JP2800542B2 - Vehicle side member structure - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a vehicle side member structure.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art As a conventional side member structure of a vehicle, for example, there are a structure as disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2-14912 and a structure as shown in FIGS. That is, 1 is a side member, which is disposed in a pair in the left-right direction X along the front-rear direction Y of the vehicle body (only the left side member is shown in the figure). The side member 1 is composed of a side member main body 2 having a hat-shaped cross section and a flat closing plate 3 joined to the outside of the side member main body 2, and has a closed cross-sectional structure as a whole. I have.

The lower end of the hood ridge panel 6 is joined to the upper flange joint 4 of the upper and lower flange joints 4 and 5 of the side member body 2 and the closing plate 3. The shelf 7 of the hood ridge panel 6 includes a wheel house 8 and a strut housing 9.
Are integrally formed to protrude. A dash lower panel 10 is provided at the rear of the hood ridge panel 6, and a radiator core side 11 is provided at the front.

[0004] A stay 12 is provided with a bolt 13 at the front end of the upper flange joint 4 of the side member 1.
And a bumper 14 is attached to the front end of the stay 12.
The armature 15 which bears the strength of is mounted. The impact force applied from the armature 15 at the time of a vehicle collision can be transmitted to the upper flange joint 4 of the side member 1 via the stay 12.

[0005]

However, in such a conventional technique, an impact force at the time of a vehicle collision is transmitted to the upper flange joint 4 of the side member 1 via the stay 12. In other words, since the impact force is not transmitted to the main closed cross-section (the hatched portion in FIG. 9) 16 at the center of the side member 1, the side member 1 itself is deformed so as to be crushed in the longitudinal direction, and the impact is reduced. Inability to absorb power effectively. Therefore, even in such an input direction, a countermeasure must be taken by increasing the plate thickness so that effective shock absorption can be achieved, and a problem such as an increase in vehicle weight occurs.

On the other hand, one method is to lower the position of the bumper 14 and directly input the impact force transmitted from the bumper 14 to the main closed section 16 of the side member 1.
There is a restriction that the height position of the bumper 14 cannot be less than a certain height due to the layout of the engine and other various devices arranged in the engine room E.

The present invention has been made in view of such a conventional technique, and without lowering the bumper position,
An object of the present invention is to provide a vehicle side member structure capable of effectively inputting an impact force transmitted from a bumper to a main closed section of a side member.

[0008]

In order to achieve the above object, a side member structure for a vehicle according to the present invention is formed by bulging an outer surface portion of a side member in a front portion of a wheel house outward. And the upper side portion is formed to bulge upward.

[0009]

The outer side portion of the side member at the front side of the wheel house is bulged outward and the upper side portion is bulged upward, so that the main member at the front side of the side member is closed. The cross section is in a state of expanding outward and upward. That is, the main closed section is pulled up to the bumper position, so that the impact force transmitted from the bumper can be directly input to the main closed section of the side member.

[0010]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Preferred embodiments of the present invention will now be described with reference to FIGS.
It will be described based on. In addition, the same reference numerals are given to portions common to the related art, and overlapping description will be omitted.

The side member 17 according to this embodiment is formed by joining a side member main body 18 and a closing plate 19 to each other.
The shape of the rear part B after the wheel house 8 in 7 has the same shape as the conventional one. However, a portion A of the closing plate 19 on the front side of the wheel house 8 has a side surface portion (this portion is an “outside surface portion” of the side member 17) 20 bulging outward, and is formed at an upper end thereof. Is further formed with a horizontal flange 21 bent outward. A mounting piece 22 is also provided at the front end of the side surface portion 20.

At the lower end of the side surface portion 20, a bottom surface portion 23 as a "lower side surface portion" which is inclined upward toward the front side.
Is formed at the end of the bottom portion 23, and a lower flange 24 continuous from the rear portion B is formed.

On the other hand, a front portion A of the side member body 18
The upper surface portion 25 as the "upper surface portion" has a front end bulging upward through an inclined portion 26, and the upper surface portion 25 of the front portion A and the upper surface portion 27 of the rear portion B
And a height difference corresponding to the upper flange 28. A horizontal portion 29 joined to the horizontal flange 21 of the closing plate 19 is formed from the upper end of the upper flange 28 in the front portion A of the side member main body 18 and the end of the swelled upper surface portion 25.
It is formed facing outward. At the front end of the inner side surface portion 38 of the side member 17, another mounting piece 30 corresponding to the mounting piece 22 is provided. Further, the lower surface portion 31 as the “lower side surface portion” of the side member main body 18 is inclined upward toward the front similarly to the bottom surface portion 23 on the closing plate 19 side,
The closing plate 1 is attached to an end of the lower surface 31.
The lower flange 32 of the side member main body 18 connected to the lower flange 24 of the ninth side is bent.

The corresponding portions of the closing plate 19 and the side member body 18 having the above-described shapes are joined to form the side member 17 of this embodiment.
In this embodiment, the side portion 20 of the closing plate 19, which is the "outside surface portion" of the front portion A of the side member 17, is formed so as to bulge outward, and the side member 17 is the "upper side portion". Since the upper surface 25 of the member main body 18 is formed to bulge upward, the main closed cross-section of the side member 17 (FIGS. 3 and 4)
The hatched portion 33 in the middle is in a state of being shifted outwardly and upwardly in the front portion A thereof.
Therefore, the front end of the main closed section 33 provided with the pair of mounting pieces 22 and 30 has a higher position than the conventional one (or the main closed section 33 in the rear portion B), and as a result, the bumper 14 The height is the same as that of the stay 34 for mounting the armature 15 of FIG. Therefore, this stay 34
By fixing the mounting piece 35 to the pair of mounting pieces 22 and 30 provided at the front end of the side member 17 by bolt and nut means (not shown), the mounting of the armature 15 to the side member 17 is completed.

Even if an impact force is input from the armature 15 of the bumper 14 attached in this way via the stay 34, the impact force is directly transmitted to the main closed section 33 of the side member 17, The impact force can be reliably dispersed throughout the main closed section 33, and when the impact force is large, the main closed section 33 is deformed so as to be collapsed in a state along the longitudinal direction. A large impact force can be effectively absorbed. In particular, in this embodiment, it is the “lower side portion” of the side member 17.
Since the bottom surface 23 of the closing plate 19 and the lower surface 31 of the side member main body 18 are inclined upward toward the front, the front end of the main closed cross section 33 has a smaller sectional area at the front end. For this reason, as described above, the main closed section 33 has a shape in which ideal deformation along the longitudinal direction is likely to occur.

In this embodiment, since the horizontal portion 29 of the side member 17 approaches almost the middle position of the shelf 37 of the hood ridge panel 36, the rigidity of the shelf 37 itself is much higher than in the prior art. It is in a state of heightened. Therefore, since this part of the conventional "hood ridge panel" is not very strong, a reinforcing member is always required when fixing a sounding part such as a heavy object such as a battery, an air cleaner, or a resonator. Was
In the case of this embodiment, as described above, the strength of the shelf portion 37 is sufficiently high, so that a conventional reinforcing member is not required.

[0017]

The side member structure of the vehicle according to the present invention has the contents as described above, and the outer side surface portion of the side member at the front side of the wheel house is formed to bulge outward. At the same time, since the upper side portion is formed to bulge upward, the main closed cross-section at the front portion of the side member bulges outward and upward. That is, the main closed section is pulled up to the bumper position, so that the impact force transmitted from the bumper can be directly input to the main closed section of the side member.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a side member structure of a vehicle according to one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an exploded view of a side member.

FIG. 3 is a side view as viewed from a direction indicated by an arrow DA in FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a plan view as viewed from a direction indicated by an arrow DB in FIG. 1;

FIG. 5 is a sectional view taken along the line SA-SA shown in FIG.

FIG. 6 is a sectional view taken along line SB-SB shown in FIG.

FIG. 7 is a sectional view taken along line SC-SC shown in FIG.

FIG. 8 is a perspective view showing a side member structure of a conventional vehicle.

FIG. 9 is a side view as viewed from a DC direction indicated by an arrow in FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

 Reference Signs List 8 wheel house 17 side member 18 side member body 19 closing plate 20 side surface (outside surface) 23 bottom surface (lower surface) 25 upper surface (upper surface) 31 lower surface (lower surface) Y front-back direction

Claims (2)

(57) [Claims] 1. A side member structure of a vehicle having a closed cross-sectional structure in which a pair of side members arranged on the left and right sides along a front-rear direction of a vehicle body are formed by a side member body and a closing plate, respectively. A side member structure for a vehicle, wherein an outer side surface portion of a front portion of the side member with respect to a wheel house is formed to bulge outward and an upper side portion is formed to bulge upward. 2. The vehicle side member structure according to claim 1, wherein a lower side surface portion of the side member in a portion on the front side of the wheel house is inclined upward toward the front side.