional assistance correction means 23 comprise a helical spring 61, a spring guide 63 articulated on a third point 64 of the support located at the lower end of the lower front tongue 39, and means 65 for soliciting the articulated spring. on the pedal 19 in a fourth point 66 located below the first point 53.

As illustrated in FIG. 2, the guide 63 comprises an upper clevis 69 for articulation with the lower tongue 39, a guide sleeve 71 fixed in the yoke 69, and a sleeve 73 slidably mounted on the sleeve 71.

The upper yoke 69 defines, moving from the third point 64 to the fourth point 66, an annular shoulder 75 facing the pedal 19 and a stop 77 of movement of the sleeve 73 also facing the pedal 19. The sleeve 71 delimits, internally, a guide channel 79 of axis CC parallel to the axis connecting the points 64 and 66. It delimits externally an annular locking stop 81 of the sleeve 73 located under the stop 77.

The sheath 73 comprises, at its upper left end in Figure 2, an inner bead 83 bearing on the sleeve 71 and, at its free end lower right in Figure 2, a lower flange 85 which projects radially towards the liner. outside facing the shoulder 75.

The sheath 73 is slidably movable on the sleeve 71 between an upper position in which the bead 83 bears against the upper stop 77 and a lower position in which the bead 83 is blocked by the lower stop 81.

The return spring 61 is mounted to compression between the lower flange 85 and the shoulder 75. It biases the sleeve 73 to its lower position. The means 65 for biasing the spring comprise a lower clevis 87 and a guide rod 91 of axis C-C slidably mounted in the channel 79 of the sleeve 71.

The lower yoke 87 is thus movable between a rest position located away from the collar 85 and a biasing position of the spring 61 in which the lower yoke 87 abuts against the flange 85.

With reference to FIG. 1, the assistance means 21 and the additional assistance correction means 23 form two sides facing a hinge quadrilateral 95 connecting the pedal 19 to the support 17 and delimited by the first, second , third and fourth hinge points 53, 55, 64, 66. The articulation quadrilateral 95 is substantially in the vertical plane of rotation of the pedal 19 about the axis AA ¹ .

The operation of the clutch pedal arrangement 11 according to the invention when the clutch 13 is disengaged will now be described.

Initially, the pedal 19 is held in its rest position under the action of the control rod 15 which pushes the lever arm 43 rearwardly. In this position, the pedal 19 bears against the rear stop 33. Furthermore, the first pivot point 53 is located behind the axis B-B ', so that the assistance spring 51 exerts a biasing force complementary to the pedal 19 towards the rest position as shown by the curve 101 in FIG. 3.

Moreover, the assistance correction spring 61 pushes the sheath 73 downwards and keeps the bead 83 in abutment against the stop 81.

However, the lower yoke 87 is disposed away from the flange 85, so that the spring 61 exerts no force on the pedal 19 (curve 103 in Figure 3).

When the driver wishes to disengage, he pushes the clutch pedal 19 forward, and exerts a force on the lever arm 43 to move the rod 15 forward against the restoring force of the clutch 13 Between the marked rest position 105 in FIG. 3 and the marked intermediate position 107 in FIG. 3, the assistance spring 51 exerts a decreasing force for biasing the pedal 19 towards the rest position.

Between these positions, the rod 91 slides freely in the channel 79 and the additional assistance correction means 23 exert a substantially zero force on the pedal 19.

From the intermediate position, the first pivot point 53 passes in front of the axis B-B '. The spring 51 then exerts on the pedal 19 a force comprising a component directed towards the front. This force opposes the return force exerted by the rod 15 on the lever arm 43 and assists the driver to move the pedal to the active declutching position.

Once disengagement (point 109 in Figure 3), the restoring force exerted by the rod 15 significantly decreases. The pedal 19 then reaches a position of assistance correction, marked 111 in Figure 3 and located beyond the intermediate position. In this position, the lower clevis 87 comes into contact with the flange 85 located on the free end of the assistance correction spring 61. When the driver continues to move the pedal to the active position, the lower yoke 87 pushes the flange 85 upwards. The spring 61 then exerts an additional assist correction force on the pedal 19 which urges the pedal 19 towards its rest position. This force is oriented rearward along the axis CC.

The DC axis assist correction force generated by the additional assist correction means 23 opposes the axis assist force DD 'passing through the first point 53 and the second point 55, generated by the assisting means 21. The additional assistance correction means 23 and the assistance means 21 thus exert, from the assistance correction position, distinct axis and direction forces on the pedal. 19.

The parallel arrangement of the additional assistance correction means 23 and the assistance means 21, which thus form a hinge quadrilateral 95, makes it possible to easily adjust the position of the pedal 19 from which the correction force of additional assistance applies to this pedal 19. This adjustment is made in particular by changing the length of the sleeve 71 and the sleeve 73. Moreover, the intensity of the additional assistance correction force can be adjusted by changing the characteristics. of the assistance correction spring 61, independently of the characteristics of the assistance spring 51.

The arrangement according to the invention thus makes it possible, by simple and inexpensive means, to have an arrangement 11 provided with clutch assistance means of intensity that is easily adjustable along the pedal stroke. clutch.

Furthermore, when the driver wishes to re-engage, the assistance correction spring 61 creates a restoring force of the pedal 19 to the rest position which, associated with the assistance effort, has a substantially constant intensity, which allows a good dosage of the movement of the pedal 19 to the rest position and a clean lift of the clutch pedal.

In a variant partially illustrated in FIG. 4, the additional assistance correction means 23 have the same structure as the assistance means 21. However, the assistance correction spring 61 is a spring having a first lower region 121 of substantially zero stiffness and a second upper region 123 of non-zero stiffness.

By "substantially zero stiffness" means a stiffness at least 10 times less than the stiffness of the assistance spring 51 and capable of generating an elastic force intensity at least 10 times less than the maximum force generated by the rod 15 of controlling the clutch 13 on the pedal 19.

The two ends of the spring 61 rest on yokes hinged respectively on the third hinge point 64 and on the fourth hinge point 66.

Initially, between the rest position and the assistance correction position, only the region 121 of substantially zero stiffness is solicited. The force exerted on the pedal 19 by the spring 61 is therefore substantially zero.

In the assist correction position, the turns of region 121 are fully compressed. Beyond this position, the region 123 of non-zero stiffness is biased so that it creates a non-zero assistance correction force directed rearwardly against the assistance force generated by the spring. 51.

Claims

1.- Arrangement (11) of a motor vehicle control pedal, of the type comprising:

a pedal support (17); - an actuating pedal (19) pivotally mounted on the support (17) about a pivot axis (A-A ') between a rest position and an activation position, the pedal (19) comprising means (43) connecting to permanent return means (13, 15) of the pedal (19) to its rest position;

means (21) for assisting the actuation of the pedal (19), articulated on the pedal (19) and on the support (17), the assisting means biasing the pedal (19) towards the activation position at least from an intermediate position of the pedal (19); and

- Additional pedal assist correction means (23), active from an assist correction position between the intermediate position and the activation position;

the assistance means (21) and the additional assistance correction means (23) being connected in parallel between the pedal (19) and the support (17), the additional assistance correction means (23). and the assisting means (21) exerting on the pedal (19), in at least one given position of the pedal about its pivot axis (AA ¹ ), forces of distinct axes, characterized in that the means additional assistance correction (23) are articulated on the pedal (19) and on the support (17) and form, with the assistance means (21), a hinge quadrilateral (95) connecting the pedal (19). ) to the support (17).

2. Arrangement (11) according to claim 1, characterized in that the hinge quadrilateral (95) is substantially within the plane of rotation of the pedal (19) about its pivot axis (A-A).

3. Arrangement (11) according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the assistance means (21) urge the pedal (19) to the rest position when the pedal is between the rest position and the intermediate position.

4. Arrangement (11) according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the additional assistance correction means (23) comprise an elastic biasing member (61).

5. Arrangement (11) according to claim 4, characterized in that the elastic biasing member is carried by one of the support (17) and the pedal

(19), the additional assistance correction means (23) comprising a stop (87) carried by the other of the support (17) and the pedal (19), and in that the stop (87) is located away from a free end (85) of the elastic biasing member (61) when the pedal is between the resting position and the assisting correction position, the stop (87) supporting on the free end (85) when the pedal is beyond the assist correction position.

6. An arrangement (11) according to claim 4, characterized in that the elastic biasing member (61) comprises a region (121) of substantially zero stiffness, biased when the pedal is between the rest position and the position of correction of the assistance, and a region (123) of non-zero stiffness solicited when the pedal is beyond the correction position assistance.

7. Arrangement (11) according to any one of claims 4 to 6, characterized in that the additional assistance correction means (23) comprise a sleeve (71) for supporting the biasing member (61). ) articulated on one of the support (17) and the pedal (19), and a guide rod (91) articulated on the other of the support (17) and the pedal (19), the guide rod ( 91) being slidably mounted in the sleeve (71).

8. Arrangement (11) according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the connecting means (43) are intended to be connected to a clutch (13) of a motor vehicle.

9. Motor vehicle, characterized in that it comprises an arrangement (11) according to any one of the preceding claims.