JP2007203807A - Collision energy absorbing structure of automobile - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To improve an absorbing effect of collision energy in collision against another vehicle. <P>SOLUTION: A sub bumper beam 30 provided on a front end of an oscillating arm 29 is moved to a working position below an approach angle line L of a front wheel from a retreating position above the approach angle line L of the front wheel by supporting the oscillating arm 29 on a front sub frame 20 supported below a front side frame 12 free to vertically oscillate and oscillating the oscillating arm 29 downward by an actuator when collision against the other vehicle is predicted. Consequently, it is possible to improve the absorbing effect of the collision energy by holding the sub bumper beam 30 at the working position and colliding the sub bumper beam 30 against a bumper beam 41 and a side sill of the other vehicle in emergency when the collision is predicted while avoiding contact with a road surface by holding the sub bumper beam 30 at the retreating position in normality when the collision is not predicted. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a collision energy absorbing structure for an automobile provided with a sub-bumper beam that can be swung up and down by an actuator below the bumper beam.

  As shown in FIG. 7, in a vehicle such as an SUV in which the position of the bumper beam 01 of the front bumper becomes high, an under protector 02 is provided below and below the bumper beam 01.

In addition, a bumper that can be moved up and down by a vertical movement mechanism is provided at the rear of the large truck, and the bumper contacts the inclined road surface by adjusting the bumper height according to the ground height detected by the ground height sensor. Patent Document 1 below discloses that a bumper vehicle is kept as low as possible to prevent a rear-end collision vehicle from entering under its own vehicle.
JP-B-2-36420

  By the way, in the conventional vehicle shown in FIG. 7, in order to avoid the under protector 02 from coming into contact with the inclined road surface, it is necessary to raise the vertical position to some extent and to arrange it to some extent from directly below the bumper beam 01. there were. Therefore, the height of the bumper beam 03 of the other vehicle and the height of the under protector 02 of the own vehicle become substantially the same, and the bumper beam 03 of the other vehicle sinks under the under protector 02 of the own vehicle when a frontal collision occurs. There was a problem that the collision energy could not be absorbed sufficiently. Further, as shown in FIG. 8, when the own vehicle collides with the side surface of the other vehicle, the under protector 02 of the own vehicle is retracted behind the bumper beam 01, so that the under protector 02 is moved to the side sill 04 of the other vehicle. Before the collision and absorbing the collision energy, the bumper beam 01 may collide with the door 05 or the center pillar 06 of another vehicle and enter the vehicle interior.

  Therefore, if the bumper is moved to a lower position using the mechanism described in Patent Document 1, it is possible to prevent the other vehicle from entering under the own vehicle and the own vehicle from entering the vehicle interior of the other vehicle. . However, if the bumper height is changed according to the distance from the road surface, not only does the bumper come into contact with the road surface when the road surface slope changes during high-speed driving, but the bumper always moves up and down. The actuator noise and power consumption may increase repeatedly.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above-described circumstances, and an object thereof is to enhance the effect of absorbing collision energy at the time of collision with another vehicle.

  In order to achieve the above object, according to the first aspect of the present invention, the front subframe is supported below the front side frame having the bumper beam fixed to the front end, and the front subframe can swing up and down. A sub-bumper beam is provided at the front end of the swing arm supported by the actuator. When a collision with another vehicle is predicted, the actuator moves the sub-bumper beam from the retracted position above the approach angle line of the front wheel to the operating position below. A collision energy absorption structure for automobiles is proposed.

  According to a second aspect of the present invention, in addition to the configuration of the first aspect, the front end of the sub-bumper beam and the front end of the bumper beam in the operating position are aligned in the longitudinal direction of the vehicle body. A collision energy absorption structure for automobiles is proposed.

  According to the first aspect of the present invention, when a sub-bumper beam is provided at the front end of the swing arm supported so as to be swingable up and down on the front sub-frame supported below the front side frame, and a collision with another vehicle is predicted. The sub-bumper beam can be moved from the retracted position above the approach angle line of the front wheel to the operating position below by swinging the swing arm downward by the actuator. As a result, the sub-bumper beam is kept below the approach angle line in an emergency when a collision is predicted, while maintaining the sub-bumper beam in the retracted position above the approach angle line and avoiding contact with the road surface in normal times when no collision is predicted. By holding the sub-bumper beam against the bumper or side sill of another vehicle, the collision energy absorption effect is enhanced, and the own vehicle rides on the other vehicle, or the own vehicle bumper beam moves to the other vehicle. It is possible to prevent the vehicle from entering the passenger compartment.

  According to the second aspect of the present invention, since the front end of the sub-bumper beam and the front end of the bumper beam in the operating position are aligned in the longitudinal direction of the vehicle body, when the host vehicle collides with the side surface of the other vehicle, By causing the sub bumper beam to collide with the side sill of the other vehicle substantially simultaneously with the collision with the door or center pillar of the other vehicle, it is possible to effectively prevent the bumper beam from penetrating into the vehicle interior of the other vehicle.

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

  1 to 6 show an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 1 is a side view of a front part of a vehicle body, FIG. 2 is an enlarged view of part 2 of FIG. 1, and FIG. 3 is a line 3-3 in FIG. FIG. 4 is an exploded perspective view of the front part of the vehicle body, FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram of an action at the time of a frontal collision, and FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram of an action at the time of a side collision.

  As shown in FIGS. 1 to 4, left and right front side frames 12, 12 extending in the longitudinal direction of the vehicle body are disposed along the left and right sides of an engine room 11 formed in the front part of the vehicle body. Brackets 15, 15 provided on the rear surface of the bumper beam 14 extending in the vehicle width direction are coupled to the shock absorbing members 12 a, 12 a coupled to the front ends of the side frames 12, 12 by bolts 13,. A bumper 18 is constituted by the bumper beam 14 and a bumper face 17 covering the front surface thereof.

  A line connecting the lower surface of the front wheel W and the lower end of the bumper 18 and forming an approach angle α with respect to the ground is defined as an approach angle line L. The approach angle α is such that the lower end of the bumper 18 is not in contact with the road surface when the vehicle moves from a flat road to an uphill road, when the vehicle moves from a downhill road to a flat road, or when the vehicle gets over a protrusion on the road surface. Is set as follows.

  A float subframe 20 that supports an engine and a suspension device (not shown) is fixed to brackets 19, 19 provided on the lower surfaces of the front side frames 12, 12 with bolts 21. The front subframe 20 is composed of left and right vertical members 22, 22 joined in a frame shape with a front lateral member 23 and a rear lateral member (not shown). Fixed. Each bracket 25 includes first and second fixing plates 25a and 25b and first and second supporting plates 25c and 25d. The first and second fixing plates 25a and 25b move the front lateral member 23 up and down. The output shaft 27 of the actuator 26 made of an electric motor welded so as to be sandwiched between the first support plate 25c and supported by the first support plate 25c is supported by bearings 28 and 28 provided on the first and second support plates 25c and 25d.

  The base end of the swing arm 29 is spline-engaged with the output shaft 27 between the first and second support plates 25c and 25d, and the tip of the pair of left and right swing arms 29 and 29 extends in the left-right direction of the vehicle body. Connected to the beam 30. A damper 31 that connects the vicinity of the tip of each swing arm 29 and the bumper beam 14 urges the rod 33 in a protruding direction by the pressure of the gas filled in the cylinder 32. The urging is performed from the storage position indicated by the chain line in FIG. 2 to the operation position indicated by the solid line.

  The bumper face 17 is provided with a radar device 34 for detecting an obstacle such as another vehicle, and an electronic control unit 35 to which the radar device 34 is connected controls the operation of the actuators 26 and 26.

  Next, the operation of the embodiment of the present invention having the above configuration will be described.

  In normal times when there is no risk of a vehicle colliding, the sub-bumper beam 30 is in the retracted position shown by the chain line in FIG. 2. At this time, the sub-bumper beam 30 is located above the approach angle line L and the bumper beam 14 It is located behind the front end. Therefore, when the vehicle moves from a flat road to an uphill road or when the vehicle moves from a downhill road to a flat road, the sub-bumper beam 30 is prevented from coming into contact with the road surface.

  When the radar device 34 detects that the possibility of collision with another vehicle has increased, the actuators 26 and 26 are actuated in response to a command from the electronic control unit 35, and the output shafts 27 and 27 are rotated to rotate the left and right swing arms 29. 29 swings downward. As a result, the sub-bumper beam 30 urged by the elastic force of the dampers 31 and 31 is quickly lowered and stops at the operating position indicated by the solid line in FIG. At this time, the left and right swing arms 29, 29 are in a substantially horizontal state.

  In this state, when the host vehicle collides head-on with another vehicle as shown in FIG. 5, even if the bumper beam 14 of the host vehicle is at a position higher than the bumper beam 41 of the other vehicle, the lowered sub-bumper beam 30 By catching on the bumper beam 41 of the other vehicle, it is possible to prevent the host vehicle from riding on the other vehicle and damaging the passenger compartment of the other vehicle.

  The collision energy input from the other vehicle to the bumper beam 14 is transmitted to the front side frames 12 and 12 through the brackets 15 and 15 and the shock absorbing members 12a and 12a as shown by arrows in FIG. When the impact absorbing members 12a and 12a are crushed, the collision energy is more effectively absorbed.

  Further, the collision energy input from the other vehicle to the sub bumper beam 30 is transmitted to the float subframe 20 via the swing arms 29 and 29, and a part of the collision energy transmitted to the front side frames 12 and 12 is also included. It is transmitted to the froth subframe 20 through the brackets 19 and 19 and absorbed. At this time, since the swing arms 29 and 29 are in a substantially horizontal posture, the collision energy input to the sub-bumper beam 30 can be efficiently transmitted to the front sub-frame 30.

  As shown in FIG. 6, when the sub-bumper beam 30 is lowered to the operating position, the front end of the sub-bumper beam 30 and the front end of the bumper beam 14 are aligned in the vehicle longitudinal direction (see FIG. 2). When the bumper beam 14 of the own vehicle collides with the door 42 and the center pillar 43 of the other vehicle when a side collision occurs with the other vehicle, the sub-bumper beam 30 of the own vehicle collides with the side sill 44 of the other vehicle. At this time, since the side sill 44 and the floor frame 45 connected to the side sill 44 have higher rigidity than the door 42 and the center pillar 43, the collision energy is efficiently absorbed by the sub-bumper beam 30 of the own vehicle and the side sill 44 of the other vehicle. Thus, it is possible to prevent the bumper beam 14 of the own vehicle from penetrating into the passenger compartment of another vehicle.

  As described above, in an emergency in which a collision is predicted, the sub-bumper beam 30 is held at the retracted position above the approach angle line L (see FIG. 2) to avoid contact with the road surface in an emergency. Since the sub-bumper beam 30 is lowered to the operating position below the approach angle line L, when the host vehicle collides head-on with another vehicle, the host vehicle rides on the other vehicle (the other vehicle sinks under the host vehicle). The collision energy can be effectively absorbed and when the host vehicle collides with another vehicle, the collision energy can be effectively prevented by preventing the host vehicle from penetrating into the passenger compartment of the other vehicle. Can be absorbed into. Moreover, since the actuators 26 and 26 operate only when a collision with another vehicle is predicted, not only the power consumption of the actuators 26 and 26 is reduced, but also noise due to the operation of the actuators 26 and 26 becomes a problem. There is nothing.

  The embodiments of the present invention have been described above, but various design changes can be made without departing from the scope of the present invention.

  For example, in the embodiment, the swing arms 29 and 29 are driven by the actuators 26 and 26 made of an electric motor, but a hydraulic actuator or a livestock actuator using a compressed spring may be employed.

  A CCD camera or a navigation system can be used instead of or in addition to the radar device 34 for predicting a collision.

Side view of the front of the car body 2 enlarged view of FIG. 3-3 enlarged sectional view of FIG. Disassembled perspective view of the front of the vehicle body Action explanatory diagram at the time of frontal collision Action explanatory diagram at the time of side collision Action explanatory diagram at the time of frontal collision of the conventional example Action explanatory diagram at the time of side collision of the conventional example

Explanation of symbols

12 Front side frame 14 Bumper beam 20 Front subframe 26 Actuator 29 Swing arm 30 Subbumper beam L Front wheel approach angle line W Front wheel

Claims (2)

  A front subframe (20) is supported below a front side frame (12) having a bumper beam (14) fixed to the front end, and a swing arm (29) is supported on the front subframe (20) so as to be swingable up and down. ) Is provided with a sub-bumper beam (30), and when a collision with another vehicle is predicted, the sub-bumper beam (30) is swung downward by an actuator (26). 30) A collision energy absorbing structure for an automobile, wherein 30) is moved from a retracted position above an approach angle line (L) of a front wheel (W) to an operating position below. The collision energy absorption structure for an automobile according to claim 1, wherein the front end of the sub-bumper beam (30) in the operating position and the front end of the bumper beam (14) are aligned in the longitudinal direction of the vehicle body.

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