JP2001310767A - Structure for vehicle front part - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To reduce a shock in the case of application of a predetermined downward load or more while firmly supporting an upper part of a front fender in a predetermined height position. SOLUTION: The upper part of the front fender 2 is fixed to the upper part of a wheel apron 3 via a supporting member 10. The supporting member 10 is molded integrally with the front fender 2 formed of synthetic resin, and a plurality of supporting members 10 are arranged at certain intervals in the vehicle body longitudinal direction. Each of the supporting members 10 is provided with a first rib 11 and a second rib 12 extending in the vertical direction, and each of the ribs 11, 12 is formed into an L-shape substantially in the horizontal cross section. When a predetermined downward load or more is applied to the upper part of the front fender 2 from an obstacle S, the ribs 11, 12 are crushed and deformed, and consequently, a shock to the obstacle S is reduced. In a supporting member 20, each of ribs 21, 22 extending in the vertical direction is formed into a T-shape substantially in the horizontal cross section. In a supporting member 30 formed to be extended in the vehicle body longitudinal direction, an upper wall part 31 and a lower wall part 32 are connected together via a vertical rib 34 extending in the vertical direction.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a vehicle front structure.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a vehicle, an upper portion of a front fender is fixed to an upper portion of a pair of left and right wheel aprons disposed in front of a vehicle cabin so as to be at a predetermined height. By fixing at the predetermined height position, the height between the upper part of the front fender (more specifically, the inner edge in the vehicle width direction) and the hood (side edge) disposed between the front fenders is adjusted. Be matched.

[0003] By the way, when it is assumed that an obstacle falls over the hood and the front fender, in order to reduce the impact on the obstacle, the front fender ( (The inner end in the vehicle width direction) is easily displaced downward. Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 11-180350 discloses that a vertical wall portion extending downward from a vehicle width direction inner side edge portion of a front fender is bent and set in a “<” shape to receive a predetermined downward or more load. There has been proposed a structure in which a vertical wall portion is easily crushed and deformed when it is pressed. It has also been proposed that the degree of bending in the shape of a dogleg is made different in the front-rear direction of the vehicle body so that the front fender is more easily displaced downward at the front part of the vehicle body than at the rear part of the vehicle body.

In Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 11-180350, a vertical wall portion extending downward from an upper portion of a front fender is provided, and the vertical wall portion is fixed to an upper portion of a wheel apron. The inner edge of the vehicle in the vehicle width direction has an overhang shape extending substantially inwardly in the vehicle width direction to be considerably larger than the vertical wall portion. One that has been proposed to be transformed into is proposed.

[0005]

However, in any of the publications described above, since the front fender is partially deformed to absorb energy, the support at the inner end side in the vehicle width direction is required. The rigidity becomes weak, and it becomes difficult to firmly support the front fender at a predetermined height position. Therefore, an object of the present invention is to ensure that the upper portion of the front fender is firmly supported at a predetermined height position, and that the impact can be reliably relaxed when a downward load of a predetermined amount or more is received from an obstacle. To provide a vehicle front structure.

[0006]

In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, the present invention adopts the following solution. That is, in a vehicle front structure in which an upper portion of a front fender is fixed to an upper portion of a wheel apron at a predetermined height position, as described in claim 1 of the claims, The fixing to the upper portion is performed via a support member formed of a synthetic resin and having a function of absorbing energy in the vertical direction. A preferred embodiment based on the above solution is described in claim 2 of the appended claims.
It is as described below.

[0007]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, when a downward load of a predetermined amount or more is received from an obstacle, the support member is crushed and deformed to absorb energy. Shock is reliably mitigated. In addition, by separately providing a support member for energy absorption, the support rigidity of the front fender can be increased, and the upper portion of the front fender can be firmly supported at a predetermined height position in normal times. . According to the invention described in claim 2, a specific structure for absorbing energy is provided.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, it is possible to attach the support member to the upper portion of the front fender and to the upper portion of the wheel apron by using the upper and lower attachment portions provided on the support member. it can. According to the invention described in claim 4, by arranging a plurality of support members at intervals in the vehicle longitudinal direction, it is preferable to securely support the front fender in the vehicle longitudinal direction. According to the invention described in claim 5 or 6, a specific structure of a plurality of ribs extending in the vertical direction is provided.

According to the invention described in claim 7, the support member can be formed at the time of forming the front fender. According to the invention described in claim 8, the energy absorbing function can be exerted at the front portion of the vehicle body even with a smaller downward load as compared with the rear portion of the vehicle body.

[0010]

FIG. 1 shows a front portion of a vehicle to which the present invention is applied. In FIG. 1, reference numeral 1 denotes a hood (a lid member at a front portion of a vehicle body) which is opened and closed in a vertical direction. Reference numeral 2 denotes a pair of left and right front fenders. Details of the mounting portion of the front fender 2 are shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, reference numeral 3 denotes a wheel apron. As is known, the wheel apron 3 constitutes left and right side walls of an engine room (which may be a trunk room when the engine is disposed behind the vehicle compartment) formed in the front of the vehicle compartment. The upper portion 3a of the wheel apron 3 has a closed cross-sectional structure that extends in the vehicle longitudinal direction in the embodiment.

The front fender 2 is formed of a synthetic resin, and has a vertical wall portion 2b extending shortly downward from an inner edge 2a in the vehicle width direction. Are integrally formed. Support member 1
Numeral 0 has an energy absorbing function as will be described later. As shown in FIG. 2, a plurality of zeros are formed in the front-rear direction of the vehicle body (five in the embodiment). It is set to be smaller at the rear of the vehicle body.

Each support member 10 has two ribs, a first rib 11 and a second rib 12, which extend vertically. These two ribs 11 and 12 are crushed and deformed to absorb energy when receiving a downward or more load, and the first rib 11 extends in the front-rear direction of the vehicle body. It is connected to the vertical wall 2b. The second rib 12 is provided continuously to one end of the first rib 11 in the vehicle front-rear direction, and extends in the vehicle width direction (in the vehicle width direction inner side in the embodiment). Thus, by the two ribs 11 and 12,
A rib having a substantially L-shaped cross section is formed as a whole. And
The lower ends of the first rib 11 and the second rib 12 are connected to a bottom wall 13 extending in a substantially horizontal direction. Such a support member 10 is formed integrally with the front fender 2 by a synthetic resin.

The front fender 2 is fixed to the upper portion 3a of the wheel apron by using a fixing tool 15 such as a bolt inserted into a mounting hole 14 formed in the bottom wall 13 of the support member 10. In the normal fixing position, the height of the inner edge 2a in the vehicle width direction of the front fender 2 is adjusted so as to match the height of the side edge of the closed hood 1. In other words, the rib 1 (in the support member 10) is set so as to be at the predetermined height position.
1, 12) are set.

When a predetermined load or more downward from the obstacle S is applied to the upper portion of the front fender 2, the ribs 11 and 12 of the support member 10 are crushed and deformed, and energy is absorbed. The impact on is alleviated. Since the distance between the support members 10 is large at the front of the vehicle body and small at the rear of the vehicle body, the energy absorption of the support members is performed with a smaller load at the front of the vehicle body than at the rear of the vehicle body. Of course, the upper part of the front fender 2 is displaced downward according to the crushing deformation of the ribs 11 and 12.

FIG. 7 shows a modification of the support member. In the support member 20 according to the present embodiment, the horizontal cross-sectional shape formed by the two ribs 21 and 22 extending in the vertical direction is substantially T-shaped. That is, the first rib 21 extending in the vehicle front-rear direction is longer in the vehicle front-rear direction than in the case of the above-described embodiment, and the second rib 22 is moved from a substantially middle portion of the first rib 21 in the vehicle front-rear direction to the vehicle width direction inner side It is formed to extend to The bottom wall 23 to which the lower ends of the ribs 21 and 22 continue is also elongated in the front-rear direction of the vehicle body. A pair of mounting holes 24 for the wheel apron 3 formed in the bottom wall 23 are provided before and after the second rib 22. Also in the present embodiment, when a downward load equal to or more than a predetermined value acts, the ribs 21 and 22 are crushed and deformed, and the impact is reduced.

FIGS. 8 to 10 show modified examples of the support member. In the present embodiment, the support member 30 made of a synthetic resin is formed separately from the front fender 2,
The front fender 2 extends continuously over substantially the entire length in the front-rear direction. The support member 30 includes upper and lower walls 31 and 32 extending substantially in the horizontal direction, respectively, and one end in the vehicle width direction of the upper and lower walls 31 and 32 (an outer end in the vehicle width direction in the embodiment). And a connecting portion extending in the up-down direction for connecting the parts to each other, and each of the portions 31 to 33 extends long in the vehicle longitudinal direction. The upper and lower wall portions 31 and 32 have a plurality of longitudinal ribs 3 extending in the vertical direction and extending in the vehicle width direction, respectively.
4 are also connected. The arrangement interval of the vertical ribs 34 is set large at the front part of the vehicle body and small at the rear part of the vehicle body. In addition, the substantially middle portions in the vertical direction of the adjacent vertical ribs 34 are connected by horizontal ribs 35 extending substantially in the horizontal direction.

The upper portion of the front fender 2 has a horizontal wall portion 2c which extends substantially inward in the vehicle width direction at a position slightly below the inner edge 2a in the vehicle width direction. An upper wall portion 3 serving as an upper mounting portion of the support member 30 is provided on a lower surface of the horizontal wall portion 2c.
1 is contacted, and the horizontal wall portion 2c and the upper wall portion 31 are fixed by a fixing tool 36 such as a bolt. The support member 30
The lower wall portion 32 is seated on the upper portion 3a (upper wall portion) of the wheel apron 3, and the lower wall portion 32 and the wheel apron upper portion 3a are fixed by a fixing tool 37 such as a bolt.

When a downward load equal to or more than a predetermined value is applied, the vertical rib 34 is crushed and deformed together with the connecting portion 33, and the impact is reduced. The falling down of the vertical ribs 34 is prevented by the horizontal ribs 35, so that a preferable crushing deformation for energy absorption by the vertical ribs 34 is reliably ensured. Since the arrangement pitch of the longitudinal ribs 34 is larger at the front of the vehicle body than at the rear of the vehicle body, energy absorption is performed at the front of the vehicle body with respect to a smaller load than at the rear of the vehicle body.

As a modified example of FIGS.
May be provided two or more at intervals in the vertical direction. In addition, a connecting portion extending in the vertical direction is provided to connect the upper and lower wall portions 31 and 32 to each other at the inner end portions in the vehicle width direction (corresponding to the connecting portion 33 on the outer side in the vehicle width direction). The cross-sectional shape in the horizontal direction including the connecting portions on both sides and the vertical ribs may be a lattice shape.

FIG. 11 shows supporting members 10, 20,
The energy absorbing function of No. 30 is schematically shown using the load and the amount of deformation as parameters. In FIG. 11, reference numeral α corresponds to the support member 10 (FIGS. 2 to 6), reference numeral β corresponds to the support member 20 (FIG. 7), and reference numeral γ corresponds to the support member 30 (FIG. 8 to FIG. 10).

The embodiment has been described above.
In the embodiment of FIG. 7, the front fender 2 and the support member 10 or 20 may be formed separately (the front fender may be formed of a metal such as an iron plate). The purpose of the present invention is not limited to what is explicitly specified, but also implicitly includes providing what is substantially preferred or expressed as an advantage.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a front portion of a vehicle to which the present invention is applied.

FIG. 2 shows one embodiment of the present invention, and is a perspective view of a front fender in which a support member is integrally formed.

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view of the front fender shown in FIG. 2 in a state where the front fender is fixed to a wheel apron, corresponding to the line X3-X3 in FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a side view of a main part of the support member of FIG. 3 as viewed from the inside in the vehicle width direction.

FIG. 5 is a diagram when the support member shown in FIG. 2 is viewed from above.

FIG. 6 is a partially sectional perspective view of the support member shown in FIG. 2 when viewed obliquely.

FIG. 7 is a view showing another embodiment of the present invention and corresponding to FIG. 5;

FIG. 8 is a sectional view showing still another embodiment of the present invention and corresponding to FIG. 3;

FIG. 9 is a view of the support member shown in FIG. 8 as viewed from the inside in the vehicle width direction.

FIG. 10 is a sectional view corresponding to line X10-X10 in FIG. 8;

FIG. 11 is a diagram showing a relationship between a load and a deformation amount.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1: Bonnet 2: Front fender 2a: Inner edge in the vehicle width direction 3: Wheel apron 3a: Upper part of wheel apron 10: Support member 11: First rib 12: Second rib 13: Bottom wall 20: Support member 21 : First rib 22: Second rib 23: Bottom wall 30: Support member 31: Upper wall 32: Lower wall 33: Connecting part 34: Vertical rib 35: Horizontal rib S: Obstacle

 ────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of front page (72) Inventor Yuji Matsuda 3-1 Shinchi, Fuchu-cho, Aki-gun, Hiroshima F-term in Mazda Co., Ltd. (Reference) 3D003 AA05 AA11 BB02 CA03 CA55 CA58 3D004 AA04 BA02

Claims (8)

[Claims] 1. A vehicle front structure in which an upper portion of a front fender is fixed to an upper portion of a wheel apron at a predetermined height position, wherein the upper portion of the front fender is fixed to the upper portion of the wheel apron by a synthetic resin. A structure of a front part of a vehicle, which is performed by a support member having an energy absorbing function in a vertical direction by crush deformation. 2. The vehicle front structure according to claim 1, wherein the support member has a plurality of vertically extending ribs having an energy absorbing function. 3. The support member according to claim 1, wherein the support member has an upper attachment portion for an upper portion of the front fender at an upper end portion, and has an attachment portion for the upper portion of the wheel apron at a lower end portion. The structure of the vehicle front part characterized by the above. 4. The vehicle front part according to claim 2, wherein a plurality of the support members having the plurality of ribs are provided at an interval in the vehicle front-rear direction with respect to an upper part of the front fender. Construction. 5. The vehicle front structure according to claim 4, wherein the plurality of ribs in each of the support members are formed in a substantially L-shape in a horizontal cross section. 6. The structure of a vehicle front part according to claim 4, wherein the plurality of ribs in each of the support members are formed in a substantially T-shape in a horizontal cross section. 7. The vehicle front structure according to claim 4, wherein the front fender is formed integrally with the plurality of support members by a synthetic resin. . 8. The vehicle body according to claim 4, wherein an interval between the plurality of support members in a vehicle front-rear direction is set to be larger at a front portion of the vehicle body than at a rear portion of the vehicle body. And a vehicle front structure.