Steering device and method for manufacturing steering device
AssigneeKnorr-Bremse Commercial Vehicle Systems Japan Ltd.
InventorsTakafumi OHATA, Shogo ISHIKAWA
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
In a steering device (PS1) according to the present invention, a preload applying mechanism (6) is configured to apply rotation torque in one rotation direction of a ball nut (4) based on the reaction force generated by a plunger (61) coming in elastic contact with the tooth tip of a first sector tooth (321) of a sector gear (32). Consequently, in the steering device (PS1), unlike conventional steering devices, it is not necessary to provide a pushed part which is pushed by the plunger (61), separately from the sector gear (32). With this, it is possible to suppress an increase in the size of a sector shaft (3) due to the formation of the pushed part.
Claims9
A steering device comprising:
- a rack tooth part formed on an outer side of a ball nut which is screwed onto a steering shaft linked to a steering wheel;
- a sector gear which is provided to a sector shaft linked to a turning wheel, includes a center tooth that meshes most deeply with the rack tooth part at a neutral position of the sector shaft which corresponds to a straight-ahead steering state, and meshes with the rack tooth part using a plurality of sector teeth provided in a circumferential direction of the sector shaft;
- and
- a preload applying mechanism which adjusts a meshing between the rack tooth part and the sector gear in a vicinity of the neutral position of the sector shaft,
- wherein the preload applying mechanism includes:
- a plunger receiving hole which is provided close to an area on one end side in a tooth width direction of a specific tooth bottom of the rack tooth part which faces a tooth tip of the center tooth in the vicinity of the neutral position of the sector shaft, and is opened to the specific tooth bottom;
- a plunger which is housed in the plunger receiving hole so as to advance and retract, and is provided such that a distal end side thereof protrudes from an opening facing the sector gear of the plunger receiving hole;
- a sliding ring which is provided to move integrally with the plunger by being press-fitted to an outer peripheral side of the plunger, and slides with respect to an inner peripheral surface of the plunger receiving hole by the advance and retraction movement of the plunger;
- and
- an energizing member which is interposed between a bottom of the plunger receiving hole and the sliding ring, and energizes the plunger toward the center tooth via the sliding ring, and
- wherein the preload applying mechanism energizes the ball nut in one rotation direction of the ball nut based on a reaction force generated by the plunger coming in elastic contact with the tooth tip of the center tooth.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.