JPH04126678A - Front side member structure - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To facilitate highly efficient transmission of a load applied to a front side member to a cross member or a front pillar, by bending a rear side of the vehicle of a front side upper member along a dash panel and connecting this rear portion side to the cross member or the front pillar. CONSTITUTION:The front side member 12 is composed of a front side lower member 14 and a front side upper member 16. The front side of the front side lower member 14 as viewed in regard to the vehicle is shaped like a horizontally thrown U which is opened at the upper side of the vehicle while, at the rear side thereof, the bottom surface thereof is gradually inclined toward a lower position of the vehicle and is extended to the underside of a floor panel 18. The front side of the front side lower member 14 as viewed in regard to the vehicle is such that the widthwise portion thereof is bent substantially in the form of a letter L while the rear side thereof is increased in width in the direction of width of the vehicle. Further, the portion of that rear side which is widened outwardly from the vehicle is connected to a portion of a flange 28 of a cowl side member 26 whereas the portion of said rear side which is widened inwardly of the vehicle is connected to an end portion of a cross member 36 connected to a dash panel 20.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION (Industrial Application Field) The present invention relates to a front side member structure that includes a suspension member lower that is open at the upper side of a vehicle and a front side member upper that closes this opening.

[Prior art]

As shown in FIG. 10, a rear end of a front side member 50 of a conventional vehicle is joined to a front surface of a dash panel 54 of the vehicle. Furthermore, as shown in Japanese Utility Model Application Publication No. 63-972, the dash panel 54 has a reinforcement (cross member) between the front pillar 56 and the floor tunnel 58 corresponding to the attachment part of the front side member 50. 60 is extended, supporting the load applied to the front side member 50 from the front of the vehicle. Further, a front end portion of a rocker 62, which is a highly rigid member, is fixed to the vehicle rear surface of the dash panel 54.

[Problem to be solved by the invention]

However, when a load in the vehicle width direction is applied to the front side member 50, this load is applied to the dash panel 5.
4 and the wall surface of the reinforcement mentro 0, and the load cannot be efficiently transmitted to the reinforcement mentro 0.

Therefore, the front side member 50 itself receives a load due to its rigidity. Therefore, there is a problem in that unreasonable force is applied to the connection portion of the front side member 50 to the dash panel 54 and the like.

The present invention takes the above-mentioned facts into consideration, and it is important to obtain a front side member structure that can efficiently transmit the load applied to the front side member, particularly the load in the vehicle width direction, to the cross member.

[A means of saving to solve problems]

The front side member structure according to the present invention includes a front side member including a front side member lower having an opening at the upper side of the vehicle, a front side member upper that closes the opening, and a dash panel connected between a pair of front pillars. a cross member that is coupled with the dash panel to form a closed cross section; the front side member is formed on the rear side of the vehicle of the upper front side member and is connected to the inside or outside of the vehicle in front of the dash panel; A closed cross section is formed by an extension part bent toward the vehicle width direction and coupled to the cross member or front pillar, and an extension part sandwiched between the front side member lower and the front side member upper. A reinforcing member forming a.

[Effect]

According to the present invention, since the vehicle rear side of the front side member upper is bent along the dash panel, it is connected to the cross member or the front pillar. Therefore, the load applied to the front side member, particularly the load in the vehicle width direction, can be efficiently transmitted to the cross member or front pillar. In addition, a reinforcing member is provided across the cross member or front pillar and the front side member, and the reinforcing member and the extension form a closed cross section, so the rigidity is high and the load can be transmitted reliably. I can do it.

〔Example〕

1 to 4 show the front side of a vehicle body 10 according to this embodiment. In addition, the symbol Fr in FIG. 1 indicates the front of the vehicle, the symbol Out indicates the direction outside the vehicle, and the symbol Up indicates the upward direction of the vehicle.

In the width direction of the vehicle body 10, front side members 12 are arranged parallel to each other along the longitudinal direction of the vehicle (only one side is shown in FIGS. 1 to 4).

The front side member 12 is composed of a front side member lower 14 and a front side member upper 16.

As shown in FIG. 5, the front side member lower 14
The front side of the vehicle is approximately U-shaped with an opening at the top of the vehicle. Further, the bottom surface of the front side member lower 14 on the rear side of the vehicle is gradually inclined toward the lower side of the vehicle, and extends to the lower surface of a floor panel 18 (see FIG. 3), which will be described later. Furthermore, this front side member lower 14
The rear end of the vehicle, that is, the surface facing the dash panel 20 (see FIG. 3) is also opened, and as shown in FIG. A flange portion 22 bent at right angles is formed. This flange portion 22 is the dash panel 20
The dash panel 20 and the front side member lower 14 form a closed cross section. The lower part of the vehicle of this dash panel 20 is continuous with the floor panel 18, and the front side member lower 14 is extended to the lower surface of this floor panel 18.
4 forms a closed cross section.

One end of the vehicle upper opening of the front side member lower 14 (
A flange portion 24 bent at a substantially right angle toward the outside of the vehicle is formed on the front side of the vehicle (on the outside of the vehicle). Further, this one end on the rear side of the vehicle is curved in an arc toward the inside of the vehicle, and serves as an attachment portion for the cowl side member 26. The cowl side member 26 is bent in a substantially S-shape along the longitudinal direction, and connects the front side member 12 and a front pillar (not shown). The cowl side member 26 is dish-shaped and has a flange portion 28 formed at the periphery of the opening, a part of which is part of the front side member lower 1.
4 is connected to the rear side of the vehicle. Furthermore, a longitudinally intermediate portion of this flange portion 28 is connected to a cowl side panel 29 (see FIG. 8) that is continuous with the dash panel 20, and a closed cross section is formed with this cowl side panel.

A front side member upper 16 is disposed at the vehicle upper opening of the front side member lower 14 so as to close this opening. The vehicle front side of the front side member upper 16 is bent in the width direction into an abbreviated shape,
Both bent ends of the front side member lower 1
4 is connected to a flange portion 24 formed at one end and a vertical flange portion 32 at the other end.

Further, as shown in FIG. 7, the rear side of the front side member upper 16 is widened in the vehicle width direction, and the widened portion toward the outside of the vehicle is the flange portion 28 of the cowl side member 26. is connected to a part of On the other hand, the portion widened toward the inside of the vehicle is bent along the dash panel 20 and extends to the end of the cross member 36 coupled to the dash panel 20 (hereinafter referred to as an extension portion 34). This extension part 34 is bent into an abbreviated shape with openings on the surface facing the dash panel 20 and the surface facing downward of the vehicle, and the end on the horizontal plane side is bent at a substantially right angle upward of the vehicle. A flange portion 38 is formed. This flange portion 38 is coupled to the vehicle front surface of the dash panel 20.

On the other hand, the cross member 36 is bent into a substantially U-shape, and has flange portions 40 bent in directions away from each other, and is coupled to the dash panel 20 to form a closed cross section.

The dash panel 20 and the extension portion 34 are bonded together by polymerization.

As shown in FIG. 6, a reinforcing member 42 is interposed on the vehicle rear side of the front side member upper 16 and the front side member lower 18 so as to span both bent ends thereof. A flange portion 44 is formed at one end of the reinforcing member 42 on the vehicle outer side and is bent upward at a substantially right angle toward the vehicle, and is coupled to the inner wall surface of the front side member lower 14 .

Further, the vehicle inner end of the reinforcing member 42 is widened on the vehicle rear side along the shape of the extension portion 34 . Furthermore, a flange portion 46 bent at a substantially right angle toward the bottom of the vehicle is formed at this vehicle inner side end portion, and is coupled to the inner wall surface of the front side member upper 16 including the extension portion 34. As a result, a closed cross section is formed by the extension portion 34 and the reinforcing member 42.

The operation of this embodiment will be explained below.

Loads are applied to the front side member 12 from the tires in the vehicle longitudinal direction and the vehicle width direction while the vehicle is running.

Here, the load in the longitudinal direction of the vehicle is absorbed by the rear end of the front side member 12 connected to the dash panel 20, and the cross member 36 extending across the dash panel 20 in the width direction of the vehicle. It can be supported by a cross member 36.

The extension portion 34 also transfers the load to the cross member 36.
The force in the longitudinal direction, that is, in the vehicle width direction, is distributed and transmitted to the cross member 36, and is also distributed to the front pillar via the cowl side member 26, so the load carried by the cross member 36 is can be reduced, and deformation of the dash panel 20 etc. does not occur.
.

On the other hand, the load applied to the front side member 12 in the vehicle width direction coincides with the direction in which the extension portion 34 extends. Also,
Since this extension part 34 forms a closed cross section with the reinforcing member 42 and has high rigidity, this load is reliably transmitted to the cross member 36 and can be supported by this cross member 36. Furthermore, this reinforcing member 42
As a result, the joint rigidity between the front side member 12 and the dash panel 20 is increased, so that the torsional rigidity of the vehicle body 10 about the longitudinal direction of the vehicle and the bending rigidity in the vertical direction of the vehicle can be improved, and the steering stability is improved. At the same time, vibrations can be suppressed when driving at high speeds.

As described above, in this embodiment, the vehicle rear side of the front side member upper 16 is widened, one side is connected to the cowl side member 26, and the other side is connected to the reinforcing member 42 to form a closed cross section and is also connected to the cross member 36. Therefore, the transmission efficiency of the load applied to the front side member 12 can be improved, and the load supported by the front side member 12 itself can be reduced.

Although the extension portion 34 is bent smoothly in this embodiment, it may be bent at a substantially right angle at the portion where it abuts against the dash panel 20. Further, although the extension part 34 is bent toward the inside of the vehicle and coupled to the cross member 36, the extension part 34 and the reinforcing member 42 are bent toward the exterior of the vehicle along the cowl side member 26 and coupled to the center pillar. You may also do so.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As explained above, the front side member structure according to the present invention has the excellent effect of efficiently transmitting the load applied to the front side member, particularly the load in the vehicle width direction, to the cross member.

[Brief explanation of the drawings] Fig. 1 is a perspective view showing the front of the vehicle body according to this embodiment;
The figure is an exploded perspective view of Figure 1, Figure 3 is a plan view of the vehicle seen from above in Figure 1, Figure 4 is a side view of the vehicle seen from inside of Figure 1, and Figure 5 is Figure 4. Figure 6 is a cross-sectional view taken along the ■--V line in Figure 4, Figure 7 is a cross-sectional view taken along the ■-■ line in Figure 4,
Figure 8 is a sectional view taken along the line ■-■ in Figure 4, and Figure 9 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line I in Figure 4.
A sectional view taken along the line X-IX and FIG. 10 are perspective views of a conventional front side member. 12...Front side member, 14...Front side member lower, 16...Front side member upper, 20...Dash panel, 34...Extension portion, 36...Cross member, 42...・Reinforcement member.

Claims (1)

[Claims] (1) A front side member includes a front side member lower that is open at the upper side of the vehicle, a front side member upper that closes this opening, and is connected to a dash panel connected between a pair of front pillars to form a closed cross section. A front side member structure having a cross member formed on the vehicle rear side of the upper front side member, bent inward or outward of the vehicle in front of the dash panel, and extending along the width direction of the vehicle. A front side member structure comprising: an extension part coupled to the cross member or front pillar; and a reinforcing member sandwiched between the front side member lower and the front side member upper and forming a closed cross section with the extension part. .