JP2004124757A - Vehicular duct - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To allow further deformation of a hood which is deformed by collision with a pedestrian. <P>SOLUTION: A predicted break line 54 surrounding a support wall part 36 is provided in a connection zone 56 of a second duct wall part 34 and the support wall part 35. When the hood is deformed by collision with a pedestrian and a first duct wall part 32 is pressed from upward, at least part of the predicted break line 54 of the support wall part 36 is broken. Consequently, the support wall part 36 is partially or wholly separated from the second duct wall part 34, drop of the first duct wall part 32 is allowed and further deformation of the hood is allowed. The predicted break line 54 is formed of a plurality of thin parts provided in series for each desired interval. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2004,JPO

Description

[0001]
TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a vehicle duct, and more specifically, a first duct wall portion disposed between a hood of a vehicle and a vehicle body component located below the hood, and located near a back side of the hood, A second duct wall which is located opposite to the vehicle body component portion while holding a required space in the first duct wall, and the first duct wall protruding from the inside of the second duct wall And a supporting wall portion for supporting the rear surface of the vehicle.
[0002]
[Prior art]
In a so-called two-box type or three-box type automobile (vehicle), as shown in FIGS. 10 and 11, a drive source is provided in an engine room 12 defined in a front portion of a passenger compartment in a vehicle body 10. An engine 20 is mounted. As is well known, the engine 20 is an internal combustion engine that burns a mixture of clean air introduced through an air cleaner 22 and fuel supplied from a fuel tank. It is indispensable to supply external air continuously and stably at all times during rotation. However, the temperature of the air in the engine room 12 rises due to the heat generated from the engine 20 itself. Therefore, if this high-temperature air is introduced into the engine 20, the combustion efficiency is reduced and the output is reduced. Therefore, for example, as illustrated in FIGS. 10 and 11, a vehicle duct 30 for introducing outside air connected to the air cleaner 22 is disposed on the front side of the engine room 12, and the outside air is supplied to the front side during traveling. (See Patent Document 1 for related art).
[0003]
Assuming that the vehicle duct 30 efficiently takes in external air, the vehicle duct 30 is generally located at the center of the front of the vehicle body at the front side of the engine room 12, that is, the bonnet 14 that opens and closes the engine room 12. It is desirable to install the radiator 16 in a gap defined between the radiator 16 and a radiator support (vehicle body component) 18 for fixing the radiator 16 located below the hood 14. However, as is clear from FIG. 11, it is often difficult to secure a large vertical space, and therefore the outer shape of the vehicle duct 30 is necessarily high enough to fit in the space. Inevitably, it must be a thin, flat shape with a low size.
[0004]
Therefore, as shown in FIG. 12, for example, the vehicle duct 30 has a flat tray-shaped first duct wall portion 32 and a flat tray-shaped first duct wall portion 32 which holds a required space and is opposed to each other. An air inlet 38 and an air outlet 40 are formed in a hollow body with the second duct wall 34 at the ends of both duct walls 32 and 34. When the vehicle duct 30 is disposed between the bonnet 14 and the radiator support 18, the first duct wall 32 is located close to the back side of the bonnet 14 and the second duct wall The portion 34 comes to be located close to the radiator support 18. The vehicle duct 30 is made of a synthetic resin made of a resin material such as polyethylene (PE) or polypropylene (PP), and is formed by a molding technique such as an injection molding technique or a blow molding technique.
[0005]
Here, the vehicle duct 30 has a first duct wall portion 32 and a second duct wall portion 34 which are formed in a flat shape, and the air inlet 38 has a shape which is horizontally elongated. The rigidity of the duct walls 32, 34 is reduced. Accordingly, when a pressure difference between the duct internal pressure and the atmospheric pressure (duct internal pressure <atmospheric pressure) is generated when the external air is sucked through the air inlet port 38 by the start of the engine 20, the first duct wall portion is formed. 32 and the second duct wall portion 34 may be deformed so as to be close to each other, and in some cases, the vehicle duct 30 may be crushed and deformed, and the air inlet 38 may be closed. When the vehicle duct 30 is deformed as described above, a required amount of external air is not introduced into the engine 20, which causes inconveniences such as a decrease in output of the engine 20 or a failure.
[0006]
Therefore, in order to avoid the above-mentioned inconvenience, as shown in FIGS. 12 and 13, a support wall 36 projecting from the inside of the second duct wall 34 is formed integrally with the second duct wall 34. A structure has been proposed in which the support wall 36 is configured to abut and support the back surface of the first duct wall 32. By providing the support wall portion 36 on the second duct wall portion 34 in this way, even if a pressure difference between the duct internal pressure and the atmospheric pressure (duct internal pressure <atmospheric pressure) occurs, the first duct wall portion 32 and the Deformation of the second duct wall portions 34 so as to be close to each other is restricted, so that it is possible to prevent the inconvenience that the air inlet 38 is in a closed state.
[0007]
[Patent Document 1]
JP-A-11-294249
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
By the way, in recent years, establishment of safety measures for pedestrian protection has been demanded, and when a pedestrian collides, the body is appropriately deformed by the impact, thereby absorbing the impact. A body for reducing injuries to the elderly has been developed. That is, when a running vehicle collides with a pedestrian by mistake, first, the front bumper of the vehicle collides with the pedestrian's leg as a first stage, and the pedestrian's waist as a second stage. It is known that the pedestrian starts to collide with the front edge portion of the bonnet 14, and the pedestrian's chest and head collide with the rear edge portion or the windshield of the bonnet 14 as a third stage. For this reason, the bonnet 14 is designed to be concavely deformed when a pedestrian collides, thereby taking measures to reduce the degree of injury to the pedestrian by absorbing the impact of the collision.
[0009]
However, on the back side of the front edge of the bonnet 14, the vehicle duct 30 is disposed with almost no gap as described above and shown in FIG. Almost no deformation-permitting space is defined which allows the concave shape to be deformed. Therefore, when the waist of the pedestrian collides with the front edge of the bonnet 14, the bonnet 14 comes into contact with the vehicle duct 30 at the same time as the deformation starts. Moreover, since the vehicle duct 30 has the support wall portion 36 for improving rigidity as described above, the bonnet 14 is deformed by a collision with a pedestrian and the first duct wall portion 32 is deformed. Is pressed from above with an impact force, the support of the support wall 36 does not allow the first duct wall 32 to sink. Therefore, in the conventional vehicle duct 30, the concave deformation of the bonnet 14 due to the collision with the pedestrian is restricted, and the shock absorbing performance of the bonnet 14 is reduced, and the degree of injury of the pedestrian is reduced. It was supposed to hinder the reduction.
[0010]
[Object of the invention]
The present invention has been proposed to suitably solve the above-described problem, and has a structure in which deformation of a duct wall portion is allowed when pressed with an impact force by a bonnet deformed by a collision with a pedestrian. Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a vehicle duct configured to allow a further deformation of the hood.
[0011]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In order to solve the above-mentioned problems and achieve an intended object, the present invention provides a first duct disposed between a hood of a vehicle and a vehicle body component located below the hood, and located near a back side of the hood. A wall portion, a second duct wall portion which is located opposite to the first duct wall portion while maintaining a required space, and which is located close to the vehicle body component, and which protrudes from the inside of the second duct wall portion, A support duct for supporting the back surface of the first duct duct;
In a connection region between the second duct wall and the support wall, a breakable line surrounding the support wall is provided,
When the bonnet deforms due to a collision with a pedestrian and presses the first duct wall from above, the support wall breaks at least a part of the line to be broken, and It is characterized in that it is partly or wholly separated, thereby allowing the first duct wall to sink and allow further deformation of the bonnet.
[0012]
BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION
Next, a vehicle duct according to the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings by way of preferred embodiments. Note that the vehicle duct to which the present invention is applied may have various external shapes and sizes, but in this embodiment, the basic shape is the same as that of the conventional vehicle duct 30 illustrated in FIGS. 12 and 13. An example of a vehicle duct is described below. Therefore, the same members and portions as those already described in the section of the prior art described with reference to FIGS. 10 to 13 are indicated by the same reference numerals.
[0013]
FIG. 1 is a bottom view of a vehicle duct according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken along line II-II of FIG. 1, and FIG. 3 is a sectional view taken along line III-III of FIG. The duct 50 for a vehicle of the embodiment is made of a resin material such as polyethylene (PE), for example, and is blow-molded using a blow molding die 42 including a first molding die 44 and a second molding die 46 illustrated in FIG. It is formed by technology. Since the blow molding technique is a known technique, a detailed description thereof is omitted here.
[0014]
The vehicle duct 50 of the embodiment is disposed between the hood 14 of the vehicle and a radiator support (a vehicle body component) 18 located below the hood 14, and supplies clean air to the engine 20, for example. The air cleaner 22 is connected to the air cleaner 22 for implementation. When the vehicle duct 50 is disposed between the bonnet 14 and the radiator support 18, the vehicle duct 50 includes a first duct wall portion 32 located close to the back side of the bonnet 14 and the first duct wall portion 32. A second duct wall portion 34 which is located opposite to the radiator support 18 while maintaining a required space, and a rear surface of the first duct wall portion 32 projecting from the inside of the second duct wall portion 34. And a support wall portion 36 that abuts the contact wall.
[0015]
At one end of the first duct wall 32 and the second duct wall 34, an air inlet 38 which is open horizontally is opened, and the other end of both duct walls 32 and 34 is opened. Is provided with an air outlet 40 which is opened in a shape connectable to the air cleaner 22. The support wall portion 36 is formed to extend in a curved shape of a required length on a side adjacent to the air inlet 38, and external air introduced from the air inlet 38 smoothly flows toward the air outlet 40. It also functions as a so-called rectifying plate that allows the current to flow to the public.
[0016]
The thickness T of the first duct wall 32, the second duct wall 34, and the support wall 36 is substantially the same at any part, for example, about 2 to 2.5 mm. Thus, although the first duct wall 32 and the second duct wall 34 have a certain degree of flexibility, the support wall 36 functions as a so-called “reinforcement rib”, so that it is flexibly deformed. Are suitably regulated. Therefore, even if a pressure difference between the inside and outside of the duct (internal pressure of the duct <atmospheric pressure) occurs when the external air is introduced through the air inlet 38 in the embodiment in which the internal air is introduced in front of the engine room 12, The first duct wall 32 and the second duct wall 34 are prevented from being deformed so as to be close to each other, and the air inlet 38 is prevented from being closed.
[0017]
In the vehicle duct 50 of the embodiment, the support wall 36 is provided to prevent deformation during air introduction, and as shown in FIG. When the first hood 14 is deformed, the first duct wall 32 is deformed so as to sink, so that the hood 14 can be allowed to further deform in a concave manner. That is, when the hood 14 is deformed downward and presses the first duct wall 32 with an impact force from above, the first duct wall 32 sinks downward. As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 and the like, the connecting region 52 between the second duct wall portion 34 and the support wall portion 36 is provided with a fracture extending so as to surround the support wall portion 36 so as to be deformed. A scheduled line 54 is provided. Here, the connection region 52 defined in the present application is, as shown in FIG. 4, a boundary portion between the second duct wall portion 34 and the support wall portion 36, that is, a boundary line between the two wall portions 32, 34. Means a range of a curved surface portion extending along. When the first duct wall portion 32 is pressed from above without an impact force, such as when the upper surface of the first duct wall portion 32 is lightly pressed during maintenance work of the engine 20, The line 54 to be broken is not broken.
[0018]
The line to be broken 54 is formed of a plurality of thin portions 56 provided in series at required intervals in a connection region between the second duct wall portion 34 and the support wall portion 36, and is weakened by these thin portions 56. It is the part which aimed at conversion. Each of the thin portions 56 has a V-shaped groove having a length S of about 3 to 4 mm formed on an outer surface of a connection region 52 between the second duct wall 34 and the support wall 36 having a length of about 3 to 5 mm. It is formed as a result of being recessed in series at intervals of W. The thickness T1 of each thin portion 56 is approximately 1/3 to 1/4 (0) of the thickness T of the general portion in the first duct wall 32, the second duct wall 34, and the support wall 36. (Approximately 0.5 to 0.8 mm).
[0019]
The V-grooves for forming the respective thin portions 56 are simultaneously formed by the plurality of V-shaped protrusions 49 provided on the second molding die 46 of the blow molding die 42 when the duct 50 is blow-molded. You. That is, as shown in FIG. 7, a convex wall portion 48 for forming the support wall portion 36 is formed on the molding surface 46a of the second molding die 46 so as to protrude in a curved shape. A plurality of V-shaped protrusions 49 for forming the respective V-grooves are provided in series at a required interval at a boundary portion of the wall portion 48. In order to form the thin portion 56 as described later, it is desirable that the V-shaped convex portion 49 has a shape protruding as acutely as possible.
[0020]
When the vehicle duct 50 of the embodiment is molded using the blow molding die 42 described above, first, as shown in FIG. 5, the first molding die 44 and the second molding die 46 are separated from each other. Then, the parison P arrives between the molding surfaces 44a and 46a of the both molds 44 and 46. Then, the first molding die 44 and the second molding die 46 are brought close to each other, and at the same time, the parison P is expanded by sending compressed air into the parison P to expand the parison P. It is pressed so as to be in close contact with the molding surfaces 44a, 46a of the respective 46.
[0021]
When the parison P is pressed against the molding surface 46a and the convex wall portion 48 of the second molding die 46, the respective V-shaped convex portions 49 are cut into the outside of the parison P. The thickness of the part corresponding to the convex part 49 is reduced (FIG. 6). Thereby, simultaneously with the formation of the first duct wall 32, the second duct wall 34, and the support wall 36, a plurality of thin portions 56 are formed in the connecting region 52 in a straight line. Therefore, in the vehicle duct 50 of the embodiment, the line to be broken 54 can be formed in the same process as the conventional vehicle duct 50 illustrated in FIGS. 12 and 13, and the forming cost is significantly increased. Absent.
[0022]
In this manner, the vehicle duct 50 of the present embodiment in which the line to be broken 54 surrounding the support wall portion 36 is provided in the connection region between the second duct wall portion 34 and the support wall portion 36 is as described above. Thus, it is fixed to the front center of the vehicle body at the front side of the engine room 12. At this time, the first duct wall portion 32 is located closer to the back side of the hood 14, and the second duct wall portion 34 is located closer to the radiator support 18.
[0023]
In the vehicle duct 50 in such an implementation state, when the bonnet 14 is deformed downward due to a collision with a pedestrian and presses the first duct wall 32 from above with an impact force, The pressing force applied to the first duct wall 32 is transmitted to the support wall 36. Then, the support wall portion 36 which has received the pressing force is pressed downward without buckling itself, so that the stress due to the pressing force is applied to each thin portion 56 forming the planned breaking line 54. Will work. As a result, a break occurs along at least a part (in some cases, the entire circumference) of the line to be broken 54, and the support wall 36 is partially or wholly separated from the second duct wall 34. Then, the support wall portion 36 moves below the second duct wall portion 34 and the sinking of the first duct wall portion 32 is allowed (FIGS. 9 and 10).
[0024]
Therefore, in the vehicle duct 50 of the present embodiment, the bonnet 14 deformed by the collision with the pedestrian is provided with the support wall portion 36 in order to improve the rigidity in order to prevent deformation during air introduction. When the one duct wall portion 32 is pressed from above with an impact force, at least a part of the line to be broken 54 is broken, and the sinking of the first duct wall portion 32 is allowed. Therefore, the bonnet 14 can be allowed to undergo further concave deformation when a pedestrian collides, thereby avoiding the inconvenience of deteriorating the shock absorbing performance of the bonnet 14 and also reducing the degree of injury to the pedestrian. Can be reduced.
[0025]
In the above-described embodiment, an example is shown in which the planned break lines 54 provided in the connection region 52 between the second duct wall portion 34 and the support wall portion 36 are formed from a plurality of thin portions 56 provided in series at required intervals. However, the number and the size (length, width, and thickness) of the thin portions 56 formed are determined by the fact that the deformed bonnet 14 will break when the deformed bonnet 14 presses the first duct wall 32 with an impact force. It is set on the assumption that the line 54 is appropriately broken.
[0026]
The V-groove for forming the thin portion 56 is formed by a method other than the V-shaped protrusion 49 protruding from the molding surface 46a of the second molding die 46 of the blow molding die 42 described above. You may do so. For example, after forming the vehicle duct 50 as in the related art, (1) a method of forming by cutting using an end mill or the like, and (2) a method of forming by pressing a hot blade or the like and appropriately melting. If the above-mentioned is used, the V-groove can be formed.
[0027]
The break line 54 may be formed from a single linearly extending thin portion in the connection region 52 between the second duct wall 34 and the support wall 36. Such a breakable line 54 is formed in a thin state over the entire circumference.
[0028]
The break line 54 may be formed at a portion of the second duct wall portion 34 adjacent to the connection region 52, or may be formed at a portion of the support wall portion 36 adjacent to the connection region 52. It may be formed. Further, the number of lines to be broken 54 may be not limited to one but may be plural.
[0029]
Further, in the above-described embodiment, the vehicle duct 50 provided for introducing the external air supplied to the engine 20 is illustrated, but the vehicle duct targeted by the present application is not limited to this. Anything disposed between the bonnet 14 and the vehicle body component 18, such as the engine room 12, an air conditioner unit not shown, or a vehicle duct provided to introduce external air into a passenger compartment or the like, is all It is targeted.
[0030]
【The invention's effect】
As described above, according to the vehicle duct of the present invention, the bonnet deformed by the collision with the pedestrian is provided with the support wall to improve the rigidity in order to prevent the deformation at the time of air introduction. When the first duct wall is pressed from above, at least a part of the line to be broken is broken, and the sinking of the first duct wall can be suitably permitted. Therefore, there is almost no restriction on further deformation of the bonnet when a pedestrian collides, avoiding the inconvenience of lowering the shock absorbing performance of the bonnet, and contributing to reducing the degree of injury to the pedestrian. It has beneficial effects such as gain.
Further, since the line to be broken can be formed in the same process as the conventional vehicle duct, the forming cost does not increase significantly.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a bottom view of a vehicle duct according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken along line II-II of FIG.
FIG. 3 is a sectional view taken along line III-III of FIG. 1;
FIG. 4 is an explanatory sectional view showing a partially enlarged view of FIG. 2;
FIG. 5 is an explanatory cross-sectional view showing a state in which a parison arrives between the first and second molding dies of the blow molding dies with the first and second molding dies separated from each other.
FIG. 6 is an explanatory cross-sectional view partially showing a state in which the first molding die and the second molding die are close to each other to blow-mold the vehicle duct of the embodiment; This indicates that the thin portions forming the line to be broken are simultaneously formed by the close contact of the parison with the molding surface.
FIG. 7 is a partial perspective view of a second molding die in the blow molding die, showing a state in which a plurality of V-shaped convex portions are protruded at required intervals at a boundary portion between the molding surface and the convex wall portion. Is shown.
FIG. 8 is an explanatory cross-sectional view when a bonnet deformed due to a collision with a pedestrian presses a first duct wall with an impact force from above, and a support wall forms at least a part of a line to be broken; This shows a state in which the hood is partially or totally separated from the second wall portion by being broken, whereby the first duct wall portion is allowed to sink and the bonnet is further deformed.
FIG. 9 is an explanatory cross-sectional view in which FIG. 8 is partially enlarged;
FIG. 10 is a perspective view schematically showing the inside of an engine room of a vehicle, and shows a state in which a vehicle duct is disposed between a bonnet and a radiator support.
FIG. 11 is a sectional view taken along line XX of FIG. 10;
12 is a partially cutaway perspective view of the conventional vehicle duct shown in FIG.
FIG. 13 is a sectional view taken along line YY of FIG. 12;
[Explanation of symbols]
14 Bonnet 18 Radiator support (body part)
20 engine 32 first duct wall 34 second duct wall 36 support wall 42 blow molding die (molding die)
49 V-shaped convex part (convex part)
52 Connecting area 54 Expected line 56 Thin part T Thickness (of general part)
T1 Thickness (of thin part 56)

Claims (6)

A first duct wall portion (32) disposed between the hood (14) of the vehicle and a vehicle body component (18) located below the first hood (14), and located near the back side of the hood (14); A second duct wall (34), which is located opposite the duct wall (32) while maintaining a required space and is located close to the vehicle body component (18); and a second duct wall (34). A support wall (36) projecting from the inside and supporting the back surface of the first duct wall (32) in contact therewith;
In the connecting region (52) between the second duct wall portion (34) and the support wall portion (36), an expected break line (54) surrounding the support wall portion (36) is provided,
When the bonnet (14) is deformed due to a collision with a pedestrian and presses the first duct wall (32) from above, the support wall (36) becomes at least one of the break lines (54). The first duct wall (32) is submerged so as to be partially or completely separated from the second duct wall (34), thereby allowing the first duct wall (32) to sink and further bonnet (14). A vehicle duct characterized in that it is configured to allow deformation. The line to be broken (54) is connected to a plurality of thin portions (56) provided in series at required intervals in a connection region (52) between the second duct wall (34) and the support wall (36). 2. The duct for a vehicle according to claim 1, wherein the duct is formed from the following. The break line (54) is formed from a thin portion (56) extending linearly in a connection region (52) between the second duct wall portion (34) and the support wall portion (36). The vehicle duct according to claim 1. The thickness (T1) of the thin portion (56) is set to be about 1/3 to 1/4 of the thickness (T) of a general portion in each of the wall portions (32, 34, 36). Or the vehicle duct according to 3. The vehicle according to any one of claims 2 to 4, wherein the thin portion (56) is formed by a protrusion (49) protruding from a forming surface of a forming die (42) for forming the vehicle duct. Duct. The vehicle duct according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein the vehicle duct is used for introducing external air supplied to an engine (20).

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