JP2005022617A - Front structure of vehicle - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a front structure of a vehicle capable of reducing a bending moment generated to a front side member at the time of collision of a vehicle with a simple structure. <P>SOLUTION: This front structure of a vehicle comprises front side members 12 installed on both of right and left sides in front of a vehicle 10, and load supporting means 22, 32 coupled with the respective front side members 12, and receiving and supporting a tensile load generated when an upward force acts on the front side members 12. In this constitution, if the front side members try to move upward to bend at the time of collision of the vehicle, because the tensile load is supported by the load supporting means 22, 30, the upward movement of the front side members 12 is restricted or restrained, so as to reduce the bending moment generated to the front side members 12. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2005,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a vehicle such as an automobile, and more particularly to a front structure thereof.

  FIG. 3 is a schematic side view showing the front side member 12 in the front portion of the vehicle 10. There are a pair of left and right front side members 12, which constitute a body frame of the vehicle 10, and a bumper 14 is attached between front end portions thereof. As shown in FIG. 3, the front side member 12 has a front portion 16 extending linearly rearward of the vehicle, an intermediate portion 18 bent downward, and a rear portion 20 rearward at a position below the front portion 16. It extends in a straight line. The front side member 12 having such a shape compresses and deforms the front side portion 16 in the axial direction (hereinafter referred to as “axial compression”) and absorbs impact energy at the time of a vehicle collision. However, when the generated load at the time of the vehicle collision is large, the front side member 12 is subjected to axial compression at the front portion 16 and at the same time, a large bending moment is generated around the point P in FIG. There is a risk of bending as indicated by.

  Such bending may be reinforced by a sheet metal member or the like from the intermediate portion 18 to the rear portion 20 of the front side member 12, but there is a problem that the weight of the vehicle 10 is increased.

For this reason, conventionally, there is a means for reducing the bending moment by generating a reaction force in the opposite direction to the load for bending the front side member 12 using the inertial force of the engine (not shown) generated at the time of the collision. It has been proposed (see Patent Document 1).
JP 7-25353 A

  However, the means described in Patent Document 1 as described above has a problem that the structure is complicated and the degree of freedom of the layout of the engine or the like is limited.

  Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide means for reducing a bending moment generated in a front side member with a simple structure.

  In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a front side member disposed on the left and right sides of the front portion of the vehicle, and each front side member, and an upward force is applied to the front side member. The vehicle has a front structure including load supporting means for receiving and supporting the tensile load generated in the vehicle.

  In this configuration, even if the front side member tries to move upward in the event of a vehicle collision, since the tensile load is supported by the load support means, the upward movement of the front side member is restrained or suppressed, and the bending that occurs in the front side member is suppressed. The moment can also be reduced.

  Further, when the front side member has a shape having a front side portion, a rear side portion located behind and below the front side portion, and an intermediate portion connecting the front side portion and the rear side portion, a vehicle collision Sometimes it bends in the vicinity between the middle part and the rear part, and the front part tries to move upward. Therefore, it is preferable that the load supporting means is coupled to the front portion of the front side member.

  Further, it is preferable that the load supporting means is composed of a suspension member disposed below the front side member and a wire rod stretched between the front side member and the suspension member. This is because even if a tensile load is generated on the wire rod, it can be sufficiently supported by the suspension member. Further, since it is only necessary to stretch the wire rod between the existing suspension member and the front side member, a very simple configuration can be achieved.

  According to the present invention, it is possible to effectively prevent or suppress bending that occurs in the front side member at the time of a vehicle collision with a simple configuration. In particular, when the wire rod is stretched between the front side member and the suspension member, there is almost no increase in the weight of the vehicle, it is easy to manufacture, and it can easily cope with various collision modes. It has many effects that it is possible.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. In the drawings, the same or corresponding parts are denoted by the same reference numerals. Further, the vehicle to which the front structure according to the present invention is applied is not particularly limited, but is assumed to be a general passenger vehicle in the following embodiments. Further, in the present specification and the appended claims, the terms “horizontal”, “up”, and “down” are used in a state where the vehicle is placed on a horizontal plane, and the vehicle is moving forward. The direction is defined as “front”, and words representing directions such as “front”, “rear”, “left”, “right”, and the like are used.

  FIG. 1 is a side view schematically showing an embodiment of a vehicle front structure according to the present invention. The front structure of the vehicle 10 according to the illustrated embodiment includes a pair of left and right front side members 12 constituting a body frame, and a bumper 14 is horizontally mounted between the front end portions.

  Each front side member 12 can be divided into a front part 16, an intermediate part 18 and a rear part 20. The front portion 16 has a function of absorbing an impact by axial compression or buckling deformation due to a load generated at the time of a vehicle collision. For this reason, the front portion 16 of the front side member 12 extends in a straight line substantially horizontally toward the rear. The middle portion 18 is inclined downward toward the rear, and a toe board (not shown) of the cab is generally positioned in this portion 18. The rear portion 20 extends rearward from the rear end of the intermediate portion 18 and is connected to a rocker panel (not shown).

  A suspension member 22 that constitutes a front suspension is attached to the front side member 12. The suspension member 22 is a kind of cross member that is horizontally mounted between the left and right front side members 12. Attachment portions 24 and 26 are formed on the left and right sides of the suspension member 22, respectively. The front attachment portion 24 is on the lower surface of the front portion 16 of the front side member 12, and the rear attachment portion 26 is on the front side. The member 12 is attached to the lower surface of the front portion of the rear portion 20 via an elastic member 28 such as a rubber mount. With these elastic members 28, the suspension member 22 can slightly move up and down with respect to the front side member 12.

  The above configuration is the same as the conventional configuration, but the vehicle front structure according to the present embodiment further includes a front portion 16 of each front side member 12 and a suspension member 22 positioned below the front side portion 16. A wire rod 30 is provided. The wire rod 30 is preferably made of steel, and the diameter and number of the wire rods 30 can be appropriately adjusted according to the magnitude of the tensile load assumed to be applied to the wire rod 30 as described later. The coupling portion 32 between the wire rod 30 and the front side member 12 and the coupling portion 34 between the wire rod 30 and the suspension member 22 are robust, and even when the wire rod 30 is pulled strongly, deformation or breakage occurs. It is configured not to do. It is preferable that a turnbuckle 36 is interposed in the middle portion of the wire rod 30 so that the length can be adjusted.

  In the configuration as described above, during normal traveling, the wire rod 30 is appropriately curved in accordance with the movement of the suspension member 22, so that the vehicle 10 exhibits traveling performance that is the same as the conventional configuration.

  On the other hand, when an obstacle collides with the bumper 14 at the front end of the vehicle 10, the load to the rear of the vehicle generated at that time acts on the left and right front side members 12 from the bumper 14. 16 is axially compressed and the impact energy is absorbed (see the two-dot chain line in FIG. 1).

  When the impact energy is extremely large, it cannot be absorbed by the axial compression at the front portion 16 of the front side member 12, and a bending moment about the point P is generated in the front side member 12 due to the remaining load L. Depending on the magnitude of this bending moment, there is a possibility that the front side portion 16 will bend upward and the front side portion 16 will move upward, mainly at the boundary between the intermediate portion 18 and the rear side portion 20 of the front side member 12. However, in the present embodiment, since the wire rod 30 is stretched between the front portion 16 of the front side member 12 and the suspension member 22, the front side member 12 tends to move upward due to the generation of a bending moment. Moreover, the wire rod 30 restrains the movement. That is, since the wire rod 30 receives and supports the load accompanying the generation of the bending moment, the bending of the front side member 12 is prevented or suppressed. The rear side portion 20 of the front side member 12 is not substantially deformed immediately after the collision, and the suspension member 22 attached thereto is also maintained at a substantially constant position. Can be supported.

  As described above, since the wire rod 30 receives the load from the front side member 12 as a tensile load, the mass efficiency is very high, and even when the wire rod 30 is relatively thin, the front side member 12 can be prevented from being bent. The effect can be fully exhibited. When the front side member 12 is reinforced with a sheet metal as in the prior art, it is necessary to be configured to withstand the compressive load, and an increase in weight is inevitable. However, in the configuration of the present embodiment, such a problem is minor. It will be a thing. In addition, when there is a change in the assumed value of the generated bending moment, it can be easily handled by increasing the number of wire rods 30 or replacing them with wire rods 30 having different diameters. Furthermore, the bending form of the front side member 12 can also be controlled based on the tensile load that the wire rod 30 can support.

  As mentioned above, although embodiment of this invention was described in detail, it cannot be overemphasized that this invention is not restricted to the said embodiment.

  For example, in the above-described embodiment, the wire rod 30 and the suspension member 22 to which the lower end is coupled are used as load support means for supporting the tensile load from the front side member 12, but FIG. As shown in a), the lower end of the wire rod 30 is directly coupled to the front end of the rear portion 20 of the front side member 12 or is fixed to the rear portion 20 as shown in FIG. Even if it is coupled to the bracket 38, the same effect can be obtained.

  Moreover, it can replace with the wire rod 30 and can use a rod-shaped body and a plate-shaped body as a load support means. Of course, even if a rod-like body or a plate-like body is used, it is sufficient if it has sufficient strength to receive a tensile load, so that it can have a relatively small cross-sectional area.

  The present invention is applicable not only to passenger cars but also to special vehicles such as trucks and buses and other vehicles in general.

1 is a side view schematically showing an embodiment of a vehicle front structure according to the present invention. (A) And (b) is a schematic explanatory drawing which shows another embodiment of this invention, respectively. It is a side view which shows roughly the front part structure of the conventional vehicle.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 ... Vehicle 12 ... Front side member 14 ... Bumper 16 ... Front side part 18 ... Middle part 20 ... Rear side part 22 ... Suspension member 24, 26 ... Mounting part 28 ... Elastic member 30 ... Wire rod 32, 34 ... Coupling part 36 ... Turnbuckle 38 ... Bracket

Claims (3)

Front side members disposed on the left and right sides of the front of the vehicle;
A load supporting means coupled to the front side member and receiving and supporting a tensile load generated when an upward force is applied to the front side member;
A vehicle front structure comprising: The front side member has a front part, a rear part located behind and below the front part, and an intermediate part connecting the front part and the rear part;
The vehicle front structure according to claim 1, wherein the load supporting means is coupled to the front portion. The load supporting means includes a suspension member disposed below the front side member, and a wire rod stretched between the front side member and the suspension member. Vehicle front structure.

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