JP5494942B2 - Vehicle front structure - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a vehicle front structure, and more particularly to a vehicle front structure including a strut tower that supports an upper portion of a damper of a suspension device and a tower bar that connects a vehicle body.

In recent years, in order to optimize the front-rear balance of vehicle weight, a vehicle layout in which an engine disposed in an engine room at the front of the vehicle is moved backward toward the passenger compartment is being adopted.
Examples of the front structure of a vehicle that employs such a vehicle layout are described in Patent Documents 1 to 3.

  In Patent Document 1, by connecting the tower bar to the center cowl panel of the cowl panel, and utilizing the rigidity of the tower bar in the vehicle width direction, a concave housing portion is provided at the center of the cowl panel in the vehicle width direction. The front structure of the vehicle which prevents the lowering of the rigidity is described.

  Patent Document 2 discloses a vehicle front structure in which the upper part of a strut dome (= strut tower) and a dash panel are connected to a dome strut (= tower bar) to increase rigidity in the vehicle longitudinal direction and width direction. Have been described.

  In Patent Document 3, a strut housing (= strut tower) formed as a single part that supports the upper end of a shock absorber of a suspension device, a side member (= front side frame), a hood ridge, a dash panel, and A front structure of a vehicle is described in which a cowl top panel extending obliquely forward from the center portion of the dash panel to the left and right sides is combined and integrated to ensure required rigidity and strength.

JP 2006-111162 A JP 2008-127010 A JP 2009-077855 A

  In the vehicle front structure described above, the tower bar is connected to the cowl panel and the dash panel, or the cowl top panel integrated with the dash panel is used. They are members that are not easily rigid and can be easily deformed.

  Therefore, in the vehicle front structure of Patent Document 1 and Patent Document 2, when the load is transmitted from the tower bar to the cowl panel or the dash panel, the cowl panel or the dash panel easily deforms and moves backward. There is a problem that the support rigidity of the tower bar is small. Moreover, in the front part structure of the vehicle of patent document 3, there exists a problem that the volume in an engine room becomes small by integrating components and the layout of brake system components becomes difficult. Furthermore, in the front structure of the vehicle, it is necessary to improve pedestrian protection performance and the like.

  Accordingly, the present invention has been made to solve the problems of the prior art, and provides a vehicle front structure that can increase the rigidity of the vehicle body by improving the support rigidity of the tower bar. It is aimed.

In order to achieve the above object, a vehicle front structure according to the present invention includes a dash panel that partitions a vehicle compartment and an engine room and extends in the vehicle width direction, and extends in the vehicle longitudinal direction on both left and right sides of the engine room. A pair of front side frames, a strut tower that is joined to the vehicle body outside the vehicle width direction of each front side frame so as to protrude upward and supports the upper portion of the damper of the suspension device, and rearward from the lower end of the dash panel A floor panel extending toward the vehicle, a dash panel tunnel portion formed so as to bulge backward in the vehicle width direction of the dash panel, and bulging upward in the width direction central portion of the floor panel and extending rearward of the vehicle A tunnel portion having a floor panel tunnel portion formed in such a manner that the upper portion of the strut tower and the tunnel Parts are connected by a tower bar, the damper of the suspension device is provided in the vertical direction inclined from the inner side in the vehicle width direction upward in a front view downward toward the outside, the connecting portion of the tunnel portion of the tower bar in front view It is characterized by being positioned above a line passing through the upper part of the strut tower and orthogonal to the axis of the damper .
In the present invention configured as above, since the upper part of the strut tower and the tunnel part are connected by the tower bar, the load acting on the strut tower can be transmitted from the tower bar to the tunnel part having high rigidity. Thus, the vehicle body rigidity can be improved, the backward deformation of the dash panel can be suppressed, and the pedestrian protection performance can be further improved. Furthermore, in the present invention, the rigidity of the strut tower can be improved by suppressing the deformation of the strut tower inward in the vehicle width direction.

In this invention, Preferably, the connection part with the tower bar of a tunnel part is provided with the inclined surface which inclined to the vehicle rear side.
In this invention comprised in this way, the support rigidity of a tower bar and engine rear arrangement | positioning can be made compatible.

In the present invention, preferably, the tunnel portion further includes a tunnel reinforcing portion that extends in the front-rear direction along the tunnel portion and forms a closed cross section with the tunnel portion.
In the present invention configured as described above, the tunnel portion includes a tunnel reinforcing portion that extends in the front-rear direction along the tunnel portion and forms a closed cross-section with the tunnel portion. The dash panel retreat can be suppressed more effectively.

In the present invention, preferably, a cowl panel is provided along the upper end portion of the dash panel extending in the vehicle width direction, and the tunnel reinforcing portion extends upward along the dash panel and is connected to the cowl panel.
In the present invention configured as described above, the tunnel reinforcement portion extends upward along the dash panel and is connected to the cowl panel, and accordingly, the tunnel reinforcement portion is moved rearward of the vehicle body without reducing its rigidity. The engine can be made thinner, the engine can be rearwardly arranged, and the load transmission to the tunnel reinforcement can be improved.

  According to the vehicle front structure of the present invention, the support rigidity of the tower bar can be improved and the vehicle body rigidity can be increased.

It is the front view seen from the vehicles front which shows the front part structure of vehicles by a 1st embodiment of the present invention. It is the plane sectional view seen along the AA line of FIG. It is side surface sectional drawing seen along the BB line of FIG. It is the perspective view which looked at the front part structure of vehicles by a 1st embodiment of the present invention from the slanting back on the passenger compartment side. It is the principal part perspective view which looked at the front part structure of the vehicle by 1st Embodiment of this invention from the diagonally upper side by the side of an engine room. It is the front view seen from the vehicle front which shows the front part structure of the vehicle by 2nd Embodiment of this invention. It is the plane sectional view seen along the CC line of FIG. It is a principal part expanded sectional view of FIG. It is side surface sectional drawing seen along the DD line | wire of FIG. It is the perspective view which looked at the front part structure of the vehicle by 2nd Embodiment of this invention from the diagonally back by the compartment side.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.
First, the front structure of a vehicle according to the first embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 is a front view showing a front structure of a vehicle according to a first embodiment of the present invention as seen from the front of the vehicle, and FIG. 2 is a plan sectional view taken along line AA of FIG. 3 is a side cross-sectional view taken along the line BB in FIG. 1, and FIG. 4 is a perspective view of the front structure of the vehicle according to the first embodiment of the present invention as viewed obliquely from the passenger compartment side. FIG. 5 is a perspective view of a main part of the front structure of the vehicle according to the first embodiment of the present invention as viewed obliquely from the engine room side.

  As shown in FIGS. 1 to 5, reference numeral 1 denotes a front structure of a vehicle according to the first embodiment of the present invention. The front structure 1 of the vehicle is arranged in the vehicle front-rear direction on the left and right sides on the front side of the vehicle. A pair of front side frames 2 provided so as to extend is provided, and a front cross member (No. 1 cross member) 4 extending in the vehicle width direction is provided at a front portion of the front side frame 2, and the front side frames 2 on both sides are provided. Are connected.

The rear part of the front side frame 2 includes a main part 2a extending in the front-rear direction, an inner member 2b formed on the inner side in the vehicle width direction, and an outer member 2c formed on the outer side in the vehicle width direction. It is integrally formed.
A front end portion of a floor frame 6 extending in the front-rear direction is connected to the lower surface of the main portion 2 a of the front side frame 2. The floor frame 6 is attached to the lower surface of the floor panel 7 located on the rear side of the dash panel 8 described later.

Behind the front side frame 2 is provided a dash panel 8 that partitions the compartment S and the engine compartment E and extends in the vehicle width direction. Above the dash panel 8, there is provided a cowl panel 10 that extends in the vehicle width direction and introduces outside air to the air conditioning unit. The cowl panel 10 has a split structure in which a central portion in the vehicle width direction is formed of a separate part.
In addition, a wheel house 12 that houses a bulging front wheel (not shown) is provided in the engine room E on the vehicle outer side of the front side frame 2, and the wheel house 12 is disposed above the wheel house 12. An apron reinforcement 14 is provided for reinforcement.

  Further, as shown in FIG. 1, the wheel house 12 is provided with a strut tower 16 that supports an upper portion of a damper 42 of a suspension device 40 of a wheel (front wheel) 38. Two reinforcing plates 18 that increase the longitudinal rigidity of the strut tower 16 are provided at the front and rear positions of the strut tower 16 (see FIG. 5).

  More specifically, the suspension device 40 includes a knuckle 44 that rotatably supports the wheel 38, and a vertical swing between the upper portion of the knuckle 44 and the vehicle body side member, as shown by the broken line in FIG. The upper arm 46 is movably connected, and the lower arm 48 is connected to the lower part of the knuckle 44 and the vehicle body side member so as to be swingable in the vertical direction. It is connected. The axis L1 of the damper 42 is inclined from the upper side in the vehicle width direction to the lower side in the vehicle width direction from the damper mounting seat 42a provided at the upper part of the strut tower 16 in a stationary state or a straight traveling state with a standard number of passengers and loading capacity. Extending vertically.

  The damper mounting seat 42a is provided so as to be inclined from the upper side in the vehicle width direction to the lower side in the vehicle width direction when viewed from the front. In order to increase the support rigidity of the strut tower 16 in order to increase the support rigidity by receiving the load from the damper 42 as vertically as possible in the damper mounting seat 42a in order to increase the supporting rigidity, the damper mounting seat 42a has the axis L1 of the damper 42 described above. It is provided so as to be substantially orthogonal to.

  In the present embodiment, the structure of the suspension device is not limited to that described above, and the damper and the upper arm may be connected, or the lower part of the damper may be connected to the knuckle. Further, the damper may be connected to the upper portion of the knuckle so that the upper arm is not provided.

  Here, as shown in FIG. 2 and FIG. 3, the broken line indicates the arrangement line of the power unit P composed of the engine and the transmission. As shown in this arrangement line, in the vehicle of the present embodiment, the arrangement position of the power unit P is set on the vehicle rear side from the vehicle of the normal vertical engine. Specifically, the power unit P is disposed on the vehicle rear side of the front cross member 4, and the rear end of the power unit P is set so as to protrude rearward from the dash panel 8 (vehicle compartment S side). 10 is arranged so as to sink into the lower side. Thus, by arranging the power unit P, the front-rear balance of the vehicle weight can be optimized, and a vehicle with excellent maneuverability can be obtained.

  Next, the rear end of the outer side member 2c of the front side frame 2 extends in the vehicle width direction along the dash panel 8, and a torque box 20 extending in the vehicle width direction is provided at the rear end of the outer side member 2c. Further, a side sill 22 that is positioned outside the torque box 20 and extends in the vehicle front-rear direction substantially parallel to the floor frame 6 is joined. A front pillar 21 extending upward is joined to the side sill 22.

  On the other hand, a dash panel tunnel portion 23 bulging rearward of the vehicle is formed at the center of the dash panel 8 in the vehicle width direction. Further, a floor panel tunnel portion 24 that bulges upward and extends in the front-rear direction of the vehicle body is also formed at the vehicle width direction center portion of the floor panel 7 described above. The front end portion 24 a of the floor panel tunnel portion 24 is joined to the rear end portion of the dash panel tunnel portion 23, and a tunnel portion 25 is formed by the dash panel tunnel portion 23 and the floor panel tunnel portion 24.

  Further, a dash cross member 26 extending in the vehicle width direction is joined to the side surface of the dash panel 8 in the vehicle compartment, and a closed cross section extending in the vehicle width direction is formed between the dash panel 8 and the dash panel 8.

Further, in the tunnel portion 25, a backbone frame portion 27 that is a tunnel reinforcement portion extending in the front-rear direction along the floor panel tunnel portion 24 is provided above the floor panel tunnel portion 24. An upper extension 27 a that extends obliquely upward and is joined to the cowl panel 10 behind the dash panel tunnel 23 is formed in the front part.
As described above, the tunnel portion 25 further includes the backbone frame portion 27 and the upper extension portion 27 a, and a closed cross section 28 extending in the vehicle body front-rear direction is formed between them and the tunnel portion 25.
Further, the inner side member 2b of the front side frame 2 described above forms a closed section together with the main portion 2a, and this closed section is connected to the dash panel tunnel portion 23.

  Next, a front end portion 30a of a tower bar 30 that extends obliquely from the outside of the vehicle body to the inside of the vehicle body in the longitudinal direction of the vehicle body is connected to the upper portion of the strut tower 16 described above. A joining flange 30b is attached to the rear end portion of the tower bar 30, and the attachment bar 30b allows the tower bar 30 to be located on the rear side of the vehicle body, which is the front portion of the front surface 8a of the dash panel 8 and the dash panel tunnel portion 23, and the vehicle width. It is connected to the inclined surface 23a inclined inward in the direction by a fastening member 32 (see FIGS. 2 and 3).

  Further, as shown in FIG. 2, an inclined surface 27 b is similarly formed on the upper extension portion 27 a of the backbone frame portion 27, and the front end of the inclined surface 27 b is connected to the rear portion of the tower bar 30. It is in contact with the rear surface of the dash panel 8 corresponding to the position of the front surface and the vicinity thereof. Furthermore, the arrangement | positioning direction of the tower bar 30 and the inclination direction of the inclined surface 27b of the backbone frame part 27 are arrange | positioned so that it may become substantially linear shape by planar view.

Next, as shown in FIG. 1, the connecting portion X1 between the tower bar 30 and the dash panel tunnel portion 23 passes through the upper portion X2 of the strut tower 16 and extends orthogonally to the axis L1 of the damper 42 in a front view. It is located above the line L2.
The connecting portion X1 between the tower bar 30 and the dash panel tunnel portion 23 may be positioned above a straight line extending along the seating surface of the damper mounting seat 42a described above in a front view.

Next, the operation of the vehicle front structure according to the first embodiment of the present invention will be described.
First, in the vehicle front structure 1 according to the present embodiment, since the upper part of the strut tower 16 and the dash panel tunnel part 23 of the tunnel part 25 are connected by the tower bar 30, the load acting on the strut tower 16 is reduced to the tower. Since the transmission from the bar 30 to the dash panel tunnel portion 23 (that is, the tunnel portion 25) and the displacement of the upper portion of the strut tower 16 in the vehicle width direction can be suppressed, the rigidity of the vehicle body can be improved.
Further, since the rigidity of the vehicle body in the front-rear direction and the vehicle width direction is increased, the backward deformation of the dash panel 8 can be suppressed.

Further, even when an obstacle collides with a portion above the front side frame 2 at the time of a frontal collision, the collision load is transmitted from the tower bar 30 to the dash panel tunnel portion 23 to suppress the backward deformation of the dash panel 8. be able to.
Further, at the time of a frontal collision, the collision load is distributed from the front side frame 2 to the dash panel tunnel part 23 via the strut tower 16 and the tower bar 30, and the displacement of the upper part of the strut tower 16 in the vehicle width direction is suppressed. Thus, the portion of the front side frame 2 that is in front of the strut tower 16 can be reliably buckled and deformed.

  Further, by connecting the tower bar 30 to the dash panel tunnel portion 23, a desired space is formed in the height direction between the bonnet (not shown) and the tower bar 30, thereby protecting the pedestrian. Performance can be improved.

  Next, in the vehicle front structure 1 according to the present embodiment, the front portion connected to the tower bar 30 of the dash panel tunnel portion 23 includes an inclined surface 23a inclined toward the vehicle rear side and the vehicle width direction inside. Therefore, the support rigidity of the tower bar 30 and the engine rearward arrangement can be made compatible.

  Next, in the vehicle front structure 1 according to the present embodiment, as described above, the tunnel portion 25 is provided with the backbone frame portion 27 extending in the front-rear direction along the floor panel tunnel portion 24, and this backbone is further provided. At the front part of the frame part 27, an upper extension part 27a that extends obliquely upward at the rear of the dash panel tunnel part 23 and is joined to the cowl panel 10 is formed. The backbone frame part 27 and the upper extension part 27a are used for tunneling. A closed section 28 extending in the longitudinal direction of the vehicle body is formed between the portion 25 and the tower bar 30 is connected to the tunnel portion 25, so that the rigidity in the longitudinal direction of the vehicle body is further improved, and thereby the dash panel is retracted. Can be further suppressed.

  Next, in the vehicle front structure 1 according to the present embodiment, the cowl panel 10 is provided along the upper end portion of the dash panel 8 extending in the vehicle width direction, and the backbone frame 27 extends upward along the dash panel 8. Since the upper extension 27a is connected to the cowl panel 10, the engine can be rearwardly arranged and the load transmission to the backbone frame 26 can be improved.

  Further, as shown in FIG. 1, the front structure 1 of the vehicle according to the present embodiment is provided with an apron reinforcement 14 that connects the vehicle width direction end portion X3 of the cowl panel 10 and the upper portion X2 of the strut tower. The connecting portion X1 of the tower bar 30 with the dash panel tunnel portion 23 is located above a line L2 extending through the upper portion X2 of the strut tower 16 and orthogonal to the axis L1 of the damper 42 in a front view. It has become. The strut tower 30 can be prevented from deformation inward in the vehicle width direction and the rigidity can be improved.

  The reason will be specifically described. The apron reinforcement 14 and the tower bar 30 have a truss structure with the mounting seat 42a of the damper 42 as the front end. The truss structure is inclined downward along the vehicle front-rear direction with respect to the input load direction from the damper 42 (the direction along the axis L1). In other words, the rear edge of the truss structure connecting the rear end portion of the apron reinforcement 14 and the rear end portion of the tower bar 30 is located above the mounting seat 42a in the front view. Therefore, even if the strut tower 16 and the front side frame 2 supporting the strut tower 16 are bent and deformed inward in the vehicle width direction and rearward by the input load from the damper 42, the truss structure is against this behavior. The tower bar 30 tends to swing upward with the vicinity of the rear end portion as an axis, but the mounting seat 42a, which is the front end portion, tries to move forward, thereby generating a tension force. By this tension force, the deformation in the vehicle width direction inside the strut tower 30 can be suppressed, and the rigidity can be improved.

  Next, a vehicle front structure according to a second embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 6 is a front view showing the front structure of the vehicle according to the second embodiment of the present invention as seen from the front of the vehicle, and FIG. 7 is a plan sectional view taken along the line CC of FIG. 8 is an enlarged cross-sectional view of a main part of FIG. 7, FIG. 9 is a side cross-sectional view taken along line DD of FIG. 6, and FIG. 10 is a front structure of a vehicle according to a second embodiment of the present invention. It is the perspective view which looked at from the back diagonally by the compartment side.

  Since the basic structure of the vehicle front structure according to the second embodiment is the same as that of the first embodiment described above, only the parts different from the first embodiment will be described below.

  In the vehicle front structure 1 according to the second embodiment, as shown mainly in FIGS. 7 and 8, a joint flange 27b provided at the front end of the upper extension 27a of the backbone frame 27 is provided in the vehicle width direction. Is joined to a joining flange 26a provided on the inner side in the vehicle width direction of the dash cross member 26 extending in the direction of the vehicle.

  Next, the joining flange 26 a provided on the inner side in the vehicle width direction of the dash cross member 26, the dash panel tunnel portion 23, and the joining flange 30 b on the rear application side of the tower bar 30 described above are fastened by the fastening member 32. ing.

According to the vehicle front structure 1 according to the second embodiment, the same effects as those of the first embodiment described above can be achieved. Furthermore, according to the vehicle front structure 1 according to the second embodiment, the joining flange 30b of the tower bar 30 is fastened by the joining flange 26a of the dash cross member 26 and the dash panel tunnel portion 23. The rigidity of the connecting portion with the tunnel portion 25 can be increased, and the backward deformation of the dash panel 8 can be more effectively suppressed. As a result, the support rigidity of the tower bar 30 can be improved and the vehicle body rigidity can be increased.
Further, as shown in FIG. 6, since the connecting portion X1 between the tower bar 30 and the dash panel tunnel portion 23 is located below the upper portion X2 of the strut tower 16 in a front view, the rigid tower bar is provided. Since the buffer space can be provided higher than the first embodiment above the hood (not shown) above 30, pedestrian protection performance is further improved.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Vehicle front part structure 2 Front side frame 6 Floor frame P Car compartment E Engine room 7 Floor panel 8 Dash panel 10 Cowl panel 12 Wheel house 14 Apron reinforcement 16 Strut tower 23 Dash panel tunnel part 23a Inclined surface 24 Floor panel Tunnel part 25 Tunnel part 26 Dash cross member 27 Backbone frame part 27a Upper extension part 27b Inclined surface 27c Joining flange 28 Closed section 30 Tower bar 32 Fastening member 40 Suction device 42 Damper L1 Axis line

Claims (4)

A dash panel that partitions the vehicle compartment and the engine compartment and extends in the vehicle width direction;
A pair of front side frames provided on both left and right sides of the engine room so as to extend in the vehicle longitudinal direction;
A strut tower that is joined to the vehicle body on the outer side in the vehicle width direction of each front side frame so as to protrude upward and supports the upper portion of the damper of the suspension device;
A floor panel extending rearward from the lower end of the dash panel;
A dash panel tunnel portion formed so as to bulge rearward in the vehicle width direction of the dash panel and a floor panel formed so as to bulge upward and extend rearward of the vehicle in the width direction central portion of the floor panel. A tunnel portion provided with a tunnel portion,
The upper part of the strut tower and the tunnel part are connected by a tower bar, and the damper of the suspension device is provided in a vertical direction inclined from the inner upper side to the lower outer side in the vehicle width direction when viewed from the front. A vehicle front structure characterized in that a connecting portion with a portion is located above a line passing through an upper part of the strut tower and extending perpendicularly to an axis of the damper in a front view.   The front part structure of the vehicle according to claim 1, wherein the connection portion of the tunnel portion with the tower bar includes an inclined surface inclined toward the vehicle rear side.   3. The vehicle front structure according to claim 1, wherein the tunnel portion further includes a tunnel reinforcement portion that extends in the front-rear direction along the tunnel portion and forms a closed cross section with the tunnel portion.   The vehicle according to claim 3, wherein a cowl panel is provided along an upper end portion of the dash panel extending in the vehicle width direction, and the tunnel reinforcing portion extends upward along the dash panel and is connected to the cowl panel. Front structure.

Images