WO2019028608A1

WO2019028608A1 - Vehicule front body side structure

Info

Publication number: WO2019028608A1
Application number: PCT/CN2017/096274
Authority: WO
Inventors: Xia Zhang; Xiang Feng; Sebastien Saric; Xiaoxi Zhang; Benjie HU
Original assignee: Psa Automobiles Sa
Priority date: 2017-08-07
Filing date: 2017-08-07
Publication date: 2019-02-14
Also published as: CN110997466A; CN110997466B

Abstract

A vehicle structure on each lateral side, consisting of a front pillar (1), a lateral front wing liner (2) extending forwardly from the front pillar (1), a reinforcement beam (3) extending forwardly from the front pillar (1), and a suspension bracket (4) attached to an inner side of the wing liner (2). The reinforcement beam (3) comprises a lower wing portion, which is attached to the outer side of the wing liner (2) by means of an adhesive (5) combined with spot welding. The front suspension bracket (4) comprises a wing portion set at the level of said reinforcement beam lower wing portion, and attached to the inner side of the wing liner (2) by means of an adhesive (5) combined with the spot welding of the attachment of the reinforcement beam lower wing to the wing liner (2).

Description

VEHICULE FRONT BODY SIDE STRUCTURE

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates to automotive vehicles, and more specifically to front-end body side structures of automotive vehicles and methods of assembling parts thereof.

BACKGROUND

A front-end body side structure of a vehicle is a frame structure which is positioned at a front side in a longitudinal direction of the vehicle. In general, it includes a front-end module which forms a front side of the engine compartment and accommodates two front wing liner members which form the left and right sides of the engine compartment. Each wing liner member usually accommodates a suspension system and has a space in which one of the front wheels is installed. A dash panel is positioned at the rear of the engine compartment and partitions a passenger compartment and the engine compartment.

The front-end body side structure further comprises a sub-frame structure positioned on both sides of the vehicle. It is coupled with the wing liner members so as to install and support the engine compartment as well as transmission and suspension systems. The sub-frame extends in the longitudinal direction, and strengthens the frame structure of the front vehicle body. Parts of this sub-frame might be made of high-strength steel, thus increasing the overall yield and tensile strengths. But such materials may negatively impact the stamping feasibility of the parts made of it and the front crash performance of the vehicle.

FR 2 930 757 discloses an assembly of external and internal parts of a car bodywork. These body parts are constituted by a liner and a reinforcement element which when assembled together form a support assembly for supporting an external body element such as an external skin. The reinforcement element is fixed to the liner by spot welding two superimposed edges of said element and liner. The external part is then attached to the support assembly by an adhesive joint along the edges of the reinforcement element and of the liner attached by spot welding, so that said spot welding is hidden by the external part. However, this arrangement is mainly directed to provide a satisfactory aesthetic aspect of the vehicle. It is intended for passenger compartment sides, more particularly for glass or sheet metal opening elements.

SUMMARY

An object of the invention is to provide a vehicle front-end body side structure with improved durability and mechanical strength.

To attain this object, the invention provides a vehicle structure, comprising on each lateral side, a front pillar, a lateral front wing liner extending forwardly from the front pillar, a reinforcement beam extending forwardly from the front pillar along an upper portion of the wing liner, a front suspension bracket attached to an inner side of the wing liner, wherein the reinforcement beam is attached to an outer side of the wing liner by means of an adhesive combined with spot welding.

Advantageously, the adhesive is of the type that allows spot welding while being readily applied. The adhesive can be an epoxy glue. The adhesive can form a substantially continuous layer, except at the spot welding locations, with a thickness comprised between 0.5 and 2mm.

According to a preferred embodiment of the invention, the attachment of the front suspension bracket to the wing liner is by means of an adhesive combined with the spot welding of the attachment of the reinforcement beam to the wing liner.

According to a preferred embodiment of the invention, the reinforcement beam shows a cross-section with a U-shaped profile, said profile comprising in addition an upper wing portion and a lower wing portion, said portions being attached to the outer side of the wing liner. The U-shaped profile inherently comprises two leg portions and a central portion bridging the leg portions, the upper and lower wing portions extending from the two leg portions, respectively. Advantageously, the central portion shows a deepening towards the hollow of the U.

According to a preferred embodiment of the invention, the attachment of the lower wing portion of the reinforcement beam to the outer side of the wing liner is by means of the adhesive combined with the spot welding.

According to a preferred embodiment of the invention, the front suspension bracket comprises a wing portion attached to an inner side of the wing liner, said portion being superimposed with the lower wing portion of the reinforcement beam.

According to a preferred embodiment of the invention, the wing portion of the front suspension bracket is attached to an inner side of the wing liner by means of an adhesive combined with spot welding. Advantageously, the adhesive is of the same type as the adhesive of the attachment of the reinforcement beam to the outer side of the wing liner

According to a preferred embodiment of the invention, the spot welding of the attachment of the front suspension wing portion to the wing liner is that of the attachment of the reinforcement beam lower wing portion to the wing liner.

According to a preferred embodiment of the invention, the spot welding attachment of the reinforcement beam to the wing liner comprises at least 5 welding spots distributed along a longitudinal direction.

According to a preferred embodiment of the invention, the reinforcement beam comprises a bent portion between a rear longitudinal portion and a front longitudinal section, the front suspension bracket being located longitudinally at the level of the rear longitudinal portion.

According to a preferred embodiment of the invention, the reinforcement beam is made of a low-strength steel with a yield strength lower than 250 MPa.

The above invention is interesting in that it provides an improved attachment between body parts at a selected location, thereby providing an increased rigidity essentially with regard to the constraints exerted by the suspension while keeping a good crash performance. Indeed, the combination of adhesive with spot welding for attaching the reinforcement beam to the wing liner provides a better distribution of the efforts while keeping a metallurgic stable connection. In addition, the attachment of the front suspension bracket to the wing liner in correspondence with a lower wing portion of the U-shaped reinforcement beam optimizes the rigidity provided by the reinforcement beam with regard to the efforts exerted by the suspension.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

A vehicle front-end body side according to the invention will be described below based on an embodiment using the accompanying drawings:

Figure 1 is a schematic perspective view of a front-end body structure according to the invention；

Figure 2 is a side view of the reinforcement beam, illustrating the welding spots along the vehicle structure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Figure 1 shows a front-end body structure of a vehicle, according to the invention.

The vehicle structure comprises a front pillar 1, a lateral front wing liner 2 extending forwardly from the front pillar 1, a reinforcement beam 3 extending forwardly from the front pillar 1, and a suspension bracket 4 attached to an inner side of the wing liner 2. Figure 1 illustrates the right lateral side of the structure, being understood that the left lateral side is symmetric.

Figure 1 illustrates also a cross-sectional view according to the cut plane I. The reinforcement beam 3 is a U-shaped steel profile comprising, in addition, upper and lower wing portions. The lower wing portion is attached to the outer side of the wing liner 2 by means of a glue coat 5 combined with spot welding. Welding spots are not visible on this image.

The front suspension bracket 4, on the other hand, comprises a wing portion attached to an inner side of the wing liner 2, and set at the level of said reinforcement beam lower wing portion. The attachment consists of a glue coat 5 combined with the spot welding of the attachment of the reinforcement beam lower wing to the wing liner 2.

Such mounting results in a superimposition of three layers of adjacent steel parts’portions, fixed to each other with adhesive coats and welding spots extending through the three layers.

The adhesive coats used in this embodiment may be made from epoxide resin, due to its suitability for this kind of mounting. Such adhesive material provides high mechanical resistance and rigidity to the joining. It is also fully compatible with spot welding. As a matter of fact, welding spots can be performed after epoxide resin glue application, as long as the adhesive coat is not yet cured.

Figure 2 is a side view of the reinforcement beam 3 alone. It also shows continuous and longitudinal mounting edges along which welding spots 6 are distributed. The reinforcement beam is of a bent shape, outlining a front longitudinal portion 3.1, a rear longitudinal portion 3.2 and a bent portion 3.3 between said front and rear portions. The rear portion 3.2 is located at the level of the layers superimposition of the previously described mounting.

Thanks to its above improved attachment, the reinforcement beam 3 can be made of low-strength steel, having a yield strength usually lower than 250 MPa. A flexion cycle test performed on the vehicle structure showed that said structure had an improved bending strength, compared with a similar structure made of a high strength steel reinforcement beam but without the adhesive coat joining claimed in the invention.

Still with reference to figure 2, the U-shaped profile of the reinforcement beam 3 can show a non-flat shape, for instance a deepening 3.4, in the central portion bridging the two legs’portions, in order to provide an increased rigidity in flexion as well as in torsion. The deepening 3.4 is also visible in figure 1.

Claims

A vehicle structure comprising, on each lateral side:

- a front pillar (1) ；

- a lateral front wing liner (2) extending forwardly from the front pillar (1) ；

- a reinforcement beam (3) extending forwardly from the front pillar (1) along an upper portion of the wing liner (2) ；

- a front suspension bracket (4) attached to an inner side of the wing liner (2) ；

wherein

the reinforcement beam (3) is attached to an outer side of the wing liner (2) by means of an adhesive (5) combined with spot welding.
Vehicle structure according to claim 1, wherein, on each lateral side, the attachment of the front suspension bracket (4) to the wing liner (2) is by means of an adhesive (5) combined with the spot welding of the attachment of the reinforcement beam (3) to the wing liner (2) .
Vehicle structure according to one of claims 1 and 2, wherein, on each lateral side, the reinforcement beam (3) shows a cross-section with a U-shaped profile, said profile comprising, in addition, an upper wing portion and a lower wing portion, said portions being attached to the outer side of the wing liner (2) .
Vehicle structure according to claim 3, wherein, on each lateral side, the attachment of the lower wing portion of the reinforcement beam (3) to the outer side of the wing liner (2) is by means of the adhesive (5) combined with the spot welding.
Vehicle structure according to one of claims 3 and 4, wherein, on each lateral side, the front suspension bracket (4) comprises a wing portion attached to an inner side of the wing liner (2) , said portion being superimposed with the lower wing portion of the reinforcement beam (3) .
Vehicle structure according to claim 5, wherein, on each lateral side, the wing portion of the front suspension bracket (4) is attached to an inner side of the wing liner (2) by means of an adhesive (5) combined with spot welding.
Vehicle structure according to claim 6, wherein, on each lateral side, the spot welding of the attachment of the front suspension wing portion to the wing liner is that of the attachment of the reinforcement beam lower wing portion to the wing liner (2) .
Vehicle structure according to any one of claims 1 to 7, wherein, on each lateral side, the spot welding attachment of the reinforcement beam (3) to the wing liner (2) comprises at least 5 welding spots distributed along a longitudinal direction.
Vehicle structure according to any one of claims 1 to 8, wherein, on each lateral side, the reinforcement beam (3) comprises a bent portion between a rear longitudinal portion and a front longitudinal section, the front suspension bracket (4) being located longitudinally at the level of the rear longitudinal portion.
Vehicle structure according to any one of claims 1 to 9, wherein, on each lateral side, the reinforcement beam (3) is made of a low-strength steel with a yield strength lower than 250 MPa.