CN106274769B

CN106274769B - Bumper bracket for vehicle

Info

Publication number: CN106274769B
Application number: CN201510258114.0A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 王红日; 肖杰; 吴鹏鹏; 彭荣华; 徐延文
Original assignee: Peugeot Citroen Automobiles SA
Current assignee: PSA Automobiles SA
Priority date: 2015-05-20
Filing date: 2015-05-20
Publication date: 2021-05-04
Anticipated expiration: 2035-05-20
Also published as: CN106274769A

Abstract

The invention relates to a bumper bracket for a vehicle, comprising: a bracket body for fixing to a vehicle body; and the barrel body extends from the bracket body, one longitudinal end of the barrel body is used for supporting the bumper, and the barrel body is circumferentially provided with a crumple structure which is crumpled and absorbed when a vehicle is collided so as to prevent the collision energy from being transmitted to the vehicle body. The bumper bracket provided by the invention can provide enough support for the bumper, meanwhile, the maintainability of the rear part of the vehicle is enhanced, and the maintenance cost is greatly reduced.

Description

Bumper bracket for vehicle

Technical Field

The present invention relates to a bumper bracket for a vehicle.

Background

As shown in fig. 1, EP2039569B1 discloses a motor vehicle bumper bracket 6 designed to be mounted to the body 1 of said motor vehicle and partially covered by a bumper lining 8. The body 1 is provided with two headlight brackets 2, each headlight bracket 2 being arranged at one lateral end of the body 1. The bumper bracket 6 includes a body 12 designed to extend in a lateral direction between the headlamp brackets 2 and has a bumper liner 8 support surface 16. Said bumper bracket 6 comprises two tabs 24, which tabs 24 are designed to engage with receiving means provided in the headlight bracket 2 to hold and centre the bumper bracket 6 with respect to the body 1 of the motor vehicle. Each tab 24 is rigidly connected to one lateral end of the body 12. The tabs 24 extend laterally from the end of the body 12.

As shown in fig. 2, DE102005006875a1 describes a lamp mounting device at a bumper unit of a motor vehicle, which has a bracket to support the lamp unit with releasable mountings for fastening at the bumper and the carrying frame to allow adjustment. The mounting device 6 for fastening the lamp unit 2 to the bumper unit at the vehicle carrier frame 4 has a bracket 7 which is fastened to the carrier frame by releasable fasteners 11. The lamp is fastened to the bracket 7 by means of a bracket 13. The bumper bracket 8 is fastened to the carrier frame 4 and mounted to the bumper unit by releasable fasteners. The bracket 7 is fitted to support a releasable fixing 9, which when assembled secures the bumper bracket at the bracket through the passage opening 30, with a clearance in the bracket.

As shown in fig. 3, DE102005045086a1 describes a fastening device for, for example, a bumper light assembly, which has a beam unit 10 and a bumper fastening unit 2. The beam unit 10 has a lamp fastening unit 11 for fastening the lamp housing 1 to the beam unit 10. The bumper fastening unit 2 is attached to the lamp housing 1 by bolts. Wherein the bumper 8 is fastened to the bumper fastening unit 2. The lamp fastening unit 11 has a unit for adjusting the position of the lamp with respect to the beam. The relative position of the bumper with respect to the lamp remains unchanged during the change of the position of the lamp with respect to the cross beam. Elongated holes are provided in the unit 2 or in the lamp housing 1 for engaging the bolts.

With the dual demands for serviceability after a vehicle collision and bumper pressing rigidity, none of the above devices can achieve a balance between the two. In these devices, if the pressing rigidity of the bumper is increased, the maintainability of the vehicle is deteriorated. And if the maintainability of the vehicle is enhanced, the pressing rigidity of the bumper is lowered.

Disclosure of Invention

In order to overcome the above disadvantages, the present invention provides a bumper stay for a vehicle that achieves a balance between the maintainability of the vehicle and the pressing rigidity of the bumper to satisfy both requirements.

According to an aspect of the present invention, a bumper bracket for a vehicle includes: a bracket body for fixing to a vehicle body; and the barrel body extends from the bracket body, one longitudinal end of the barrel body is used for supporting the bumper, and the barrel body is circumferentially provided with a crumple structure which is crumpled and absorbed when a vehicle is collided so as to prevent the collision energy from being transmitted to the vehicle body.

According to an aspect of the invention, the collapsing structure comprises a plurality of recesses penetrating at least a part of the thickness of the cylinder and a plurality of connecting portions connecting between the recesses in the circumferential direction.

According to an aspect of the invention, the recess passes through the entire thickness of the barrel.

According to an aspect of the invention, the connection is a plurality of steps formed by the barrel itself.

According to an aspect of the present invention, in a state where a bumper stay is mounted to the vehicle, the height of the collapsing structure is higher than a final position of the obstacle avoidance by a vertical distance, and is spaced from a dead point of the obstacle avoidance by a horizontal distance after the collision, and the vertical distance and the horizontal distance are preferably 5 mm.

According to an aspect of the invention, the cylinder is conical.

According to an aspect of the present invention, the barrel is provided with a plurality of the crush structures spaced apart from each other in the longitudinal direction.

According to one aspect of the invention, the bumper bracket is a unitary piece injection molded from plastic.

According to an aspect of the invention, the bumper bracket is a bracket that is also used for mounting a vehicle lamp.

According to an aspect of the present invention, the bumper stay is a center stay for supporting the bumper at a laterally middle position of the vehicle.

The bumper bracket provided by the invention can balance the vehicle maintainability and the compressive rigidity of the bumper, and greatly reduces the maintenance cost.

Drawings

The above and other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description made with reference to the accompanying drawings. In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is an exploded schematic view showing a motor vehicle bumper bracket according to the prior art;

FIG. 2 is an exploded schematic view showing a lamp mounting device according to the prior art;

FIG. 3 is a sectional view showing a fastening device for a bumper light assembly according to the prior art;

fig. 4 is an exploded perspective view showing a bumper bracket according to the present invention and a back panel and a rear bumper to which it is attached;

FIG. 5 is a front view showing a bumper bracket according to the present invention;

FIG. 6 is a side sectional view showing the lower bracket portion of FIG. 5 in an installed condition;

FIG. 7 is a partial cross-sectional view showing the stent of FIG. 5 taken along line I-I;

FIG. 8 is a front view showing another structure of a bumper bracket according to the present invention;

FIG. 9 is a partial cross-sectional view taken along line II-II of the stent of FIG. 8;

FIG. 10 is a front view showing a bracket in a bumper according to the present invention;

FIG. 11 is a partial sectional view showing the middle bracket of FIG. 10 taken along the line III-III;

FIG. 12 is a schematic view showing a bumper bracket according to the present invention subjected to a serviceability test; and

fig. 13 is a schematic view showing a crush stiffness test of a bumper stay according to the present invention.

Detailed Description

In the present invention, for convenience of description, the "front", "rear", "left", "right" mentioned hereinafter is defined with reference to the traveling direction of the vehicle, and the "up", "down" mentioned hereinafter is defined with reference to the vertical direction of the vehicle.

(first embodiment)

As shown in fig. 4, a bumper bracket 1 according to the present invention is for fixing to a back panel 2 of a vehicle. In this embodiment, a tail lamp on the left side of the vehicle is mounted on the bracket 1, and at the same time, the left end of the bumper 3 is also mounted to the bracket 1 and supported by the bracket 1.

Fig. 5 to 7 show the detailed structure of the stand 1 according to the present invention. As shown in fig. 5, the bracket 1 includes a bracket body 11 and a bowl 12 extending from a lower portion of the bracket body 11 to a front side, the bracket body 11 being used to mount a tail lamp to the back panel 2, a rear end of the bowl 12 being connected to the bracket body 11 for supporting the rear bumper 3 (see fig. 6), and a crush structure being formed in the bowl 12 to absorb energy after a vehicle collision. The distance between the crush structure and the rear end of the barrel 12 is large enough to prevent the transfer of crash energy to the vehicle body.

As shown in fig. 6, the cylinder 12 includes a bottom wall 121, a side wall 122 extending rearward from the bottom wall 121, and a support wall 123 bent outward at a rear end of the side wall 122. In this embodiment, the barrel 12 has a conical shape. The bottom wall 121 is fixed to the back panel 2 by bolt nuts 4, and the support wall 123 is used to contact the inner surface of the rear bumper 3 to support the rear bumper 3, thereby improving the compressive rigidity of the rear bumper 3. The collapsing formations are provided on the side wall 122 of the barrel 12. The crush-type structure is a plurality of steps 124 generated by self-bending of the sidewall 122, as shown in fig. 5, the plurality of steps 124 are spaced apart from each other in the circumferential direction of the sidewall 122 and there is a space therebetween penetrating the sidewall 122.

As shown in fig. 6 and 7, the height of the crush structure in the mounted state may be set at a position equal to or higher than the final position of the obstacle avoidance, preferably, at a position equal to or higher than 5mm from the final position of the obstacle avoidance, thereby preventing the transmission of collision energy to the back panel 2. Further, the distance between the crush structure (step 124) and the support wall 123 of the bracket 1, that is, the crush length D needs to be long enough to prevent collision with the portion between the crush structure and the bottom wall 121 of the can 12, thereby preventing energy from being transmitted to the back panel 2. Preferably, the collapsible structure is located 5mm from the obstacle avoidance dead point, as shown by distance L in fig. 7.

As shown in fig. 5, the crush feature includes two steps 124 on the sidewall 121 of the barrel 12, however the number and location of the steps 124 is not limited thereto. The number of the steps 124 may be more or less than two, and the position of the steps 124 may vary in the circumferential direction of the cylinder 12, depending on the conditions of different vehicle types such as the height of the vehicle body, the height of the back panel, and the height of the obstacle avoidance model. As shown in fig. 8 and 9, in the case where the obstacle avoidance is high relative to the bumper stay, the step may be provided at the upper portion of the cylinder 12, and the number of steps may be increased.

It is also contemplated that the form of the collapsible structure may vary. The crush structure is not limited to a step, but may be other forms of weakening. For example, a plurality of recesses are formed spaced from one another along the circumference of the sidewall 122, at least partially through the thickness of the sidewall 122 to form the weakened portion. The recesses are connected to each other by a connecting portion. In this embodiment, the recess passes through the entire thickness of the side wall 122 to form the space, while the connection forms the step 124. The crush feature may be disposed at a longitudinal (fore-aft) location of the sidewall 122. It is also contemplated, however, that the crush feature can be located at multiple longitudinal locations on the sidewall 122, thereby creating a multi-stage crush that further absorbs more energy.

Although the bumper bracket is used for the vehicle rear portion in this embodiment, it is conceivable to those skilled in the art that the bumper bracket according to the present invention may be applied to the vehicle head portion.

In addition, the bumper bracket according to the invention is preferably injection-molded in one piece from plastic.

(second embodiment)

In the first embodiment, the bumper stay is used to mount the tail light and one end of the bumper. This embodiment differs from the first embodiment in that the bumper bracket is used only for mounting the portion of the bumper between its lateral ends, i.e., the bracket in this embodiment is a center bracket.

Fig. 10 shows the center pillar 5, and the center pillar 5 also has a crush structure constituted by at least one step 51 spaced longitudinally to prevent energy from being transmitted to the center portion of the back panel at the time of vehicle collision.

The results of the crash test performed by the bumper stay according to the present invention are described below.

When a collision test is carried out, the tail lamp position of a vehicle is collided, the crumple type structure of the bumper support is firstly broken, and the barrel body deforms along with the obstacle avoidance, so that energy is absorbed.

In the maintainability test, as shown in fig. 12, the obstacle avoidance was at an angle of 10 ° to the vehicle body direction and covered 40% of the area of the rear of the vehicle body, and collided at a speed of 16 km/h. After testing, it was found that the bumper bracket according to the present invention was weak enough to absorb all of the impact energy without permanent deformation of the back panel, thereby ensuring that repair could be accomplished by replacing the relevant parts of the rear bumper.

In the mass-sensing press rigidity test, as shown in fig. 13, the intrusion amount of the large surface of the bumper skin was not more than 12mm while the bumper stay according to the present invention provided sufficient support to the bumper skin, as shown by the hatched portion in fig. 13.

As can be seen from the above test results, the bumper stay according to the present invention enhances the maintainability of the rear portion of the vehicle while supporting the bumper, greatly reducing the maintenance cost.

While the invention has been described with reference to preferred embodiments, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited to the preferred embodiments and constructions. The invention is intended to cover various modifications and equivalent arrangements. In addition, while various combinations and configurations, including more, less or only a single element, are preferred, other combinations and configurations are also within the spirit and scope of the invention.

Claims

1. A bumper bracket for a vehicle, comprising:

a bracket body for fixing to a vehicle body; and

the bumper comprises a bracket body, a barrel body and a bumper body, wherein the barrel body extends from the bracket body, one longitudinal end of the barrel body is used for supporting the bumper, and a crumple structure is arranged on the barrel body along the circumferential direction and is used for crumpling and absorbing energy when a vehicle is collided so as to prevent the collision energy from being transmitted to the vehicle body;

wherein the collapsing structure comprises a plurality of recesses passing through at least part of the thickness of the cylinder and a plurality of connecting portions connecting between the recesses in the circumferential direction; the connecting part is a plurality of steps formed by the cylinder body;

wherein, in a state where a bumper stay is mounted to the vehicle, a height of the collapsing structure is higher than a dead point position of an obstacle avoidance by a vertical distance, and is spaced apart from the dead point of the obstacle avoidance by a horizontal distance after a collision, the vertical distance and the horizontal distance being 5 mm.

2. The bumper bracket according to claim 1, wherein the recess passes through an entire thickness of the barrel.

3. The bumper bracket according to claim 1, wherein the cylinder is conical.

4. The bumper bracket according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein a plurality of the crush structures are provided on the barrel spaced from each other in the longitudinal direction.

5. The bumper bracket according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the bumper bracket is a unitary piece injection molded from plastic.

6. The bumper bracket according to claim 5, wherein the bumper bracket is a bracket for mounting a vehicle lamp.

7. The bumper bracket according to claim 5, wherein the bumper bracket is a center bracket for supporting the bumper at a laterally intermediate position of a vehicle.