JP2002046646A - Front pillar structure - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a front pillar structure wherein the deformation of the front pillar at the collision of a front face is controlled so that the deformation amount of a cabin is restrained. SOLUTION: This front pillar 11 is installed along both sides of a windshield on the front side of the cabin of an automobile, and is so structured that a pillar lower part 14 is composed by a first reinforcing member 15 integrally formed with a body frame 12, a pillar upper part 16 is composed by a second reinforcing member 18 integrally formed at least with the front part of a roof side rail 13, and the upper end of the pillar lower part 14 is connected with the lower end of the pillar upper part 16 at the position where inside compression occurs at the collision of the front face.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

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

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a front pillar structure is constructed, for example, as shown in FIG. In FIG. 5, a front pillar 1 is supported along both sides of a windshield at a front side of a cabin of an automobile, a lower end 1a is fixed to a frame 2 of a vehicle body, and an upper end 1b is connected to a roof side rail 3. Fixed.

[0003] The front pillar 1 itself is divided into two parts substantially in the vicinity of the center, and the lower part is constituted by a first reinforce 4 formed integrally with the frame 2 of the vehicle body.
The upper part is constituted by a second reinforce 6 formed integrally with the front part of the roof side rail 3. The rear part of the roof side rail 3 is constituted by a third reinforce 8 integrally formed with the center pillar 7.

Here, the first reinforce 4, the second reinforce 6, and the third reinforce 8 are:
As shown in FIG. 6, the connecting portion is configured to coincide with a zero position of a moment generated when a load is applied from the front during a frontal collision. As a result, in the first and third reinforces 4 and 8, a moment is generated such that the outer side is compressed by the load and the second reinforce 6 is compressed in the inner side by the load. Then, at the connecting portion of the first reinforce 4, the second reinforce 6, and the third reinforce 8, each end (so-called parting portion) is cut off such that the compression side protrudes.

In the front pillar structure having such a structure, when a load is applied from the front in the event of a frontal collision of an automobile, a moment as shown in FIG. 6 is generated on the front pillar 1 and the roof side rail 3. Thus, the position A of the maximum moment in the second reinforce 6 (that is, the boundary between the front pillar 1 and the roof side rail 3) is deformed, so that the impact at the time of a frontal collision is absorbed.

[0006]

However, according to such a front pillar structure, as described above, at the time of a frontal collision, the front pillar 1 and the roof side rail 3
7, the roof side rail 3 is deformed by the angle θ1, and the front pillar 1 is deformed by the angle θ2, as shown in FIG. As a result, as shown in the simulation of FIG. 8, the cabin is greatly deformed by the deformation of the portion A, and the cabin length is reduced.

Here, the second reinforce 6 is difficult to reinforce because it is a joint of a skeletal structure where irregularities occur in the design. Therefore, the deformation amount of the portion A, that is, the angle θ2, cannot be easily controlled. Also, A
The deformation in the part is not good after the cabin deformation, and the deformation amount looks large even if the deformation amount is relatively small.

In view of the above, an object of the present invention is to provide a front pillar structure in which the deformation of the front pillar at the time of a frontal collision is controlled to suppress the amount of cabin deformation.

[0009]

According to the present invention, there is provided, in accordance with the present invention, a front pillar arranged along both sides of a windshield at a front side of a cabin of an automobile, wherein a lower portion of the pillar is connected to a body frame. The upper part of the pillar is constituted by a second reinforce formed integrally with at least the front part of the roof side rail, and the upper end of the pillar is constituted by a first reinforce integrally formed, and the upper end of the lower part of the pillar and the lower end of the upper part of the pillar Are connected at a position where inner compression occurs at the time of a frontal collision, and the upper edge of the lower part of the pillar and the lower end of the upper part of the pillar are separated so that the outer edges project toward the other side. Is achieved by the front pillar structure.

[0010] According to the above structure, when a load is applied from the front during a frontal collision, an inner moment is generated by the generated moment at the connecting portion between the upper pillar and the lower pillar constituting the front pillar. Are deformed inward at this connection. This allows
At the time of a frontal collision, when the front end of the roof side rail is deformed to float upward, the upper pillar that constitutes the front pillar also lifts upward integrally with the roof side rail, and only the lower pillar bends inward. The amount of cabin deformation is suppressed to be small, and the appearance due to the cabin deformation is also improved.

Further, the upper and lower pillars which form the center pillar by a frontal collision are formed by removing the upper edge of the lower pillar and the lower edge of the upper pillar so that their outer edges project toward the other side. When the connecting portion is deformed, the outer edges abut each other, thereby preventing the connecting portion from being deformed outward.

[0012]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in detail based on embodiments shown in the drawings. FIG. 1 shows a configuration of an embodiment of a front pillar structure according to the present invention.
In FIG. 1, a front pillar structure 10 includes a front pillar 11 supported along both sides of a windshield at a front side of a cabin of an automobile. The front pillar 11 has a lower end 11 a fixed to the frame 12 of the vehicle body and an upper end 11 b fixed to the roof side rail 13.

The front pillar 11 itself is divided into two substantially in the vicinity of the center, and a lower pillar portion 14 is integrally formed with a frame 12 of the vehicle body to form a first reinforcement 15.
The pillar upper part 16 is constituted by a second reinforce 17 formed integrally with the front part of the roof side rail 13. The rear part of the roof side rail 13 is constituted by a third reinforce 19 formed integrally with the center pillar 18.

The above configuration is almost the same as the conventional front pillar structure shown in FIG. 5, but the front pillar structure 10 according to the embodiment of the present invention is different in the following points. That is, as shown in FIG. 2, the first reinforce 15 and the second reinforce 17 are located at positions where the inner compression is generated by the moment generated when a load is applied from the front at the time of a frontal collision. It is arranged in.

As a result, a moment is generated at the connecting portion of the first and second reinforces 15 and 17 such that the inside is compressed by the load. The second reinforce 17 and the third reinforce 19
As in the case of the front pillar structure shown in FIG. 5, the connecting portion thereof is configured to coincide with the position of zero moment generated when a load is applied from the front during a frontal collision as shown in FIG. Have been.

Further, the first reinforce 15,
In the connection portion of the second reinforce 17, each edge (so-called parting portion) is trimmed so that the outside protrudes. In the connection portion of the second reinforce 17 and the third reinforce 19, as in the case of the front pillar structure in FIG. 5, the edge removal (so-called parting portion) is performed so that the compression side protrudes, respectively. Have been.

The front pillar structure 10 according to the embodiment of the present invention is configured as described above. When a load is applied from the front to act on the front pillar 11 at the time of a frontal collision, the front pillar 11 is shown in FIG. Such a moment is generated. This moment is zero at the junction of the second reinforce 17 and the third reinforce 19, but acts at the junction of the first reinforce 15 and the second reinforce 17 to generate an inner compression.

Accordingly, since the portion of the front pillar 11 which receives the inner compression includes the connecting portion of the first reinforce 15 and the second reinforce 17, the connecting portion (FIG. 1 and FIG. 2
, The portion indicated by the symbol B) is deformed inward. At this time, since the ends (so-called parting portions) of the first reinforce 15 and the second reinforce 17 are removed so that the outside protrudes from each other, the connection portion smoothly goes inward. Deform.

As a result, the impact at the time of a frontal collision is absorbed, and the connecting portion (part B) of the first reinforce 15 and the second reinforce 17 is deformed, as shown in FIG. The rail 13 and the upper pillar 14 of the front pillar 11 are deformed upward by an angle θ1 around the rear end of the roof side rail 13, and only the lower pillar 16 of the front pillar 11 is deformed inward by an angle θ2 around the B part. I do. Therefore, the lower part 1 of the roof side rail 13 and the front pillar 11
In the case where the deformation angles θ1 and θ2 are the same, the cabin deformation amount is reduced and the appearance due to the cabin deformation is improved as compared with the case where the entire front pillar 11 is deformed inward.

FIG. 4 shows a simulation in which the deformation of the front pillar 11 at the time of a frontal collision and the deformation of the cabin are analyzed by CAE. The deformation of the conventional front pillar 1 at the time of a frontal collision and the deformation of the cabin shown in FIG. It was confirmed that the cabin deformation amount was reduced to about 75.1% as compared with. Here, the cabin deformation amount is a difference ΔL between the cabin total length L1 before the frontal collision and the cabin total length L2 after the deformation.

As described above, according to the present invention, at the time of a frontal collision, the front pillar 11 and the roof side rail 13
The front pillar 11 is deformed inward at the portion B without the boundary A being deformed, so that the amount of cabin deformation is reduced and the appearance due to the cabin deformation is improved, thereby reducing the user's anxiety about safety performance. can do.

[0022]

As described above, according to the present invention, when a load is applied from the front at the time of a frontal collision, the upper part of the front pillar and the connecting part of the lower part of the pillar forming the front pillar are compressed inward by the generated moment. Is generated, the front pillar is deformed inward at this connection portion. As a result, when the front end of the roof side rail is deformed to rise upward during a frontal collision, the upper pillar constituting the front pillar also rises upward integrally with the roof side rail, and only the lower pillar is deformed inward. Therefore, the cabin deformation amount is suppressed to be small, and the appearance due to the cabin deformation is also improved. Thus, according to the present invention, an extremely excellent front pillar structure is provided in which the deformation of the front pillar at the time of a frontal collision is controlled to suppress the amount of cabin deformation.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic sectional view showing a configuration of an embodiment of a front pillar structure according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic view showing a moment generated at the time of a frontal collision in the front pillar structure of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a schematic view showing a cabin deformation at the time of a frontal collision in the front pillar structure of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a simulation of cabin deformation at the time of a frontal collision in the front pillar structure of FIG. 1;

FIG. 5 is a schematic sectional view showing a configuration of an example of a conventional front pillar structure.

FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram showing a moment generated at the time of a frontal collision in the front pillar structure of FIG. 5;

FIG. 7 is a schematic view showing a cabin deformation at the time of a frontal collision in the front pillar structure of FIG. 5;

8 is a diagram illustrating a simulation of cabin deformation at the time of a frontal collision in the front pillar structure of FIG. 5;

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Front pillar structure 11 Front pillar 11a Lower end 11b Upper end 12 Body frame 13 Roof side rail 14 Lower pillar 15 First reinforce 16 Upper pillar 17 Second reinforce 18 Center pillar 19 Third reinforce

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A front pillar disposed on both sides of a windshield at a front side of a cabin of an automobile, wherein a lower part of the pillar is constituted by a first reinforcement integrally formed with a body frame. The upper pillar is constituted by a second reinforce formed integrally with at least the front part of the roof side rail, and the upper end of the lower pillar and the lower end of the upper pillar are connected at a position where inner compression occurs at the time of a frontal collision. A front pillar structure, characterized in that the upper edge of the lower portion of the pillar and the lower edge of the upper portion of the pillar are removed so that their outer edges project toward the other side.