Electric steering wheel position adjustment apparatus

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9126624-B2
Application number	US-201314391981-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 22, 2013
Priority date	May 25, 2012
Publication date	Sep 8, 2015
Grant date	Sep 8, 2015

Abstract

The electric steering wheel position adjustment apparatus of the present invention comprises: a non-expandable steering shaft 2 b ; a non-expandable steering column 5 b ; a column holder 31 that supports the steering column 5 b so as to be able to move in the axial direction; a pair of left and right tilt shafts 33 that support the column holder 31 so as to be able to pivotally move around the center axis thereof; and an expandable intermediate shaft 28 that is connected to the steering shaft 2 b by way of a universal joint 27 b ; and a tilt shafts 33 that are arranged so that the center axis thereof is orthogonal to the center axis of the steering shaft 2 b . The center axis O C of the pair of left and right tilt shafts 33 is located in a range between the position O F of the center of displacement of the front-end section and the position O B of the center of displacement of the rear-end section of the universal joint 27 b.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An electric steering wheel position adjustment apparatus, comprising:
a non-expandable steering shaft having a center axis, a front-end section, and a rear-end section which a steering wheel is supported by and fastened to;
a non-expandable steering column supporting the steering shaft so as to be able to rotate freely on an inside thereof;
a column holder supported by a vehicle-side bracket that is supported by a portion fastened to a vehicle body, having a tip-end section, and supporting the steering column so as allow movement in an axial direction of the steering column;
a pair of left and right tilt shafts being concentric with each other, being arranged so as to have a center axis that is orthogonal to the center axis of the steering shaft, and supporting the tip-end section of the column holder so as to be able to pivotally move with respect to the vehicle-side bracket;
an expandable intermediate shaft having a rear-end section, and transmitting rotation of the steering shaft to an input shaft of a steering gear unit;
a universal joint connecting the front-end section of the steering shaft to the rear-end section of the intermediate shaft;
an electric actuator for forward-backward position adjustment having a forward-backward electric drive motor as a drive source, and causing the steering column to move in the axial direction with respect to the column holder; and
an electric actuator for up-down position adjustment having an up-down electric drive motor as a drive source, and causing the column holder to pivotally move in an up-down direction of the column holder with the tilt shaft as a pivot center,
wherein when a position of a center of displacement of the universal joint when the steering wheel is displaced to a front-end position of an adjustable range is taken to be a position of the center of displacement of a front-end side, and a position of the center of displacement of the universal joint when the steering wheel is displaced to a rear-end position of the adjustable range is taken to be a position of the center of displacement of a rear-end side, the center axis of the pair of left and right tilt shafts is located within a range between the position of the center of displacement of the front-end side and the position of the center of displacement of the rear-end side.

2. The electric steering wheel position adjustment apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein when the distance between the position of the center of displacement of the front-end side and the position of the center of displacement of the rear-end side is taken to be L, the center axis of the pair of left and right tilt shafts is located within a range of length L/5 centered around the center position between the position of the center of displacement of the front-end side and the position of the center of displacement of the rear-end side.

3. The electric steering wheel position adjustment apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the electric actuator for forward-backward position adjustment and the electric actuator for up-down position adjustment are fastened on a bottom side of the column holder and mechanisms that push the steering column downward are provided in at least two locations separated in a forward-backward direction of a top side of the column holder.

4. The electric steering wheel position adjustment apparatus according to claim 3 , wherein each of the mechanisms that push the steering column downward comprise: a support hole that is formed so as to pass through between an inner circumferential surface and an outer circumferential surface of the column holder, and a sliding plate, an elastic member and a cover that are assembled inside the support hole in order from an inside in a radial direction of the column holder; and the elastic member is elastically compressed between the sliding plate and the cover, and the sliding plate pushes the outer circumferential surface of the steering column.

Assignees

• Nsk Ltd

Inventors

• Iwakawa Masato
• Sekii Yoshiyuki
• Kakita Hiroshi

Classifications

• B62D1/181

  with power actuated adjustment, e.g. with position memory · CPC title

• B62D1/187

  with tilt adjustment; with tilt and axial adjustment (B62D1/183, B62D1/19 takes precedence) · CPC title

• B62D1/185

  adjustable by axial displacement, e.g. telescopically (B62D1/183, B62D1/187, B62D1/19 take precedence) · CPC title

• B62D1/189 Primary

  the entire column being tiltable as a unit · CPC title