FR3063301B1 - ARTICULATING HINGE OF AN OPENING OF THE TYPE CLOSING COVER OF THE ENGINE COMPARTMENT ON A BODY OF A MOTOR VEHICLE - Google Patents

Abstract

The invention relates to a hinge hinge (4) of an opening of the closing hood type of the engine compartment on a motor vehicle body, said hinge (4) having a fixed part (5) and a movable part (6) , the movable part (6) being mounted rotatable about a pivot axis (A) of the fixed part (5) between an open position and a closed position of the hinge (4), the movable part (6) having a retaining element (7) projecting from said movable part (6) towards the fixed part (5) in the plane of pivoting of said hinge (4). The invention consists in that the fixed part (5) comprises a complementary retaining element (8) along which the retaining element (6) of the movable part extends in the closed position of the hinge (4).

Description

Articulation hinge of an opening of the engine compartment closing hood type on a motor vehicle body The present invention relates to a hinge for an opening of a motor vehicle comprising a body structure on which body members are assembled , like an opening, said body structure being obtained from a base and at least one side of the passenger compartment assembled together, the opening being hinged on the body structure by means of said at least one hinge.

Known hinges are known comprising a fixed part defining an axis of rotation around which a movable knuckle is able to pivot in order to move a leaf such as a cover for closing an engine compartment between a position d opening and closing position.

The hinges of articulation of a cover for closing an engine compartment are often made from a material which is not very resistant to deformation which allows easy shaping and which has the advantage of be less expensive.

Such hinges do not provide sufficient maintenance of the hood that they connect to the vehicle body structure, during an impact of the vehicle with an obstacle, which generates a demerit of the vehicle compared to certain standards. regulatory.

In fact, it has been noted that the hinges do not sufficiently oppose the lateral movement of the hood during an impact, which increases all the more the risk of deformation of the surrounding body parts, such as a front side wing.

In particular, during a shock type repairable shock before that is defined as a shock at 16 km / h facing a rigid wall with an angle of 10 ° with 40% overlap, the lateral movement of the hood (along the transverse axis Y of the vehicle) towards the outside of said hood, also causes the deformation of the wing and therefore entails an additional repair cost linked to the replacement or repair of the wing.

In order to avoid this Y-deflection, one possibility is to stiffen the mobile part or mobile knuckle of the hinge. However, such stiffening leads to a degradation of the head-pedestrian impact performance insofar as the deformation stroke of the movable knuckle between the hood and the engine elements is then very limited. The shock Repairability Before 16 km / h facing a rigid wall of 10 ° with 40% recovery.

It has been proposed in FR 2 993 230 a hinge for hinging an opening such as an engine compartment cover on a motor vehicle body, the movable part of which has a tab projecting from said part movable towards the fixed part, in the hinge pivot plane. The hinge fixing support makes it possible to fix the latter on structural elements of the body and constitutes a structural element. Thus, the fixing plate of the support makes it possible to fix the hinge in Z (vertical axis of the vehicle) on the body of the vehicle while the wall perpendicular to the fixing plate of said support allows by its external face, a fixing in Y on a structural element of the body.

When the opening which is fixed on the movable part of the hinge is in the closed position, the protruding tab of the movable knuckle extends along the internal face of the wall of the fixing support, thus interposed between the tab and a structural element on which the support is fixed and, in the event of a frontal impact against a wall, the hood or opening which tends to be driven in translation in the Y direction of the vehicle is prevented by the tab which comes to bear against the wall of the articulation fixing support, itself fixed to a structural element of the body. Thus, during an impact, the lug abuts against the wall of the fixing support interposed between said lug and an element of the body, which reinforces the retention of the cover and prevents it from spilling in Y.

This solution avoids contact of the hinge with the right wing (during a left impact) and thus reduce the vehicle repair costs during an impact at 16 km / h (gain at the level of the Repairability class).

However, if such a hinge has many advantages, in certain silhouettes of vehicles, the positioning of the hinge is such that there is no structural element facing this hinge where to be able to fix the support of fixing the hinge which is then fixed on the wing lining.

In fact, during a shock type repairable shock before that is defined as a shock at 16 km / h facing a rigid wall with an angle of 10 ° with 40% overlap, the lateral movement of the hood (along the transverse axis Y of the vehicle) would then cause the deformation of the wing since no structural element is opposed to it, which leads to an additional repair cost linked to the replacement or repair of the 'wing.

The present invention therefore aims to overcome this drawback, by providing a hinge which can be mounted directly opposite a wing without an interposed structural element and which, during a shock type shock repairability does not cause lateral opening of the hood-type opening, damaging the wing while respecting the constraints linked to head / pedestrian impact.

To this end, the invention relates to a hinge for articulation of an opening of the cover type for closing the engine compartment on a body of a motor vehicle, said hinge comprising a fixed part and a movable part, the movable part being mounted rotatably about a pivot axis of the fixed part between an open position and a closed position of the hinge, the movable part having a retaining element projecting from said movable part towards the part fixed in the pivoting plane of said hinge, characterized in that the fixed part comprises a complementary retaining element along which the retaining element of the movable part extends in the closed position of the hinge.

Thus, advantageously, the hinge according to the invention comprises deflection retaining elements of an engine hood in the event of a repairable type shock, arranged to extend opposite one another. so that, when the hinge is mounted on one side of a vehicle body, the retaining element of the fixed part is interposed between the retaining element of the movable part and the exterior side of the body, therefore for example the 'wing of the body, thus opposing a lateral discharge from the hood towards the wing along the Y axis of the vehicle following an impact type shock repairable on the opposite side.

Indeed, during the spillage of the Y-shaped hood, the retaining element of the movable part abuts against the retaining element of the fixed part which makes it possible to limit or even avoid the Y-shaped spill and in particular avoid damage to the wing.

According to a preferred embodiment of the invention, the movable part of the hinge has a so-called swan neck shape, that is to say having at least one curved portion. The first curve of the mobile part corresponds to a hooking part, at the proximal end of the fixed part, pivotally mounted around an axis of the fixed part of the hinge while the distal end of the mobile part on which the cover will be fixed can be straight or have a second curve with reverse curvature.

Preferably, the retaining element of the movable part is an anti-spill lug which extends in radial projection on the distal part of the movable part, for example inside the second curve on the side opposite to the cover. , in the pivoting plane of said movable part relative to the fixed part. The fixed part has a stop element such as a retaining tab formed on its distal part so as to extend opposite the anti-spill tab of the mobile part, in a plane parallel to the pivot plane of the part movable relative to said fixed part.

Such a hinge therefore makes it possible to avoid the Y-shaped spillage of the cover in the event of a shock known as repairability, but also guarantees good performance in the event of a pedestrian head impact since the deformation stroke of the mobile part in the neck swan is sufficient.

According to a particularly preferred form of the invention, the retaining lug of the fixed part is formed by the end of the distal part of the fixed part folded so as to extend perpendicular to the fixed part and then again parallel to this to come to extend opposite the anti-spill tab so that, in the closed position of the hinge, the anti-spill tab of the movable part extends against said retaining tab so as to come into stop during lateral movement, said side retaining element and in the mounting position on a body.

Thus, when the hinge is intended to be fixed on a wing lining, the fixed part may include means for fixing to the fixing support of the hinge which are arranged opposite the abutment element , so that the hinge fixing support extends on the opposite side of the fixed part with respect to the stop element, the retaining lug thus being between the anti-spill lug and the wing.

Thus, advantageously, the hinge according to this particular form of the invention makes it possible to prevent Y-side spillage of the engine cover even in the absence of structural element facing the hinge.

As mentioned above, the anti-spill lug is made in one piece with the movable part or movable knuckle in order to reduce the number of parts but also in order to facilitate the assembly of the cover.

In addition, a hinge according to the invention can be advantageously used only on the side opposite the impact. The addition of mass is therefore very small.

The invention relates to a vehicle body comprising at least one hinge of articulation of an opening such as a bonnet, such as the invention described above, said hinge being mounted on the body so that the retaining element of the fixed part of the hinge is interposed between the retaining element of the movable part and the external side of the body consisting at least of the wing, so that in the event of a shock known as repairability, the 'stop element of the mobile part abuts against the stop element of the fixed part which prevents lateral movement of the cover towards the outside of the body.

Thus, the articulation hinge according to the invention can be fixed on a wing lining, the hinge according to the invention avoiding damage to the wing by preventing the movement of the hood.

The invention also relates to a motor vehicle comprising an opening such as a cover for closing the engine compartment articulated on the body of the vehicle by means of opening hinges of which at least one is a articulation hinge according to the invention.

Other advantages and features of the invention appear from the description of embodiments given below with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a partial schematic representation of a motor vehicle seen from the side, comprising a hinge of articulation of a leaf, in accordance with the invention,

- Figure 2 is a side perspective view of a hinge according to the invention in the closed position;

- Figure 3 is a side perspective view of the opposite side of the hinge of Figure 2;

- Figure 4 is a side perspective view of the hinge mounted on a body; and

- Figure 5 is a simplified view of Figure 4.

Referring to Figure 1, a zone D delimited by the dashed line locates a possible implantation zone on a vehicle 1, with a hinge of a leaf 2, which is advantageously intended to protect other surrounding body parts, such as a front wing 3, during an impact between the vehicle and an obstacle.

The opening 2 is a cover for closing an engine compartment located in the front part of the vehicle, which is a bodywork piece laterally extended by right and left front wings. Only the front right wing 3 is shown in Figure 1, knowing that by symmetry with respect to a median plane extending parallel to a longitudinal axis x to the vehicle, a right front wing is present.

In the following, the terms "left", "right", "front" and "rear" are understood to mean normal movement of the vehicle. It is in a nonlimiting manner and for the sake of clarity that, in what follows, only one of the sides of the vehicle is described, knowing of course that by symmetry, the other side of the vehicle may be affected by the same technical detail.

The hinge hinge 4 of the opening is generally arranged in the area D, that is to say close to a rear area of the engine cover 2.

The motor vehicle preferably comprises two hinges 4 arranged in the zone D of the vehicle, each hinge 4 having the main function of ensuring the opening and closing of the engine compartment by the respectively upward and downward movement of the cover 2. To do this, the hinge 4 comprises a hinge pin A around which the cover 2 is able to move in rotation.

Simple and inexpensive design, the hinge 4 has a low impact resistance especially when these generate transverse forces relative to the vehicle. To avoid buckling of the hinge 4 of the hood articulation, which results in the lateral displacement of the engine hood which it supports, and consequently the degradation of the front wing, the hinge 4 is provided with means for retaining the lateral movement of said engine cover.

According to the illustration given in Figures 2 and 3, the hinge 4 comprises a fixed part also called fixed knuckle, which is mounted integral with the body structure of the vehicle by means of a mounting bracket.

In the example shown, the hinge 4 is positioned on the wing lining opposite the wing 3. This hinge 4 therefore comprises a fixed part, or fixed knuckle, 5 and a mobile part or mobile knuckle 6 , rotatable relative to the fixed part along a pivot axis A.

The fixed part 5 comprises a plate 51 extending mainly in the pivot plane of the hinge 4. The fixed part 5 comprises a distal part 5b extending along a first axis and a proximal part 5a extending along a second axis intersecting the first axis. The proximal part or connecting part 5a comprises the axis A around which the mobile part 6 of the hinge 4 is rotated.

The connecting portion 5b is of substantially vertical orientation in Z, once mounted, and comprises at its end, at a vertex, an opening 10 forming a bearing for rotation along the axis A of a rod of complementary shape belonging to said movable knuckle 6 while the orientation of the distal end of the fixed part is of substantially longitudinal orientation X (longitudinal axis of the vehicle).

The rod of the movable part 6 extends transversely towards the outside of the vehicle. The rod is preferably arranged at a proximal part 6a of the movable part 6, at a vertex. The distal opposite part 6b of the movable part 6, then situated towards the front, is integrally connected to the engine cover 2, by means of clamping screws for example.

The opening 2 is composed of an ornamental part which is visible from the outside of the vehicle, which is also called outer skin, and a rigid part also called opening lining, the latter being linked to the mobile part 6.

The movable part 6 preferably has a swan neck shape, that is to say having at least one curve. Thus, the proximal part 6a of the mobile part 6 is provided with the rod allowing it to be pivotally mounted on the fixed part 5. This proximal part 6a extends along the proximal connecting part 5b then forms a first curve away from the distal part 5a of the fixed part before extending linearly, so that the distal part 6b of the movable part 6 extends substantially above and parallel to the distal part 5a. This distal part of the mobile part 6 has means for fixing the cover 2.

At this distal part 6b of the movable part 6 is provided a retaining element such as a tab 7 protruding from said movable knuckle 6 and extending in the pivot plane of said movable knuckle 6 relative to the fixed knuckle 5 and in the direction of said fixed knuckle 5.

Preferably, this tab 7 extends substantially radially to the distal part 6c of the movable part 6. This tab 7 thus forms a stop which extends projecting from the movable knuckle 6 in the pivot plane of the hinge 4.

The tab 7 is thus arranged on the hinge 4 in such a way that it extends transversely from the movable part 6 towards the fixed part 5 when the cover 2 is in the closed position of the engine compartment.

However, the end of the tab 7 is spaced from the distal part 5b so as not to prevent a sagging stroke (in Z) of the movable part 6 of the hinge for pedestrian impact.

The tab 7 is made in one piece with the movable part 6 for example by molding, stamping.

The distal part 5b of the fixed part 5 includes a retaining element 8 projecting from said fixed part 5 and forming a bearing surface against which the tab 7 of the movable part 6 must extend, in the closed position of the hinge 4.

This stop element 8 is formed by the end of the plate 51 folded so as to extend in a direction perpendicular to the main axis of the distal part 5a and then folded back to extend again along an axis parallel to said main axis. The bearing face 81 of the retaining element 8 extends in an unhooked manner relative to the fixed part 5, which authorizes the positioning of the tab 6 opposite said bearing face 81 of the stop element 8.

Given the clearances and outcrop that should be observed in the assembly of vehicle body parts, the tab 7 is spaced from the bearing face 81 of the abutment element 8 by an interval included between 3 and 8 mm, preferably 3 mm.

Advantageously, such a small interval limits any inertia of the engine cover 2 during an impact, which allows the tab 7 to be loaded directly while limiting the risks of dispersion of the impact forces.

The hinge 4 is such that once mounted on one side of a box, the retaining element 8 of the fixed part 5 is interposed between the retaining element 7 of the movable part 6 and the side of outside the box. Therefore, provision can be made to mount the hinge 4 on a wing lining 11 on its face facing outwards and therefore facing the wing 3. The retaining element 8 is thus located furthest from the exterior and prevents the lateral movement of the engine hood towards the exterior in the event of an impact by forming a stop for the retaining element 7 of the movable part 6 of the hinge.

Therefore, the fixed part 5 of the hinge 4 may have fixing means on the wing lining, which are formed on the side of the fixed part 5 opposite to that where the retaining element is located 8. Thus, the fixing plate 51 further comprises a fixing part 52 comprising holes for fixing the fixed part 5 5 on a hinge fixing support which serves as a mounting interface on the body (as can be seen at Figure 3).

The articulation according to the invention makes it possible to obtain a good compromise between the head pedestrian impact and the repairability impact that cannot be obtained by stiffening the hinges. Indeed, the articulation hinge according to the invention leaves free the collapse of the cover and the hinges, essential for the pedestrian impact head.

Claims (9)

claims 1. Articulation hinge (4) of an opening of the hood type (2) for closing the engine compartment on a motor vehicle body, said hinge (4) comprising a fixed part (5) and a movable part (6) , the movable part (6) being mounted rotatably about a pivot axis (A) of the fixed part (5) between an open position and a closed position of the hinge (4), the mobile part (6) having a retaining element (7) projecting from said movable part (6) towards the fixed part (5) in the pivoting plane of said hinge (4), characterized in that the fixed part ( 5) comprises a complementary retaining element (8) along which the retaining element (6) of the movable part extends in the closed position of the hinge (4). 2. Hinge (4) according to claim 1, characterized in that the retaining elements (7, 8) are arranged to extend opposite one another so that, when the hinge is mounted on a side of a vehicle body, the retaining element (8) of the fixed part (5) is interposed between the retaining element (7) of the movable part (6) and the outer side of the body. 3. Hinge according to one of claims 1 and 2, characterized in that the retaining element of the movable part (6) is a lug (7) which extends in radial projection on the distal part (6b) of the movable part (6) in the pivot plane of said movable part (6) relative to the fixed part (7). 4. Hinge according to claim 3, characterized in that the abutment element of the fixed part (5) is a retaining lug (8) formed on its distal part, so as to extend opposite the lug ( 7) of the mobile part (6), in a plane parallel to the pivoting plane of the mobile part (6) relative to said fixed part (5). 5. Hinge according to claim 4, characterized in that the retaining tab (8) of the fixed part (5) is constituted by the end of its distal part (5b) folded so as to extend perpendicularly to the fixed part (5) then again parallel thereto. , 6. Vehicle body comprising at least one hinge (4) for hinging an opening leaf such as a bonnet (2), mounted on one side of the body, according to one of claims 1 to 5, characterized in that the retaining element (8) of the fixed part (5) of the hinge (4) is interposed between the retaining element (7) of the movable part 5 (6) and the outer side of the body. 7. Box according to claim 6, characterized in that the articulation hinge is fixed on a wing lining facing the wing. 8. Motor vehicle comprising an opening such as a cover for closing the engine compartment articulated on the body of the vehicle using hinges 10 of the leaf joint, at least one of which is a hinge joint according to one of claims 1 to 5.