JP4896072B2 - Shock absorber assembly method and assembly apparatus - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a method and an apparatus for assembling a shock absorber mounted on a vehicle or the like.

Conventionally, this type of shock absorber is provided with a piston rod assembly in which a piston, a bearing, and an oil seal are assembled to a piston rod. The piston rod assembly is assembled to an absorber case, and hydraulic oil and gas are enclosed (patented) Reference 1).
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2003-014029

  However, at the time of assembling the piston rod assembly, foreign matter (dust etc.) floating in the air adheres to the piston rod through the oil applied or adhered to the surface of the piston rod assembly, or screwed to the piston rod as described later. There is a possibility that minute metal pieces scattered when fixing the combined nuts will be attached.If the piston rod assembly is assembled to the absorber case with these foreign objects attached, the foreign objects There is a possibility that the sealing performance of the oil seal deteriorates due to the interposition, or that a desired damping force characteristic cannot be obtained due to foreign matters mixed in the hydraulic oil.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a shock absorber assembling method and an assembling apparatus in which a piston rod assembly is assembled in a clean state where foreign matters are removed from the piston rod. And

  The present invention relates to a shock absorber assembling method in which a piston and an oil seal are assembled to a piston rod, a piston assembling step for assembling the piston to the piston rod, and a scraper fitted to the outer peripheral surface of the piston rod to move the piston rod A scraper scraping step for scraping off foreign matter adhering to the piston and an oil seal assembling step for assembling the oil seal to the piston rod are sequentially performed.

  The present invention relates to a shock absorber assembly device that removes foreign matter adhering to a piston rod before assembling an oil seal to the piston rod of the shock absorber, and includes a scraper that fits to the outer peripheral surface of the piston rod, and an inverted piston rod support base The inverted piston rod support base includes an inverted support portion that supports the piston rod by inverting it, and collects and sucks foreign matter scraped from the piston rod by moving the scraper around the inverted support portion. And a suction accumulating unit.

  According to the shock absorber assembling method of the present invention, the scraper scraping process is performed after the piston assembling process, so that the foreign matter adhering to the piston rod during the caulking work of the piston assembling process is removed by the scraper scraping process. The assembly work of the piston rod assembly is completed in a clean state in which the foreign matter has been removed from the piston rod.

  According to the shock absorber assembling apparatus of the present invention, the foreign matter adhering to the piston rod is scraped off by the scraper, and the foreign matter to be scraped off is sucked and removed by the suction accumulating portion, before the oil seal is assembled to the piston rod. It is possible to obtain a clean state in which foreign matter has been removed.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

  The shock absorber is interposed together with a suspension spring in a wheel suspension device of an automobile or the like, and generates a damping force that suppresses vibrations of the wheel and the suspension spring by extending and contracting in conjunction with the movement of the wheel.

  1 to 4 sequentially show the steps for assembling the piston rod assembly 10 constituting the shock absorber.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the piston rod 11 includes a cylindrical rod portion 14, an upper end screw portion 12 that extends coaxially from the upper end portion of the rod portion 14, and a lower end that extends coaxially from the lower end portion of the rod portion 14. It has the screw part 13 and the crimping hole 16 opened to the lower end surface of this lower end screw part 13. The lower end part of the rod part 14 is the side where the piston 15 is assembled, and the upper end part of the rod part 14 is described as the opposite side.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the piston rod 11 is inverted and supported, the piston 15 is fitted to the rod portion 14, and the nut 9 is screwed to the lower end screw portion 13 to fasten the piston 15.

  Although not shown, the piston 15 generally has a piston body, a piston ring and the like integrated.

  As shown in FIG. 2, after fastening the piston 15, the caulking tool 8 is driven into the caulking hole 16, and the lower end screw portion 13 is expanded in the outer diameter direction to prevent the nut 9 from loosening.

  As shown in FIG. 4, the rebound cushion 23, the bearing 22, and the oil seal 21 are assembled to the piston rod 11, and the assembly of the piston rod assembly 10 is completed.

  The outer periphery of the bearing (rod guide) 22 is fixed to the opening end of the absorber case, and the rod portion 14 is slidably supported by the inner periphery thereof.

  The oil seal 21 is in sliding contact with the outer peripheral surface of the rod portion 14 and seals the absorber case.

  The rebound cushion 23 relieves the shock when the shock absorber is fully extended by the piston 15 coming into contact with the shock absorber when the shock absorber is extended.

  After the piston rod assembly 10 is assembled in this way, in the next step (not shown), the piston rod assembly 10 is assembled to the absorber case and the working fluid is sealed, whereby the shock absorber is completed.

  In the shock absorber mounted on the automobile, the lower end portion of the absorber case is connected to the wheel side, and the upper end portion of the piston rod 11 is connected to the vehicle body. The upper end screw portion 12 is fastened to the vehicle body by a nut (not shown) that is screwed to the upper end screw portion 12.

  By the way, the foreign matter (dust etc.) floating in the air adheres to the piston rod 11 through the oil component applied or attached to the surface thereof, the foreign matter is also attached due to the influence of static electricity, or the caulking hole 16. There is a possibility that a minute metal piece scattered when the caulking tool 8 is driven is attached. When the piston rod assembly 10 is assembled to the absorber case with the foreign matter adhering to the piston rod 11, the foreign matter is interposed between the rod portion 14 and the oil seal 21, so that the sealing performance of the oil seal 21 is reduced, or the foreign matter As a result, the desired damping force characteristics cannot be obtained.

  In response to this, the present invention is configured to scrape off the foreign matter adhering to the rod portion 14 of the piston rod 11 using the shock absorber assembling apparatus shown in FIGS.

  The shock absorber assembling apparatus includes a scraper 30 fitted to the outer peripheral surface of the piston rod 11 and an inverted piston rod support 100. The inverted piston rod support base 100 collects around the inverted support portion 61 the inverted support portion 61 that supports the piston rod 11 by inverting it and the foreign material scraped off from the piston rod 11 when the scraper 30 is moved. And a suction accumulating unit 60 for sucking.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the scraper 30 has a disk-shaped support ring 31 and a scraper seal 32 coupled to the support ring 31. The scraper seal 32 is made of an elastic material such as rubber, and has a rod portion. 14 has annular first and second lip portions 33, 34 that are in sliding contact with each other. The first and second lip portions 33 and 34 are formed in a wedge shape in cross section, and protrude in opposite directions with respect to the vertical direction in FIG. In a state where the scraper 30 is fitted to the rod part 14, the first and second lip parts 33 and 34 are brought into close contact with the rod part 14 by the elastic restoring force, and are attached to the rod part 14 by sliding contact with the rod part 14. The foreign object is scraped off. Since the first and second lip portions 33 and 34 are inclined in the scraping direction and project in a wedge shape, the foreign matter attached to the rod portion 14 can be effectively scraped off.

  The cleaning oil blower 55 shown in FIG. 2 blows out the cleaning oil in a mist form. The cleaning oil is the same as the working fluid sealed in the absorber case, or a synthetic oil different from the working fluid is used.

  The suction accumulating unit 60 shown in FIG. 3 sucks and removes foreign matter scraped off by the scraper 30.

  The inverted support portion 61 includes a support hole 61a into which the upper end screw portion 12 of the piston rod 11 is inserted, a seat surface 61b on which the upper end surface of the rod portion 14 is seated, and a cone extending downward from the outer peripheral edge portion of the seat surface 61b. The piston rod 11 is supported in an inverted state.

  The suction accumulating section 60 includes a casing 63 that defines a collection chamber 62 around an inverted support section 61 that supports the upper end of the inverted piston rod 11, and an air blow jet outlet 66 that ejects pressurized air into the collection chamber 62. And an air suction port 67 for sucking and discharging the air in the collection chamber 62.

  The cylindrical casing 63 has an inner wall surface 63a that surrounds the inverted support portion 61, and an upper wall surface 63b that faces and contacts the support ring 31 of the scraper 30.

  A plurality of air blow outlets 66 are opened on the inner wall surface 63a of the casing 63 at equal intervals in the circumferential direction. The air blow outlet 66 is inclined downward toward the collection chamber 62, opens along the first lip 34 of the scraper 30 seated on the seat surface 61 b, and pressurized air ejected from the air blow outlet 66 is Foreign matter adhering to the first lip portion 34 is blown away.

  A plurality of air suction ports 67 are opened at equal intervals in the circumferential direction at the lower end portion of the inner wall surface 63 a of the casing 63. The air suction port 67 is opened along the bottom surface 62 a of the collection chamber 62, and foreign matter collected on the bottom surface 62 a is sucked and discharged together with the air in the collection chamber 62.

  The air blow outlet 66 communicates with a pressurized air supply source (not shown), and air that has been increased to a predetermined pressure A (Pa) is introduced. The air suction port 67 communicates with a negative pressure source (not shown) and is lowered to a predetermined pressure B (Pa) to introduce a negative pressure. The absolute value of the negative pressure B guided to the air suction port 67 is set to be larger than the absolute value of the positive pressure A guided to the air blow outlet 66. Thereby, the air flow blown into the collection chamber 62 from the air blow outlet 66 is prevented from being disturbed in the collection chamber 62 and the foreign matter in the collection chamber 62 is prevented from diffusing, and the foreign matter in the collection chamber 62 together with the air is sucked into the air suction port 67. It is encouraged to be discharged from.

  Hereinafter, the process of assembling the piston rod assembly 10 will be described in order.

<Scraper seal assembly process>
As shown in FIG. 1, the piston rod 11 is supported upright on the upright support base 40, and the scraper 30 is fitted to the piston rod 11. At this time, the conical cylindrical guide tube 6 is fitted to the upper end screw 12, and the scraper 30 is fitted to the piston rod 11 through the guide tube 6. Since the guide cylinder 6 fills the step between the upper end of the rod portion 14 and the upper end screw portion 12, the scraper 30 can be smoothly fitted to the rod portion 14, and the scraper seal 32 hits the upper end screw portion 12 and is damaged. You can avoid that.

  Subsequently, the scraper 30 is lowered to the lower end portion of the rod portion 14 to which the piston 15 is assembled as indicated by a two-dot chain line.

  An intermediate stopper is provided in the vicinity of the piston 15 of the rod portion 14, and the intermediate stopper is brought into contact with the rebound cushion 23 when the shock absorber is extended, so that the shock absorber is prevented from further extending. There is something that has been. In this case, an intermediate stopper is attached to the rod portion 14 in advance, and then the scraper 30 is lowered until it comes into contact with the intermediate stopper, and the scraper 30 is attached at that position.

<Piston assembly process>
As shown in FIG. 2, the piston rod 11 is inverted and supported on the assembly base 50, the piston 15 is fitted to the lower end portion of the rod portion 14, and the nut 9 is screwed to the lower end screw portion 13 to attach the piston 15. Conclude. After fastening the piston 15 in this way, the caulking tool 8 is driven into the caulking hole 16 to prevent the nut 9 from loosening.

<Cleaning oil blow process>
As shown in FIG. 2, the cleaning oil is blown out in a mist form from the cleaning oil blower 55, and the cleaning oil is attached to the rod portion 14. The cleaning oil prompts the foreign matter attached to the rod portion 14 to be peeled off from the rod portion 14.

<Scraper scraping process>
As shown in FIG. 3, the piston rod 11 is inverted and supported by the inverted support portion 61, and the scraper 30 fitted to the outer peripheral surface of the rod portion 14 is lowered, and the foreign matter attached to the rod portion 14 of the piston rod 11. Scrap off.

  At this time, the first lip portion 33 having a wedge-shaped cross section is in sliding contact with the outer peripheral surface of the rod portion 14 by its elastic restoring force, and the foreign matter separated by the cleaning oil is scraped off from the rod portion 14 without leakage.

  And the foreign material scraped off from the rod part 14 is suctioned and removed by the suction accumulating part 60. Thereby, the foreign matter scraped off is prevented from adhering to the rod portion 14 again.

<Oil seal assembly process>
As shown in FIG. 4, a rebound cushion 23, a bearing 22, and an oil seal 21 are assembled to the piston rod 11 via a conical cylindrical guide cylinder 7. Thereby, the assembly operation of the piston rod assembly 10 is completed in a clean state in which foreign matter is removed from the rod portion 14.

  Each of the above steps is manually performed by an operator, but is not limited thereto, and can be performed automatically by providing an assembly line.

  The present embodiment is a shock absorber assembling method in which the piston 15 and the oil seal 21 are assembled to the piston rod 11. The piston assembling step of assembling the piston 15 to the piston rod 11 and the outer peripheral surface of the piston rod 11 are fitted. The scraper scraping process of scraping off the foreign matter adhering to the piston rod 11 by moving the scraper 30 is performed, and the oil seal assembly process of assembling the oil seal 21 to the piston rod 11 is sequentially performed.

  Based on the above configuration, the scraper scraping process is performed after the piston assembling process, so that the foreign matter adhering to the piston rod 11 during the caulking operation of the piston assembling process causes the scraper 30 to be removed in the scraper scraping process. The assembly work of the piston rod assembly 10 is completed in a clean state in which the foreign matter is removed from the piston rod 11. As a result, the assembled shock absorber is prevented from having foreign matter interposed between the piston rod 11 and the oil seal 21, so that the sealing performance of the oil seal 21 is maintained and the foreign matter is mixed into the working fluid. This can prevent the loss of the desired damping force.

  The present embodiment is characterized in that a cleaning oil blow step of spraying the piston oil 11 on the piston rod 11 is performed between the piston assembly step and the scraper scraping step.

  Based on the above configuration, the foreign matter adhering to the piston rod 11 is urged to be peeled off from the surface of the piston rod 11 by the cleaning oil, and the scraper 30 effectively removes the foreign matter.

  The present embodiment is a shock absorber assembly device that removes foreign matter adhering to the piston rod 11 before the oil seal 21 is assembled to the piston rod 11 of the shock absorber, and is a scraper 30 that fits to the outer peripheral surface of the piston rod 11. And an inverted piston rod support base 100. The inverted piston rod support base 100 is scraped off from the piston rod 11 by moving the scraper 30 and the inverted support portion 61 for supporting the piston rod 11 upside down. And a suction accumulating unit 60 that collects and sucks the foreign matter around the inverted support unit 61.

  Based on the above configuration, the foreign matter adhering to the piston rod 11 is scraped off by the scraper 30, and the foreign matter to be scraped off is sucked and removed by the suction accumulating portion 60, so that the piston rod 11 is attached before the oil seal 21 is assembled. It can be in a clean state from which foreign substances have been removed. As a result, the assembled shock absorber is prevented from having foreign matter interposed between the piston rod 11 and the oil seal 21, so that the sealing performance of the oil seal 21 is maintained and the foreign matter is mixed into the working fluid. Can be prevented, and the desired damping force characteristics can be prevented from being impaired.

  The suction accumulation unit 60 of the present embodiment includes a casing 63 that defines a collection chamber 62 around the inverted support unit 61, an air blow outlet 66 that ejects pressurized air into the collection chamber 62, and a collection chamber 62. An air suction port 67 for sucking and discharging air is provided.

Based on the above configuration, the pressurized air ejected from the air blow outlet 66 blows off the foreign matter adhering to the scraper 30 into the collection chamber 62, and the foreign matter collected in the collection chamber 62 is sucked together with air from the air suction port 67 and discharged. To do. In this way, the foreign material scraped off from the piston rod 11 is sucked and removed by the suction accumulating unit 60, so that the foreign matter scraped off can be prevented from adhering to the piston rod 11 again. And a disc-shaped support ring 31 and a scraper seal 32 made of an elastic material coupled to the support ring 31, and the scraper seal 32 is in sliding contact with the piston rod 11.

  Based on the above configuration, the scraper seal 32 is in sliding contact with the outer peripheral surface of the piston rod 11 by its elastic restoring force, and the foreign matter attached to the piston rod 1 is scraped off by the scraper 30.

  As another embodiment, the scraper 30 shown in FIG. 5 includes a disc-shaped support ring 75 and a scraper seal 70 that is detachably coupled to the support ring 75. The scraper seal 70 is made of an elastic material such as rubber and has an annular lip portion 71 that is in sliding contact with the rod portion 14. The lip portion 71 is formed in a wedge shape in cross section, and scrapes the foreign matter adhering to the rod portion 14 by slidingly contacting the rod portion 14 of the piston rod 11.

  In the scraper seal assembling step for fitting the scraper 30 to the piston rod 11, since the lip portion 71 is inclined in the direction opposite to the fitting direction, this assembling work can be easily performed.

  The support ring 75 has an L-shaped cross section and has a cylindrical portion 75 a into which the scraper seal 70 is fitted. An annular groove 75b is formed in the cylindrical portion 75a, and an annular convex portion 72 that fits into the annular groove 75b is integrally formed in the scraper seal 70, and the scraper seal 70 is prevented from coming off from the support ring 75.

  In the scraper 30 of the present embodiment, since the scraper seal 70 is detachably coupled to the support ring 75, a cleaning operation is performed to remove foreign matter attached to the inside of the scraper seal 70 by removing the scraper seal 70 from the support ring 75. Can be done easily.

  As another embodiment, the scraper 30 shown in FIG. 6 includes a disc-shaped support ring 85 and a scraper seal 80 coupled to the support ring 85. The scraper seal 40 is made of an elastic material such as rubber. And has annular first and second lip portions 83 and 84 which are in sliding contact with the rod portion 14. The first and second lip portions 83 and 84 are wedge-shaped in cross section, project side by side in the same axial direction, and scrape off foreign matter adhering to the rod portion 14 by slidingly contacting the rod portion 14 respectively. It is like that.

  The scraper seal 80 according to the present embodiment has annular first and second lip portions 83 and 84 that are in sliding contact with the piston rod 11, and the first and second lip portions 83 and 84 have their cross sections aligned with each other. Since the first and second lip portions 83 and 84 are in sliding contact with the piston rod 11 in the scraper scraping process, the foreign matter adhering to the piston rod 11 is scraped off. Can be enhanced.

  In addition, since the first and second lip portions 83 and 84 are inclined in the direction opposite to the fitting direction in the scraper seal assembling step for fitting the scraper 30 to the piston rod 11, this assembling operation is easily performed. be able to.

  The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and it is obvious that various modifications can be made within the scope of the technical idea.

In embodiment of this invention, it is explanatory drawing which shows a scraper seal assembly | attachment process. It is explanatory drawing which similarly shows a piston assembly | attachment process and a washing oil blow process. It is explanatory drawing which similarly shows a scraper scraping off process. It is explanatory drawing which similarly shows an oil seal assembly | attachment process. It is sectional drawing of the scraper which shows other embodiment. It is sectional drawing of the scraper which shows other embodiment.

Explanation of symbols

1 piston rod 6 guide cylinder 7 guide cylinder 8 caulking tool 9 nut 10 piston rod assembly 11 piston rod 12 upper end screw part 13 lower end screw part 14 rod part 15 piston 21 oil seal 22 bearing 23 rebound cushion 30 scraper 31 support ring 32 scraper seal 55 Cleaning oil blower 60 Suction accumulation part 61 Inverted support part 62 Collection chamber 63 Casing 66 Air blow jet 67 Air suction port 70 Scraper seal 75 Support ring 80 Scraper seal 83 First lip part 84 Second lip part 85 Support ring 100 Inverted piston rod support

Claims (7)

A shock absorber assembly method in which a piston and an oil seal are assembled to a piston rod,
A piston assembly step of assembling the piston to the piston rod;
A scraper scraping step of moving a scraper fitted to the outer peripheral surface of the piston rod and scraping off foreign matter adhering to the piston rod;
A method of assembling a shock absorber, comprising sequentially performing an oil seal assembling step of assembling the oil seal with the piston rod.   2. The shock absorber assembling method according to claim 1, wherein a cleaning oil blow step of spraying the piston rod on the piston rod is performed between the piston assembly step and the scraper scraping step. A shock absorber assembly device that removes foreign matter adhering to the piston rod after assembling the piston to the piston rod of the shock absorber and before assembling the oil seal,
A scraper fitted to the outer peripheral surface of the piston rod;
An inverted piston rod support,
This inverted piston rod support is
An inverted support part for supporting the piston rod by inverting it;
An apparatus for assembling a shock absorber, comprising: a suction accumulating unit for sucking foreign matter scraped off from the piston rod by moving the scraper. The suction accumulation unit is
A casing defining a collection chamber around the inverted support;
An air blow outlet for jetting pressurized air into the collection chamber;
The shock absorber assembling apparatus according to claim 3, further comprising an air suction port that sucks and discharges air in the collection chamber. The scraper is
A disc-shaped support ring;
A scraper seal coupled to the support ring and made of an elastic material;
The shock absorber assembling apparatus according to claim 3 or 4, wherein the scraper seal is in sliding contact with the piston rod. The scraper is
The shock absorber assembling apparatus according to any one of claims 3 to 5, wherein the scraper seal is detachably coupled to the support ring. The scraper seal is
Having an annular first and second lip portion in sliding contact with the piston rod;
The shock absorber assembling apparatus according to any one of claims 3 to 6, wherein the first and second lip portions are arranged in parallel with each other and project in a wedge shape toward the same axial direction.

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