JPH07228144A - Impact energy absorber and automobile door trim using this impact energy absorber - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To enable impact to be absorbed even with the action of load exceeding the elastic limit by forming the front face of a grating-shape impact energy absorber body, formed of an elastic body, into a fitting face while forming the rear face into the impact receiving face, and disposing compression-buckling characteristic adjusting slits on one face or both faces to mount the absorber body to a door internal trim base. CONSTITUTION:A grating-shape body 1 formed of an elastic body made of thermoplastic foam resin or the like is provided with compression-buckling characteristic adjusting slits 2 disposed on one face or both faces. This absorber body 1 is an integrally formed body with the front face formed into the fitting face 1a corresponding to the fitted face shape of a door internal trim base 10 and with the rear face formed into the impact receiving face 1b, and formed by foaming with primary foam beads such as polypropylene resin as raw material so as to be able to display load-distortion characteristics while attaining light weight. Since the absorber body 1 is formed into a grating shape, impact load is stably absorbed without generating breaking by the distortion of the elastic material formed into the grating shape.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an impact energy absorber having excellent impact energy absorption characteristics and a vehicle door trim using the impact energy absorber.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Recently, as a part of improving the safety of vehicles such as automobiles, there has been a problem in dealing with a side collision accident. For example, the inside of a door trim panel or a bulging portion absorbs a shock at the time of collision. The energy absorber that is arranged is disclosed in JP-A-3-28020 and Japanese Utility Model Laid-Open No. 51-
Although various proposals have been made as disclosed in Japanese Patent No. 158018, all of the conventional energy absorbers of this type are block-shaped rigid polyurethane foam moldings and absorb energy by impact phenomenon due to a destruction phenomenon, so that they are stable. There is a problem that the characteristics cannot be obtained, and in the case of a block-shaped rigid polyurethane foam molded article, it cannot be used repeatedly because it is destroyed by impact load absorption when a load exceeding the elastic limit is applied. There was also the problem of high costs.

Therefore, the present inventors have developed an impact energy absorber using a block-shaped absorber body made of an elastic material in which a plurality of overhanging plate portions are radially extended around the impact direction as a central axis. , Which was previously proposed as Japanese Patent Application No. 5-254093, it is necessary to attach a large number of absorbers having different shock absorbing characteristics to each place so as to cope with different impacts depending on each place, and the attaching work is complicated. However, there is a problem that the cost is also high.

[0004]

DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION The present invention solves the above-mentioned conventional problems, and elastically distorts and can absorb a shock stably while the impact load is small, and a load exceeding the elastic limit can be obtained. In addition to being able to exhibit sufficient absorption characteristics and to absorb shocks stably without causing a destruction phenomenon, it can be used repeatedly and cost can be reduced. It is not necessary to attach a large number of absorbers each time, and the installation work can be simplified. Furthermore, one absorber can be used to exert any desired impact absorption characteristics at each place. The object of the invention is to provide an absorber and a vehicle door trim using the same.

[0005]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention, which has been made to solve the above-mentioned problems, provides a front surface of a lattice-shaped absorber body made of an elastic material as a mounting surface for a member to be mounted and a rear surface as an impact receiving surface. The impact energy absorber characterized by the above, the impact energy absorber having slits for adjusting compression / buckling characteristics on one or both sides of the absorber body, and the impact energy absorber as described above on the door. A door trim for an automobile, which is attached to a required portion of the inner surface of an interior trim substrate with the mounting surface, and a grid-like ridge for impact energy absorption similar to that of the impact energy absorber as described above. It is composed of an automobile door trim that is molded and integrated into.

[0006]

If such an impact energy absorber is mounted on the inner surface of the door interior trim substrate, the door outer plate, or the container side plate with the front mounting surface, a grid made of an elastic material even if a side collision accident occurs. The entire main body is elastically distorted and compressed / buckled, and shock energy is stably absorbed without causing damage. In particular, a slit for adjusting compression / buckling characteristics is provided on one or both sides. Things are 1
The lattice-like main body accurately absorbs several kinds of impact energy which are different for each place. Further, in the above-described automobile door trim, the impact energy is stably absorbed by the impact energy absorber on the inner surface and the lattice-like ridges for absorbing the impact energy in the same manner as in the side impact accident. The safety of passengers in

[0007]

The present invention will now be described in detail with reference to the illustrated embodiments. FIG. 1 shows a first embodiment of an impact energy absorber according to the present invention. Reference numeral 1 is a lattice-shaped main body made of an elastic body such as thermoplastic foam resin. This absorber body 1
The front surface is formed on the mounting surface 1a for the member to be mounted, and the rear surface is formed on the impact receiving surface 1b. A slit 2 for adjusting compression / buckling characteristics is provided on one side or both sides of the absorber body 1. As shown in FIG. 2, the slit 2 of the embodiment is provided with a predetermined length from the surface receiving the impact load toward the rear surface, and has the compression / buckling characteristics required for the absorber body 1. Although it is provided, it can be arbitrarily set according to the attachment location of the absorber main body 1 by changing the drilling position of the slit 2, the depth, the width, etc. Therefore, one absorber main body 1 The position where the slit 2 is formed, the depth, the width, and the like may be changed for each part. Further, the front surface of the absorber body 1 is formed as a mounting surface 1a corresponding to the mounting surface shape of the door interior trim substrate 10 which is a mounting member, and the rear surface is a receiving surface 1b, which is integrally molded. There is. In addition, the absorbent body 1 in this example is made of a thermoplastic resin such as polypropylene resin or polyphenylene oxide-modified polystyrene resin in order to achieve sufficient weight reduction and sufficient load-strain characteristics. It is foam-molded from synthetic resin primary foam beads. In addition,
The block-shaped absorber body 1 made of an elastic material may be a thermosetting synthetic resin foam such as rubber or a polyurethane resin foam, but when the thermoplastic synthetic resin foam as described above is used, a constant load- It is particularly preferable in terms of strain characteristics, durability, cost and the like.

As described above, the present invention is characterized in that the absorber main body 1 made of an elastic material is formed in a lattice shape, and an impact load can be applied without causing breakage due to the strain of the elastic material formed in the lattice shape. It absorbs stably, but in particular,
The absorber main body 1 having the slits 2 for adjusting compression / buckling characteristics on one side or both sides has different compression / buckling at each location depending on the design such as the drilling position of the slit 2 and the depth and width. It exerts the effect of imparting properties and exerting excellent impact absorption properties as a whole. That is, when an impact load is applied, the entire absorber body 1 is elastically uniformly compressed to absorb the load as the first step, and when a further load is applied next, the absorber body 1 buckles as the second step. As a result, a bow-like deformation occurs in a certain direction, and in this deformed state, a stable constant load-strain characteristic is exerted as a whole, and impact energy is sufficiently absorbed without causing breakage or the like.

A polyphenylene oxide-modified polystyrene (manufactured by General Electric Co., trade name "Noryl") bead-shaped material as a thermoplastic foaming synthetic resin is used as a main material at a foaming ratio of 25 times to form a lattice shape as shown in FIG. In the experimental example in which the absorber main body 1 is molded and the slit 2 is formed on the end face side of the one side portion A thereof, and the slit 2 shallower than the slit 2 is also formed on the end face side of the other side portion B of the absorber main body 1. The load-strain characteristics (according to the compression test of JIS K7220 at a compression speed of 10 mm / min) at points A and B of the body 1 are as shown in FIGS. 6 and 7, and the compression / buckling is different for each place. It can be seen that it has characteristics. Therefore, by changing the set position, the depth, etc. of the slit 2, it becomes possible to give arbitrary different load-strain characteristics to each place according to the impact energy.

Next, a vehicle door trim using the above-mentioned impact energy absorber will be described based on the embodiment shown in FIG. In FIG. 3, reference numeral 10 denotes a door interior trim substrate formed in a three-dimensional shape by forming a bulging portion 11 that bulges with respect to the reference surface 10a with an arbitrary material. The impact energy absorber described above is attached to the reference surface 1 on the rear side of the impact receiving surface 1b.
The mounting surface 1a is attached so that the mounting surface 1a is substantially flush with the surface 0a. In such an automobile door trim, the impact energy absorber stably absorbs impact energy when external pressure is applied to the bulging portion 11, and therefore, the reason described in the description of the impact energy absorber is given. For the same reason, the safety of passengers in the event of a side collision can be secured.

When the impact energy absorber is attached to the door interior trim substrate 10 with the mounting surface 1a, the door interior trim substrate 10 may be made of any material as described above. As shown in FIG. 3, a lattice-shaped ridge 21 made of an elastic material for absorbing impact energy is molded and integrated with a required portion of the inner surface of the door interior trim substrate body 20, and the end face of the lattice-shaped ridge 21 is used as the impact receiving surface 21b. In this way, the lattice-shaped ridges 2 for absorbing impact energy are formed on the inner surface of the door interior trim substrate body 20 as described above.
If 1 is integrally formed, there is an advantage that the manufacturing process can be simplified. In this case, the lattice-shaped ridges 21 for absorbing impact energy are generally formed of a thermoplastic synthetic resin such as polypropylene resin or polyphenylene oxide-modified polystyrene resin, which is the same material as the door interior trim substrate body 20, but The lattice-shaped ridges 21 for absorbing impact energy may be molded with different synthetic resin materials by a color molding method or the like so as to be more elastic than the door interior trim substrate body 20.

As described above, according to the present invention, when used in a state where the door trim is mounted at a predetermined position so as to absorb impact energy at the time of collision, a side collision accident occurs and the impact receiving surface 1b or the impact receiving surface 21b is generated. Even if a shock is transmitted to the door outer plate, the absorber main body 1 and the lattice-shaped ridges 21 formed of an elastic material such as thermoplastic foam resin are elastically distorted in the initial stage to stably absorb the shock. However, when a load exceeding the elastic limit is applied, the load is absorbed by bending in a certain direction due to compression and buckling deformation, and the shock is stably absorbed without causing damage. Further, by adjusting the slits 2, different load-strain characteristics can be exhibited at each place, and the shock can be reliably absorbed according to the predicted shock energy.

The above-mentioned impact energy absorber is used only for a door interior trim substrate of a vehicle door trim having a bulging portion, but the inner surface of the door interior trim substrate having no bulging portion is impacted. The energy absorber may be attached in a protruding state, and it is needless to say that the present invention can be applied to all articles other than automobile door trims that may cause a side collision accident such as a shipping container.

[0014]

As is apparent from the above description, the present invention is elastically distorted while the impact load is small and can absorb the impact stably, and is destroyed even when a load exceeding the elastic limit is applied. Sufficient absorption characteristics can be exerted without causing a phenomenon to stably absorb the shock, and it can be repeatedly used to reduce the cost.
The attachment work can be easily performed without the need to attach a large number of absorbers at each location. In addition, there are various advantages such that one impact energy absorber can exhibit a plurality of and arbitrary impact absorption characteristics, and the cost can be reduced. Therefore, the present invention is extremely large in that it contributes to the development of the industry as an impact energy absorber that eliminates the conventional problems and an automobile door trim using the impact energy absorber.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an embodiment of an impact energy absorber according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a partially cutaway front view of a main part of an impact energy absorber according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing an embodiment of a vehicle door trim according to the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of a main part showing an embodiment of an automobile door trim according to the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view of essential parts showing an embodiment of an automobile door trim in which a lattice-shaped raised portion for absorbing impact energy is integrally formed on a door interior trim substrate body.

FIG. 6 is a graph showing load-strain characteristics at point A in FIG.

FIG. 7 is a graph showing load-strain characteristics at point B in FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Absorber body 1a Mounting surface 1b Impact receiving surface 2 Slit 10 Door interior trim substrate 20 Door interior trim substrate body 21 Lattice-like ridges for absorbing impact energy 21b Impact receiving surface

Claims (6)

[Claims] 1. A lattice-shaped absorber body (1) made of an elastic material.
A shock energy absorber characterized in that the front surface of the above is a mounting surface (1a) to the mounted member and the rear surface is a shock receiving surface (1b). 2. The impact energy absorber according to claim 1, wherein a slit (2) for adjusting compression / buckling characteristics is provided on one side or both sides of the absorber body (1). 3. A lattice-shaped absorber body (1) made of an elastic material.
The impact energy absorber whose front surface is the mounting surface (1a) to the mounted member and whose rear surface is the impact receiving surface (1b) is mounted on the inner surface required part of the door interior trim substrate (10) with the mounting surface (1a). A door trim for an automobile, which is characterized by being 4. A slit (2) for adjusting compression / buckling characteristics is provided on one or both of the mounting surface (1a) and the impact receiving surface (1b) of the lattice-shaped absorber body (1). The vehicle door trim according to claim 3, wherein 5. A lattice-shaped raised portion (21) for absorbing impact energy, the end face of which serves as the impact receiving surface (21b), is formed integrally with a required portion of the inner surface of the door interior trim substrate body (20). The car door trim to be. 6. The vehicle door trim according to claim 5, wherein slits (2) for adjusting compression / buckling characteristics are provided on the end surface side of the lattice-shaped raised portions (21).