JP7600603B2 - Truck body - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a truck body having a cargo bed behind the cabin.

In a truck bed structure, a truck body is known in which a post with a horizontal cross section that is closed like a bag (approximately a box cross section) is provided on the side of the tailgate to ensure rigidity (Patent Document 1).

Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 61-11113

Depending on the design of the truck, a rear combination lamp may be attached to the side of the tailgate of the loading platform. In this type of design, the presence of the rear combination lamp means that the structure of the side of the tailgate cannot be made into a roughly box-shaped cross-section structure, and the rigidity required in the torsional mode of the vehicle body cannot be sufficiently secured, resulting in the problem that the fastening of the ropes used to secure the cargo becomes loose.

The problem that this invention aims to solve is to provide a truck body that can ensure the rigidity required for the torsional mode of the body and can prevent the ropes used to secure cargo from loosening.

The present invention solves the above problem by providing support members at the rear end of a side panel of the loading platform and at the left and right ends of the bolster, the support members including an upper support member extending from the bolster to the upper side of the vehicle body and a lower support member extending from the bolster to the lower side of the vehicle body, the upper support member and the lower support member having a non-bag-shaped cross-sectional structure in which the horizontal cross sections of the upper support member and the lower support member are partially open and one complements the other. More specifically, the above problem is solved by providing a support member having a horizontal cross section having a surface along the front-rear direction of the vehicle body and a surface along the width direction of the vehicle body , the one having a non-bag-shaped cross-sectional structure in which the outer side in the width direction of the vehicle body is open, and the other having a horizontal cross section having a surface along the front-rear direction of the vehicle body and a surface along the width direction of the vehicle body , the other having a non-bag-shaped cross-sectional structure in which the inner side in the width direction of the vehicle body is open.

According to the present invention, when a torsion mode is input to the vehicle body, the upper part of the left support member falls inward and the lower part falls outward, and the upper part of the right support member falls outward and the lower part falls inward, and this torsion deformation is repeated alternately on the left and right. At this time, the upper part of the support member has a non-bag-shaped cross-sectional structure with a partially open horizontal cross section, so the rigidity of the upper part of the left support member when it falls outward is different from the rigidity of the upper part of the right support member when it falls inward. However, since the lower part of the support member has a non-bag-shaped cross-sectional structure that complements the upper part of the support member, if the rigidity of the upper part of the support member when it falls outward is small, the rigidity of the lower part of the support member when it falls inward is large. Therefore, when the torsion mode is input to the vehicle body and the inward and outward collapses are repeated, the rigidity difference between the left and right support members becomes zero or almost zero. As a result, it is possible to suppress the lashing of the rope hung on the loading platform from loosening.

1 is a side view showing an embodiment of a truck body of the present invention. FIG. 1B is a perspective view showing the undercarriage structure and the bed of the truck of FIG. 1A. FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing the bed of the truck of FIG. 1 . FIG. 3 is an exploded perspective view showing a part of the loading platform of FIG. 2 . FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view taken along line IV-IV in FIG. 2 . FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view taken along line V-V in FIG. 2 . FIG. 3 is an exploded perspective view of a portion VI in FIG. 2 as viewed from below. FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing an embodiment of a support member and a bolster according to the present invention. 1 is a perspective view showing an embodiment of a support member according to the present invention; 1 is an exploded perspective view showing an embodiment of a support member according to the present invention; FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing one embodiment of a diagonal brace and a bolster according to the present invention. FIG. 2 is an exploded perspective view showing an embodiment of a brace member and a bolster according to the present invention. 1 is a schematic diagram showing an embodiment of a structure including a support member, a bolster, and a diagonal brace member according to the present invention. FIG. 11 is a schematic diagram showing a displacement when a torsion mode is input to the structure shown in FIG. 10. FIG. 11 is a schematic diagram showing a displacement when a torsion mode is input to the structure according to the comparative example of FIG. 10 .

The following describes an embodiment of the present invention with reference to the drawings. Fig. 1A is a side view showing one embodiment of a completed truck including the truck body 1 of the present invention, and Fig. 1B is a perspective view showing the chassis structure 14 and the cargo bed 13 extracted from the truck body 1 of Fig. 1A. In the xyz space shown in each figure, x indicates the width direction of the body 1, y indicates the front-rear direction of the body 1, and z indicates the up-down direction of the body 1. The truck body 1 of the present invention comprises an engine room 11 in which an engine that serves as a driving power source is mounted, a cabin 12 in which the driver and passengers sit, and a cargo bed 13 on which luggage and the like are mounted, all of which are supported on the chassis structure 14.

The present invention can be applied to any truck body 1 that has an open-top loading platform 13, a tailgate 135 of which is supported on the rear end of the floor panel 131 via a hinge 136 so as to be able to open and close, and rear combination lamps 15 and other fittings are attached to the rear ends of the side panels 133, 134, and the structure of the engine room 11, cabin 12, etc. is not limited to the configuration described in this embodiment.

2 is a perspective view showing the bed 13 of the truck of this embodiment, FIG. 3 is an exploded perspective view showing a part of the bed 13 in an exploded state, and FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view taken along line IV-IV in FIG. 2. The bed 13 includes a substantially rectangular floor panel 131, a front end panel 132, a pair of side panels 133, 134, and a tailgate 135. The front end panel 132 is fixed to the front end of the substantially rectangular floor panel 131, the side panels 133, 134 are fixed to the left and right ends of the floor panel 131, and the tailgate 135 is supported at the rear end of the floor panel 131 via hinges 136, 136 so as to be openable and closable, forming a square-shaped bed 13. The floor panel 131, the front end panel 132, the pair of side panels 133, 134, and the tailgate 135 are assembled parts formed by joining a plurality of panel parts together by welding or the like.

For example, floor panel 131 is an assembly in which a plate material on which multiple beads are formed along the longitudinal direction of the vehicle is joined by welding or the like to multiple reinforcing members perpendicular to the plate material, as shown in FIG. 3. Also, side panels 133 and 134 are assemblies in which side panel outer 133a and side panel inner 133b are joined by welding or the like, as shown in FIG. 4, and the lower end of side panel inner 133b is joined to floor panel 131.

Figure 5 is a cross-sectional view taken along line V-V in Figure 2, showing the joint between the front end panel 132 and the side panel 133 at the left and right front corners of the loading platform 13 cut horizontally and viewed from above. In Figure 5, the lower side shows the outside (+x direction) of the vehicle body 1, and the left side shows the front (+y direction) of the vehicle body 1. In this horizontal cross-section, the front end panel 132 is joined to the flange of the side panel outer by spot welding or the like via the extension panel 132a. The front end panel 132 is also joined to the flange 133c at the front end of the side panel inner 133b by spot welding or the like.

Here, the flange 133c at the front end of the side panel inner 133b of this embodiment is bent toward the center of the vehicle body 1, and its edge 133d is exposed toward the center of the loading platform 13. In this embodiment of the vehicle body 1, after electrocoating, a rust-preventive polyvinyl chloride sealant is applied to this edge 133d and hardened in a sealant drying oven, a middle coat drying oven, or a top coat drying oven. This prevents rust on the mating surface between the front end panel 132 and the flange 133c of the side panel inner 133b, and also prevents rust on the edge 133d.

However, if the flange 133c at the front end of the side panel inner 133b is folded in the opposite direction, that is, toward the outside of the vehicle body 1, rather than toward the center of the vehicle body 1 as shown in FIG. 5, the anti-rust sealant to be applied to the mating surface between the front end panel 132 and the flange 133c of the side panel inner 133b must be applied to the gap where the folded part of the flange 133c meets the front end panel 132, not to the edge 133d folded outward. This is because rainwater would seep in from the loading platform 13 side.

However, it has been known that the open-top box-shaped cargo bed 13 can twist due to the torsional mode during driving, causing the area where the bent portion of the flange 133c meets the front end panel 132 to twist significantly, which can cause the sealant to crack. However, in this embodiment, if the flange 133c at the front end of the side panel inner 133b is bent toward the center of the vehicle body 1 and a sealant is applied to the edge 133d, the sealant will not crack even if a torsional force is applied.

6 is an exploded perspective view of the VI portion of FIG. 2, viewed from the bottom up, and FIG. 7 is a perspective view showing an embodiment of the support member 137 and the bolster 138 according to the present invention. As shown in FIG. 2, the front ends of the pair of side panels 133, 134 of the loading platform 13 in this embodiment are fixed to the front end panel 132, so the left and right corners of the front side of the loading platform 13 are relatively rigid. However, the left and right corners of the rear side of the loading platform 13 are less rigid than the front end because there is no structural member supporting the rear ends of the pair of side panels 133, 134. Therefore, in this embodiment, a pair of support members 137 extending in the vertical direction of the vehicle body 1 are provided at the rear ends of the side panels 133, 134, and at the left and right ends of the bolster 138. The support members 137 are structures also called struts or posts.

The support member 137 of this embodiment is an assembly part including a support upper part 137a extending from the bolster 138 to the upper side of the vehicle body, and a support lower part 137c extending from the bolster 138 to the lower side of the vehicle body. For example, in addition to the support upper part 137a and the support lower part 137c, the support member 137 of this embodiment is assembled with a support upper outer part 137b and a reinforcement 137d. The bolster 138 is joined to the rear edge part of the floor panel 131 by welding or the like, and is a structure that extends in the width direction of the vehicle body 1 along the rear edge part of the floor panel 131.

Figure 8A is a perspective view showing one embodiment of a support member 137 according to the present invention, and Figure 8B is an exploded perspective view of the support member 137, which shows the support member provided at the right end of the bolster 138, as in Figure 7. As shown in these figures, a support upper part 137a extending from the bolster 138 to the upper side of the vehicle body and a support lower part 137c extending from the bolster 138 to the lower side of the vehicle body are joined by welding or the like, and a support upper outer part 137b and a reinforcement 137d (not shown in Figures 8A and 8B) are joined to this by welding or the like.

Figure 9A is a perspective view showing one embodiment of a brace member 139 and a bolster 138 according to the present invention, and Figure 9B is an exploded perspective view thereof. As shown in Figure 7, the brace member 139 of this embodiment is a structure in which the lower support column 137c of the support column member 137 is joined to the bolster 138 by welding or the like, and is used to increase the torsional rigidity of the support column member 137 and the bolster 138, like a brace in a building.

Figure 10 is a diagram showing a schematic diagram of the structure of the rear end of the loading platform 13 including a pair of support members 137, a bolster 138, and a diagonal brace member 139 according to this embodiment, where the left-right direction corresponds to the width direction x of the vehicle body 1, the up-down direction corresponds to the up-down direction z of the vehicle body 1, and the direction perpendicular to the paper surface corresponds to the front-rear direction y of the vehicle body 1. Here, the cross-sectional view along the line UP-UP in the figure is a cross-sectional view of the support member 137, when the upper support member 137a extending from the bolster 138 to the upper side of the vehicle body is cut horizontally and viewed from above downward, and the cross-sectional view along the line LW-LW in the figure is a cross-sectional view of the support member 137, when the lower support member 137c extending from the bolster 138 to the lower side of the vehicle body is cut horizontally and viewed from above downward.

The upper support column portion 137a of the support column member 137 extending from the bolster 138 to the upper side of the vehicle body cannot have a bag-shaped horizontal cross section in order to avoid interference with the rear combination lamp 15 and other fittings attached to the rear ends of the side panels 133, 134. Therefore, as shown in the cross-sectional view along the UP-UP line in FIG. 10, the upper support column portion 137a of the support column member 137 extending from the bolster 138 to the upper side of the vehicle body has a partially open, non-bag-shaped cross section in order to avoid interference with the rear combination lamp 15 and other fittings. In other words, the horizontal cross section of the upper support column portion 137a has a non-bag-shaped cross section in which the outer side in the width direction of the vehicle body 1 is open, and the rear combination lamp 15 is attached in the space of this open cross section.

In contrast, the lower support column 137c of the support column member 137, which extends from the bolster 138 to the underside of the vehicle body, does not have any fittings attached to it, so there is no need to avoid interference with the fittings, and it can be made into a highly rigid structure with a bag-shaped horizontal cross section. However, as shown in the cross-sectional view along line LW-LW in Figure 10, the lower support column 137c in this embodiment has a horizontal cross-sectional structure that complements the partially open, non-bag-shaped cross-sectional structure of the upper support column 137a. In other words, the lower support column 137c has a horizontal cross-sectional structure that is open on the inside in the width direction of the vehicle body 1, and when combined with the non-bag-shaped cross-sectional structure of the upper support column 137a, a bag-shaped cross-sectional structure is formed.

In this way, in the support member 137 of this embodiment, if the support upper part 137a has a non-bag-shaped cross-sectional structure that is open on the outside in the width direction of the vehicle body 1, then the support lower part 137c has a non-bag-shaped cross-sectional structure that is open on the inside in the width direction of the vehicle body 1. The "relationship in which one complements the other" in the present invention refers to horizontal cross-sectional structures in this kind of relationship, and it is preferable that the two horizontal cross-sectional structures are combined to form a bag-shaped cross-sectional structure, but even if it is not a complete bag-shaped cross-sectional structure, it is sufficient that the rigidity of the support upper part 137a and the rigidity of the support lower part 137c are at least inversely related in terms of the torsional rigidity of the vehicle body 1. This relationship will be explained with reference to FIG. 11.

Figure 11 is a schematic diagram showing the displacement when a torsion mode is input to the structure shown in Figure 10, and shows, for example, a case where a pair of support members 137, 137 in Figure 10 falls to the left due to the torsion of the vehicle body 1. As shown in Figure 11, the left support member 137 falls toward the outside of the vehicle body 1 (hereinafter also referred to as outward falling), and the right support member 137 falls toward the inside of the vehicle body 1 (hereinafter also referred to as inward falling). In the case of such a torsion mode, the upper support member 137a of the left support member 137 has a non-bag-shaped cross-sectional structure with an open outer side, so it has relatively low rigidity against the external force of the outward falling. However, the lower support member 137c has a non-bag-shaped cross-sectional structure with an open inner side, and is not open on the outside, so it has relatively high rigidity against the external force. Therefore, the low rigidity of the upper support member 137a is complemented by the high rigidity of the lower support member 137c.

The same applies to the right support member 137 in FIG. 11. That is, the upper support member 137a of the right support member 137 that falls inward has a non-bag-shaped cross-sectional structure that is open on the outside and not open on the inside, so it has relatively high rigidity against the external force of the inward collapse. However, the lower support member 137c has a non-bag-shaped cross-sectional structure that is open on the inside, so it has relatively low rigidity against the external force. Therefore, the low rigidity of the lower support member 137c is complemented by the high rigidity of the upper support member 137a. In this way, the "relationship in which one complements the other" in the present invention means that, for an external force in a specific direction, if the rigidity of the upper support member 137a is high, the rigidity of the lower support member 137c is low, and if the rigidity of the upper support member 137a is low, the rigidity of the lower support member 137c is high.

In particular, the horizontal cross section of the lower support column 137c of the support member 137 of this embodiment is not made into a bag-shaped cross section structure with high rigidity, but is made into a non-bag-shaped cross section structure in order to make the rigidity when the support member 137 falls inward and the rigidity when it falls outward as equal as possible. That is, as shown in FIG. 11, when the vehicle body 1 twists, one of the left and right support members 137, 137 falls outward and the other falls inward, and this is repeated alternately. In the support member 137 of this embodiment, the rigidity when the support member 137 falls inward and the rigidity when it falls outward are made as equal as possible as a whole by compensating for the rigidity of the upper support column 137a with the rigidity of the lower support column 137c. Therefore, as shown in the figure, the torsional displacement ΔL when the left support member 137 falls outward and the torsional displacement ΔR when the right support member 137 falls inward are made as equal as possible.

In contrast, a comparative example will be described in which the horizontal cross section of the lower support column 137c has a highly rigid bag-shaped cross section. Figure 12 is a schematic diagram showing the displacement when a torsion mode is input to the structure of the comparative example of Figure 10. The upper support column 137a of the support column member 137 of the comparative example has a non-bag-shaped cross section structure that is open on the outside, which is the same as the support column member 137 of this embodiment shown in Figure 10. However, the lower support column 137c of the support column member 137 of the comparative example has a bag-shaped cross section structure, as shown in the LW-LW cross section of Figure 12.

When a torsional input is applied to the support member 137 according to this comparative example, the upper support member 137a of the left support member 137 has a non-bag-shaped cross-sectional structure that is open on the outside, and therefore has relatively low rigidity against an external force that causes the support member to collapse outward. Here, the lower support member 137c has a bag-shaped cross-sectional structure and is relatively rigid against the external force, so the upper support member 137a bends outward and deforms by ΔL relative to the lower support member 137c.

In contrast, the upper support column 137a of the right support column member 137 has a non-bag-shaped cross-sectional structure that is open on the outside and not open on the inside, so it has relatively high rigidity against external forces of inward collapse. Here, the lower support column 137c has a bag-shaped cross-sectional structure and high rigidity like the lower support column 137c of the left support column member 137, and since both the upper support column 137a and the lower support column 137c have high rigidity, the deformation amount ΔR due to inward collapse is smaller than the deformation amount ΔL on the left side. If the deformation amounts ΔL and ΔR on the left and right sides differ as shown in Figure 12 due to torsional input occurring during travel, the spacing (distance) of the ropes hung on the platform 13 to secure the luggage 2 will change as shown in Figure 10, and there is a risk that the ropes will become loose.

However, with the support members 137 of this embodiment, as shown in Figure 11, even if a twisting force is applied during travel, the deformation amounts ΔL and ΔR of the left and right support members 137 are equal, and the support members 137 twist to maintain the parallelogram. Therefore, as shown in Figure 10, the spacing (distance) of the ropes hung on the platform 13 to secure the luggage 2 does not change, and there is no risk of the ropes becoming loose.

As described above, according to the truck body 1 of this embodiment, in the truck body 1 having a loading platform 13 including at least a floor panel 131, a pair of side panels 133, 134, a bolster 138 extending in the width direction x of the vehicle body 1 along the rear end edge of the floor panel 131, and a tailgate 135, support members 137, 137 are provided at the rear ends of the side panels 133, 134, respectively, at the left and right ends of the bolster 138, extending in the vertical direction of the vehicle body and joining the side panels 133, 134 and the bolster 138. The support member 137 includes an upper support portion 137a that extends from the bolster 138 to the upper side of the vehicle body 1, and a lower support portion 137c that extends from the bolster 138 to the lower side of the vehicle body 1. The horizontal cross sections of the upper support portion 137a and the lower support portion 137c have a partially open, non-bag-shaped cross section structure, with one horizontal cross section complementary to the other.

More specifically, according to the truck body 1 of this embodiment, one of the horizontal cross sections of the upper pillar 137a and the lower pillar 137c has a non-bag-shaped cross-sectional structure that is open on the outside in the width direction x of the vehicle body 1, and the other horizontal cross section of the upper pillar 137a and the lower pillar 137c has a non-bag-shaped cross-sectional structure that is open on the inside in the width direction x of the vehicle body 1.

More specifically, according to the truck body 1 of this embodiment, the horizontal cross section of the upper support pillar 137a has a cross-sectional structure that is open on the outside in the width direction x of the body 1, and the horizontal cross section of the lower support pillar 137c has a cross-sectional structure that is open on the inside in the width direction x of the body 1, and the rear combination lamp 15 is attached to the space outside the width direction x of the body 1 of the open cross-sectional structure of the upper support pillar 137a.

In the truck body 1 of this embodiment, the upper support column 137a of the support member 137 has a non-bag-shaped cross-sectional structure with a partially open horizontal cross section, so that the rigidity of the upper support column 137a of the left support member 137 when it falls outward is different from the rigidity of the upper support column 137a of the right support member 137 when it falls inward. However, the lower support column 137c of the support member 137 has a non-bag-shaped cross-sectional structure that complements the upper support column 137a, so if the rigidity of the upper support column 137a when it falls outward is small, the rigidity of the lower support column 137c when it falls inward is large. Therefore, when the torsion mode is input to the vehicle body 1 and it falls inward and outward repeatedly, the rigidity difference between the left and right support members 137 becomes zero or approximately zero. As a result, as shown in FIG. 10, it is possible to suppress the lashing of the rope 3 hung on the loading platform 13 to secure the luggage 2 from loosening.

In addition, according to the truck body 1 of this embodiment, a brace member 139 is provided on the inside of the lower support pillar 137c in the width direction x of the vehicle body 1, which has an open cross-sectional structure, connecting the lower support pillar 137c and the bolster 138. This further increases the rigidity of the structure at the rear end of the bed 13, which is composed of the pair of support pillar members 137, the bolster 138, and the brace member 139. This allows for greater freedom in the design of the truck, such as equipping the rear ends of the side panels 133, 134 with rear combination lamps 15 and other fittings.

1...truck body 11...engine room 12...cabin 13...cargo bed 131...floor panel 132...front end panel 133...side panel 134...side panel 135...tailgate 136...hinge 137...support member 137a...support upper part 137b...support upper outer part 137c...support lower part 137d...reinforcement 138...bolster 139...bracing member 14...undercarriage structure 15...rear combination lamp 2...luggage 3...rope

Claims (3)

A truck body having a cargo bed including at least a floor panel, a pair of side panels, a bolster extending in the width direction of the vehicle body along a rear end edge portion of the floor panel, and a tailgate,
a support member is provided at each of the rear end portions of the side panels, which are at the left end portion and the right end portion of the bolster, the support member extending in the up-down direction of the vehicle body and joining the side panels and the bolster;
the support member includes a support upper portion extending from the bolster to an upper side of the vehicle body, and a support lower portion extending from the bolster to a lower side of the vehicle body,
one of the pillar upper portion and the pillar lower portion has a horizontal cross section having a surface along the front-rear direction of the vehicle body and a surface along the width direction of the vehicle body , and has a non-bag-shaped cross section structure with an open outer side in the width direction of the vehicle body;
The other of the upper pillar part and the lower pillar part has a horizontal cross-section having a surface along the fore-and-aft direction of the vehicle body and a surface along the width direction of the vehicle body, and the inside of the vehicle body in the width direction has a non-bag-shaped cross-sectional structure that is open. The horizontal cross section of the upper part of the support pillar has a cross-sectional structure in which the outer side in the width direction of the vehicle body is open, and the horizontal cross section of the lower part of the support pillar has a cross-sectional structure in which the inner side in the width direction of the vehicle body is open,
2. The truck body according to claim 1, wherein a rear combination lamp is attached to a space on the outer side of the upper part of the support pillar in the width direction of the body having an open cross-sectional structure. The truck body according to claim 1 or 2, wherein a brace member connecting the lower part of the support pillar and the bolster is provided on the inside of the width direction of the vehicle body having an open cross-sectional structure of the lower part of the support pillar.

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