JPH0329255Y2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Industrial Application Field] The present invention relates to an instrument panel mounted in front of the driver's seat and passenger seat of an automobile, and particularly to an instrument panel with air ducts for heating and cooling purposes.

[Prior Art] Conventionally, the end of a shock absorbing pad is disposed on a staircase section with a Z-shaped cross section provided on a panel body, and a thin section is provided at the corner of the staircase section, so that the head of an occupant will be protected against damage in the event of an automobile collision. The idea of absorbing the impact given to the pad by breaking the thin part was developed in 1983.
It is disclosed in Publication No. 167226.

[Problem that the invention attempts to solve]

Even if this idea were to be applied to an instrument panel with an air duct for heating and cooling purposes, the air duct with a shock absorbing pad would have to be attached to the corner between the top panel and the wall panel of the instrument panel. Therefore, not only is it difficult to apply the conventional technology, but also the air duct that receives the impact of the occupant during a car collision is difficult to bend, which increases the impact that the occupant receives.

This invention uses a padded gutter-like core material that forms an air duct in cooperation with a duct part with a U-shaped cross section that is integrally provided on the instrument panel side, and allows the instrument panel side to be moved with a relatively small impact force. By shearing and locally breaking the thin wall,
The purpose is to solve the above problems.

[Means for solving problems]

The present invention includes a duct part with a U-shaped cross section that is integrally connected between the top plate part and the wall plate part of the instrument panel, and the upper and lower open edges of the duct part and the corresponding top plate part and wall plate. Both open edges of the pad are formed by forming V-grooves in the connecting parts between the parts and covering the outside of the trough-like core material with a cushioning material so as to cooperate with the duct part to form an air duct. are respectively pushed into the V-groove so that a part of the pad protrudes from the surface of the instrument panel, and the pads protrude from both open edges of the trough-like core material in the direction of the edge plate portion thereof, respectively, in opposite directions. A large number of hooks are provided on the trough-like core material so that both hooks are arranged in a staggered manner, and each hook is engaged with a hole in the thick portion provided corresponding to the bottom of the V-groove of each of the connecting portions. The V-groove bottoms have elongated thin-walled portions that can be locally broken between adjacent thick-walled portions.

[Effect]

In the present invention, the upper and lower open edges of the duct part with a U-shaped cross section are connected to the top plate part of the instrument panel and the wall plate part through the thick parts provided in a staggered manner at the bottom of the V groove of the upper and lower connecting parts. Since the bending rigidity of each connection part is high, when an impact is applied to the pad by the head of an occupant in a car crash, the triangular shape surrounding the line of action of the impact force is applied. The pad, which is supported at three points by the thick portion located at the apex, is more flexible than the upper and lower connecting portions of the duct portion.

For this reason, among the upper and lower edge plate portions of the trough-shaped core material that are abutted and supported by the three thick-walled portions, one edge plate portion is largely bent, and the thin-walled portion provided at the bottom of the V-groove of the connecting portion opposite to this bends greatly. This reduces the impact received by the occupants by shearing locally.

〔Example〕

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. Instrument panel 2 made of hard synthetic resin
comprises a duct part 2d of U-shaped cross section forming an air duct 6 in cooperation with the pad 1 between the top plate part 2b and the wall plate part 2c; Duct part and wall plate part 2
A V-groove 4 is formed in each connecting portion between the holes c.
Reference numeral 2e indicates attachment portions to the automobile body 7 provided at appropriate locations on the instrument panel 2, and reference numeral 8 indicates the attachment portions 2e.
The cover 9 indicates an instrument panel attached to the panel 2, and the panel 2 has a notch 1 into which the handle shaft fits loosely.
Openings (not shown) for attaching an air conditioner, a heating/cooling unit 11, a glove box, a pocket, etc. are provided as appropriate.

The pad 1 is made by covering the outside of a trough-like core material 3 made of hard synthetic resin with a cushion material 12, and providing a skin 13 on the outside. A hook 14 or 15 is made to protrude along the corresponding edge plate portion 3a or 3b, respectively. Hook 14 on edge plate portion 3a side and edge plate portion 3b
The side hooks 15 have hook structures opposite to each other as shown in FIG. 4, and have different phases in the longitudinal direction of the pads in a staggered manner.

This pad 1 has hooks 14 on its upper and lower edge plate parts,
15 are attached to the instrument panel 2 by engaging the holes 16 drilled in the bottom 2a of the corresponding V grooves 4 as shown in FIG. 5 as shown in FIG. 16 V-groove bottom 2 between perforated parts
A is provided with a recess 17 on the back side of each groove as shown in FIG. 5, and a thin wall portion 1 as shown in FIG.
Form 8. The pad 1 is provided with an air outlet 19 (FIG. 1) at a suitable location, and the air duct 6 within the pad is supplied with warm or cold air from the air conditioner 11, as in the conventional case.

According to the above configuration, when an automobile or the like that collides with a foreign object suddenly stops and the occupant hits the pad 1 and an impact force P of a certain value or more is applied in the direction of the arrow in FIG. V-groove bottom 2
Since the thick portions of the outer periphery of the holes 16 are provided in a staggered manner in a and 2a, the pad 1 supported at three points by the thick portions located at the vertices of the triangle surrounding the line of action of the impact force is attached to the top and bottom of the duct portion. As mentioned above, it is easier to bend than the connecting part. Therefore, among the upper and lower edge plate portions 3a and 3b of the trough-shaped core material 3 that are supported in contact with the three thick-walled portions, one of the edge plate portions is largely bent, causing the thin-walled portion 18 of the connecting portion opposite thereto to be bent. It is possible to locally break by shearing, thereby buffering the impact received by the occupant.

[Effect of idea]

According to the present invention, hooks in opposite directions protruding from both open edges of the trough-shaped core material of the pad in the direction of the edge plate portion thereof are attached to the trough-shaped core material so that the hooks are arranged in a staggered manner. A large number of hooks are provided, and each hook is connected to the V of each connecting portion.
The pad is engaged with a hole in the thick part provided corresponding to the bottom of the groove, and both open edges of the pad are pushed into the V-groove of the corresponding connecting part, so that there is no possibility of the pad falling off from the instrument panel or air. Not only can air leakage from the duct be prevented, but the relatively small impact force acting on the trough-like core material of the pad can shear and locally rupture the thin-walled portion between adjacent thick-walled portions of the one-side connection. Therefore, the impact received by the occupant can be reduced, and the pad can be attached to the corner between the top plate portion and the wall plate portion of the instrument panel, thereby making it easier to receive the impact from the occupant.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

1 and 2 are a front view and a plan view, respectively, of an instrument panel with a pad equipped with the device of the present invention, FIG. 3 is a sectional view taken along the line XX in FIG. 1, and FIGS. FIG. 6 is a detailed view of the Z portion in FIG. 3, and FIG. 7 is a cross-sectional view of the pad attachment portion corresponding to FIG. 6. 7... Automobile body, 9... Instrument panel, 12... Cushion material, 13... Skin, 14, 15... Hook,
16...hole, 18...thin part.

Claims (1)

[Scope of utility model registration request] A duct portion 2d having a U-shaped cross section is integrally installed between the top plate portion 2b and the wall plate portion 2c of the instrument panel, and the upper and lower open edges of the duct portion and the corresponding top plate portion and wall plate are connected to each other. A pad 1 is formed by forming a V-groove 4 in each connecting part between the parts and covering the outside of the trough-like core material 3 with a cushion material so as to form an air duct 6 in cooperation with the duct part. Both open edges of the pad are pushed into the V-groove so that a part of the pad protrudes from the surface of the instrument panel, and the edge plate portions 3a, A large number of hooks 14 and 15 protruding in the direction 3b and facing oppositely to each other are provided on the trough-like core material so that the hooks are arranged in a staggered manner, and each hook is attached to the V-groove bottom 2a of each connecting portion. With an air duct characterized by having an elongated thin-walled portion 18 which is engaged with a correspondingly provided hole 16 in a thick-walled portion and can be locally broken between adjacent thick-walled portions at the bottom of each V-groove. instrument panel.