JP2007038871A - Engine room structure - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To suppress deformation of a cabin bulkhead into the cabin when a vehicle goes in collision. <P>SOLUTION: An intake manifold 6 connected with an engine 5 is installed between the engine 5 and a dash panel 3 as cabin bulkhead, and a projection 16 protruding toward the intake manifold 6 is provided in that part of the dash panel 3 which is positioned closest to the intake manifold 6. When the vehicle goes in a head-on collision, the tail of the intake manifold 6 is pressed by the projection 16 on the dash panel 3 to cause the intake manifold 6 to rupture, and the intake manifold 6 separates from the engine 5, which allows suppression of pressing to the dash panel 3 by the intake manifold 6. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to an engine room structure.

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, there is an engine room structure in which an intake manifold connected to an engine is disposed between the engine and a dash panel that is a compartment partition (see, for example, Patent Document 1).
Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 6-19388

  However, in this engine room structure, when the vehicle collides front, if the engine and the intake manifold are united and pushed backward relative to the vehicle body, the intake manifold interferes with the dash panel behind it. However, the dash panel may be deformed into the passenger compartment.

  An object of the present invention is to prevent the compartment partition from being deformed into the compartment when the vehicle collides.

  According to the present invention, an intake manifold connected to an engine is disposed between the engine and a compartment partition, and a protrusion projecting toward the intake manifold in a portion of the compartment partition closest to the intake manifold. The most important feature is that

  ADVANTAGE OF THE INVENTION According to this invention, it can suppress that a compartment partition deform | transforms into a compartment at the time of a vehicle collision.

  An embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an engine room structure according to the present embodiment, FIG. 2 is a longitudinal side view showing the engine room structure, FIG. 3 is a side view showing an enlarged part of an intake manifold, and FIG. It is a vertical side view which expands and shows a part of dash panel. In the description, the intake flow direction upstream side and the intake flow direction downstream side of the intake manifold are simply referred to as the upstream side and the downstream side.

  As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, an engine room 2 is provided in the front part of a vehicle body 1 of the vehicle, and a dash panel 3 that is a vehicle compartment partition is provided behind the engine room 2. 4 is provided.

  The engine room 2 is provided with an engine 5 and a resin intake manifold 6 connected to the engine 5. The intake manifold 6 is disposed between the engine 5 and the dash panel 3.

  The intake manifold 6 includes a plurality of tubular branch portions 7 provided for each cylinder (not shown) of the engine 5 and a tubular collector portion 8 to which upstream ends of these branch portions 7 are connected. ing. The downstream end portion of the branch portion 7 is connected to the back surface of the cylinder head 5 a of the engine 5 via the mounting flange 9, and the intake manifold 6 is fixed to the engine 5 by this structure.

  The branch part 7 is bent in a substantially U shape, and is arranged so that the U-shaped opening side is directed forward, the upstream end is on the upper side, and the downstream end is on the lower side. These branch portions 7, which are tubular portions of the intake manifold 6, are provided with fragile portions 7 a at the connection side end portion (downstream side end portion) to the engine 5. The cross section of the fragile part 7 a is formed smaller than the cross section of the other part of the branch part 7.

  The dash panel 3 separates the engine room 2 and the vehicle compartment 4 and has an upper panel 10 and a lower panel 11, and the upper panel 10 and the lower panel 11 are arranged behind the intake manifold 6. It is configured to be overlapped and joined at a position facing the end. Specifically, the upper panel 10 is in the front position and the lower panel 11 is in the rear position.

  The dash panel 3 is formed over the upper panel 10 and the lower panel 11 and is opposed to the rear end of the intake manifold 6. The dash panel 3 is formed on the lower panel 11 and continues to the lower end of the vertical wall 12. And a toe board portion 13. And the upper end part of the vertical wall part 12 is being fixed to the cowl box 15, and the lower end part of the toe board part 13 is being fixed to the floor panel.

  A portion of the dash panel 3 that is closest to the intake manifold 6 is provided with a protrusion 16 that protrudes toward the intake manifold 6 side. Specifically, a member portion 14 that extends to the left and right is provided at a portion of the vertical wall portion 12 that faces the rear end portion of the intake manifold 6, and a protrusion 16 that protrudes forward is provided on the front surface of the member portion 14. It has been. The member portion 14 has a closed cross-sectional structure including a first bulging portion 17 bulging forward in the upper panel 10 and a second bulging portion 18 bulging rearward in the lower panel 11. The first bulging portion 17 is formed in a square shape in cross section, and the first bulging portion 17 constitutes a protrusion 16. That is, the protrusion 16 is formed in a cross-sectional shape and extends to the left and right.

  Next, a modification of the engine room structure at the time of a frontal collision of the vehicle will be described with reference to FIGS. 5 to 7 are side views schematically showing the deformation state of the engine room structure at the time of the frontal collision of the vehicle. FIG. 5 is the initial stage of the collision, FIG. 6 is the middle stage of the collision, and FIG. Shows the stage.

  When the vehicle collides with the front, the deformation of the vehicle body 1 causes the engine 5 and the intake manifold 6 to be united and pushed toward the vehicle relative to the vehicle body 1, and the rear end of the intake manifold 6 is dashing. It hits the protrusion 16 of the panel 3 (FIG. 5). Further, when the engine 5 and the intake manifold 6 are pushed rearward of the vehicle, the rear end portion of the intake manifold 6 is pressed by the protrusion 16, and the portion pressed by the protrusion 16 in the intake manifold 6 and the fragile portion 7 a are broken. Then, the intake manifold 6 is separated from the engine 5 (FIG. 6). Thereby, since the press to the dash panel 3 by the intake manifold 6 is suppressed, the deformation | transformation into the compartment 4 of the dash panel 3 can be suppressed.

  Further, in the present embodiment, the intake manifold 6 is broken and separated from the engine 5, so that a space is formed between the engine 5 and the dash panel 3, and the engine 5 moves rearward relative to the vehicle body 1. It becomes possible to move (FIG. 7). Accordingly, the portion of the vehicle body 1 between the engine 5 and the dash panel 3 can be crushed by the collision load, so that the amount of collision load absorbed by the vehicle body 1 can be increased accordingly.

  Further, according to this embodiment, since the intake manifold 6 is made of resin, the strength of the intake manifold 6 is weaker than that of, for example, an aluminum intake manifold, so that the intake manifold 6 can be broken with a smaller force. Therefore, deformation of the dash panel 3 into the passenger compartment 4 can be further suppressed.

  Further, according to the present embodiment, the dash panel 3 is provided with the member section 14 having a closed cross-sectional structure, and the member section 14 is provided with the protrusion 16, thereby increasing the rigidity of the dash panel 3 in the protrusion 16 portion. Therefore, the intake manifold 6 can be more reliably broken by the protrusion 16, and thus the deformation of the dash panel 3 toward the indoor side can be more reliably suppressed.

  Further, according to the present embodiment, by providing the weakened portion 7 a at the end of the tubular portion of the intake manifold 6 on the connection side to the engine 5, the intake manifold 6 is more reliably broken and separated from the engine 5. be able to.

  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. For example, the engine room structure of this embodiment is an application example to a vehicle in which the engine 5 is mounted on the front part of the vehicle, but the engine room structure can also be applied to a vehicle in which the engine is mounted on the rear part of the vehicle. In this case, an intake manifold is disposed on the rear side of the compartment partition, and the protrusion projects rearward from the compartment partition. And in this structure, it can suppress that a compartment partition deform | transforms into a compartment at the time of the rear surface collision of a vehicle.

It is a perspective view which shows the engine room structure concerning one Embodiment of this invention. It is a vertical side view which shows the engine room structure concerning one Embodiment of this invention. It is a side view which expands and shows a part of intake manifold concerning one Embodiment of this invention. It is a vertical side view which expands and shows a part of dash panel concerning one Embodiment of this invention. It is a side view which shows roughly the deformation | transformation state at the time of the vehicle front collision of the engine room structure of one Embodiment of this invention. It is a side view which shows roughly the deformation | transformation state at the time of the vehicle front collision of the engine room structure of one Embodiment of this invention. It is a side view which shows roughly the deformation | transformation state at the time of the vehicle front collision of the engine room structure of one Embodiment of this invention.

Explanation of symbols

3 Dash panel (cabin bulkhead)
5 Engine 6 Intake manifold 7a Fragile portion 14 Member portion 16 Protrusion

Claims (4)

  An intake manifold connected to the engine is disposed between the engine and the compartment partition, and a projection protruding toward the intake manifold is provided in a portion of the compartment partition that is closest to the intake manifold. Engine room structure characterized by   The engine room structure according to claim 1, wherein a member portion having a closed cross-sectional structure is provided on the compartment partition, and the protrusion is provided on the member portion.   3. The engine room structure according to claim 1, wherein a weak portion is provided at an end of the intake manifold connected to the engine. The engine room structure according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the intake manifold is made of resin.

Images