JPH048678A - Air box structure of car - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To enhance junction rigidity and reduce manday by joining the front junction portion of a front pillar to the rear end portion of a side cowl to each other, and also connecting both end portions of an upper dashboard to an inner pillar, and connecting both end portions of a cross member to the side cowl. CONSTITUTION:The front junction portion 23 of an inner pillar 22 to an outer pillar 21 is extended in the longitudinal direction of a car body without being bent. The rear end portion 24a of a side cowl 24 is adjusted end joined to the front junction portion 23 of the inner pillar 22 by spot welding in such a manner that the rear end portion 24a is on the same plane as the inner pillar 22. Both end portions of a cross member 25 are curved toward the front side of the car body from the center portion and attached to the side cowl 24. The rear wall 27 of an upper dashboard 26 is attached to a flange front pillar 28 by spot welding with both end portions 27a of the rear wall 27 being extended toward the rear side of the car body along the lower end portion of a front windshield, the flange front pillar 28 being fixed to the inner pillar 22.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION <Industrial Application Field> This invention relates to an air box structure for an automobile.

<Prior art> As a conventional automobile air box structure, for example, the third
There is something like the one shown in Figs.
75376 and Japanese Utility Model Application Publication No. 6175377).

In the figure, l is a front pillar, which is formed by joining a pillar inner 3 to the opening side of a pillar outer 2. The front joint portion 4 of the front pillar 1 is slightly bent toward the inside of the vehicle body. and,
The rear end 5a of the cowl side 5 is connected to the front joint 4.
is connected. On the other hand, this cowl side 5 front end 5b
A hood ridge panel 7 including a strut housing 6 is connected to the hood ridge panel 7 . Then, on the outside of the cowl side 5 and the hood ridge panel 7, a hood ridge reinforcement 8 is installed in the longitudinal direction of the vehicle body (
(A direction in the figure).

In addition, between the left and right front pillars 1, an air box E
are divided into sections. That is, the dash upper 9 is the bottom surface, and the cowl front 10 is provided upright at the front end thereof.
A cross member 11 is erected at the rear end to define an air box E having an open cross-section structure. Furthermore, the rear wall 9 of the dash upper 9 located behind the crossmen/<11
a is joined to the front joint part 4 of the front pillar 1 by bending both ends thereof to the front side, and is joined to the pillar inner 3 via the extension material 12 from the bending point. A cross member upper 13 is attached in a lid-like manner so as to straddle the upper end of the rear wall 9a of the dash upper 9 and the upper end of the cross member 11, thereby reinforcing the area around the air box 8.

A place cowl top 14 is also attached to the end of the air box E, which extends over the upper end of the cross member 11, the upper end of the cowl front 10, and the upper surface of the cowl side 5.

<Problems to be Solved by the Invention> However, in such a conventional technique, the rear wall 9a of the dash upper 9, which is the rear member of the air box E, is bent in the middle and the front pillar 1 Therefore, in order to connect the rear wall 9a to the pillar inner 3 along its direction, an extension member 12, which is a separate member, was required. In other words, since the rear wall 9a of the dash upper 9 is not directly connected to the pillar inner 3, the dash upper 9 and the front pillar 1
The rigidity of the connection was not sufficient.

Furthermore, the number of parts increases by the extension material 12, making management complicated and the structure complicated, which is disadvantageous in terms of assembly workability.

Furthermore, it is inconvenient that ordinary spot welding cannot be used at the joints between the extension material 12 and the rear wall 9a of the dash upper 9 and the extension material 12 and the pillar inner 3 due to work space constraints, and only plug welding can be used. Ta.

In addition, the front joint 4 of the front pillar 1 is bent and joined to the rear wall 9a of the dash upper 9 and the cowl side 5, and there is a space between the cowl side 5 and the pillar inner 3 that are joined thereto. A slight deviation (offset) occurred in the width direction, and the force from the front of the cowl site 5 could not be effectively transmitted to the front pillar 1.

The present invention has been made by paying attention to such conventional techniques, and provides an air box structure for an automobile that can solve the various problems described above.

<Means for Solving the Problems> In order to achieve the above object, the air box structure for an automobile according to the present invention connects the front joint part of the front pillar and the rear end part of the cowl side to each other along the longitudinal direction of the vehicle body. At the same time, both ends of the dash upper are connected to the pillar inner, and both ends of the cross member are connected to the cowl side.

<Function> According to the automobile air box structure according to the present invention, the dash upper is extended and connected to the pillar inner without being bent in the middle, so that it can be reliably attached to the front pillar and stress can be transmitted smoothly. Therefore, the joint rigidity is improved. Further, since the extension material is omitted, the number of parts is reduced and the number of manufacturing steps is significantly reduced.

Furthermore, since the joint between the cross member and cowl site is necessarily located in front of the joint between the pillar inner and cowl side, the cross member does not get in the way when connecting the cowl sight and front pillar. Since the work space for setting the spot can is secured, the rear end of the cowl sight and the front joint of the front pillar can be joined by ordinary spot welding. Therefore, the coupling rigidity and reliability between the cowl side and the front pillar are improved.

In addition, because the rear end of the cowl site and the front joint of the front pillar are overlapped and joined together along the longitudinal direction of the vehicle body, offset at the joint can be eliminated and strength against frontal collisions is also improved. becomes.

<Embodiment> A preferred embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2. Here, parts common to the conventional example are given the same reference numerals, and redundant explanations will be omitted.

A front pillar 20 is formed by joining a pillar inner 22 to the opening side of a pillar outer 21. Here, unlike the front pillar 1 shown in the conventional example, the front joint part 23 between the pillar inner 22 and the pillar outer 21 is
is facing in the longitudinal direction of the vehicle body (direction A in the figure) without being bent.

Then, insert the pillar inner 2 so that the rear end 24a of the cowl side 24 is flush with the pillar inner 22.
It is joined by spot welding in an overlapping state to the front joint part 23 of No. 2.

On the other hand, both ends 25a of the cross member 25 that define the air box E between the left and right front pillars 20 are curved toward the front of the vehicle body from the center, and are attached to the cowl side 24 as they are. Therefore, this attachment position is located forward of the front joint portion 23 of the front pillar 20 to which the cowl side 24 is joined. The rear wall 27 of the dash upper 26 behind the air box E is attached to a flange front pillar fixed to the pillar inner 22 with both ends 27a facing toward the rear of the vehicle body along the lower end of the front window (not shown). 28 by spot welding, separate members such as conventionally used extension materials are omitted.

Further, the flange front pillar 28 has a lattice <'' shape, and the bottom surface 26a of the dash upper 26 is placed on the lower part 29 of the flange front pillar 28, and is connected to the flange front pillar 28 by spot welding. That is, since both ends 25a and 27a of the cross member 25 and the rear wall 27 of the dash upper 26 are curved in opposite directions so as to separate from each other, there is a gap between the cross member 25 and the rear wall 27 of the dash upper 26. A large work space is secured. For this reason, the connection between the rear wall 27 end of the dash upper 26 and the pillar inner 22, the connection between the bottom surface 26a end of the dash upper 26 and the pillar inner 22, and the connection between the cowl site 24 and the front pillar 20 are performed by spot welding. It becomes possible to do something.

In the automobile air box structure of the present invention configured as described above, stress from the rear wall 27 of the dash upper 26 is directly applied to the pillar inner 2 without intervening other members.
It will be transmitted to 2.

Further, by reducing the number of parts, the structure can be simplified and the joint can be performed by spot welding, so that the joint rigidity and reliability between the air box E and the front pillar 20 can be improved.

Furthermore, since the cowl side 24 and the pillar inner 22 can be joined by spot welding so that no offset occurs at the connection part, the cowl side 24 effectively transmits force from the front to the front pillar 20. This is very advantageous in the event of a frontal collision.

<Effects of the Invention> The automobile air box structure according to the present invention has the content described above, and since the air box and the front pillar are securely connected by spot welding without using an extension material, the air box structure according to the present invention is as described above. Force is transmitted smoothly from the box to the front pillar, improving joint rigidity, reducing the number of parts, and eliminating plug welding, so a significant reduction in man-hours can be expected. Furthermore, in the event of a frontal collision, the collision force from the front is transmitted straight from the cowl side to the front pillar, which is very advantageous in the event of a frontal collision.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an air box structure according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a sectional view of FIG. 1 viewed from above, and FIG. 3 is a position of the air box structure for an automobile according to the present invention. FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing the conventional air box structure at the position indicated by the arrow in FIG. 3, and FIG. 5 is a sectional view of FIG. 4 viewed from above. 10 Cowl front 20 Front pillar ■ Pillar outer 2 Pillar inner 3 Front joint 4 Cowl side a Rear end 5 Cross member a ...Both ends 6...Dash upper a...Both ends E...Air box diagram No.

Claims (1)

[Claims] A dash upper is a member extending in the vehicle width direction between a pair of left and right front pillars, which is formed by joining a pillar inner and a pillar outer, and in which the rear end of the cowl side is joined to the front joint. In an automobile air box structure in which an air box with an open cross-section structure is partitioned by a cowl front and a cross member, the front joint of the front pillar and the rear end of the cowl side are stacked against each other along the longitudinal direction of the vehicle body. An air box structure for an automobile, characterized in that they are joined together, both ends of a dash upper are connected to a pillar inner, and both ends of a cross member are connected to a cowl side.