JP2018149904A - Front bumper cover support structure - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To inhibit deformation of a bumper cover stay during a head-on collision of a vehicle with a pedestrian and efficiently absorb energy generated during the collision.SOLUTION: A front bumper cover support structure 36 includes: a front bumper cover 14 having a bumper cover stay 52; a center brace 34; and a center brace bracket 38. A brace attachment part 42 of the center brace bracket 38 is attached to the center brace 34. A bumper cover stay 52 is attached to a stay attachment part 44 of the center brace bracket 38. An input point P2 of a buffer load input to the center brace bracket 38 and a support point P1 of the center brace bracket 38 relative to the center brace 34 are disposed offset from each other in a lateral direction in a plan view. A bead 58 which enhances rigidity in a fore and aft direction is provided at the bumper cover stay 52.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 3

Description

  The present invention relates to a front bumper cover support structure.

  An example of a front bumper cover support structure that supports a front bumper cover of a vehicle such as an automobile is disclosed in Patent Document 1, for example. In the thing of patent document 1, the center brace bracket is attached to the center brace provided in the vehicle body structural member, and the bumper cover stay of the front bumper cover is attached to the bracket.

Japanese Patent No. 5195657

  In the conventional structure, since the rigidity of the bumper cover stay, particularly in the longitudinal direction of the vehicle, is low, the bumper cover stay is easily deformed by the frontal collision of the vehicle against the pedestrian's thigh. As a result, when the part other than the bumper cover stay (for example, the lower edge of the bumper cover) hits the center brace bracket, the input point of the collision load of the center brace bracket changes, and the energy at the time of the collision is efficiently It cannot be absorbed.

  The problem to be solved by the present invention is to provide a front bumper cover support structure that can suppress deformation of a bumper cover stay at the time of a frontal collision of a vehicle with respect to a pedestrian and can efficiently absorb energy at the time of the collision. is there.

  The above problem can be solved by the front bumper cover support structure of the present invention. According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a front bumper cover that extends along the vehicle width direction at the front end portion of the vehicle and has a bumper cover stay on the rear side of the center portion in the vehicle width direction, A center brace provided on a vehicle body component of the vehicle, and a center formed in a substantially straight shape extending in the vehicle front-rear direction in a plan view of the vehicle, having a brace attachment portion at a rear end portion and a stay attachment portion at a front end portion. A brace bracket, wherein the brace mounting portion is attached to the center brace, and the bumper cover stay is attached to the stay mounting portion. The input point of the collision load input to the center brace bracket and the center brace The support point of the center brace bracket is offset with respect to the vehicle width direction in a plan view of the vehicle, and the bumper cover stay is provided with a rigidity reinforcing portion that enhances the rigidity in the vehicle front-rear direction. The front bumper cover support structure.

  According to the first invention, the input point of the collision load of the center brace bracket and the support point for the center brace are arranged offset in the vehicle width direction in the vehicle plan view. Therefore, when a collision load of a predetermined value or more is input to the input point of the center brace bracket at the time of the frontal collision of the vehicle with respect to the pedestrian, a moment in the direction of bending toward the vehicle width direction acts on the center brace bracket. A predetermined bending of the center brace bracket can be realized. Moreover, since the rigidity in the vehicle longitudinal direction is enhanced by the rigidity enhancing portion of the bumper cover stay, deformation of the bumper cover stay during a frontal collision of the vehicle with respect to a pedestrian can be suppressed. Thereby, the change of the input point of the collision load of the center brace bracket can be suppressed, and the predetermined bending of the center brace bracket can be realized. Therefore, the energy at the time of a collision can be absorbed efficiently. As a result, the protection performance of a pedestrian can be improved.

  A second invention is the front bumper cover support structure according to the first invention, wherein the rigidity reinforcing portion is a bead formed on the bumper cover stay.

  According to the second aspect, the rigidity of the bumper cover stay in the vehicle front-rear direction can be enhanced by the bead formed in the bumper cover stay. Further, the bead can be easily formed without adding another part to the bumper cover stay.

  According to a third aspect, in the second aspect, a step portion extending in the vehicle width direction is formed at a center portion of the bumper cover stay in the vehicle front-rear direction, and the bead intersects the step portion. The front bumper cover support structure.

  According to the third invention, the rigidity of the bumper cover stay in which the step portion is formed in the vehicle front-rear direction can be enhanced by intersecting the step portion extending in the vehicle width direction of the bumper cover stay. it can.

  A fourth invention is the front bumper cover support structure according to any one of the first to third inventions, wherein the center brace bracket has a fragile portion serving as a starting point of bending deformation that bends in the vehicle width direction.

  According to the fourth aspect of the invention, the center brace bracket can be reliably bent toward the one side in the vehicle width direction starting from the fragile portion.

  According to the front bumper cover support structure of the present invention, it is possible to suppress the deformation of the bumper cover stay at the time of a frontal collision of the vehicle with respect to a pedestrian and efficiently absorb the energy at the time of the collision.

It is a perspective view which shows the front part of the vehicle concerning one Embodiment. It is a perspective view which shows a radiator support. It is a top view which shows a front bumper cover support structure. FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view taken along line IV-IV in FIG. 3. It is a VV arrow sectional view of Drawing 3. FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view taken along line VI-VI in FIG. 5. It is a perspective view which shows a center brace bracket. It is a perspective view which shows a bumper cover stay.

  Hereinafter, an embodiment for carrying out the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. Prior to the description of the front bumper cover support structure according to the present embodiment, the outline of the front portion of the automobile, that is, the vehicle will be described. In the drawing, the arrow FR indicates the front of the vehicle, the arrow UP indicates the upper side of the vehicle, the arrow LH indicates the left side of the vehicle, and the arrow RH indicates the left side of the vehicle. FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a front portion of a vehicle. In this embodiment, the front-rear direction corresponds to the vehicle front-rear direction (vehicle length direction), the left-right direction corresponds to the vehicle width direction, and the up-down direction corresponds to the vehicle up-down direction (vehicle height direction).

  As shown in FIG. 1, a front bumper 12 is provided at the front end of the vehicle 10. The front bumper 12 includes a resin-made front bumper cover 14 that forms a design surface. The front bumper cover 14 is mainly composed of a bumper cover main body 15. The bumper cover main body 15 extends along the left-right direction. The bumper cover main body 15 is formed in a substantially U-shaped cross section that opens rearward. A front bumper reinforcement and a front bumper absorber (not shown) are accommodated in the hollow portion of the bumper cover main body 15. The front bumper cover 14, the front bumper reinforcement, and the front bumper absorber constitute a front bumper 12.

  A hood 19 is provided at the front of the vehicle 10 so as to open and close the upper surface opening of the engine room 17. At the front end of the vehicle 10, a radiator grille 21 is disposed between the bumper cover main body 15 of the front bumper cover 14 and the central portion in the left-right direction of the hood 19. Between the left and right end portions of the bumper cover body 15 and the hood 19, a pair of left and right headlamps 23 are disposed. A radiator support 25 is provided at a front portion in the engine room 17. FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing the radiator support.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the radiator support 25 is formed in a substantially rectangular frame shape. The radiator support 25 includes a radiator support upper 26, a radiator support lower 27, and a pair of left and right radiator support sides 28. The radiator support upper 26 and the radiator support lower 27 extend in the left-right direction and are arranged in parallel in the vertical direction. Both the radiator support sides 28 are installed between the radiator support upper 26 and the radiator support lower 27 at a predetermined interval. The radiator support 25 corresponds to a “vehicle body constituting member” in this specification.

  A cooling system component 30 is provided in the radiator support 25. The cooling system component 30 is attached to the radiator support upper 26 and the radiator support lower 27. The cooling system component 30 includes a radiator 31 and a capacitor 32 that is arranged in front of the radiator 31.

  A center brace 34 extending in the vertical direction is provided on the front side of the center portion in the left-right direction of the radiator support 25. The center brace 34 is installed on the radiator support upper 26 and the radiator support lower 27. The center brace 34 is made of a long metal member having a channel-like cross section that opens to the right. The center brace 34 includes a front wall portion 34a and a rear wall portion 34b, and a side wall portion 34c that connects both wall portions 34a and 34b. The upper end portion of the rear wall portion 34 b is fixed to the front side of the radiator support upper 26. A lower end portion of the rear wall portion 34 b is fixed to the front side of the radiator support lower 27.

  Next, the front bumper cover support structure 36 that supports the front bumper cover 14 will be described. 3 is a plan view showing the front bumper cover support structure, FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line IV-IV in FIG. 3, FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line VV in FIG. FIG. 7 is a perspective view showing a center brace bracket, and FIG. 8 is a perspective view showing a bumper cover stay. As shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, a center brace bracket 38 made of metal is provided at the center of the center brace 34 in the vertical direction.

  As shown in FIG. 7, the center brace bracket 38 has an inverted L-shaped cross section having a vertical wall-shaped bracket main body 39 and a flange portion 40 bent horizontally from the upper end edge of the bracket main body 39 to the right. It is formed in a shape. The bracket main body 39 is formed in a substantially linear shape extending in the front-rear direction in plan view. A brace attaching portion 42 is formed at the rear end portion of the bracket main body portion 39. The bracket main body 39 is formed so as to gradually reduce the vertical dimension from the brace attachment 42 toward the front.

  A stay attaching portion 44 is formed at the front end portion of the flange portion 40 so as to project horizontally to the left. A bolt insertion hole 45 penetrating in the plate thickness direction (vertical direction) is formed in the center portion of the stay attachment portion 44. The dimension in the left-right direction of the flange portion 40 excluding the stay attaching portion is formed to be constant in the front-rear direction.

  A concave groove 47 that is recessed leftward by bending is formed at the center in the front-rear direction of the bracket body 39. The concave groove portion 47 extends in the vertical direction. The concave groove portion 47 is formed in a substantially trapezoidal shape in which the groove width on the opening side (right side) is larger than the groove width (size in the front-rear direction) on the groove bottom side (left side) (see FIG. 3). Due to the formation of the concave groove portion 47, a weakened weakened portion 48 is formed in the central portion of the bracket main body portion 39 in the front-rear direction. A notch recess 49 is formed in the lower end portion on the front end side of the bracket main body 39 (see FIG. 4).

  As shown in FIG. 3, the brace attaching portion 42 is superposed on the right side of the center portion in the vertical direction of the side wall portion 34c of the center brace 34 in a surface contact manner, and the side wall portion 34c is welded by spot welding or the like. It is attached. The attachment portion serves as a support point P1 of the center brace bracket 38 with respect to the center brace 34.

  As shown in FIG. 8, a device accommodating portion 50 is formed on the rear side of the central portion of the front bumper cover 14 in the left-right direction of the bumper cover main body 15. The device accommodating portion 50 is formed in a horizontally long rectangular tube shape that opens the rear end surface. The device accommodating portion 50 has an upper wall portion 50a formed in a horizontal shape, and the vehicle-mounted device accommodated in the device accommodating portion 50 corresponds to, for example, a front monitoring device such as a camera or a radar.

  The front bumper cover 14 is formed with a bumper cover stay 52 including the upper wall portion 50a of the device accommodating portion 50. A stepped portion 53 that protrudes obliquely downward rearward is formed at the center in the left-right direction of the rear end portion of the upper wall portion 50a. At the rear end portion of the stepped portion 53, a horizontal plate-like bracket attaching portion 55 protruding rearward is formed. The step portion 53 and the bracket attachment portion 55 are formed in a quadrangular shape in plan view (see FIG. 3). The front bumper cover 14 is configured by the bumper cover main body 15, the device accommodating portion 50, and the bumper cover stay 52.

  A bolt insertion hole 56 penetrating in the plate thickness direction (vertical direction) is formed in the central portion of the bracket attachment portion 55. Note that flange portions 57 projecting downward are formed on the left and right side edges of the stepped portion 53 and the bracket mounting portion 55. The flange portion 57 is continuous with the flange portion 51 protruding downward from the rear end edge of the upper wall portion 50a of the device accommodating portion 50.

  The bumper cover stay 52 is formed with two left and right beads 58 extending in the front-rear direction symmetrically. The two beads 58 extend from the rear portion of the upper wall portion 50a through the step portion 53 to the front portion of the bracket mounting portion 55. Both beads 58 intersect the stepped portion 53 orthogonally. Both beads 58 are formed in an inverted U-shaped cross section protruding upward (see FIG. 5). Both front and rear end faces of both beads 58 are closed (see FIG. 6). The bead 58 corresponds to a “stiffening portion” in the present specification.

  As shown in FIG. 4, the bracket attaching portion 55 of the bumper cover stay 52 is superposed on the upper surface of the stay attaching portion 44 of the center brace bracket 38 in a surface contact manner. At this time, the bolt insertion hole 56 of the bracket attachment portion 55 is aligned with the bolt insertion hole 45 of the stay attachment portion 44. In this state, the mounting bolt 60 is inserted through the bolt insertion holes 56 and 45 from above, and is fastened to a nut 61 disposed on the lower surface side of the stay mounting portion 44. In this manner, the bumper cover stay 52 is fixed to the stay mounting portion 44 of the center brace bracket 38 by fastening. Note that the nut 61 may be fixed to the stay attaching portion 44 in advance by welding such as spot welding.

  A fastening portion by the mounting bolt 60 is an input point P2 of a collision load inputted from the bumper cover stay 52 to the center brace bracket 38. The input point P2 is arranged offset to the left in plan view with respect to the support point P1. The offset amount X is set as appropriate.

  Next, the operation and effect of the front bumper cover support structure 36 will be described. FIG. 4 shows an impactor 63 that is a collision object. The impactor 63 is used when simulating a pedestrian's thigh collision with the vehicle 10 (see FIG. 1). When the impactor 63 collides with the front portion of the vehicle 10, the collision load is transmitted to the center brace 34 via the front bumper cover 14 and the center brace bracket 38. Then, when a collision load of a predetermined value or more is input to the input point P2 (see FIG. 3) of the center brace bracket 38, the front portion of the center brace bracket 38 starts to the left (the arrow in FIG. 3). Turn to (see Y). Thereby, the collision energy input to a pedestrian can be absorbed.

  According to the front bumper cover support structure 36, the collision load input point P2 of the center brace bracket 38 and the support point P1 of the center brace 34 are arranged offset in the left-right direction in plan view. Therefore, when a collision load of a predetermined value or more is input to the input point P2 of the center brace bracket 38 at the time of a frontal collision of the vehicle 10 with respect to a pedestrian, a moment in a direction of bending to the left acts on the center brace bracket 38. Thus, the predetermined bending of the center brace bracket 38 can be realized. Further, since the rigidity in the front-rear direction is enhanced by the bead 58 of the bumper cover stay 52, deformation of the bumper cover stay 52 at the time of a frontal collision of the vehicle 10 with respect to a pedestrian can be suppressed. Thereby, the change of the input point P2 of the collision load of the center brace bracket 38 can be suppressed, and the predetermined bending of the center brace bracket 38 can be realized. Therefore, the energy at the time of a collision can be absorbed efficiently. As a result, the protection performance of a pedestrian can be improved.

  Further, the bead 58 formed on the bumper cover stay 52 can enhance the rigidity of the bumper cover stay 52 in the front-rear direction. Further, the bead 58 can be easily formed without adding another part to the bumper cover stay 52.

  Further, since the bead 58 intersects the stepped portion 53 extending in the left-right direction of the bumper cover stay 52, the rigidity in the front-rear direction of the bumper cover stay 52 in which the stepped portion 53 is formed can be enhanced.

  Further, the center brace bracket 38 can be reliably bent toward one side in the left-right direction starting from the fragile portion 48.

  A notch recess 49 is formed in the bracket body 39 of the center brace bracket 38. Therefore, before the center brace bracket 38 is deformed at the time of a frontal collision of the vehicle 10 with respect to the pedestrian, it is possible to suppress a part of the front bumper 12 from interfering with the bracket main body 39 due to the deformation.

  Further, the offset between the input point P2 and the support point P1 of the center brace bracket 38, the bead 58 of the bumper cover stay 52, and the fragile portion 48 of the center brace bracket 38, and other than the fragile portion of the center brace bracket 38. Thus, it is possible to optimize the energy absorption characteristics at the time of collision while suppressing a decrease in rigidity of the portion.

[Other Embodiments] The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, and modifications can be made without departing from the present invention. For example, the input point P2 of the center brace bracket 38 may be arranged offset to the right in plan view with respect to the support point P1. Further, the brace attaching portion 42 of the center brace bracket 38 may be attached to the center brace 34 by bolts and nuts. Further, the bumper cover stay 52 may be attached to the stay attaching portion 44 of the center brace bracket 38 by a clip or the like.

  Further, the number of beads 58 of the bumper cover stay 52 is not limited. Further, the cross-sectional shape of the bead 58 of the bumper cover stay 52 may be appropriately changed to a semicircular arc shape, an inverted V shape, a trapezoidal shape, a quadrangular shape, or the like. Further, the bead 58 of the bumper cover stay 52 may be replaced with a rib. Further, the stepped portion 53 of the bumper cover stay 52 may be omitted. Further, the rigidity reinforcing portion is not limited to the bead 58, but may be any one that reinforces the rigidity in the front-rear direction of the bumper cover stay 52.

  Further, the fragile portion 48 of the center brace bracket 38 may be formed by providing the bracket main body 39 with a through hole penetrating in the thickness direction and a notch recess. Further, the notch recess 49 of the center brace bracket 38 may be omitted. The center brace 34 may be made of a long metal material having an L-shaped cross section, a hat shape in cross section, a closed cross section, or the like. The means for joining the members to each other is not limited to welding, and may be a rivet, a bolt / nut, or the like.

10 Vehicle 14 Front bumper cover 25 Radiator support (body component)
34 Center brace 36 Front bumper cover support structure 38 Center brace bracket 42 Brace attachment part 44 Stay attachment part 48 Weak part 52 Bumper cover stay 53 Step part 58 Bead (stiffening part)

Claims (4)

A front bumper cover extending along the vehicle width direction at the front end of the vehicle and having a bumper cover stay on the rear side of the center portion in the vehicle width direction;
A center brace provided on a vehicle body constituting member of the vehicle behind a central portion of the front bumper cover;
A center brace bracket formed in a substantially straight line extending in the vehicle front-rear direction in plan view of the vehicle, having a brace attaching portion at a rear end portion, and having a stay attaching portion at a front end portion;
With
A front bumper cover support structure in which the brace attaching portion is attached to the center brace and the bumper cover stay is attached to the stay attaching portion,
The input point of the collision load input from the bumper cover stay to the center brace bracket and the support point of the center brace bracket with respect to the center brace are arranged offset in the vehicle width direction in a plan view of the vehicle,
A front bumper cover support structure, wherein the bumper cover stay is provided with a rigidity reinforcing portion that enhances rigidity in the longitudinal direction of the vehicle. The front bumper cover support structure according to claim 1,
The rigidity reinforcing portion is a front bumper cover support structure, which is a bead formed on the bumper cover stay. The front bumper cover support structure according to claim 2,
A stepped portion extending in the vehicle width direction is formed at the center portion of the bumper cover stay in the vehicle longitudinal direction,
The front bumper cover support structure, wherein the bead intersects the stepped portion. The front bumper cover support structure according to any one of claims 1 to 3,
The center brace bracket is a front bumper cover support structure having a fragile portion serving as a starting point of bending deformation that bends in the vehicle width direction.

Images