JPH0575034U - Automotive brake cooling duct - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Abstract] [Purpose] This is a brake cooling duct for automobiles to cool the brakes using the running wind, and employs a variable opening / closing mechanism that opens the door only during sudden braking from a constant speed. A duct main body (1) having one end thereof having an opening in front of a tire and the other end having an opening in front of a front bumper and arranged below a vehicle body along a traveling direction of an automobile.
1), a door (12) which is disposed in the duct body (11) and connects and blocks the two openings by an opening and closing operation, an operating means (13) for opening and closing the door (12), a speed detecting means, and The vehicle speed and acceleration signals from the acceleration detecting means are received, and the operating means (13) is based on these signals.
The control means actuates the actuating means to open the door (12) when the vehicle is at or above a predetermined set speed and at or above a set deceleration.

Description

[Detailed description of the device]

[0001]

[Industrial applications]

 The present invention relates to a vehicle brake cooling duct using traveling wind, and more particularly to a vehicle brake cooling duct having a variable opening / closing mechanism for opening and closing the duct.

[0002]

[Prior Art]

 Known conventional vehicle brake cooling ducts include those shown on page D-2 of "Service Weekly Report 629 (R32-2)" issued by Nissan Motor Co., Ltd. in August 1989, and those shown in FIG. ing. This brake cooling duct is mounted and fixed so that the front opening 1a of the duct part 1 matches the opening 2a provided in the front bumper 2 and the rear opening 1b of the duct part 1 matches the opening 3a of the fender protector 3. ing. Further, in the figure, 4 is a tire and 5 is a brake rotor. Then, the cooling air flowing from the front opening 1a is introduced toward the brake rotor 5 through the duct 1 to cool the brake.

[0003]

[Problems to be solved by the device]

 However, when the vehicle is running, the air inside the wheel house is disturbed by the rotation of the tires, etc.When the running wind enters the wheel house through the brake cooling duct, the running wind and the air flow inside the wheel house will be disturbed. As a result, the resistance increases, and as a result, the drag coefficient (CD value) of the vehicle deteriorates. Further, there is a problem that rainwater or snow easily enters the fender protector 3 through the duct 1.

In view of the above problems, the present invention employs a variable opening / closing mechanism that opens a duct only during sudden braking from a constant speed, thereby providing a brake cooling duct for an automobile without the above problems. To aim.

[0005]

[Means for Solving the Problems]

 In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a brake cooling duct for an automobile for introducing traveling wind for cooling a brake, one end of which has a first opening in front of a tire and the other end of which is A duct main body having a second opening behind the front bumper and arranged below the vehicle body along the traveling direction of the vehicle; and a door arranged on the duct main body for connecting and blocking the both openings by an opening / closing operation. The control means for opening and closing the door, and the control means for receiving the speed and acceleration signals of the vehicle from the speed detecting means and the acceleration detecting means and operating the operating means based on these signals. The means actuates the actuating means to open the door when the vehicle is above a predetermined set speed and above a set deceleration.

[0006]

[Action]

 The CD value is not deteriorated by applying the running wind to the tires and the brake rotor only when necessary, because the door is opened only when braking at the set deceleration or more while driving at the set speed or more. And the effect on top speed can be eliminated.

[0007]

【Example】

 1 is a partially cutaway perspective view from the front of a vehicle body showing an embodiment of a brake cooling duct according to the present invention, FIG. 2 is a side view of the variable brake cooling duct, and FIG. 3 is a top view thereof. is there. In the figure, reference numeral 11 denotes a duct main body having a hollow passage, which is arranged near the bottom of the vehicle body from the rear of the front bumper 2 to the front of the tire 4 along the traveling direction of the automobile. The duct main body 11 has an opening 11b that is a first opening at one end located in front of the tire 4, the opening 11b has a flange 11a, and is attached to the front surface of the fender protector 3 at three points by fasteners. It is fixed.

On the other hand, the duct main body 11 has an opening 11 c that is a second opening at the other end located behind the front bumper 2, and the opening 11 c of the duct main body 11 is opened and closed at the other end. A door 12 that connects and disconnects the openings 11b and 11c is rotatably attached to the duct body 11. An actuator 13 as an operating means for opening and closing the door 12 is attached to a fulcrum point of the rotation of the door 12. In the drawings, the open state of the door 12 is shown by a solid line and the closed state is shown by a broken line.

Brackets 14 and 15 are attached to the opposite side surfaces of the duct body 11, and the bracket 14 is fixed to the bumper 2 with two bolts. The bracket 15 is a side surface of the side member 7. It is fixed by three bolts to the closing plate 8 attached to the. Therefore, the duct is attached and fixed to the vehicle body by the brackets 14 and 15 and the flange 11a.

In FIG. 1, when the door 12 is rotated downward and the opening 11 c of the duct is opened, the traveling wind aerodynamically enters along the upper surface of the door 12 from below the bumper 2, It is introduced into the wheel house through the passage of the main body 11. The introduction of the traveling wind can prevent the brake rotor 16 from overheating. Reference numeral 17 in the figure denotes a caliper. The opening / closing operation of the door 12 by the actuator 13 is performed by a controller 18 as a control means, and is controlled according to a computer program using a CPU. The controller 18 receives the detection signals of a speed sensor 19 and an acceleration sensor 20, which are known speed detecting means and acceleration detecting means mounted on an automobile, respectively. Based on these signals, the actuator 13 is operated to operate the door 12 The open / close operation of is controlled.

Next, the opening / closing operation of the door 12 by the controller 18 will be described with reference to the variable opening / closing operation flowchart of FIG. The current vehicle speed is read by the vehicle speed sensor 19 (step S1), and the detected vehicle speed Vcar is compared with a predetermined low speed side operating vehicle speed V2 (step S2). When Vcar is smaller than V2, that is, when the vehicle is traveling at a low speed, the process proceeds to step S8, and the door 12 of the duct is closed so as not to limit the traveling.

On the other hand, when Vcar is larger than V2, the routine proceeds to step S3, where it is compared with a predetermined high speed side operating vehicle speed V1. When Vcar is smaller than V1, the process returns to step S1. On the other hand, when Vcar is larger than V1, the process proceeds to step S4, the current acceleration is read by the acceleration sensor 20, and then the acceleration αcar detected in step S5 is compared with the predetermined operating acceleration α. To do. In this embodiment, since the purpose is to cool the brake rotor 16 when the brake operates, the operating acceleration α is actually a negative acceleration, that is, a deceleration. When the detected deceleration rate αcar is greater than the operation deceleration rate α, that is, when the brake is applied at a certain level or more, the process proceeds to step S6, the actuator 13 is operated to open the door 12, and the cooling air is supplied to the brake rotor 16. To introduce. Next, in step S7, the process waits for a fixed time t, and then the process returns to step S1 to repeat the loop of this flowchart. Then, the door 12 is held open until the vehicle speed Vcar becomes lower than the low speed side operating vehicle speed V2. In addition, the waiting time of the predetermined time t is provided in step S7 because the door 12 is frequently opened and closed under a situation in which the vehicle speed V2 becomes lower than the operating speed V2 on the low speed side due to rapid deceleration, especially when the vehicle runs at high speed. This is to prevent

By following the above flow chart, the door 12 is opened when the vehicle speed Vcar is higher than V1 and higher than the deceleration α, and then the door 12 is closed when the vehicle speed becomes lower than V2. Therefore, the CD value can be lowered because the door 12 does not open when the brakes are not operated for a certain amount or more. Further, when the vehicle is traveling at a low speed smaller than V2, such as getting on and off an obstacle, traveling on a slope, etc., the door 12 does not open, that is, the duct door 12 becomes an obstacle. Therefore, even if the duct body 11 is located below the front bumper 2, the height of the ground is not restricted. Therefore, the appearance of the vehicle body is not impaired and the duct shape is not restricted. Furthermore, by introducing the traveling wind, an additional effect of functioning as an air brake can be obtained. In this embodiment, since the door 12 is provided on the front side of the duct main body 11, that is, the opening 11c which is the second opening, the CD value can be sufficiently improved, but as another embodiment, the door 12 is It may be provided as the opening 11b which is one opening or between the opening 11b and the opening 11c. Even in such a case, the effect of lowering the CD value can be obtained.

[0014]

[Effect of the device]

 As described above, according to the present invention, one end thereof has the first opening in front of the tire and the other end thereof has the second opening behind the front bumper, and the traveling direction of the vehicle is below the vehicle body. Along with a duct main body, a door arranged in the duct main body, which opens and closes the two openings by opening and closing, an operating means for opening and closing the door, a speed detecting means and an acceleration detecting means. Control means for receiving speed and acceleration signals of the vehicle and activating the operating means based on these signals, wherein the control means is such that the vehicle is at a predetermined set speed or more and at a set deceleration or more. In this case, since the operating means is operated so as to open the door, the CD value is prevented from deteriorating by applying the running wind to the tire and the brake rotor only when necessary, and the maximum speed is set. Can be removed of the influence, it is possible to reduce the suction of water or snow into the fender.

[0015]

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a partially cutaway perspective view from the front of a vehicle showing an embodiment of a brake cooling duct according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a side view of the variable brake cooling duct of FIG.

FIG. 3 is a top view of the variable brake cooling duct of FIG.

4 is a flowchart of a variable opening / closing operation of a door of the brake cooling duct of the embodiment of FIG.

FIG. 5 is a sectional view of a conventional automobile brake cooling duct.

[Explanation of symbols]

 11 Duct Main Body 11b Opening (First Opening) 11c Opening (Second Opening) 12 Door 13 Actuator (Actuating Means) 18 Controller (Controlling Means) 19 Speed Sensor (Speed Detecting Means) 20 Accelerometer (Acceleration Detecting Means)

Claims (1)

[Scope of utility model registration request] 1. A brake cooling duct for an automobile for introducing traveling wind for cooling a brake, one end of which has a first opening in front of a tire and the other end of which is located behind a front bumper. A duct main body having two openings and arranged below the vehicle body along the traveling direction of the vehicle; a door disposed in the duct main body for communicating and blocking the both openings by opening and closing operation; and opening and closing the door. The vehicle has predetermined operating means and control means for receiving the speed and acceleration signals of the vehicle from the speed detecting means and the acceleration detecting means and activating the operating means based on these signals. The brake cooling duct for an automobile, wherein the operating means is operated to open the door when the speed is equal to or higher than the set speed and the speed is equal to or higher than the set deceleration.