JP2977878B2 - Outside air introduction structure for automobiles - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Industrial Application Field] The present invention relates to a structure for introducing outside air to an automobile.
The present invention relates to a structure in which a cowl box extends in the vehicle width direction at the upper end of a dash panel that separates an engine room and a vehicle compartment and is used as an outside air introduction path.

[Prior art and its problems] As an outside air introduction structure for a vehicle, a cowl box having a function as a structural member having a closed cross section in the vehicle width direction is provided at an upper end portion of a dash panel that separates an engine room and a vehicle room. In some cases, the closed section space of the cowl box is configured as an outside air introduction passage of an air conditioner. In this case, the lower end of the front window is supported by the upper surface of the cowl box. A cowl panel, which is not a cowl box but is provided at the upper end of the dash panel so as to protrude forward, is disclosed in Japanese Utility Model Laid-Open No. 176068/1986.

Here, since the air conditioning capacity of the air conditioner is regulated by the volume of the outside air introduction passage, when the cowl box is used as the outside air introduction passage as described above, it is necessary to set the volume to a certain amount or more according to the required air conditioning performance. is there.

By the way, in order to improve the space efficiency of the entire vehicle, it is conceivable to shorten the engine room at the front end of the vehicle body by disposing the engine as close to the cabin as possible and disposing the engine between the cowl box and the cabin.

However, if the engine is arranged between the cowl box and the passenger compartment and the cowl box has a sufficient volume for air conditioning, there is a problem that the maintenance of the engine may be hindered. . In other words, the cowl box is located in a state of interfering with the front side of the engine or the component such as the engine cover due to the movement to the front side, and it becomes impossible to move the engine or the component thereof forward. This makes maintenance extremely difficult.

[Effects of the Invention] The present invention has been made in view of the above-described circumstances, and provides an external air introduction structure for an automobile that can ensure maintainability of an engine even when an engine is disposed between a cowl box having a required volume and a vehicle compartment. ,With the goal.

[Structure of the Invention] The outside air introduction structure for an automobile according to the first aspect of the present invention includes:
At the upper end of the dash panel that separates the engine room and the cabin, a cowl box that has a capacity as an outside air introduction path extends in the vehicle width direction, the engine is arranged behind the cowl box, and the engine is moved in the vehicle longitudinal direction Thus, a removable head cover is provided, and a portion of the cowl box that overlaps the head cover when viewed from the front of the vehicle body is divided so as to be retractable.

By adopting the above structure, the engine compartment is shortened by placing the engine as close to the cabin as possible, and the space of the cowl box can be attached and detached so that the engine head cover can be attached and detached while effectively using the space of the vehicle. By making the configuration possible, maintenance and inspection of the engine can be easily performed.

Further, the outside air introduction structure for a vehicle according to claim 2 of the present invention, in addition to the configuration of claim 1, further comprises a part between the part of the cowl box divided so as to be retractable and a body part of the cowl box. A seal member for maintaining airtightness between the two is provided.

By adopting the above configuration, the cowl box can maintain the airtightness required for the outside air introduction structure, although a part of the cowl box is configured to be detachable.

Note that the above components can be arranged at a position overlapping the cowl box when viewed from the front of the vehicle body. or,
The above components can be configured as a head cover detachably provided to the engine. Further, the retractable portion may be configured to be detachable from the cowl box. In this case, a seal member for maintaining airtightness between the retractable portion and the cowl box body to which the retractable portion is detachably attached can be provided.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a conceptual view of an embodiment of an outside air introduction structure for a vehicle according to the present invention, as viewed from the front side of the vehicle, and FIG. 2 is a more specific partially cutaway perspective view.

In FIG. 1, an intake box 2 having a function of switching between inside and outside air, a cooling unit 3 having a built-in evaporator, and a blower unit 4 having a blower are connected in series from the vehicle side to an engine room side of a dash panel (not shown). Are connected to a heater unit (not shown) provided in the vehicle cabin from the blower unit 4 to form an air conditioner. The illustrated vehicle is assumed to have a left-hand drive, and the entire air conditioner is disposed on the right side (the left side in FIG. 1) from the center line in the width direction of the vehicle toward the front side of the vehicle. .

A side end of a cowl box 1 extending along the dash panel 7 at an upper end of a dash panel 7 (see FIG. 2) is connected to the outside air inlet 2A of the intake box 2 in a communicating state. The outside air is introduced through the circumstance 1. The cowl box 1 has an air inlet 11 formed in the upper panel 10 on the upper surface side.
The outside air flows into and is supplied through the.

The engine 5 is disposed on the center line in the width direction of the vehicle from the lower side to the rear side of the cowl box 1 so as to enter the passenger compartment. The dash panel 7 is formed so as to cover the engine 5 and Engine deck 71 in the room
Is formed.

The cowl box 1 includes an upper panel 10 projecting from the upper end of a dash panel 7 toward the front of the vehicle, and a lower cowl fixed to a lower side of the upper panel 10 to form a closed cross section.
20 is a predetermined volume required for maintaining the air conditioning performance of the air conditioner described above. 2 and 3 are cross-sections of a detachable lower cowl 30 described later, and the cross-sectional shape of the cowl box 1 further than that is exactly the same.

As shown in the cross-sectional view of FIG. 3, the upper panel 10 is formed by bending the lower end of the rear vertical wall horizontally to the front side with a predetermined width horizontally to form the leg portion 11. The front window 6 is fixed to the horizontal portion at the upper end, supports the lower end of the front window 6 at substantially the upper center, and is formed so that the front end thereof is inclined substantially equal to the inclination of the front window.

The lower cowl 20 has a substantially U-shaped cross section, and the rear end of the volume 21 projecting downward is attached to the dash panel 7 together with the upper panel 10, and the front end returns by a predetermined amount toward the rear side. It is fixed to the front end 12 of the upper panel 10.

Lower surface of cowl box 1 (that is, lower surface of lower cowl 20)
Are formed horizontally, and are arranged close to the upper surface of the head cover 51 of the engine 5.

The engine 5 is provided with a head cover 51 which is slidable and removable in a vehicle forward direction on an upper portion thereof.
By removing the head cover 51, predetermined maintenance can be performed.

A projection 51A is provided on the upper surface of the head cover 51, and a movement area of the projection 51A relating to the attachment / detachment of the head cover 51 interferes with a lower portion (low cowl 20) of the cowl box 1 (FIG. 1). Middle hatched area). That is,
When the head cover 51 moves toward the front of the vehicle,
51A comes into contact with the lower portion of the cowl box 1 and cannot move, and as a result, the head cover 51 cannot be removed.

Here, a protrusion on the upper surface of the head cover 51 of the engine 5
The lower cowl 20 portion of the cowl box 1 that interferes with 51A is constituted by a detachable lower cowl 30 that can be retracted with a width wider than the interference area by a predetermined amount and is detachable.

The detachable lower cowl 30 has the same cross-sectional shape as the above-described lower cowl 20, and an engaging step portion 32 that engages with the leg portion 11 of the upper panel 10 is bent at the rear end,
Attachment part to be joined to front end 12 of upper panel 10 at the front end
A sealing member 32A, 33A for maintaining airtightness is mounted on both the front and back surfaces of the engaging step portion 32 and the upper surface portion (upper panel 10 side) of the mounting portion 33, respectively.

Thus, the detachable lower cowl 30 configured as described above,
The engaging step 32 is engaged with the leg 11 of the upper panel 10 fixed to the upper end of the dash panel 7, and the front end 33 is fastened with the screws 8 penetrating through the upper panel 10. The cowl box 1 is normally formed together with the upper panel 10 and the lower cowl 30.

Here, the maintenance of the engine 5 with the head cover 51 removed is performed as shown in FIG. 4B to FIG.
This can be done by removing 30.

That is, the screws 8 are removed and the front end 12 of the upper panel 10 is removed.
After releasing the tightening, the detachable lower cowl 30 can be removed to the front side by displacing the engagement step 32 with the leg 11 of the upper panel 10 by moving the front cover to the front side. The head cover 51 can be moved forward and removed so as to prevent the protrusion 51A from contacting the detachable lower cowl 30.

[Effect of the Invention] As described above, according to the outside air introduction structure for a vehicle according to the present invention, an engine is disposed between a cowl box extending in a vehicle width direction at an upper end portion of a dash panel and a vehicle compartment, Even when a component of the engine interferes with the cowl box due to its forward movement, the portion of the cowl box in the vehicle width direction that interferes with the component is made a retractable portion, so that the retractable portion is retracted. This allows the engine or structural components to move forward, thereby ensuring maintainability of the engine.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a conceptual view of an embodiment of an outside air introduction structure for an automobile according to the present invention, as viewed from the front side of the vehicle, FIG. 2 is a more specific partially cutaway perspective view, and FIG. FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view of the box, FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing attachment and detachment of the detachable lower cowl, and FIG. 5 is a perspective view showing a state where the detachable lower cowl is removed and the engine cover is removed. 1 ... Cowl box 5 ... Engine 7 ... Dash panel 30 Detachable lower cowl ... (Evacuable part) 51 ... Head cover (components)

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continuation of the front page (72) The inventor, Yoshiaki Nagayama 3-1, Shinchi, 2machi, Aki-gun, Hiroshima Prefecture Mazda Co., Ltd. (56) References JP-A-61-176069 (JP, A) (58) ) Surveyed field (Int.Cl. ⁶ , DB name) B60H 1/28 B62D 25/08

Claims (2)

(57) [Claims] 1. A cowl box having a capacity as an outside air introduction passage extends in a vehicle width direction at an upper end portion of a dash panel separating an engine room and a vehicle room, and an engine is arranged behind the cowl box. Has a head cover which is detachable by being moved in the front-rear direction of the vehicle body, and a portion of the cowl box which overlaps with the head cover when viewed from the front of the vehicle body is divided so as to be retractable. Outside air introduction structure. 2. A sealing member for maintaining airtightness between a part of the cowl box divided so as to be retractable and a main body part of the cowl box is provided. The outside air introduction structure for an automobile according to claim 1, wherein: