JP2005153539A - Cowl part structure of automobile - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide cowl structure of an automobile capable of reducing the reaction force relative to a collision object while securing support rigidity of a strut-housing. <P>SOLUTION: The vehicle width direction both ends part of a cowl front extension 5 is connected to a hood ridge inner 8a fixing the strut-housing 9 through a bracket having an inverted L-shaped section. A gusset 11 is provided in a cross section of the hood ridge member 8. The deformation of the hood ridge member 8 is suppressed with the gusset 11, by disposing the cowl front extension 5, a bracket 10, and the gusset 11 on the same line in the vehicle direction. The input from the strut-housing 9 is efficiently transmitted to the cowl front extension 5 as the load in the shearing direction through the gusset 11 and the bracket 10, the support rigidity of the strut-housing 9 is increased, and the cowl front extension 5 is easily deformed downward by a hinge function of a folding part of the inverted L-shape bracket 10. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2005,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a cowl structure of an automobile.

  Recent automobile designs tend to be streamlined as a whole while expanding the interior space of the vehicle, so that the front windshield glass is placed in front of the vehicle. The air box position that supports the air intake and discharges water is moved forward of the vehicle, and the cowl front extension that forms the front wall of the air box covers the strut housing. Yes.

For this reason, the cowl front extension is connected to the hood ridge inner and the strut housing via a bracket. By receiving input from the suspension from the strut housing with the cowl front extension, the support rigidity of the strut housing can be increased. What has been made possible is known (for example, see Patent Document 1).
JP 2002-29451 A (page 3-4, FIG. 1)

  However, such a conventional cowl structure secures the rigidity of the bracket itself in order to secure the support rigidity of the strut housing, and forms a closed cross section with the cowl front extension and the bracket, thereby supporting the rigidity of the cowl front extension. Therefore, the rigidity of the left and right side portions of the air box is increased, and the reaction force when the collision object interferes from above is increased.

  Therefore, the present invention provides a cowl structure for an automobile that can reduce the reaction force against a collision object from above while ensuring the support rigidity of the strut housing.

  The present invention includes a dash upper panel, a cowl front extension that is joined to the lower portion of the dash upper panel and rises upward toward the front, and a cowl cover that covers between the upper portion of the dash upper panel and the cowl front extension. This is an automobile cowl structure in which an air box extending in the vehicle width direction is configured and both ends in the vehicle width direction of the air box are connected to a pair of left and right hood ridge members having a closed cross-sectional structure. The both ends of the cowl front extension in the vehicle width direction are joined to the hood ridge inner to which the strut housing is coupled via the bent portion, and reinforcing gussets are provided in the closed cross section of the hood ridge member. Front extension, bracket and gusset The most important feature that is disposed substantially on the same line of direction.

  According to the present invention, the suspension input is transmitted from the strut housing to the cowl front extension through the hood ridge member and the bracket as a shearing advantageous load in strength, and at this time, by the gusset provided in the cross section of the hood ridge member. Since the deformation of the hood ridge member can be suppressed, the support rigidity of the strut housing can be secured.

  In addition, because the cowl front extension, bracket, and gusset are arranged on the same line in the vehicle width direction, the input from the strut housing can be efficiently transmitted as a load in the shear direction to the cowl front extension via the gusset as described above. The support rigidity of the strut housing can be further increased.

  On the other hand, the cowl front extension is coupled to the hood ridge inner via the bent part, so that the bent part serves as a hinge and the cowl front extension is easily bent downward, reducing the reaction force against the collision object from above. can do.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

  1 to 6 show an embodiment of a cowl structure of an automobile according to the present invention, FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a cowl portion of a front part of a vehicle body, and FIG. 2 is an arrow viewed from obliquely upward on the front side in FIG. 3 is an enlarged perspective view of the main part of the view A, FIG. 3 is an enlarged perspective view of the main part of the arrow B viewed from the diagonally upper side in FIG. 1, and FIG. 4 is a main part along the line CC in FIG. FIG. 5 is an enlarged cross-sectional view, FIG. 5 is an enlarged cross-sectional view of the main part along the line DD in FIG. 1, and FIG. 6 is an enlarged cross-sectional view of the main part in the operating state along the line DD in FIG.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the cowl structure of the automobile according to the present embodiment includes an air box 2 that is located on the upper part of a dash panel 1 that separates the engine room E and the vehicle compartment R and extends in the vehicle width direction. The lower edge of the front windshield glass 3 is fixed to the upper rear part of the air box 2.

  As shown in FIG. 4, the air box 2 includes a dash upper panel 4, a cowl front extension 5 that is joined to a lower portion of the dash upper panel 4 and rises forward, and the dash upper panel 4 and the cowl front. A cowl cover 6 that covers the upper part of the extension 5 is provided to form a closed cross-sectional structure. In FIG. 1, the cowl cover 6 is removed.

  Then, as shown in FIG. 4, the lower edge portion of the front windshield glass 3 is sandwiched between the rear end portions of the dash upper panel 4 and the cowl cover 6 and fixed through a seal member (not shown). is there.

  The cowl cover 6 has a cross-sectional shape in which the vehicle front-rear direction center part is bent downward, and its rear part is inclined along the front windshield glass 3, while its front part is horizontally arranged. The rear edge portion of the engine hood 7 is in contact with the upper surface of the front portion through the seal portion 7a.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the air box 2 is connected to a pair of left and right hood ridge members 8 having closed cross-sectional structures at both ends in the vehicle width direction, and the hood ridge members 8 are not shown. The upper part of the strut housing 9 to which the struts of the front suspension are attached is integrally connected.

  As shown in FIG. 5, the hood ridge member 8 is formed as a closed cross-sectional structure having a rectangular cross section by joining the hood ridge inner 8 a and the hood ridge outer 8 b, and the hood ridge inner 8 is located inside the engine room E. 8 a is integrally joined to the upper end of the strut housing 9.

  At this time, the front windshield glass 3 is moved in front of the vehicle in order to enlarge the space in the passenger compartment R while making the vehicle body design streamlined. For this reason, the air box 2 is located entirely in front of the vehicle. Therefore, the cowl front extension 5 covers the upper part of the strut housing 9.

  Here, in this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 2, both ends of the cowl front extension 5 in the vehicle width direction are joined to the upper wall of the bracket 10 having an inverted L-shaped cross section, and the side wall of the bracket 10 is attached. The strut housing 9 is joined to the hood ridge inner 8a and joined to the hood ridge member 8, and as shown in FIGS. 3 and 5, a gusset 11 is provided in the cross section of the hood ridge member 8, and the cowl front The extension 5, the bracket 10 and the gusset 11 are arranged on the same line in the vehicle width direction.

  As shown in FIG. 3, a flange 11a formed in a crank shape along the inner surface of the hood ridge inner 8a is formed on both sides of the gusset 11 in the vehicle longitudinal direction, and the flange 11a is joined to the hood ridge inner 8a. At the same time, an inclined surface 11b is formed at the center of the gusset 11 in the longitudinal direction of the vehicle.

  Then, as shown in FIG. 5, the inclined surface 11b has a rectangular cross section, and an upper corner C1 close to the cowl front extension 5 of the hood ridge member 8 and a lower corner C2 opposed to the corner C1. It is connected diagonally across.

  Further, as shown in FIG. 4, the cowl front extension 5 is coupled across the lower part of the dash upper panel 4 and the front part of the cowl cover 6. The cowl front extension 5 is connected to the lower part of the dash upper panel 5. It is inclined upward from the vehicle body toward the front of the vehicle body.

  According to the cowl structure of the present embodiment having the above configuration, when a suspension input acts on the strut housing 9, it is transmitted to the cowl front extension 5 through the hood ridge member 8 and the bracket 10 as a shear direction load that is advantageous in terms of strength. However, at this time, since the deformation of the hood ridge member 8 can be suppressed by the gusset 11 attached in the cross section of the hood ridge member 8, the support rigidity of the strut housing 9 can be secured.

  Further, since the cowl front extension 5, the bracket 10 and the gusset 11 are arranged on the same line in the vehicle width direction, the input from the strut housing 9 is passed through the gusset 11 and the bracket 10 as shown by an arrow F in FIG. Since the load in the shear direction can be efficiently transmitted to the cowl front extension 5, the support rigidity of the strut housing 9 can be further increased.

  On the other hand, when the collision object M collides with the rear upper surface of the engine hood 7 from substantially above, the bracket 10 in which the cowl front extension 5 is coupled to the hood ridge inner 8a is formed in an inverted L-shaped cross section. As shown, the bent portion of the inverted L-shaped bracket 10 performs a hinge function so that the cowl front extension 5 is easily bent downward as indicated by a broken line in the drawing, and the impact energy can be absorbed by this bending deformation. Therefore, the reaction force against the collision object can be reduced.

  Further, the gusset 11 is diagonally formed across the upper corner C1 close to the cowl front extension 5 of the hood ridge member 8 having a rectangular cross section and the lower corner C2 facing the corner C1. Since they are coupled, the support rigidity of the cowl front extension 5 in the vehicle width direction can be improved, and as a result, the support rigidity of the strut housing 9 can be increased.

  Further, since the cowl front extension 5 is inclined upward from the lower part of the dash upper panel 5 toward the front of the vehicle body, as shown by the broken line in FIG. 4, when the colliding object M collides from above, the cowl front extension 5 No. 5 can be easily deformed with its lower part as a fulcrum, and the effect of absorbing impact energy can be further enhanced to efficiently reduce the reaction force.

  In the present embodiment, the bracket 10 having the bent portion that performs the hinge function is formed separately from the cowl front extension 5 that bears the support rigidity of the strut housing. A flange may be formed integrally with the part, and the bracket 10 may be omitted.

  Further, the cowl structure of the automobile of the present invention has been described by taking the above embodiment as an example. However, the present invention is not limited to this embodiment, and various other embodiments can be adopted without departing from the gist of the present invention. .

It is a perspective view of the cowl part of the vehicle body front part which shows one Embodiment of this invention. It is a principal part expansion perspective view of the arrow A seen from diagonally upward of the near side in FIG. It is a principal part expansion perspective view of the arrow B seen from the diagonally upper side of the other side in FIG. It is a principal part expanded sectional view along CC line in FIG. It is a principal part expanded sectional view along the DD line in FIG. It is a principal part expanded sectional view of the operation state along the DD line in FIG.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Dash panel 2 Air box 3 Front windshield glass 4 Dash upper panel 5 Cowl front extension 6 Cowl cover 8 Hood ridge member 8a Hood ridge inner 8b Hood ridge outer 9 Strut housing 10 Bracket 11 Gusset C1, C2 Corner

Claims (4)

A vehicle width direction including a dash upper panel, a cowl front extension that is joined to the lower part of the dash upper panel and rises upward, and a cowl cover that covers the upper part of the dash upper panel and the cowl front extension. A vehicle cowl structure in which the air box extending in the vehicle width direction is connected to a pair of left and right hood ridge members having a closed cross-sectional structure.
Both ends of the cowl front extension in the vehicle width direction are joined to a hood ridge inner joined with a strut housing through a bent portion, and reinforcing gussets are provided in the closed cross section of the hood ridge member. An automobile cowl structure in which an extension, a bracket, and a gusset are arranged on substantially the same line in the vehicle width direction.   The gusset is diagonally coupled across an upper corner portion close to a cowl front extension of a hood ridge member having a rectangular cross section and a lower corner portion facing the corner portion. 2. The cowl structure of an automobile according to 1.   The cowl front extension according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the cowl front extension is inclined upward from the bottom of the cowl box toward the front of the vehicle body. 2. The cowl portion of the automobile according to claim 1, wherein both end portions in the vehicle width direction of the cowl front extension are joined to the hood ridge inner via a bracket having an inverted L-shaped cross section having a bent portion. Construction.

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