JPH0254273B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to a steering device for operating steering wheels of a motor vehicle.

[Prior Art] A typical automobile steering system rotates a steering shaft fixed to a steering wheel in the driver's seat, transmits this rotational force to a knuckle arm via a pitman arm, tie rod, etc., and uses the rotation of the knuckle arm. It is designed to change the direction of the steering wheel. Therefore, in conventional devices, a long steering shaft passes through the leg space in the vertical direction, which of course limits the leg space for the driver. Cannot change position easily. Moreover, the weight of the steering shaft is large, and the steering shaft may protrude toward the driver in the event of a collision, which is dangerous.

Furthermore, as seen in Japanese Utility Model Application Publication No. 11432/1983 (prior art), a steering device using wires has also been proposed. This prior art involves fixing one end of two wires to a bobbin on the steering wheel side, fixing the other ends of the wires to a disk on the knuckle arm side, and pulling one of the two wires. is configured to transmit the rotational force of the steering wheel to the knuckle arm side.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] In the case of the above-mentioned prior art, both ends of the two wires must be fixed to the bobbin and the disk, and terminal processing measures for the fixed ends are required at four locations in total. Furthermore, since the relative rotational position between the bobbin and the disk is uniquely determined by the length of the wire and the position of the fixed end, the range in which the knuckle arm and steering wheel can be adjusted so that they are each in the neutral position is extremely limited. narrow.

Furthermore, since the steering wheel is configured to be able to steer one turn or more in one direction from the neutral position, in the case of the prior art described above, each end of the wire must be wound around the outer periphery of the bobbin one or more turns. There must be. Therefore, the total length of the wire needs to be considerably longer than the distance between the bobbin and the disk. Moreover, since the wire must be wound in multiple strips around the outer peripheral surface of the bobbin, the length of the bobbin in the axial direction becomes large. Wire elongation is also a problem.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to enable the steering wheels to be operated without using a steering shaft, to facilitate terminal processing of the operating force transmitting body, to easily set the neutral position of the steering wheel, and to enable the operation of the operating force transmitting body to be easily set. An object of the present invention is to provide a steering device for an automobile whose length can be as short as possible.

[Means for Solving the Problems] The present invention, which was developed to achieve the above object, has the following features:
A steering wheel, a driving gear that is integrally rotationally driven in conjunction with the steering wheel, a steering wheel drive knuckle arm provided on the steering wheel, and a driven gear that is coupled to the steering wheel.
The steering device includes an operating force transmitting body that transmits the rotational force of the driving gear to a driven gear, wherein the operating force transmitting body is bent into a desired shape between the driving gear and the driven gear. A flexible inner cable consisting of a guide tube to be routed, a core wire inserted into the guide tube so as to be movable in the axial direction, and an outer wire wound spirally around the core wire at a constant pitch. The control cable is characterized in that the sheathed wire is meshed with the driving gear at one end of the inner cable, and the sheathed wire is meshed with the driven gear at the other end of the inner cable. It is.

[Function] The steering device of the present invention is composed of a guide tube and an inner cable, and is configured to directly transmit the rotational force of the driving gear on the steering wheel side to the driven gear on the knuckle arm side via the operating force transmitting body. The guide tube into which the inner cable is inserted can be bent and routed in the desired shape along the vehicle body, etc., so the arrangement can be freely selected regardless of the location or installation angle of the steering wheel. Is possible. For example, it can be easily adapted to both right-hand drive vehicles and left-hand drive vehicles. Furthermore, since a steering shaft is not required, not only is there more leg space, but also the danger of the shaft protruding towards the driver in the event of an accident can be avoided.

Further, by appropriately selecting the meshing position of the operating force transmitting body with respect to the driving gear and the driven gear, the relative rotational position between the driving gear and the driven gear can be arbitrarily adjusted. In other words, the steering wheel can be set so that it is in the neutral position when the knuckle arm is in the neutral position.

[Embodiment] A first embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS. 1 to 3. In FIG. 1, reference numeral 1 in the figure is a steering wheel, and a rotating shaft 2 provided at the center of the steering wheel 1 has a first
A drive gear 3a (shown in FIG. 2) is provided.
A second drive gear 3b is connected to the first drive gear 3a.
are meshing. These drive gears 3a, 3b are housed in a gear case 4.

Further, reference numerals 5, 5 are steering wheels, and knuckle arms 6, 6 are provided on these steering wheels 5, 5. And the knot arm 6,6 is the tie rod 7
When the pitman arm 9 of the steering gear section 8 rotates, the knuckle arms 6, 6 are connected to each other.
A gear 11 is attached to the input shaft 10 of the steering gear section 8.

A control cable 15, which is an example of an operating force transmitting body, is routed across the gear 11 and the second drive gear 3b. As illustrated in FIG. 3, this control cable 15 consists of an inner cable 16 made of a synthetic resin and an inner cable 16 in which a steel sheath wire 16b is spirally wound at a constant pitch around a core wire 16a made of stranded steel wire or the like. Alternatively, it is a so-called gear cable inserted into the metal guide tube 17 so as to be movable in the axial direction, and is flexible and capable of transmitting both pulling force and pushing force. One end side of the inner cable 16 is connected to the second end as shown in FIG.
It is meshed with the drive gear 3b, and the other end (steering wheel side) is meshed with the gear 11 of the steering gear section 8.

In this embodiment configured as described above, when the steering wheel 1 is rotated to rotate the first drive gear 3a and the second drive gear 3b, the second drive gear 3a and the second drive gear 3b are rotated.
When the inner cable 16 engaged with the inner cable 16 moves in the guide tube 17 in the pulling or pushing direction, the gear 11 engaged with the other end of the inner cable 16 is rotated. Therefore, when the pitman arm 9 rotates either clockwise or counterclockwise, the tie rod 7 moves, the knuckle arm 6 is rotated, and the direction of the steering wheels 5, 5 is changed.

In this embodiment, since the rotational force of the steering wheel 1 is transmitted to the knuckle arm 6 by the flexible control cable 15 as described above, the mounting position of the steering wheel 1 can be selected relatively freely. can. In other words, right-hand steering and left-hand steering can be easily changed by simply changing the mounting position of the steering wheel 1 without significantly changing the structure of the vehicle body. In addition, since the control cable 15 is flexible, it is possible to attach the base of the steering wheel 1 to the vehicle body using a hinge, for example.
If you make it possible to flip upwards,
The steering wheel 1 no longer gets in the way when getting on and off. Similarly, by attaching the base of the steering wheel 1 to the vehicle body via a link mechanism or a slide mechanism, the steering wheel 1 can be moved back and forth along its axis, moved left and right, and its height can be adjusted. This is possible, and in short, compared to the conventional case where the steering shaft is fixed to the steering wheel, the mounting position of the steering wheel can be freely selected.

Note that the steering gear section 8 may be provided with power assist using a hydraulic pressure or an electric motor, or a combination of both.

FIG. 4 shows a second embodiment of the present invention, in which both knuckle arms 6, 6 are configured to be moved simultaneously by a control cable 15 without using a tie rod. That is, gear rods 6a, 6a are attached to each knuckle arm 6, 6, and each gear rod 6a, 6a is connected to a gear case 18, as shown in FIG.
The control cable 18 is meshed with gears 19, 19 housed in the control cable 18, and these gears 19, 19 are meshed with the inner cable 16 of the control cable 15, respectively.

Therefore, by rotating the steering wheel 1 and moving the inner cable 16, both gears 1
9, 19 and gear rods 6a, 6a can move the knuckle arms 6, 6 in conjunction with each other.

The second embodiment having the above configuration has the advantage that the tie rod 7 shown in FIG. 1 can be omitted and the steering gear section 8 can also be significantly simplified.

In addition, when there are two or more steering wheels, each steering wheel is sequentially engaged with one control cable 15 in series, as shown in FIG. 6, for example, so that each steering wheel is interlocked. You may also do so. According to such a configuration, as illustrated in FIG. 7, it is possible to move each steering wheel at different steering angles depending on the traveling direction so as to create an ideal wheel trajectory.

Furthermore, in the above embodiment, one steering wheel 1 transmits force to a plurality of steering wheels, but conversely, it is also possible to drive the control cable 15 with a plurality of steering wheels 1, 1, . . . Therefore, it can be used in a variety of ways, for example by providing a steering wheel on the passenger seat.

Further, as shown in FIG. 8, a large-diameter ring-shaped gear is used as the drive gear 3c, the control cable 15 is engaged with the drive gear 3c, and the operation panel section 20 is attached to the inner part of the drive gear 3c. It may also be attached to the vehicle body side. The operation panel section 20 includes a horn switch 2.
1, various display lamps, switches 22, etc. are arranged. 23, 23 are support gears.

According to the above configuration, since the operation panel section 20 is fixed to the vehicle body side, the operation panel section 20 does not rotate even if the steering wheel 1 is rotated, and therefore the horn switch 21, various display lamps, switches 22... This is convenient for operating and viewing.
Other structures may be constructed in the same manner as those in FIG. 1 or 4.

[Effects of the Invention] According to the present invention, the rotational force of the driving gear on the steering wheel side is directly transmitted to the driven gear on the knuckle arm side via the control cable that can be freely routed, so that the steering shaft can be easily controlled. The steering wheel can be omitted, thereby increasing leg space and reducing weight, eliminating the shaft protruding in the event of an accident, and being easily replaceable for both right-hand drive and left-hand drive cars. There is a large degree of freedom in selecting the location.

In addition, the operating force transmitting body can be meshed with the driving gear and the driven gear as if they were rack and pinion gears, and there is no need to provide a special pair of cables for terminal treatment of the operating force transmitting body, which allows for a simpler structure. It's easy. Furthermore, by adjusting the meshing position between the spiral sheath wire of the operating force transmitting body and the drive gear, the neutral position of the steering wheel can be easily set regardless of the length of the operating force transmitting body. Moreover, compared to the prior art described above, the length of winding the operating force transmitting body around the driving side member or the driven side member can be shortened.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a steering device showing a first embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a side view showing a part of the drive gear and control cable in the same steering device.
Fig. 3 is a side view of a part of the control cable, Fig. 4 is a perspective view of the knuckle arm portion showing a second embodiment of the present invention, and Fig. 5 is a schematic diagram showing the engagement between the gear of the knuckle arm portion and the control cable. FIG. 6 is a schematic plan view of a multi-axis steering wheel, FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram of the multi-axis steering wheel in operation, and FIG. 8 is a perspective view showing a modification of the drive gear. be. 1...Steering wheel, 3a, 3b, 3c
... Drive gear, 5 ... Control wheel, 6 ... Katsukuru arm, 15 ... Control cable (operating force transmission body).

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1 Steering wheel 1, drive gears 3b and 3c that are integrally rotationally driven in conjunction with the steering wheel 1, a steering wheel drive knuckle arm 6 provided on the steering wheel 5, and a knuckle arm 6 interlocked with the steering wheel 6. The steering device is equipped with driven gears 11 and 19 that transmit the rotational force of the driving gears 3b and 3c to the driven gears 11 and 19. gear 3b,
3c and the driven gears 11 and 19, the guide tube 1 is bent into a desired shape and routed.
7, a core wire 16a inserted into the guide tube 17 so as to be movable in the axial direction, and the core wire 1
6a and a flexible inner cable 16 made of a sheathed wire 16b spirally wound at a constant pitch, and at one end side of the inner cable 16, the sheathed wire 16b is connected to the drive gear. 3b, 3c, and the outer wire 16b is meshed with the driven gears 11, 19 at the other end of the inner cable 16.