KR102338032B1 - Knee bolster bracket with reinforcement structure - Google Patents

Abstract

Disclosed is a knee bolster bracket having a reinforcing structure. A knee bolster bracket having a reinforcing structure according to the present invention includes: a first support portion protruding from a cowl cross bar of a vehicle toward a occupant; a shock receiving unit bent downward from the first support unit to face the passenger's knee and receiving an impact from the knee during a vehicle collision; a second support portion provided between the cowl cross bar and the impact receiving portion at a lower portion of the first support portion to support the impact receiving portion; and the ends of the first support portion coupled to the cowl cross bar are symmetrically extended downward in a plate shape, are welded to both sides of the second support portion, and are welded up and down to the cowl cross bar to form the first and second It is characterized in that it comprises a reinforcing coupling portion for suppressing the deformation in the left and right direction of the support. According to the present invention, even if the knee of the occupant collides with the impact receiving unit in the front or obliquely at the time of a vehicle collision, the left and right bending deformation of the first and second supports is firmly suppressed, while the impact applied to the knee is applied to the first and second support units. Since it is completely attenuated or buffered through the forward and backward folding deformation of the occupant, the airbag protects the occupant's knees and prevents the occupant from leaning forward effectively.

Description

KNEE BOLSTER BRACKET WITH REINFORCEMENT STRUCTURE

The present invention relates to a knee bolster bracket having a reinforcing structure, and more particularly, to a knee bolster bracket that does not bend even when an occupant's knee collides at an angle during a vehicle collision, firmly supports the knee, and can effectively cushion the impact. it's about

In general, the driver's seat of a vehicle is equipped with various safety devices to protect the driver in case of a frontal collision. There is a knee bolster installed on the lower side of the steering column to absorb the shock applied to the knee while preventing the occupant's knee from being excessively leaned forward of the vehicle.

At this time, the reason for absorbing the shock applied to the knee and preventing the knee from moving excessively forward is that when the knee moves excessively forward, the head and chest parts are tilted back, so protection by the airbag is difficult. because it is not done properly.

Such a safety device, the knee bolster, is manufactured in various materials (rigidity) and shapes based on the regulations of different regions (North America, Europe), and is mounted in different positions in different coupling methods.

As an example, in the conventional knee protection device 5, as shown in FIG. 6, the fixing brackets 4 installed on both sides of the steering column 1, the steering column mounting bracket 2, and the mounting bracket 2 are installed, respectively. It is fixed to the cowl crossbar 3 and performs a function of protecting the driver's knee from the lower side of the steering column 1 .

The conventional knee protection device 5 has a closed curved shape curved downward of the fixing bracket 4 so that a specific space is formed on the inside, and the lower plate 6 constituting the knee protection device 5 for shock absorption is It is in a bent form, and when the driver's knee collides with the knee protector 5 during a vehicle collision, the knee protector 5 is deformed to reduce injuries to the knee.

However, in some cases, since the amount of deformation is large, rather than absorbing the shock of the knee, if the driver's knee is pushed toward the front of the vehicle, it collides with the steering column assembly and the like, causing serious injury.

In addition, in the above case, when the front penetration of the knee is made in an oblique direction, the fixing bracket 4 and the knee protection device 5 support it due to the lack of rigidity of the fixing bracket 4 fixed to the cowl crossbar 3 . There was a problem in that it was not able to do so and was damaged by rotating left and right.

There is a need for structural improvement or various research and development that can improve or eliminate the structural problems of the conventional knee protection device 5 as described above, while firmly supporting the knee of the occupant during a collision and effectively buffering the knee impact.

It is an object of the present invention to structurally supplement the rigidity of the coupling area with the cowl cross bar so that the knee of the passenger does not bend in the left and right direction even if the knee of the passenger collides with a frontal or oblique collision during a vehicle collision, while firmly supporting the knee and preventing the impact It is to provide a knee bolster bracket having a reinforcing structure that can be buffered with

The object may include: a first support portion protruding from the cowl crossbar of the vehicle toward the occupant; a shock receiving unit bent downward from the first support unit to face the passenger's knee and receiving an impact from the knee during a vehicle collision; a second support portion provided between the cowl cross bar and the impact receiving portion at a lower portion of the first support portion to support the impact receiving portion; and the ends of the first support portion coupled to the cowl cross bar are symmetrically extended downward in a plate shape, are welded to both sides of the second support portion, and are welded up and down to the cowl cross bar to form the first and second It is achieved by a knee bolster bracket having a reinforcing structure, characterized in that it includes a reinforcing coupling portion for suppressing the deformation in the left and right directions of the support portion.

The reinforcing coupling part may include an enlarged bending part formed by bending the ends of the cowl crossbars in contact with the cowl crossbars to the outside in order to form a wide welding area while being in contact with the cowl crossbars face-to-face.

The first support unit, in order to guide the forward movement of the shock receiving unit in the event of a knee impact according to a vehicle collision, may include a first cushioning unit that is bent upward to attenuate the impact.

The second support part is formed in a concave shape on one side of the lower end of the second support part in order to guide the upward folding of the second support part corresponding to the forward movement of the shock receiving part to attenuate the impact together with the first buffer part It may include a second buffer to make it.

The knee bolster bracket having the reinforcing structure includes a plate-shaped side reinforcement which is coupled to cover an area spanning one side of the impact receiving part, the first support part and the reinforcing coupling part in order to strengthen the damping function for the knee impact. may include more.

Increase/decrease in the attenuation function of the side reinforcement part, the reinforcing coupling part and the side reinforcement part are installed through the area in contact with each other, the reinforcing coupling part and the side reinforcement part through the screw adjustment to increase or decrease the contact friction resistance between the can be made through.

According to the present invention, the shock receiving part is bent downward from the first support part protruding toward the occupant in the cowl crossbar of the vehicle and the impact by the knee is applied when the vehicle collides, and the shock receiving part is supported at the lower part of the first support part A second support part is provided, and a reinforcing coupling part formed symmetrically on both sides of the end of the first support part coupled to the cowl cross bar and extending downward in a plate shape is welded to both sides of the second support part, and is welded to the cowl cross bar and up and down long. Accordingly, even when a passenger's knee collides with the impact receiving unit at an angle or frontally during a vehicle collision, the lateral bending deformation of the first and second supports is strongly suppressed, while the impact applied to the knee is applied in the front and rear directions of the first and second supports. Since it is completely attenuated or buffered through the folding deformation, protection by the airbag is effectively achieved by preventing the occupant from leaning forward as well as protecting the occupant's knee.

1 is a perspective view of a knee bolster bracket having a reinforcing structure according to an embodiment of the present invention.
2 is a right side view and a left side view of FIG. 1 ;
3 is an exploded view of FIG. 1 ;
Figure 4 is an operation state diagram when a knee impact is applied with respect to Figure 1 .
5 is a perspective view of a knee bolster bracket having a reinforcing structure according to a modified example of the present invention.
6 is a view showing a conventional knee protection device.

Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. However, in describing the present invention, descriptions of already known functions or configurations will be omitted in order to clarify the gist of the present invention.

1 is a perspective view of a knee bolster bracket having a reinforcing structure according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a right side view and a left side view of FIG. 1 , FIG. 3 is an exploded view of FIG. 1 , and FIG. 4 is about FIG. It is an operation state diagram when a knee impact is applied, FIG. 5 is a perspective view of a knee bolster bracket having a reinforcing structure according to a modified example of the present invention, and FIG. 6 is a view showing a conventional knee protection device.

The X, Y, and Z axes shown in the drawings are arbitrarily set for convenience of explanation, not for the purpose of limiting rights. The axis indicates the left (arrow side) and right direction, and the Z axis is defined as indicating the up (up, arrow side) and down (down) directions. Each direction described below is based thereon, except when otherwise specifically limited.

The knee bolster bracket 100 having a reinforcing structure according to the present invention strongly suppresses the left and right bending deformation of the first and second support parts 110 and 130 even when the knee of the occupant collides with the impact receiving part 120 during a vehicle collision. This is an invention devised to completely attenuate or buffer the impact applied to the knee through the forward and backward folding deformation of the first and second support parts 110 and 130.

In order to specifically implement the above-described action or function, the knee bolster bracket 100 having a reinforcing structure according to the present invention, as shown in FIGS. 120), the second support portion 130, the embodiment including the reinforcing coupling portion 140 and the side reinforcement portion 150, and the like, and a modified example further including the screw adjustment portion 160 as shown in FIG. can be composed of

Hereinafter, the above-described components will be described in detail.

First, the first support unit 110 suppresses the forward movement (X-axis arrow) of the occupant's knee during a vehicle collision to protect the occupant by the airbag, and at the same time protect the occupant's knee through folding deformation. is an element

As shown in FIGS. 1 to 4 , the first support part 110 is disposed to protrude from the cowl cross bar 10 of the vehicle toward the occupant, and has a '┏┓' cross-section in order to reduce weight and secure structural rigidity. It may be made of a bent metal plate.

On one side of the first support unit 110, in order to smoothly guide the forward movement (X-axis arrow) of the shock receiving unit 120 (X-axis arrow) and the shock attenuation through the folding deformation, which will be described later, when the knee impact is caused by a vehicle collision, it is bent upward. The formed first buffer 112 may be provided.

At this time, at least one recess (112a) that serves as a basis for forward movement (X-axis arrow) and folding deformation of the shock receiving unit 120 may be formed on one lower end side of the first buffer unit 112 .

The impact receiving unit 120 is a component to which an impact by the knee is directly applied during a vehicle collision, and is integral with the above-described first support unit 110 and is bent downward at the first support unit 110 to prevent the occupant's impact. It may be arranged to face the knees up and down.

The shock receiving unit 120, like the above-described first support unit 110, may be made of a metal plate bent in the shape of '┏┓' in order to reduce the weight and secure structural rigidity.

On the side of the shock receiving unit 120 facing the passenger's knee, the pad 122 may be provided with an elastically deformed outer surface according to the impact applied by both knees to absorb the shock.

The pad 122 may be manufactured by injection molding or compression molding of polyurethane, low density polyethylene (LDPE), etc. as a material.

The second support 130, together with the above-described first support 110, suppresses the forward movement (X-axis arrow) of the passenger's knee during a vehicle collision and protects the passenger's knee through folding deformation, while It is a component provided to support the impact of the knee applied to the impact receiving unit 120 from the opposite side.

As shown in FIGS. 1 to 4 , the second support part 130 is disposed between the cowl cross bar 10 and the impact receiving part 120 at the lower part of the first support part 110 described above, and weight reduction and Like the above-described first support for securing structural rigidity, the cross-section may be made of a metal plate bent in a '┏┓' shape.

Also on one side of the second support part 130, like the first support part 110, when a knee impact is caused by a vehicle collision, to smoothly guide the shock attenuation through the folding deformation corresponding to the forward movement of the shock receiving part 120 to be described later. For this, a second buffer 132 bent upward may be provided.

At this time, at least one recess 132a, which is a basis for plastic deformation in which the forward movement of the shock receiving unit 120 and the second support 130 is folded back and forth, is also formed on one side of the lower end of the second buffer unit 132. can

In addition, at one end at which the second support part 130 is in contact with the shock receiver 120 , a support plate 134 for supporting the shock receiver 120 face to face is bent downward from the second support part 130 . It can be formed and welded to the shock receiving part 120 (WB).

In addition, at the other end of the second support 130 , a welding surface may be formed in contact with the outer circumferential surface of the cowl cross bar 10 over a wide area to form a strong welding connection WB.

The reinforcing coupling part 140 is configured to firmly fix the above-described first support part 110 to the cowl cross bar 10, while suppressing deformation in the left and right directions of the first and second support parts 110 and 130 due to impact. As an element, it may be formed by extending downwardly in a plate shape symmetrically on both ends of the end of the first support part 110 coupled to the cowl cross bar 10 .

As shown in FIGS. 1 to 4, the lower end of the reinforcing coupling unit 140 is welded (WB) to both sides of the second support unit 130, respectively, while the front end is the cowl cross bar (10). It contacts the outer circumferential surface of and is welded (WB) up and down long.

At this time, the front ends of the reinforcing coupling portion 140 in contact with the cowl cross bar 10 are bent outward, respectively, to form the expanded bent portion 142 , whereby the reinforcing coupling portion 140 is the cowl cross bar 10 . ) and face-to-face to form a wide welding area.

That is, as shown in FIGS. 1 to 4, the reinforcing coupling part 140 is welded in a state in which the reinforcing coupling part 140 is in surface contact with the cowl cross bar 10 through the enlarged bending part 142 at the upper end and the left and right sides, respectively (WB). ), and the lower end of the reinforcing coupling unit 140 is again welded (WB) to both sides of the second supporting unit 130, respectively, the first and second supporting units 110 and 130 are, when the vehicle crashes, the knee of the occupant is at the front or Even if it collides with the impact receiving part 120 at an angle, the deformation of bending in the left and right direction (Y-axis direction) with respect to the welded-coupled (WB) cowl cross bar 10 can be strongly suppressed.

Due to the left-right deformation suppression for the first and second supports 110 and 130, the impact applied to the knee is caused by forward movement (X-axis arrow) of the impact receiving unit 120 and the first and second support units 110 and 130 (first ,2 buffer parts 112 and 132) can be completely attenuated or buffered through the folding deformation in the front-rear direction, so that protection by the airbag can be made more effectively by protecting the occupant's knee and preventing the occupant from leaning forward.

The side reinforcement part 150 is a plate-shaped component provided for strengthening the damping function against the knee impact, and is a flat plate having at least one convex bent part 154 that generates resistance to folding or bending deformation of the plate. can be done

This side reinforcement 150, as shown in Figures 2 to 4, the impact receiving portion 120, the first support portion 110 and the reinforcing coupling portion 140 covering the area spanning one side of the coupled to be In contrast to the drawings, the shock accommodating part 120, the first support part 110 and the reinforcing coupling part 140 may be respectively coupled to both side surfaces.

At this time, the adjustment of the damping function for the impact of the side reinforcement part 150 can be made by increasing or decreasing the number of the bent parts 154 or increasing or decreasing the thickness of the plate material itself constituting the side reinforcement part 150, and the shock reception It may be made by increasing or decreasing the welding amount of the side reinforcement part 150 with respect to one side of the part 120 , the first support part 110 and the reinforcement coupling part 140 .

At the end of the side reinforcement part 150 that is adjacent to the pad 122 described above, as shown in FIG. 3, it penetrates the pad 122 from the side and is fitted with a fastener 122a installed on the pad 122. The fastening regulating plate 152a may be protruded, and the fastening regulating plate 152b for regulating the depth at which the fastener 122a and the aforementioned fastening regulating plate 152a are fitted may be protruded, respectively. .

Due to the plurality of fastening control plates 152a and 152 , the pad 122 can be accurately fixed in place with respect to the impact receiving part 120 .

According to the knee bolster bracket 100 having a reinforcing structure according to the embodiment of the present invention as described above, even if the knee of the passenger collides with the impact receiving unit 120 from the front or obliquely, the first and second support units 110 and 130 of the left-right bending deformation is firmly suppressed, and the impact applied to the knee is attenuated through the front-rear bending deformation of the first and second support units 110 and 130 as shown in FIGS. 4 (a) and (b). As the buffer is cushioned, forward tilting of the occupant is effectively prevented or prevented together with the knee protection of the occupant, so that protection by the airbag can be made more effectively.

On the other hand, the knee bolster bracket 100 having a reinforcing structure according to a modified example of the present invention, as shown in FIG. It includes a part 140 and a side reinforcement part 150 and the like, and further includes a screw adjustment part 160 in addition.

Here, the screw adjustment part 160 is installed through the reinforcing coupling part 140 and the side reinforcement part 150 in an area in contact with each other to increase or decrease the contact friction resistance between the reinforcement coupling part 140 and the side reinforcement part 150. As a component, it may be composed of a bolt and a nut screwed through a long hole formed long in the folding direction of the first and second support parts 110 and 130 that are folded and deformed upon impact.

When the screw tightening is adjusted through these bolts and nuts, the contact friction resistance between the side reinforcement part 150 and the reinforcement coupling part 140, which move relative to the reinforcement coupling part 140 during impact, increases or decreases in various ways, so that the first ,2 The knee impact caused by the folding deformation of the support parts 110 and 130 can also be variably buffered.

In the foregoing, specific embodiments of the present invention have been described and illustrated, but it is common knowledge in the art that the present invention is not limited to the described embodiments, and that various modifications and variations can be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention. It is self-evident to those who have Accordingly, such modifications or variations should not be individually understood from the spirit or point of view of the present invention, and modified embodiments should be said to belong to the claims of the present invention.

10: cowl cross bar WB: welding joint
100: knee bolster bracket having a reinforcing structure
110: first support 112: first buffer
112a, 132a: groove 120: shock receiving part
122: pad 122a: fastener
130: second support 132: second buffer
134: support plate 140: reinforcing coupling part
142: expanded bent part 150: side reinforcement part
152a, 152b: fastening control plate 154: bent part
160: screw adjustment unit

Claims (6)

a first support portion protruding from the cowl crossbar of the vehicle toward the occupant; a shock receiving unit bent downwardly from the first support unit to face the passenger's knee to receive an impact from the knee during a vehicle collision; a second support part provided between the cowl cross bar and the impact receiving part under the first support part so as to support the impact receiving part; and the ends of the first support portion coupled to the cowl cross bar are symmetrically extended downward in a plate shape, are welded to both sides of the second support portion, and are welded up and down to the cowl cross bar to form the first and second Including a reinforcing coupling portion that suppresses the deformation in the left and right direction of the support portion,
In order to strengthen the damping function for the knee impact, the impact receiving portion, the first support portion and further comprising a plate-shaped side reinforcement portion coupled to cover the area spanning one side of the reinforcing coupling portion,
Increase and decrease of the attenuation function of the side reinforcement,
The knee bolster bracket having a reinforcing structure, characterized in that the reinforcing coupling part and the side reinforcement part are installed through a region in contact with each other and are made through a screw adjusting part that increases or decreases the contact friction resistance between the reinforcement coupling part and the side reinforcement part. According to claim 1,
The reinforcing coupling part,
The knee bolster bracket having a reinforcing structure, characterized in that it includes an enlarged bent part formed by bending the ends in contact with the cowl cross bar outward, respectively, in order to form a wide welding area in contact with the cowl cross bar. According to claim 1,
The first support part,
A knee bolster bracket having a reinforcing structure, characterized in that it includes a first cushioning unit that is bent upward to attenuate the impact in order to guide the forward movement of the shock receiving unit in the event of a knee impact according to a vehicle collision. 4. The method of claim 3,
The second support part,
In order to guide the upward folding of the second support unit in response to the forward movement of the shock receiving unit, it is formed in a concave shape on one side of the lower end of the second support unit and includes a second buffer unit for damping the shock together with the first buffer unit. A knee bolster bracket having a reinforcing structure, characterized in that. delete delete

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