JP3474435B2 - Steering wheel - Google Patents

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a steering wheel provided with a cored bar.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in a steering wheel provided with a rim portion, a boss portion located inside the rim portion, and a plurality of spoke portions connecting the rim portion and the boss portion, a passenger side of the boss portion There is known a structure including a pad body such as an airbag device. And this pad body
It is attached to the boss core metal of the boss portion or is attached to the spoke core metal of the spoke portion.

[0003]

However, in the structure in which the pad body is attached to the boss core metal of the boss portion as in the above-described conventional art, the occupant collides with the rim portion at the time of a collision of the automobile and the rim portion and the spokes. When the part is deformed, the pad body remains in the central part of the steering wheel without retreating, so that it is not always easy to improve the shock absorbing characteristics, and the manufacturing cost is increased. In addition, in the structure in which the pad body is attached to the spoke core metal of the spoke portion, the pad body also retreats as the spoke portion retreats, but since the position supporting the pad body is limited to the spoke portion, depending on the number of spokes, etc. The design is restricted, or the number of supporting positions increases more than necessary, and the manufacturing cost rises.

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and an object of the present invention is to provide a steering wheel which can easily improve the shock absorbing characteristics and can reduce the manufacturing cost.

[0005]

A steering wheel according to a first aspect of the present invention includes a rim portion, a boss portion located inside the rim portion, and a plurality of spoke portions connecting the rim portion and the boss portion. In the equipped steering wheel,
A boss core provided on the boss portion and a horn play constituting a horn switch mechanism arranged on the occupant side of the boss portion.
Doo and the spoke core bar is connected to the boss core metal provided to each spoke connects the middle portions of these spokes core metal, and a connecting piece of the supporting portion is provided for supporting the horn plate The horn plate is attached to the support portion using a fixing tool, and is attached to the place outside the support portion by being locked.

Further, in this structure, the occupant collides with the rim portion.
The rim and the spokes that support this rim
When deforming and retracting, the middle parts of the spoke cores are
It was supported by the support part of the connected pieceHorn plateAfter
Withdrawal, shock absorption characteristics are easily improved. Also,Horn
plateThe position to support is not limited to the spoke part.
Therefore, there are less restrictions on the structure and design, and the manufacturing cost is reduced.
Will be reduced. Furthermore, in this configuration,Horn plate
Is attached to the support using fasteners,
Since it is locked and attached to a place outside the support part, the support part
For the support, use a fastener to securely support the
Retreat from the member side and other parts
Has a simplified structure due to the attachment by locking,
Manufacturing cost is reduced.

The steering wheel according to claim 2 is
The steering wheel according to claim 1, wherein a horn
The plate is arranged apart from the boss core on the support portion side.

With this structure, when the horn plate is retracted, it is difficult for the horn plate to come into contact with the boss core, and the shock absorbing characteristics are easily improved.

The steering wheel according to claim 3 is
The steering wheel according to claim 1 or 2, further comprising an auxiliary connecting piece for connecting the boss core metal and a support portion of the connecting piece, wherein the boss core metal, the auxiliary connecting piece, and the connecting piece are integrally die-cast. It is a thing.

Further, in this structure, since the auxiliary connecting piece is provided, the weld line of the die casting is less likely to occur in the supporting portion, the strength is improved, and the horn plate is securely held.

A steering wheel according to a fourth aspect is
The steering wheel according to any one of claims 1 to 3.
The connecting piece, the longitudinal middle part is on the boss core bar side.
Curved inward, and the supporting part is deviated to the center side of the boss core
Is.

With this structure, when the core metal is deformed,
The horn plate can be largely retracted with respect to the movement amount of the support portion, and the load applied to the occupant can be easily reduced.

[0013]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION An embodiment of a steering wheel of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

1 to 3, reference numeral 1 denotes a steering wheel of an automobile.
Is composed of a steering wheel body 2 and an airbag device (airbag module) 4 which is a pad body mounted on an upper side of the steering wheel body 2 which is an occupant side. The steering wheel 1 is normally mounted on a steering shaft provided in a vehicle in a tilted state. Hereinafter, the occupant side of the airbag device 4, that is, the front side, is the upper side, the steering shaft side is the lower side, and the vehicle is the lower side. The front side, that is, the windshield side above the front side will be described as the front side, and the rear side of the vehicle, that is, the lower rear side will be described as the rear side or the front side.

The steering wheel body 2 is
A ring-shaped rim portion 5 called a ring portion or a grip portion, and a boss portion 6 located inside the rim portion 5.
And a plurality of, in the present embodiment, four spoke portions 7 connecting the rim portion 5 and the boss portion 6. A pair of spokes 7 are provided in substantially opposite directions, and are formed in a V shape on the front side of the occupant so as to form a pair on both sides.

Further, the rim portion 5, the boss portion 6 and the spoke portion 7 are respectively provided with a rim core metal, a boss core metal 6a and a spoke core metal 7a, which are connected to each other or integrally formed to form a die casting core. Gold is made up. And
A skin C made of soft polyurethane foam or the like is formed on the outer peripheral portion of the rim core metal and the outer peripheral portion of the spoke core metal 7a on the rim portion 5 side.

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 3 to 5, the boss core metal 6a is located at the lower portion of the boss portion 6 on the vehicle body side, and is forged by being fitted to the steering shaft, and is formed by cutting metal. A boss 6b formed by press forming is provided, and a boss plate 6c is integrally fixed to the boss 6b by casting with aluminum die casting.

Further, the spoke core metal 7a is provided with a round bar-shaped core portion 7b connected to the boss 6c by welding or the like, and the die cast portion 7c is provided on at least a part of the outer periphery of the core material portion 7b. Is integrally fixed around the boss plate 6c by casting with an aluminum die cast united with the boss plate 6c.

Further, the rim portion 5 is attached to the spoke core metal 7a.
The core metal of is fixed by welding.

In addition, the middle portions of the spoke core metal 7a forming a pair on the front side (lower side) are connected to each other by a connecting piece 8, and the central portion of the connecting piece 8 and the boss plate 6c. An auxiliary connecting piece 9 connects between and. The connecting piece 8 and the auxiliary connecting piece 9 are formed by the die casting portion 7c of the boss plate 6c, that is, the spoke core metal 7a.
It is integrally formed by aluminum die casting that is integrated with. The connecting piece 8 has a boss plate 6c slightly in the middle.
It is curved to the side, and in this curved center part,
A support portion 8a which is a screw hole is formed. Further, the auxiliary connecting piece 9 is formed to be thinner than the connecting piece 8 and the spoke core metal 7a, that is, to have a lower strength in a range where the molten metal of the die casting smoothly flows.

A cylindrical spring seat is provided at each of connecting portions on both sides of the spoke core metal 7a and the connecting piece 8 and at both side portions of the boss plate 6c located in front of these connecting portions.
10a are formed, and fixed contacts 10b facing upward are provided at the central portions of these spring seats 10a. Further, the guide receiving portions 10c, 10c are provided at the portions that extend from the both sides of the front portion of the boss plate 6c to the spoke portions 7.
Are integrally formed by aluminum die casting. Further, a screw seat 7d is integrally formed on each spoke core metal 7a by aluminum die casting.

The die-casting of the core metal is performed by using a die G on which a boss 6b or the like is placed, which is located at the center of the front end side of the boss plate 6c, from a die-cast metal such as an aluminum alloy or a magnesium alloy. The molten metal is poured and the die-cast metal is advanced along each spoke core metal 7a to form the die-cast portion 7c. Further, since this die casting metal flows into the connecting piece 8 via the auxiliary connecting piece 9 and the spoke core metal 7a as shown by the arrow D,
In the vicinity of the central supporting portion 8a, a weld line (wrinkle) is less likely to occur during die casting, and the supporting portion is a screw hole.
The strength of 8a is increased.

The boss 6 has a resin lower cover.
11 is attached and the lower side of the boss 6 is covered.
The lower cover 11 has a central opening 11a in which the steering shaft is inserted and an electrical connection device such as a clock spring for electrically connecting the vehicle body side and the steering wheel 1 side is arranged. There is. In addition, the rear opening of the lower cover 11
The lower cover 11 is formed with side openings 11c, 11c on both sides of the lower cover 11, and the side openings 11c, 11c are covered by the lids 12b, 12c, 12c, respectively. Further, from the upper surface of the lower cover 11, a plurality of cylindrical mounting bosses 11d are integrally provided so as to project upward.

The lower cover 11 is attached to the steering wheel body 2 by screwing the screws 13 inserted from the upper side into the through holes formed in the screw receiving seats 7d into the attachment bosses 11d.

Further, this steering wheel body 2
Is provided with a horn switch mechanism, and the airbag device 4 is attached via the horn switch mechanism.

As shown in FIG. 3, the airbag device 4 is provided with a base plate 14 made of a metal plate or the like,
From the upper side of the base plate 14, a bag-shaped airbag 1
5. An annular retainer 16 and a resin cover body 17 are attached, while an inflator 18 for injecting gas is attached from below the base plate 14. Further, although not shown, the base plate 14 is formed with a pair of mounting portions on both sides including nuts and the like.

Further, the horn switch mechanism includes a horn plate 31 as an occupant side member and four horn springs 3 as coil springs which are elastic bodies as biasing means.
2, and a stepped bolt (torx bolt) 33 as a fastener.

The horn plate 31 has a body portion 35 integrally formed by punching and bending a conductive metal plate. The main body portion 35 is provided with a frame-shaped portion 36 having a substantially rectangular frame shape, and guide portions 37, 37 serving as locking pieces are formed from both ends of the frame-shaped portion 36 toward both sides. From the middle part on both sides to the upper side, the mounting piece 38
Is projected. Further, in the rear side portion of the frame-shaped portion 36, the central portion is formed one step lower than the other portions, and the circular hole-shaped mounting hole 40
Are formed. Further, in the vicinity of the four corners of the frame-shaped portion 36,
The movable contact 42 is formed by driving a separate metal and caulking.

Further, the main body portion 35 is partly adhered and covered with an insulating resin or the like by the so-called outsert formation. That is, the horn plate 31 includes guide portions 37, 37 on both sides, a front insulating portion 44 covering the guide portions 37, 37, and a rear insulating portion covering the periphery of the mounting hole 40.
45 and a spring receiving portion 46 that annularly surrounds each movable contact 42 are formed.

The stepped bolt 33 includes a threaded portion 33a which is screwed into the support portion 8a and a threaded portion which is continuous to the upper side of the threaded portion 33a.
A cylindrical intermediate portion 33b having a diameter larger than 33a and this intermediate portion 33b.
A head portion 33c, which is continuous with the upper side of b and has a diameter larger than that of the intermediate portion 33b, is provided.

In the horn plate 31, the lower ends of the horn springs 32 are attached to the spring seats 10a of the steering wheel body 2, and the upper ends of the horn springs 32 are attached to the spring receiving portions 46 of the horn plate 31. In this state, the guide parts 37, 37 of the horn plate 31 are slid from the front side to guide the guide receiving part 10 of the steering wheel body 2.
Insert it in c and engage with it in a slidable manner in the vertical direction within a predetermined range.Furthermore, install the stepped bolt 33 in the mounting hole 40 covered by the rear insulating part 45.
The intermediate portion 33b is slidably inserted from the upper side, and the threaded portion 33a of the stepped bolt 33 is screwed into the support portion 8a of the connecting piece 8.
Then, in this state, the horn plate 31 is insulated from the boss plate 6c, and the guide receiving portions 10c, 10c.
Also, the stepped bolt 33 is guided at three points, and is supported so as to be elastically movable in the vertical direction.

Further, the mounting piece 3 of the horn plate 31
The airbag device 4 is fixed to the horn plate 31 by fastening the mounting portions of the base plate 14 of the airbag device 4 to the 8, 38 with bolts (not shown). further,
The horn plate 31 is connected to a connecting device such as a clock spring by a horn cord (not shown). Further, the connector 49 led out from the airbag device 4 is also connected to the connecting device.

The steering wheel 1 assembled in this way is urged by the horn spring 32 when no force is applied to the airbag device 4.
The horn plate 31 that supports the airbag device 4 is pushed upward to a position where it abuts on the guide receiving portion 10a and the head portion 33c of the stepped bolt 33, and the movable contact 42 of this horn plate 31 moves from the front and rear fixed contacts 10b. It is supported in a separated state.

On the other hand, when the horn plate 31 is pushed down and one of the movable contacts 42 comes into contact with the fixed contact 10b while the airbag device 4 is being pushed, the negative terminal of the battery, the steering shaft, the boss 6b, and the boss plate.
6c, fixed contact 10b, horn plate 31, horn cord,
The circuit of the horn switch mechanism is closed in the order of the connecting device and the horn device on the vehicle body side, and the horn blows.

In addition, when a car collides, an inactive gas such as nitrogen gas is rapidly injected from the inflator 18 of the air bag device 4 into the air bag 15,
The folded and stored airbag 15 expands rapidly. Then, due to the inflation pressure of the airbag 15, the cover body 17 is cleaved into a predetermined shape to form a protruding port of the airbag 15, and the airbag 15 projects from the protruding port and inflates and deploys to the front of the occupant. Protect passengers.

Further, according to the present embodiment, when the occupant is thrown to the front side and a load is applied due to so-called belly hitting which collides with the front side of the rim portion 5, a rim core metal and a spoke core metal are applied. 7a is deformed and retreats to absorb the shock. At this time, since the horn plate 31 is supported by the connecting piece 8 connected between the front spoke metal cores 7a, 7a, the horn plate 31 is also connected to the connecting piece 8 as shown by the two-dot chain line in FIG. 8 is reliably retracted, that is, the airbag device 4 supported by the horn plate 31 is also retracted, and the shock absorbing characteristics can be easily improved.

Further, the auxiliary connecting piece 9 connected to the connecting piece 8
Is thin in the range where the die-cast metal flows smoothly, so when the spoke core metal 7a deforms, the boss core metal
The edge portion on the 6a side is easily deformed or fractured so that the load applied to the occupant is not increased.

Further, since the rear side portion where the horn plate 31 is connected to the connecting piece 8 is located on the rear side of the boss plate 6c, it is difficult for the horn plate 31 to contact the boss plate 6c when the core metal is deformed, It does not increase the load on the occupant.

The connecting piece 8 is a spoke core metal on the front side.
Since the portions of the spring seats 10a provided with the fixed contacts 10b of 7a are connected to each other, the spoke core metal 7a can be deformed from the boss plate 6c side, that is, the root side.

In the steering wheel 1 having four spokes 7, the spoke core metal 7 on the front side
Since a connecting piece 8 is provided between a and 7a and a supporting portion 8a is provided on the connecting piece 8, in a so-called four-spoke handle,
A configuration in which the horn plate 31 is supported at three points can be easily realized. Further, since two of the three points that support the horn plate 31 are hooked and locked without using fasteners, the number of parts such as bolts (screws) is reduced compared to the configuration using a plurality of fasteners. It is possible to reduce the number, simplify the manufacturing process, and reduce the manufacturing cost.

Further, an auxiliary connecting piece 9 is connected to the boss core bar 6a to which the die-cast molding gate G is directly connected, and coaxially with the gate G, which serves as a die-casting gate or runner toward the support portion 8a. Since it is provided, a weld line is unlikely to be formed in the vicinity of the supporting portion 8a during die casting, the strength of the supporting portion 8a of the connecting piece 8 that is supported by screwing the stepped bolt 33 can be easily improved, and the frame-shaped The integral three-point stop horn plate 31 can be securely held.

Further, since the connecting piece 8 is slightly curved in the longitudinal middle portion toward the boss plate 6c side and the support portion 8a which is the attachment point of the horn plate 31 is deviated to the center side of the boss core metal 6a, When the core metal is deformed, the horn plate 31 can be largely retracted with respect to the movement amount of the support portion 8a, and the load applied to the occupant can be easily reduced.

In the above-mentioned embodiment, the auxiliary connecting piece 9 has a thin plate shape without irregularities so that the die-cast metal can flow smoothly. However, a part of the auxiliary connecting piece 9 is recessed (notched shape). It is also possible to reduce the load applied to the occupant by forming a weak portion which becomes a stress concentration portion by concentrating the stress on a part of the auxiliary connecting piece 9 when the core metal is deformed and surely deforming or breaking it. it can.

For example, as shown in FIG. 6, the auxiliary connecting piece 9
The upper surface of the end on the boss plate 6c side can be recessed to form the easily deformable weak portion 9a. The position of the weak portion can be appropriately selected along the auxiliary connecting piece 9. For example, in addition to the end portion of the upper surface of the auxiliary connecting piece 9 on the boss plate 6c side, the middle portion of the upper surface, and the connecting piece 8 side of the upper surface. It is also possible to form a weak portion by recessing any one or a plurality of end portions, the lower surface on the boss plate 6c side, the lower surface intermediate portion, and the lower surface on the connecting piece 8 side.

[0045]

According to the steering wheel of the first aspect, when an occupant collides with the rim portion and the rim portion and the spoke portion supporting the rim portion are deformed and retreat, the intermediate portion of the spoke cored bar. The horn plate supported by the supporting portion of the connecting piece that connects the members to each other is also retracted, and the shock absorbing characteristics can be easily improved. Further, since the position for supporting the horn plate is not limited to the spoke portion, there are less restrictions on the structure and design, and the manufacturing cost can be reduced. In addition, ho
The hook plate is attached to the support part using a fastener, and is locked and attached to a place outside the support part, so that the support part is securely supported using the fastener so that the occupant side at the time of a collision. In addition, the other parts can be simplified in structure and attached to the other parts by locking so that the manufacturing cost can be reduced.

According to the steering wheel of claim 2, in addition to the effect of claim 1, a horn plate is provided.
The horn is placed apart from the boss core on the support side.
When the plate retreats, it is less likely that it will come into contact with the boss core metal, and the shock absorption characteristics can be easily improved.

According to the steering wheel of the third aspect, in addition to the effect of the first or second aspect, the steering wheel is provided with an auxiliary connecting piece for connecting the boss mandrel and the supporting portion of the connecting piece.
These bosses metal core, the auxiliary connecting piece, and a connecting piece upon die casting integrally with the strength can be improved by unlikely to occur weld line of die-cast in the supporting portion, the horn play
The door can be securely held.

According to the steering wheel of claim 4, in addition to the effect of any one of claims 1 to 3,
Since the connecting piece is curved in the longitudinal middle part toward the boss core metal and biases the support part toward the center side of the boss core metal, when the core metal is deformed, the horn plate is moved against the amount of movement of the support part. It is possible to draw in a large amount, and the load applied to the occupant can be easily reduced.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a partial exploded perspective view showing an embodiment of a steering wheel of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a plan view of the above steering wheel.

FIG. 3 is a sectional view of the steering wheel taken along line I-I of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a plan view of a part of a core metal of the same steering wheel.

[Fig. 5] Same as above, but with the core metal of the steering wheel,
It is a II sectional view.

FIG. 6 is a sectional view of a cored bar showing another embodiment of the steering wheel of the present invention, taken along the line II-II in FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 steering wheel 5 rim part 6 Boss 6a Boss core 7 spokes 7a spoke core 8 connecting pieces 8a Support 9 Auxiliary connecting piece 31 Horn plate as a passenger side member 33 Stepped bolts as fasteners

Continuation of front page (56) Reference JP-A-7-257394 (JP, A) JP-A-3-197273 (JP, A) Actually open 4-101768 (JP, U) Actually open 1-170065 (JP , U) (58) Fields investigated (Int.Cl. ⁷ , DB name) B62D 1/00-1/28 B60R 21/05

Claims (4)

(57) [Claims] 1. A steering wheel having a rim portion, a boss portion located inside the rim portion, and a plurality of spoke portions connecting the rim portion and the boss portion, wherein a boss provided on the boss portion is provided. The core metal and the horn switch mechanism arranged on the passenger side of the boss
The horn plate , the spoke cores connected to the boss cores and provided on the respective spokes, and the intermediate parts of the spokes cores are connected to each other to form the horn.
Comprising a connecting piece provided with support portions for supporting the plate, the horn plate, together with the attached using fasteners to the support portion, characterized in that it is mounted locked in place of the support outer And steering wheel. 2. The steering wheel according to claim 1, wherein the horn plate is arranged apart from the boss core on the support portion side. 3. An auxiliary connecting piece for connecting the boss core metal and a supporting portion of the connecting piece, wherein the boss core metal, the auxiliary connecting piece, and the connecting piece are integrally die-cast. The steering wheel according to Item 1 or 2. 4. The connecting piece is characterized in that the middle portion in the longitudinal direction is curved toward the boss core and the supporting portion is offset toward the center of the boss core. Steering wheel shown.