JPH07223495A - Protective structure for occupant using automobile interior trim material - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To absorb impact energy using an interior trim material itself without causing partial rigidity concentration. CONSTITUTION:This structure is for protecting occupants using an interior trim material 12 affixed to the cabin 8 side of a vehicle body panel 10. The interior trim material 12 is blow molded, and has a back wall 20 opposite the panel 10; a front wall 21 spaced from the back wall 20 and opposite the cabin 8 of the vehicle; at least one supplementary wall 22 projecting from the back wall 20 toward the front wall 21 and into the gap between both walls and defining space 24 between it and the panel 10; and at least one clip portion 23 which is projected from the back wall 20 toward the panel 10 an can fit into a hole 26 in the panel. The back wall 20, the front wall 21 and the supplementary wall 22 define a first hollow part 30, while the clip portion 23 defines a second hollow part 32.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a structure for protecting an occupant with an interior material of an automobile. The interior material is, for example, a pillar garnish arranged on the passenger compartment side of the front pillar, the center pillar or the rear pillar, a roof side garnish arranged on the passenger compartment side of the roof side rail or roof side panel, and particularly the head of the occupant collides. There is a possibility that

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A protective structure in which a pillar garnish is formed into a hollow by a back wall, a front wall spaced apart from the back wall, and a front wall receiving wall protruding from the back wall toward the front wall has been proposed. (Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 4-125953).

[0003]

In the above-mentioned protective structure, the mounting garnish which is separately manufactured and fixed to the pillar garnish is used to mount the pillar garnish on the pillar. Since the rigidity of the pillar garnish is higher than that of the other parts of the pillar garnish, and the rigidity of the pillar garnish is locally uneven, a large impact may be applied to the occupant, especially the head of the occupant.

An object of the present invention is to provide a structure for protecting an occupant by an interior material of an automobile, in which impact energy can be absorbed by the interior material itself without causing local deviation in rigidity.

[0005]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention is a structure for protecting an occupant by an interior material attached to a passenger compartment side of a panel of a vehicle body, the interior material being blow-molded, and a back surface facing the panel. At least one wall, a front wall facing the passenger compartment spaced apart from the back wall, and a space projecting from the back wall toward the front wall, the space defining at least one wall. Two complementary walls and at least one clip part that can be fitted into a hole in the panel protruding from the back wall toward the panel, the back wall, the front wall and the complementary wall being a first hollow. Defining a portion, the clip portion defining a second hollow portion.

The present invention is also a structure for protecting an occupant by an interior material attached to a vehicle compartment side of a panel of a vehicle body,
The interior material is formed of a foamed material, and has at least one protrusion that can be fitted into a hole of the panel that is protruded toward the panel from the back surface facing the panel, and the interior material is The protrusion is fitted in the hole of the panel and is attached to the panel by the double-sided adhesive means attached to the back surface.

[0007]

[Operation and effect] When the interior material is blow molded, the clip portion is fitted into the hole of the panel and the interior material is attached to the panel. When the body of the occupant, especially the head, collides with the interior material, the front wall deforms by crushing the first hollow portion.
Further, when the front wall hits the supplementary wall, the front wall and the supplemental wall crush the space between the supplemental wall and the panel and are deformed. The deformation absorbs impact energy at the time of collision.

Since the clip portion is integrally formed with the back wall, the front wall and the supplementary wall by blow molding, and the clip portion defines the second hollow portion, the clip portion and the peripheral portion thereof are formed. The rigidity is substantially the same as the rigidity of the other parts. Therefore, even if the head of the occupant collides with the clip portion through the front wall, a large impact is not applied.

Not only does the supplementary wall of the interior material resist the deformation of the surface wall, but it also deforms by itself while becoming the resistance.
High impact energy absorption performance.

Since blow molding is performed including the clip portion,
The cost can be reduced without the trouble of attaching a separately manufactured product to the interior material.

A plastic tube, a parison, is extruded between a pair of open molds, the mold is closed to cut the parison up and down, and then air is blown in by an extrusion blow molding method or by cutting the parison to a predetermined length. , As in the cold parison method in which this is put in a pair of molds and heated and air is blown, blow molding using a parison does not cause sharp edges, so there is no need to remove it. .

When the interior material is foam-molded, the projection is fitted into the hole of the panel to determine the position of the interior material, and the interior material is attached to the panel by the double-sided adhesive means. When the occupant's head collides with the interior material, the interior material collapses and deforms a large number of bubbles inside and absorbs impact energy.

Although the projection is formed integrally, this projection is also foamed, so that the rigidity of the projection and its peripheral portion is substantially the same as the rigidity of the other portions. Also,
A double-sided adhesive means such as a double-sided adhesive tape or a surface fastener is used for attaching the interior material, which has a small thickness and its rigidity can be ignored. Therefore, even if the head of the occupant collides with the portion having the protrusion, a large impact is not applied.

Since the entire interior material is formed of a foamed material, the manufacturing cost can be greatly reduced. Further, since the attachment is performed by the double-sided adhesive means, it is easy.

[0015]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS As shown in FIG. 1, the protective structure protects an occupant, particularly a head of an occupant, by an interior material 12 attached to a vehicle compartment panel 8 side of a vehicle body, that is, an inner side of the panel 10. is there.

In the illustrated embodiment, the panel 10 is the inner panel of the center pillar 14 of the vehicle body. The center pillar 14 is formed into a closed cross-section structure by spot-welding the flanges 11A and 11B of the inner panel 10 and the flanges 17A and 17B of the outer panel 16 facing each other and superposing them. The opening trim 18 is attached to the flange joint.

The interior material 12 is blow-molded as will be described later, and is a pillar garnish in the illustrated embodiment. The interior material 12 is the back wall 2 facing the panel 10.
0, a front wall 21 disposed at a distance D from the back wall 20 and facing the vehicle compartment 8, and a space protruding between the back wall 20 and the front wall 21 in the distance D, and a space between the front wall 21 and the panel 12. It has at least one complementary wall 22 defining 24 and at least one clip portion 23 projecting from the back wall 20 towards the panel 10. The back wall 20 is in close contact with the panel 10 to eliminate rattling of the interior material 12, and the front wall 21 provides a design surface for the vehicle interior. The supplementary wall 22 serves as resistance when the front wall 21 is deformed, and further deforms itself. The clip portion 23 fits into the mounting hole 26 of the panel 10 and supports the interior material 12.

In the illustrated embodiment, the back wall 20 of the interior material 12 has a shape that substantially conforms to the contour of the inner panel 10 in a horizontal virtual surface obtained by cutting the interior material 12, and the front wall 21 faces the passenger compartment 8. It has a smooth curved surface that is convex. The distance D between the back wall 20 and the front wall 21 is about 20 mm. Supplementary wall 2
2 is substantially U-shaped, and its inner end is the front wall 2
Approaching 1. The clip portion 23 is an undercut 28
And is connected to the back wall 20 and has a substantially inverted V shape. Two supplemental walls 22 having a U-shaped cross section are spaced from each other in the front-rear direction and extend in a direction perpendicular to the paper surface, that is, in the up-down direction. Two clip portions 23 are provided at intervals in the vertical direction.

The back wall 20, front wall 21 and supplemental wall 22 define a first hollow portion 30 and the clip portion 23 defines a second hollow portion 32. The first hollow portion 30 and the space 24 contribute to energy absorption. In the illustrated embodiment, the second hollow portion 32 communicates with the first hollow portion 30 via the opening 34.

As shown by the phantom line in FIG. 1, one supplementary wall 22 may be provided in the interval D, or three or more additional walls 22 may be provided depending on the size of the interval D. Supplementary wall 22
When there is one, the clip portion 23 can be projected obliquely toward the panel 10 from the portion of the back wall 20 which is the front and rear of the supplementary wall 22. As an alternative to the illustrated embodiment, the supplementary wall 22 may have a configuration in which the U-shaped section extends along a horizontal imaginary plane, and one or more of such may be provided.

The interior material 12 is manufactured by blow molding, that is, blow molding of thermoplastics such as polyethylene, polypropylene and the like. As shown in FIG. 2, the parison 40 is inserted between the mold 42 and the mold 44,
After closing 4, the parison 40 is blown with air or other fluid to form it into a predetermined shape. At this time, the first hollow portion 30
Since the second hollow portion 32 and the second hollow portion 32 communicate with each other through the opening 34, the fluid may be blown into only the first hollow portion 30. As a result, the molding apparatus including the mold can be simplified.

As shown in the illustrated embodiment, when the base of the clip portion 23 has an undercut 28 for preventing the clip portion 23 from coming off the panel 10, the mold 42 is divided into a plurality of pieces and is divided. Unless the moving direction of the mold is devised, the clip portion 23 cannot be removed from the mold 42 after molding, that is, so-called mold releasing cannot be performed. However, as a result of providing the opening 34, when the mold 42 is moved in the B direction, the clip portion 23
Is deformed as shown by an imaginary line, so that the clip 23 part can be easily released from the mold. Therefore, complicated die movement is unnecessary.

Although the parison is used for blow molding in the above-mentioned embodiment, the interior material 12 is formed by the sheet blowing method in which two plastic sheets are guided into a pair of molds and molded.
Can also be molded.

Interior material 12 produced by blow molding
Is surface-treated as shown in FIG. 3 according to the case required for the automobile. That is, the surface 46 of the front wall 21 has a grain 46.
To make a fine uneven pattern (a in the same figure), or paint machine 4
8 is sprayed with the paint 49 to paint the front wall 21 (FIG. 7B), or the hair 50 is planted on the front wall 21 (FIG. 7C), the front wall 2
The outer skin 52 is attached to 1 (d in the figure).

The protective structure shown in FIGS. 4 and 5 protects the occupant by the interior material 62 attached to the vehicle compartment 8 side of the panel 10 of the vehicle body. The panel 10 is an inner panel of the same center pillar 14 as in the above-described embodiment, and the center pillar 14 is formed by the inner panel 10 and the outer panel 16 as described above.

The interior material 62 is a pillar garnish formed of a foamed material described later, and at least fits into a hole 66 of the panel 10 which is projected from the rear surface 63 facing the panel 10 toward the panel 10. One protrusion 64
Have. In the embodiment shown in FIG. 5, two protrusions 64 are provided at intervals in the vertical direction.

The interior material 62 is attached to the panel 10 by the double-sided adhesive means 68 attached to the back surface 63 by fitting the protrusion 64 into the hole of the panel 10 to determine the position of the interior material 62. It is preferable that the double-sided adhesive means 68 has an annular shape as shown in FIG. As the double-sided adhesive means 68, a double-sided adhesive tape or a surface fastener can be used.

The foamed material is a soft, styrofoam or urethane foam. The foamed plastic and the foaming agent are put into a mold having the outer shape of the interior material 62 as a cavity, and foamed to be molded into a predetermined shape. After molding, the surface 65 is appropriately subjected to treatments such as flocking and skin attachment.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view taken along a virtual horizontal plane of an embodiment of an occupant protection structure using an automobile interior material according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram showing a method of molding an interior material used in the passenger protection structure shown in FIG.

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram showing a surface treatment applied to a surface wall of an interior material after molding, and a to d show different surface treatments.

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view of another example of a vehicle occupant protection structure according to the present invention, taken along a virtual horizontal plane.

5 is a perspective view of the interior material used in the occupant protection structure shown in FIG. 4, as viewed from the back side.

[Explanation of symbols]

 10 panel (inner panel) 12, 62 interior material (pillar garnish) 14 pillar 16 outer panel 20 back wall 21 front wall 22 supplementary wall 23 clip part 24 space 26 panel mounting hole 28 undercut 30 first hollow part 32 second Hollow part 34 Opening 64 Protrusion 68 Double-sided adhesive tape

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A structure for protecting an occupant by an interior material attached to a passenger compartment side of a panel of a vehicle body, wherein the interior material is blow molded, and a back wall facing the panel,
A front wall facing the passenger compartment, spaced apart from the back wall, and at least one supplementary wall projecting from the back wall toward the front wall into the space and defining a space between the panel And at least one clip portion that can fit into a hole in the panel protruding from the back wall toward the panel, the back wall, the front wall and the supplemental wall defining a first hollow portion. The clip portion defines the second hollow portion, and the occupant protection structure is made of the interior material of the vehicle. 2. A structure for protecting an occupant by an interior material attached to a passenger compartment side of a panel of a vehicle body, wherein the interior material is formed of a foamed material, and the rear surface facing the panel faces the panel. Has at least one protrusion that can be fitted into the hole of the panel that is protruded, and the interior material has the protrusion fitted into the hole of the panel and is attached to the back surface by a double-sided adhesive means. An occupant protection structure that is attached to the vehicle by the interior materials of the vehicle.