JP2009113568A - Front part structure for automobile - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a front part structure for an automobile capable of outstandingly enhancing bad road durability strength without changing the structure of a cowl and a dash panel in bonding of the cowl and the dash panel. <P>SOLUTION: The front part structure for the automobile is provided with the cowl 2 having a lateral cross section of approximately U shape with an upward opening part, extending in a vehicle width direction and arranged along a lower end part of a windshield; and the dash panel 3 bonded to a lower part of the cowl 2 and partitioning a cabin side and an engine room side. The structure is provided with a brace 10 having a lower end fastened to the dash panel 3 through welded patches 6a, 6b by bolts 7a, 7b and an upper end fixed to a lower part of the cowl 2 near a bonded part with the cowl 2 on the dash panel 3. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2009,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a front structure of an automobile, and in particular, a cowl extending in a vehicle width direction disposed along a lower end portion of a windshield, and a vehicle compartment side and an engine room side coupled to a lower portion of the cowl. The present invention relates to a front structure of an automobile provided with a dash panel for partitioning.

  A cowl 102 extending in the vehicle width direction disposed along the lower end portion of the windshield FG of the automobile, and a dash panel 103 coupled to the lower portion of the cowl 102 to partition the vehicle compartment side and the engine compartment side. FIG. 5 is a simplified cross-sectional view of an embodiment of the conventional automobile front structure 101. In the figure, Fr represents the front of the vehicle, and Up represents the upper side.

  The cowl 102 shown in FIG. 5 is a cowl 102 having a so-called closed structure, and is formed in a rectangular tube shape having a substantially rectangular cross section and extending in the vehicle width direction. The cowl 102 is disposed along the lower end portion of the windshield FG disposed to be inclined upward toward the rear, and is slightly inclined so that the lower end portion of the windshield FG is substantially parallel to the upper surface thereof. It is attached and configured. A dash panel 103 for partitioning the vehicle compartment side and the engine compartment side is fixed and integrated near the top portion located at the lower end of the cowl 102 to constitute a front structure of the automobile.

  According to the front structure 101 of the automobile provided with the cowl 102 of this kind of closed structure, the strength of the automobile itself, that is, the vehicle body can be increased, and the durability of the vehicle body can be improved. It has been difficult to sufficiently ensure injury value reduction that suppresses injury values for pedestrians when pedestrians collide.

  For this reason, in recent years, the cowl 102 having a closed structure has been modified for the purpose of sufficiently achieving this kind of injury value reduction, and as shown in FIG. A structural cowl 202 was adopted. FIG. 7 is a perspective view of the entire front structure 201 of the automobile including the cowl 202 having the open structure.

As shown in FIGS. 7 and 8, the front structure 201 of the conventional automobile, which is designed to weaken the cowl 202 in order to reduce the injury value of a pedestrian or the like, has a substantially U-shaped cross section and has an opening at the top. A cowl 202 extending in the vehicle width direction disposed along the lower end portion of the windshield FG1 toward the vehicle, and fixed to the vicinity of the front lower portion of the cowl 202 by spot welding so that the vehicle compartment side and the engine room side are connected to each other. It is composed of a plate-like dash panel 203 that is partitioned and has a frontal shape that is formed in a substantially concave shape downward.
JP 2005-193873 A

As shown in FIG. 9, the deformation of the front structure of this type of automobile is such that the cowl of the open structure is distorted and deforms by contracting in the vehicle front-rear direction, thereby absorbing the impact at the time of collision. The injury value can be reduced. However, in such a deformation mode, it has been found that stress concentration occurs in a specific number of spot welds, and from this, in the manufacturing process for joining this type of conventional cowl and dash panel, As a result, very strict management is required for the spot welding position and the like, so that the work efficiency is remarkably lowered.
Further, if the cowl is weakened for the purpose of reducing the injury value of a pedestrian at the time of a frontal collision, there is a problem that the rough road durability strength of the front structure of the automobile is lowered.

  The present invention has been created in view of the above-described problems. In the coupling between the cowl and the dash panel, the stress concentration portion can be obtained without changing the structure of the cowl and the dash panel, and without causing an excessive weight increase. It is an object of the present invention to provide a front structure of an automobile that can be reinforced by a simple operation, can improve work efficiency, and can remarkably improve rough road durability.

  In order to achieve the above object, the present invention has a cowl that has a substantially U-shaped cross section, has an opening facing upward, extends in the vehicle width direction, and is disposed along the lower end of the windshield. In the front structure of an automobile provided with a dash panel that is coupled to the lower part of the vehicle and separates the vehicle compartment side and the engine room side, a patch welded in the vicinity of the coupling part with the cowl in the dash panel, and a lower end by a bolt The brace is fastened to the dash panel via the patch and the upper end is fixed to the lower part of the cowl, and the stress concentrated near the joint at the time of input is dispersed to reduce the damage caused by the bolt near the joint. It features a reinforced connection between the cowl and the dash panel.

  According to the present invention, in the front structure of an automobile, a brace is attached to a part where the input is concentrated via a patch with a bolt, and the cowl and the dash panel are joined together. It is possible to remarkably improve the bad road endurance strength while suppressing the increase in weight to the minimum necessary without changing the road, and to reduce the road surface input noise generated during the running of the automobile.

Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.
A vehicle front structure 1 according to an embodiment includes a cowl 2 extending in a vehicle width direction disposed along a lower end portion of a windshield (not shown) of a vehicle, and a lower portion of the cowl 2 so as to be coupled to a vehicle interior. A dash panel 3 that partitions the (not shown) side and the engine room (not shown) side, and reduces the injury value of a pedestrian at the time of a frontal collision of the vehicle (not shown), and at the same time, durability of the vehicle It is for improving. In the figure, Fr represents the front of the vehicle, Up represents the upper side, RH represents the right side of the vehicle, and LH represents the left side of the vehicle.

  As shown in FIGS. 1 to 3, the cowl 2 of the present embodiment is formed by processing a rigid plate material, has a substantially U-shaped cross section, and has a so-called open structure with its opening facing upward. Yes, it is disposed along the lower end of the windshield, and extends substantially the full width of the vehicle in the vehicle width direction. As a whole, it has a substantially tray shape with a shallow bottom opening. On the outside of the front lower side wall of the tray-shaped cowl 2, the plate-shaped dash panel 3 is fixed by spot welding at several appropriate locations.

  The dash panel 3 is formed by processing a rigid plate that extends to the full width of the vehicle across the left and right sides of the cowl 2, and the front shape thereof is substantially concave downward. The vehicle compartment side and the engine room side are partitioned. A plurality of holes 4 penetrating the front and back of the dash panel 3 are formed at appropriate positions on the plate surface of the dash panel 3. These holes 4 are for inserting various wirings and pipes connecting the vehicle compartment side and the engine compartment side.

  A relatively large hole 4a is penetrated in the upper peripheral portion of the dash panel 3 at the left end position of the substantially rectangular notch 5 at the lower center of the dash panel 3. Conventionally, these peripheral portions are portions where stress is most concentrated at the time of a frontal collision of a vehicle. While applying substantially rectangular plate-like patches 6a and 6b to the left and right side positions of a relatively large hole 4a, Are fixed to the dash panel 3 by spot welding. Bolt holes 8a and 8b for inserting bolts 7a and 7b are pre-pierced in these patches 6a and 6b, and bolts 7a are placed at corresponding positions on the dash panel 3 in the same manner as the patches 6a and 6b. , 7b are inserted through the bolt holes 9a, 9b. A brace 10 having a bridging portion 10a extending in a length corresponding to the distance between the patches 6a and 6b is attached to the two patches 6a and 6b by bolts 7a and 7b in the vehicle width direction so as to bridge between the outer surfaces. It is done.

  The brace 10 has a thin plate-like bridge portion 10a having a narrow width in the vertical direction, and is formed from the right end side of the bridge portion 10a. A plate-like support arm portion 10b that is bent and extended toward the rear of the vehicle from the bridge portion 10a is formed at a portion extending to the vicinity of the central portion of the bridge portion 10a. The support arm portion 10b has a length in the vehicle front-rear direction substantially corresponding to the length of the lower surface of the cowl 2, and a rear end portion thereof is bent in a substantially vertical direction, so that the rear end of the cowl 2 rises. A claw-shaped fixing portion 10c is formed so as to contact the outside of the side wall.

  For inserting bolts 7a, 7b, 7c penetrating the front and back one by one in the vicinity of the left and right ends of the bridging portion 10a of the brace 10 and the central portion of the claw-shaped fixing portion 10c at the rear end of the support arm portion 10b. Bolt holes 11a, 11b and 11c are pierced. A total of three bolt holes 11a, 11b, and 11c are inserted into the bolt hole 9c that is penetrated at a predetermined position of the cowl 2 while inserting one bolt 7a, 7b, and 7c, and the dash panel 3 in advance. A brace 10 is fastened by bolts 7a, 7b, 7c to bolt holes 9a, 9b that are penetrated in two places of the dash panel 3 through the fixed patches 6a, 6b. Are combined. In this embodiment, the bolts 7a, 7b, and 7c are bolts 7a, 7b, and 7c each having a normal head portion and a screw rod portion. You may fix using a volt | bolt etc.

  The front structure of the automobile of the present embodiment is such that the dash panel 3 is fixed to the front lower part of the cowl 2 having an open structure by spot welding, and the brace 10 is connected to the bolt 7a via the patches 6a and 6b at the most stress concentrated portion. , 7b, 7c, and the connection between the cowl 2 and the dash panel 3 is reinforced. Conventionally, the front of an automobile is affected by vibrations caused by traveling of the vehicle, distortion of the vehicle body caused by input from the lower side of the vehicle caused by overcoming a curved road surface or level difference, and the load applied to the coupling portion between the cowl 2 and the dash panel 3. Although there was a risk of causing damage such as peeling to the part structure, as shown in FIG. 4, the risk is remarkably reduced by reinforcement by braces 10, patches 6a, 6b, bolts 7a, 7b, 7c, etc. Is done.

  As described above, the front structure 1 of the automobile according to the present invention reinforces the portion where the stress is most concentrated on the connection between the cowl 2 and the dash panel 3 with the additional parts, The present invention can be implemented in various forms without departing from the scope.

It is the perspective view seen from the vehicles back left of the front part structure of the car of this embodiment. It is a partial exploded perspective view which shows the assembly | attachment with respect to the cowl and a dash panel of the patch, brace, and bolt which are additional parts in the front part structure of the motor vehicle of FIG. It is sectional drawing which shows the AA line cross section of FIG. It is sectional drawing which shows the state which the front part structure of the motor vehicle of this embodiment deform | transformed. It is a simplified sectional view showing a configuration of a front structure of a conventional automobile configured with a cowl having a closed structure. It is a simplified sectional view showing the configuration of the front structure of a conventional automobile configured with a cowl having an open structure. It is a perspective view which shows the structure of the front part structure of the conventional motor vehicle comprised with the cowl of the open structure. FIG. 8 is an enlarged cross-sectional view of the vicinity of a coupling portion between a cowl and a dash panel in the front structure of the automobile in FIG. 7. FIG. 9 is an enlarged cross-sectional view around the joint between the cowl and the dash panel shown in FIG.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Car front structure 2 Cowl 3 Dash panel 4 Hole 4a Relatively large hole 5 Notch 6a, 6b Patch 7a, 7b, 7c Bolt 8a, 8b Bolt hole on patch 9a, 9b, 9c Bolt hole on dash panel DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Brace 10a Bridge part 10b Support arm part 10c Fixing part 11a, 11b, 11c Bolt hole on brace FG, FG1 Windshield

Claims (1)

A cowl formed in a substantially U-shaped cross section, with its opening facing upward, extending in the vehicle width direction and disposed along the lower end of the windshield, and coupled to the lower portion of this cowl A front structure of an automobile provided with a dash panel that partitions the engine room side,
A patch welded in the vicinity of the coupling portion of the dash panel with the cowl, and a brace having a lower end fastened to the dash panel via the patch with a bolt and an upper end fixed to the lower portion of the cowl, A front portion of an automobile characterized by dispersing stress concentrated near the joint at the time of input, reducing damage by a bolt near the joint, and reinforcing a coupling state between the cowl and the dash panel. Construction.