JPH1059101A - Impact energy absorbing structure on top of car body - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Problem] To provide an impact energy absorbing structure at an upper part of a vehicle body, which can substantially eliminate the influence of the direction of a load. SOLUTION: A front pillar (14) formed by joining an outer panel (10) and an inner panel (12) to form a closed structure is disposed at an interval necessary for energy absorption from the inner panel toward a vehicle interior. An impact energy absorbing structure at the upper part of the vehicle body comprising a pillar garnish (16) and an energy absorbing material (18) attached to the pillar garnish and arranged within the space. When a predetermined load or more directed toward the vehicle exterior B in a specific direction is applied via the pillar garnish, the energy absorbing material (18) can be deformed, and the entire energy absorbing material is together with the pillar garnish in the vehicle exterior B. It can be displaced between the direction and the direction away from the inner panel.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a structural member such as a pillar comprising an outer panel and an inner panel, and a pillar garnish such as a pillar garnish which is disposed from the structural member toward a vehicle interior at a distance necessary for absorbing energy. The present invention relates to an impact energy absorbing structure at an upper part of a vehicle body, comprising an interior material and an energy absorbing material arranged in the space.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art An interior material which is arranged at a distance from an inner panel of a structural member toward a vehicle interior is attached to the inner panel by a mounting means. An impact energy absorbing structure for rotating and displacing the mounting means as a center has been proposed (JP-A-7-277117). According to this impact energy absorbing structure, since the direction of movement of the load center of gravity is changed by the rotational displacement of the interior material to increase the displacement, the thickness of the energy absorbing material can be reduced.

[0003]

In the impact energy absorbing structure according to the above proposal, depending on the direction of the load, the mounting means may act to hinder the rotational displacement of the interior material, and the intended effect is sufficiently obtained. There may not be.

[0004] The present invention provides an impact energy absorbing structure for an upper portion of a vehicle body, which can substantially eliminate the influence of the direction of the load.

[0005]

According to the present invention, there is provided a structural member formed by joining flanges of an outer panel and an inner panel to form a closed structure, and a space required for energy absorption from the structural member toward a vehicle interior. And a resin energy absorbing material attached to the interior material and disposed within the space, the impact energy absorbing structure at the upper part of the body of the automobile. When a load of a predetermined direction or more directed toward the outside of the cabin in a specific direction is applied via the interior material,
The energy absorbing material is deformable, and the entire energy absorbing material is displaceable together with the interior material in a direction outside the vehicle compartment and in a direction away from the inner panel.

The inner panel of the structural member has a corner, and the energy absorbing member is formed so as to generate a component force that abuts the corner and displaces the energy absorbing member away from the inner panel. It is preferable that the inclined surface be provided.

[0007]

Function and Effect The energy absorbing material is deformed and absorbs energy effectively when a predetermined load or more is applied to the outside of the cabin in a direction other than the specific direction. When a load exceeding a predetermined amount is applied to the outside of the vehicle compartment in a specific direction, the energy absorbing material is deformed, and at the same time, the entire energy absorbing material is displaced together with the interior material in a direction outside the vehicle compartment and in a direction away from the inner panel.

When a load exceeding a predetermined value is applied to the outside of the vehicle compartment in a specific direction, the entire energy absorbing member is displaced together with the interior material in the direction outside the vehicle compartment and in the direction away from the inner panel. Increase. by this,
The amount of energy absorption can be increased, or the reaction load from the structural member can be reduced.

There is no need to provide any means such as the mounting means described in the above-mentioned publication, which hinders the deformation of the energy absorbing material, and fluctuations in the amount of energy absorption due to the direction of the load can be reduced.

[0010] According to a preferred aspect, the energy absorbing material and the interior material can be reliably displaced by providing the structural member with the corner and the energy absorbing material with the inclined surface. As described above, since only a slight change is required, the intended effects can be obtained without increasing the cost and weight and without changing the production equipment.

[0011]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS A structural member formed into a closed structure by joining flanges of an outer panel and an inner panel is a front pillar, a center pillar or a rear pillar. The interior material is a pillar garnish, and is disposed at a distance of 10 to 30 mm required for energy absorption from the inner panel of the structural member to the interior of the vehicle. The resin energy absorbing material attached to the interior material and disposed within the space may be a grid having at least one vertical rib and a plurality of horizontal ribs.

The inner panel of the structural member usually has a corner. The energy absorbing material is provided with an inclined surface formed to generate a component force that abuts the corner and displaces the energy absorbing material away from the inner panel. Accordingly, a load of a predetermined value or more, for example, 40 km / h, which is directed outward in the horizontal direction substantially parallel to the inner surface of the inner panel protruding into the vehicle interior from the two flange joints, for example, 40 km / h When a load acting on an occupant when the running vehicle collides is applied through the interior material, the energy absorbing material is deformed, and the entire energy absorbing material is disposed outside the vehicle compartment together with the interior material. And the direction away from the inner panel.

[0013]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Referring to FIG. 1 showing a horizontal sectional view of an impact energy absorbing structure at an upper part of a vehicle body, a structural member 14 formed by joining flanges of an outer panel 10 and an inner panel 12 to form a closed structure, An interior material 16 disposed at a distance D required for energy absorption from the structural member 14 toward the vehicle interior, and a resin energy absorbing material 18 attached to the interior material 16 and disposed within the distance D
And

In the embodiment shown, the structural member 14 is a front pillar of an automobile, and the interior material 16 is a pillar garnish. A front shield glass 22 is attached near one flange joint 20 of the front pillar 14, and an opening trim 24 is attached to the other flange joint 21 of the front pillar 14. The inner panel 12 of the front pillar 14 has a corner 13 at a position spaced from the flange joint 21.

When a predetermined load or more directed toward the outside of the vehicle compartment in a specific direction is applied via the interior material 16, the energy absorbing material 18 is deformable, and the entire energy absorbing material 18 is put together with the interior material 16 outside the vehicle compartment. And the direction away from the inner panel 12 can be displaced.

In the embodiment shown, the energy absorbing material 18
Is a resin lattice composed of three vertical ribs 26 spaced apart in the horizontal direction and a number of horizontal ribs 27 spaced apart in the vertical direction, and is a corner portion 13 of the inner panel 12 of the structural member.
The energy absorbing material 18 and the inner panel 12
And an inclined surface 28 formed so as to generate a component force for displacing in a direction away from the inclined surface. The inclined surface 28 is formed on the horizontal rib 27. As a result, a part of the lateral rib 27 protrudes in a space between the lip 25 of the opening trim 24 and the inner panel 12 in a projecting manner.

The energy absorbing member 18 is provided on the inner panel 12.
A clip 32 penetrating a mounting seat 30 provided so as to face the inner panel 12 is inserted into the inner panel 12 and attached to the inner panel 12. A plurality of clips 32 are arranged at intervals in the vertical direction. On the other hand, the pillar garnish 16 and the energy absorbing material 18 are connected to the welding portion 3 protruding from the pillar garnish 16 toward the energy absorbing material 18.
4 are thermally caulked to a mounting seat 36 provided on the energy absorbing member 16 and are connected to each other. A plurality of welding portions 34 are provided at intervals in the vertical direction. When the pillar garnish 16 and the energy absorbing material 18 are attached to predetermined positions, the end portion of the pillar garnish 16 and the protruding portion of the energy absorbing material 18 are covered with the lip 25 of the opening trim 24.

The energy absorbing member 18 functions as follows. As shown in FIG. 1, when a load exceeding a predetermined amount is applied to the outside A of the cabin in a direction other than the specific direction, the vertical ribs 26 and the horizontal ribs 27 of the energy absorbing material 18 are buckled and broken, and are effectively broken. Absorb energy.

When a predetermined load or more directed toward the outside B of the cabin is applied from the impacted body 40, the impacted body 40 collides with the U-shaped projecting portion 17 of the pillar garnish 16, and the load immediately becomes energy It is transmitted to the absorbing material 18. Thereafter, the inclined surface 28 of the energy absorbing material 18 collides with the corner 13 of the inner panel 12 of the front pillar 14, and the energy absorbing material 18 and the pillar garnish 16 are oriented in the B direction.
It is displaced away from the inner panel 12. At the same time, the energy absorbing material 18 bends and deforms,
Begins to absorb energy.

When the impacted body 40 further moves to the outside B of the vehicle compartment, as shown in FIG. 2, the pillar garnish 16 and the energy absorbing material 18 are displaced, so that the impacted body 40 comes into contact with the opening trim 24, Using this as a fulcrum, a clockwise movement in the direction C is started, and the movement is made to the position 40A.
The position 40 </ b> A is a limit position at which the impacted body 40 does not receive a large impact from the flange joint 21 of the structural member 14.
While the impacted body 40 is displaced to the position 40A, the pillar garnish 16 and the energy absorbing material 18 are deformed by being sandwiched between the impacted body 40 and the front windshield glass 22, and the kinetic energy of the impacted body 40 is reduced. Absorb.

As described above, since the impacted body 40 moves clockwise about the opening trim 24 as a fulcrum,
Movement trajectory to the impactor 40 reaches the position 40A from abuts against the pillar garnish 16 becomes S _1.
In contrast, as shown in FIG. 1, when the impactor 40 reaches the position 40B linearly motion, motion trajectory becomes S _2. As is clear from FIGS. 1 and 2, since the motion trajectory S ₁ of the present invention is larger than the linear motion trajectory S ₂ , the energy absorption characteristic obtained by the present invention is D ₁ as shown in FIG. made whereas, the energy absorption characteristics obtained by the linear movement trajectories becomes D _2. This means that even if the outer shape of the pillar garnish 16 is the same, the present invention can secure a larger displacement and reduce the load.

Impacted object 40 and pillar garnish 16
FIG. 4 schematically shows the locus of. That is, in the present invention ((a) in the same figure), the impacted body 40 moves in a clockwise circular arc and has a curved motion trajectory S ₁ .
In linear ones (Fig. (B)), with short movement trajectory S ₂ from S _1.

In the embodiment shown in FIG. 2, the energy absorbing material 1
8 is detached from the corner 13 of the inner panel 12. The determination as to whether or not the protruding portion 42 of the energy absorbing material 18 is detached from the corner portion 13 will be described with reference to FIG. 5 based on the height L of the protruding portion 42 and the holding force of the clip 32. is there. Here, if the height L of the projecting portion 42 is increased, the energy absorbing member 18 is greatly displaced from the inner panel 12, and the component force required for detachment is increased.
However, if the radius of curvature R at the root of the protruding portion 42 is not increased as the height L increases, the protruding portion 42 becomes caught on the corner portion 13 and does not change smoothly. That is, the component force applied to the clip 32 is given by the product of the rigidity or spring constant of the energy absorbing member 18 and the height L of the projecting portion 42. When this component exceeds the holding force of the clip 32, the energy absorbing member 18 starts to be displaced. As described above, the larger the height L, the easier the detachment, the larger the radius of curvature R, the easier the detachment, and the smaller the holding force of the clip, the easier the detachment. Projecting portion 4 of energy absorbing material 18
In order to separate 2 from the corner 13, the above three factors are mainly adjusted.

Next, the energy absorbing material 18 is changed by the load F.
Is detached because the energy absorbing material 18 is
This is a case where the load F enters a range 46 indicated by a cross hatch in FIG. 5 which may receive a load substantially parallel to the second inwardly protruding surface 44. Even in this case, the load does not separate unless the load component parallel to the inwardly protruding surface 44 is larger than the vertical component by a certain value or more. That is, if the impacted body is in a range or direction in which it can easily come into contact with the opening trim 24, the impacted body is easily detached.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a horizontal sectional view of an embodiment of an impact energy absorbing structure on an upper part of a vehicle body of an automobile according to the present invention, showing a state before an interior material and an energy absorbing material are displaced.

FIG. 2 is a horizontal sectional view of the embodiment of the impact energy absorbing structure on the upper part of the vehicle body of the automobile according to the present invention, showing a state after the interior material and the energy absorbing material have been displaced to an intermediate position.

FIG. 3 is an energy absorption characteristic diagram of load and displacement.

FIGS. 4A and 4B are diagrams schematically showing displacement between an interior material and an impacted body, wherein FIG. 4A is a diagram related to the present invention, and FIG. 4B is a diagram in which the interior material is linearly displaced.

FIG. 5 is a diagram schematically showing the effect of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Outer panel 12 Inner panel 13 Corner part 14 Structural member (front pillar) 16 Interior material (pillar garnish) 18 Energy absorption material 20, 21 Flange joint part 24 Opening trim 28 Inclined surface 40 Impacted body 42 Projecting part

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A structural member formed by joining flanges of an outer panel and an inner panel to form a closed structure, and an interior material arranged at a distance required for energy absorption from the structural member toward a vehicle interior; An impact energy absorbing structure at the upper part of a vehicle body, comprising: a resin energy absorbing material attached to the interior material and disposed in the space, wherein a load exceeding a predetermined amount directed to the outside of the cabin in a specific direction is applied to the vehicle. When applied via an interior material, the energy absorbing material is deformable, and the entire energy absorbing material is displaceable together with the interior material in a direction outside the vehicle compartment and in a direction away from the inner panel. , Impact energy absorbing structure on the upper part of the body of the car. 2. The inner panel of the structural member has a corner, and the energy absorbing material generates a component force that abuts the corner and displaces the energy absorbing material away from the inner panel. The impact energy absorbing structure for an upper part of a vehicle body according to claim 1, wherein the impact energy absorbing structure has an inclined surface formed on the upper surface.