JPH0539988Y2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed explanation of the idea] (Industrial application field) The present invention relates to a cowl box structure for a vehicle.

(Prior Art) In a vehicle (automobile), a cowl box extending in the left-right direction of the vehicle body is provided at the top of a dash panel that partitions the engine room and the passenger compartment at the front of the vehicle body.
A structure in which the lower edge of the front windshield is glued to this cowl box is generally adopted. For example, in Japanese Utility Model Application Publication No. 60-160262, a defroster duct is provided between a cowl box and an instrument panel, the air outlet of this duct is provided on the upper surface of the instrument panel, and the defroster duct is fixed to the cowl box. A device that can defog the front windshield is described.

In addition, in recent years, the cowl point (the intersection of the front windshield and the bonnet) of the vehicle has been moved to a lower position in the front of the vehicle body, and the windshield has been tilted more toward the rear, improving the aerodynamic characteristics of the vehicle. The aim is to
As a result, the above-mentioned cowl box also tends to be provided at a low position.

(Problem that the invention aims to solve) By the way, when the front part of a vehicle is crushed during a head-on collision, the highly rigid engine may not be crushed and the vehicle may move relatively backward toward the passenger compartment. .
In this case, if the cowl box is at a relatively low position, the lower part of the cowl box will be crushed by the engine that is retreating, but if the collision force of the vehicle is large, the cowl box will be crushed and retreat together with the engine. However, there is a problem in that a force acts between the cowl box and the windshield in a direction that causes the adhesive between the two to separate.

On the other hand, the wider the width of the cowl box in the longitudinal direction of the vehicle body, the greater the amount of collapse at the bottom when it collides with the engine, which absorbs this collision and acts in the direction of peeling off the windshield. force can be reduced. but,
In that case, the rear of the cowl box will extend below the upper wall of the instrument panel in order to increase the width mentioned above. As a result, there is a problem that the living space of the vehicle, that is, the passenger compartment, becomes narrower.

Furthermore, as the width of the cowl box increases, the position of the air outlet on the upper wall of the instrument panel shifts toward the rear of the vehicle body, making it difficult for the defroster duct to blow air upward from near the lower edge of the windshield. This makes it difficult to remove fog from the bottom of the windshield. This tendency is particularly noticeable in vehicles where the cowl point is located low in the front of the vehicle body and the windshield is inclined rearward to a large extent. On the other hand, if the defroster duct is bent and extended from the rear of the cowl box to the top, the air outlet can be opened near the front edge of the instrument panel, but the defroster duct can also be placed above the cowl box. As a result, the upper wall of the instrument panel becomes taller, causing problems such as constricting the living space of the vehicle.

(Means for Solving the Problems) The present invention is intended to solve the above problems.In a cowl box that extends in the left-right direction of the vehicle body, the cowl panel that constitutes the upper wall of the cowl box inside the instrument panel. A through hole is formed in the cowl box, and a through hole is formed in the dash upper panel constituting the lower wall of the cowl box, the peripheral edge of which faces into the through hole,
In the air duct that passes the air of the air conditioner in the vertical direction through the through hole of this darts panel,
This cowl box structure for a vehicle is characterized in that an annular seal portion is provided which abuts from above the peripheral edges of both the through holes of the cowl panel and the dash upper panel.

(Function) In the above cowl box structure, a space for arranging the air duct is secured within the width of the cowl box by the through hole. In other words, even if the width of the cowl box is widened to prevent the front windshield from peeling off in the event of a vehicle collision, the air duct can be placed vertically without bypassing the cowl box, and the instrument panel It is possible to prevent the width from expanding. In addition, the air duct can be installed vertically without bypassing the cowl box, so when opening an air outlet on the upper wall of the instrument panel, the opening position can be placed closer to the front of the instrument panel. This eliminates the need to raise the instrument panel.

By disposing the air duct in the cowl box, both the through holes of the cowl panel and the dash upper panel are simultaneously sealed by the annular seal portion of the air duct. Even if an external force that causes bending or twisting is applied to the cowl box and the peripheral edges of the two through-holes are displaced relative to each other, the original sealing state is maintained as long as the displacement disappears. A sealed state can be ensured by providing a large elastic restoring force to the annular seal portion. In other words, it is possible to simultaneously seal both of the above-mentioned through holes with a sealing material independent from the air duct (a different idea from the present invention), but if this independent sealing material is used, the periphery of both through-holes will be sealed at the same time. If there is any displacement, there is a concern that the sealing material may come off or crack, but the present invention does not have such concerns. Furthermore, regarding the support of the air duct, the annular seal portion allows the cowl box to receive this support.

(Effect of the invention) Therefore, according to the invention, since the cowl box is provided with a through hole, even if the width of the cowl box is increased to prevent the front windshield from peeling off in the event of a vehicle collision, the arrangement of the air duct is There is no need to widen the width of the instrument panel or raise its position for installation purposes, and it is possible to prevent the instrument panel from becoming larger and improve the comfort of the vehicle.

Furthermore, according to the present invention, since the air duct is provided with an annular seal portion that comes into contact with the peripheral edges of both through holes of the cowl box, a seal structure with high durability against bending and twisting of the cowl box can be achieved by arranging the air duct with respect to the cowl box. At the same time, it can be easily obtained depending on the construction, and the support rigidity of the air duct is also increased.

(Example) Hereinafter, an example of the present invention will be described based on the drawings.

In Figure 1, 1 is the engine compartment 2 of the vehicle.
This is the darts lower panel that separates the vehicle compartment 3 from the passenger compartment 3.
A cowl box 4 extending in the left-right direction of the vehicle body is provided at the upper part of the lower dashboard panel 1, and a front window glass 5 is fixed to the cowl box 4. An engine 6 is provided in the engine room 2, and the upper part of the engine 6 is covered with a bonnet 7. The cowl box 4 has its rear part located inside the instrument panel 8, and is connected to the air conditioner 9.
A defroster duct 10 passes through the rear part of the cowl box 4 in the vertical direction, and the defroster nozzle 1
1 opens on the upper surface of the instrument panel 8.

As shown in FIG. 2, the air conditioner 9 includes a blower unit 12, a cooler unit 13, and a heater unit 14 that are connected in series. and,
The defroster duct 10 has a lower end connected to a heater unit 14 located at the center in the left-right direction of the vehicle body corresponding to the position of the engine 6, and the defroster nozzle 11 has a slit shape that becomes longer in the left-right direction of the vehicle body. For supporting members 15, 15
It is supported by In addition, in Figure 2, 16
1 is a ventilator outlet, and 17 is a floor heater outlet.

The specific structure of the cowl box 4 is clearly shown in FIG.

That is, the cowl box 4 includes a dash upper panel 21, a cowl front panel 22, a cowl rear panel 23, and a cowl grille panel 24 to form a closed cross-sectional structure extending in the left-right direction of the vehicle body. In this case, the dart upper panel 21 is constituted by a horizontal plate connected to the upper end of the dart lower panel 1 and extending in the longitudinal direction of the vehicle body. The cowl front panel 22 is connected to the front edge of the dash upper panel 21 and rises up, and a weather strip 25 is provided on the upper edge of the cowl front panel 22 to prevent water from entering the bonnet 7. There is. The rear edge of the cowl rear panel 23
The lower part 23a is connected to the rear edge and spreads forward.
and an upper step part 23c that extends forward and is connected to the front end of the lower step part 23a via a vertical wall 23b. The upper part 23c forms a closed cross-sectional structure extending in the left-right direction of the vehicle body together with the reinforcement 26 connected to the lower surface side of the upper part 23c. is fixed with adhesive 27. The cowl grill panel 24 extends in the front-rear direction of the vehicle body, and its front edge is the upper edge of the cowl front panel 22, and its rear edge is the lower edge of the front windshield 5.
They are connected via sealing materials 28 and 29, respectively.

The lower part 23a of the cowl rear panel 23 constitutes the rear upper wall of the cowl box 4,
The rear part of the dash head panel 21 constitutes the rear lower wall of the cowl box 4, and the upper and lower walls of this rear part are located inside the instrument panel 8, that is, below the upper wall of the instrument panel 8. positioned. And the cowl rear panel 23
Large-diameter and small-diameter through holes 31 and 32 are provided in the lower portion 23a and the rear portion of the dash upper panel 21, respectively, as duct passage portions through which the defroster duct 10 passes in the vertical direction. In other words, the defroster duct 10 is provided in the vertical direction (it may be inclined longitudinally or horizontally) between the upper part of the rear upper wall of the cowl box 4 and the lower part of the rear lower wall by the through holes 31 and 32. , when viewed from the left and right sides of the vehicle body, it is arranged so as to overlap with the cowl box 4.

The defroster duct 10, through holes 31, 32
To explain in detail the relationship between the cowl rear panel 23 and the heater unit 14, first, the cowl rear panel 23 is connected to the through hole 3.
An annular bead 23d is formed by raising the circumferential edge of 1 to have an arcuate cross section, and the upper surface of the bead 23d serves as a sealing surface 33. Further, in the dash upper panel 21, the peripheral edge of the through hole 32 rises and faces the inside of the through hole 31 of the cowl rear panel 23, and the cowl rear panel 23 is attached to this peripheral edge.
A similar bead 21a of the same height as the bead 23d of
is formed, and the upper surface of this bead 21a is a sealing surface 34. On the other hand, a seal portion 35 is provided on the outer peripheral portion of the defroster duct 10, and is formed by fixing a sealing material 35b to the lower surface of the flange 35a. Further, in the heater unit 14, a sealing material 38 is fixed to a flange 37 of the defroster outlet 36.

As described above, when the lower part of the defroster duct 10 is passed through the through hole 32 of the dash upper panel 21, the seal portion 35 comes into close contact with both seal surfaces 33 and 34 of the cowl box 4 from above, and the lower end of the duct is connected to the heater. It is adapted to come into close contact with the sealing material 38 of the unit 14.

Further, as shown in FIG. 2, the flange 35a of the defroster duct 10 is further provided with support pieces 35c, 35c that protrude to both sides.
Each support piece 35c is connected to the cowl box 4 by a screw grommet 39, as shown in FIG. That is, the screw grommet 39
is fitted into the mounting hole of the dash rear panel 21, and the supporting piece 35c is fitted into the cowl rear panel 23.
The cowl box 4 is connected to the cowl box 4 by applying a screw 41 to the screw grommet 39.

In addition, in FIG. 3, 42 is an insulator attached to the dart lower panel 1 and the dart upper panel 21.

In the above structure, if the vehicle has a head-on collision,
Although the front part of the vehicle body collapses, the highly rigid engine 6 does not collapse, and as the front part of the vehicle body collapses, the engine 6 relatively retreats to the position shown by the chain line in FIG. As a result, the dart lower panel 1, the lower part of the cowl box 4, and the air conditioner (made of plastic) 9, which has low rigidity, are deformed or crushed.

However, the cowl box 4 has a wide rear portion that protrudes deep into the instrument panel 8, and has a large amount of space for collapse when the engine 6 moves backward. In other words, the cowl box 4 absorbs the collision with the engine 6 by collapsing its lower part, and after the amount of collapsing reaches its limit, its upper part is dragged by the lower part and deforms backward. However, since the above-mentioned collapse margin is large, even if the engine 6 moves backward significantly, this can be tolerated, and a large force can be prevented from acting on the cowl rear panel 23 above it. This means that
This means that the force acting between the cowl box 4 and the front windshield 5 in the direction of peeling off the adhesive between the two is small, and the front windshield 5 is prevented from peeling off in the event of a frontal collision.

Furthermore, in the case of this embodiment, since the cowl rear panel 23 is provided with the vertical wall 23b and is bent, when the engine 6 moves backward, the cowl rear panel 23
Even if the engine 6 further moves backwards after being crushed, the bent portion extends and the vertical wall 23b lies horizontally, allowing the engine 6 to move backwards and preventing the front windshield 5 from peeling off.

Although the cowl box 4 has a wide front and back width as described above, the defroster duct 10 does not bypass the cowl box 4 rearward due to the through holes 31 and 32 formed in the cowl box 4. Since it passes through and passes in the vertical direction, the longitudinal width of the instrument panel 8 is prevented from increasing due to the above-mentioned enlargement of the longitudinal width.

Also, the fact that the defroster duct 10 can be passed through in the vertical direction means that the defroster duct 1
This means that the defroster nozzle 11 can be opened in the front part of the instrument panel 8 without having to bend the piping from the rear to the front above the cowl box 4. Therefore, since there is no need for the above-mentioned longitudinal piping, there is no need to make the upper wall of the instrument panel 8 high, and the defrosting air is blown upward from near the lower edge of the front windshield 5. This is advantageous in removing fog or frost over the entire surface of the front windshield 5. This means that in a vehicle where the cowl point is installed at a low position in the front and the front windshield 5 is intended to have a large rearward inclination, the instrument can be installed without impeding the brightness of the lower edge of the front windshield 5. This means that the height of the panel 8 can be lowered to match the cowl point.

Then, when the defroster duct 10 is passed through the through hole 32 of the dash upper panel 21 from above, the seal portion 35 of the defroster duct 10 comes into close contact with both seal surfaces 33 and 34 of the cowl box 4,
The through holes 31 and 32 of the cowl box 4 are sealed, and the lower end of the defroster duct 10 is brought into close contact with the sealing material 38 of the heater unit 14 to form a seal between the two. can be sealed at the same time.

If the cowl box 4 is bent or twisted due to external action, the sealing surfaces 33, 34
The height of the sealing member 35 changes relatively, but this displacement is allowed because the sealing material 35b of the sealing portion 35 elastically deforms while maintaining contact with the sealing surfaces 33 and 34. Sealed condition is always maintained.

Further, the cowl box 4 has beads 23d, 2
1a reinforces the peripheral edges of the through holes 31 and 32, and furthermore, the left and right parts of the vehicle body are connected by the support pieces 35c and 35c of the defroster duct 10, so that the left and right parts are This makes it possible to distribute the load, making it resistant to bending and twisting caused by the external forces mentioned above. Furthermore, the defroster duct 10 basically has support pieces 35c, 3
5c and the support members 15, 15 on both sides of the defroster nozzle 11 to provide mounting stability, the cowl box 4 can also be supported by the seal portion 35 provided with the flange 35a. Therefore, its support rigidity is high.

In addition, in the above embodiment, the cowl box 4, 2
Although the heights of the two seal surfaces 33 and 34 are made approximately the same, even if there is a difference in height between the two seal surfaces 33 and 34, the height difference corresponding to the height difference is
This can be handled by providing the seal portion 35 of the.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

The drawings show an embodiment of the present invention, in which Fig. 1 is a sectional view showing the overall structure, Fig. 2 is a perspective view of the cowl box structure, Fig. 3 is a sectional view of the same structure, and Fig. 4 is a defroster for the cowl box. It is a sectional view showing a support part of a duct. 1...Dashboard lower panel, 4...Cowl box, 5...Front window glass, 6...Engine, 8...Instrument panel, 9...
Air conditioner, 10... Defroster duct (air duct), 21... Dust cover panel (lower wall), 23... Cowl rear panel (upper wall), 31,
32...Through hole, 33, 34...Seal surface, 35
...Seal part.

Claims (1)

[Scope of utility model registration request] In the cowl box that extends in the left-right direction of the vehicle, a through hole is formed in the cowl panel that forms the upper wall of the cowl box inside the instrument panel, and a through hole is formed in the cowl panel that forms the lower wall of the cowl box. , a through hole is formed with a peripheral edge facing inside the through hole,
In the air duct that passes the air of the air conditioner in the vertical direction through the through hole of this darts panel,
A cowl box structure for a vehicle, characterized in that an annular seal portion is provided which abuts from above the peripheral edges of both the through holes of the cowl panel and the dash top panel.