JPH045124A - Cooling air intake structure for automobile front part - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To enable the efficient intake of cooling air by providing an air flap part, extended downward along the vehicle width direction so as to generate vacuum areas, at the lower part of a first cross member long in the vehicle width direction. CONSTITUTION:A front bumper 3 is provided, at its approximately center part, with an outside air intake 5 long in the vehicle width direction, and a heat exchanger 7 such as a radiator is disposed in an engine room on the rear side. The lower end part of the heat exchanger 7 is supported at a first cross member 11, and an air flap part 17 is provided at the lower part of the first cross member 11. At the traveling time, the travel air flowing downward hits the air flap part to generate a vortex and thereby to generate vacuum areas a.b so as to induce the travel air forcibly toward the vacuum areas a.b. The point of static pressure becoming its maximum can be thereby lowered down to the area of the front bumper 3 to enable the efficient intake of cooling air from the outside air intake 5.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Object of the Invention] (Industrial Application Field) This invention relates to a cooling air intake structure for the front part of an automobile for cooling a heat exchanger such as a radiator.

(Prior Art) Generally, a heat exchanger such as a radiator is cooled by outside air taken in from the outside, and the cooling air is supplied to the front grill in front of the heat exchanger, for example, as described in Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 55-2701. It has a structure that can be adopted from.

(Problem to be solved by the invention) As mentioned above, the heat exchanger is cooled by the cooling air taken in from the front grille, and the intake port for this cooling air is located above the front bumper at the point where the static pressure is maximum. The intake of cooling air is very efficient.

However, in recent years, due to the diversification of designs, there has been a trend towards eliminating the front grill, which is the face of a car, and instead installing cooling air intakes in the apron.

Since the apron is located at the bottom of the front bumper, it is located below the point where static pressure is at its maximum, reducing the efficiency of cooling air intake. For this reason, it is necessary to increase the size of the radiator in order to ensure the same cooling efficiency as in the past.

Increasing the size of the radiator leads to an increase in the space needed to install cost points and fittings, and also causes problems such as an increase in weight.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a cooling air intake structure for the front part of an automobile that is capable of efficiently taking in cooling air in a front part that does not have a front grill and is also excellent in terms of strength and rigidity.

[Structure of the Invention] (Means for Solving the Problems) In order to achieve the above object, in this invention, in front of a heat exchanger supported by a first cross member that is long in the width direction of the vehicle, The front bumper is provided with an outside air intake opening facing forward, and the first cross member is formed into a rectangular closed cross section by closing the outer and inner flanges. Alternatively, an air flap section may be provided by extending either one of the inner flanges downward from the lower end of the front nozzle along the width direction of the vehicle to create a negative pressure area.

(Function) According to this cooling air intake structure, when the vehicle is running, the running wind is divided into flows above and below the front bumper and flows rearward. At this time, the wind flowing along the lower part of the front bumper hits the air flap, creating a vortex and creating a negative pressure area. As a result, more wind is guided toward the negative pressure area, and the point of maximum static pressure above the front bumper drops to the front bumper area, allowing cooling air to be efficiently taken in from the outside air intake. . Therefore, it is not necessary to increase the size of the radiator, and the strength of the first cross member can be increased due to the closed cross-section rectangular shape having the integrated air flap portion.

(Embodiment) Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings in FIGS. 1 to 4.

In the figure, 1 indicates the two-wheel drive and 3 indicates the front bumper. The hood 1 consists of an outer panel 1a and an inner panel 1b, and its tip extends to the upper edge of the front bumper 3 and can be opened and closed via a hinge (not shown) at the rear (right side in Figure 1). There is.

The front bumper 3 has an integral shape with the lower end serving as an apron, and is provided with an outside air intake port 5 that is long in the width direction of the vehicle approximately in the center, and is connected to the front side member (see figure) by support stays (not shown) on the left and right sides. (not shown).

A heat exchanger 7 such as a radiator is arranged in the rear engine room of the front bumper 3, and the upper end of the heat exchanger 7 is supported by a radiator core support upper panel 9, and the lower end is supported by a first cross member 11.

The first cross member 11 has a closed cross-section rectangular shape consisting of an outer 13 with a U-shaped cross section long in the vehicle width direction and a plate-shaped inner 15 continuous in the longitudinal direction, and both ends are connected to the front side members (not shown). (Not included) are bonded and fixed to each other.

The flanges 13a and 15a of the outer 13 and inner 15 of the first cross member 11 are integrally overlapped and joined together by welding, and an air flap portion 17 is provided at the bottom.
is provided.

The air flap portion 17 is formed by extending a flange 15a on the inner 15 side downward from the lower end 3a of the front bumper 3 along the vehicle width direction. In this case, as shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, the outer 13 and inner 15 of the first cross member 11 are formed to have an angular cross section and are closed and connected to have a closed rectangular cross section, so that the outer 13 side or the inner 15 side The flange 13a or 15a may be extended downward, and the extended portion may be used as the air flap portion 17.

Further, it is desirable that the width of the air flap portion 17 is set to be at least larger than the width of the heat exchanger 7.

In FIG. 1, reference numeral 19 indicates a radiator shroud provided at the rear of the heat exchanger, and reference numeral 21 indicates a cooling fan.

According to the cooling air intake structure for the front part of the automobile configured as described above, when the vehicle is running, the running wind is divided into flows along the upper and lower sides of the front bumper 3, and flows toward the rear. . At this time, the traveling wind flowing downward hits the air flier knob portion 17 and generates a vortex, creating a negative pressure region a-b. As a result, the driving wind is forcibly guided toward the negative pressure area a-b, and the point of maximum static pressure falls to the area of the front bumper 3, making it impossible to efficiently take in cooling air from the outside air intake port 5. Become so.

Therefore, the same cooling efficiency as the conventional one can be obtained without increasing the size of the heat exchanger 7, and the strength and rigidity of the first cross member 11 is increased due to its closed cross-section rectangular shape having the integrated air flier knob part 17. It becomes like this.

[Effects of the Invention] As explained above, according to the cooling air intake structure for the front section of an automobile of the present invention, a negative pressure area that guides the running wind to the lower part of the first cross member can be created by the air flap lub part. This makes it possible to lower the point of maximum static pressure to the outside air intake area, allowing efficient intake of cooling air.

Further, since the first cross member is formed into a closed rectangular cross-section having an integral air flap portion, strength and rigidity can be increased.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

Figure 1 is a fourth diagram showing an outline of the cooling air intake structure of this invention.
1-1 line sectional view in the figure, Figures 2 and 3 are sectional views showing the deformed side of the first cross member having an air flap part, and Figure 4 is a side view of an automobile with a cooling air intake structure. It is. 3...Front bumper 5...Outside air intake a...Heat exchanger 1...First cross member 3...Outer 5...Inner 3a/15a...Flange 7...Air flap part

Claims (1)

[Claims] An outside air intake opening facing forward is provided in front of the heat exchanger supported by a first cross member that is long in the width direction of the vehicle and in the front bumper, while the outer and inner flanges of the first cross member are closed. The first cross member is formed into a rectangular shape with a closed cross section, and at the bottom of the first cross member, an air flange on either the outer or inner side is extended downward from the lower end of the front bumper along the vehicle width direction to create a negative pressure area. A cooling air intake structure for the front part of an automobile, characterized by having a flap part.