JP5839889B2 - Front end structure of the vehicle - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a front end structure of a vehicle, and more particularly, to a front end structure of a vehicle that reduces an impact on a pedestrian when the front end of the vehicle collides with a pedestrian.

  As the vehicle front end structure as described above, for example, those described in Patent Documents 1 to 3 are known.

  In Patent Document 1, a first buffer member and a second buffer member extending in the vehicle width direction are provided at an upper portion and a lower portion of the front portion of the vehicle body, respectively, and the rear side of the center portion in the width direction of the second buffer member is used as a structural material of the vehicle body The rear surface of both ends in the width direction is attached to the front of the frame on both sides of the vehicle body.

  When the front end portion of the vehicle having the structure of Patent Document 1 collides with a pedestrian, the first buffer member is deformed to absorb the impact. And the 2nd buffer member provided below the 1st buffer member supports the leg below a pedestrian's leg appropriately, with shock absorption.

  Moreover, in patent document 2, the upper part (bumper reinforcement) of a front bumper is arrange | positioned in the height which substantially opposes the knee of a human body leg part, and the intermediate part and lower part (bumper lower panel) of a front bumper are from the knee of a leg part. It arrange | positions at the height corresponding to a lower part (henceforth a lower leg part).

  When the front end portion of the vehicle having the structure of Patent Document 2 collides with the leg portion, the upper portion of the front bumper contacts the knee. The impact at that time is transmitted to the bumper reinforcement while being absorbed by the foam material disposed behind the upper part of the front bumper. In addition, in the structure of patent document 2, before a foam material is crushed, it is comprised so that the intermediate part and lower part of a front bumper may contact | abut to a leg part. This restricts the crus from being displaced rearward while dispersing the collision load in the middle and lower parts of the front bumper.

  On the other hand, the vehicle front end structure described in Patent Document 3 is provided in a vehicle width direction member at the front of the vehicle body, an energy absorber provided at the front of the vehicle width direction member, and a lower part of the bumper. And a protruding member whose front end protrudes forward relative to the width direction member. Further, a bumper face is disposed at the front end portion of the vehicle width direction member and the protruding member, and the energy absorbing member is positioned ahead of a line connecting the tip of the bonnet and the tip of the protruding member.

  In Patent Document 3, by configuring the front end of the vehicle in this way, when the front end of the vehicle collides with a pedestrian, the projecting member first contacts the pedestrian's knees downward, and the pedestrian's legs. Pay. A pedestrian whose leg is removed tilts toward the vehicle. At that time, the energy absorber contacts the pedestrian's knee and absorbs the impact of the contact. As a result, pedestrians are placed on the hood, preventing secondary damage to pedestrians.

JP 2009-096256 A JP 2007-055367 A (paragraph numbers 0059 to 0063, FIG. 2) Japanese Patent No. 3740901

  In the structure described in the above-mentioned patent document, when the front end of the vehicle and a pedestrian collide, an energy absorbing member or the like (hereinafter referred to as an EA member) provided in the bumper is a pedestrian's leg. Abut. Therefore, a large impact is applied to the EA member, and the impact is also transmitted to the member that supports the EA member.

  In the above-mentioned Patent Documents 1 and 2, the EA member is attached to the lower end of the radiator support member or the like. When the radiator support is made of a frame-shaped resin, the strength, particularly the strength against the force in the vehicle front-rear direction is not so high. Therefore, when a pedestrian's leg abuts on the EA member and a large force is applied to the lower portion of the radiator support, the lower end of the radiator support is deformed rearward of the vehicle, or the member of the vertical frame of the radiator support is buckled. There is a risk.

  In order to prevent the deformation and the like of the radiator support, it is conceivable to provide a member that supports or reinforces the radiator support or to increase the strength of the radiator support itself. However, these methods are not preferable because they not only increase the production cost and the weight of the vehicle, but also reduce the productivity.

  On the other hand, in Patent Document 3, since the protruding member is supported by the reinforcing member on the vehicle body side, the impact applied to the protruding member is not transmitted to the radiator support or the like. However, the configuration as in Patent Document 3 is not preferable because productivity is lowered.

  In view of the above problems, an object of the present invention is to provide a vehicle front end structure that improves the strength of a member that supports a member that comes into contact with a pedestrian's leg when colliding with a pedestrian with a simple configuration. is there.

  In order to solve the above-described problem, a frame-shaped body that opens in the front-rear direction of the vehicle and is provided in a front bumper includes a pair of vertical frame portions that extend in the vertical direction of the vehicle. A pair of horizontal frame portions that extend in the width direction of the vehicle, and the lower horizontal frame portion extends in the width direction of the vehicle and protrudes forward of the vehicle. An end portion of the front side of the vehicle of the side member is connected to an intermediate position in the vertical direction of the vehicle on the rear side surface of the vehicle of the vertical frame portion, and the front side surface of the vehicle of the pair of vertical frame portions An energy absorber projecting forward of the vehicle is provided over an intermediate position between the vertical position to which the side member is connected and the vertical position to which the lower horizontal frame is connected. The front end surface of the vehicle is in front of the vehicle of the protruding portion. The end surface on the front side of the vehicle of the energy absorber is positioned on the front side of the upper horizontal frame portion and the end surface on the front side of the protruding portion. Is located on the front side of the vehicle from the virtual plane connecting the two.

  With this configuration, when the front end of the vehicle collides with a pedestrian, first, the projecting portion and the energy absorber contact the pedestrian's leg (crus). By this reaction, the lower leg part is flipped up to the front upper side of the vehicle, and the thigh part tilts toward the vehicle side. And an upper horizontal frame part contacts a pedestrian's leg. As a result, a rotational force is applied to the leg along the direction in which the lower leg part is flipped up around the thigh contact position, so that the pedestrian can be placed on the hood while reducing the shearing force to the knee. To reduce secondary damage.

  In addition, since the projecting portion and the energy absorber are in contact with the crus at the initial stage of the collision, the force applied to the frame state that supports them can be dispersed. In addition, when an impact is applied to the protrusion, a force that buckles the vertical frame is applied, but in the above configuration, energy is absorbed between the mounting position of the side member of the vertical frame and the mounting position of the lower horizontal frame. Since the body is attached, the surface rigidity of the attachment portion is increased and buckling can be suppressed.

It is side sectional drawing of the front-end part of a vehicle. It is a perspective view inside the front end part of a vehicle. It is a figure showing the behavior of the leg when the vehicle which has the front-end part structure of the vehicle which concerns on this invention, and the leg of a pedestrian collide. It is a perspective view inside the front-end part of the vehicle in another embodiment.

  The vehicle front end structure according to the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a side sectional view of a front end portion of a vehicle V to which the present invention is applied, and FIG. 2 is a perspective view of an internal structure of the front end portion of the vehicle V.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the vehicle V includes a hood hood 11 that covers an engine room in which an engine or the like is disposed, and a front bumper 12 that is disposed below the front end of the hood hood 11. The front bumper 12 of the present embodiment includes an upper bumper member 12a, a middle bumper member 12b, and a lower bumper member 12c.

  Further, as shown in FIG. 2, a side member 13 that supports an engine, a suspension, a suspension member, and the like, and a radiator support 20 (a frame body of the present invention) that supports a radiator and the like are provided inside the front end of the vehicle V. It has been. The radiator support 20 is disposed such that the front end face of the vehicle V faces the inside of the front bumper 12.

  The radiator support 20 includes an upper support member 21 (an upper horizontal frame portion in the present invention), a lower support member 22 (a lower horizontal frame portion in the present invention), and a height of the vehicle V, which are extended in the width direction of the vehicle V. A right support member 23 (vertical frame portion of the present invention) and a left support member 24 (vertical frame portion of the present invention) extending in the direction are formed into an integral frame shape. In the present embodiment, the radiator support 20 is integrally formed of resin, but may be formed of other materials such as metal. Further, the upper support member 21, the lower support member 22, the right support member 23, and the left support member 24 may be configured separately.

  A protrusion 22 a that protrudes forward of the vehicle V is integrally formed in front of the vehicle V of the lower support member 22. The protruding portion 22a is formed in a substantially flat plate shape over the entire width of the lower support member 22, and the strength is increased by appropriately providing a rib or the like.

  Further, the front end portion of the side member 13 is connected to an intermediate position in the height direction of the end surfaces of the right support member 23 and the left support member 24 on the rear side of the vehicle V. On the other hand, a metal bumper reinforcement 14 is provided in the width direction of the vehicle V across the intermediate position in the height direction of the front end surface of the right support member 23 and the left support member 24 with respect to the vehicle V. As shown in FIG. 2, the mounting position of the bumper reinforcement 14 in the vertical direction is an intermediate position between the connection position of the side member 13 and the connection position of the lower support member 22. In the present embodiment, the lower end position of the front end portion of the side member 13 and the upper end portion of the bumper reinforcement 15 are substantially coincident with each other.

  Further, an energy absorber 15 extending in the width direction of the vehicle V is provided on the front end surface of the bumper reinforcement 14. The energy absorber 15 is made of an EA material such as urethane or foam material. As shown in FIG. 1, the position of the front end surface of the energy absorber 15 in the front-rear direction of the vehicle V is more forward of the vehicle V than the plane connecting the front end surface of the upper support member 21 and the front end surface of the protruding portion 22a. positioned. The energy absorber 15 is attached so as to face the inside of the middle bumper member 12b.

  In the present embodiment, a reinforcing portion 16 that protrudes to the front side of the vehicle V is further provided below the mounting position of the bumper reinforcement 14 of the right support member 23 and the left support member 24. That is, the reinforcing portion 16 is located between the protruding portion 22a and the bumper reinforcement 14 (energy absorber 15) in the vertical direction of the vehicle V.

  Below, the behavior of a pedestrian when the vehicle V of this embodiment and the pedestrian collide are demonstrated using FIG. In addition, this figure is the figure seen from the left side of the vehicle V, and the left in the drawing is the front of the vehicle V.

  As shown in the figure, the leg 1 of the pedestrian has a thigh 1U and a crus 1L connected by a knee 1N.

  As shown in the figure, the upper support member 21 is positioned near the thigh 1U, that is, above the knee 1N, and the lower support member 22 is positioned near the crus 1L, that is, below the knee 1N. The energy absorber 15 is located near the end of the lower leg 1L on the knee 1N side.

  When the front end of the vehicle V collides with the pedestrian's leg 1, the protrusion 22a of the lower support member 22 comes into contact with the lower leg 1L of the pedestrian as shown in FIG. The impact at this time is transmitted to the lower support member 22 from the protrusion 22a. However. The energy absorber 15 contacts the crus 1L almost simultaneously with the protrusion 22a contacting the crus 1L. Thereby, the impact when the vehicle V collides with a pedestrian is distributed to the protrusion 22a and the energy absorber 15. Therefore, it is possible to reduce the force that is displaced to the rear side of the vehicle V that acts on the lower support member 22.

  Further, the impact applied to the protrusion 22a is transmitted to the right support member 23 and the left support member 24 through the lower support member 22 as a force for buckling them. However, in the present invention, since the energy absorber 15 is supported at an intermediate position between the attachment position of the lower support member and the attachment position of the side member of the right support member 23 and the left support member 24, the surface rigidity of the support position is The buckling of the right support member 23 and the left support member 24 can be suppressed.

  In order to efficiently support the impact applied to the energy absorber 15, it is desirable that the attachment position of the energy absorber 15 is close to the attachment position of the side member 13. Therefore, as described above, the lower end position of the front end portion of the side member 13 and the upper end portion of the bumper reinforcement 14 are configured to substantially coincide with each other.

  When the projecting portion 22a and the energy absorber 15 come into contact with the lower leg 1L, as shown in FIG. 3 (c), the lower leg 1L is sprung upward and forward of the vehicle V as shown in FIG. Tilts to the vehicle V side. Then, as shown in FIG. 3D, the thigh 1U comes into contact with the upper support member 21. At this time, most of the energy associated with the collision of the lower leg 1L is absorbed by the protrusion 22a and the energy absorber 15. Therefore, the impact when the thigh 1U comes into contact with the upper support member 21 is reduced, and the shearing force to the knee 1N can be reduced. Moreover, a pedestrian can be put on the hood hood 11 by this rotational force (see FIG. 3E), and secondary damage to the pedestrian can be prevented.

  As described above, in the present invention, when the front end of the vehicle collides with a pedestrian, the three members (protrusion 22a, energy absorber 15, upper support member 21) that come into contact with the pedestrian's leg in the longitudinal direction of the vehicle. By appropriately setting the positional relationship in the vehicle and the positional relationship of these members in the vertical direction of the vehicle, a member for reinforcing these members (radiator support 20) is provided, or a radiator is provided. The strength of the radiator support 20 can be improved without increasing the plate thickness of the members constituting the support 20. Therefore, it is preferable that the production cost and the weight of the vehicle V are not increased, and that the assembly is easy and the productivity is not lowered.

[Another embodiment]
(1) In the above-described embodiment, the energy absorber 15 is supported by the front end face of the bumper reinforcement 14, but the present invention is not limited to this. For example, as shown in FIG. 4, the energy absorber 15 may be directly supported by the right support member 23 and the left support member 24. In this case, when the mounting position of the bumper reinforcement 14 and the mounting position of the side member 13 are matched, and the energy absorber 15 is positioned directly below the bumper reinforcement 14, the energy absorber 15 can be used as the reinforcing member 16. This is preferable because it functions. Furthermore, an energy absorber may be separately provided on the front end face of the bumper reinforcement 14.

(2) Moreover, as shown in FIG. 4, the energy absorber 15 may be formed in a rib shape. At this time, it is preferable that the end portions of the energy absorber 15 on the right support member 23 and the left support member 24 side are formed in a lattice shape because strength is improved.

(3) The bumper reinforcement 14 may not be provided.

(4) You may provide reinforcement members, such as a rib which prevents buckling of the right support member 23 or the left support member 24, in the back side of the bumper reinforcement 14 or the reinforcement part 16 in the above-mentioned embodiment. This reinforcing member may be formed on the right support member 23 or the left support member 24 side, or may be formed on the side member side.

  INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITY The present invention can be used for a vehicle, in particular, a low floor design vehicle in which the lower end portion of the bumper is located on the lower leg portion of a pedestrian.

V: Vehicle 12: Front bumper 13: Side member 15: Energy absorber 20: Radiator support (frame body)
21: Upper support member (horizontal frame)
22: Lower support member (horizontal frame)
22a: Protruding part 23: Right support member (vertical frame part)
24: Left support member (vertical frame)

Claims (1)

It has a frame-like body that opens in the front-rear direction of the vehicle and is provided in the front bumper.
The frame-like body is composed of a pair of vertical frame portions extending in the vertical direction of the vehicle and a pair of horizontal frame portions extending in the width direction of the vehicle,
The lower horizontal frame portion includes a projecting portion that extends in the width direction of the vehicle and projects forward of the vehicle,
An end portion of the front side of the vehicle of the side member is connected to an intermediate position in the vertical direction of the vehicle on the rear side surface of the vehicle of the vertical frame portion,
Energy absorption projecting forward of the vehicle over an intermediate position between a vertical position where the side member of the front side surface of the pair of vertical frame portions is connected and a vertical position where the lower horizontal frame portion is connected. A body is provided,
An end surface on the front side of the vehicle of the upper horizontal frame portion is located on the rear side of the vehicle with respect to an end surface on the front side of the vehicle of the protrusion, and the energy absorber is disposed on the front side of the vehicle. A vehicle front end structure in which an end surface is located on the front side of the vehicle with respect to a virtual surface connecting an end surface on the front side of the upper horizontal frame portion and an end surface on the front side of the protruding portion.

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