JP2012086606A - Cowl louver protector - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To simplify a working process to build in a cowl louver so as to save on workers, and also eliminate a slide mold out of forming molds for the cowl louver.SOLUTION: The cowl louver protector functions as a seal by a protector body 20 provided between the cowl louver 10 and front glass 30 of an automobile. The protector body 20 is integrally formed of: a louver connection 22 connecting the protector body 20 with the cowl louver 10; a gutter 24 receiving and discharging rainwater or the like inside the cowl louver; and a cushion part 28 suppressing vibration between the cowl louver 10 and front glass 30.

Description

  The present invention relates to a protector for a cowl louver that performs a sealing function between a cowl louver of an automobile and a windshield.

This type of protector has a shape that continuously extends in the left-right direction of the automobile following the edge of the cowl louver, and the cross section thereof is generally in the shape shown in FIG. 5, for example. As shown in this drawing, the conventional protector 50 is integrally formed with an attachment portion 52 attached to the cowl louver 10 and a fin-shaped seal portion 56 that is elastically pressed against the surface of the windshield 30.
In the example of the structure shown in FIG. 5, a protrusion 58 that contacts the inner surface of the windshield from the opposite side of the protector 50 is formed integrally with the cowl louver 10. And the nonwoven fabric 60 etc. for suppressing the vibration between the cowl louver 10 and the windshield 30 are affixed on the surface of this protrusion 58. FIG. Further, a rain gutter 54 for receiving and draining rainwater or the like is attached to the inside of the cowl louver 10.
The positional relationship between the cowl louver and the windshield and the protector is disclosed in Patent Document 1.

JP 2006-205967 A

In the conventional structure shown in FIG. 5, in addition to the work of attaching the protector 50 to the cowl louver 10, the work of connecting the gutter 54 to the cowl louver 10 with a screw or the like, or the non-woven fabric for vibration isolation to the projection 58 of the cowl louver 10 The work which sticks 60 etc. is needed. For this reason, the work process of assembling the cowl louver 10 on the vehicle body side becomes complicated, requiring many workers.
In addition, since the protrusion 58 for sticking the nonwoven fabric 60 etc. to the cowl louver 10 is integrally molded, a slide mold or the like must be used for the molding die of the cowl louver 10.

  The present invention is intended to solve such problems, and its purpose is to simplify the work process for assembling the cowl louver and save labor, and from a cowl louver mold to a slide mold, etc. It is possible to abolish.

The present invention is for achieving the above object, and is configured as follows.
A protector for a cowl louver that performs a sealing function by a protector body provided between a cowl louver of an automobile and a windshield. A louver coupling part that couples the protector body to the cowl louver, and rainwater inside the cowl louver. A rain gutter that receives and drains water and a cushion portion that suppresses vibration between the cowl louver and the windshield are integrally formed.

  Preferably, the protector body can be assembled to the windshield in advance, and the direction in which the cowl louver is assembled to the louver coupling portion of the protector body is set in a direction substantially perpendicular to the surface of the windshield.

  In the present invention, the protector body is integrally formed with the louver coupling portion, the rain gutter, and the cushion portion so that the rain gutter formed separately from the cowl louver is joined later, or the cowl louver and the front The work of sticking non-woven fabric etc. to the cowl louver that suppresses vibration between the glass and the glass becomes unnecessary. For this reason, the work process for assembling the cowl louver is simplified, and labor saving can be achieved. Moreover, the part which attaches a nonwoven fabric etc. from a cowl louver can be abolished, and a slide type | mold etc. can be abolished from the shaping | molding die of a cowl louver.

  In addition, in a state where the protector main body is assembled to the windshield in advance, the cowl louver can be assembled to the louver coupling portion of the protector main body from one direction substantially perpendicular to the surface of the windshield, for example, It can be assembled along the axis of the wiper shaft. Thereby, the diameter of the hole opened in the cowl louver for allowing the wiper shaft to pass can be set to the minimum necessary size.

The perspective view represented in the state which isolate | separated the cowl louver and the protector. The perspective view showing a part of protector. Sectional drawing showing the use condition of a protector. Sectional drawing showing the use condition of the protector which changed a part of shape. Sectional drawing showing the use condition of the conventional protector.

Hereinafter, embodiments for carrying out the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
The cowl louver 10 is an integrally molded product made of a resin material such as polypropylene (PP), and is disposed at the boundary between the windshield 30 (FIG. 3) of the automobile and the engine hood. That is, the cowl louver 10 extends long in the left-right direction with a predetermined width in the front-rear direction of the automobile as shown in FIG. The cowl louver 10 includes a maintenance opening 12 accessible in the engine room, a pair of through holes 14 for passing a wiper shaft, and a large number of ventilation holes 15 arranged in a lattice pattern.

The protector body 20 provided between the cowl louver 10 and the windshield 30 and performing a sealing function has substantially the same length as the cowl louver 10 in the left-right direction of the automobile. The structure of the protector body 20 is roughly divided into a louver coupling portion 22, a rain gutter 24, a seal portion 26, and a cushion portion 28.
The louver coupling portion 22 of the protector body 20 serves to couple the protector body 20 to the cowl louver 10, and the shallow groove-shaped first coupling portion 22a and the deep groove-shaped second coupling portion 22b are arranged at a predetermined interval. (FIGS. 2 and 3).

The first coupling portion 22a of the louver coupling portion 22 holds the cowl louver 10 so as to sandwich the edge 18 on the windshield side, and the second coupling portion 22b has ribs 16 provided in advance inside the cowl louver 10. Grip so as to be pinched (FIG. 3). A guide portion 22c that is inclined obliquely outward is provided on one side wall of the second coupling portion 22b so that the rib 16 can be easily introduced into the second coupling portion 22b.

The rain gutter 24 is configured between a wall 22d of the louver coupling portion 22 and a wall 24a extending from the bottom of the second coupling portion 22b toward the first coupling portion 22a. The upper side of the gutter 24 is a glass insertion opening 25 into which the lower edge of the windshield 30 is inserted. The front end portion 24 b of the wall 24 a facing the glass insertion opening 25 is curved toward the inside of the rain gutter 24. The rain gutter 24 plays a role of appropriately draining water by receiving rain water or the like at a location such as a wiper motor located inside the cowl louver 10 or a vent hole (both not shown).

The seal portion 26 includes a fin-shaped seal piece 26 a provided at the end of the louver coupling portion 22 on the first coupling portion 22 a side, and a protruding portion 26 b provided on the wall 22 d of the louver coupling portion 22. . These seal pieces 26a and protruding portions 26b are both pressed against the surface of the windshield 30 inserted into the glass insertion opening 25 by elasticity (FIG. 3).
The cushion portion 28 is provided on the surface of the distal end portion 24 b of the wall 24 a constituting the rain gutter 24. This cushion part 28 contacts the back surface of the windshield 30 from the opposite side of the seal part 26 (FIG. 3).

The louver coupling part 22 and the rain gutter 24 of the protector body 20 are formed of a hard resin material such as PP as in the cowl louver 10, for example. On the other hand, the seal part 26 and the cushion part 28 are formed of a soft elastic material such as an elastomer (TPE). The seal portion 26 and the cushion portion 28 are integrated with each other with respect to the louver coupling portion 22 and the rain gutter 24 by two-color molding.

The protector body 20 configured as described above is configured such that the edge 18 of the cowl louver 10 is fitted into the first coupling part 22a of the louver coupling part 22 and the cowl louver 10 is fitted into the second coupling part 22b of the louver coupling part 22. The rib 16 is inserted into the cowl louver 10. The protector body 20 is assembled to the windshield 30 by inserting the lower edge of the windshield 30 into the glass insertion opening 25. It is arbitrary whether the protector body 20 is assembled to the cowl louver 10 or the windshield 30 first.

Here, a case where the protector body 20 is first assembled to the windshield 30 will be described. First, by attaching the protector main body 20 to the windshield 30 from the lower edge side, the lower edge of the windshield 30 is inserted into the glass insertion opening 25 of the protector main body 20. In this state, the seal piece 26a and the protruding portion 26b that constitute the seal portion 26 of the protector body 20 are pressed against the surface of the windshield 30 as described above, whereby the space between the cowl louver 10 and the windshield 30 is pressed. A seal is secured.

Next, the edge 18 and the rib 16 of the cowl louver 10 are assembled to the first coupling portion 22a and the second coupling portion 22b of the louver coupling portion 22 in the protector body 20 as described above. Both the first coupling portion 22 a and the second coupling portion 22 b of the protector body 20 already assembled to the windshield 30 are open in a direction substantially perpendicular to the surface of the windshield 30. For this reason, the cowl louver 10 can be assembled to the protector body 20 from one direction substantially perpendicular to the surface of the windshield 30.
This makes it possible to assemble the cowl louver 10 to the protector body 20 only in a one-dimensional direction. Unlike a configuration that requires a two-dimensional direction for this assembly, for example, a wiper shaft is passed. Therefore, the diameter of the through hole 14 shown in FIG.

Since the protector body 20 is integrally formed with the louver coupling part 22, the gutter 24 and the cushion part 28 as well as the seal part 26, a cowl louver like the gutter 54 and the nonwoven fabric 60 shown in FIG. 5 is formed. The work of retrofitting to 10 becomes unnecessary. Further, the projection 58 of the cowl louver 10 shown in FIG. 5 is not necessary, and a slide mold or the like can be eliminated from the molding die of the cowl louver 10.
In addition, since the rain gutter 24 of this Embodiment is settled inside the louver coupling | bond part 22 in the protector main body 20, the water which flows here is hard to spill, and the whole structure becomes compact.

As shown in FIG. 4, the overall structure of the protector body 20 can be simplified. That is, the protector body 20 shown in this drawing has only the louver coupling part 22 into which the edge 18 of the cowl louver 10 is fitted, and the end of the protector body 20 is received by the rib 16 of the cowl louver 10. And also about the seal | sticker part 26, the projection part 26b shown in FIG.2 and FIG.3 is abbreviate | omitted, and the cushion part 28 is set to a pair of fin shape.
The rain gutter 124 shown in FIG. 4 is arranged so as to project inside the windshield 30. Depending on the location where the gutter is required, the gutter 124 having such an arrangement can be used.

10 cowl louvers 20 protector body 22 louver coupling part 24 gutter 28 cushion part 30 windshield

Claims (2)

A cowl louver protector that performs a sealing function by a protector body provided between a cowl louver of an automobile and a windshield,
The protector body is integrally formed with a louver coupling part that connects with the cowl louver, a rain gutter that drains water by receiving rainwater inside the cowl louver, and a cushion part that suppresses vibration between the cowl louver and the windshield. The protector for the cowl louver. A protector for a cowl louver according to claim 1,
A protector for a cowl louver in which the protector body can be assembled to the windshield in advance, and the direction in which the cowl louver is assembled to the louver coupling portion of the protector body is set in a direction substantially perpendicular to the surface of the windshield.

Images