JPH021030Y2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a structure in which when a plurality of electric slip rings are provided between a steering wheel and a steering column in a vehicle, the slip rings can be easily attached by utilizing the mutual positional relationship between the slip rings.

Recently, there has been a trend in passenger cars to reduce the idle speed of the engine in order to reduce fuel consumption, and vehicles equipped with such engines may stall, for example, when cornering while idling. Undesirable.

Therefore, it is technically required to detect the cornering state of the vehicle and increase the amount of fuel supplied in such a case to prevent the engine from stalling.

To detect the cornering state of the vehicle,
Various methods have been proposed in the past. Here, an electric slip ring structure is used that is interposed between the steering wheel and the steering column.
Conventionally, electric slip rings have been equipped with a separate device to extract operation signals from a horn or the like. Therefore, if a plurality of electric slip rings are to be disposed at the above-mentioned location, a simple structure must be proposed due to the limited space available.

The present inventor has devised the present invention in response to the above request, and its purpose is to utilize the mutual positional relationship of a plurality of electric slip springs arranged between the steering wheel and the steering column. The object of the present invention is to provide a slip ring mounting structure that makes the mounting of each electric slip ring simple.

The present invention provides a steering wheel in which a plurality of slip rings are provided concentrically on a slip ring mounting portion formed on the back surface of a hub portion of the steering wheel, in which one of the slip rings is formed with a radially extending portion, The gist of the present invention is that this extending portion is configured to be held between a slip ring holder provided with another slip ring and a wall surface of the slip ring mounting portion.

A preferred embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

Figure 1 is a back view of the steering wheel of a passenger car, etc. Figure 2 is an enlarged view of the main parts in Figure 1, Figure 3
The figure is a sectional view taken along the line A--A in FIG. 2.

In a vehicle, a steering wheel 1 is fixed to a steering shaft at its hub portion, and this steering shaft is fitted and supported by a fixed steering column. The rotatable steering wheel 1 can thus steer the vehicle via the steering shaft and steering mechanism.

In FIG. 1, the back surface of the hub portion 2 of the steering wheel 1 faces the upper end of the steering column, and between the back surface of the hub portion 2 and the upper end of the steering column there is an electric slip ring and a brush that contacts this. A plurality of electrical connections are made. Reference numeral 3 designates a slip ring attachment portion formed on the back surface of the hub portion 2 of the steering wheel 1. As shown in FIG. Furthermore, it has an annular recess 6 with a cylindrical protruding step 5 in its center. This slip ring mounting part 3
There are two electric slip rings 7 and 8 arranged concentrically inside, the inner electric slip ring 7 is a conventional horn slip ring, and the outer electric slip ring 8 is for example a steering wheel 1. This is a slip ring that forms a steering angle sensor that can detect the steering angle of the vehicle. In this way, two electric slip rings are provided in this embodiment, but the number may be any number as long as it is plural.

The electric slip ring 7 is formed of a conductive ring-shaped plate material, and is disposed on the upper end surface of the protruding step portion 5 as shown in FIG. At least one is formed. This extending portion 7a is used, for example, as an electrical terminal, and is also provided with a small hole 7a-1, which acts as a mounting piece for fixing the electrical slip ring 7 and regulating its rotation, as will be described later. .

Further, the outer electric slip ring 8 is formed of a conductive plate material in the same manner as described above, and is disposed so as to be located within the recess 6. As shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, this electric slip ring 8 has a ring-shaped slip ring holder 9 made of synthetic resin on one side, and a plurality of claw-like protrusions embedded in the holder 9. It is fixedly installed by pieces 8a and is integrated with the holder 9. This electric slip ring 8 functions as a steering angle sensor, and therefore has a portion cut off as shown in the figure, and the occurrence of a predetermined steering angle is detected based on the opening angle of this cut portion. ing. The electric slip ring 8 is attached to the holding body 9 by step portions 9a, 9a on the one surface of the holding body 9.
A lower surface 9b having a circumferential length equal to the circumferential length of the electric slip ring 8 and another higher surface 9c are formed, and the electric slip ring 8 is arranged on the lower surface 9b. do. Preferably, the surface of the electric slip ring 8 is slightly lower than the high surface 9c so that the high surface 9c and the surface of the electric slip ring 8 are substantially flush with each other in the fixed state of the electric slip ring 8. It is formed as follows. Further, a common through hole 9c-1 through which the screw 10 is inserted is bored in the portion forming the high surface 9c of the holding body 9, and the surface on the back side of the holding body in this common through hole is formed of the extending portion 7a. A recessed portion 9d is formed by cutting out approximately the thickness.

According to the above configuration, the electric slip rings 7, 8
When the electric slip ring 7 is to be fixed to the slip ring mounting part 3, as shown in FIG. -1 to the screw hole 6a formed in the bottom of the recess 6. After that, the holder 9 equipped with the electric slip ring 8 is placed in the recess 6, and the recess 9d, the extension 7a, the screw hole 6a and the small hole 7 are arranged.
a-1 and the common through hole 9c-1 are aligned, and in this state, the screw 10 is screwed into the screw hole 6a to fix the electric slip ring 7 and the holder 9 to the slip ring mounting portion 3. In this way, the electric slip ring 7 is fixed by holding its extending portion 7a between the holding body 9 provided with the electric slip ring 8 and the bottom surface of the recess of the slip ring mounting portion 3 in the steering wheel 1. .
Therefore, since the above clamping structure and the screw 10 are used to tighten together, the mounting structure becomes simple.

The electric slip ring 8 is electrically grounded, and a conductive contact terminal faces the electric slip ring 8 from the steering column side so as to be in pressure contact with the electric slip ring 8. The contact terminal is located approximately at the midpoint of the surface 9c of the holder 9 when the vehicle is running straight, but when cornering, it comes into contact with the electric slip ring 8, thereby generating an energized state. It becomes possible to detect cornering conditions.

Next, as shown in FIG. 5, as mentioned above,
Surface 9c on holder 9 and electric slip ring 8
In relation to the height of the surface of the electric slip ring 8, the surface of the electric slip ring 8 is lowered. Furthermore, in the stepped portion 9a between the surfaces 9b and 9c, the edge of the surface 9c is rounded. According to this configuration, scraping noise is reduced due to the sound-deadening properties of the resin, and the contact terminal 11 and the electric slip ring 8 are not rubbed against each other when the contact portions are switched, and mutual damage can be prevented. .

Further, in the embodiment described above, the electric slip ring 7 is fastened together with the holder 9 using the screw 10, but in another embodiment, the electric slip ring 7 is tightened together with the holder 9 and the bottom surface of the recess 6. The electric slip ring 7 can also be fixed simply by firmly clamping the portion 7a.

As is clear from the above explanation, according to the present invention,
When attaching a plurality of slip rings to a steering wheel, the attachment structure can be simplified, the number of parts can be reduced, costs can be reduced, and the attachment work can be made easier. It also exhibits various features such as being able to prevent damage to electrical components.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Figure 1 is a back view of the steering wheel of a passenger car, etc. Figure 2 is an enlarged view of the main parts in Figure 1, Figure 3
The figure is a sectional view taken along the line A-A in Figure 2, Figure 4 is a perspective view showing only the steering angle detection ring material, and Figure 5 is a perspective view showing only the ring material for detecting the steering angle.
The figure is a sectional view taken along the line BB in FIG. 4. In the drawings, 1 is a steering wheel, 2 is a hub part, 3 is a slip ring mounting part, 7 and 8 are electric slip rings, 9 is a slip ring holder, and 11
is a contact terminal.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claim for Utility Model Registration] In a steering wheel comprising a plurality of concentric slip rings on the slip ring mounting portion on the back surface of the hub, one slip ring is formed with a radial extending portion, A slip ring mounting structure characterized in that the protruding portion is held between a slip ring holder provided with another slip ring and a wall surface of the slip ring mounting portion.