JP2001018852A - Under cover - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an under cover provided with water drain holes hardly letting water penetrate from outside. SOLUTION: An under cover (a floor under cover 2 in this illustrative from) covering a bottom surface of a vehicle has recesses 15 recessing inward and drain holes 14 covering a peripheral part in vehicle front side of the recesses. This structure let air flowing along a bottom surface of the under cover hardly flow upward into the under cover, and rather, air inside the under cover tends to be sucked outward, thereby hardly letting water penetrate into the under cover, resulting in a high drain efficiency.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an undercover for covering a lower surface of a vehicle body.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In order to reduce air resistance, a lower surface of a vehicle body may be covered with an under cover (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 8-276).
No. 867).

[0003]

In such an undercover, since the periphery of the tire is open, it is inevitable that mud, snow and water rolled up by the tire enter the inside of the cover. . To drain water or the like that has entered the inside of the cover, it is necessary to provide a drain hole. However, water or the like may enter through the opening. It is conceivable to provide an openable and closable lid or a check valve at the opening, but the structure becomes complicated, and there is a problem that the drainage work is forced to be performed in a timely manner.

The present invention has been made to solve such problems of the prior art, and its main objects are as follows.
An object of the present invention is to provide an undercover having a drain hole through which water or the like hardly enters from the outside.

[0005]

According to the present invention, an undercover (floor undercover 2 in the embodiment) for covering a lower surface of a vehicle body is provided in order to achieve such an object.
A depression (15) having a concave lower surface is provided, and a drain hole (14) partially provided in a portion of the outer periphery of the depression located on the front side of the vehicle body is provided.

In this way, it is difficult for the air flowing along the lower surface of the undercover to flow above the undercover during traveling, and the air in the undercover tends to be sucked out during traveling. Water does not easily enter the cover, and high drainage efficiency is obtained.

In particular, if a water gradient is provided on the undercover, and the water drain hole is provided at a lower portion thereof,
The drainage efficiency is further improved.

[0008]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The present invention will be described in detail below with reference to an embodiment shown in the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 is a view of a vehicle to which the present invention is applied as viewed from below. In this vehicle, almost all the lower surface of the vehicle body is covered with an engine room under cover 1 and a floor under cover 2 for the purpose of reducing air resistance as much as possible.

The engine room under cover 1 includes a front under cover 4 that is continuous with the lower surface of the front bumper 3 and a middle under cover 5 that covers immediately below the engine.
And is divided into: The floor under cover 2
It is divided into two parts on the left and right sides of the floor tunnel 6. These undercovers 1 and 2 are secured to the stays (not shown) provided on the frame side by bolts and well-known plastic fasteners at important points at the peripheral edges.

As shown in FIG. 2 and FIG. 3, a pair of left and right floor undercovers 2 are a side sill 7 formed of an extruded aluminum alloy and a floor F formed by press-molding an aluminum alloy plate. The tunnel 6 is formed, for example, by stamping molding of a polypropylene resin material so as to close the space between the tunnel 6 and the tunnel stiffener 8 joined to the lower surface of the rising portion. These are substantially symmetrically formed, and only those located on the left side of the vehicle body will be described below.

A flange-like portion 9 is formed at the periphery of the floor undercover 2 by bending, and a bolt and a plastic fastener insertion hole 1 for fixing to a frame are provided.
0 is provided at key points. A plurality of beads 11 each having an arc-shaped cross section are provided on both left and right sides of the general surface in the front-rear direction to increase rigidity.

The floor undercover 2 is formed on an outer ridge line of the floor frame 12 which connects the center of the dashboard lower cross member (not shown) and both ends of the middle cross member (not shown) diagonally. Along the side, the side sill 7 is slightly bent so that the side thereof faces upward. Further, in a portion of the floor undercover 2 located on the floor tunnel 6 side, a slight bulge 13 that protrudes upward is formed over substantially the entire length in the front-rear direction. Then, three rows of drain holes 14 are provided in tandem along a fold line along the ridge line of the floor frame 12 and both side edges of the bulge 13.

As shown in FIG. 4, the drain hole 14 is a long hole extending in the front-rear direction, and its rear end is formed so as to cover the outer periphery of the front side of the depression 15 which is concave downward. As described above, the recess 15 having a concave lower surface is provided in the floor undercover 2, and a part of the outer peripheral portion of the recess 15 located on the front side of the vehicle body is formed with the drain hole 14, so that the drain 15 is provided during traveling. It is difficult for the air flowing along the lower surface of the floor undercover 2 to flow above the floor undercover 2, and the air in the floor undercover 2 tends to be sucked out during traveling. Is difficult to penetrate, and high drainage efficiency is obtained. Further, by making the holes long, it is possible to make it more difficult for water or the like to enter from the outside with the same opening area.

In addition to the above, a slight bulge 1 which is slightly refracted so that the outside is upward and is convex upward.
By providing 3, a water gradient is applied to the upper surface of the floor undercover 2, and the drainage holes 14 are tandemly arranged at positions along both side edges of the fold line and the bulge, that is, at the lower part, so that the height is higher. Drainage efficiency is obtained.

A cable clamp 17 for fixing a cable 16 connecting the battery and the motor is provided on the vertical wall of the floor frame 12 on the floor tunnel 6 side.
However, if the positions of the drain holes 14 and the cable clamps 17 are aligned with each other,
The drain hole 14 can also be used as a peep hole for checking the clamp state of the cable 16.

A portion P1 of the rear edge of the floor undercover 2 located on the floor tunnel 6 side faces the front wall of the fuel tank 18 (see FIG. 6). And fuel tank 1
The edge portion P1 is bent upward in order to make the gap between the edge portion 8 as small as possible to prevent intrusion of pebbles and the like and increase rigidity. Also, in order to prevent stepping stones etc. from entering the front side of the floor under cover 2,
A stiffener 19, which is formed of a separate member and has a mountain cross section and extends in the vehicle width direction, is attached to the upper surface of the floor under cover 2 with a plastic fastener 20. Then, the edge portion P1 bent upward and the stiffener 1
A hole 21 is formed at an appropriate position between the floor under cover 9 and the small stones that have entered the upper surface of the floor under cover 2 to fall off.

The portion P2 of the rear under edge of the floor undercover 2 which substantially overlaps with the tire when viewed from the front-back direction is bent downward to prevent wind from hitting the suspension device, and when it hits a curb or the like during retreat. In order to make it easy to bend upward, an edge is provided with an upward radius, and a slit 22 is provided along the front-rear direction (see FIGS. 7 and 8). Further, a round hole 23 having a diameter larger than the width of the slit 22 is provided at the end of the slit 22 to avoid concentration of stress on the end of the slit 22. As a result, even if the rear end portion P2 of the floor undercover 2 is lifted by hitting a curb or the like, the rear end portion P2 of the floor undercover 2 can be easily deformed and cracks can be prevented.

[0019]

As described above, according to the present invention, it is difficult for the air flowing along the lower surface of the undercover to flow above the undercover during traveling, and the air in the undercover tends to be sucked out during traveling. Therefore, a great effect is obtained in suppressing intrusion of water and the like into the undercover and improving drainage efficiency. In addition, if a water gradient is provided in the undercover and the drainage hole is provided in a lower part thereof, higher drainage efficiency can be obtained.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a vehicle to which the present invention is applied, viewed from below.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the floor under cover as viewed from above.

FIG. 3 is a sectional view taken along the line III-III in FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a plan view of a drain hole.

FIG. 5 is a vertical sectional view of a drain hole.

FIG. 6 is a longitudinal sectional view of an upward portion.

FIG. 7 is a longitudinal sectional view of a downward portion.

FIG. 8 is a plan view of a downward portion.

[Explanation of symbols]

 2 Floor under cover 14 Drain hole 15 Depression

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. An undercover for covering a lower surface of a vehicle body, wherein a concave portion having a concave lower surface is provided, and a drainage hole partially provided in a portion of the outer peripheral portion located on the front side of the vehicle body is provided. An undercover characterized by that. 2. The undercover according to claim 1, wherein a water gradient is provided in the undercover, and the drain hole is provided in a lower part thereof.