JP2012111364A - Vehicular steering column system - Google Patents

Abstract

To reduce the number of components of a steering column device for a vehicle and to make the device simple.
A telescopic elongated hole a provided in a second bracket of a column bracket is provided with a first tooth portion along a column axial direction, and a telescopic elongated hole a of a bolt 61 is provided. A second tooth portion 61a1 that can be engaged with and detached from the first tooth portion 42a1 in the bolt shaft direction is provided at the end portion of the portion 61a (a neck portion having a rectangular cross section) 61a that is inserted through the head portion 61b. It has been. When the operation lever is locked, the second tooth portion 61a1 meshes with the first tooth portion 42a1, the column bracket and the upper support bracket are fixed, and the operation lever is unlocked, thereby The tooth portion 61a1 is set to be detached from the first tooth portion 42a1 and the column bracket and the upper support bracket are released from being fixed.
[Selection] Figure 3

Description

  The present invention relates to a steering column device for a vehicle, and in particular, a lower bracket that is attached to a part of a vehicle body on the front side of the steering column so as to be tiltable in a vertical direction and supports a lower shaft and a lower tube, A column bracket that is movable in the column axial direction with respect to the lower bracket and supports the upper shaft and the upper tube; an upper support bracket that is fixed to a part of the vehicle body at the rear of the vehicle from the tilting center of the lower bracket; The present invention relates to a vehicle steering column device including a lock mechanism that releasably fixes a column bracket to the upper support bracket.

  This type of vehicle steering column device is disclosed, for example, in Patent Document 1 below. In the vehicle steering column device described in Patent Document 1 below, the lock mechanism includes a tilt elongated hole provided in the upper support bracket and extending in a substantially vertical direction, and a telescopic length extending in the column axial direction provided in the column bracket. A bolt that is inserted through the hole and extends in the left-right direction of the vehicle, an operation lever that is assembled on the bolt and that can be rotated, and the bolt that is assembled on the bolt and rotates with the operation lever And a guide unit provided on the bolt. The cam unit includes a cam unit that can fix and release the column bracket and the upper support bracket.

  The guide piece is disposed in the telescopic elongated hole so as to be movable up and down, is rotatable with respect to the bolt, and is movable up and down integrally with the bolt. In addition, teeth that can be engaged / disengaged (non-engaged) are provided at the lower or upper portion of the guide piece at the tooth portions (provided along the column axis direction) provided at the lower or upper portion of the telescopic elongated hole. Yes.

JP 2009-143299 A

  In the vehicle steering column apparatus described in Patent Document 1 described above, a guide piece to be assembled to the bolt of the lock mechanism is necessary as a component, and since the number of component parts is large, a simple configuration is desired. .

The present invention has been made to meet the above-mentioned demands,
A lower bracket that is attached to a part of the vehicle body on the front side of the steering column so as to be tiltable in the vertical direction and supports a lower shaft and a lower tube, and an upper that is movable in the column axial direction with respect to the lower bracket A column bracket that supports the shaft and the upper tube, an upper support bracket that is fixed to a part of the vehicle body behind the tilting center of the lower bracket, and the column bracket that is releasably fixed to the upper support bracket. With a locking mechanism
The lock mechanism is inserted into a tilt elongated hole provided in the upper support bracket and extending in a substantially vertical direction and a telescopic elongated hole provided in the column bracket and extending in the column axial direction, and a bolt extending in the left and right direction of the vehicle, and the bolt An operation lever that is assembled on the top and that can be rotated, and the column bracket and the upper support bracket that are assembled on the bolt and moved in the axial direction of the bolt as the operation lever rotates. In a vehicle steering column device having a cam unit capable of fixing and releasing
The telescopic elongated hole is provided with a first tooth portion along the column axial direction, and a portion of the bolt inserted through the telescopic elongated hole is engaged with the first tooth portion in the bolt axial direction. A second tooth portion that can be detached is provided, and the second tooth portion meshes with the first tooth portion by the lock operation of the operation lever, and the column bracket and the upper support bracket are fixed. The second tooth part is detached from the first tooth part by the unlocking operation of the operation lever, and the column bracket and the upper support bracket are released from being fixed. There are features. In this case, the column bracket includes a first bracket integrated with the upper tube, and a second bracket that is movable in the column axial direction with respect to the first bracket and has the telescopic elongated hole. An impact energy absorption mechanism that operates when a predetermined column axial load is applied to the upper tube toward the front of the vehicle may be provided therebetween.

  In the vehicle steering column device according to the present invention, the second tooth portion is provided in the portion inserted through the telescopic elongated hole in the bolt of the lock mechanism, and the number of component parts is reduced. Configuration is possible.

[BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS] It is the side view which showed one Embodiment of the steering column apparatus for vehicles by this invention. FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view taken along line 2-2 of the vehicle steering column device shown in FIG. FIG. 3 is an enlarged cross-sectional view of a main part schematically showing a relationship between a bolt and a column bracket of the lock mechanism shown in FIG. FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view taken along line 4-4 of FIG. FIG. 3 is an enlarged cross-sectional view of a main part schematically showing a relationship between a bolt and a column bracket of the lock mechanism shown in FIG. 2 in an unlocked state.

  Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. 1 to 5 show an embodiment of a vehicle steering column apparatus according to the present invention. As shown in FIG. 1, the steering column apparatus of this embodiment is a vehicle body on the vehicle front side of a steering column SC. A lower bracket 30 which is attached to a part B1 of the lower bracket 30 so as to be tiltable in the vertical direction, and which supports the lower shaft 11 and the lower tube 21, and is movable in the column axial direction with respect to the lower bracket 30 and the upper shaft 12 and the upper The column bracket 40 that supports the tube 22, the upper support bracket 50 that is fixed to a part B2 of the vehicle body behind the tilting center O1 of the lower bracket 30, and the column bracket 40 can be released from the upper support bracket 50. A locking mechanism 60 is provided for fixing to the head.

  The lower shaft 11 and the upper shaft 12 can be extended and contracted in the column axis direction, and are connected so as to transmit torque. The lower shaft 11 is rotatably supported by the lower tube 21 and is connected to a steering gear box (not shown) at the lower end. The upper shaft 12 is supported by the upper tube 22 so as to be rotatable and not movable in the axial direction, and is integrally connected to the steering handle SH at the upper end.

  The lower tube 21 is integrally assembled with the lower bracket 30 and is supported by the lower bracket 30. The upper tube 22 is integrally assembled with the column bracket 40 and is supported by the column bracket 40. The lower tube 21 and the upper tube 22 are connected so as to be able to extend and contract in the column axis direction. The upper tube 22 is provided with a through hole 22a (see FIG. 2) for inserting a bolt 61 of a lock mechanism 60 described later.

  As shown in FIGS. 2 to 5, the column bracket 40 includes a first bracket 41 having a slide long hole 41 a that is integral with the upper tube 22 and extends in the column axial direction, and a slide long hole 41 a of the first bracket 41. On the other hand, the second bracket 42 includes a telescopic elongated hole 42a that is movable in the column axis direction and extends in the column axis direction. As shown in FIG. 4, the first bracket 41 and the second bracket 42 are connected by four connecting pins 43, and the impact energy due to the secondary collision at the time of the vehicle collision is sheared by the connecting pins 43 and both brackets. It is configured to be absorbable by the sliding resistance between 41 and 42. For this reason, an impact energy absorption mechanism that operates when a predetermined column axial load acts on the upper tube 22 toward the front of the vehicle is formed by the shearing of the connecting pin 43 and the sliding resistance between the brackets 41 and 42. ing.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the lock mechanism 60 is provided in the insertion hole 30 a provided in the lower bracket 30, the tilt long hole 51 provided in the upper support bracket 50 and extending in the substantially vertical direction, and the second bracket 42 of the column bracket 40. A bolt 61 that extends through the telescopic elongated hole 42a extending in the column axial direction and extends in the left-right direction of the vehicle, an operation lever 62 that is assembled on the bolt 61 and can be rotated, and the operation lever 62 and the upper support The lower bracket 30, the column bracket 40, and the upper support bracket 50 can be fixed / released by being assembled on the bolt 61 between the brackets 50 and moving the bolt 61 in the bolt axial direction as the operation lever 62 rotates. A cam unit 63 (a pair of cam plates) is provided. The cam unit 63 and the operation lever 62 are prevented from coming off by an annular spacer 64 and a lock nut 65 assembled to the bolt 61.

  By the way, in this embodiment, as shown in FIGS. 3 to 5, the first tooth portion 42 a 1 is provided along the column axial direction on one side (right side) of the telescopic elongated hole 42 a, and the telescopic of the bolt 61 is provided. A second tooth portion 61a1 that can be engaged and disengaged with respect to the first tooth portion 42a1 in the bolt axis direction at the end portion on the head 61b side of a portion (a neck portion having a rectangular cross section) 61a inserted through the long hole 42a. The second tooth portion 61a1 is engaged with the first tooth portion 42a1 by the operation of locking the operation lever 62 (see FIG. 3), and the lower bracket 30, the column bracket 40, and the upper support bracket 50 are fixed. When the operation lever 62 is unlocked, the second tooth portion 61a1 is detached from the first tooth portion 42a1 (see FIG. 5), and the lower bracket 30, the column bracket 40, and the upper Fixed support bracket 50 is set to be released. Further, a disc spring 66 is interposed between the second bracket 42 of the column bracket 40 and the head 61 b of the bolt 61. When the operation lever 62 is unlocked, the bolt 61 is moved by the biasing force of the disc spring 66. It is comprised so that it may move to a bolt axial direction toward the part 61b side.

  In this embodiment configured as described above, the lower bracket 30, the column bracket 40, and the upper support bracket 50 are unlocked by unlocking the operation lever 62. Therefore, in this state, the tilt / telescopic Adjustment is possible. Further, after the tilt / telescopic adjustment, the lower bracket 30, the column bracket 40, and the upper support bracket 50 are fixed by holding the operation lever 62, and the adjustment position is maintained.

  By the way, in this embodiment, in order to make the second bracket 42 fixed and maintained well (strong) in the locked state, the first tooth portion 42a1 and the second tooth portion 61a1 are provided, and the vehicle collision At the time of the secondary collision at that time, the second bracket 42 is accurately regulated and accurately held in the column axial direction. Further, in this embodiment, in order to make the vehicle steering column device simple, the second tooth portion 61a1 is formed in a portion (neck portion 61a) inserted through the telescopic elongated hole 42a of the bolt 61 of the lock mechanism 60. It is provided and the number of components is reduced.

  Further, in this embodiment, the column bracket 40 is constituted by the first bracket 41 and the second bracket 42, and is connected by the four connecting pins 43 as shown in FIG. The impact energy due to the secondary collision can be absorbed by the shearing of the connecting pin 43 and the sliding resistance between the brackets 41 and 42. For this reason, the impact energy by the secondary collision at the time of a vehicle collision is favorably absorbed by the cooperative action of the holding action of the second bracket 42 by the engagement of the first tooth part 42a1 and the second tooth part 61a1. be able to.

  In the above-described embodiment, the present invention is applied to the steering column device configured to support the upper tube 21 on one side (left side). However, the steering column device configured to support the upper tube on both the left and right sides (for example, The apparatus described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2009-143299 can be implemented in the same manner or with appropriate modifications. Further, in the above-described embodiment, the first tooth portion 42a1 and the second tooth portion 61a1 are provided on both the upper and lower sides of the telescopic elongated hole 42a, but are provided only on one side (upper side or lower side). It is also possible to implement.

SC ... steering column, SH ... steering handle, 11 ... lower shaft, 12 ... upper shaft, 21 ... lower tube, 22 ... upper tube, 30 ... lower bracket, 40 ... column bracket, 41 ... first bracket, 41a ... slide length Hole, 42 ... 2nd bracket, 42a ... Telesco long hole, 42a1 ... 1st tooth part, 43 ... Connecting pin, 50 ... Upper support bracket, 51 ... Tilt long hole, 60 ... Lock mechanism, 61 ... Bolt, 61a ... A portion (neck portion) inserted through the telescopic elongated hole, 61a1 ... second tooth portion, 61b ... head, 62 ... operating lever, 63 ... cam unit, 64 ... spacer, 65 ... lock nut, 66 ... disc spring, O1 ... Tilt center of the lower bracket, B1, B2 ... Part of the vehicle body

Claims (2)

A lower bracket that is attached to a part of the vehicle body on the front side of the steering column so as to be tiltable in the vertical direction and supports a lower shaft and a lower tube, and an upper that is movable in the column axial direction with respect to the lower bracket A column bracket that supports the shaft and the upper tube, an upper support bracket that is fixed to a part of the vehicle body behind the tilting center of the lower bracket, and the column bracket that is releasably fixed to the upper support bracket. With a locking mechanism
The lock mechanism is inserted into a tilt elongated hole provided in the upper support bracket and extending in a substantially vertical direction and a telescopic elongated hole provided in the column bracket and extending in the column axial direction, and a bolt extending in the left and right direction of the vehicle, and the bolt An operation lever that is assembled on the top and that can be rotated, and the column bracket and the upper support bracket that are assembled on the bolt and moved in the axial direction of the bolt as the operation lever rotates. In a vehicle steering column device having a cam unit capable of fixing and releasing
The telescopic elongated hole is provided with a first tooth portion along the column axial direction, and a portion of the bolt inserted through the telescopic elongated hole is engaged with the first tooth portion in the bolt axial direction. A second tooth portion that can be detached is provided, and the second tooth portion meshes with the first tooth portion by the lock operation of the operation lever, and the column bracket and the upper support bracket are fixed. And the unlocking operation of the operation lever is set so that the second tooth part is detached from the first tooth part and the column bracket and the upper support bracket are released from being fixed. A vehicle steering column device.   2. The vehicle steering column device according to claim 1, wherein the column bracket includes a first bracket integrated with the upper tube, and a second telescopic elongated hole that is movable in a column axial direction with respect to the first bracket. The vehicle is characterized in that it is constituted by brackets, and an impact energy absorption mechanism that operates when a predetermined column axial load acts on the upper tube toward the front of the vehicle is provided between them. Steering column device.

Images