JPH04337132A - Rotary damper - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide a rotary damper of no torque down having durability and a simple structure, easy to handle, easy to obtain desired torque and further to facilitate assembly/disassembly. CONSTITUTION:A shaft part 31, having a flange part 32 in one end, is inserted so as to house the flange part 32 into a casing 11, having an internal space, and protruded to the outside, and in a braking mechanism for giving resistance to relative rotation between both the casing and the shaft part, a plurality of elastic bodies 5 rolled in a press contact condition are arranged in a bearing space 6, formed between the casing 11 and the flange part 32 of the shaft part 31, to generate rotational torque based on compression deformation of these elastic bodies 5.

Description

[Detailed description of the invention]

0001

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a rotary damper that is applied to rotating and linearly moving parts of various opening/closing lids, drawer devices for storage compartments, wind direction adjusting devices for temperature control equipment, and the like.

0002

[Prior Art] A rotary damper resists a unidirectional bias from a spring or the like acting on the rotating part or the linearly moving part.
It has a function of applying braking to the movement and slowly operating the rotating part and the linear moving part.

Examples of such rotary dampers are disclosed in, for example, Japanese Utility Model Application No. 57-8604 and Japanese Utility Model Application No. 61-133134.
It is disclosed in the publication No. In both of these structures, grease is interposed in the bearing space formed by loosely fitting a protrusion on the rotating shaft member into a recess on the holding member, and the viscous resistance of this grease is used to hold the rotating shaft. It generates torque in the member.

0004

However, the above rotary damper suffers from various problems as listed below. ■ Handling during assembly and disassembly is not easy and inconvenient. ■ High machining accuracy is required as precision of the mating surfaces is required to eliminate grease leakage. - The shapes of the holding member and rotating shaft member are complicated, making it difficult to achieve the required machining accuracy. ■ Grease-resistant materials must be used for the holding member and rotating shaft member, which makes them expensive. ■ It is difficult to obtain the set torque. ■ Torque decrease occurs due to deterioration of grease.

Therefore, an object of the present invention is to solve all of the above-mentioned problems, and to provide a rotary damper that is easy to handle, easy to obtain the desired torque, and has a durable and simple structure that is easy to disassemble and assemble. It provides:

[0006]

[Means for Solving the Problems] In order to achieve the above object, the present invention comprises a holding member having a casing, and a shaft member having one end inserted and supported within the casing of the holding member. A rotary damper equipped with a braking mechanism that provides resistance to relative rotation between members, the braking mechanism being disposed in a bearing space formed between a casing of the holding member and an insertion portion of the shaft member. , the basic configuration includes a plurality of elastic bodies that roll while being pressed into contact with the casing and the insertion portion.

In one aspect of the invention, a flange portion is formed at the tip of the insertion portion of the shaft member, and the elastic body is interposed in a bearing space between the flange portion and the bottom of the casing, and further, the flange portion The center portion of the surface opposite to the shaft portion of the casing is rotatably supported by the lid portion of the casing. Further, as another aspect, a position adjusting means for adjusting the axial position of the flange portion or a holding means for holding the elastic body on the same plane may be provided.

[0008]

[Operation] The rotary damper according to the present invention includes a casing of a holding member, a shaft portion of a shaft member, and an elastic body. The holding member in the present invention means a member that holds the shaft member, and may include a sliding plate (not shown) in addition to the above-mentioned casing, and the shaft member in the present invention means a member that holds the shaft member. It may have a gear (not shown) at one end that extends to the other end. Therefore, either the holding member and the shaft member may rotate while the other does not, or both may rotate.

As an example of the present invention, the action of a rotary damper in which the shaft portion has a flange portion will be described. When the holding member and the shaft member rotate relative to each other, the plurality of spherical elastic bodies engage with the bottom of the casing. It rolls while being compressively deformed between the flange portion of the shaft portion, and a desired braking torque is generated between the holding member and the shaft member based on this compressive deformation.

0010

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The present invention will be specifically explained below based on illustrated embodiments. 1 to 3 show a rotary damper which is an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 1 is an exploded view of the damper, FIG. 2 is a longitudinal sectional view of the damper, and FIG. 3 is a plan view thereof.

As described above, the rotary damper according to the present invention includes the casing 11 of the holding member 1 and the shaft portion 31 of the shaft member 3.
and the elastic body 5 are the main constituent members. In the following description of the embodiments, the casing 11, which is one of the components of the holding member 1, and the shaft portion 31, which is one of the components of the shaft member 3, will be mainly described.

In FIGS. 1 to 3, reference numeral 11 denotes a cylindrical body 1 with a bottom.
The casing is made of hard synthetic resin and is one of the constituent elements of the holding member 1 consisting of a circular lid 13 and a circular lid 13, and a shaft insertion hole 14 is formed in the center of the bottom of the bottomed cylindrical body 12. . Further, a conical positioning protrusion 15 is formed at the center of the surface of the circular lid 13 facing the casing 11. Reference numeral 31 denotes a shaft portion made of hard synthetic resin, which is one of the constituent elements of the shaft member 3. A flange portion 32 is formed at one end of this shaft portion 31.
A similarly conical positioning groove 33 into which the positioning protrusion 15 of the shaft part 31 fits is formed at the center of the surface opposite to the protruding side of the shaft part 31 of No. 2. The elastic body 5 is made of rubber,
It is an elastically deformable spherical body made of materials such as silicone, urethane foam, and thermoplastic elastomer.

As shown in FIG. 1, the assembly is performed by first housing a plurality of elastic bodies 5 (in the illustrated example, three) inside the bottomed cylinder 12, and then The elastic bodies 5, 5, . . . are inserted into the shaft insertion hole 14 formed at the center of the bottom of the
The shaft portion 31 of the shaft member 3 is inserted through the shaft member 3. Thereafter, the circular lid 13 of the casing 11 is attached to the open edge surface of the casing 11 by fitting the positioning protrusion 15 protruding from the center into the positioning groove 33 formed on the flange surface of the shaft portion 31. For example, it is fixed with adhesive or the like. At this time, the spherical elastic bodies 5, 5, . The diameter is such that it receives a compressive force between it and is compressed and deformed by a predetermined amount in the axial direction.

In the rotary damper according to this embodiment assembled in this way, when the holding member 1 and the shaft member 3 rotate relative to each other, the spherical elastic bodies 5, 5, . . . 32 while being compressed and deformed, thereby generating a desired braking torque between the holding member 1 and the shaft member 3.

FIG. 4 shows a modification of the elastic body 5 in the above embodiment, in which the elastic body 51 interposed in the bearing space 6 between the casing 11 and the shaft portion 31 is not spherical but cylindrical,
It is arranged so that its axis is orthogonal to the axis of the shaft portion 11.

FIG. 5 shows a further modification of the modification shown in FIG. 4, in which the elastic body 52 is shaped like a truncated cone, and the bottom inner surface and shaft portion of the casing 11 are aligned along the outer peripheral surface of the elastic body 52. The shaft side surfaces of the flange portions 32 of 31 are formed as umbrella-shaped surfaces 16 and 34, respectively.

FIG. 6 shows another embodiment of the present invention, in which the shaft portion 3
1 is moved back and forth in the axial direction within the casing 11 so that the compressive force of the elastic body 5 by the flange portion 32 can be adjusted. In the illustrated example, there is a rotation operation groove 1 in the center of the outer surface.
An external thread 18 is formed on the outer peripheral surface of the circular lid 13 having a diameter 7, and an internal thread 19 is formed on the inner surface of the open end of the bottomed cylindrical body 12, so that the circular lid 13 can be moved forward and backward in the axial direction of the bottomed cylindrical body 12. By moving the circular lid 13 forward and backward with respect to the bottomed cylindrical body 12 using an operating tool (not shown), the compressive force exerted on the elastic body 5 by the flange portion 32 of the shaft portion 31 is adjusted,
The magnitude of the relative rotational torque between the holding member 1 and the shaft member 3 is adjusted. Note that the screw fitting between the bottomed cylindrical body 12 and the circular lid 13 is achieved by forming the circular lid 13 into a dish shape to form an internal thread and forming an external thread on the bottomed cylindrical body 12, contrary to the illustrated example. Then, the circular lid 13 may be screw-fitted to cover the bottomed cylindrical body 12.

FIGS. 7 and 8 show one fixing mode in which the dish-shaped circular lid 13 is fitted onto the bottomed cylindrical body 12. In the example shown in FIG. A plurality of engaging arms 21 having engaging claws 20 at the tips extending parallel to the body are provided, and each of the engaging claws 2 on the outer circumferential surface of the bottomed cylindrical body 12
Engagement grooves 22, 2 are provided at positions corresponding to 0, 20, ..., respectively.
In the example shown in FIG. 8, an annular projection 23 is formed on the outer peripheral surface of the open end of the bottomed cylindrical body 12, and the projection 23 is fitted onto the inner peripheral surface of the circular lid 13. Annular groove 24
is formed. With this configuration, the circular lid 13 can be fitted and fixed onto the bottomed cylindrical body 12 with a one-touch operation.

9 to 11 show still another embodiment of the present invention, in which FIG. 9 is an exploded view of the rotary damper, FIG. 10 is a longitudinal sectional view thereof, and FIG. 11 is a plan view thereof. In this example, a ring member 25 is newly added as a component apart from the above-mentioned example, and three rod-shaped support members 26 are formed protruding toward the center of the ring member 25, while an elastic body 5 A support member insertion hole 53 through which the rod-shaped support member 26 is inserted is formed on the rolling axis. When the rotary damper is assembled, each support member 25 is inserted into the support member insertion hole 53 formed in each elastic body 5, and as shown in FIG.
As is clear from FIG. 11, each of the elastic bodies 5, 5, 5 maintains the mutual positional relationship during rolling, and the rolling surface of the elastic body 5 is kept constant, and the holding member 1 and the shaft member 3 are This is done so as not to interfere with relative rotation. Although three spherical elastic bodies 5 are used in this example, the elastic bodies may have the shapes shown in FIGS. 4 and 5, and the number is not limited to three.

As is clear from the above description, the present invention is not limited to the above-mentioned embodiment. For example, even if the shaft portion is simply provided with no flange portion, the size of the bearing space and the elastic body can be reduced. By setting appropriate dimensions and compressing and deforming the elastic body by the outer peripheral surface of the shaft portion and the inner peripheral surface of the casing, it is possible to generate a predetermined rotational torque, and such a configuration is also applicable to the present invention. It is included in the scope.

[0021]

According to the present invention, the following excellent effects that cannot be expected from conventional rotary dampers using grease or governors are achieved.

[0022] Since everything is composed of solid parts with a simple structure, it is easy to handle during assembly and disassembly. ■ There is no need to worry about fluid leakage, so high machining accuracy is not required. ■ Both the holding member and rotating shaft member have simple shapes and are easy to process. (2) Since it is sufficient to consider only the strength of the materials for the holding member and the rotating shaft member, costs can be reduced. ■ Easy to obtain set torque. ■ Since the elastic body is simply rolled in a deformed state, there is no torque reduction and it is highly durable. ■ Generated torque is always stable even in high and low temperature ranges.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is an exploded view of a rotary damper showing a typical embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a longitudinal sectional view of the same.

FIG. 3 is a plan view of the same.

FIG. 4 is a structural explanatory diagram showing a modification of the elastic body of the rotary damper.

FIG. 5 is a longitudinal sectional view showing another modification of the elastic body of the rotary damper.

FIG. 6 is a longitudinal sectional view showing another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a structural explanatory diagram showing a modification of the casing of the rotary damper.

FIG. 8 is a structural explanatory diagram showing another modification of the casing of the rotary damper.

FIG. 9 is an exploded view of a rotary damper showing still another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 10 is a plan view of the same.

11 is a sectional view taken along the line AA in FIG. 10. FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 Holding member 11 Casing 12 Bottomed cylindrical body 13 Circular groove 14 Shaft insertion hole 15 Positioning protrusion 16
Umbrella-shaped surface 18 External thread 19 Internal thread 20 Engagement claw 21 Engagement arm 22 Engagement groove 23 Annular projection 24 Annular groove 25 Ring member 26 Rod-shaped support member 3
Shaft member 31 Shaft portion 32 Flange portion 33 Positioning groove 34 Umbrella-shaped surface 5 Elastic body 51 Elastic body 52 Elastic body 53 Rod-shaped support member insertion hole 6
Bearing space

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A holding member having a casing, and a shaft member having one end inserted and supported within the casing of the holding member, and comprising a braking mechanism that provides resistance to relative rotation between the holding member and the shaft member. In the rotary damper, the braking mechanism is disposed in a bearing space formed between a casing of the holding member and an insertion portion of the shaft member, and is in pressure contact with the casing and the insertion portion. A rotating damper characterized by consisting of a plurality of rolling elastic bodies.