JP2009096251A - Vehicle-body member structure near headlamp - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To ensure prescribed rigidity by maximally suppressing a reduction in rigidity of an upper member even when a cutout part is provided by cutting out a partial side face near a headlamp. <P>SOLUTION: An upper member 16a (16b) is extrusion-molded into an oblong squarish-eight-shaped cross-section having an inner rib 28 composed of a partition wall between the inner wall 22a and the outer wall 22b. The upper member is provided with a cutout part 30 that is formed by cutting out from the outer wall 22b to the inner rib 28 at one end part of the upper member 16a (16b) near a headlamp 32 in a curved line. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2009,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to the structure of a member of a vehicle body in the vicinity of a headlight of a vehicle such as an automobile.

  2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, it has been known to improve the strength of a frame by making a vertical cross section of a side member or the like constituting a vehicle frame into a rectangular closed cross section structure. For example, Patent Document 1 discloses a rectangular closed cross-section portion in the vehicle front-rear direction intermediate portion of the side member in order to ensure strength suitable for each of the front-rear side portion and the intermediate portion along the vehicle front-rear direction. By setting the number of steps to be higher than the number of steps of the rectangular closed cross-sectional portion at the vehicle front and rear side portions, a vehicle frame that can easily ensure a predetermined strength at each of the front and rear side portions and the intermediate portion. A structure is disclosed.

That is, in the vehicle frame structure disclosed in Patent Document 1, a rectangular closed cross-sectional portion is stacked in four levels in the vertical direction (vertical direction) at the intermediate portion of the side member along the vehicle longitudinal direction. In addition, the front tire has a three-stage structure in which rectangular closed cross-sections are stacked in three stages in the vertical direction at a portion substantially opposed to the front tire on the front side along the vehicle longitudinal direction. In the front part, a rectangular closed cross-sectional portion has a two-stage structure in which two stages are stacked in the vertical direction.
JP-A-8-104253 (paragraphs 0006, 0013 to 0016, FIGS. 1 and 3)

  However, in the vehicle frame structure disclosed in Patent Document 1, a front portion of a front tire having a rectangular closed cross-section having an upper and lower two-tier structure, and a front tire having a rectangular closed cross-section having an upper and lower three-tier structure, and A stepped portion is generated due to the difference in the number of steps between the substantially opposed portions. For example, when a vehicle collides forward, the side member is easily broken from the stepped portion to ensure desired rigidity and strength. There is a problem that is difficult.

  In order to solve the above problem, it is conceivable to increase the thickness of each rectangular closed cross section constituting the side frame, but this contradicts the demand for weight reduction due to an increase in the vehicle body weight. There are other problems.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above-described problem, and even when a notch portion is provided by notching a part of a side surface of the member in the vicinity of the headlight, the rigidity reduction of the member is suppressed as much as possible. It is an object of the present invention to provide a vehicle body member structure in the vicinity of a headlight that can ensure a predetermined rigidity.

  According to the present invention, the upper member has an inner wall and an outer wall, an upper wall and a lower wall that connect the inner wall and the outer wall, and an inner rib that includes a partition wall between the inner wall and the outer wall. The upper member is provided with a notch formed in a curved shape from the outer wall to the inner rib at one end of the upper member in the vicinity of the headlight.

  Therefore, according to the present invention, a notch portion having a curved shape is formed in the upper member, and a laterally long sun-shaped cross section having an inner rib between the inner wall and the outer wall is used, whereby the local bending with respect to the upper member is performed. It is configured so that the rigidity change becomes gentle by eliminating the portion and the step portion, and it is difficult to break when the vehicle collides forward. Further, in the present invention, the vertical cross section perpendicular to the axial direction of the upper member is a horizontally long sun-shaped cross section, thereby improving the rigidity against deformation in the left-right direction, making it difficult to be deformed when the vehicle turns left and right, and improving the turning performance. It can be stabilized. In this case, it becomes easy to control the up / down bending mode at the time of a frontal collision by setting a desired lateral length ratio by the longitudinal dimension and the lateral dimension in the longitudinal section of the upper member.

  Further, according to the present invention, the vertical dimension of the inner wall of the upper member is set to be larger than the vertical dimension of the outer wall, and the upper member is formed into a trapezoidal cross section by the upper wall and the lower wall, so that the upper member has a thick skeleton structure. It is possible to improve the rigidity without increasing the wall thickness of the wall of the upper member, and to achieve weight reduction.

  Furthermore, according to the present invention, the inner wall, inner rib and outer wall constituting the upper member are made thicker than the upper wall and the lower wall, thereby further improving the rigidity against deformation in the left-right direction. Can be made. In this case, since the thickness of the upper wall and the lower wall can be formed thin, weight reduction can be achieved.

  A vehicle body in the vicinity of a headlight capable of ensuring a predetermined rigidity by suppressing a reduction in rigidity of the upper member as much as possible even when a part of the upper member in the vicinity of the headlight is cut out to provide a notch. A member structure can be provided.

  Next, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings as appropriate. FIG. 1 is a partially omitted perspective structural view of a vehicle body to which a structure of a vehicle body member in the vicinity of a headlight according to an embodiment of the present invention is applied. In the following description, the left-right direction, the front-rear direction, and the up-down direction follow the directions of arrows shown in FIG.

  As shown in FIG. 1, a front portion of a body (vehicle body) 12 of a vehicle 10 such as an automobile is disposed on both the left and right sides in the vehicle width direction, and extends along the front-rear direction of the body 12. Front side frames 14a and 14b, and a pair of upper members 16a and 16b that are provided above the pair of front side frames 14a and 14b at predetermined intervals and extend along the front-rear direction of the body 12. .

  Further, the front portion of the body 12 is connected to the front end portions of the pair of front side frames 14a and 14b, and has a bulkhead connecting body 18 configured into a substantially rectangular frame by a plurality of members. Strut towers 20 and 20 for supporting struts (not shown) are provided near the central portions of the upper members 16a and 16b. The lower ends of the strut towers 20 and 20 are respectively connected to the pair of front side frames 14a and 14b. Connected.

  Each of the upper members 16a and 16b is set to have a larger lateral dimension along the vehicle width direction than a longitudinal dimension along the vertical direction, as shown in FIG. 4 (an end view seen from the direction of arrow X in FIG. 3). It consists of a rectangular structure with a horizontally long cross section. The upper members 16a and 16b extend in the vertical direction in the longitudinal section perpendicular to the axial direction, and extend substantially along the vertical direction and face the inner wall 22a on the engine room side (inner side) and the outer wall 22b on the front tire FR side (outer side). And an upper wall 24a and a lower wall 24b that connect the upper and lower surfaces of the inner wall 22a and the outer wall 22b, respectively, and a space portion that extends substantially in parallel and is formed between the inner wall 22a and the outer wall 22b. It consists of a molded body formed into a Japanese character section having an inner rib 28 formed of a partition wall divided into a first chamber 26a and a second chamber 26b. In addition, as a shaping | molding method of the molded object of the said Japanese character cross section, it is good to carry out by extrusion molding, pultrusion molding, roll molding, forging molding etc., for example.

  In this case, as shown in FIG. 4, the vertical dimension L1 along the vertical direction of the inner wall 22a is set larger than the vertical dimension L2 along the vertical direction of the outer wall 22b (L1> L2), and the upper member 16a. , 16b is formed in a trapezoidal shape when viewed in a longitudinal section from a direction orthogonal to the axial direction. Further, the wall thickness T2 of the inner wall 22a, the outer wall 22b, and the inner rib 28 is formed thicker than the wall thickness T1 of the upper wall 24a and the lower wall 24b (T1 <T2). In addition, each thickness T2 of the said inner wall 22a, the outer wall 22b, and the inner rib 28 is provided substantially uniformly, respectively. In addition, for example, by forming the inner rib 28 to be thicker than the inner wall 22a and the outer wall 22b, there is an advantage that the rigidity and strength reduction of the notch 30 can be recovered.

  In addition, a cutout portion 30 formed by cutting out a part of the outer side surface of the molded body, for example, by cutting or the like on one end portion side of each of the upper members 16a and 16b adjacent to the bulkhead coupling body 18 is provided. Is provided (see FIGS. 1 and 3).

  As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, the notch 30 extends from the portion A closest to the headlight 32 to the portion B in the middle along the axial direction of the upper members 16a and 16b. It is cut out in a gentle curve. In other words, in the vicinity of the headlight 32, the cutout portion 30 extends from the outer wall 22b of the intermediate portion of the upper members 16a, 16b to the inner rib 28 at one end portion along the axial direction of the upper members 16a, 16b. Then, it is cut out by a gentle curve. A sufficient clearance is secured between the notch 30 of the upper members 16a and 16b and the outer surface of the headlight 32 in order to avoid mutual interference.

  Between the A part and the B part of the cutout part 30 in a plan view, the straight part 34a extending linearly substantially parallel to the axial direction of the upper members 16a and 16b and the straight part 34a are connected to the straight part 34a and are not shown. And a circular arc part 34b formed by a single center (see FIG. 2). Further, when the cutout portion 30 is viewed from the side in the lateral direction (left side), the inner rib 28 is exposed to the outside through the opening 36 (see FIG. 3).

  The body 12 of the vehicle 10 to which the structure of the vehicle body member in the vicinity of the headlight according to this embodiment is applied is basically configured as described above. Next, the function and effect will be described.

  Here, FIG. 5 shows an upper member 40 according to a comparative example in which the inner rib 28 is not formed between the inner wall 22a and the outer wall 22b. The upper member 40 according to this comparative example differs from the upper members 16a and 16b of the present embodiment only in the presence or absence of the inner rib 28, and has the same other structure such as the notch 30 provided, The same components as those in the present embodiment are denoted by the same reference numerals.

  In the upper member 40 according to this comparative example, no wall portion that closes the opening 36 of the notch 30 is provided, and the open member has an open cross section. As compared with, the cross-sectional secondary moment is reduced and the rigidity is lowered.

  On the other hand, in the present embodiment, the structure of the cutout portion 30 having a gently curved shape is formed by a closed cross section in which the inner rib 28 is provided between the inner wall 22a and the outer wall 22b. Even when the cutout portion 30 is formed by cutting out a part of the side surface of the rectangular tube body, the reduction of the cross-sectional secondary moment can be suppressed as much as possible, and the rigidity change in the cutout portion 30 can be suppressed. Can be made as small as possible.

  Further, in the present embodiment, as shown in FIG. 2, the upper members 16a, 16b are formed by forming a notched portion 30 having a gently curved shape in plan view with respect to partial side surfaces of the upper members 16a, 16b. A local bending portion or a stepped portion with respect to is eliminated, and the change in rigidity becomes gradual, and it is difficult to break when it collides forward.

  Furthermore, in the present embodiment, as shown in FIG. 4, the vertical cross section perpendicular to the axial direction of the upper members 16a, 16b is a horizontally long sun-shaped cross section, thereby improving the rigidity against deformation in the left-right direction, It becomes difficult to deform at the time of 10 left and right turning, and the turning performance can be stabilized. In this case, it is easy to control the vertical bending mode at the time of a frontal collision by setting the desired horizontal length ratio by the vertical dimension and the horizontal dimension in the longitudinal section of the upper members 16a and 16b.

  Furthermore, in this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 4, the upper members 16a and 16b have a thick skeleton structure by making the vertical dimension of the inner wall 22a larger than the vertical dimension of the outer wall 22b. Thus, the wall thickness of the upper members 16a and 16b can be increased without increasing the wall thickness, and the weight can be reduced.

  Furthermore, in this embodiment, the upper member 16a, 16b is spaced apart from the centroid O1 (assuming a homogeneous material and coincides with the center of gravity) between the B part and the C part of the upper member 16a, 16b (see FIGS. 2 and 3). As shown in FIG. 4, the wall thicknesses of the inner wall 22a and the outer wall 22b are thicker than the wall thickness of the upper wall 24a and the lower wall 24b. (Ii) The moment of inertia of the cross section is increased, and ultimately the rigidity against deformation in the left-right direction can be further improved.

  Similarly, an inner rib that is a wall portion spaced in the left-right direction from the centroid O2 (which is assumed to be a homogeneous material and coincides with the center of gravity) between the portion A and the portion B (see FIGS. 2 and 3) having the notch 30. As shown in FIG. 4, the thickness of the inner wall 28a and the inner wall 22a is made thicker than the thickness of the upper wall 24a and the lower wall 24b, so that the rigidity in the left-right direction can be further improved. . In addition, since the notch part 30 is formed between the A part and the B part, the outer wall 22b is not provided. In this case, since the thickness of the upper wall 24a and the lower wall 24b can be formed thin, weight reduction of the entire upper members 16a and 16b can be achieved.

1 is a partially omitted perspective structural view of a vehicle body to which a structure of a vehicle body member in the vicinity of a headlight according to an embodiment of the present invention is applied. It is a top view of the upper member which comprises the body of the said vehicle. It is a perspective view of the upper member concerning this embodiment. FIG. 4 is an end view seen from an arrow X direction in FIG. 3. It is a perspective view of the upper member which concerns on a comparative example.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Vehicle 12 Body 16a, 16b Upper member 22a Inner wall 22b Outer wall 24a Upper wall 24b Lower wall 28 Inner rib 30 Notch 32 Headlight

Claims (3)

A pair of upper members are provided on the left and right sides of the body extending in the front-rear direction of the vehicle body,
Each upper member is
An inner wall and an outer wall;
An upper wall and a lower wall connecting the inner wall and the outer wall;
An inner rib composed of a partition wall between the inner wall and the outer wall;
Formed into a horizontal sun-shaped cross section having
Each of the upper members is provided with a cutout portion formed by cutting out from the outer wall to the inner rib at one end of the upper member in the vicinity of the headlight. Construction. In the vehicle body member structure near the headlight according to claim 1,
A vehicle body member structure near a headlight, wherein a vertical dimension of the inner wall of the upper member is set to be larger than a vertical dimension of the outer wall, and is formed in a trapezoidal cross section by the upper wall and the lower wall. In the vehicle body member structure near the headlight according to claim 1 or 2,
The vehicle body member structure in the vicinity of a headlight, wherein the inner wall, the inner rib, and the outer wall are formed thicker than the upper wall and the lower wall.

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