JP2000021535A - Rotary connection device - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Problem] To provide an electronic circuit section at low cost and to be able to use one connector. SOLUTION: In a step of etching a lead wire 13c in an existing flexible printed circuit cable 13 using an existing flexible printed circuit cable 13, an etched electronic circuit portion 13c is integrally bulged at an end of the cable 13. Circuit lead 13d of the electronic circuit portion 13c.
To the conductor connector 15 of the cable 13.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a rotary connection device most suitable for electrical connection between mutually rotating parts in an automobile, a home electric appliance, and the like.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art As shown in FIG. 5, for example, a steering wheel mounting portion of an automobile has a steering shaft 2 rotatably supported on a body 1, and a switch device 3 and a rotary connection device are provided above the body 1. 4 are provided. A steering wheel 6 is attached to a distal end portion of the steering shaft 2 that projects upward through the switch device 3 and the rotary connection device 4 so as to rotate integrally with the shaft 2. The steering wheel 6 is provided with electrical components 7 such as a horn switch and an airbag as required. Switch device 3
The switch includes, for example, a switch such as a turn signal lamp and a wiper, and operation levers 8 and 9 for switching the switches are mounted on left and right side surfaces of the switch.

[0003] The rotary connection device 4 is a device for electrically connecting the electric component 7 rotating with the steering wheel 6 and a circuit on the body 1 side.
The configuration illustrated below was used.

[0006] A rotary connection device 4 shown in FIG. 6 includes a fixed side member (case) 10 fixed to the body side, and a rotation side member (rotor) 11 that rotates integrally with the steering wheel 6.
A flat cable (flexible flat cable FFC or flexible printed circuit FPC) 13 is spirally wound and stored in an annular space 12 formed between the cable 13 and the outside of the cable 13. Connector 15 attached to end 13a via terminal member 23
To the connector 16 of the body 1 and the cable 13
Is connected to the connector 18 of the electrical component 7 via the terminal member 26 via the terminal member 26.
Reference numeral 19 denotes a cover for a holder 10a, which will be described later, and 2
Reference numeral 0 denotes a C-ring for rotatably fixing the rotation-side member 11 to the fixed-side member 10, and reference numeral 21 denotes a slip sheet.

A bus bar (not shown) for connecting the conductors of the cable 13 is mounted in a terminal member 23 provided for the outer end 13a of the cable 13. Each conductor of the electric wire 25 of the connector 15 is connected, and the terminal member 23 is inserted into and held by the holder 10 a outside the fixed member 10.

The cable 13 has an inner end 13b.
Similarly to the outer end 13a, the terminal member 26 is connected to a bus bar in the terminal member 26, and each conductor of the electric wire 35 of the connector 17 is connected to the bus bar.
The rotation side member 11 is inserted into and held by the holder 11a outside the rotation side member 11.

[0007]

As shown in FIG. 7, a multi-pole magnet 27 having N poles and S poles alternately formed in the rotation direction is provided on the outer peripheral edge of the rotation side member 11. The multi-pole magnet 27 of the rotation side member 11 is attached to the fixed side member 10.
A detector 28 for detecting a magnetic pole change or a magnetic force change of
The present applicant has proposed a rotation detecting device for detecting the rotation angle, rotation speed or rotation direction of the steering wheel 6.

In this case, the cover 19 is used as a printed circuit board, and the detector 28 and the electronic circuit component 2 for processing a detection signal are used.
9 can be attached, but it is necessary to manufacture a printed circuit board separately, and it is necessary to connect each conductor of the electric wire 31 of the connector 30 to this printed circuit board. Since the two connectors 15 and 30 are located, there is a problem that a space for arranging the connectors increases.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the above problem, and it is an object of the present invention to provide a rotary connection device which is inexpensive and can be used as one connector when an electronic circuit is provided.

[0010]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the present invention provides a fixed member and a rotating member which can rotate relative to each other about a rotation center axis, and is formed between these members. In a rotary connection device provided with a flexible printed circuit cable housed in an annular space, an external lead-out terminal member is attached to an end of the cable, and a connector is provided on the terminal member,
An electronic circuit portion is formed by integrally bulging an end portion of the cable, and a circuit conductor of the electronic circuit portion is connected to the connector.

According to the present invention, in the step of using a cable made of an existing flexible printed circuit and etching a lead wire on the cable, the etched electronic circuit portion is integrally bulged at the end of the cable. The circuit conductor of the electronic circuit section is connected to the conductor connector of the cable.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, the rotary connection device includes:
This is a rotary connection device for a steering wheel mounting portion of an automobile, and is most suitable for a configuration in which an electronic circuit portion of the cable is mounted on the rotating side member or the fixed side member. A multi-pole magnet in which N-poles and S-poles are alternately formed in the rotating direction is provided on the rotating side member, and a change in magnetic pole or magnetic force of the multi-pole magnet of the rotating side member is detected on the fixed side member. A detector may be provided, and the detector is attached to the electronic circuit section.

[0013]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. Note that the same components and operations as those of the prior art are denoted by the same reference numerals, and detailed description thereof will be omitted.

As shown in FIG. 1A, an electronic circuit section 13c is provided on the outer end 13a side of the flexible printed circuit cable (hereinafter, referred to as an FPC cable in the embodiment) 13 with an inverted L. It is formed by bulging integrally in a letter shape. The circuit lead 13d of the electronic circuit section 13c
Is a conductor (copper foil pattern) 13e on the FPC cable 13.
Can be simultaneously etched as a copper foil pattern in the step of etching.

After the electronic circuit portion 13c is formed integrally with the FPC cable 13, it can be bent laterally as shown by an arrow A in FIG. 1B, and can be bent as shown in FIG. Cover (insulating substrate) 1
The detector (magnetic sensor) 28 and an electronic circuit component 29 for processing a detection signal are connected to each conductive wire 13d of the electronic circuit section 13c by soldering or the like.

As shown in FIG. 3, a film 30 on which a multi-pole magnet 27 in which N poles and S poles are alternately formed in the rotation direction is attached to the outer peripheral edge of the rotating side member (rotor) 11. The detector 28 is attached to the electronic circuit unit 29 so as to face the multipolar magnet 27.

Each conductive wire 13d of the electronic circuit portion 13c is
As shown in FIG. 1 (a), a U-turn is made and connected to the corresponding bus bar together with each conductor 13 e of the FPC cable 13 in the terminal member 23, and each bus bar corresponds to the corresponding wire 25 of the connector 15. Connect the conductors respectively.

In the above configuration, when the rotating member 11 rotates together with the steering shaft 2 by the rotation operation of the steering wheel 6, the magnetic pole change of the multipole magnet 27 of the rotating member 11 (NS Change) is detected.

In this case, the multi-pole magnet 27 of the rotating member 11
When the magnetic force of the steering wheel 6 is the same, as shown in FIG. 4A, a pulse corresponding to the magnetic pole that changes in accordance with the rotation angle is detected. By detecting the rotation angle (amount) and measuring the time between pulses, the rotation speed of the steering wheel 6 can be detected. Note that even in this example, the magnetic poles (N
It is possible to detect the rotation direction of the steering wheel 6 by shifting the width and the number of steps in S) and the phases of the plurality of magnetic sensors.

When the magnetic force of the multi-pole magnet 27 of the rotating member 11 is continuously changed in the rotating direction, FIG.
As shown in (b), a pulse and a magnetic force corresponding to the magnetic pole that changes according to the rotation angle are detected. By counting the number of pulses, the rotation angle (amount) of the steering wheel 6 is detected. By measuring the time between the pulses, the rotational speed of the steering wheel 6 can be detected, while the rotational direction of the steering wheel 6 can be detected in the direction in which the magnetic force changes, that is, in the increasing direction or the decreasing direction. . Thus, by detecting the rotation angle (amount), the rotation speed, or the rotation direction of the steering wheel 6, it becomes possible to control the attitude of the vehicle while the vehicle is running.

In the above configuration, the existing FPC cable 13
In the step of etching the conducting wire 13e on the FPC cable 13 using the
The electronic circuit portion 13c which is etched to form a circuit conductor 13c of the electronic circuit portion 13c.
By connecting d to the connector 15 for the conductor 25 of the FPC cable 13, it is not necessary to separately manufacture a printed circuit board as in the related art.
Since only one connector 15 for 5 (the number of poles is increased by the amount of the circuit conductor 13d) is provided, the cost is reduced and the space for arranging the connectors is reduced.

In the above embodiment, the electronic circuit 13c is formed at the outer end 13a of the FPC cable 13. However, the electronic circuit 13c may be formed at the inner end 13b.

[0023]

As is apparent from the above description, the rotary connection device according to the present invention utilizes the existing flexible printed circuit cable and etches a lead wire into the cable at the end of the cable. By forming the electronic circuit part which is etched into a single piece by swelling and connecting the circuit conductor of this electronic circuit part to the cable conductor connector, there is no need to separately manufacture a printed circuit board, and the electronic circuit Since only one cable lead connector is provided in the portion, the cost is reduced and the space for arranging the connectors is reduced.

When the rotary connection device is a rotary connection device for a steering wheel mounting portion of an automobile (Claim 2), a multi-pole magnet in which N-poles and S-poles are alternately formed in the rotation direction on the rotation-side member. And a detector for detecting a change in the magnetic pole or magnetic force of the multi-pole magnet of the rotating side member is provided on the fixed side member, and the detector is attached to an electronic circuit portion formed on the cable. Item 3), a circuit lead of the electronic circuit section is connected to a cable lead connector, and a CPU or the like mounted on the vehicle uses the connector to calculate a detection signal of a rotation angle, a rotation speed, or a rotation direction of the steering wheel. Be able to process.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a cable according to the present invention, in which (a) is a perspective view when an electronic circuit portion is formed, and (b) is a perspective view when the electronic circuit portion is bent.

FIG. 2 is an assembled perspective view of the rotary connection device of the present invention.

3A is a plan view of a rotating member on which a multipolar magnet is formed, FIG. 3B is a plan view of a main part of the multipolar magnet, and FIG. 3C is a side view of a main part of the rotating member.

FIG. 4A is a graph showing a relationship between a pulse and a rotation angle, and FIG. 4B is a graph showing a relationship between a pulse and a magnetic force and a rotation angle.

FIG. 5 is an exploded side view of a conventional rotary connection device.

FIG. 6 is an exploded perspective view of a conventional rotary connection device.

FIG. 7 is an assembled perspective view of a conventional rotary connection device.

[Explanation of symbols]

Reference Signs List 6 Steering wheel 10 Fixed member 11 Rotating member 12 Space 13 Flexible printed circuit cable 13a Outer end 13c Electronic circuit 13d Circuit conductor 13e Conductor 15 Connector 25 Electric wire 26 Terminal member 27 Multipole magnet 28 Detector 29 Electronic circuit components

 ────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continued on the front page (72) Inventor Minoru Yamada 1-7-10 Kikuzumi, Minami-ku, Nagoya-shi, Aichi F-term in Harness Research Institute, Ltd. 3D030 DB22 DB25

Claims (3)

[Claims] A fixed-side member and a rotation-side member rotatable relative to each other about a rotation center axis, and a flexible printed circuit cable housed in an annular space formed between the two members. In the rotary connection device provided with, a terminal member for external pull-out is attached to an end of the cable, a connector is provided on the terminal member, and an electronic circuit portion is integrally formed on the end of the cable by bulging integrally. ,
A rotary connection device, wherein a circuit lead of the electronic circuit section is connected to the connector. 2. The rotary connection device according to claim 1, wherein the rotary connection device is a rotary connection device for a steering wheel mounting portion of an automobile, and the electronic circuit portion of the cable is mounted on the rotary side member or the fixed side member. Connection device. 3. An N-pole and an S-pole in the rotation direction on the rotation-side member.
In addition to providing a multi-pole magnet having poles formed alternately, a detector for detecting a change in magnetic pole or magnetic force of the multi-pole magnet of the rotating side member is provided on the fixed-side member, and the detector is connected to the electronic circuit. 3. The rotary connection device according to claim 2, wherein the rotation connection device is attached to a portion.