JPH0585410A - Front part body structure of automobile - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To improve the vibration noise performance and collision performance of a car body by effectively improving the rigidity of a suspension tower part for the thrusting-up load inputted into the suspension tower part from a suspension system, in particular from a buffer device. CONSTITUTION:On a suspension tower panel 8 which forms a suspension tower part 3, an extension part 8c extending in the closed section of an apron reinforcement 4 from the upper edge part is installed, and the extension part 8c is joined with the panels 2 and 4a which constitute the apron reinforcement by half dividing the closed section of the apron reinforcement 4. The rigidity of the apron reinforcement 4 is improved by the extension part 8c, and since the part having the improved rigidity and the suspension tower part 3 are connected to each other by the extension part 8c, the rigidity for the pushing-up load, etc., of the suspension tower part 3 can be improved effectively.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a front vehicle body structure of an automobile, and more particularly to a reinforcing structure for a suspension tower portion provided in a wheel house portion of front wheels.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, as a front body structure of an automobile, particularly as a structure of a suspension tower portion supporting the upper part of a shock absorber of a suspension system of front wheels and a peripheral portion thereof,
For example, as disclosed in Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 2-11776,
A known one is provided with a wheel apron having a wheel house portion in which a suspension tower portion is formed, and an apron reinforcement having a closed cross-section structure extending along the wheel apron in the vehicle longitudinal direction to reinforce the wheel apron. There is.

[0003]

The suspension tower portion is required to have sufficient strength against a suspension system, particularly a thrust load input from a shock absorber. In particular, it is important to improve the rigidity of the suspension tower in order to increase the limit strength against excessive input such as one-wheel bumping or vehicle roll, and the fatigue strength against frequently applied input. In addition, if the rigidity of the suspension tower is not sufficient, the vibration and noise performance of the vehicle body is adversely affected, and it becomes difficult to protect the suspension system at the time of a collision, that is, there is a problem in terms of collision performance.

In view of the above-mentioned problems, the present invention effectively improves the rigidity of the suspension tower part against a thrust load or the like input to the suspension tower part from the suspension system, and in particular, the vibration noise performance of the vehicle body and An object of the present invention is to provide a front body structure of an automobile capable of improving collision performance.

[0005]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, a front body structure of an automobile according to the present invention has a wheel house portion having a suspension tower portion as described in claim 1. In a front vehicle body structure of an automobile including an apron and an apron reinforcement having a closed cross-section structure extending in the vehicle front-rear direction along the wheel apron, the suspension tower portion is provided with the apron rain from an upper end portion of the suspension tower portion. An extension portion is provided that extends within a closed cross section of the reinforcement, and the extension portion divides the closed cross section of the apron reinforcement into two parts and is joined to a panel that constitutes the apron reinforcement. It is a thing.

The "suspension tower portion" may be formed integrally with the apron reinforcement or may be formed as a panel separate from the apron reinforcement.

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, in the front body structure of an automobile according to the present invention, as described in claim 2, the suspension tower part of claim 1 is provided separately from the wheel apron. The suspension tower panel may be formed of a panel, and the suspension tower panel may be a reinforcing plate that is joined to an outer surface of the vehicle body of the wheel apron to reinforce the wheel apron.

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the vehicle body structure for a front part of an automobile according to the present invention has, in addition to the structure according to claim 2 as described in claim 3, a suspension tower rain for reinforcing the suspension tower portion. A suspension may be provided, and the suspension tower reinforcement may be joined to the inner surface of the vehicle body of the wheel apron so as to overlap the wheel apron and the suspension tower panel.

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the front body structure of an automobile according to the present invention has the structure of claim 1, 2 or 3 as described in claim 4, and the apron reinforcement. Another apron reinforcement having a closed cross-section structure that extends in the vehicle front-rear direction along the apron reinforcement can be provided on the upper part of the.

[0010]

As described above, according to the front body structure for a vehicle according to the first aspect of the present invention, the extension portion provided in the suspension tower portion bisects the closed cross section of the apron reinforcement. The apron reinforcement is effectively joined to the panel forming the apron reinforcement to increase the rigidity of the apron reinforcement at the joined portion, and the portion whose rigidity is effectively increased is connected to the suspension tower portion. Therefore, it is possible to efficiently disperse and support the suspension system, especially the thrust load etc. input from the shock absorber in the apron reinforcement, and as a result, to effectively improve the rigidity of the suspension tower section. Is possible.

As described above, according to the vehicle body structure for a front part of the vehicle according to the second aspect of the present invention, the suspension tower panel serves as a reinforcing plate that reinforces the wheel apron separate from the wheel apron. Because it is composed of the size of this suspension tower panel,
By appropriately adjusting the shape etc., it is possible to properly reinforce the wheel apron while considering the balance between the increase in vehicle weight and the reinforcement effect, and it is possible to more effectively improve the rigidity of the suspension tower section. Becomes

As described above, according to the front body structure for a vehicle according to the third aspect of the present invention, in addition to the configuration according to the second aspect, the wheel apron and the suspension tower are provided on the inner side surface of the vehicle body of the wheel apron. Since the suspension tower reinforcement that is overlapped and joined to the panel is provided, the joint portion of the suspension tower panel to the wheel apron is a three-layer structure consisting of the suspension tower panel, the wheel apron, and the suspension tower reinforcement. It is possible to more effectively improve the rigidity of the suspension tower portion against a thrust load or the like.

Further, as described above, according to the vehicle body structure of the front part of the invention according to claim 4 of the present invention,
Alternatively, in addition to the configuration described in 3, the apron reinforcement is provided with another apron reinforcement extending in the vehicle front-rear direction along the apron reinforcement, so that the extension of the suspension tower panel is joined. It is possible to further improve the rigidity of the joint portion of the apron reinforcement, which makes it possible to further improve the rigidity of the suspension tower portion connected to the apron reinforcement against the thrust load and the like. ..

As described above, according to the front body structure of an automobile of the present invention, it is possible to effectively improve the rigidity of the suspension system, particularly the suspension system against a thrust load or the like input from the shock absorber to the suspension system. As a result, it is possible to improve vibration noise performance and collision performance of the vehicle body.

[0015]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT An embodiment of the front body structure of an automobile according to the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a structure of a main part of a front body structure of an automobile according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing a suspension tower panel of the vehicle body structure, and FIG. 3 is a structure of the vehicle body structure. FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing the suspension tower reinforcement, and FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing the overall structure of the vehicle body structure.

First, an overall outline of this embodiment will be described. FIG. 1 shows a state in which a wheel house portion 1 for a left front wheel is viewed from the front of an engine compartment or a luggage compartment (hereinafter referred to as an engine compartment) of a vehicle body to which this embodiment is applied. As shown in FIG. 1, the wheel house part 1 is integrally formed with a wheel apron 2, and the wheel house part 1 is formed with a suspension tower part 3. A first apron reinforcement 4 having a closed cross-section structure is provided on an upper portion of the wheel apron 2 and extends in the vehicle body front-rear direction along the wheel apron 2. The first apron reinforcement 4 is composed of an upper portion of a wheel apron 2 and a first apron rain outer panel 4a joined to the outer surface of the vehicle body of the wheel apron 2. In addition, the first apron reinforcement 4 has the first
A second apron reinforcement 5 extending along the apron reinforcement 4 in the front-rear direction of the vehicle body is provided. On the other hand, a front frame 6 having a substantially U-shaped cross section, which extends along the wheel apron 2 in the vehicle front-rear direction, is provided on the lower inside of the vehicle body of the wheel apron 2, and a dash panel 7 is provided between the engine compartment and the passenger compartment. Is partitioned by.

The suspension tower section 3 is formed by a suspension tower panel 8 which is separate from the wheel apron 2 as shown in FIG. As shown in FIG. 1, the suspension tower panel 8 is joined to the outer surface of the wheel house part 1 of the wheel apron 2 as a reinforcing plate for reinforcing the wheel apron, and the panel 8 has a top portion. It is formed of two panels, a suspension tower upper panel 8a and a suspension tower lower panel 8b joined to the upper panel 8a. Further, in this embodiment, the suspension tower reinforcement 9 shown in FIG. 3 for reinforcing the suspension tower portion 3 is provided on the engine room side. FIG. 4 shows a state in which the suspension tower reinforcement 9 is joined.

Next, the features of the present invention in this embodiment will be described. 5 to 8 are views showing a sectional structure of a front body structure of an automobile according to this embodiment, and FIG.
6 is a sectional view taken along line VV in FIG. 6, FIG. 6 is a sectional view taken along line VI-VI in FIG. 4, and FIG. 7 is a sectional view taken along line VII-VII in FIG.

As shown in FIGS. 1, 2, 4 and 5, the suspension tower panel 8 is provided with an extension 8c extending from the upper end thereof to the closed cross section of the first apron reinforcement 4 and the extension. The portion 8c divides the closed cross section of the first apron reinforcement 4 into two parts, and is joined to the wheel apron 2 and the first apron rain outer panel 4a that constitute the first apron reinforcement 4. Further, as shown in FIGS. 6 and 7, the suspension tower reinforcement 9 is joined to the inner surface of the vehicle body of the wheel apron 2 so as to overlap the wheel apron and the suspension tower panel 8, whereby the suspension tower portion 3 is suspended. It has a three-layer structure including a panel 8, a wheel apron 2 and a suspension tower reinforcement 9. Further, as shown in FIG. 4, the upper end portion 9a of the suspension tower reinforcement 9 is sandwiched between the first apron reinforcement 4 and the first apron reinforcement 5, and the apron reinforcements 4 and 5 are provided.
Is joined to. In this embodiment, since the suspension tower panel 8 is formed of the upper panel 8a and the lower panel 8b, the suspension tower section 3 has a four-layer structure at the top as shown in FIG. Further, as shown in FIG. 5, the upper end of the shock absorber 11 of the suspension system 10 is supported on the top of the suspension tower section 3.

According to the front vehicle body structure of the vehicle according to the present embodiment as described above, the suspension tower portion 3 has a three-layer structure including the suspension tower panel 8, the wheel apron 2 and the suspension tower reinforcement 9, and the suspension. The rigidity of the tower part 3 is enhanced, and the extension part of the suspension tower panel 8 is further provided with a portion where the first and second apron reinforcements 4 and 5 are disposed to increase the rigidity. While increasing the rigidity by dividing the closed cross section of 4 into two parts, the suspension system 10, by connecting the part with the increased rigidity and the suspension tower part 3,
In particular, it is possible to efficiently disperse and support the thrust load or the like input from the shock absorber 11 to the first and second apron reinforcements 4 and 5, and the rigidity of the suspension tower portion 3 against the thrust load or the like is effective. Can be improved. Further, this can improve the vibration noise performance and the collision performance of the vehicle body.

Next, another structure of this embodiment will be briefly described. FIG. 8 is a sectional view taken along the line VIII-VIII in FIG. 4 showing the structure of the assembly part of the suspension arm of the front body structure of an automobile to the front frame according to the present embodiment, and FIG. 9 reinforces the suspension tower part of the above body structure. FIG. 10 is a perspective view showing another reinforcing plate, FIG. 10 is a perspective view of a front frame, and FIG. 11 is a perspective view of a fixture for a suspension arm.

As shown in FIG. 5, in the present embodiment, the suspension system 10 includes an upper suspension arm (hereinafter referred to as an A-shaped arm) that supports a wheel supporting member 13 that rotatably supports a wheel 12 on a vehicle body so that the wheel supporting member 13 can swing. , Simply called the upper arm.) 14 and the lower suspension arm (hereinafter,
Simply called the lower arm. ) 15, and a shock absorber 11 whose upper end is supported by the suspension tower 3 and whose lower end is supported by the lower arm 15 on the rocking side, which is a so-called double wishbone type. And the upper arm
The end portion of the vehicle body 14 on the vehicle body side is supported by the front frame 6 via a mounting bracket 16 shown in FIG. A cutout portion 6a is provided at a position of the front frame 6 to which the upper arm 14 is attached, as shown in FIG.

In this embodiment, the lower end portion 8d of the suspension tower panel 8 and the lower end portion 9b of the suspension tower reinforcement 9 are inserted into the front frame 6 as shown in FIGS. A second suspension tower reinforcement 17 is provided that reinforces the suspension tower portion 3 while being joined to the above. By this, the attachment portion of the upper arm 14 is reinforced. That is, as well shown in FIG. 9, the second suspension tower reinforcement 17 includes a base portion 17a joined to the vehicle body outer surface of the suspension tower panel 8 and a body portion of the front frame 6 extending substantially perpendicularly to the base portion 17a. As shown in FIG. 8, the lower end portion 17b of the second suspension tower reinforcement 17 is provided with the lower end portion 17b joined to the outer side surface. The lower end portion 17b of the second suspension tower reinforcement 17 is the lower end portion 8d of the suspension tower panel 8 and the suspension tower reinforcement. The rigidity of the mounting portion of the upper arm 14 is enhanced by being superposed on and joined to the lower end portion 9a of the attachment 9.

Although one embodiment of the front vehicle body structure for an automobile according to the present invention has been described above, the present invention is not limited to this embodiment. For example, although the structure of the mounting portion of the suspension arm is mentioned in the above-mentioned embodiment, these are not essential parts of the present invention and can be appropriately changed. Further, in the above-described embodiment, the suspension tower panel 8 and the wheel apron 2 are configured separately, and the first and second
Although the two apron reinforcements 4 and 5 are provided, the suspension tower panel and the wheel apron may be integrally formed, or the second apron reinforcement may not be provided. Further, in the above-mentioned embodiment, the present invention is applied to the left side of the front vehicle body, but it goes without saying that the present invention is also applicable to the right side of the vehicle body.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a configuration of a main part of a front body structure of an automobile according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing a suspension tower panel of the vehicle body structure.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing a suspension tower reinforcement of the vehicle body structure.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing the overall structure of the vehicle body structure.

FIG. 5 is a sectional view of the vehicle body structure taken along line VV in FIG.

FIG. 6 is a sectional view of the vehicle body structure taken along line VI-VI in FIG.

FIG. 7 is a sectional view of the vehicle body structure taken along line VII-VII in FIG.

FIG. 8 is a sectional view of the vehicle body structure taken along line VIII-VIII in FIG.

FIG. 9 is a perspective view showing another reinforcing plate for reinforcing the suspension tower portion of the vehicle body structure.

FIG. 10 is a perspective view of a front frame of the vehicle body structure.

FIG. 11 is a perspective view of a mounting tool for the suspension arm of the vehicle body structure.

[Explanation of symbols] 1 wheel house 2 wheel apron 3 suspension tower 4 first apron reinforcement 5 second apron reinforcement 6 front frame 8 suspension tower panel 8c suspension tower panel extension 9 suspension tower reinforcement 10 suspension system 11 shock absorber

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A front vehicle body structure for an automobile, comprising a wheel apron having a wheel house portion in which a suspension tower portion is formed, and an apron reinforcement having a closed cross-section structure extending in the vehicle front-rear direction along the wheel apron. At the suspension tower portion, an extension portion extending from an upper end portion of the suspension tower portion into a closed cross section of the apron reinforcement is provided, and the extension portion divides the closed cross section of the apron reinforcement into two parts. A front body structure of an automobile, characterized in that it is joined to the panels that make up the apron reinforcement. 2. The suspension tower portion is formed by a suspension tower panel that is separate from the wheel apron, and the suspension tower panel is a reinforcing plate that is joined to the outer surface of the vehicle body of the wheel apron to reinforce the wheel apron. The front body structure for a vehicle according to claim 1, wherein: 3. A suspension tower reinforcement for reinforcing the suspension tower portion is provided, and the suspension tower reinforcement is joined to an inner surface of the vehicle body of the wheel apron so as to overlap the wheel apron and the suspension tower panel. The front vehicle body structure of the automobile according to claim 2, wherein: 4. The apron reinforcement having a closed cross-section structure extending in the vehicle body front-rear direction along the apron reinforcement is provided on an upper portion of the apron reinforcement. Two
Alternatively, the front body structure of the automobile according to 3 is provided.