JPH09293575A - Rotating connector - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To shorten the total length of a flat cable by partitioning a space surrounded by a fixing side housing and a moving side housing in a plurality of housing parts with intermediate plates, and housing a U-shaped flat cable in each housing part. SOLUTION: An intermediate plate 3 is placed between a fixed side housing 1 and a moving side housing 2 to partition a first housing part 15 and a second housing part 16. A first belt-shaped part 4a and a second belt-shaped part 4b of a flat cable 4 continuing in a U shape are housed in the housing parts 15, 16 respectively, and the number of finite revolution requiring in the moving side housing 2 is shared by the belt-shaped parts 4a, 4b in the housing parts 15, 16. By reversely winding the flat cable 4 in the housing parts 15, 16 through a reversely rotating part, the necessary length is shortened compared with spiral winding.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a rotary connector incorporated in a steering device of an automobile and used as an electrical connecting means for an air bag system or the like.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A rotary connector is generally composed of a pair of housings which are relatively rotatably connected to each other and a flat cable which is wound in a storage portion defined between the housings. Is used as an electrical connecting means for an airbag, an inflator, etc. mounted on a steering wheel having a limited number of rotations. The flat cable is formed by extending a plurality of conductors on a strip-shaped base film, and both ends of the flat cable are electrically led to the outside while being fixed to both housings. One of the two housings is attached to the handle as a movable side housing, and the other is attached to a stator member such as a combination switch as a fixed side housing, and the movable side housing is either forward or reverse in conjunction with the rotating operation of the handle. When the flat cable is rotated in the direction of, the flat cable is tightened or unwound in the storage portion depending on the rotation direction.

In such a rotary connector, the ratio of the flat cable to be tightened is high in the total cost, and the rotary connector designed to shorten the length of the required flat cable to reduce the cost is disclosed in US Pat. , 7
No. 63,455 specification.

FIG. 6 is a plan view showing a schematic structure of the rotary connector disclosed in the above patent specification. As shown in the figure, a movable housing 101 having a cylindrical inner cylinder wall with respect to a fixed housing 100 having a cylindrical outer cylinder wall.
Is rotatably mounted, and a first flat cable 103 is provided in an annular housing portion 102 defined between the fixed side housing 100 and the movable side housing 101.
And the second flat cable 104 is stored. These flat cables 103 and 104 are stored in the storage section 102.
It is accommodated in the outer cylindrical wall of the fixed housing 100 and the inner cylindrical wall of the movable housing 101 in a state in which the winding direction is reversed, and the U-shaped reversing portion 103a is located at a position where the winding direction is changed. , 104a are formed. In addition, the inner ends of the flat cables 103 and 104 are arranged near the inner cylindrical wall of the movable housing 101, and the cable lead-out portion 10 is provided.
7, 108, and these cable lead-out parts 107,
It is electrically led out of the movable side housing 101 via 108. On the other hand, both flat cables 103,
The outer end of 104 is connected to cable lead-out portions 109 and 110 arranged in proximity to the outer cylinder wall of the fixed-side housing 100, and electrically led out to the outside of the fixed-side housing 100 via these cable lead-out portions 109 and 110. Has been done.
Further, a plurality of rollers 105 and 106 groups are arranged in the storage section 102 along the circumferential direction thereof, and the reversal section 103a of the first flat cable 103 is looped to one of the one roller group 105. , The reversing part 104a of the second flat cable 104 is 1 of the other roller 106 group.
It is one loop.

In the rotary connector thus constructed, for example, when the flexible member 101 is rotated clockwise in FIG. 6, the inverting portion 103 of the flat cables 103 and 104 is rotated.
a and 104a move clockwise in the housing portion 102 by a smaller amount of rotation than the movable housing 101, and the flat cables 103 and 104 are wound around the inner cylinder portion of the movable housing 101 in a wound state. It will be in a tightened state. On the contrary, when the movable housing 101 is rotated in the counterclockwise direction, the reversing portions 103a and 104a of the flat cables 103 and 104 move in the same direction by a smaller rotation amount than the movable housing 101, and the flat cable 103, 104 is in a rewinding state in which the outer cylinder side of the fixed housing 100 is increased. When the winding is fastened and unwound, the rollers 105 and 106 move in the same direction by receiving the force from the reversing portions 103a and 104a of the flat cables 103 and 104.

[0006]

The conventional rotary connector described above is required as compared with the rotary connector in which the flat cable is spirally wound because the flat cable is reversed in the middle in the opposite direction. Although the length of the flat cable can be remarkably shortened, the long flat cable of a little less than 1 m is still required under the normal use condition. Therefore, when manufacturing such a long flat cable, it is difficult to adopt an inexpensive method of forming a conductive wire on a base film by an etching technique, and generally, a manufacturing method of laminating a conductive wire on a pair of base films. The method has been adopted, and this has been a major factor preventing cost reduction.

[0007]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION According to the present invention, a space surrounded by a fixed housing and a movable housing is partitioned into a plurality of storage parts by an intermediate plate, and a flat cable continuous in a U-shape in adjacent storage parts. Will be stored. In this way, the flat cable is formed in a U-shape and wound in the adjacent storage parts, and the number of rotations required for the movable side housing is shared by the flat cables in each storage part, so that the total length of the flat cable is increased. The flat cable can be manufactured by a short and inexpensive etching method.

[0008]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION In the rotary connector of the present invention, a fixed-side housing, a movable-side housing rotatably attached to the fixed-side housing, and a space surrounded by these two housings are provided in the movable-side housing. An intermediate plate that partitions into a plurality of storage units along a direction orthogonal to the rotation axis,
A flat cable wound in each of the storage portions, wherein both ends of the flat cable are electrically led to the outside while being fixed to the fixed side housing and the movable side housing, respectively, and the adjacent flat cable The flat cable was connected in a U-shape between the storages.

The flat cable may be spirally wound in each of the accommodating portions, but if the flat cable is wound in the opposite direction in each accommodating portion through the reversing portion, the total length of the flat cable is shortened. Is preferred.

Further, the lead-out portions at both ends of the flat cable can be provided on the outer peripheral portions of the fixed side housing and the movable side housing, respectively. In this case, the outer peripheral portions of both housings have a space smaller than the inner peripheral portion. Since there are few restrictions, the degree of freedom in design is increased.

[0011]

EXAMPLES Examples will be described with reference to the drawings.
1 is an exploded perspective view of a rotary connector according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a sectional view of the rotary connector, and FIG. 3 is a front view of a flat cable used in the rotary connector.

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the rotary connector according to this embodiment includes a fixed housing 1, a movable housing 2, and an intermediate plate 3 interposed between the housings 1 and 2. The flat cable 4 housed in a space surrounded by the housings 1 and 2 and the intermediate plate 3 and a pair of moving bodies 5 and 6 are roughly configured.

In the fixed housing 1, a disc-shaped bottom plate 8 having a center hole 7 and an outer cylinder wall 9 provided upright on the outer peripheral edge of the bottom plate 8 are integrally formed. The outer cylinder wall 9 A take-out portion 9a protruding outward is formed in a part of the. on the other hand,
In the movable housing 2, a disc-shaped top plate 11 having a center hole 10 and an outer cylinder wall 12 vertically provided on the outer peripheral edge of the top plate 11 are integrally formed. A take-out portion 12a protruding outward is formed in a part. Also,
The intermediate plate 3 has a first inner cylindrical wall 1 protruding toward the back side.
3 and the second inner cylinder wall 14 projecting to the back side are coaxially and integrally formed with each other, and the first and second inner cylinder walls 14 are integrally formed.
Is formed with a slit 3a penetrating in the axial direction.

In both the housings 1 and 2, the center hole 7 of the fixed housing 1 is located at the lower end of the first inner cylindrical wall 13, and the center hole 10 of the movable housing 2 is located at the upper end of the second inner cylindrical wall 14. The housings 1 and 2 are rotatably connected to each other by snap-in, and the interiors of the housings 1 and 2 are divided into upper and lower spaces by the intermediate plate 3. That is, as shown in FIG. 2, the bottom plate 8 of the fixed housing 1, the outer cylinder wall 9 and the intermediate plate 3 define a first storage portion 15, and the top plate 11 and the outer cylinder wall 12 of the movable housing 2 are defined. And intermediate plate 3
The second storage portion 16 is defined by. And
A movable body 5 is arranged in the first storage portion 15, and the movable body 5 is composed of a ring plate 17 and a plurality of roller groups 18 rotatably supported on the upper surface of the ring plate 17. Has been done. On the other hand, a movable body 6 is arranged in the second storage portion 16, and this movable body 6 includes a ring plate 19 and a plurality of roller groups 2 rotatably supported on the lower surface of the ring plate 19.
It is composed of 0 and.

As shown in FIG. 3, the flat cable 4
Is the first and second strip portions 4a, 4b parallel to each other.
And a connecting portion 4c that connects the strip-shaped portions 4a and 4b, and is formed in a U shape as a whole. The flat cable 4 is formed by etching a plurality of conductors 21 made of copper foil or the like on one surface of a base film such as PET, and the length of each conductor 21 is almost the same as the conventional example described above. The overall length L of the flat cable 4 is approximately U, which is about half that of the conventional example, which is slightly less than 400 mm. A joint portion 22 is connected to an end portion of the first strip-shaped portion 4a, and one end of the flat cable 4 is fixed to the extraction portion 9 by fixing the joint portion 22 to the extraction portion 9a.
It is electrically led to a connector 23 outside the fixed housing 1 via a. Further, a joint portion 24 is connected to an end portion of the second strip-shaped portion 4b, and by fixing the joint portion 24 to the extraction portion 12a, the other end of the flat cable 4 is moved to the movable side via the extraction portion 12a. It is electrically led to a connector 25 outside the housing 2. The flat cable 4 is connected to the first storage portion 15
After the first strip-shaped portion 4a is looped in one of the roller groups 18 to reverse the winding direction, the connecting portion 4c is inserted into the slits 3a of the inner cylindrical walls 13 and 14 to form the second strip-shaped portion. Part 4
b is guided into the second storage portion 16, and the second strip-shaped portion 4b is looped in one of the roller groups 20 in the second storage portion 16 to reverse the winding direction.

Next, the operation of the rotary connector according to the above embodiment will be described mainly with reference to FIG. Here, in FIG.
1) to (a-6) show the movement of the second strip-shaped portion 4b in the second storage portion 16, and (b-1) to (b-6) of FIG. The movement of the first strip-shaped portion 4a is shown.

In use, the fixed housing 1 is fixed to a stator member of a steering device (not shown), and the connector 23 is connected to an external connector on the stator member side.
Further, the movable housing 2 is fixed to a steering wheel which is a rotor member of the steering device, and the connector 25 is connected to an external connector on the steering wheel side. Then, when the handle is rotated clockwise or counterclockwise, the rotational force is transmitted to the movable housing 2 and the movable housing 2
Rotates clockwise or counterclockwise. For example, as shown in (a-1) and (b-1) of FIG. 4, the second strip-shaped portion 4b of the flat cable 4 is wound around the second inner cylindrical wall 14 and the first flat cable 4 is When the movable housing 2 rotates in the counterclockwise direction from the state in which the strip-shaped portion 4a of FIG. 4 is rewound to the outer cylinder wall 9 side of the fixed housing 1, (a-2) to (a-3) in FIG. As shown in
The reversal portion of the strip-shaped portion 4b rotates counterclockwise by a smaller amount of rotation than the movable housing 2, and the moving body 6 also rotates counterclockwise following the reversal portion. As a result, the second strip-shaped portion 4b having a length about twice as much as these movement amounts.
Is unwound from the second inner cylinder wall 14 and rewound to the outer cylinder wall 12 side of the movable side housing 2. During this time, since the intermediate plate 3 does not rotate due to the frictional force with the top plate 11 and the outer cylindrical wall 12, as shown in (b-1) to (b-3) of FIG.
The first strip-shaped portion 4a maintains a state in which it is rewound to the outer cylinder wall 9 side of the fixed housing 1.

In this way, after the second strip-shaped portion 4b is rewound on the outer cylinder wall 12 side of the movable-side housing 2, when the movable-side housing 2 is further rotated counterclockwise,
The rotational force is applied to the second inner cylindrical wall 1 via the second strip portion 4b.
By being transmitted to 4, the intermediate plate 3 is rotated in the counterclockwise direction in conjunction with the movable housing 2. As a result, the first inner cylinder wall 13 rotates in the counterclockwise direction, so that as shown in (b-4) to (b-6) of FIG.
The strip-shaped portion 4a is drawn out from the outer cylindrical wall 9 of the fixed housing 1 and wound around the first inner cylindrical wall 13 of the intermediate plate 3. During this time, the movable housing 2 and the intermediate plate 3
Rotate in the same direction at the same speed, so (a-4) in FIG.
As shown in (a-6) to (a-6), the second strip-shaped portion 4b maintains a state in which the second strip-shaped portion 4b is rewound to the outer cylinder wall 12 side of the movable housing 2.

Contrary to the above, (a-6), (b- in FIG.
When the movable housing 2 is rotated in the clockwise direction from the state of 6), the first strip-shaped portion 4a is extended from the first inner cylindrical wall 13 of the intermediate plate 3 in the first half of the rotation, and the fixed housing 1 After being rewound on the outer cylinder wall 9, the second strip-shaped portion 4b is unwound from the outer cylinder wall 12 side of the movable-side housing 2 and wound around the second inner cylinder wall 14 in the latter half of the rotation, as shown in FIG.
(A-1) and (b-1).

In the above description of the operation, the finite rotation of the movable side housing 2 is divided into the first half and the latter half, the intermediate plate 3 does not rotate in one of the first half and the latter half, and the intermediate plate 3 is movable in the other half. Although it has been described that the housing 2 rotates at the same speed as the housing 2, this is the case where the frictional resistance between the intermediate plate 3 and the fixed housing 1 is sufficiently larger than the frictional resistance between the movable housing 2 and the intermediate plate 3. . When the frictional resistances between the movable side housing 2 and the intermediate plate 3 and between the intermediate plate 3 and the fixed side housing 1 are set to be the same, the intermediate plate 3 is always movable during the finite rotation of the movable side housing 2. Housing 2
Although it rotates in the same direction with a rotation amount of 1/2, the finite rotation amount of the movable side housing 2 is the same in this case as well. For example, when the movable side housing 2 makes one rotation in the counterclockwise direction from the states of (a-1) and (b-1) in FIG. 4, the intermediate plate 3 makes 1/2 rotation in the counterclockwise direction during that time, When the movable-side housing 2 further makes one rotation in the counterclockwise direction, the intermediate plate 3 further makes another 1/2 rotation in the counterclockwise direction during the rotation, and finally (a-6) and (b-6) in FIG.
State.

As described above, in the above embodiment, the space surrounded by the fixed housing 1 and the movable housing 2 is partitioned by the intermediate plate 3 into the first housing portion 15 and the second housing portion 16. Since the first strip-shaped portion 4a and the second strip-shaped portion 4b of the flat cable 4 continuous in a U-shape are stored in the storage portions 15 and 16, respectively, the finite rotation speed required for the movable side housing 2 is reduced. Both storage parts 15, 16
The total length L of the flat cable 4 can be reduced to about half that of the conventional one by being shared by the respective strip-shaped portions 4a and 4b. Therefore, the flat cable 4 can be manufactured by etching the conductor 21.
The manufacturing cost of the flat cable 4 can be significantly reduced. Further, the joint portions 22 and 23 at both ends of the U-shaped flat cable 4 can be fixed to the take-out portions 9a and 12a on the outer peripheral portions of the fixed housing 1 and the movable housing 2, respectively. The outer peripheral portion is less restricted in space than the inner peripheral portion, so that the degree of freedom in design can be increased.

In the above embodiment, the case where the space surrounded by the fixed side housing 1 and the movable side housing 2 is partitioned into the two storage parts 15 and 16 by the intermediate plate 3 has been described. It is also possible to partition into a plurality of parts, and if the number of compartments to be partitioned increases, the total length of the flat cable can be shortened accordingly. For example,
When the space surrounded by the fixed housing 1 and the movable housing 2 is partitioned into four storage parts by three intermediate plates 3, as shown in FIG. 5, a portion that is continuous with the flat cable 4 in a U-shape. May be alternately formed, and the strip-shaped portions 4a to 4d of the flat cable 4 may be wound in the respective storage portions.

[0023]

The present invention is embodied in the form described above and has the following effects.

The space surrounded by the fixed-side housing and the movable-side housing is divided into a plurality of storage parts by an intermediate plate, and the U-shaped continuous flat cables are stored in the adjacent storage parts. Since the required number of rotations is shared by the flat cable in each storage unit, the total length of the flat cable can be shortened, and the flat cable can be manufactured by an inexpensive etching method.

Further, when the flat cable is wound in the opposite direction in each housing through the reversing portion, the required length can be shortened as compared with the case where the flat cable is wound in a spiral shape, so that the total length of the flat cable is reduced. It is suitable for shortening.

Further, the lead-out portions at both ends of the flat cable can be provided on the outer peripheral portions of the fixed side housing and the movable side housing, respectively. In this case, the outer peripheral portions of both housings have a space smaller than the inner peripheral portion. Since there are few restrictions, the degree of freedom in design is increased.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is an exploded perspective view of a rotary connector according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a sectional view of the rotary connector.

FIG. 3 is a front view of a flat cable used for the rotary connector.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram showing the operation of the flat cable.

FIG. 5 is a front view showing a modification of the flat cable.

FIG. 6 is a plan view showing a schematic configuration of a conventional rotary connector.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Fixed-side housing 2 Movable-side housing 3 Intermediate plate 3a Slit 4 Flat cable 4a First band-shaped part 4b Second band-shaped part 4c Connecting part 5,6 Moving body 9,12 Outer cylinder wall 9a, 12a Extracting part 13 1st Inner cylinder wall 14 second inner cylinder wall 15 first storage portion 16 second storage portion 21 conductors 22, 24 joint portion

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A fixed-side housing, a movable-side housing rotatably mounted on the fixed-side housing, and a space surrounded by these two housings along a direction orthogonal to a rotation axis of the movable-side housing. An intermediate plate for partitioning into a plurality of storage sections and a flat cable wound in each of the storage sections are provided, and both ends of the flat cable are fixed to the fixed side housing and the movable side housing to the outside. A rotary connector, wherein the flat cable is electrically led out and the flat cable is connected in a U shape between adjacent storage portions. 2. The rotary connector according to claim 1, wherein the flat cable is wound in a reverse direction in each of the accommodating sections via an inversion section. 3. The rotary connector according to claim 1, wherein lead-out portions at both ends of the flat cable are provided on outer peripheral portions of the fixed-side housing and the movable-side housing, respectively.