Steering column comprising an energy absorption device for a motor vehicle
View Patent ↗A steering column may include an outer casing unit in which an inner casing tube that rotatably mounts a steering shaft is received such that the inner casing tube is displaceable and fixable in an axial direction. An energy absorption device operatively disposed between the casing tube and the casing unit may absorb at least some energy in a crash event where the casing tube is telescopically displaced relative to the casing unit. The energy absorption device may include a deformation strip fastened to but spaced apart from the casing tube, fixed in a radial direction by a spacer on the casing tube, to which deformation strip a deformation slide that is connected to the casing unit is disposed. The deformation slide may encompass and jam outer narrow sides of the deformation strip such that the deformation slide deforms the deformation strip in a crash event.
1. A steering column for a motor vehicle comprising:
an inner casing tube that rotatably mounts a steering shaft;
an outer casing unit that is connectable to a vehicle chassis, wherein the outer casing unit receives the inner casing tube such that the inner casing tube is displaceable and fixable in an axial direction; and
an energy absorption device operatively disposed between the inner casing tube and the outer casing unit, wherein the energy absorption device is configured to absorb at least some energy arising in a crash event when the inner casing tube is telescopically displaced relative to the outer casing unit, wherein the energy absorption device comprises a deformation strip that is fastened to the inner casing tube such that the deformation strip is spaced apart from the inner casing tube and is fixed in a radial direction by a spacer disposed on the inner casing tube, wherein a deformation slide that is connected to the outer casing unit is disposed on the deformation strip, wherein the deformation slide encompasses and jams outer narrow sides of the deformation strip such that the deformation slide deforms the deformation strip when the deformation strip is displaced in a crash event in the axial direction relative to the deformation slide,
wherein the spacer is configured as a radial convexity of the inner casing tube that protrudes from the inner casing tube in a direction of the deformation strip,
wherein the radial convexity is configured as a roller-burnished feature that is incorporated from an internal side of the inner casing tube.
2. The steering column of claim 1 wherein the spacer extends in the axial direction.
3. The steering column of claim 2 wherein the spacer extends in the axial direction across a deformable longitudinal region of the deformation strip.
4. The steering column of claim 1 wherein the spacer is one of a plurality of spacers that are disposed on the inner casing tube and distributed across a deformable longitudinal region of the deformation strip.
5. The steering column of claim 1 wherein the spacer and the inner casing tube is a one-piece construction.
6. A steering column for a motor vehicle comprising:
an inner casing tube that rotatably mounts a steering shaft;
an outer casing unit that is connectable to a vehicle chassis, wherein the outer casing unit receives the inner casing tube such that the inner casing tube is displaceable and fixable in an axial direction; and
an energy absorption device operatively disposed between the inner casing tube and the outer casing unit, wherein the energy absorption device is configured to absorb at least some energy arising in a crash event when the inner casing tube is telescopically displaced relative to the outer casing unit, wherein the energy absorption device comprises a deformation strip that is fastened to the inner casing tube such that the deformation strip is spaced apart from the inner casing tube and is fixed in a radial direction by a spacer disposed on the inner casing tube, wherein a deformation slide that is connected to the outer casing unit is disposed on the deformation strip, wherein the deformation slide encompasses and jams outer narrow sides of the deformation strip such that the deformation slide deforms the deformation strip when the deformation strip is displaced in a crash event in the axial direction relative to the deformation slide,
wherein the deformation strip is a lower deformation strip and the deformation slide is a first deformation slide, the steering column comprising an upper deformation strip disposed on the lower deformation strip that is disposed on the inner casing tube, wherein the lower deformation strip includes a protrusion that projects in a direction of the upper deformation strip, wherein the lower deformation strip is wider than the upper deformation strip, wherein a second deformation slide that is disposed on the upper deformation strip is narrower than the first deformation slide disposed on the lower deformation strip, wherein the first deformation slide encompasses both of the deformation strips but jams only the lower deformation strip, wherein the second deformation slide encompasses and jams only the upper deformation strip.
7. The steering column of claim 6 comprising protrusions distributed across a deformable longitudinal region of the lower deformation strip.
8. The steering column of claim 6 wherein a protrusion is molded in the lower deformation strip.
9. The steering column of claim 8 wherein the protrusion is configured as a web.
10. The steering column of claim 9 wherein the protrusion extends across a deformable longitudinal region of the lower deformation strip.