JP2003327158A - Vehicle body structure - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To utilize a fender panel as a strength member to enhance rigidity in a periphery including a front upper frame. <P>SOLUTION: In this body structure, a fender panel part 7 extended to cover an outer face of the front upper frame 16 from a front pillar part 5 is formed integrally in the front pillar part 5 of a side outer panel 1, at least upper and lower edge parts of a portion covering the outer face of the front upper frame 16 and a portion covering an outer face of a front pillar reinforcement 10 adjacent to the upper frame, in the fender panel 7, are joined to the outer face of the front upper frame 16, and a closed cross-section part 17 of the fender panel part 7 is formed to bring high rigid strength in a section from the front upper frame to the front pillar reinforcement. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2004,JPO

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a vehicle body structure that forms a vehicle body by using a side structure that forms a side portion of a vehicle body.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In an automobile, in order to efficiently assemble the vehicle body, the vehicle body is modularized in each unit of the vehicle body such as a floor structure, a roof structure and a side structure.
A vehicle body is assembled by joining these modularized structures in a total assembly process.

The side structure used for such vehicle body assembly has a structure in which various phosphorus hose members (reinforcing members) are combined with the inner surface of the side outer panel forming the outermost portion of the vehicle body.

In such a side structure, for example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No.
As described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 00-103360, in order to receive an input from a front suspension, a front pillar phosphorus hose attached to an inner surface of a front pillar portion forming an outer surface of a front pillar of a side outer panel, The front upper frame that extends to the vicinity of a support portion that supports the front suspension in the front of the vehicle body is joined and combined with a skeleton to which an engine room and a suspension device in the front portion of the vehicle body are attached. In order to maintain a good appearance, a separate fender panel (equipment component) that covers the peripheral portion of the front wheel arch is provided to cover the front upper frame including the joint.

[0005]

By the way, high rigidity is required for the body of an automobile.

However, since the front upper frame is restricted by the shape of the front pillar link hose, it is difficult to bond the front upper frame with the front pillar link hose in a large joint area. Therefore, the joint strength between the front upper frame and the front pillar link hose cannot be sufficiently secured against the load or impact input from the suspension. Further, since the fender panel is provided as an outfitting component, it is provided as a decorative component that forms the outer surface of the vehicle body, and is provided as a component that hardly contributes to the improvement of the rigidity strength of the vehicle body.

Therefore, conventionally, the rigidity of each member is increased by using a front upper frame and a front pillar link hose having an increased thickness dimension to improve the rigidity of the vehicle body.

However, increasing the plate thickness of each member in this way causes an increase in the weight of the vehicle body.

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and an object thereof is to utilize a fender panel, which was provided as an outfitting component and did not contribute to the improvement of rigidity and strength of a vehicle body, as a strength member. Thus, it is to provide a vehicle body structure capable of increasing the rigidity of the periphery including the front upper frame.

[0010]

In order to achieve the above object, the invention as set forth in claim 1 provides a front pillar portion of a side outer panel with an outer surface of a front upper frame which follows the front wheel arch shape from the front pillar portion. Form a fender panel part that extends so as to cover,
Of the fender panel portion, at least a portion that covers the outer surface of the front upper frame and a portion that covers the outer surface of the front pillar frame hose adjacent to the front upper frame are joined to the outer surface of the front upper frame by joining the upper and lower edges of the front upper frame. The structure is such that the closed cross section is formed by the fender panel section from the upper frame to the front pillar line hose.

That is, the closed cross-section portion formed by the fender panel portion that provides high rigidity and strength is formed continuously from the front upper frame to the front pillar link hose.

As a result, the fender panel portion is utilized as a strength member to enhance the rigidity at the joint portion with the front upper frame and the phosphorus hose.

Therefore, the rigidity of the vehicle body can be improved without increasing the thickness of the phosphorus hose member and the front upper frame.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, the front pillar ring hose cooperates with the front upper frame so that the fender panel portion can be effectively utilized as a strength member. Then, the front upper frame and the front pillar-link hose are joined to almost the entire peripheral edge of the fender panel to form a structure in which the entire fender panel has a closed cross section.

[0015]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION The present invention will be described below based on an embodiment shown in FIGS.

FIG. 1 shows the external appearance of a side structure S constituting a vehicle body, for example, a vehicle body side portion of a passenger car having door openings on both sides for passengers to get on and off, and FIG. 2 shows the respective parts. 3 is a sectional view of the side structure S, and FIG. 3 is an exploded view of the side structure S.

In the figure, reference numeral 1 denotes a side outer panel constituting the outermost side of the side structure S. The side outer panel 1 is composed of a panel member formed into an outer shape that follows the shape of the vehicle body side as shown in FIG. At the center of the side outer panel 1, an opening is formed which is divided into a front side and a rear side by an elongated center pillar panel portion 1a extending in the vertical direction. The front side of this partitioned opening is a front entrance / exit 3a, and the rear side is a rear entrance / exit 3b. Then, a portion forming an outer surface of the front pillar, that is, a front pillar portion 5 having a hat-shaped cross section is formed from an outer panel portion extending in the vertical direction on the front side of the front entrance / exit 3a. From the lower side of the front pillar portion 5, the front pillar portion 5
The panel portion from the middle tier to the side sill portion 6 forming the outer surface of the side sill projects to the front side in the front-rear direction of the vehicle body. The panel portion integrally formed with the front pillar portion 5 has an outer shape that follows the front wheel arch shape (the shape formed by the tire house), protrudes toward the front of the vehicle body, and forms a portion that replaces the fender panel. . That is, the fender panel portion 7 forming the outer surface of the fender panel is formed from this outer panel portion. The fender panel section 7 has, for example, a substantially hat-shaped cross section that extends in the vertical direction.

Reference numeral 10 in FIG. 1 denotes a front pillar line hose. As shown in FIG. 3, the front pillar link hose 10 includes a cross-section 11 having a vertically elongated, substantially hat-shaped cross-section incorporated in the front pillar 5, and a cross-section 11 extending from the cross-section 11 toward the entrance 3a. And a support seat 12 for a door hinge to be extended. The support seat 12 is incorporated inside the fender panel portion 7. And this support seat 12
However, as shown in FIG. 1, the fender panel portion 7 is exposed to the outside through a cutout portion 14 that is formed by cutting out the end portion on the side of the entrance / exit 3a. Although not shown, the front pillar link hose 10 is combined with another roof rail link hose or side silling hose (neither is shown) to strengthen the vehicle body reinforcement structure around the entrances / exits 3a, 3b. .

Further, as shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, a front upper frame outer member 16 (corresponding to a front upper frame) is joined to the middle stage of the front pillar link hose 10 so as to project to the front of the vehicle body. As shown in FIG. 3, the front upper frame outer member 16 has a substantially U-shaped cross section with its opening side facing inward in the vehicle width direction, and extends to the periphery of a support portion (not shown) that supports the upper end of the front suspension. ing. The outer shape of the front upper frame outer member 16 is formed in a substantially pyramid shape in the shape of an arch in conformity with the shape of the fender panel portion 7. That is, the front upper frame outer member 16 has a wheel arch shape that covers the periphery of the wheel arch.

On the upper portion of the fender panel portion 7, a panel portion 7a is formed to cover the outer surface of the front upper frame outer member 16 and the front pillar link hose 10 continuous with the outer surface.

The panel portion 7a of the fender panel portion 7
However, as shown in FIG. 2A, the front upper frame outer members 16 facing each other through the flanges 7b (shown in FIG. 2) formed on the upper and lower edges of the panel portion 7a.
Is joined (by welding) to the outer surface of the front pillar linse hose 10 adjacent to the outer surface of the front pillar and the upper frame 16. Further, the notch 14 end of the fender panel portion 7 has a flange 14a (see FIG. 2B) as shown in FIG.
It is joined to the cross-sectional portion 11 of the front pillar linse hose 10 via (only shown). Remaining fender panel section 7
Is joined to the remaining peripheral portion of the front pillar-lin hose 10.

By joining the fender panel portion 7, as shown in FIGS. 2 (a) and 2 (b), a flat closed cross-section portion 17 is formed in a section from the front upper frame outer member 16 to the front pillar ring hose 10. (A closed cross section 17a formed by the front upper frame outer member 16 and the fender panel section 7, and a closed cross section section 17 formed by the front pillar link hose 10 and the fender panel section 7 connected to it.
b)) is formed. That is, the closed cross-section portion 17 formed by the fender panel portion 7 that provides high rigidity strength.
Are continuously formed from the front upper frame outer member 16 to the front pillar link hose 10.

As a result, by utilizing the fender panel as a strength member, the side structure S in which the rigidity around the front upper frame, that is, the rigidity of the front upper frame outer member 16 and the connection rigidity with the front pillar ring hose 10 is enhanced. Can be obtained. Particularly, the front upper frame outer member 16 and the front pillar ring hose 10 following the front wheel arch shape are joined to almost the entire peripheral edge of the fender panel portion 7, and the entire fender panel portion 7 forms a closed cross-section portion 17. Since the structure is such that it is possible to effectively utilize the fender panel portion 7, it is possible to improve the rigidity around the front upper frame.

Therefore, the rigidity of the side structure S can be increased without increasing the thickness of the front pillar link hose member 10 and the front upper frame outer member 16.

As a result, the rigidity strength of the vehicle body assembled by using the side structure S can be increased. Note that FIG.
Reference numeral 16a denotes a front upper frame inner member that is combined with the front upper frame outer member 16 so as to form a closed cross section when assembling the vehicle body, and 12a is an inner panel that is also combined with the fender panel portion 7 so as to form a closed cross section. A member is shown.

Moreover, since the front upper frame has a closed cross section due to the combination of the front upper frame outer member 16 and the front upper frame inner member 16a during assembly of the vehicle body, the front upper frame has a closed cross section structure and the fender panel portion. The synergistic effect (double structure) with the closed cross-section structure formed by 7 can effectively improve the rigidity strength of the periphery including the front upper frame.

The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and various modifications may be made without departing from the gist of the present invention. For example, in one embodiment, the present invention is applied to a structure in which a notch portion is formed in a fender portion to expose a support seat for a door hinge to the outside.
The present invention is not limited to this, and the present invention may be applied to other structures of the fender panel portion. Of course, the present invention may be applied to a vehicle body structure in which only the front door is assembled, instead of the vehicle body structure in which the front door and the rear door are assembled as in one embodiment.

[0028]

As described above, according to the first aspect of the invention, the rigidity of the front upper frame and the joint rigidity at the joint with the phosphorus hose can be enhanced by utilizing the fender panel portion as the strength member.

Therefore, the rigidity of the vehicle body can be improved without increasing the thickness of the phosphorus hose member and the front upper frame.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, the fender panel portion can be effectively utilized as a strength member to enhance the rigidity and coupling strength of each portion.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an appearance of a side structure that is a main part of an embodiment of the present invention.

2A is a cross-sectional view taken along the line AA in FIG.
(B) is sectional drawing which follows the BB line in FIG.

FIG. 3 is an exploded perspective view in which the same side structure is disassembled.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view for explaining a case where a phosphorus hose module to which an upper frame is joined is assembled with a side outer panel.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 ... Side outer panel 5 ... Front pillar part 7 ... Fender panel part 10 ... Front pillar link hose 16 ... Front upper frame outer member (frame upper frame) 17 ... Closed cross-section part.

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A vehicle body comprising: a side outer panel having a front pillar portion forming an outer surface of a front pillar; and a front pillar link hose attached to the inner surface of the front pillar portion along the front pillar portion. A side structure that constitutes a side part of the vehicle body structure, wherein the front pillar link hose is a vehicle body structure in which a front upper frame protruding toward the front of the vehicle body is assembled, and a front pillar portion of the side outer panel includes: A fender panel portion, which extends from the front pillar portion in a front wheel arch shape so as to cover the outer surface of the front upper frame and forms an outer surface of the fender panel, is integrally formed, and at least the front upper portion of the fender panel portion is formed. With the part that covers the outer surface of the frame and its upper frame The upper and lower edges of the portion that covers the outer surface of the front pillar ring hose in contact are joined to the outer surface of the corresponding front upper frame and the outer surface of the front pillar ring hose adjacent to the front upper frame, and from the front upper frame to the front pillar. A vehicle body structure characterized by forming a closed cross section formed by a fender panel section across a phosphorus hose. 2. The front pillar link hose is formed into an outer shape that follows the front wheel arch shape in cooperation with the front upper frame, and substantially the entire peripheral portion of the fender panel portion is the front upper frame. The vehicle body structure according to claim 1, wherein the fender panel portion is joined to the front pillar linse hose so that the entire fender panel portion has a closed cross-section portion.