JP2017213998A - Instrument panel structure - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To solve the problem in which: a portion having high rigidity is not supported in an instrument panel structure of a center meter.SOLUTION: An instrument panel structure includes: an opening for mounting a meter; and an air conditioning duct connected to an air conditioner via an intermediate duct on a lower side of the opening for mounting the meter. In the instrument panel structure, the air conditioning duct has a mounting section which connects and supports a vertical wall of the opening for mounting the meter, and the mounting section is arranged in the vicinity of an extension of the vertical wall of the intermediate duct side face on the air conditioner. The instrument panel structure supports force roughly linearly from the vertical wall of the opening for storing the meter up to the air conditioner via the air conditioning duct and the intermediate duct, thereby enabling effective improvement of rigidity on a top face of the instrument panel.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 2

Description

  The present invention relates to a support structure for an instrument panel (instrument panel) disposed in front of a front seat of an automobile.

  Since the upper surface of the instrument panel has a large area, there is a problem that rigidity is lowered and vibration is likely to occur. In view of this, a method has been proposed in which the design around the center meter portion at the center of the upper surface of the instrument panel is provided with undulations to ensure rigidity. Therefore, when giving a flat design to the upper surface of an instrument panel, it was not easy to ensure the rigidity of the center part of the upper surface.

  In Patent Document 1, an opening is formed on the upper surface of the instrument panel, a meter main body is accommodated in the opening, an air conditioning unit is disposed below the opening, and the meter accommodated in the opening is placed on the upper portion of the air conditioning unit. The structure which fixes an air-conditioning unit to a duct via an attaching part is disclosed.

JP 2004-291744 A

  In the method of Patent Document 1, although the meter body is fixed, it cannot be said that the rigidity of the upper surface of the instrument panel is high, and is not very effective in suppressing vibration.

  The instrument panel structure according to the present invention has been conceived in view of the above problems, and by supporting the portion where the structural strength is high due to the shape for placing the center meter, the top surface of the instrument panel The instrument panel structure which suppresses the vibration of is provided.

More specifically, the instrument panel structure according to the present invention is:
In an instrument panel structure having an air conditioning duct connected to an air conditioner via an intermediate duct on the lower side of the meter mounting opening, having an opening for mounting the meter,
There is an attachment portion for coupling and supporting the vertical wall of the opening for attaching the meter to the air conditioning duct,
The mounting portion is arranged in the vicinity of an extension of a vertical wall on the side surface of the intermediate duct on the air conditioner.

  The instrument panel structure according to the present invention supports the force substantially linearly from the vertical wall of the opening for accommodating the meter to the air conditioner through the air conditioning duct and the intermediate duct, so that the rigidity of the upper surface of the instrument panel is effective. Can be improved. In addition, even if the top surface of the instrument panel is designed to be nearly flat, vibration is unlikely to occur.

It is a figure from the front of an instrument panel. It is the perspective view which looked at the instrument panel from the back. It is an assembly drawing of the instrument panel structure which concerns on this invention. It is the figure which looked at the instrument panel structure which concerns on this invention from the back surface front.

  The instrument panel structure according to the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings and examples. The following description exemplifies an embodiment of the present invention, and the present invention is not limited to the following description. The following description can be modified without departing from the spirit of the present invention.

  Further, in this specification, the front (or front side) refers to the front of the vehicle, and the rear (or rear side) refers to the rear of the vehicle. Further, the upper side refers to the roof side when viewed from inside the vehicle, and the lower side refers to the floor side.

<Position relationship>
FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the instrument panel 1 as viewed from the vehicle interior side. The upper surface 10 is displayed with a dotted line, and the back side is also displayed so that a part can be seen. The upper surface 10 extends under a front window (not shown). A blowout port 12 from the defroster is provided on the upper surface 10. On the driver's seat side, a steering column 14 and ventilator outlets 16a and 16b are provided at two places on the left and right as viewed from the driver's seat.

  A glove box 18 is provided on the passenger seat side. Further, ventilator outlets 17a and 17b are also provided on the left and right sides of the passenger seat as viewed from the passenger seat. The center console 20 is disposed at the boundary between the driver seat and the passenger seat, and control fingerboards such as a navigation system 21, an air conditioner system 22, and a transmission operation lever 23 are disposed.

  Meters 26 such as a speedometer (a tachometer depending on the model) used for driving are arranged between the driver's seat and the passenger seat. This is a so-called center meter method. In FIG. 1, the ventilator duct 30 can be seen directly below the meters 26.

  FIG. 2 is a view of the instrument panel 1 as viewed from the left front wheel side. In FIG. 2, the instrument panel 1 is viewed from the back side. Parts such as the bonnet, front fender, front window, pillar member, and engine and parts unnecessary for the description are omitted.

  Immediately below the center of the upper surface 10 of the instrument panel 1, an opening 32 for attaching the meters 26 described in FIG. 1 is formed. The upper surface 10 of the instrument panel 1 is manufactured integrally with the structure of the opening 32 for attaching a meter (may be referred to as “for attaching a meter”).

  The opening 32 has a bottom surface 32c, side walls 32a and 32b, and a front wall 32d to accommodate the meters 26. The ceiling 32 e of the opening 32 is the upper surface 10 of the instrument panel 1.

  Referring to FIG. 4, when viewed from the back side of the instrument panel 1 (front side of the vehicle), the side walls 32a and 32b are inclined so that the space between the side walls 32a and 32b spreads upward from the bottom surface 32c. ing. This is because the upper surface 10 of the instrument panel 1 can be supported in a wide range, as will be described later.

  Returning again to FIG. A ventilator duct 30 is provided below the opening 32. As shown in FIG. 1, two ventilator outlets (not shown) are provided on the driver seat side and the passenger seat side, respectively. Therefore, the ventilator duct 30 has a shape in which the four ducts 30a, 30b, 30c, and 30d are coupled at the central portion. Of course, the ventilator duct 30 is an air conditioning duct.

  An opening 30 i into which the adjusted air is blown is provided on the lower surface of the central portion of the ventilator duct 30. An intermediate duct 34 connects the opening 30i and the air outlet of the air conditioner 36 (see FIG. 4). Also connected to the intermediate duct 34 is a differential duct that communicates with the blowout port 12 of the defroster provided immediately below the front window seal on the upper surface 10 of the instrument panel 1. Although the differential duct is omitted in FIG. 2, the differential duct is connected to the intermediate duct 34 at a position before the ventilator duct 30.

  The intermediate duct 34 is connected to an air conditioner 36 (refer to FIG. 4) called HVAC (Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning). The air conditioner 36 is fixed to a frame (side member) not shown. Therefore, the intermediate duct 34 fixed to the air conditioner 36 and the ventilator duct 30 coupled to the intermediate duct 34 are firmly fixed to the vehicle body.

<Description of the coupling part of each part>
FIG. 3 shows an exploded view of FIG. The front periphery 10a of the instrument panel 1 can be fixed to a partition wall or a dash panel that separates the engine from the vehicle interior. Further, the side 10b of the instrument panel 1 can be fixed to a front pillar or the like. However, there is no appropriate support in the vicinity of the upper surface center 10c of the instrument panel 1. Therefore, an attachment portion is provided at the front corner portion of the opening portion 32 for accommodating the meters 26. This attachment portion is called an instrument panel attachment portion 32g.

  The instrument panel mounting portion 32g may be a part of the front wall 32d of the opening 32, or an ear-shaped bracket extending from the front wall 32d in parallel with the front wall 32d. Moreover, you may make it extend in parallel with the front wall 32d from the side walls 32a and 32b near the front wall 32d. Moreover, you may extend in parallel with the front wall 32d from the bottom face 32c near the front wall 32d and the side walls 32a and 32b.

  It can be said that all of the instrument panel mounting portions 32g provided at these positions are arranged at the “front corner portion” of the opening 32. Further, such an instrument panel mounting portion 32g supports the vertical wall (front wall 32d, side walls 32a, 32b) of the opening 32. FIG. 3 shows a case where a part of the front wall 32d of the opening 32 is an instrument panel mounting portion 32g.

  The ventilator duct 30 has many thin portions for weight reduction. However, in order to support and fix the ventilator duct 30, the lower surface 30f is formed of a thick resin so as to ensure a large rigidity. And an attaching part is formed upwards continuously from the lower surface 30f front of the ventilator duct 30. As shown in FIG. The attachment part on the ventilator duct 30 side is referred to as a duct attachment part 30g.

  The duct attachment portion 30g is provided at a position combined with the instrument panel attachment portion 32g. The opening 32 is provided in the upper surface center 10 c of the instrument panel 1. As a result, the duct attachment portion 30g is set in the vicinity where the four ducts are gathered.

  The duct attachment portion 30g and the instrument panel attachment portion 32g are formed so that overlapping portions are produced when the ventilator duct 30 and the instrument panel 1 are respectively installed at predetermined positions. Therefore, if a through hole is opened in each attachment part, bolting can be performed. If there is only an overlapping portion, both attachment portions can be fastened and fixed with a tapping screw.

  As already described, the instrument panel mounting portion 32g supports the vertical wall (front wall 32d, side walls 32a, 32b) of the opening 32. Therefore, the duct mounting portion 30g fastened and fixed to the instrument panel mounting portion 32g also supports the vertical wall of the opening 32.

  FIG. 4 shows a view from the direction B of FIG. FIG. 4 is a view of the instrument panel 1 as viewed from the back side. As described above, the position of the instrument panel mounting portion 32g provided in the corner portion of the front wall 32d of the opening portion 32 of the instrument panel 1 (the front corner portion of the opening portion 32) and the duct mounting portion 30g of the ventilator duct 30 are , There are overlapping parts. This portion becomes an attachment position when attaching the instrument panel 1 to the ventilator duct 30.

  As already described, the side walls 32a and 32b of the opening 32 are inclined toward the left and right of the vehicle so that the space between the side walls 32a and 32b spreads upward from the bottom surface 32c. In FIG. 4, the inclination angle is θ.

  On the other hand, the intermediate duct 34 disposed below the ventilator duct 30 supplies air to the opening 30i of the relatively wide ventilator duct 30 from the air outlet 36a of the air conditioner 36 having a relatively small width. Therefore, the intermediate duct 34 is formed so that the lower width is narrow and the upper width is wide. That is, the side walls 34a and 34b of the intermediate duct 34 are formed so as to spread between the side walls 34a and 34b from the bottom to the top.

  In the instrument panel structure of the present invention, the side walls 32a and 32b of the opening 32 of the instrument panel 1, the instrument panel mounting portion 32g provided at the front corner of the opening 32, and the side walls 34a and 34b of the intermediate duct 34 are Arrange them so that they are almost aligned as seen from the front of the vehicle. In FIG. 4, the side walls 32a and 32b of the opening 32, the instrument panel mounting portion 32g (the duct mounting portion 30g overlaps), and the side walls 34a and 34b of the intermediate duct 34 are arranged on the dotted line L1.

  As described above, the instrument panel 1 can be firmly supported through the air conditioner 36, the intermediate duct 34, and the ventilator duct 30. In addition, if the side walls 32a and 32b of the opening 32, the instrument panel mounting portion 32g (duct mounting portion 30g), and the side walls 34a and 34b of the intermediate duct 34 are arranged in a straight line, they are added to the upper surface 10 of the instrument panel 1. Since the force can be transmitted linearly to the air conditioner 36, the rigidity of the upper surface 10 of the instrument panel 1 can be effectively improved.

  The instrument panel structure according to the present invention can be suitably used for an instrument panel of an automobile equipped with a center meter.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Instrument panel 10 Upper surface 10a Front circumference | surroundings 10b (Instrument panel 1) Side 10c (Instrument panel 1) Side center 12 Top surface center 12 Outlet 14 from defroster Steering column 16a, 16b Ventilator outlet 17a, 17b Air outlet 18 Glove box 20 Center console 21 Navigation system 22 Air conditioner system 23 Transmission control lever 26 Meters 30 (30a, 30b, 30c, 30d) Ventilator duct 30f (of the ventilator duct) lower surface 30g Duct mounting part 32 Opening part 32a, 32b Side wall 32c Bottom surface 32d Front wall 32e Ceiling 30i Opening (for ventilator duct) 32g Instrument panel mounting portion 34 Intermediate ducts 34a, 34b (for intermediate duct) Wall 36 air conditioner 36a (the air conditioner) outlet L1 dotted θ tilt angle

Claims (1)

In an instrument panel structure having an air conditioning duct connected to an air conditioner via an intermediate duct on the lower side of the meter mounting opening, having an opening for mounting the meter,
There is an attachment portion for coupling and supporting the vertical wall of the opening for attaching the meter to the air conditioning duct,
An instrument panel structure characterized in that the mounting portion is disposed in the vicinity of an extension of a vertical wall on the side surface of the intermediate duct on the air conditioner.