This application is based upon and claims priority from the Japanese Patent Application No. 2017-134136, filed on Jul. 7, 2017, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.
The present invention relates to a bracket structure.
As one example of conventional bracket structures, there is a known bracket that includes a knob or a key cylinder for manually opening a lid for a security space such as a trunk or a door (see, for example, Patent document 1: Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2009-72606).
The conventional bracket structure has made it difficult to sufficiently secure rigidity when attempting to change materials composing the bracket from metal such as iron to a resin material.
The present invention has therefore been made in view of the above problem, and an object of the present invention is to provide a bracket structure capable of securing sufficient rigidity even if a resin material is used.
In order to solve the above problem, according to an aspect of the present invention, a bracket structure reflecting one aspect of the present invention includes a casing formed of a resin material, the casing including: amounting part that is formed so as to allow an engaged part to be mounted thereon, the engaged part being operated by engagement with an engaging part; and a frame-shaped part that is erected from a peripheral edge of the mounting part to be continuously provided in a peripheral direction thereof.
The features and advantages provided by one or more embodiments of the invention will become apparent from the detailed description given below and appended drawings which are given only by way of illustration, and thus are not intended as a definition of the limits of the present invention.
Hereinafter, one or more embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings as necessary. In the description below, the same component is given the same reference sign and thus duplicate description is omitted. When a direction is described, the description will be given based on “front”, “rear”, “left”, “right”, “up” and “down” when viewed from a driver in a vehicle. Moreover, a “vehicle width direction” is synonymous with a “right-left direction”.
First, referring to
The knob or the key cylinder 30 is mounted via a bracket on the first panel 40 or the second panel 50 provided inside the vehicle body side mounting part 60.
On the other hand, to the key 20 serving as an engaging part and the key cylinder 30 serving as an engaged part that is operated by engagement with the key 20, stresses are applied from various directions during locking and unlocking operations. In particular, when an input in a turning direction is applied to a bracket 1 from the key cylinder 30, a stress in a torsional direction is applied to the bracket 1 that mounts the key cylinder 30 on the vehicle body.
Therefore, the bracket 1 is required securing sufficient rigidity so as not to be deformed or damaged even if it receives such a stress in the torsional direction.
As shown in
Among these parts, the mounting part 3 includes a base board 5 having a nearly rectangular shape, an engaging hole 6 formed nearly in the center of the base board 5, a cable locking part 7 (see
The base board 5 has a vehicle inner side face formed into a planar shape as shown in
The engaging hole 6 is composed of a round hole 6a through which the key cylinder 30 is inserted, and a rectangular cut-out part 6b provided contiguous to the round hole 6a. The cut-out part 6b is formed into a predetermined size so as to allow a projection 32 (see
Moreover, the key cylinder 30 to be engaged with the key 20 is inserted into the engaging hole 6 formed in the base board 5 from the vehicle inner side, and allows a fixing flange piece 35 that is firmly fixed to an outside case 31, to be butted against the base board 5. With this state, the key cylinder 30 is turned around a cylinder shaft. The projection 32 is engaged with the opening peripheral edge of the round hole 6a from the vehicle outer side. Consequently, the key cylinder 30 is mounted on the bracket 1 with the opening peripheral edge of the round hole 6a being sandwiched between the projection 32 of the key cylinder 30 and the fixing flange piece 35.
On the other hand, the frame-shaped part 4 is provided integral with the base board 5 so as to be erected from a peripheral edge of the base board 5 in the mounting part 3 to be continuously formed in the peripheral direction. The frame-shaped part 4 in this embodiment is formed into a nearly rectangular shape when viewed in the engagement direction along a cylinder axial direction L. Moreover, the frame-shaped part 4 is configured to allow the erected dimension to have nearly the same height position as a height dimension of an end part 39 on an opposite side of a front end face 37 in the state of the key cylinder 30 being mounted on the mounting part 3. Consequently, the bracket 1 is formed to have a nearly box-shaped form in which one side face on the vehicle inner side thereof is open as shown in
Moreover, as shown in
In this embodiment, the lattice-like distortion reinforcing parts 4g, 4g are provided inside the corner parts that are located on the opposite side of the fixing part 8. Moreover, the distortion reinforcing parts 4g, 4g are disposed together with a stepped part of the pedestal part 5b to be described later, so as to surround an insertion part 4e and the circumference of the mounting part 3 to the fixing part 8 in a channel shape when viewed in the engagement direction along the cylinder axial direction L. Consequently, the inside of the frame-shaped part 4 is efficiently reinforced.
The frame-shaped part 4 in this embodiment has a pair of side wall parts 4a, 4b facing each other across the mounting part 3 and having mounting flanges 9, 9 provided along the peripheral direction on outer faces thereof, respectively. The mounting flanges 9, 9 are formed along the peripheral direction on the outer faces of the side wall parts 4a, 4b so as to be nearly parallel with the planar part of the base board 5 and to be perpendicular to the side wall parts 4a, 4b, respectively. Moreover, the mounting flanges 9, 9 are configured to allow planar abutting faces 9a, 9a thereof to abut on the vehicle outer side face of the first panel 40.
Moreover, as shown in
Furthermore, the frame-shaped part 4 in this embodiment has first engaging projections 4h, 4h and a second engaging projection 4j. The first engaging projections 4h, 4h are formed on aside wall part 4c orthogonal to the pair of side wall parts 4a, 4b. Moreover, the second engaging projection 4j is formed on a side wall part 4d that faces the side wall part 4c on which the first engaging projections 4h, 4h are formed, across the mounting part 3.
When the bracket 1 is mounted in a bracket mounting opening 42 of the first panel 40, the first engaging projections 4h, 4h and the second engaging projection 4j are adapted to be locked on an opening peripheral edge of the bracket mounting opening 42.
As shown in
The insertion part 4e and the second rib 4f are formed on the side wall part 4d. The second rib 4f may be formed using a slide die whose slide die-cutting direction is made parallel with the extending direction of the first cable 70.
The first cable 70 in this embodiment has an end part coupled via a ball joint 34 to a lever 33 of the key cylinder 30. The first cable 70 is slidably inserted through a covering tube 72 on the outer side than the insertion part 4e.
Moreover, an end part of the covering tube 72 is fitted in and fixed to the insertion part 4e having a cutout shape at the time of assembly. This makes it possible to allow the first cable 70 sliding in the covering tube 72 to be inserted through the insertion part 4e between the inside and the outside of the frame-shaped part 4.
As shown in
The protruded wall part 90 is provided with a second insertion part 92 having a cutout shape through which the second cable 80 is inserted, and a pair of third ribs 94, 94 that are formed parallel with an inserting direction of the second cable 80 in the second insertion part 92. The second cable 80 is slidably inserted through a covering tube 84.
Moreover, as shown in
Moreover, as shown in
Furthermore, the protruded wall part 90 and the side wall part 4d are formed to allow outer surfaces thereof to be flush with each other except for a part protruding from the outer surfaces with the second engaging projection 4j. Consequently, the protruded wall part 90 and the side wall part 4d have very few parts on which stress is concentrated, thereby making it possible to disperse the stress in a well-balanced state.
The base board 5 in this embodiment has the pedestal part 5b formed to have a higher step than the planar part 5a in which the engaging hole 6 is formed.
On the other hand, the cable locking part 7 is formed on an edge part of the pedestal part 5b which is at the side near the protruded wall part 90. The cable locking part 7 has the locking claw 7a having a hook-like shape, and a die-cut hole 7b. The die-cut hole 7b is formed so as not to allow the locking claw 7a to overlap with the base board 5 in a face inner/outer direction (the cylinder axial direction L in
Moreover, as shown in
Furthermore, the covering tube 84 of the second cable 80 is fitted in and mounted on the second insertion part 92 having a cutout shape of the protruded wall part 90. This makes it possible to allow the second cable 80 sliding in the covering tube 84 to be inserted through the second insertion part 92 between the inside and the outside of the protruded wall part 90, in the same manner as the first cable 70 inserted through the insertion part 4e.
The pedestal part 5b has the fixing part 8 provided adjacent to the locking claw 7a (see
As shown in
Next, description will be given of the workings and effects of the bracket structure according to the present embodiment.
First, description will be given of configuration in the case where the bracket 1 is provided on the vehicle body side mounting part 60 with the key cylinder 30 being mounted on the bracket 1.
As shown in
Moreover, the slide fixing member 8a slides on the slide guide parts 8c, 8c formed on the housing recessed part 8b for engagement with the housing recessed part 8b. In this state, a turning angle of the key cylinder 30 is adjusted so as to allow the female screw part 8f formed in the slide fixing member 8a and the fixing hole to coincide with each other.
Next, the fixing bolt 8e is inserted through the fixing hole 8d formed in the fixing flange piece 35, and inserted through and screwed into the female screw part 8f. This causes the key cylinder 30 to be fixed to the bracket 1 with the key cylinder 30 being prevented from coming off from the engaging hole 6 of the bracket 1.
Then, as shown in
The first engaging projections 4h, 4h and the second engaging projection 4j formed on the bracket 1 are locked on the opening peripheral edge of the bracket mounting opening 42. This causes the bracket 1 to be fixed to the vehicle body side mounting part 60 with the bracket 1 inserted halfway into the bracket mounting opening 42.
At this time, the abutting faces 9a, 9a of the mounting flanges 9, 9 shown in
At the mounting position, a part of the front end face 37 of the key cylinder 30 is nearly flush with the outer surface of the peripheral edge part of the cylinder hole 52. Note that in the illustration, the cylinder hole 52 is formed by opening the flat face of the second panel 50, but it may be concavely formed into a shape having a lower step than the outer surface of the second panel 50. Moreover, a lid body may be provided which is adapted to cover the front end face 37 of the key cylinder 30 and capable of being opened and closed.
As shown in
Consequently, sufficient rigidity can be secured even if a resin material is used for the casing 2.
Moreover, the bracket 1 is formed into the shape such that the frame-shaped part 4 is erected from the peripheral edge of the base board 5 composing the mounting part 3. Consequently, resin mold using a metal mold can be easily performed by making a die-cutting direction in resin molding of the bracket 1 coincide with an erecting direction of the frame-shaped part 4.
Furthermore, the frame-shaped part 4 in this embodiment has the pair of side wall parts 4a, 4b facing each other across the mounting part 3, and the mounting flanges 9, 9 having an elongated shape are provided along the longitudinal direction of the side wall parts 4a, 4b, respectively. Moreover, as shown in
Consequently, stress in the turning direction applied to the key cylinder 30 can be dispersed from the base board 5 of the mounting part 3 to the pair of side wall parts 4a, 4b, and received at the side wall parts 4a, 4b in a well-balanced state.
Therefore, rigidity of the entire bracket 1 can be enhanced.
In addition, when the bracket 1 is engaged with the bracket mounting opening 42, the mounting flanges 9, 9 and the first ribs 10, 10 in this embodiment allow the planar abutting faces 9a, 9a to abut on the vehicle outer side face of the first panel 40. This causes stress in the engaging direction to be dispersed from the mounting flanges 9, 9 via the plurality of first ribs 10, 10 to the entire bracket 1.
Thus, the abutting faces 9a, 9a of the mounting flanges 9, 9 reinforcing the side wall parts 4a, 4b are used to mount the bracket 1 in the bracket mounting opening 42, thereby making it possible to increase efficiency of mounting the parts and to further enhance rigidity of the entire bracket 1.
Furthermore, as shown in
Consequently, even if a load in the turning direction from the key cylinder 30 is further applied to the bracket 1, distortion of the bracket 1 can be suppressed.
Moreover, as shown in
Consequently, even if the first cable 70 is strained to allow a load in the extending direction of the first cable 70 to be applied to the frame-shaped part 4, the second rib 4f provided parallel with the extending direction suppresses distortion of the frame-shaped part 4.
Moreover, the second rib 4f is formed parallel with the extending direction. Consequently, with respect to the die-cutting direction when forming the bracket 1 made of resin, the second rib 4f does not interfere with the metal mold. This makes it possible to easily perform die-cutting in resin molding.
Next, description will be given of configuration in the case where the bracket 1 not having the key cylinder 30 mounted thereon is used.
As shown in
Moreover, the protruded wall part 90 is provided with the second insertion part 92 through which the second cable 80 is inserted, and the pair of third ribs 94, 94 formed parallel with the inserting direction of the second cable 80 in the second insertion part 92.
Consequently, even if the second cable 80 is strained to allow a load in the extending direction of the second cable 80 to be applied to the protruded wall part 90, the intended proof stress can be exhibited because the pair of third ribs 94, 94 is formed parallel with the inserting direction of the second cable 80.
On the other hand, the cable locking part 7 has the locking claw 7a and the die-cut hole 7b. The die-cut hole 7b is formed on the edge part of the pedestal part 5b which is at the side near the protruded wall part 90, so as not to allow the locking claw 7a to overlap with the base board 5 in the face inner/outer direction which is the die-cutting direction.
Consequently, the locking claw 7a having a hook-like shape does not overlap with the base board 5 having the die-cut hole 7b provided thereon, in the face inner/outer direction which is the die-cutting direction.
Therefore, formability can be improved because there is no part formed into an “under shape” at the time of die-cutting.
Moreover, the locking claw 7a of the cable locking part 7 can be formed into a hook-like shape. Consequently, the annular part 82 of the second cable 80 can be easily locked on the locking claw 7a.
Furthermore, as shown in
Moreover, as shown in
As described above, according to the present embodiment, the bracket 1 can be used in both the case where the key cylinder 30 is mounted on the bracket 1 (see the portion indicated by the solid line in
Moreover, the bracket 1 is configured using a resin material. The bracket 1 is formed into the shape such that the frame-shaped part 4 is provided integral with the base board 5 so as to be erected from the peripheral edge of the base board 5 in the mounting part 3 to be continuously formed in the peripheral direction. This configuration is suitable for molding by means of injection molding of resin.
In addition, the bracket 1 made of resin makes it possible to achieve weight saving compared with a bracket made of metal. Moreover, the frame-shaped part 4 is integrally provided on the peripheral edge of the base board 5. The frame-shaped part 4 is configured using a resin material. Consequently, the bracket 1 can be easily mounted in the bracket mounting opening 42 with the first engaging projections 4h, 4h and the second engaging projection 4j provided on the frame-shaped part 4. Therefore, assemblability can be improved as compared to a conventional fastening structure.
Thus, the bracket 1 according to the present embodiment allows a bracket structure to be provided, which is capable of securing sufficient rigidity even if a resin material is used.
The present invention is not limited to the above embodiment and can be variously modified. The above embodiment is described by way of example for the purpose of explanation so as to easily comprehend the present invention, and thus the present invention is not necessarily limited to what is provided with all of the above described configurations. Moreover, a part of configurations in one embodiment can be substituted by a part of configurations in another embodiment, and a part of configurations in another embodiment can also be added to a part of configurations in one embodiment. Furthermore, with respect to a part of configurations in each embodiment, the part can be deleted, or another configuration can be added to or substituted for the part. Possible modifications to the above embodiment are, for example, as follows.
In the above embodiment, the mounting part 3 is configured to include the rectangular base board 5 having the vehicle inner side face formed into a planar shape as shown in
Moreover, the frame-shaped part 4 is provided integral with the base board 5 so as to be erected from the peripheral edge on the vehicle inner side face of the base board 5 in the mounting part 3 to be continuously formed in the peripheral direction. However, the frame-shaped part 4 is not particularly limited to the disclosed embodiment, and only needs to be erected from at least one of the vehicle inner side face and the vehicle outer side face of the base board 5 in the mounting part 3. For example, parts facing each other on both sides of the frame-shaped part 4 only need to be provided integral with the base board 5 without being continuously formed in the peripheral direction.
Furthermore, the mounting flanges 9, 9 and the first ribs 10, 10 are provided along the peripheral direction on the outer faces of the side wall parts 4a, 4b, but they may be provided on the inner faces of the side wall parts 4a, 4b.
Moreover, as shown in
Moreover, as shown in
Furthermore, as shown in
In addition, the place where the bracket 1 is mounted is not particularly limited to the disclosed embodiment, too. That is, as long as the bracket 1 is used in opening a lid for a security space such as a trunk or a door, the bracket 1 may be provided in any part of the vehicle, for example, such as in the vicinity of the head part of an occupant seated in a rear seat.
Although the embodiment of the present invention has been described and illustrated in detail, the disclosed embodiment is made for purposes of illustration and example only and not limitation. The scope of the present invention should be interpreted by terms of the appended claims.
1: Bracket; 2: Casing; 3: Mounting part; 4: Frame-shaped part; 4a-4d: Side wall part; 4e: Insertion part; 4f: Second rib; 5: Base board; 6: Engaging hole; 7: Cable locking part; 7a: Locking claw; 7b: Die-cut hole; 9: Mounting flange; 10: First rib; 20: Key (Engaging part); 30: Key cylinder (Engaged part); 70: First cable; 80: Second cable; 90: Protruded wall part; 92: Second insertion part; 94: Third rib
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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2017-134136 | Jul 2017 | JP | national |
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Entry |
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Japanese Office Action with English translation dated Jan. 8, 2019, 11 pages. |
Japanese Office Action with English translation dated Jul. 23, 2019 (6 pages). |
Number | Date | Country | |
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20190010738 A1 | Jan 2019 | US |