JP5151869B2 - Automobile front pillar structure - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a structure of a front pillar of an automobile.

The front pillar of an automobile has a closed cross-section structure with an inner panel and an outer panel, stands up almost vertically from the front end of the rocker along the lower edge of the vehicle body, the upper part of the pillar extends obliquely upward and rearward, and the whole is almost Make a letter shape. Further, the front pillar is provided with a reinforcement in the pillar extending from the lower part of the pillar to the upper part of the pillar so as to divide the cross section of the pillar in the vehicle interior / exit direction, thereby enhancing the rigidity (for example, refer to Patent Document 1 below).
In general, the reinforcement has a substantially hat-shaped cross section along the outer panel, and the flange portions on both sides are integrally coupled to the coupling flange portions of the outer panel and the inner panel. In addition, the reinforcement is generally composed of two upper and lower members composed of a lower reinforcement and an appalling force.

  In addition, the conventional front pillar has a structure in which the front and rear widths of the middle part of the pillar are expanded to the front side, and the rear end of an apron upper member extending in the front and rear direction along the upper edge of the side wall of the engine room is coupled to the pillar middle part. is there. As a result, an impact input from the apron upper member at the time of a frontal collision of the vehicle is received by the intermediate portion of the wide front and rear pillars, and the rigidity of the front pillar against the impact is enhanced.

FIGS. 6 and 7 show a reinforcement used for this type of front pillar. The reinforcement 8 is connected to a large Appalling force 8a formed integrally from the middle part of the wide front and rear pillars to the upper part of the pillar, and the lower end thereof. And the lower reinforcement force 8b. The lower reinforcement 8b is curved to avoid the wheel house positioned in front of the lower reinforcement 8b and extends diagonally upward, gradually increases the front-rear width forward, and its upper end 82 is connected to the lower end 81 of the apparin force 8a. The upper end 82 of the lower reinforcement 8b having substantially the same longitudinal width and cross-sectional shape is overlapped and welded.
JP 2008-37129 A (FIG. 2)

  By the way, in the conventional front pillar in which the front-rear width of the intermediate portion of the pillar is enlarged, there is a problem that the weight of the entire pillar is heavy because the reinforcement is large. Therefore, it is conceivable to reduce the weight by configuring the reinforcement with a high-strength steel plate having a thin plate thickness and high rigidity. However, a high-tensile steel plate cannot be said to have good formability, and it is difficult to curve and form a ridge line 83 having a hat-shaped cross section like a curved portion of a reinforcement, for example, the front end of the lower reinforcement 8b. Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a front pillar structure of an automobile that can sufficiently ensure rigidity against an impact at the time of a vehicle collision and can be reduced in weight.

In the present invention, an inner panel and an outer panel form a closed cross section, and a pillar lower portion standing up from a front end of a rocker of a vehicle body, a pillar middle portion whose front and rear width increases toward the front, and an obliquely extending rearward and upward slope. It is a front pillar of an automobile in which a substantially square shape is formed with the upper part of the pillar, and the rear end of the apron upper member is joined to the middle part of the pillar,
In the front pillar of an automobile provided with a reinforcement that partitions the inside of the pillar into the inside and outside with a substantially hat-shaped cross section along the outer panel in the pillar,
The reinforcement is divided into a lower reinforcement located at the lower part of the pillar, an intermediate reinforcement located at the intermediate part of the pillar, and an upper reinforcement located at the upper part of the pillar, and an upper end of the lower reinforcement. The lower end of the intermediate reinforcement, and the upper end of the intermediate reinforcement and the lower end of the upper reinforcement are configured to overlap each other,
At least the lower reinforcement and the intermediate reinforcement are each made of a high-strength steel plate, and each ridge line of the hat-shaped cross section extends in a substantially linear shape in the vertical direction,
The front / rear width of the lower end of the intermediate reinforcement is formed wider than the front / rear width of the upper end of the lower reinforcement, and the lower end of the intermediate reinforcement is overlapped on the outer surface of the upper portion of the lower reinforcement, leaving the front half of it. Concatenate,
Forming an overhanging surface extending substantially horizontally in the vehicle direction across the front of the upper end of the lower reinforcement at the lower half of the lower end of the intermediate reinforcement;
Ru ligated with the front portion of the upper end of the lower Ryin force opposing the overhanging surface to the longitudinal direction (claim 1).
The reinforcement is divided into three parts according to different parts of the front and rear width of the pillar, and at least the lower reinforcement and the intermediate reinforcement eliminate the curved shape and form a straight line with good formability. It is possible to realize a light and rigid front pillar.
By the way, if the lower reinforcement is formed in a shape in which the ridge line forms a straight line, the front-rear width of the upper end of the lower reinforcement is smaller than the lower end of the intermediate reinforcement, and only a part thereof can be connected. Therefore, by connecting the overhanging surface of the intermediate reinforcement to the front surface of the upper end of the lower reinforcement, the difference in the longitudinal width between the upper end of the lower reinforcement and the lower end of the intermediate reinforcement is eliminated, and the upper end of the lower reinforcement is removed. It is possible to connect the lower end of the intermediate reinforcement to the whole, and to secure the rigidity of the connecting portion, particularly the rigidity against the impact of the frontal collision of the vehicle.

The lower reinforcement and the intermediate reinforcement are each composed of a high-tensile steel plate having a yield stress of 580 MPa or more.
Suitable for lightweight and highly rigid reinforcement.

The upper end of the lower reinforcement having the cross-sectional hat shape is connected to the rear flange, rear side and center of the rear flange, and the rear flange, rear side and center of the lower end of the intermediate reinforcement are overlapped. And
The front half of the lower end of the central portion of the intermediate reinforcement is bent in the vehicle interior horizontal direction to form the protruding surface, and the protruding surface of the lower reinforcement facing the front side surface portion and the front flange portion of the lower reinforcement is formed. flange portions formed on both side edge portions were respectively superposed on the upper end of the front side portion and the front flange portion of the lower Ryin force allowed to connected (claim 3).
This is suitable as a structure for connecting the upper end of the lower reinforcement having the different front-rear width and the entire lower end of the intermediate reinforcement.

The upper reinforcement is overlapped and connected with the lower end of the upper reinforcement on the upper end of the intermediate reinforcement in accordance with the front and rear width and sectional shape of the lower end of the upper reinforcement in accordance with the front and rear width and sectional shape of the upper end of the intermediate reinforcement. Claim 4 ).
It is suitable for connecting the lower edge of the upper reinforcement and the upper end of the intermediate reinforcement.

  As shown by the phantom line in FIG. 1, the front pillar 1 includes a pillar lower portion 1a standing from the front end of the rocker 6, a pillar intermediate portion 1b having a wide front and rear width, and a pillar upper portion 1c extending obliquely upward and rearward. It is made up of and has a generally square shape. The pillar lower portion 1a has a front edge curved in an arch shape so as to avoid a wheel house in front of the pillar lower portion 1a, and the width in the front and rear is gradually increased upward. The rear end of the apron upper member 7 extending in the front-rear direction along the upper edge of the side wall of the engine room is coupled to the pillar intermediate portion 1b whose front-rear width is enlarged forward after the upper end of the pillar lower portion 1a. Further, the pillar upper portion 1c extending in an inclined manner from the pillar intermediate portion 1b is formed to be narrow.

The front pillar 1 as a whole has a closed cross section with a substantially flat inner panel 11 and a hat-shaped outer panel 12 that opens toward the inside of the vehicle (see FIGS. 3 to 5). A linear force 2 for partitioning the pillar cross section in the vehicle interior / exterior direction is provided.
As shown in FIG. 1, the reinforcement 2 is located inside the lower reinforcement 3 located inside the pillar lower portion 1a, the intermediate reinforcement 4 located inside the pillar intermediate portion 1b, and the pillar upper portion 1c. It is a three-part structure composed of an upper reinforcement 5, and these are connected in series in the vertical direction and are provided over substantially the entire vertical direction in the front pillar 1.

  As shown in FIGS. 1 and 3, the lower reinforcement 3 located in the pillar lower portion 1a is made of a high-tensile steel plate having a yield stress of 580 MPa or more, and includes a central portion 30, front and rear side portions 31, 32, and The front and rear flange portions 33 and 34 form a cross-sectional hat shape.

  The lower reinforcement 3 includes ridge lines 35 and 35 of the bent portion between the central portion 30 and the front and rear side portions 31 and 32, and a bent portion between the front and rear side portions 31 and 32 and the front and rear flange portions 33 and 34. Ridge lines 35, 35 are formed in a straight line in the vertical direction. The front-rear width gradually increases upward, and the front-rear width at the upper end becomes about three-fifths of the front-rear width at the lower end of the pillar intermediate portion 1b. In the lower part of the lower reinforcement 1b, the front and rear flange parts 33, 34 are notched.

  As shown in FIGS. 1 and 4, the intermediate reinforcement 4 connected to the upper side of the lower reinforcement 3 is formed of a high-tensile steel plate having the same performance as the lower reinforcement 3. The front-rear width of the intermediate reinforcement 4 is matched to the front-rear width of the pillar intermediate part 1 b and is wider than the front-rear width of the upper end of the lower reinforcement 3. As with the lower reinforcement 3, the cross section of the intermediate reinforcement 4 has a hat shape in cross section with the central portion 40, the front and rear side surfaces 41 and 42, and the front and rear flanges 43 and 44.

  The intermediate reinforcement 4 includes ridge lines 45, 45 between the central portion 40 and the front and rear side surfaces 41, 42, and ridge lines 45 between the front and rear side surface portions 41, 42 and the front and rear flange portions 43, 44, 45 is formed linearly in the vertical direction, and the front-rear width of the intermediate reinforcement 4 is formed to be substantially the same wide from the upper end to the lower end. The central portion 40 is formed so that the first half portion is gently bent from the boundary with the second half portion and is inclined slightly inward and the ridgeline 45 between the first half portion and the second half portion is also linear. It is formed.

  A reinforcing plate 20 that connects between the front and rear side surface portions 41 and 42 is provided at an upper and lower intermediate position of the intermediate reinforcement 4. The reinforcing plate 20 is also made of a high-tensile steel plate having the same performance as the lower and intermediate reinforcements 3 and 4.

  As shown in FIGS. 1 to 3, the lower reinforcement 3 and the intermediate reinforcement 4 are arranged such that the rear edges of the lower reinforcement 3 and the rear reinforcement 3 are aligned in the vertical direction. The rear flange portion 44 of the intermediate reinforcement 4, the rear side surface portion 42, and the rear half portions of the central portion 40 are overlapped and welded to the outer surfaces of the upper ends of 32 and the central portion 30.

And it is bent from now on the lower end of the front half part of the center part 40 of the intermediate | middle part reinforcement 4 which spreads ahead rather than the center part 30 of the lower reinforcement 3 toward the vehicle inside so that the front of the lower reinforcement 3 may be crossed. A projecting surface 46 that projects horizontally is formed. The overhanging surface 46 has a quadrangular shape in plan view and closes a gap between the front end of the upper end of the lower reinforcement 3 and the front portion of the front pillar in front thereof.
By providing the overhanging surface 46, the cross-sectional shape of the lower end of the intermediate reinforcement 4 is matched with the cross-sectional shape of the upper end of the lower reinforcement 3.
The overhanging surface 46 is formed with flange portions 47 and 47 bent downward at the inner edge and the rear edge of the inner periphery, and both flange portions 47 and 47 are formed in front of the central portion 30 of the lower reinforcement 3. It is overlapped and welded to the outer surface of the upper end of the part side surface 31 and the front flange part 43.

In the connecting portion between the upper end of the lower reinforcement 3 and the lower end of the intermediate reinforcement 4 thus configured, as shown in FIG. 3, the rear flange portions 34, 44 of the lower and intermediate reinforcements 3, 4 are connected to each other. The connecting portion is overlapped with the connecting portion between the connecting flange portions of the inner panel 11 of the front pillar 1 and the rear portion of the outer panel 12 and is integrally welded, and the front flange portion 33 of the lower reinforcement 3 and the peripheral flange of the overhanging surface 46 The connecting portion with the portion 47 is overlapped and welded to the front and rear intermediate position of the inner panel 11, and the peripheral flange portion 47 that extends further forward than the front flange portion 33 is overlapped from the intermediate position of the inner panel 11 to the front side. Welded.
Note that the front flanges of the inner panel 11 and the outer panel 12 are welded together at the front flange portions.

  Although not shown, at the lower end where the front and rear flange portions of the lower reinforcement 3 are notched, the central portion 30 is overlapped and welded to the inner surface of the outer panel in the pillar lower portion 1a.

  As shown in FIG. 4, the intermediate reinforcement 4 includes a front flange portion 43 and a rear flange portion 44 that are connected to each other between the front and rear connection flange portions of the inner panel 11 and the outer panel 12 in the pillar intermediate portion 1 b. It is welded integrally with the part.

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 5, the upper reinforcement 5 has an enlarged front and rear width at the lower end with respect to the straight general portion, and is bent downward so that its width and cross-sectional shape are matched to the intermediate reinforcement 4. Formed. The upper reinforcement 5 uses a steel plate that has a lower yield stress than the lower and intermediate reinforcements 3 and 4 and can be bent.
The upper reinforcement 5 is welded with its lower end overlapped with the outer surface of the upper end of the intermediate reinforcement 4. In the upper reinforcement 5, the front flange portion 53 and the rear flange portion 54 are integrally welded to the front and rear coupling flange portions of the inner panel 11 and the outer panel 12 in the pillar upper portion 1 c.

  According to the present embodiment, the reinforcement 2 that reinforces the front pillar 1 having partially different front and rear widths is divided into a lower reinforcement 3, an intermediate reinforcement 4 and an upper reinforcement 5 for each part having different front and rear widths. The lower reinforcement 3 and the intermediate reinforcement 4 that receive particularly strong impact via the apron upper member 7 at the time of frontal collision of the vehicle, etc., are high-strength steel plates in which the ridges 35 and 45 are linearly formed in a cross-sectional hat shape, Desirably, a high-tensile steel plate with a yield stress of 580 MPa or more is used, and by using such a steel plate, reinforcement can be easily formed, and the plate thickness is made thinner and lighter than before, and high rigidity is exhibited. The

  Further, by using a straight steel plate for the lower reinforcement 3, when there is a difference in the front-rear width at the connecting portion with the intermediate reinforcement 4 having a wide front-rear width, the upper end of the lower reinforcement 3 is connected to the intermediate reinforcement 4. The lower reinforce 3 is welded to the latter half of the lower end of the intermediate reinforcement 4, and an overhanging surface 46 projecting horizontally in front of the upper end of the lower reinforcement 3 is formed in the surplus front half of the intermediate reinforcement 4. And closes the gap between the front side surface 31 at the upper end of the front pillar 1 and the front surface portion of the front pillar 1 opposite to the front side surface 47, and connects the side edges 47, 47 of the overhanging surface 46 to the front side surface 31 at the upper end of the lower reinforcement 3 and Since it is structured to be welded to the inner panel 11 integrally with the front flange portion 33, the strength and rigidity of the connecting portion of the lower reinforcement 3 and the intermediate reinforcement 4 are particularly determined from the front. Rigidity against the impact is sufficiently secured.

  In the above-described embodiment, the weight of the front pillar 1 can be reduced by using the lower and intermediate reinforcements 3 and 4 as the high-strength steel plates, but the upper reinforcement 5 may also be formed of the high-tensile steel plates. Well, according to this, further weight reduction and high rigidity can be realized. In this case, the upper reinforcement 5 is also a steel plate formed in a straight line.

It is a side view of the reinforcement used for the front pillar structure of the present invention. It is an enlarged view which shows the connection part of the lower reinforcement which comprises the said reinforcement, and an intermediate part reinforcement. It is sectional drawing in the position which follows the III-III line of FIG. It is sectional drawing in the position which follows the IV-IV line of FIG. It is sectional drawing in the position which follows the VV line of FIG. It is a side view of the reinforcement of the conventional front pillar. It is sectional drawing which follows the VII-VII line of FIG.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Front pillar 1a Pillar lower part 1b Pillar intermediate part 1c Pillar upper part 11 Inner panel 12 Outer panel 2 Reinforce 3 Lower reinforce 4 Middle reinforce 5 Upper reinforce 30,40 Center part 31,41 Front side face 32,42 Rear side face 33, 43 Front flange part 34, 44 Rear flange part 35, 45 Edge 46 Overhang surface 47 Side edge flange part 6 Rocker 7 Apron upper member

Claims (4)

The inner panel and the outer panel form a closed section, and the pillar lower part stands up from the front end of the rocker of the vehicle body, the pillar intermediate part whose front and rear width increases toward the front, and the pillar upper part that extends obliquely upward and rearward. A front pillar of an automobile having a substantially square shape and having the rear end of an apron upper member joined to the middle part of the pillar,
In the front pillar of an automobile provided with a reinforcement that partitions the inside of the pillar into the inside and outside with a substantially hat-shaped cross section along the outer panel in the pillar,
The reinforcement is divided into a lower reinforcement located at the lower part of the pillar, an intermediate reinforcement located at the intermediate part of the pillar, and an upper reinforcement located at the upper part of the pillar, and an upper end of the lower reinforcement. The lower end of the intermediate reinforcement, and the upper end of the intermediate reinforcement and the lower end of the upper reinforcement are configured to overlap each other,
At least the lower reinforcement and the intermediate reinforcement are each made of a high-strength steel plate, and each ridge line of the hat-shaped cross section extends in a substantially linear shape in the vertical direction,
The front / rear width of the lower end of the intermediate reinforcement is formed wider than the front / rear width of the upper end of the lower reinforcement, and the lower end of the intermediate reinforcement is overlapped on the outer surface of the upper portion of the lower reinforcement, leaving the front half of it. Concatenate,
Forming an overhanging surface extending substantially horizontally in the vehicle direction across the front of the upper end of the lower reinforcement at the lower half of the lower end of the intermediate reinforcement;
A front pillar structure for an automobile, wherein the overhanging surface is connected to a front surface portion of an upper end of a lower reinforcement facing the extension surface in the front-rear direction . In the front pillar structure of the automobile according to claim 1,
A front pillar structure of an automobile in which the lower reinforcement and the intermediate reinforcement are each made of a high-tensile steel plate having a yield stress of 580 MPa or more. The front pillar structure of an automobile according to claim 1 or 2,
The upper end of the lower reinforcement having the cross-sectional hat shape is connected to the rear flange, rear side and center of the rear flange, and the rear flange, rear side and center of the lower end of the intermediate reinforcement are overlapped. And
The front half of the lower end of the central portion of the intermediate reinforcement is bent in the vehicle interior horizontal direction to form the protruding surface, and the protruding surface of the lower reinforcement facing the front side surface portion and the front flange portion of the lower reinforcement is formed. A front pillar structure of an automobile in which flange portions formed on both side edges are overlapped and connected to the front side surface portion of the lower reinforcement and the upper end of the front flange portion, respectively . The front pillar structure of an automobile according to any one of claims 1 to 3 ,
The upper reinforcement is overlapped and connected with the lower end of the upper reinforcement on the upper end of the intermediate reinforcement in accordance with the front and rear width and sectional shape of the upper end of the intermediate reinforcement. Car front pillar structure.