Rotary actuator

A rotary actuator to be fixed to an outer wall of a transmission case of a vehicle transmission and to be used as a drive device for a shift-by-wire system, the rotary actuator comprising:

• a motor;
• a speed reducing mechanism that reduces a speed of rotation outputted from the motor;
• a housing that receives the motor and the speed reducing mechanism;
• an output shaft that is fixed to an output member of the speed reducing mechanism and transmits a rotational drive force, which is outputted from the output member, to a shift range change mechanism of the vehicle transmission;
• and
• a manually operable portion that is operable to transmit rotation to the output shaft and is provided such that the manually operable portion extends through the housing while at least a portion of the manually operable portion is exposed to an outside of the housing, wherein:
• the output shaft is placed along an axis that is different from an axis of the motor;
• the manually operable portion is placed coaxially with the output shaft and includes:
• a penetration rod that extends through a portion of the housing, which is located on a side that is opposite from the transmission case;
• an outer lever that is connected to the penetration rod at the outside of the housing;
• and
• an engaging arm that radially outwardly projects from the penetration rod in an inside of the housing;
• the output member includes an engaging pin that projects in an axial direction in such a manner that the engaging pin is engageable with the engaging arm when the penetration rod is rotated about an axis of the penetration rod;
• and
• the housing includes an evacuation space, into which the engaging arm is evacuated, so that the engaging arm and the engaging pin do not contact with each other at a time period of rotating the output member to a corresponding one of rotational positions, which respectively correspond to all of shift ranges.

A rotary actuator to be fixed to an outer wall of a transmission case of a vehicle transmission and to be used as a drive device for a shift-by-wire system, the rotary actuator comprising:

• a motor;
• a speed reducing mechanism that reduces a speed of rotation outputted from the motor;
• a housing that receives the motor and the speed reducing mechanism;
• an output shaft that is fixed to an output member of the speed reducing mechanism and transmits a rotational drive force, which is outputted from the output member, to a shift range change mechanism of the vehicle transmission;
• and
• a manually operable portion that is operable to transmit rotation to the output shaft and is provided such that the manually operable portion extends through the housing while at least a portion of the manually operable portion is exposed to an outside of the housing, wherein:
• the manually operable portion is a separate member that is formed separately from a control rod of the shift range change mechanism.