JP6009277B2 - Cowl louva - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a cowl louver, and more particularly, to a cowl louver in which a bridge bracket is attached to a cowl upper in which an air intake port is formed so as to restrict the proximal ends thereof from approaching.

  Conventionally, various cowl louvers having a shock absorbing structure in a cowl upper part around a lower part of a windshield of a vehicle are already known so as to protect pedestrians. Here, Patent Document 1 below discloses a cowl louver having a structure in which a cowl upper is easily deformed by an impact from above. As a result, when a large impact is applied to the cowl upper from above, the cowl upper is deformed, and a pedestrian protection measure can be taken.

JP 2000-38160 A

  However, in the technique similar to Patent Document 1 described above, for example, as shown in FIG. 11, the cowl upper 120 has a rear edge that is hung on a lower edge of a windshield (not shown). . Accordingly, the rear base end 140 of the cowl upper 120 approaches the front base end 130 (both base ends 130 and 140 in the vehicle front-rear direction) due to a manual load caused by a manual touch during a car wash or the like. Therefore, it is necessary to prevent the trailing edge of the cowl upper 120 from falling off. For this purpose, the bridge brackets 150, 150, 150 are attached to the cowl upper 120 so as to restrict the proximal ends 130, 140 from approaching (see FIG. 12). This attachment is performed by heat-welding both ends of the bridge bracket 150 to both base ends 130 and 140 of the cowl upper 120. For example, when a pedestrian's head (not shown) that has contacted the traveling vehicle collides with the cowl upper 120, the elastic deformation of the cowl upper 120 and the thermal welding of the bridge bracket 150 occur. Dropout is performed at the same time. Accordingly, the load that the pedestrian's head receives from the cowl upper 120 due to the elastic deformation of the cowl upper 120 and the load that the pedestrian's head receives from the cowl upper 120 due to the thermal welding of the bridging bracket 150 (the falling load of the bridging bracket 150). Since it acts simultaneously, the load which a pedestrian's head receives from the cowl upper 120 was large. A relationship between these loads and time is shown by a dotted line in FIG. The peak load on the dotted line in FIG.

  The present invention is intended to solve such a problem, and its purpose is to provide a bridge bracket that is mounted so as to restrict the approach of both proximal ends of the cowl upper in which the air intake is formed. It is to provide a cowl louver that can enhance the performance of pedestrian protection.

The present invention is for achieving the above object, and is configured as follows.
In the first aspect of the present invention, an air intake is formed in a cowl upper projecting in the width direction so that a longitudinal section of the cowl louver body has a substantially triangular shape or a substantially U-shape. A cowl louver on which a bridging bracket is mounted so as to restrict the approach of both base ends in the vehicle longitudinal direction, and the mounting of the bridging bracket includes an engaging claw formed on one side of the bridging bracket, An engagement structure that engages with an engagement hole formed at the base end on one side in the front-rear direction and an insertion piece formed on the other side of the bridge bracket are formed at the base end on the other side of the cowl upper in the vehicle front-rear direction. The insertion structure of the insertion piece of the bridge bracket and the direction of extraction of the insertion piece of the bridge bracket are externally applied to the cowl upper from above the vehicle. The base end of the cowl upper in the vehicle front-rear direction when it is used is set so as to be substantially coincident with the direction in which it moves away, and the insertion piece is inserted into the insertion hole via play, and the insertion piece A hooking claw that can be hooked into the insertion hole is formed at the tip of the hook. Even if the play is elastically deformed in the direction in which both base ends of the cowl upper wearing the bridge bracket move away, the hooking claw is inserted immediately. It is the structure characterized by setting so that it may not be caught in a hole .

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a vehicle front side to which a cowl louver according to an embodiment of the present invention is applied. FIG. 2 is an overall perspective view of the cowl louver of FIG. FIG. 3 is an overall perspective view of the back surface of the cowl louver in FIG. 2 as viewed from the front side (front side). FIG. 4 is an overall perspective view of the back surface of the cowl louver in FIG. 2 as viewed from the rear side (rear side). FIG. 5 is an exploded perspective view of the bridge bracket in FIG. FIG. 6 is an enlarged view of the main part of FIG. FIG. 7 is a perspective view of FIG. 6 viewed from the front side (front side). FIG. 8 is a longitudinal sectional view of the cowl louver of FIG. 2, (A) is a state before wearing the bridge bracket, (B) is a state in the middle of wearing the bridge bracket, and (C) is It shows a state where the bridge bracket has been installed. FIG. 9 is a longitudinal sectional view of the cowl louver of FIG. 2, (A) is a state before an external load is applied to the cowl upper, (B) is a state in the middle of an external load being applied to the cowl upper, (C ) Further shows a state in which an external load is applied to the cowl upper. FIG. 10 is a diagram showing the characteristics of the external load and time of FIG. FIG. 11 is an overall perspective view of a cowl louver according to the prior art. FIG. 12 is an overall perspective view of the back surface of the cowl louver in FIG. 11 viewed from the rear side (rear side).

  Hereinafter, the form for implementing this invention is demonstrated using FIGS. In the following description, the terms “up”, “down”, “front”, “rear”, “left”, and “right” refer to the directions of “up”, “down”, “front”, “rear”, “left”, and “right”, as shown in FIG. The upper, lower, front, rear, left and right directions are shown based on the state in which the cowl louver 1 is assembled to the body (not shown) of the vehicle 4.

  As shown in FIGS. 1-2, the cowl louver 1 is comprised similarly to the cowl louver 101 disclosed as a prior art. That is, the cowl louver 1 includes a cowl louver main body 10 formed so as to be able to close a gap between the bonnet 2 and the windshield 3, and resin-molded integrally with the cowl louver main body 10, and air (not shown) in the passenger compartment. And a cowl upper 20 having a plurality of air intakes 22 formed therein. The cowl louver 1 configured as described above is assembled to the body (not shown) of the vehicle 4 so that the cowl louver main body 10 closes the gap between the bonnet 2 and the windshield 3.

  As shown in FIGS. 3 to 4, the cowl louver 1 is different from the cowl louver 101 disclosed as the prior art only in the structure of mounting the bridge bracket 50 on the cowl upper 20. Therefore, in this embodiment, only the structure of this wearing will be described in detail. Below, the characteristic structure of the cowl upper 20 in these wearing structures and the characteristic structure of the bridge bracket 50 will be described in order.

  First, the characteristic configuration of the cowl upper 20 will be described with reference to FIGS. At an appropriate position on the back surface of the base end 30 on one side (for example, the front side) of the cowl upper 20 in the vehicle front-rear direction, that is, at a portion where one side of the bridge bracket 150 is thermally welded in the conventional cowl upper 120, A first pedestal 32 having an engagement hole 34 capable of engaging an engagement claw 54 of a bridge bracket 50 described later is formed.

  The first pedestal 32 is formed with ribs 36 and 36 that form a pair in the width direction. When the bridging bracket 50 is attached to the cowl upper 20, the rib 36 has two side edges (lower edge and rear edge) 36 a on one side (front side) of the bridging bracket body 52 of the bridging bracket 50. Are formed so as to be in contact with the vertical wall 52a and the surface 50a of one end (front side) of the bridge bracket 50. Further, at the appropriate position of the back surface of the base end 40 on the other side (for example, the rear side) of the cowl upper 20 in the vehicle front-rear direction, that is, the portion where the other side of the bridge bracket 150 is thermally welded in the conventional cowl upper 120. A second base 42 having an insertion hole 44 into which an insertion piece 56 of the bridge bracket 50 described later can be inserted is formed.

  The insertion direction and the withdrawal direction (the direction opposite to the insertion direction) are set so as to substantially coincide with the direction in which both base ends 30, 40 of the cowl upper 20 move away when the pedestrian's head collides with the cowl upper 20. ing. The insertion hole 44 is formed with an extended portion 44a in which a part of the hole is expanded. Accordingly, when the insertion piece 56 of the bridge bracket 50 is inserted into the insertion hole 44, the hooking claw 56 a of the insertion piece 56 can be smoothly inserted without being caught by the edge of the insertion hole 44.

  The second pedestal 42 is formed with ribs 46, 46 that form a pair in the width direction. When the bridging bracket 50 is attached to the cowl upper 20, the rib 46 has two side edges (lower edge and front edge) 46 a on the other side (rear side) of the bridging bracket body 52 of the bridging bracket 50. The vertical wall 52b and the surface 50b of the end portion on the other side (rear side) of the bridge bracket 50 are in contact with each other.

  The engaging hole 34 of the first pedestal 32 and the insertion hole 44 of the second stepped base 42 are formed at positions where they face each other. The engagement holes 34 of the first pedestal 32 and the insertion holes 44 of the second stepped base 42 are formed at a plurality of appropriate locations (three locations in this example) in the width direction of the cowl upper 20. ing.

  Next, a characteristic configuration of the bridge bracket 50 will be described. The bridging bracket 50 includes a bridging bracket main body 52 formed in a hollow bulging shape, an engaging claw 54 formed at one end (front side) of the main body 52, and the other side (rear side) of the main body 52. And an insertion piece 56 formed at the end of the side. This insertion piece 56 is divided into three parts (refer to a partially enlarged view of FIG. 7), and among these divided parts, the central one can be hooked on the edge of the insertion hole 44. A hook nail 56a is formed.

  Next, with reference to FIG. 8, the procedure of mounting the bridge bracket 50 on the cowl upper 20 will be described. As shown in FIG. 8B, the insertion piece 56 of the bridge bracket 50 is inserted into the insertion hole 44 of the cowl upper 20 from the state before wearing as shown in FIG. Then, the bridge bracket 50 is rotated so that the insertion point forms a fulcrum (in FIG. 8B, it is rotated in the direction of the arrow), the engagement of the bridge bracket 50 to the engagement hole 34 of the cowl upper 20. The pawl 54 is engaged. When this engagement is completed, the attachment of the bridge bracket 50 to the cowl upper 20 is also completed as shown in FIG. The state shown in FIG. 8C is a wearing state of the bridge bracket 50.

  When this wearing is completed, as described above, the two edges (lower edge and rear edge) 36a of the rib 36 of the first pedestal 32 are connected to one side of the bridge bracket body 52 of the bridge bracket 50 ( The state is in contact with the vertical wall 52a on the front side and the surface 50a on one end (front side) of the bridge bracket 50. Similarly, when this wearing is completed, as described above, the two side edges (lower edge and front edge) 46a of the rib 46 of the second base 42 are bridge bridge main bodies 52 of the bridge bracket 50. The other side (rear side) vertical wall 52b and the other side (rear side) end surface 50b of the bridge bracket 50 are in contact with each other.

  Subsequently, the operation of the cowl louver 1 having the cowl upper 20 with the bridge bracket 50 mounted thereon as described above will be described with reference to FIGS. As this action, a case will be described in which the head of a pedestrian (none of which is shown) that has contacted the traveling vehicle collides with the cowl upper 20.

  When the pedestrian's head collides with the cowl upper 20 as shown in FIG. 9B from the state before the pedestrian's head collides with the cowl upper 20 as shown in FIG. 9A, the cowl upper 20 moves upward. It will be elastically deformed to make it look like it is crushed. At this time, as already explained, the other side (rear side) of the bridge bracket 50 is simply inserted into a structure (a structure in which the insertion piece 56 of the bridge bracket 50 is inserted into the insertion hole 44 of the cowl upper 20). ing. Therefore, since the other base end 40 of the cowl upper 20 and the insertion piece 56 of the bridge bracket 50 are movable in a direction away from each other, the cowl upper 20 is configured so that both base ends 30, 40 thereof are away from each other. Will also be elastically deformed.

  When elastically deforming in this way, the hooking claw 56a of the insertion piece 56 of the bridge bracket 50 is caught on the edge of the insertion hole 44 of the cowl upper 20, as is apparent from FIG. If the collision of the pedestrian's head against the cowl upper 20 is further continued from this hooked state, the hook is dropped as shown in FIG. 9C. Therefore, only one side (front side) of the bridge bracket 50 is attached.

  The solid line in FIG. 10 shows the relationship between the load that the pedestrian's head receives from the cowl upper 20 due to this collision (hereinafter simply referred to as “collision load”) and time. As is apparent from the solid line in FIG. 10, two peaks (first peak and second peak) are formed in this collision load. This first peak is the elastic deformation load of the cowl upper 20. This first peak load is denoted as F2 for convenience of explanation. The second peak is a falling load of the bridge bracket 50. The second peak load is denoted as F3 for convenience of explanation.

  The cowl louver 1 according to the embodiment of the present invention is configured as described above. According to this configuration, when the head of a pedestrian in contact with the traveling vehicle collides with the cowl upper 20, the bridge bracket 50 is dropped after the cowl upper 20 is elastically deformed. For this reason, the peak of the collision load can be dispersed into two (first peak and second peak). If dispersed in this way, the absolute amount of the peak collision load can be suppressed (F1 in the prior art is suppressed to F2), so that the impact on the occupant's head can be suppressed. Therefore, the performance of pedestrian protection can be enhanced.

  Further, according to this configuration, when the bridge bracket 50 is in the wearing state, an external load acts on the engagement claw 54 of the bridge bracket 50 from above via the engagement hole 34 of the cowl upper 20, and this engagement Even when the mating claw 54 is detached from the engagement hole 34, the hooking claw 56a of the insertion piece 56 of the bridge bracket 50 is caught on the edge of the insertion hole 44 of the cowl upper 20, so that the bridge bracket 50 is dropped from the cowl upper 20. Can be prevented.

  In addition, according to this configuration, when the bridge bracket 50 is in the wearing state, the edges (the lower edge and the rear edge) 36a of the rib 36 of the first pedestal 32 are the bridge bracket body of the bridge bracket 50. 52 is in contact with the vertical wall 52a on one side (front side) 52 and the surface 50a of the end portion on one side (front side) of the bridge bracket 50. Similarly, the two edges (lower edge and front edge) 46a of the rib 46 of the second base 42 are connected to the vertical wall 52b on the other side (rear side) of the bridge bracket body 52 of the bridge bracket 50. It will be in the state contact | abutted with the surface 50b of the edge part of the other side (rear side) of the bridge bracket 50. FIG. Therefore, the depth direction (vehicle front-rear direction) and the height direction (vehicle height direction) with respect to both base ends 30 and 40 of the cowl upper 20 of the mounted bridge bracket 50 are in a state of being loosely packed. Therefore, the degree of wearing of the bridge bracket 50 can be increased.

The contents described above are only related to one embodiment of the present invention, and do not mean that the present invention is limited to the above contents.
In the embodiment, the cowl upper 20 has been described so as to protrude substantially upward along the width direction from the cowl louver body 10 so that the longitudinal section thereof has a substantially triangular shape. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and the cowl upper 20 may be configured to project substantially upward along the width direction from the cowl louver body 10 so that the longitudinal section thereof is substantially U-shaped.

  In the embodiment, a first pedestal 32 is formed at an appropriate position on the back surface of the base end 30 on one side (for example, the front side) of the cowl upper 20 in the vehicle front-rear direction, and the cowl upper 20 in the vehicle front-rear direction. The form in which the second pedestal 42 is formed at an appropriate position on the back surface of the base end 40 on the other side (for example, the rear side) has been described. However, the second pedestal 42 is formed at an appropriate position on the back surface of the base end 30 on one side (for example, the front side) of the cowl upper 20 in the vehicle front-rear direction. The first pedestal 32 may be formed at an appropriate position on the back surface of the base end 40 on the other side (for example, the rear side) of the cowl upper 20 in the vehicle front-rear direction.

1 cowl louver 10 cowl louver main body 20 cowl upper 30 base end 34 engagement hole 40 base end 44 insertion hole 50 bridge bracket 54 engagement claw 56 insertion piece 56a hook claw

Claims (1)

An air inlet is formed in the cowl upper that protrudes along the width direction so that the longitudinal section of the cowl louver body is substantially triangular or U-shaped, and both base ends in the vehicle front-rear direction approach the cowl upper. A cowl louver fitted with bridging brackets to regulate
The mounting of the bridge bracket includes an engagement structure in which an engagement claw formed on one side of the bridge bracket engages an engagement hole formed on the base end of one side of the cowl upper in the vehicle longitudinal direction, and the other side of the bridge bracket. The insertion piece is formed of an insertion structure that is inserted into the insertion hole formed at the base end on the other side in the vehicle longitudinal direction of the cowl upper,
The insertion direction and the withdrawal direction of the insertion piece of the bridge bracket are set so as to substantially coincide with the direction in which both base ends of the cowl upper in the vehicle front-rear direction move away when an external load is applied to the cowl upper from above the vehicle.
The insertion piece is inserted into the insertion hole through play,
At the tip of the insertion piece, a hooking claw that can be hooked into the insertion hole is formed ,
The cowl louver is characterized in that play is set so that the hooking claw does not immediately get caught in the insertion hole even if both base ends of the cowl upper wearing the bridge bracket are elastically deformed in a direction away from each other .

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