Machine element or mechanism – Control lever and linkage systems – Foot operated
Reexamination Certificate
1999-12-15
2001-10-23
Bucci, David A. (Department: 3682)
Machine element or mechanism
Control lever and linkage systems
Foot operated
Reexamination Certificate
active
06305240
ABSTRACT:
FIELD AND BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The invention relates to a vehicle pedal having a pedal bar and a pedal shaft which is connected to the latter in a rotationally fixed manner and on which bearing locations are provided.
Such vehicle pedals are used, for example, as gas pedals in motor vehicles. The pedal bar and the pedal shaft of known gas pedals are usually designed separately from one another as individual parts which are secured to one another in a rotationally fixed manner with the aid of an aluminum block and retaining pins. For this purpose, it is necessary for both the pedal shaft and the pedal bar to have bores for the insertion of the fastening pins. In addition, the operation of installing the two parts on one another involves high outlay. Either the pedal bar is fastened once the pedal shaft has been installed in its bearing locations, which is made difficult by the lack of free space, or the pedal bar is secured on the pedal shaft beforehand, which, if such an installation sequence is possible in the first place, results in it being much more difficult to install the pedal shaft in the bearing locations.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The object of the invention is to provide a vehicle pedal which is straightforward to produce and allows straightforward installation in its bearing locations.
The object is achieved according to the invention in that the pedal bar is integrally formed on the pedal shaft to the side of the two bearing locations.
With the aid of the vehicle pedal according to the invention, it is easily possible for the preassembled unit, comprising the pedal bar and pedal shaft, to be pushed into the bearing locations from one side. In addition, no space is required for the pedal bar between the bearing locations, with the result that the bearing locations themselves can easily be arranged in a freely selected manner and it is easily possible for further structural elements, e.g. a restoring spring for the gas pedal, to be arranged between the bearing locations.
The pedal bar may be welded laterally on the pedal shaft directly or via a connecting rod. A particularly preferred embodiment of the invention, however, provides for the pedal bar and the pedal shaft to be designed in one piece, the cross-sectionally circular pedal bar being angled essentially at right-angles at its end in order to form the pedal shaft. Such a unit, comprising the pedal bar and pedal shaft, can be produced in large numbers in a very straightforward and cost-effective manner. The circular cross-section of the pedal bar makes it possible for the pedal shaft to be mounted directly in bearing elements. If the unit comprising the pedal bar and pedal shaft is of non-circular cross-section, which is likewise conceivable in principle, additional elements with an annular outer surface have to be drawn onto the pedal shaft in the region of the bearing locations. In the transition region between the pedal bar and the pedal shaft, it is possible to provide a U-shaped angled portion, with the result that the imaginary extension of the pedal bar is located approximately in the central region of the pedal shaft. This results in the pedal bar being positioned in relation to the pedal shaft in the manner which is to be found in the case of known gas pedals.
The invention also relates to a gas-pedal module for mounting the above-described vehicle pedal. In the case of such a gas-pedal module, the invention provides for the two bearing locations of the pedal shaft to have bearings which are secured in bearing blocks arranged on a base plate.
Such an arrangement of the bearings in bearing blocks on a base plate, which may be formed, for example, cost-effectively from sheet metal, results in particularly low production costs for the entire module. In this case, it is possible for at least one bearing block to be designed in one piece with the base plate and/or for at least one bearing block to be welded on the base plate. In particular in comparison with bearing housings which involve high outlay to install, considerable savings are achieved by the base plate with the bearing blocks.
Preferably used as the bearings for the pedal shaft are flange bushings which are introduced in openings in the bearing blocks. Straightforward flange bushings made of plastic are usually sufficient, but flange bushings made of nonferrous metal or rolling-contact bearing are also conceivable where the requirements to be met are higher.
The task of securing the pedal shaft axially in relation to the bearings can usually be carried out by lock washers, and the embodiment of the invention which has proven expedient is one in which secured axially on the pedal shaft, between the outer flange bushing and the free end of said pedal shaft, is a lock washer which is supported axially, on one side, on the flange of the bushing and, on the other side, on a second lock washer, which is secured on the associated bearing block or on the base plate. With this arrangement, the installation of a single lock washer is sufficient in order to secure the pedal shaft axially in both directions.
In a further preferred embodiment of the invention, the free end of the pedal shaft is coupled in an axially disengageable manner to an angle-of-rotation sensor, for example such that the free end of the pedal shaft is slotted, and a claw element of the sensor engages in the slot.
In comparison with known couplings of the sensors, in the case of which a moveable part of the sensor, for example the slider of a potentiometer, was fixedly assigned to the pedal shaft, the above-described embodiment, in addition to straightforward installation, makes it possible for defective sensors to be exchanged quickly and cost-effectively. All that is required for this purpose is for the fastening elements of the sensor and the electrical connection of the latter to be released.
In the case of electronic gas pedals, it is usually desirable for the gas pedal, similar to the early type of cable-controlled systems, to have a force hysteresis. In the case of the above-described gas pedal, such a hysteresis can be achieved in a particularly straightforward and cost-effective manner in that a plastic sleeve is arranged between the bearing locations of the pedal shaft, in a rotationally fixed manner in relation to the base plate, and exerts a radial contact pressure on the circumferential surface of the pedal shaft. The resulting friction moment reduces the retaining forces of the pedal in the desired manner and thus improves the traveling comfort. The plastic sleeve can be installed without any significant increase in the installation outlay as the pedal shaft is plugged into the bearings. Since the pedal bar does not require any installation space between the two bearing locations, all the axial installation space between the bearing locations can be taken up by the plastic sleeve.
The plastic sleeve preferably has a contact-pressure spring which applies or increases the radial contact pressure.
The contact-pressure spring ensures that, even following a relatively long operating period, there is still sufficient contact pressure in order to produce the hysteresis. Although it is also possible, in principle, for the contact pressure to be achieved by an appropriately close fit of the inner bore of the sleeve, this may then result, during operation, in the friction moments changing, with the force hysteresis being influenced correspondingly.
In a preferred development, the plastic sleeve has at least one slot in the axial direction.
This slot is capable of taking up wear which is produced as a result of the contact pressure of the plastic sleeve on the pedal shaft and can influence the friction moment. A slotted plastic sleeve, which has for example an axial slot running over its entire length, also makes possible, in conjunction with the contact-pressure spring, a more specific application of a certain radial contact pressure.
A yet further preferred embodiment of the invention provides for the plastic sleeve, the sleeve-like contact-pressure spring of the latter and
Hannewald Thomas
Zenker Reinhard
Bucci David A.
Farber Martin A.
Kim Chong H.
Mannesmann VDO AG
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