JP2022015152A - Vehicle front structure - Google Patents

Abstract

To prevent a fuel cell unit from entering an occupant area in a case of an offset frontal collision.SOLUTION: A fuel cell unit 26 is supported by front mounts 52 on left and right sides of the front, and is supported by rear mounts 54 on the left and right sides of the rear. At a time of an offset frontal collision, the front mount 52R on the right side opposite to a side on which a collision object 68 collided does not break, and rear mounts 54L, 54R on left and right sides of the rear break. As the fuel cell unit 26 rotates around the front mount 52R, a left rear corner of the fuel cell unit 26 enters a floor tunnel 20 avoiding an occupant area 22.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

The present invention relates to the front structure of the vehicle, and more particularly to the improvement of the structure relating to the collision performance.

Vehicles, especially many passenger cars, have a front chamber in front of the passenger compartment in which the occupants are boarded, in which a drive unit including an engine and a transmission is mounted. When the engine is mounted in the front room, it is called the engine room. Below, Patent Document 1 shows a vehicle in which a fuel cell (4) is mounted in a front chamber in addition to a drive unit (7) in which a traveling motor (5) and a gearbox (6) are connected. .. The reference numerals in () above are the reference numerals used in Patent Document 1 below, and are not related to the reference numerals used in the description of the embodiments of the present application.

Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2012-218554

In a vehicle in which a large unit such as the drive unit and the fuel cell described in Patent Document 1 is mounted in the front chamber, the unit may enter the passenger compartment at the time of a frontal collision.

An object of the present invention is to reduce the influence on the occupants when the unit mounted on the front chamber enters the occupant room.

The vehicle according to the present invention includes a passenger compartment on which the occupants board and a front chamber located in front of the passenger compartment. In the passenger compartment, a occupant area where occupants seated in the front left and right seats can exist and a central area where occupants between the left and right occupant areas cannot exist are defined. A unit is mounted in the front chamber, and the unit is supported and mounted by mounts at four locations, front left and right and rear left and right. During an offset frontal collision, one of the front and rear mounts on the side opposite to the side on which the collision object collided does not break, the other is configured to break, and the rear part on the side where the collision object collides. The mount is configured to break. The unit rotates in a horizontal plane about a mount configured so that it does not break, and the rear corner of the unit on the side where the collision object collides enters the central area.

By rotating the unit, it is possible to suppress the entry of the unit into the occupant area as compared with the case where the unit translates and retreats.

It is a top view which shows the front part of the vehicle of this embodiment schematically, (a) is a figure which shows the state before a collision, (b) is a figure which shows the state after an offset frontal collision. It is a side view schematically showing the front part of the vehicle of this embodiment. It is a perspective view which shows the fuel cell unit mounted on the suspension member 32. It is an enlarged view of a rear mount bracket and its surroundings. It is a figure which shows the state which the rear mount bracket is broken.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. In the following description, unless otherwise specified, the terms indicating the relative position and orientation such as front, rear, left, right, up and down indicate the relative position and orientation with respect to the vehicle. In each figure, the direction of the arrow FR is forward, the direction of the arrow UP is upward, and the direction of the arrow LH is left.

1 and 2 are views schematically showing the front part of a vehicle 10 such as a passenger car, FIG. 1 is a plan view, (a) shows a state before a collision, and (b) is an offset frontal collision. It is a figure which shows the later state. FIG. 2 is a side view. The vehicle 10 has a passenger compartment 12 on which the occupants board, a passenger compartment 12 located in front of the passenger compartment 12, and a front chamber 16 partitioned by a dash panel 14. A seat 18 on which an occupant is seated is arranged in the occupant room 12. In FIG. 1, the front seats 18 are shown, two of which are arranged on the left and right. On the floor surface of the passenger compartment 12, a floor tunnel 20 extending in the front-rear direction from the center in the left-right direction is provided. The floor tunnel 20 is provided so as to rise from the floor surface of the passenger compartment 12, and divides the space near the floor surface of the passenger compartment 12 into left and right. The floor tunnel 20 is formed so that the floor panel defining the floor surface of the passenger compartment 12 is raised upward, and the space inside the floor tunnel 20 is separated from the passenger compartment 12 by the raised panel. It is a space that has been created. Therefore, in the space on the left and right of the floor tunnel 20 in the passenger compartment 12, there may be an occupant seated in the seat 18, while in the floor tunnel 20, the occupant may not exist even if it is a part of the body. The area where the left and right occupants of the floor tunnel 20 can exist is referred to as an occupant area 22, and the area of the floor tunnel 20 is referred to as a central area 24. When it is necessary to distinguish between the left and right occupant areas, the reference numeral 22R is used for the occupant area related to the right seat 18, and the reference numeral 22L is used for the occupant area related to the left seat 18. In FIG. 1, the shaded area is the occupant area 22, and the halftone dot area is the central area 24.

A large unit is mounted in the front chamber 16. In many conventional vehicles powered by an engine, a unit in which an engine and a transmission are integrated is mounted in the front chamber 16. In this case, the front chamber 16 is called the engine chamber. In this vehicle 10, a fuel cell unit 26 in which equipment related to the fuel cell is integrated is mounted. A pair of side members 28 extending in the front-rear direction are arranged in the front chamber 16, and a bumper insertion 30 extending in the left-right direction is fixed to the front end of the pair of side members 28. .. The side member 28 and the bumper insertion 30 are part of the skeleton member of the vehicle body. A suspension member 32 is connected to the left and right side members 28, and the suspension member 32 is located below the side member 28. The suspension member 32 is provided with a mounting point such as a suspension arm. The fuel cell unit 26 described above is supported on the suspension member 32 via a mount.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing the fuel cell unit 26 in a state of being supported by the suspension member 32. The fuel cell unit 26 will be described together with FIGS. 1 and 2. The fuel cell unit 26 is a unit in which a device related to a fuel cell, such as a fuel cell stack 36 that generates electricity by reacting hydrogen with oxygen in the air, is directly or indirectly coupled to a unit frame 34. Is. The device constituting the fuel cell unit 26 is, for example, a fuel cell output control device 38 including a boost converter for boosting the generated power, an air compressor 40 for supplying air to the fuel cell stack 36, and hydrogen circulating in the fuel cell stack 36. It may include a hydrogen pump 42 to reduce the pressure of hydrogen to be supplied, a hydrogen injector 44 to reduce the pressure of hydrogen and supply it to the fuel cell stack 36, an ion exchanger 46 to remove ions from the cooling water of the fuel cell, and the like. Further, the fuel cell unit 26 may include a device not directly related to the fuel cell, for example, a water heater 48 and an air compressor 50 for an air conditioner. Further, the fuel cell output control device 38 may include an auxiliary inverter that supplies AC power to an air compressor 40, a water pump that circulates cooling water (not shown), and the like. The fuel cell unit 26 has a substantially rectangular parallelepiped outer shape, and the unit frame 34 has a substantially rectangular shape when viewed in plan and has a slightly larger outer shape than the fuel cell stack 36, and protects the fuel cell stack 36 in the event of a collision. do. Further, in addition to the fuel cell stack 36, other devices to which high voltage power is supplied, such as the fuel cell output control device 38, the air compressor 40, and the hydrogen pump 42, may be arranged inside the unit frame 34.

The fuel cell unit 26 is mounted on the suspension member 32 via four mounts. The four mounts are arranged one on the left and right on the front and left and right on the rear of the fuel cell unit 26. The mount located at the front is referred to as the front mount 52, and the mount located at the rear is referred to as the rear mount 54. Add "R" to the code of the placed mount. For example, the mount located on the left side of the rear is indicated by reference numeral 54L. The front mount 52 includes a front mount body 56 fixed on the suspension member 32 and a front mount bracket 58 fixed to the leading edge of the unit frame 34. Further, the rear mount 54 includes a rear mount main body 60 fixed on the suspension member 32 and a rear mount bracket 62 fixed to the rear end of the side edge of the unit frame 34. The front and rear mount bodies 56 and 60 and the mount brackets 58 and 62 will also be described by adding L and R to their respective symbols as in the case of the mount when it is necessary to distinguish between the left and right. By connecting the mount bodies 56 and 60 of the mounts 52 and 54 and the mount brackets 58 and 62, the fuel cell unit 26 is mounted on the suspension member 32.

The front mount body 56 is provided with an annular mount housing filled with an elastic member such as rubber at the upper end, and a sleeve is arranged at the center of the elastic member. The bolt penetrating the sleeve connects the front mount body 56 and the front mount bracket 58. The rear mount body 60 includes an elastic member such as rubber having a substantially cylindrical shape, the lower end thereof is coupled to the suspension member 32, and the upper end thereof is coupled to the rear mount bracket 62. The rear mount bracket 62 may be made of cast aluminum. Vibration is blocked between the fuel cell unit 26 and the suspension member 32 by the elastic member of each mount.

FIG. 4 is an enlarged view of the rear mount bracket 62 and its surroundings. The rear mount bracket 62 is inserted from below and is coupled to the lower surface of the unit frame 34 by two bolts 66 that are screwed to the two nuts 64 in the unit frame 34. The rear mount bracket 62 coupled to the unit frame 34 extends laterally from the rear end of the side edge of the unit frame 34, and is bolted (not shown) to the upper end of the rear mount body 60 at the tip thereof. ..

FIG. 1B is a diagram showing deformation of the vehicle when an offset frontal collision test is performed. The state in which the collision object 68 has collided with the left side of the vehicle 10 is shown. The front mount 52R on the right side, which is the side opposite to the side on which the collision object 68 collides, maintains the state in which the suspension member 32 and the unit frame 34 are coupled. On the other hand, in the rear mount 54, the rear mount bracket 62 is broken on both the left and right sides as shown in FIG. The load of the collision generates a moment around the front mount 52R on the right side, and the fuel cell unit 26 rotates counterclockwise around the front mount 52 on the right side in FIG. Then, the left rear corner of the fuel cell unit 26 enters the central area 24, and the entry into the left occupant area 22L is avoided. Further, the right rear corner of the fuel cell unit 26 does not reach the right occupant area 22R, and entry into the area is avoided. As described above, at the time of an offset frontal collision, the front mount 52 on the side opposite to the side on which the collision object 68 collides is designed to have a strength that does not break, and the left and right rear mounts 54 are designed to have a strength to break. When the collision object 68 collides with the right side of the vehicle, the behavior is symmetrical to the above.

In the vehicle 10, the rear mount bracket 62 is broken, but the rear mount main body 60 may be broken. Further, the fuel cell unit 26 is rotated around the front mount 52R on the opposite side to the collision side, but the rear mount 54R on the opposite side to the collision side is not broken so that the front mount 52R and the rear mount are not broken. The fuel cell unit 26 may rotate about the rear mount 54R so as to break the 54L. Further, the unit mounted on the front chamber 16 is not limited to the fuel cell unit 26, but is a unit supported via a mount including an elastic body such as rubber, for example, a prime mover such as an engine, or a prime mover and a transmission are integrally integrated. It may be a drive unit that has become.

10 vehicles, 12 passenger compartments, 14 dash panels, 16 front compartments, 18 seats, 20 floor tunnels, 22 passenger areas, 24 central areas, 26 fuel cell units, 28 side members, 30 bumper insertions, 32 suspension members, 34 unit frame, 52 front mount, 54 rear mount, 56 front mount body, 58 front mount bracket, 60 rear mount body, 62 rear mount bracket, 68 collision target.

Claims (1)

A occupant room that defines a occupant area where occupants seated in the front left and right seats can exist, and a central area between the left and right occupant areas where the occupants cannot exist.
The front room located in front of the passenger room and
A unit supported by mounts at four locations, front left and right and rear left and right, and mounted in the front chamber.
Equipped with
At the time of an offset frontal collision, one of the front and rear mounts on the side opposite to the side on which the collision object collided does not break, the other is configured to break, and the side on which the collision object collides. The rear mount is configured to break and the unit is rotated in a horizontal plane so that the rear corner of the unit on the side where the collision object collides enters the central area. Also, the front structure of the vehicle.

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