Locking device for an adjustable steering column

• US 8,991,863 B2
• Filed: 12/06/2012
• Issued: 03/31/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 12/28/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: ThyssenKrupp Presta AG (Thyssenkrupp AG)
• Original Assignee: ThyssenKrupp Presta AG (Thyssenkrupp AG)
• Inventors: Hahn, Michael, Fleischer, Martin
• Primary Examiner(s): Ilan, Ruth
• Application Number:
  US14/369,336
• Publication Number:
  US 20140373663A1
• Time in Patent Office: 845 Days
• Field of Search: 280/775, 744/93
• US Class Current: 280/775
• CPC Class Codes: B62D 1/184 Mechanisms for locking columns at selected positions

Abstract

The invention relates to a locking device for an adjustable steering column for a motor vehicle, wherein the locking device has a cam bracket having at least one cam arranged in a fixed manner thereon and at least one mating cam bracket having at least one mating cam arranged in a fixed manner thereon and at least one stop. The cam bracket and the mating cam bracket are arranged so as to be rotatable relative to each other around an axis of rotation, and the cam of the first cam bracket interacts with the mating cam of the mating cam bracket upon rotation of the cam bracket and mating cam bracket relative to each other around the axis of rotation in order to generate a stroke in the longitudinal direction of the axis of rotation. The locking device has at least one dampening body which has at least one elastically deformable material that is softer than the cam bracket and the stop, wherein the cam bracket, upon rotation of the cam bracket and the mating cam bracket relative to each other around the axis of rotation, contacts the stop in a stop position in such a way that the dampening body is positioned therebetween.

Claims

1. A securement device for an adjustable steering column for a motor vehicle, comprising:

a cam carrier with at least one cam fixedly disposed thereon and at least one countercam carrier with at least one countercam fixedly disposed thereon and with at least one stop, wherein the cam carrier and the countercam carrier are disposed such that the cam carrier and the countercam carrier are turnable relative to one another about a rotational axis, and the cam of the first cam carrier, upon the turning of the cam carrier and the countercam carrier relative to one another about the rotational axis, cooperates with the countercam of the countercam carrier for generating a deflection in a longitudinal direction of the rotational axis, wherein the securement device comprises at least one damping body which comprises at least one elastically deformable material that is softer than the cam carrier and the stop, wherein the cam carrier, during the turning of the cam carrier and the countercam carrier relative to one another about the rotational axis, impacts in an abutment position on the stop with the interposition of the damping body.

2. The securement device as in claim 1, wherein the damping body is an initially separately fabricated structural part and subsequently secured on the cam carrier or on the countercam carrier.

3. The securement device as in claim 1, wherein the damping body comprises at least one elastically deformable body.

4. The securement device as in claim 1, wherein the damping body is one of a plurality of damping bodies, the stop is one of a plurality of stops, and the cam carrier in the abutment position with the interposition of the damping bodies impacts on the stops of the countercam carrier.

5. The securement device as in claim 4, wherein the damping bodies are part of a common contiguous structural damping body part which is initially fabricated as a separate structural part and subsequently secured on the cam carrier or on the countercam carrier.

6. The securement device as in claim 1, wherein the securement device is in an open position for the adjustment of the steering column and at least one closed position for arresting the steering column, wherein the securement device is in the open position when the cam carrier, during the turning of the cam carrier and the countercam carrier relative to one another about the rotational axis, impacts in the abutment position on the stop with the interposition of the damping body.

7. The securement device as in claim 1, wherein the countercam carrier, in addition to the at least one stop, comprises at least one end stop on which the cam carrier impacts in an end abutment position differing from the abutment position.

8. The securement device as in claim 7, wherein the cam carrier, starting from the abutment position, is movable into the end abutment position with the progressing compression of the damping body by the turning about the rotational axis relative to the countercam carrier.

9. The securement device as in claim 7, wherein the at least one stop is disposed on the countercam carrier spaced apart from the at least one end stop with respect to the rotational axis in the radial direction and/or in the longitudinal direction of the rotational axis.

10. The securement device as in claim 1, wherein the at least one cam and the at least one countercam cooperate exclusively by sliding along one another.