JPH10250626A - Car body structure of automobile - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To protect a junction from being exfoliated by expanding a part of a pillar inner panel in the top of a wheel house to a compartment side, connecting the expansion part and the top part of a strut tower by a brace, and welding the top end of the brace, at least, to the side faces of the expansion part. SOLUTION: An expansion part 10 expanding to a compartment side of a pillar inner panel 1 is arranged approximately above a strut tower 6 in the bottom end of a rear pillar 9. The expansion part 10 and the strut tower 6 are connected to each other by a brace 11. An extension part 11e is jointed with the top face 10a and top/bottom side faces 10b, 10b of the expansion part 10 by spot welding. Load is acted from the rear suspension 16 to the strut tower 6, however, its horizontal component acts on the junction part between the brace 11 and the side faces 10b, 10b of the expansion part 10 in the shearing direction, which is profitable in the strength, so that the junction is hard to cause the exfoliation so as to be profitable in the strength.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a vehicle body structure, and more particularly to a structure suitable for reinforcing a rear strut tower.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A load is applied to a strut tower provided integrally with a rear wheel house to cause the suspension to fall down from the suspension to the inside of the vehicle body. For this reason, as shown in, for example, Japanese Utility Model Application Laid-Open No. 3-91284, the strut tower is reinforced by connecting the upper part of the strut tower and the pillar inner panel with a brace to form a closed cross section.

[0003]

However, in this structure, the load from the suspension acts on the joint of the brace with the pillar inner panel in the peeling direction, and there is a problem in strength.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION [0004] In view of such circumstances, an object of the present invention is to provide a vehicle body structure in which the joining strength of a brace is increased.

[0005]

According to the present invention, a part of a pillar inner panel above a wheel house is bulged toward a vehicle compartment side, and the bulged portion and an upper portion of a strut tower are formed. Are connected by a brace, and an upper end of the brace is welded to at least a side surface of the bulging portion.

Further, the lower end of the brace may be branched so as to be wound around the peripheral wall of the strut tower, and the branched part may be welded to the peripheral wall of the strut tower.

Further, the brace may be formed to have a substantially U-shaped cross section, and the brace may be joined to the wheel house inner panel and the pillar inner panel to form a closed cross section connected to the strut tower from the pillar.

[0008] In addition, the upper surface of the bulging portion may be inclined so as to bulge toward the cabin as it goes downward, and a seat belt retractor may be provided on the sloping surface.

[0009]

According to the present invention, the horizontal component of the load acting on the strut tower from the suspension acts on the joint between the brace and the side of the bulging portion in a shear direction which is advantageous in strength. In addition, peeling of the bonding hardly occurs, which is advantageous in strength.

Further, according to the second aspect of the present invention, since the branch portion of the brace is arranged so as to be wound around the peripheral wall of the strut tower, it is possible to effectively prevent the strut tower from falling inside, Since the horizontal component acts in the shearing direction which is advantageous in strength also at the joint portion of the branch portion, the peeling of the joint hardly occurs.

Further, according to a third aspect of the present invention,
Since the pillar and the wheel house are connected by the closed section of the brace, panel vibration (drumming) can be suppressed, and the sound vibration performance is improved.

Further, according to the structure of the fourth aspect, since the seat belt retractor is installed on the upper surface of the bulging portion of the pillar inner panel forming the closed cross section, not only is the strength advantageous, but also it is advantageous. Since the upper surface of the swelling portion is inclined so as to swell toward the passenger compartment as it goes downward, it is also possible to prevent the seat belt from being twisted out from the seat belt retractor.

[0013]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 shows a first embodiment of the present invention.
In FIG. 1, reference numeral 1 denotes a rear wheel house inner panel, and the rear wheel house 3 is formed by joining the panel 1 to a pillar inner panel 2. Also, a strut tower 6 is formed by joining a suspension mount bracket 4 and a lid member 5 to the rear wheel house inner panel 1. Further, as shown in FIG. 3, a pillar inner panel 2 is joined to a pillar reinforcement 7 and a rear fender panel 8 to form a rear pillar 9. The pillar inner panel 1 has a swelling portion 10 swelling toward the passenger compartment, and the swelling portion 10 is disposed at a lower end of the rear pillar 9 and almost directly above the strut tower 6.

Reference numeral 11 denotes a bulging portion 10 and a strut tower 6.
And the cross section in the width direction is substantially U-shaped. The brace 11 has front and rear side walls 11a, 11a.
a is provided with a flange 11b.
1b and 11b are joined to the rear wheel house inner panel 1 and the pillar inner panel 2 by spot welding. The upper wall 11c is also provided with a flange 11d, and the flange 11d is joined to the body frame member 12 by spot welding. Further, a front upper end corner is formed obliquely upward to form a trapezoidal cross section, and the extended portion 11e is joined to the upper surface 10a of the bulging portion 10 and the upper and lower side surfaces 10b, 10b by spot welding. . The lower end of the brace 11 is branched so as to involve the peripheral wall of the strut tower 6, and the branched portions 11f, 11f are joined to the peripheral wall of the strut tower 6 by spot welding. Also, the branch portion 11
Inward flanges 11g, 11g are extended to f, 11f, and are joined to the upper surface of the strut tower 6 by spot welding.

The upper surface 10a of the swelling portion 10 is inclined so as to swell toward the passenger compartment as it goes down, and a seat belt retractor 13 is provided on the inclined surface. In FIG. 2, reference numeral 14 denotes a floor panel;
Is a rear side member.

According to the structure of this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 2, a load F acts on the strut tower 6 from the rear suspension 16, and the horizontal component F _X is changed by the brace 1
Since it acts in a shear direction that is advantageous in terms of strength at the joint portion between the one bulging portion 10 and the side faces 10b, 10b, the peeling of the joint is less likely to occur, which is advantageous in terms of strength.

The brace 11 has a branch portion 11f, 1
Since 1f is arranged so as to be wound around the peripheral wall of the strut tower 6, it is possible to effectively prevent the strut tower 6 from falling inside and to form the branch portions 11f, 11f.
Since the horizontal component force F _X acts in the shearing direction that is advantageous in terms of strength also at the joints, the joining peeling is less likely to occur, which is advantageous in terms of strength.

The rear pillar 9 and the rear wheel house 3
Are connected by the closed cross section of the brace 11, so that panel vibration (drumming) can be suppressed and the sound vibration performance is improved.

Further, since the seat belt retractor 13 is provided on the upper surface 10a of the bulging portion 10 of the pillar inner panel which forms a closed cross section with the pillar reinforce 7, the strength is advantageously improved. In addition, since the upper surface 10a of the bulging portion 10 is inclined so as to bulge toward the passenger compartment as it goes downward, the torsion of the seat belt 13a fed from the seat belt retractor 13 can also be prevented.

FIG. 6 shows a second embodiment of the present invention.

In this embodiment, since the strut tower 6 is arranged at substantially the same height as the rear wheel house 3, the length of the brace 11 is reduced. The other configuration is the same as that of the first embodiment, and the same reference numerals are given and the description is omitted.

It is needless to say that the present invention is not limited to the rear strut tower, but can be applied to the front strut tower.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken along line AA shown in FIG.

FIG. 3 is a sectional view taken along line BB shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a sectional view taken along line CC shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 5 is an exploded perspective view of FIG. 1;

FIG. 6 is a perspective view showing a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a view of FIG. 6 viewed from the direction of arrow D.

FIG. 8 is an exploded perspective view of FIG. 6;

[Explanation of symbols]

 2 ・ ・ ・ Pillar inner panel 3 ・ ・ ・ Rear wheel house 6 ・ ・ ・ Strut tower 10 ・ ・ ・ Swelling part 10b ・ ・ ・ Side 11 ・ ・ ・ Brace

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A part of a pillar inner panel above a wheel house is bulged toward a vehicle interior, and the bulged portion and an upper part of a strut tower are connected by a brace. An automobile body structure characterized by being welded to the side surface of the portion. 2. The vehicle according to claim 1, wherein a lower end of the brace is branched so as to be wound around a peripheral wall of the strut tower, and the branched portions are respectively welded to the peripheral wall of the strut tower. Body structure. 3. The brace is formed to have a substantially U-shaped cross section, and the brace is joined to a wheel house inner panel and a pillar inner panel to form a closed cross section connected to the strut tower from the pillar. The vehicle body structure of an automobile according to claim 1 or 2, wherein: 4. The seat belt retractor according to claim 1, wherein the upper surface of the bulging portion is inclined so as to bulge toward the passenger compartment as it goes downward, and a seat belt retractor is provided on the sloping surface. Item 4. An automobile body structure according to item 3.