JP6941557B2 - Electric steering lock device - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to an electric steering lock device.

Conventionally, as an electric steering lock device, a device provided with a partition wall is known in order to prevent the lubricant applied to the gear from flowing into the motor side (see, for example, Patent Document 1).

However, in the conventional electric steering lock device, a gap is formed between the output shaft of the motor and the partition wall to allow the rotation of the output shaft. Therefore, the lubricant may flow into the motor side through this gap.

Japanese Patent No. 4068350

An object of the present invention is to provide an electric steering lock device having a structure for effectively preventing the inflow of a lubricant to the motor side.

The present invention provides means for solving the above problems.
A casing with a motor housing and
A motor that is housed in the motor housing and has a worm gear attached to an output shaft that protrudes from the motor body.
With
The motor accommodating portion
The first accommodating portion in which the motor body is accommodated and
A second accommodating portion in which the worm gear and the output shaft are accommodated,
A partition wall portion that separates the first accommodating portion and the second accommodating portion and has an insertion portion through which the output shaft is inserted, and a partition wall portion.
A cover that covers the second accommodating portion and
With
The motor provides an electric steering lock device to which the output shaft is fitted with a flange member that covers the opening of the insertion portion and partially overlaps the cover when viewed from the axial direction.

With this configuration, even if the lubricant applied to the worm gear tries to flow into the first accommodating portion accommodating the motor body, it can be blocked by the cover and the flange member within the restricted space.

It is preferable that the worm gear and the flange member are integrated.

With this configuration, it is possible to more reliably prevent the inflow of the lubricant into the first accommodating portion without increasing the number of parts.

The flange member preferably includes a small diameter portion on the worm gear side and a large diameter portion on the motor body side.

With this configuration, the inflow of the lubricant can be blocked in two stages, a small diameter portion and a large diameter portion.

The partition wall preferably has a first space portion along the small diameter portion and a second space portion along the large diameter portion.

With this configuration, it is possible to obtain a structure in which the lubricant does not easily flow into each of the small diameter portion and the large diameter portion.

The second accommodating portion and the cover preferably have a guide portion that guides the tip end portion of the output shaft.

With this configuration, it is possible to stabilize the rotational state of the output shaft and make it difficult for the lubricant to flow into the first accommodating portion.

The casing comprises a lid covering an area including the motor housing.
The cover is preferably fixed to the casing by the lid.

With this configuration, the cover can also be attached by attaching the lid to the casing.

According to the present invention, since the flange member provided on the output shaft of the motor covers the opening of the insertion portion provided in the partition wall portion, the lubricant applied to the worm gear flows into the first accommodating portion accommodating the motor body. It is possible to reliably prevent this from happening.

It is a perspective view of the electric steering lock device which concerns on this embodiment. FIG. 5 is an exploded perspective view of the steering lock device shown in FIG. 1 as viewed from the front side. It is a perspective view of the casing main body of FIG. FIG. 5 is an exploded perspective view of the steering lock device shown in FIG. 1 as viewed from the rear side. It is a front view which shows the state which the lid was removed from the steering lock device shown in FIG. FIG. 5 is a partially enlarged perspective view showing the relationship between the cover shown in FIG. 5 and the large-diameter portion of the worm member.

Hereinafter, embodiments according to the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. It should be noted that the following description is essentially merely an example and is not intended to limit the present invention, its application, or its use.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the electric steering lock device according to the present embodiment. This electric steering lock device locks or unlocks the steering wheel by moving the lock bolt 42 back and forth to engage and disengage with a steering wheel (not shown).

As shown in FIG. 2, the electric steering lock device includes a casing 1 and an internal component 2.

The casing 1 is made of a non-magnetic metal material (for example, magnesium alloy), and is composed of a casing main body 3 and a lid 4. The casing main body 3 has a hollow substantially rectangular parallelepiped shape and has an open front surface. As shown in FIG. 3, a substrate accommodating portion 5, a motor accommodating portion 6, and a power transmission mechanism accommodating portion 7 are provided inside. The lid 4 closes the front opening of the casing body 3.

The substrate accommodating portion 5 has guide grooves 8 on both inner surfaces of the casing main body 3, and communicates with the first accommodating portion 9 of the motor accommodating portion 6. The printed circuit board 31 is mounted on the substrate accommodating portion 5 from the front using the guide groove 8.

The motor accommodating portion 6 includes a first accommodating portion 9 and a second accommodating portion 10, both of which are divided by a partition wall portion 11.

A motor main body 33 is arranged in the first accommodating portion 9. Further, the first accommodating portion 9 is formed with a first recess 12 in which the rear end protruding portion 33a of the motor main body 33 is held.

The output shaft 34 of the motor 30 and the worm member 35 attached thereto are arranged in the second accommodating portion 10. Further, the second accommodating portion 10 is formed with a second recess 13 in which the tip end portion of the output shaft 34 is arranged. The bottom surface of the second recess 13 is deeper on the end side.

The partition wall portion 11 is formed with an insertion portion 14 through which the output shaft 34 of the motor 30 is inserted. The insertion portion 14 is composed of a third recess 15, a fourth recess 16, and a fifth recess 17 from the side of the first accommodating portion 9. The bottom surface of the third recess 15 is formed in a semicircular shape so that the front end protruding portion 33b of the motor body 33 abuts and is held. The fourth recess 16 constitutes the second space portion of the present invention, and the bottom surface thereof is formed in a semicircular shape having a diameter larger than that of the third recess 15. In the fourth recess 16, the large diameter portion 38 of the worm member 35 is arranged with a rotatable gap between the bottom surface and the side surface. The bottom surface of the fifth recess 17 has a larger diameter than the third recess 15, but is formed in a semicircular shape having a smaller diameter than the fourth recess 16. The fifth recess 17 constitutes the first space portion of the present invention, in which the small diameter portion 37 of the worm member 35 is arranged with a rotatable gap between the bottom surface and the side surface.

The power transmission mechanism accommodating portion 7 has a hollow cylindrical shape, and a rectangular hole 18 is formed on the back surface of the casing main body 3. The tip portion of the lock bolt 42 can appear and disappear from the rectangular hole 18. A power transmission mechanism 32, which will be described later, is arranged in the power transmission mechanism accommodating portion 7.

A cover 19 is mounted in front of the second accommodating portion 10 of the motor accommodating portion 6 and the power transmission mechanism accommodating portion 7. As shown in FIG. 4, the cover 19 is formed with a circular opening 20. The back peripheral edge of the cover 19 projects to the back side, and an arc-shaped notch 21 is formed in a part thereof. The notch 21 is formed along the small diameter portion 37 of the worm member 35, which will be described later. Further, on the back surface of the cover 19, a convex portion 22 is formed on the side opposite to the notch 21. The convex portion 22 is located in the second concave portion 13 of the second accommodating portion 10 and guides the output shaft 34 of the motor 30 to prevent the worm wheel 44 and the worm gear 36 from being disengaged from each other.

A protrusion 23 is formed on the back surface of the casing main body 3, and a recess 24 having a semicircular curved surface is formed in the central portion thereof. Although not shown, a steering shaft inserted into the column tube is arranged in the recess 24 and is fixed by a bracket. The steering shaft is formed with an engaging recess in which the tip portion of the lock bolt 42, which will be described later, engages and disengages. When the lock bolt 42 engages with the engaging recess, the steering shaft is locked and the steering wheel cannot rotate.

The lid 4 has a flat plate shape, and a rectangular hole 25 for exposing the connector 39 is formed. Protrusions 26 having mounting holes 26a are formed at three locations on the back surface of the lid 4. A pin (not shown) is press-fitted into the mounting hole 26a through a through hole 3a formed in the opening edge of the casing main body 3. As a result, the lid 4 is fixed to the casing main body 3. Further, a tubular portion 27 protrudes from the back surface of the lid 4, and protrusions 28a and 28b are formed at the central portion thereof and four peripheral portions, respectively. The spring 29 is guided by the central protrusion 28a. The four peripheral protrusions 28b come into contact with the cover 19 and position the cover 19 with respect to the casing main body 3.

The internal component 2 includes a motor 30, a printed circuit board 31, a power transmission mechanism 32, and the like.

As shown in FIG. 5, the motor 30 includes a motor main body 33 and an output shaft 34 projecting from the motor main body 33. A worm member 35 is attached to the output shaft 34.

The worm member 35 includes a worm gear 36, a small diameter portion 37, and a large diameter portion 38 from one end to the other end. The worm gear 36 meshes with the worm wheel 44 described later, and transmits the rotational force of the output shaft 34 driven by the motor 30 to the gear member 40. The small diameter portion 37 has substantially the same outer diameter dimension as the worm gear 36, and is arranged in the fourth recess 16 of the motor accommodating portion 6. The large diameter portion 38 has an outer diameter dimension sufficiently larger than the opening area of the third recess 15 of the motor accommodating portion 6 on the fourth recess 16 side so as to cover the opening portion of the third recess 15. It has become. Here, the large diameter portion 38 functions as the flange member of the present invention.

Returning to FIG. 2, various electronic components 31a are mounted on the printed circuit board 31. The electronic component 31a includes a component having a large amount of protrusion from the printed circuit board 31. When the printed circuit board 31 is mounted on the substrate accommodating portion 5 from the front, these electronic components 31a pass through the motor accommodating portion 6 and are arranged on the back side. The connector 39 is screwed to the front side of the printed circuit board 31. The motor 30 is fixed to the connector 39 in a state of being electrically connected.

As shown in FIG. 4, the power transmission mechanism 32 includes a gear member 40, a cam member 41, and a lock bolt 42. The gear member 40 has a hollow cylindrical shape, and includes a large-diameter cylindrical portion 43, a worm wheel 44, and a small-diameter cylindrical portion 45 from the base end side. The worm wheel 44 meshes with the worm gear 36. A female screw is formed on the inner peripheral surface of the gear member 40. The cam member 41 is formed with a male screw that is screwed into the female screw of the gear member 40 on the outer peripheral surface of the tip portion. The lock bolt 42 is rotatably connected to the rear end of the cam member 41 by a pin. As a result, when the gear member 40 rotates in the forward and reverse directions, the lock bolt 42 reciprocates in the axial direction of the cam member 41, and the tip portion of the lock bolt 42 appears and disappears from the rectangular hole 18 of the casing 1.

Subsequently, a method of assembling the electric steering lock device having the above configuration will be described.

First, the power transmission mechanism 32 is assembled. That is, the lock bolt 42 is connected by a pin with a spring (not shown) interposed at the rear portion of the cam member 41. A gear member 40 is attached to the front portion of the cam member 41. At this time, the female screw of the gear member 40 is screwed into the male screw of the cam member 41 so that when the gear member 40 rotates in the forward and reverse directions, the cam member 41 reciprocates in the axial direction thereof. Further, the spring 29 is arranged in the tip recess of the cam member 41. The power transmission mechanism 32 assembled in this way is assembled from the front to the power transmission mechanism accommodating portion 7 of the casing main body 3.

Further, various electronic components 31a are mounted on the printed circuit board 31. A motor terminal (not shown) is provided on the printed circuit board 31 so as to protrude from the motor mounting surface 39a of the connector 39, and the motor terminal is inserted into the motor connection hole of the motor 30 with respect to the motor mounting surface 39a of the connector 39. The motor 30 is attached. At this time, the worm member 35 is attached to the output shaft 34 of the motor 30 in advance. Then, the printed circuit board 31 is inserted into the substrate accommodating portion 5 along the guide groove 8 from the front opening of the casing main body 3. Some of the electronic components 31a mounted on the printed circuit board 31 have a large height dimension, but since the substrate accommodating portion 5 and the motor accommodating portion 6 communicate with each other, the casing main body 3 passes through the motor accommodating portion 6. Can be placed on the back side of. The motor 30 is attached by arranging the motor main body 33 in the first accommodating portion 9 of the motor accommodating portion 6 and arranging the output shaft 34 and the worm member 35 in the second accommodating portion 10. In the first accommodating portion 9, the rear end protruding portion 33a of the motor body 33 is positioned in the first recess 12, and the front end protruding portion 33b is positioned in the third recess 15. Further, the worm gear 36 of the worm member 35 is meshed with the worm wheel 44 of the gear member 40 previously assembled.

In the motor 30 assembled in this way, the large diameter portion 38 of the worm member 35 is located in the fourth recess 16 of the casing body 3, the small diameter portion 37 is located in the fifth recess 17, and the tip portion of the output shaft 34 is located. It is located in the second recess 13. As a result, the opening portion of the third recess 15 to the fourth recess 16 can be covered by the large diameter portion 38 of the worm member 35. Further, as shown in FIG. 6, the large-diameter portion 38 of the worm member 35 overlaps with the arc-shaped notch 21 of the cover 19 when viewed from the axial direction thereof (in FIG. 6, it overlaps). The dimensions shown are indicated by w). Further, the small diameter portion 37 is interposed in the region from the worm gear to the large diameter portion 38.

Subsequently, a cover 19 is attached to the casing main body 3 to cover the second accommodating portion 10 of the motor accommodating portion 6 and the power transmission mechanism accommodating portion 7. The convex portion 22 of the cover 19 is located in the second concave portion 13 of the casing main body 3 and guides the tip end portion of the output shaft 34 of the motor 30. In this way, the convex portion 22 constitutes the guide portion of the present invention. Further, the notch 21 of the cover 19 is arranged along the small diameter portion 37 of the worm member 35. A small-diameter cylindrical portion 45 of the gear member 40 and a tip portion of a cam member 41 arranged therein protrude from the opening 20 of the cover 19.

Finally, the lid 4 is attached to the casing body 3. By attaching the lid 4, the protrusion 28a formed therein holds the spring 29, and the protrusion 28b presses the surface of the cover 19 to stabilize the mounting state of the cover 19. The lid 4 is attached to the casing main body 3 by press-fitting a pin into each mounting hole 26a through a through hole 3a formed in the opening edge of the casing main body 3. This completes the electric steering lock device.

Next, the operation of the electric steering lock device having the above configuration will be described.
When the engine is stopped, the lock bolt 42 protrudes from the rectangular hole 18 of the casing main body 3. The lock bolt 42 engages with the engaging recess of the steering shaft, and the steering wheel cannot rotate.

When a start switch (not shown) is turned on to start the engine, the motor 30 is driven and the output shaft 34 equipped with the worm member 35 rotates in the forward direction. Due to the forward rotation of the output shaft 34, the gear member 40 rotates forward via the worm wheel 44 meshed with the worm gear 36 of the worm member 35. The rotation of the gear member 40 causes the cam member 41 to move forward along its axis via a male screw screwed into a female screw formed on its inner peripheral surface. As a result, the lock bolt 42 connected to the cam member 41 moves, and the tip portion thereof falls off from the engaging recess of the steering shaft. As a result, the steering wheel becomes operable and the engine starts.

Further, when the engine is stopped, the motor 30 is driven in reverse direction, and the operation opposite to the above is performed. That is, the output shaft 34 equipped with the worm member 35 rotates in the reverse direction, and the gear member 40 rotates in the reverse direction via the worm wheel 44 meshed with the worm gear 36. As a result, the cam member 41 moves rearward along the axis thereof, the lock bolt 42 engages with the engaging recess of the steering shaft, and the steering wheel becomes inoperable.

By the way, in the electric steering lock device, grease as a lubricant is applied to the worm gear 36 and the worm wheel 44 in order to smoothly transmit the rotational force of the motor 30 to the gear member 40. The viscosity of this grease decreases due to an increase in the temperature inside the vehicle, and the grease easily flows to regions other than the gears.

A small diameter portion 37 and a large diameter portion 38 are integrated into the worm gear 36 according to the present embodiment to form a worm member 35. Moreover, an inner surface region along the outer peripheral surface of the small diameter portion 37 is formed around the small diameter portion 37 by the fifth recess 17 formed in the partition wall portion 11 of the casing main body 3 and the notch 21 of the cover 19. .. Therefore, the grease does not easily flow from the worm gear 36 to the small diameter portion 37.

Further, following the small diameter portion 37, a large diameter portion 38 having a larger outer diameter dimension is formed. Moreover, the large diameter portion 38 is arranged so as to overlap the notch 21 of the cover 19 when viewed from the axial direction. Therefore, even if the grease flows to the small diameter portion 37, further movement is blocked by the large diameter portion 38. Moreover, an inner surface region along the outer peripheral surface of the large diameter portion 38 is formed around the large diameter portion 38 by the fourth recess 16 formed in the partition wall portion 11 of the casing main body 3 and the cover 19. Therefore, it is difficult for the grease to flow beyond the large diameter portion 38.

Further, the large diameter portion 38 is sufficiently larger than the cross section of the third recess 15 in which the front end protruding portion of the motor 30 is arranged, that is, the portion communicating with the fourth recess 16. At this point as well, it is difficult for the grease to flow toward the motor body 33 side.

In this way, the grease is moved to the motor body 33 side by a simple and inexpensive configuration in which the small diameter portion 37 and the large diameter portion 38 are formed on the worm member 35 and the surrounding configuration in which these are arranged is modified. It is possible to prevent it from flowing.

The present invention is not limited to the configuration described in the above embodiment, and various modifications can be made.

In the above embodiment, the configuration in which the flange member (small diameter portion 37 and large diameter portion 38) is integrated with the worm gear 36 is disclosed, but it can also be configured as a separate body. In this case, the flange member may be composed of only the large diameter portion 38.

1 ... Casing 2 ... Internal components 3 ... Casing body 4 ... Lid 5 ... Board housing 6 ... Motor housing 7 ... Power transmission mechanism housing 8 ... Guide groove 9 ... 1st housing 10 ... 2nd housing 11 ... Partition 12 ... 1st recess 13 ... 2nd recess 14 ... Insertion 15 ... 3rd recess 16 ... 4th recess 17 ... 5th recess 18 ... Rectangular hole 19 ... Cover 20 ... Opening 21 ... Notch 22 ... Convex 23 ... Projection 24 ... Recess 25 ... Rectangular hole 26 ... Protrusion 27 ... Cylinder 28 ... Projection 29 ... Spring 30 ... Motor 31 ... Printed circuit board 32 ... Power transmission mechanism 33 ... Motor body 34 ... Output shaft 35 ... Warm member 36 ... Worm gear 37 ... Small diameter part 38 ... Large diameter part (flange member)
39 ... Connector 40 ... Gear member 41 ... Cam member 42 ... Lock bolt 43 ... Large diameter cylindrical part 44 ... Worm wheel 45 ... Small diameter cylindrical part

Claims (6)

A casing with a motor housing and
A motor that is housed in the motor housing and has a worm gear attached to an output shaft that protrudes from the motor body.
With
The motor accommodating portion
The first accommodating portion in which the motor body is accommodated and
A second accommodating portion in which the worm gear and the output shaft are accommodated,
A partition wall portion that separates the first accommodating portion and the second accommodating portion and has an insertion portion through which the output shaft is inserted, and a partition wall portion.
A cover that covers the second accommodating portion and
With
The motor is an electric steering lock device to which a flange member that covers the opening of the insertion portion and partially overlaps the cover is attached to the output shaft when viewed from the axial direction. The electric steering lock device according to claim 1, wherein the worm gear and the flange member are integrated. The electric steering lock device according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the flange member includes a small diameter portion on the worm gear side and a large diameter portion on the motor body side. The electric steering lock device according to claim 3, wherein the partition wall portion has a first space portion along the small diameter portion and a second space portion along the large diameter portion. The electric steering lock device according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the second accommodating portion and the cover have a guide portion for guiding the tip end portion of the output shaft. The casing comprises a lid covering an area including the motor housing.
The electric steering lock device according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein the cover is fixed to the casing by the lid.

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