JP2889010B2 - Vehicle assembly method - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a method for assembling a vehicle, and more particularly, to a method for assembling a nose unit having a shroud panel to a front portion of a vehicle body in a vehicle assembly line.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A vehicle such as an automobile is assembled by a line work on a vehicle assembly line as is well known in the art. Also, the vehicle body front assembly parts, such as a bumper, a radiator, and a cooler condenser, which are mounted on the front part of the vehicle body, are usually sequentially mounted at individual mounting stations provided in the middle of the assembly line. is there. Therefore, there is a problem that the number of work stations in the assembly line increases, and the overall length of the assembly line becomes longer and more complicated.

For example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 63-103771 discloses
As described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication No. H10-150, a so-called front body assembly part such as a radiator, a headlamp, a bumper, and a radiator grille is assembled to a radiator core support to form a unit. A technique has been proposed to reduce the total length of a vehicle assembly line by assembling the vehicle assembly line.

[0004]

By the way, at the front of the vehicle body, a front side frame is joined below a wheel apron constituting left and right side walls of an engine room, and an apron reinforcement is joined above the wheel apron. I have. A shroud panel is provided between the apron reinforcements, and a cross member is provided between the front side frames. In this case, when the front assembly parts are unitized as described above, the shroud panel is used as a unit component, and if necessary, a cross member is also incorporated into the unit, while the front assembly such as a radiator is It is conceivable to form a nose unit by incorporating accessories. Therefore, prior to assembling the nose unit to the vehicle body, it is necessary to attach some member (for example, a bracket) for fixing the shroud panel to the vehicle body at the time of assembling the nose unit, for example, by attaching means such as welding. Become.

[0005] However, if such a member is mounted alone on the vehicle body, there is no means for defining or positioning the mounting position of the member with respect to the vehicle body.
It cannot be accurately mounted at a predetermined position on the vehicle body. Therefore, when the nose unit is assembled, the consistency between the nose unit side component and the vehicle body side component is impaired, and as a result, the assembly accuracy of the nose unit side component to the vehicle body is reduced. If the mounting accuracy is reduced in this way, the rigidity of the vehicle body cannot be ensured, and a gap or the like may be generated on the outer surface of the vehicle body.

Accordingly, the present invention provides a nose unit in which a vehicle body front mounting part to be mounted on a vehicle body front is unitized separately from a vehicle body, and the nose unit is mounted on the vehicle body. Mounting accuracy of the mounting member for mounting the shroud panel) to the vehicle body,
It is another object of the present invention to provide a method for assembling a vehicle that can improve the accuracy of assembling a nose unit.

[0007]

In order to achieve the above object, a first aspect of the present invention is to assemble a vehicle in which a nose unit having a shroud panel is mounted on a vehicle body conveyed on a vehicle assembly line. Before assembling the nose unit by assembling various parts to the shroud panel,
A mounting member for fixing the shroud panel to the vehicle body is temporarily attached, and the mounting member is attached to the vehicle body in this temporarily attached state, and then the shroud panel is removed from the mounting member, and the shroud panel is attached to the shroud panel. A nose unit is assembled by assembling various parts, and the nose unit is assembled to the vehicle body by fastening a shroud panel of the nose unit to a member to be mounted.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect of the invention, the member to be attached is a bracket for attaching the shroud panel to the vehicle body, and the shroud panel is attached to the vehicle body via the bracket. The bracket is welded to the vehicle body. According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the second aspect of the invention, after the shroud panel is temporarily attached to the vehicle body via the bracket, a center stay and a shroud side panel are temporarily attached to a cross member, and then the bracket is attached. It shall be welded to the car body. According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect of the present invention, the shroud panel is detached from the vehicle body, held by an assembling jig, and various components are assembled to the shroud panel in that state. .

[0009]

According to the present invention, since the member to be mounted (bracket) is temporarily attached to the shroud panel on the nose unit side, the member to be mounted is attached to the vehicle body. The positional relationship with the panel is accurately regulated, and the mounted member is accurately mounted at a predetermined position on the vehicle body. Therefore, the mounting accuracy of the mounted member is improved, and when the nose unit is assembled, the shroud panel is fixed to the mounted member with high accuracy, and the consistency between the vehicle body-side component and the nose unit-side component is ensured. .

[0010]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings.

In FIG. 1 showing a vehicle body to which the present invention is applied, 1 is a vehicle body, 2 and 2 are front fenders, 3 is an engine room, and 4 and 4 are left and right side walls of the engine room 3. The front side frames 5 and 5 are mounted on the lower side of the wheel apron, and the apron reinforcements 6 and 6 are mounted on the upper side thereof. A cross member 7 extending in the left-right direction of the vehicle body is mounted between the front end portions of the left and right front side frames 5, 5. Left and right wheel apron gussets 8, 8 are attached to the front side frames 5, 5 and the cross member 7, respectively. These are joined (welded) in a first main line C, which will be described later, while maintaining their mutual positional relationship correctly.

At the front end portions of the left and right apron reinforcements 6, 6, a shroud panel 10 (more precisely, a shroud upper 10) constituting a nose unit 9 is provided.
The brackets 11, 11 for fixing the shroud door upper, both ends of which are fixed (fastened) in FIG.

[0013] Shroud door mounting bracket 11,
2. As shown in FIG. 2, the base 11a has a wheel apron reinforcement 6 and a wheel apron 4 as shown in FIG.
And, it is fixed to the wheel apron gusset 8 by welding. Also, a bracket 11 for mounting the shroud door upper.
An upper fastening portion 11b having a substantially U-shaped vertical cross section protrudes toward the engine room 3 from the base 11a. Bolt insertion holes 12, 1 are provided in the upper fastening portion 11b.
2, bolt insertion holes 12 and 12 are provided on the lower surface side.
, A nut (not shown) is fixed.

Left and right apron reinforcement 6,
6 includes shroud upper brackets 11, 11.
The engagement portions 13, 13 with engagement holes are fixed so as to protrude toward the engine room 3 at a position slightly behind the vehicle body with respect to the fixing position. This engaging portion 1 with an engaging hole
Numerals 3 and 13 are for attaching a vehicle body deformation preventing bar 14 for preventing deformation of a front portion of the vehicle body when the nose unit is assembled.

As shown in FIG. 3, the shroud panel 10 is provided with a shroud upper 10a having a substantially U-shaped vertical cross section and extending in the left-right direction of the vehicle body. Both ends of the shroud door 10a are shaped to fit into the shroud door attachment brackets 11, 11, and the shroud door attachment brackets 11, 1 are provided at both ends thereof.
Bolt insertion holes (not shown) are provided corresponding to the bolt insertion holes 12 on the first side. Engagement holes 16, 16 for attaching the nose unit assembling jig 15 are formed inwardly of the bolt insertion holes 12, 12. The upper end of a center stay 10b suspended vertically downward is fixed to a substantially central portion in the left-right direction of the shroud upper 10a.
The upper end of Oc is fixed to form a shroud panel 10. Each shroud side panel 10c, 10
Radiator support brackets 17, 17 at the lower end of c
Is fixed.

Referring to FIG.
, The radiator 21, the cooler condenser 2
2, the bumper reinforcement 23 and the bumper 24 are assembled to form the nose unit 9 assembled to the above-described front part of the vehicle body. The radiator 21 engages pins 25 protruding from the lower end of the radiator 21 with radiator support brackets 17 provided on the shroud panel 10, and the radiator 21.
Connecting the upper end of the housing and the shroud upper 10a to the connecting members 26, 2
6 and assembled (see FIG. 2). Further, the cooler condenser 22 engages pins 27, 27 protruding from the lower end of the cooler condenser 22 with the radiator support brackets 17, 17, and connects the upper end of the cooler condenser 22 to the shroud upper 10a. It is assembled by connecting with. further,
Bumper reinforcement 23 and bumper 24
Uses an opening provided in the shroud side panels 10c, 10c to form the shroud side panels 10c.
The bolts 34, 34, 34, 34 projecting from the bumper reinforcement 23 are fastened to the bolts c, 10c with nuts (not shown). Note that these assembling structures are merely examples, and are not particularly limited. FIG. 4 shows only the main components constituting the nose unit 9, and other components such as a cooler receiver tank, a bonnet lock and the like are also assembled.

Next, a method of assembling the vehicle will be described.

In the assembly line shown in FIG. 5, the parts sent out from the vehicle body attachment line A and the frame assembly line B are connected by a first main line C. In the process of being conveyed along the first main line C, predetermined welding is performed on each part of the vehicle body, and the vehicle body 1 shown in FIG. 1 is obtained. However, in FIG. 1, the shroud panel 10 is removed so that the structure of the front part of the vehicle body is clearly displayed.

After that, it is carried into the painting line D. Then, a predetermined process such as assembling of underbody parts is added to the painted vehicle body 1 on the second main line E, and the vehicle is sent out in the direction of arrow F as a completed vehicle.

In this case, both ends of the shroud upper 10a are fitted from above to the upper fastening portions 11b of the brackets 11 and 11 (members to be mounted) on the shroud upper in the body temporary attachment line A. Then, the fastening bolts 29, 29 are inserted into the bolt insertion holes (not shown) on the shroud door upper 10a side and the bolt insertion holes 12, 12, respectively, of the shroud door upper mounting brackets 11, 11, so that the shroud door upper mounting brackets 11, 11 are provided.
By screwing and fastening to a nut welded to the lower surface of the shroud, the shroud panel mounting brackets 11 and 11 are temporarily attached to the shroud panel 10.

In this state, the brackets 11, 11 for attaching the shroud upper are attached to the apron reinforcement 6,
6 Apply to the front end part. At this time, the center stay 10
b and the lower ends of the shroud side panels 10c, 10c are also attached to the cross member 7 with fastening bolts 30, 30,
It is temporarily attached by fastening with 30. Further, since the radiator support brackets 17 and 17 are seated by engaging with the upper side of the cross member 7, the shroud panel 10 is positioned. The temporary fastening by the fastening bolts 30, 30, 30 is performed by the left and right apron reinforcements 6,
A body deformation preventing bar 14 is erected between the engagement portions 13 with the engagement holes provided in the vehicle body 6 so that both sides sandwiching the engine room 3 at the front of the vehicle body are prevented from expanding. Done in

Accordingly, in the temporarily attached state, in the vehicle body 1, the distance between the left and right apron reinforcements 6, 6 and the distance between the left and right front side frames 5, 5 are determined by the shroud upper 10a and the cross member 7. It is regulated so as to be a predetermined interval. At the same time, the wheel aprons 4, 4 are also positioned. In this state, the various parts of the vehicle body are welded, and the shroud upper brackets 11, 11 are also fixed to the vehicle body 1 by welding.

This shroud upper bracket 1
As a result of the welding of the apron reinforcements 1, 11, the base 11 a of the shroud upper attachment bracket 11 is attached to the upper surface 6 a of the apron reinforcement 6 and the wheel apron 4 disposed on the side of the apron reinforcement 6 on the engine room 3 side. It is fixed to the side.

A wheel apron gusset 8 fixed to the front side frame 5 and the cross member 7 is provided.
Is formed with a flange 8a extending upward. The flange 8a is welded to the base 11a while being inserted into the base 11a. With it
The flange 4a on the vehicle body front side of the wheel apron 4 is also welded to the flange 8a. Therefore, the wheel apron 4, the apron reinforcement 6, and the wheel apron gusset 8 are mutually joined by welding. The brackets 11 and 11 for attaching the shroud uppers include a wheel apron 4, an apron reinforcement 6 and a wheel apron gusset 8.
Will be joined. In addition, this welding structure is an example and is not specifically limited.

As described above, the shroud panel mounting brackets 11, 11 are temporarily attached to the shroud panel 10, and the center stay 10b and the shroud side panels 10c, 10c are temporarily attached (temporarily fastened) to the cross member 7. Shroud upper mounting brackets 11, 11
After the welding to the vehicle body 1 is performed, the vehicle body 1 is conveyed along the painting line D, exits the painting line D, and is located at the entrance of the second main line E.
At 1, the shroud panel 10 is removed from the vehicle body 1.

The shroud panel 10 is removed by using a nose unit assembling jig 15 as shown in FIG. 4 in order to assemble the nose unit thereafter.

The nose unit assembling jig 15 is formed of a rectangular frame and has a shroud upper 10
a, engaging pins 31, 31 for engaging with the engaging holes 16, 16 provided in the
The support part 15a which supports a is formed. Engagement pins 32, 32, 32 are formed on the support portion 15a. The engagement pins 32 serve as center stays 10b and shroud side panels 10 in the shroud panel 10.
The engaging portions 33, 33, 33 provided at the lower ends of the c and 10c are engaged with each other.

These engaging pins 31, 31, 31, 3
2, 32, 32 are engaged with the engagement holes 16, 16 and the engagement portions 33, 3
The shroud panel 10 is held by the jig 15 for assembling the nose unit by engaging with the nose unit 3 and 33. In this holding state, the temporary attachment between the shroud door upper 10a and the brackets 11, 11 for releasing the shroud door upper and the temporary attachment between the center stay 10b and the shroud side panels 10c, 10c and the cross member 7 are also released.

In contrast to the shroud panel 10 thus detached and held by the nose unit assembling jig 15, in the nose unit assembly line G, as shown in FIG. The nose unit 9 is assembled by assembling various components such as the reinforcement 23 and the bumper 24.

Then, the assembled nose unit 9
Is sent to the nose unit assembling station S2 in FIG. On the other hand, the vehicle body 1 is conveyed as it is along the second main line E, performs assembling work of various parts such as undercarriage parts and other necessary work, and in the middle of the second main line E. At the nose unit assembling station S2, the nose unit 9 is assembled to the vehicle body 1 (see FIG. 7). The nose unit assembling jig 15 is returned to the shroud panel removal station S1 along the jig return line H.

The nose unit 9 is mounted on the vehicle body 2 by attaching the shroud door upper 10a to the shroud door upper mounting bracket 11, similarly to the case of the temporary mounting shown in FIG.
11 with bolts 31 and 31 (see FIG. 7).
With the radiator support brackets 17, 17 engaged with the cross member 7, the shroud side panel 10
c, 10c are fastened to the cross member 7 by bolts, and the bumper reinforcement 23 is connected to the first cross member side 35 integrated with the wheel apron gussets 8, 8 described above.
Bolt 3 using the bolt insertion holes 36
The fastening work such as fastening at 4, 34 is performed. And then, although not shown, a radiator grill,
Other parts such as a headlamp are assembled.

With the above-described structure, when assembling the nose unit 9 in which the vehicle body front assembly parts are unitized with the vehicle body 1, first, the shroud door 10a of the shroud panel 10 constituting the nose unit 9
Is temporarily attached to the shroud door mounting brackets 11, 11 with bolts 29, 29, and then the center stay 1 is fixed.
0b and the shroud side panels 10c, 10c are temporarily attached to the cross member 7 with the bolts 30, 30, 30, and the brackets 11, 11 for attaching the shroud door upper are welded. 11 is accurately positioned and welded. At the same time, welding is performed in a state in which the positional relationship between the shroud upper mounting brackets 11, 11 and the shroud panel 10 (and the nose unit 9) is defined, so that welding accuracy is improved. Therefore, the assembling accuracy when assembling the nose unit 9 to the vehicle body 1 is improved, the rigidity of the vehicle body is increased, and no gap or the like is generated on the outer surface of the vehicle body.

In the above embodiment, the cross member 7 for connecting the front side frames 5 and 5 is applied to the structure in which the cross member 7 is fixed to the front part of the vehicle body 1. This cross member is a unit. As a component, as shown in FIGS. 8 to 11, the present invention can be applied to a structure incorporated in the nose unit side. Since the basic structure is the same as that of the above-described embodiment, the same components are denoted by the same reference numerals, and detailed description thereof will be omitted.

That is, on the vehicle body 1 side, the extension portions 5a, 5a for fastening and fixing both ends of the cross member 7A between the front side frames 5, 5 project downward from the front side frames 5, 5. Has been established. Then, the side ends 7a, 7a of the cross member 7A on the side of the nose unit 9A (nuts are welded on the inner surface) are used to connect the bolts 41, 41 to the openings 5b, 5b of the extension portions 5a, 5a.
Through which the bolts 42 and 42 are fastened to the vehicle body 1 and the upper surfaces of the bolts 42 and 42 are attached to the lower surfaces of the front side frames 5 and 5 (nuts are welded to the inner surfaces).
It is concluded by applying. In addition,
Bolts 42, 42 are provided on the lower surface of the cross member 7 </ b> A for fastening with the lower surfaces of the front side frames 5, 5.
Openings 7b, 7b to which reference numeral 42 is applied are formed.

The cross member 7A includes the shroud panel 1
The lower end of 0A, that is, the upper end, is fixed to the center stay 10e fixed to the shroud upper 10d and the lower ends of the left and right shroud side panels 10f, 10f.
On the rear side of the cross member 7A, radiator support brackets 43, 4 for supporting the lower end of the radiator 21 are provided.
3 is fixed.

The side end of the shroud upper 10d is connected to the fastening portion 1 of the shroud upper mounting bracket 11A.
1c is applied to the lower side and fastened by bolts 44,44.

[0037]

According to the first to fourth aspects of the present invention, as described above,
Since the mounting member is mounted while the shroud panel on the nose unit side is temporarily attached to the mounting member, the positional relationship between the mounting member and the shroud panel is accurately regulated, and the mounting member is It can be attached to the vehicle body with high accuracy, the mounting accuracy of the member to be mounted is improved, and the shroud panel can be accurately fixed to the member to be mounted at the time of assembling the nose unit. Consistency with the nose unit side parts is ensured, and high assembly accuracy is obtained. Therefore, a suitable rigidity can be secured for the vehicle body, and the occurrence of a gap or the like on the outer surface of the vehicle body due to lack of consistency can be eliminated.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a front portion of a vehicle body before assembling a nose unit.

FIG. 2 is an enlarged perspective view of a nose unit and a fastening part of a shroud door.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of a front portion of a vehicle body in a state in which a shroud panel is temporarily attached.

FIG. 4 is an exploded view of a nose unit.

FIG. 5 is a schematic view of a vehicle assembly line.

FIG. 6 is an assembly view of a nose unit.

FIG. 7 is a perspective view of a front portion of the vehicle body in a nose unit assembled state.

FIG. 8 is a view similar to FIG. 1 for another embodiment.

FIG. 9 is a view similar to FIG. 3 for another embodiment.

FIG. 10 is a view similar to FIG. 4 for another embodiment.

FIG. 11 is a view similar to FIG. 2 for another embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1… body 3… engine room 9… nose unit 10… shroud panel 11… shroud door upper mounting bracket (attached member)

────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (56) References JP-A-63-103771 (JP, A) JP-A-63-312279 (JP, A) JP-A-3-208778 (JP, A) JP-A-3-3 213473 (JP, A) JP-A-3-227781 (JP, A) JP-A-3-2277782 (JP, A) (58) Fields investigated (Int. Cl. ⁶ , DB name) B62D 65/00

Claims (4)

(57) [Claims] 1. A method for assembling a nose unit having a shroud panel to a vehicle body conveyed on a vehicle assembly line, wherein the nose unit is assembled by assembling various parts to the shroud panel. A mounting member for fixing the shroud panel to the vehicle body is temporarily attached to the shroud panel, and the mounting member is mounted on the vehicle body in the temporarily mounted state. Thereafter, the shroud panel is removed from the mounting member. A method of assembling a vehicle, comprising: detaching, assembling a nose unit by assembling various components to the shroud panel, and fastening the nose unit to a vehicle body by fastening the shroud panel of the nose unit to a member to be mounted. 2. The method for assembling a vehicle according to claim 1, wherein
The above attached member attaches the shroud panel to the vehicle body
And a bracket for
Attach the loudspeaker to the car body and then attach the bracket
A method for assembling a vehicle, comprising welding to a body. 3. The method for assembling a vehicle according to claim 2, wherein
The shroud panel through the bracket
After temporarily attaching to the body, center stay and shroud side
Temporarily attach the panel to the cross member, and then
A method for assembling a vehicle, comprising welding the vehicle to a vehicle body. 4. The method for assembling a vehicle according to claim 1, wherein
After removing the shroud panel from the vehicle body,
Holding jig, and in this state, the shroud panel
A method for assembling a vehicle, comprising assembling various parts.