JPH1178817A - Pedal structure - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a pedal structure which is lightweight and easy to manufacture, though it has enough strength. SOLUTION: A pedal 10 has a pedal sheet 11 on which a driver steps, a pedal arm 13 which has the pedal sheet 11 on its lower end side, and a boss 15 provided on the upper end side of the panel arm 13, and all of them are integrally molded by press-working one iron plate. The pedal sheet 11 is equipped with a stepping face 17 on which the driver steps, and a flange part formed by bending the periphery of the stepping face 17. The pedal arm 13 is molded in a square pipe shape by press-working the iron plate. The boss 15 is formed as a pair of burring holes 16 provided for right and left side surfaces on the upper end side of the pedal arm 13.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

The present invention relates to a pedal structure such as a clutch pedal or a brake pedal.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, as a pedal structure such as a clutch pedal or a brake pedal, as shown in FIGS. 9 and 10, a pedal seat 111, a pedal arm 113, a boss 115, a cushion bracket 118 and the like are welded or the like. Assembled ones are known.

[0003] A pedal seat 111 is a place where the driver steps on the seat, and is attached to a lower end of a pedal arm 113. The pedal sheet 143 is usually covered with a pedal pad 143 made of rubber. The pedal arm 113 is usually formed of a metal plate of about 6 mm in the case of a clutch pedal, and is usually formed of a metal plate of 8 to 10 mm in the case of a brake pedal. The boss 115 is connected to the pedal arm 11 as shown in FIG.
3 is a tubular member for rotatably supporting the bolt 3 as a rotation shaft, and is fixed to the pedal arm 113 in a state of being inserted into a through hole provided at the upper end of the pedal arm 113. A pair of bushes 31, 31 are inserted into the boss 115 from both open ends, and a collar 33 is inserted into the pair of bushes 31, 31. The foot of a bolt 35 as a rotation shaft is inserted through the collar 33, and is fixed to a bracket 45 by a nut 37. As a result, the pedal arm 113 is rotatably supported.

The cushion bracket 118 is welded to the side surface of the pedal arm 113 above the center of the pedal arm 113. This cushion bracket 1
A cushion fixing hole is provided in the front portion of the cushion 18, and a resin cushion 40 is supported in the cushion fixing hole. The cushion 40 comes into contact with the stopper 47 and is positioned at a step release position (that is, a predetermined position when the driver does not depress the pedal).

[0005]

However, since the pedal requires high rigidity in the pedal arm 113, the pedal arm 113 has a thickness of 6 to 10 m as described above.
It is necessary to be formed of a metal plate of about m, and there is a problem that the weight increases. Further, since the pedal seat 111, the pedal arm 113, the boss 115, and the like need to be assembled by welding or the like, there is a problem that the cost of parts is increased and the manufacturing process is complicated.

The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and has as its object to provide a pedal structure that is lightweight and easy to manufacture despite having sufficient strength.

[0007]

Means for Solving the Problems and Effects of the Invention In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, a pedal structure according to the present invention comprises a pedal seat to be depressed by a driver, a pedal arm having the pedal seat provided at a lower end side, A boss provided on the upper end side of the pedal arm and rotatably supported on the vehicle body side,
The pedal seat, the pedal arm and the boss are integrally formed by pressing a metal plate,
In the pedal arm, the metal plate is formed in a pipe shape.

According to such a pedal structure, since it is integrally formed by press working, it is not necessary to separately manufacture a pedal seat, a pedal arm, and a boss as in the prior art, and the work of welding each member is unnecessary. . For this reason, productivity can be improved and cost can be reduced. Conventionally, since a pedal arm requires high rigidity, a thick metal plate (for example, 8 to 1 for a brake pedal) is conventionally used.
However, in the present invention, a metal plate (for example, an iron plate, an aluminum plate, a steel plate, or the like) having a thickness of less than half the thickness of a conventional metal plate is used to form a pipe, and the cross section is enlarged to be equivalent to the conventional one. Stiffness can be maintained, and the weight can be reduced.

In the present invention, the pedal seat includes:
A tread surface to be stepped on by a driver and a flange portion formed by bending around the tread surface may be provided. This flange portion can be easily formed by press working. Further, the pedal seat can have sufficient strength due to the presence of the flange portion.

[0010] In the present invention, the pedal arm may include a seam portion where the first and second fold curves of the metal plate abut each other, and a first and a second fold curve forming the seam portion. It may include first and second protrusions extending. In this case, since the contact area of the joint portion is increased by the contact portion of the first and second protrusions,
Rigidity is higher than in the case of simply butting.

Further, in the present invention, the boss may be formed as a pair of burring holes provided at positions facing each other in the metal plate formed in a pipe shape. In this case, since the pair of burring holes are formed as bosses instead of the cylindrical member as bosses as in the related art, the weight can be further reduced and the manufacture becomes easier.

Further, in the present invention, the pedal arm may include a cushion fixing hole into which a cushion for positioning the pedal arm at a predetermined stepping release position can be fitted. In this case, as compared with a conventional case in which a separate cushion bracket is fixed to the pedal arm to support the cushion, the weight and cost are reduced because the cushion bracket is not required.

[0013] In addition to integral molding with a metal plate, integral molding with resin or integral molding with aluminum die casting may be considered. In these cases, however, it is necessary to change the shape of the pedal for each vehicle type. When compared with the cost of a metal mold for press molding of a metal plate, the cost of a mold for injection molding for resin and the cost of a mold for aluminum die casting are higher, which is not preferable.

[0014]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. 1 is a front view of the present embodiment, FIG. 2 is a side view thereof, FIG. 3 is a rear view thereof, and FIG. 4 is a sectional view taken along line AA of FIG. FIG. 5 is a perspective view of the cushion.

The pedal 10 according to the present embodiment is mainly provided with a pedal seat 11 that is stepped on by a driver, a pedal arm 13 provided with the pedal seat 11 at a lower end thereof, and a pedal arm 13 provided at an upper end of the pedal arm 13. A boss 15 is provided, all of which are integrally formed by pressing one iron plate.

The pedal seat 11 has a tread surface 17 which is stepped on by a driver, and a flange portion 19 formed by bending around the tread surface 17. Since the pedal seat 11 is provided with the flange portion 19 as described above, it has a sufficient strength. The pedal seat 11 has two concave portions 17a, 17a on the tread surface 17. These recesses 17a, 17
“a” is provided for increasing the surface rigidity. The upper surface of the flange portion 19 of the pedal seat 11 is integrally connected to the pedal arm 13.

The pedal arm 13 is formed by pressing an iron plate into a square pipe shape by press bending, and as shown in FIG.
There is a joint 23 on the back side where the parts 22 are butted against each other. The seam portion 23 is partially connected by general welding such as arc welding or plasma welding or composition deformation such as pressure welding (the zigzag line in FIG. 3 represents a welded portion). It may be joined over. The first and second projecting portions 25 and 26 are formed so as to be folded into the inside from the first and second folding curves 21 and 22 forming the joint portion 23 and to be in contact with each other. Since the first and second protrusions 25 and 26 are in contact with each other, the contact area at the joint 23 increases. In addition, the length of the first and second protrusions 25 and 26 is increased when higher rigidity is desired (in some cases, the length may reach the inner surface of the square pipe). It is determined by appropriately considering the balance.

The boss 15 is formed as a pair of burring holes 16 provided on both left and right side surfaces on the upper end side of the pedal arm 13. The cushion fixing hole 27 is for fitting a resin cushion 40 having an arrowhead-shaped snap pin 41 shown in FIG. The cushion fixing hole 27 is provided in the boss 1 in the front portion of the pedal arm 13.
It is provided at a position lower than 5. The erection hole 29 is provided between the biasing mechanism 3 erected between the vehicle body side and the pedal arm 13.
0 (see FIG. 6) is supported through pins (not shown), and is provided so as to penetrate both side surfaces of the pedal arm 13. In this embodiment, the urging mechanism 30 includes a compression coil spring therein.

Next, the operation of the pedal 10 of the present embodiment will be described. 6 is an explanatory view when the pedal is supported by a bracket fixed to the vehicle body, and FIG. 7 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line BB of FIG. A pedal pad 43 is attached to the pedal seat 11 of the pedal 10, and a resin cushion 40 having arrowhead-shaped snap pins 41 shown in FIG. 5 is prepared.
0 into the cushion fixing hole 27. At this time, when the snap pin 41 passes through the cushion fixing hole 27, the snap pin 41 is deformed so as to have a smaller diameter.
After passing through, the cushion 40 is fixed to the cushion fixing hole 27 with one touch in order to restore the original state.

As shown in FIG. 7, a pair of bushes 31, 31 are inserted into openings of both burring holes 16, 16 forming the boss 15 of the pedal 10. A collar 33 is inserted into the pair of bushes 31, 31, a bolt 35 serving as a rotation shaft is inserted through the collar 33 via a bracket 45, and the feet of the bolt 35 are fixed with a nut 37 via the bracket 45. As a result, the pedal 10 is
Is supported by the bracket 45 so as to be rotatable about the foot as a rotation axis.

Further, as shown in FIG. 6, a pin (not shown) is inserted into the mounting hole 29, and this pin is connected to the other end of the urging mechanism 30 having one end fixed to the vehicle body. The pedal 10 is urged in the counterclockwise direction in FIG. 6 by the urging mechanism 30 so that the cushion 40 abuts against the stopper 47 supported by the bracket 45 and is always at a predetermined depression release position (see the solid line in FIG. 6). ). This pedal 10
When the brake pedal is a brake pedal, a switch for controlling the turning on and off of the brake lamp is attached to the stopper 47. When the pedal 10 is in the step-off release position, the switch is pressed by the cushion 40 to be in the off state, and the pedal 10 is released to the driver. When depressed and pushed into the depressed position (see the two-dot chain line in FIG. 6), the cushion 40 is separated from the switch and turned on.

According to the pedal 10 of the first embodiment described above, the pedal arm 13 has a thickness equal to or less than half of the conventional plate thickness (for example, a maximum of 3 mm for a clutch pedal and a maximum of 4 mm for a brake pedal). Since it is formed by bending a metal plate with a press into a pipe shape, it is lightweight and easy to manufacture despite having sufficient strength. In particular, since the contact area of the joint portion 23 of the pedal arm 13 is increased by the contact portions of the first and second protrusions 25 and 26, the rigidity is higher than in the case where the joints are merely abutted.

The pedal seat 11 is provided with a flange 19
And the flange 19 can be easily formed by press working. Further, since the boss 15 has the burring holes 16, the weight can be further reduced as compared with the conventional case where the tubular member is the boss.

Further, since it is not necessary to attach a separate cushion bracket to the pedal arm 13 to support the cushion 40 as in the related art, the weight and cost are reduced accordingly. It should be noted that the embodiments of the present invention are not limited to the above-mentioned embodiments at all, and it goes without saying that various embodiments can be adopted as long as they belong to the technical scope of the present invention.

For example, as shown in FIG.
A configuration may be adopted in which the joints 23 are welded after butting the long sides of the iron plate without providing the protruding portions 25 and 26. However, it is preferable to provide the first and second protrusions 25 and 26 because the rigidity is high.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a front view of a pedal according to an embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a side view of the pedal of the embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a rear view of the pedal according to the embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a sectional view taken along line AA of FIG. 1;

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of a cushion.

FIG. 6 is an explanatory view when the pedal of the present embodiment is supported by a bracket fixed to the vehicle body side.

FIG. 7 is a sectional view taken along the line BB of FIG. 6;

FIG. 8 is a sectional view of a pedal arm according to another embodiment.

FIG. 9 is an explanatory view of a conventional pedal.

FIG. 10 is a partial sectional view of a conventional pedal.

[Explanation of symbols]

10 ... pedal, 11 ... pedal seat, 13 ...
・ Pedal arm, 15 ・ ・ ・ Boss, 16 ・ ・ ・ Burring hole, 17 ・ ・ ・ Tread, 17a ・ ・ ・ Recess, 19 ・ ・ ・
Flange part, 21, 22, first and second fold curves, 2
3 ... seam portion, 25, 26 ... first and second projecting portions, 27 ... cushion fixing hole, 29 ... erection hole,
30 ... urging mechanism, 31 ... bush, 33 ...
Collar, 35 bolts, 37 nuts, 40
..Cushion, 41 ... Snap pin, 43 ...
Pedal pad, 45 ... bracket, 47 ... stopper.

Claims (5)

[Claims] A pedal seat to be depressed by a driver; a pedal arm having the pedal seat provided at a lower end side; a boss provided at an upper end side of the pedal arm and rotatably supported by a vehicle body. The pedal seat, the pedal arm and the boss are integrally formed by pressing a metal plate,
The pedal arm is characterized in that the metal plate is formed in a pipe shape in the pedal arm. 2. The pedal structure according to claim 1, wherein the pedal seat includes a tread surface to be stepped on by a driver, and a flange portion formed by bending around the tread surface. 3. The first arm of the metal plate.
And a seam portion in which the first and second fold curves are joined to each other, and first and second projections extending inward from the first and second fold curves forming the seam portion, respectively. Or the pedal structure according to 2. 4. The boss is formed as a pair of burring holes provided at positions facing each other in the metal plate formed in a pipe shape.
4. The pedal structure according to any one of items 1 to 3. 5. The pedal arm according to claim 1, wherein the pedal arm includes a cushion fixing hole into which a cushion for positioning the pedal arm at a predetermined depression release position can be fitted.
The pedal structure according to any one of the above.