JP2016132312A - Car body structure - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a car body structure capable of improving the durability of a suspension tower with respect to repeated inputs during vehicle traveling and increasing the degree of freedom of the appearance design of the vehicle of each type in a constitution bonding a suspension tower made of an aluminum die cast and an outer side member made of a steel plate.SOLUTION: A rear suspension tower 16 is made of an aluminum die cast, and an end part 16X1 of the vehicle width-direction outside of a body wall part 16X is bonded to a center part 20A of a wheel house outer 20 made of a steel plate via a steel plate gusset 22. The gusset 22 is configured by including a first wall part 22A extending along a vehicle longitudinal direction and a vehicle vertical direction and spot-welded to the wheel house outer 20, and a second wall part 22B extending from the first wall part 22A to the vehicle width-direction inside and stacked on and bonded to the rear suspension tower 16 by a self-piercing rivet.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

  The present invention relates to a vehicle body structure.

  Patent Document 1 below discloses a rear body structure of a vehicle. Briefly, the side wall of the rear part of the vehicle body is constituted by the side panel inner that forms the wall surface of the vehicle interior and the side panel outer that forms the wall surface of the vehicle body. Further, the lower portion of the side panel inner is bent outward in the vehicle width direction to form a wheel arch portion. Further, in the vehicle side view, a reinforcement extending in the vertical direction of the vehicle is disposed at the center of the wheel arch, and the closed cross section is configured by this reinforcement and the vertical wall and wheel arch of the side panel inner. Has been. In addition, a reinforcement member formed in a hat shape whose outer side in the vehicle width direction is opened as viewed from the rear of the vehicle is provided as a bulkhead of the reinforcement in the intermediate portion in the height direction of the reinforcement.

  On the other hand, a suspension damper support member having a longitudinal L-shaped cross section as viewed from the rear of the vehicle is bridged between the outer side surface of the rear wheel house and the side surface of the side panel inner. Further, a suspension housing gusset is bridged obliquely between the upper surface portion of the suspension damper support member and the vertical wall portion of the side outer inner. And the top of the non-open side of the reinforcement is spot welded in a three-layered state to the joint flange formed at the upper end of the suspension housing gusset through the vertical wall of the side panel inner. Yes.

JP 2010-18087 A

  By the way, although all the three members in the prior art are steel plates, in recent years, from the viewpoint of reducing the weight of the vehicle, etc., it has been studied to use a rear suspension tower made of aluminum die cast.

  However, it is difficult to join the rear suspension tower made of aluminum die cast and the wheel house outer made of steel plate by welding. Moreover, even if the rear suspension tower and the wheel house outer are directly joined by a method other than welding, the rear suspension tower is structurally a cantilever beam with a joint with the wheel house outer as a supporting point. . For this reason, when a vertical input is applied to the rear suspension tower when traveling on a rough road or the like, the rear suspension tower is repeatedly deformed in a deformation mode such as vertical bending of a cantilever beam. As a result, it is considered that a high stress is generated on the support point side of the rear suspension tower, particularly on the corner portion, and the durability of the rear suspension tower is lowered.

  In addition, when the rear suspension tower is made of aluminum die-casting, it is preferable in terms of productivity to use a common rear suspension tower for a plurality of vehicle types. The position of the wheel house outer and the roof side inner panel in the vehicle width direction must be aligned with the rear suspension tower, and it is conceivable that the appearance design is restricted for each vehicle type.

  In consideration of the above facts, the present invention can improve the durability of the suspension tower against repeated input during vehicle travel in a configuration in which an aluminum die-cast suspension tower and a steel plate outer side member are joined. At the same time, it is an object to obtain a vehicle body structure that can increase the degree of freedom of the appearance design of the vehicle for each vehicle type.

  According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a vehicle body structure according to the present invention, comprising: a steel plate outer side member disposed on a side of the vehicle body; and an upper and lower input from an absorber disposed so as to project inward in the vehicle width direction from the outer side member. A suspension tower made of aluminum die-casting, and disposed between the outer side member and the suspension tower, and extends along the vehicle front-rear direction and the vehicle vertical direction and is joined to the outer side member. A steel plate connecting member configured to include a wall portion and a second wall portion extending from the first wall portion inward in the vehicle width direction and overlapping the suspension tower and joined to the suspension tower; have.

  The effect | action of this invention of Claim 1 is as follows. When a relatively large input in the vehicle vertical direction is applied from the absorber to the suspension tower while the vehicle is traveling, high stress is generated in the suspension tower. In the present invention, as described above, since the suspension tower is made of aluminum die-cast, if a high stress is locally generated, if it is originally, fatigue strength is reached at an early stage, and durability is lowered.

  However, in the present invention, a first wall portion extending along the vehicle longitudinal direction and the vehicle vertical direction is provided with a steel plate connecting member interposed between the steel plate outer side member and the aluminum die cast suspension tower. The second wall portion extending from the first wall portion to the vehicle width direction inner side is overlapped with the suspension tower and joined to the suspension tower at the second wall portion. For this reason, the first wall portion and the second wall that are joined between the steel plates are joined to the joining portion between the suspension tower and the outer side member where the wall surfaces to be joined cross each other and high stress is likely to be generated with respect to the road surface input. Since the part is replaced, high fatigue strength can be used effectively.

  On the other hand, even if the vehicle type is different and the appearance design is different for each vehicle type, the suspension tower made of aluminum die cast can be shared. This is because when the suspension tower is shared, the position of the suspension tower on the outer side in the vehicle width direction is the same. Therefore, with the normal design method, the position of the outer side member on the inner side in the vehicle width direction must be changed. There will be no design restrictions. However, in the present invention, since the second wall portion of the connecting member is interposed between the outer side member and the suspension tower, the suspension tower accompanying the design change is changed by changing the overlap margin of the second wall portion with respect to the suspension tower. A shift in the position in the vehicle width direction between the outer member and the outer side member can be absorbed. Therefore, it is not necessary to change the design of the outer side member, and it becomes possible to eliminate restrictions on the appearance design of the vehicle.

  As described above, the vehicle body structure according to the first aspect of the present invention has a structure in which a suspension tower made of aluminum die-casting and an outer side member made of steel plate are joined to each other with respect to repeated input during vehicle travel. It has the outstanding effect that the durability of a tower can be improved and the freedom degree of the external appearance design of the vehicle for every vehicle model can be raised.

1 is a perspective view showing a vehicle rear structure to which a vehicle body structure according to the present invention is applied as viewed from the inside in the vehicle width direction. FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view (vertical cross-sectional view) taken along line 2-2 of FIG. 1 showing a state where the vehicle rear structure shown in FIG. 1 is cut along line 2-2. It is a perspective view which extracts and shows the rear suspension tower and gusset which comprise the principal part among the vehicle rear part structures shown by FIG.

  Hereinafter, the vehicle rear structure to which the vehicle body structure according to the present invention is applied will be described with reference to FIGS. In these drawings, an arrow FR appropriately shown indicates the vehicle front side, an arrow UP indicates the vehicle upper side, and an arrow IN indicates the vehicle width direction inner side.

<Overall configuration>
As shown in FIG. 1, the rear end 10 </ b> A of the vehicle 10 has a wheel house inner 14 that forms an inner plate of the rear wheel house 12 with an upper end opened in a substantially U shape on the vehicle body side portion 10 </ b> B side, A rear suspension tower 16 joined in a state of being fitted to the upper end portion of the wheel house inner 14, and a vehicle outer member arranged on the vehicle width direction outer side of the wheel house inner 14 and constituting the outer plate of the rear wheel house 12. The wheel house outer 20 and a gusset 22 as a connecting member interposed between the rear suspension tower 16 and the wheel house outer 20 are provided. Hereinafter, these members will be mainly described.

  The rear suspension tower 16 may be grasped as the first vehicle body panel, the wheel house outer 20 may be grasped as the second vehicle body panel, and the gusset 22 may be grasped as the third vehicle body panel. Further, the gusset 22 can be grasped as an extension panel extending from the wheel house outer 20.

<Wheel House Inner 14>
The wheel house inner 14 is made of a steel plate. The wheel house inner 14 includes a wheel house inner body 14A formed in an L-shape that is upside down when viewed from the front side of the vehicle, and a U in the plan view integrally formed on the upper side of the wheel house inner body 14A. It includes a letter-shaped support portion 14B, and an upper end flange portion 14C formed integrally with the upper end outer periphery of the support portion 14B and the upper end edge of the wheel house inner body 14A. The support portion 14B is formed in a substantially semi-cylindrical shape that swells inward in the vehicle width direction. In FIG. 1, the support portion 14 </ b> B is covered with the strainer 21 and the partition panel 23, and thus is illustrated with a broken line.

<Rear suspension tower 16>
As shown in FIGS. 1 and 3, the rear suspension tower 16 is made of aluminum die cast. Further, the rear suspension tower 16 includes a main body wall portion 16X formed in an inverted U shape with the vehicle lower side opened in a side view as seen from the vehicle width direction outer side. Specifically, the main body wall portion 16X is arranged in a U shape with the vehicle width direction outer side opened in a plan view, and extends along the vehicle vertical direction, and the vertical wall portion 16A And an upper surface portion 16B that closes the upper portion. A region on the inner side in the vehicle width direction of the upper surface portion 16B protrudes in a substantially circular shape toward the upper side of the vehicle, and an opening 18 penetrating in the vehicle vertical direction is formed at the center thereof. An upper end portion of an absorber of a rear suspension (not shown) disposed inside the rear suspension tower 16 is attached to the lower side of the opening 18 in the upper surface portion 16B.

<Wheel House Outer 20>
As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, a wheel house outer 20 formed in a substantially semicircular shape in a side view is disposed outside the wheel house inner 14 and the rear suspension tower 16 in the vehicle width direction. The wheel house outer 20 is also made of a steel plate like the wheel house inner 14. Further, the wheel house outer 20 has a central portion 20A disposed outside the rear suspension tower 16 in the vehicle width direction, and extends from the central portion 20A to the front side and the rear side in the vehicle front-rear direction in a circular arc shape (not shown). It is comprised by the front side part and the rear side part. That is, the wheel house outer 20 is formed in an approximately semicircular arch shape when viewed from the inside in the vehicle width direction. On the vehicle upper side of the wheel house outer 20, a roof side inner panel 24 extending along a substantially vehicle longitudinal direction and a substantially vehicle vertical direction is disposed.

  In addition, a roof side outer (not shown) having a flat cross-sectional shape of a substantially hat shape is disposed outside the center portion 20A of the wheel house outer 20 and the roof side inner panel 24 in the vehicle width direction. The roof side outer is also called a roof side outer reinforcement, and has a closed cross-sectional structure with the roof side inner panel 24 and functions as a skeleton member on the side of the vehicle body.

<Gusset 22>
As shown in FIGS. 1 to 3, a gusset 22 is interposed between the vehicle width direction outer side end portion 16 </ b> X <b> 1 of the main body wall portion 16 </ b> X of the rear suspension tower 16 and the central portion 20 </ b> A of the wheel house outer 20. Yes. The gusset 22 is formed by press forming a steel plate. The gusset 22 is made of a plate material that is thicker than the plate thickness of the wheel house outer 20. In the present embodiment, as an example, the gusset 22 is formed of a plate material that is approximately 0.3 to 0.5 mm thicker than the thickness of the wheel house outer 20, but is not limited to this thickness, and is arbitrarily Can be changed.

  The gusset 22 as a whole is formed in a substantially U shape that is upside down in a side view as viewed from the outside in the vehicle width direction. Specifically, the gusset 22 stands up inward in the vehicle width direction from a first wall portion 22A extending along the vehicle front-rear direction and the vehicle up-down direction, and a peripheral portion on the inner peripheral side of the first wall portion 22A. The second wall portion 22B is provided. The second wall portion 22B is formed integrally with the first wall portion 22A, and is overlapped with the outer peripheral surface of the end portion 16X1 on the outer side in the vehicle width direction of the main body wall portion 16X of the rear suspension tower 16. Further, ribs 50 extending in the vehicle up-down direction and the vehicle width direction are integrally formed at two front and rear portions of the portion (bending R portion) that transitions from the first wall portion 22A to the second wall portion 22B of the gusset 22.

<Junction structure of rear suspension tower 16 and wheel house outer 20 using gusset 22>
Next, a joint structure between the rear suspension tower 16 and the wheel house outer 20 using the gusset 22 will be described in detail with reference to FIGS.

  The above-described aluminum die-cast wheel house outer 16 is joined to a steel plate wheel house outer 20 using a steel plate gusset 22. Therefore, the fatigue strength of the wheel house outer 20 and the gusset 22 is higher than the fatigue strength of the rear suspension tower 16.

  An end 16 </ b> X <b> 1 on the vehicle width direction outer side of the main body wall 16 </ b> X of the rear suspension tower 16 is joined to the second wall 22 </ b> B of the gusset 22 by the first joint 40. The first joint 40 has a mechanical joint structure, and more specifically, a self-piercing rivet (SPR) 44 (see FIG. 2) is used. A band-like area indicated by hatching in FIG. 1 and FIG.

  On the other hand, the first wall portion 22 </ b> A of the gusset 22 is joined to the central portion 20 </ b> A of the wheel house outer 20 by the second joint portion 42. The second joint portion 42 has a metallurgical joint structure, and more specifically, spot welding 46 (see FIG. 2) is used. The central portion 20A of the wheel house outer 20 is spot welded 47 together with the wheel house inner 14 described above. In addition, depending on the vehicle type, a configuration may be adopted in which the first wall portion 22A is spot-welded to the roof side inner panel 24. In this case, the roof side inner panel 24 serves as an outer side member. Further, the number of panels to be joined by spot welding 46, 47 is not limited to the above, and is appropriately changed to three or the like according to the specifications of the vehicle type.

  Next, functions and effects of the vehicle rear structure according to the present embodiment will be described.

  When a relatively large input in the vehicle vertical direction is applied to the rear suspension tower 16 from a rear absorber (not shown) when the vehicle is traveling (the vertical input from the rear absorber is indicated by an arrow F in FIG. 2), high stress is applied to the rear suspension tower 16. Will occur. Supplementally, assuming that the rear suspension tower including the gusset 22 shown in FIG. 3 is integrally formed by aluminum die casting, the flange portion of the rear suspension tower (that is, the first wall portion 22A of the gusset 22) Corresponding portions) and a connecting corner portion (a portion indicated by the arrow P in FIG. 3) between the flange portion and the main body wall portion of the rear suspension tower that protrudes inward in the vehicle width direction. This is because, in this structure, the main body wall portion of the rear suspension tower is equivalent to a beam cantilevered by the wheel house outer 20 via the flange portion. On the other hand, it is considered that the main body wall portion is in a deformation mode in which the main body wall portion is displaced in the vertical direction of the vehicle, and high stress is generated at the base portion of the main body wall portion. Thus, when a high stress is locally generated in the aluminum die cast rear suspension tower, the rear suspension tower originally reaches fatigue strength at an early stage, and the durability is lowered.

  However, in the present embodiment, a steel plate gusset 22 is interposed between the steel plate wheel house outer 20 and the aluminum die cast rear suspension tower 16 and extends along the vehicle longitudinal direction and the vehicle vertical direction. The first wall portion 22A is joined to the central portion 20A of the wheel house outer 20, and the second wall portion 22B extending from the first wall portion 22A to the vehicle width direction inner side is used as the main body wall portion 16X of the rear suspension tower 16. It is made to join with the rear suspension tower 16 with the 2nd wall part 22B from the vehicle upper side. For this reason, the above-mentioned wall surfaces to be joined cross each other and a high stress is easily generated with respect to the road surface input (up and down input F). Thus, the first wall portion 22A and the second wall portion 22B are replaced, and high fatigue strength can be used effectively.

  On the other hand, even if the vehicle type is different and the appearance design is different for each vehicle type, the rear suspension tower 16 made of aluminum die cast can be shared. This is because, when the rear suspension tower 16 is shared, the position of the rear wall 16X of the rear suspension tower 16 on the outer side in the vehicle width direction (the position indicated by the one-dot chain line Q in FIG. 2) is the same. In this method, the position of the wheel house outer 20 and the roof side inner panel 24 inside the vehicle width direction (the one-dot chain line R position in FIG. 2) must be changed (that is, the R position needs to be shifted to the Q position). Occurs). Here, a roof side outer reinforcement is disposed outside the roof side inner panel 24 in the vehicle width direction, and the roof side inner panel 24 and the roof side outer reinforcement have a closed cross-sectional structure. Since the cross-sectional height of the closed cross-sectional structure affects the vehicle rigidity, the cross-sectional height cannot be easily changed. As a result, the appearance design of the vehicle is restricted. However, in the present embodiment, since the second wall portion 22B of the gusset 22 is interposed between the wheel house outer 20 and the rear suspension tower 16, the overlap margin of the second wall portion 22B with respect to the rear suspension tower 16 is changed. Thus, it is possible to absorb the displacement in the vehicle width direction between the rear suspension tower 16 and the wheel house outer 20 and the roof side inner panel 24 due to the design change. Therefore, it is not necessary to change the design of the roof side inner panel 24 and the roof side outer reinforcement, and it becomes possible to eliminate restrictions on the appearance design of the vehicle. In addition, the wheel house outer 20 or the roof side inner panel 24 is located at the innermost side in the vehicle width direction at the outer side in the vehicle width direction of the main body wall 16X of the rear suspension tower 16 (the position indicated by the one-dot chain line Q in FIG. 2). It is determined according to the vehicle. In addition, when the rear suspension tower made of aluminum die-casting is not shared, and it is manufactured according to the appearance design for each vehicle type, it is necessary to issue the manufacturing requirements for each rear suspension tower, requiring a study period, Although the number of man-hours increases, such disadvantages can be eliminated if the rear suspension tower 16 made of aluminum die-casting can be shared.

  As described above, the vehicle rear structure according to the present embodiment has a configuration in which the rear suspension tower 16 made of aluminum die cast and the wheel house outer 20 made of steel plate are joined, and the rear suspension tower 16 with respect to repeated input during vehicle travel. The durability of the vehicle can be improved, and the degree of freedom of the appearance design of the vehicle for each vehicle type can be increased.

  Further, in the rear suspension tower 16 made of aluminum die cast according to the present embodiment, since there is no flange portion (a portion corresponding to the first wall portion 22A of the gusset 22) that makes it difficult for the material to flow in the casting process, casting becomes easy.

  Further, in the present embodiment, ribs 50 extending in the vehicle vertical direction and the vehicle width direction are integrally formed at two positions before and after the portion (bending R portion) of the gusset 22 that transitions from the first wall portion 22A to the second wall portion 22B. Therefore, the rigidity of the rear suspension tower 16 in which the gusset 22 is integrated can be increased. Supplementally, if a rear suspension tower with a flange part is manufactured by die-casting aluminum and a rib is set in the bending R part, stress concentration may occur at the end of the rib. The ribs that should have been provided for up can also result in lowering the durability of the rear suspension tower. However, such a contradiction does not occur even if the rib 50 is set on the gusset 22 side made of a steel plate as in this embodiment.

[Supplementary explanation of the embodiment described above]
In the above-described embodiment, the rear suspension tower 16 has been described as an example. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and the suspension tower according to the present invention also includes a reinforcement such as a gusset installed on the upper surface of the rear suspension tower for reinforcement. included.

  In the above-described embodiment, the rear suspension tower 16 and the second wall portion 22B of the gusset 22 are joined by the self-piercing rivet 44. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and other mechanical joining structures may be applied. .

10B Car body side 16 Rear suspension tower (suspension tower)
20 Wheelhouse outer (outer side member)
22 Gusset (connection member)
22A 1st wall part 22B 2nd wall part 24 Roof side inner panel (outer side member)

Claims (1)

An outer member made of steel plate disposed on the side of the vehicle body;
A suspension tower made of aluminum die cast, which is arranged so as to project inward in the vehicle width direction from the outer side member, and where vertical input from the absorber acts,
A first wall portion disposed between the outer side member and the suspension tower, extending along the vehicle longitudinal direction and the vehicle vertical direction and joined to the outer side member, and a vehicle width from the first wall portion. A second wall portion that extends inward in the direction and overlaps the suspension tower and is joined to the suspension tower, and a steel plate connecting member,
A vehicle body structure.

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