Land vehicles: bodies and tops – Bodies – Structural detail
Reexamination Certificate
2000-09-11
2003-05-20
Dayoan, D. Glenn (Department: 3612)
Land vehicles: bodies and tops
Bodies
Structural detail
C296S190050, C296S093000, C180S069200
Reexamination Certificate
active
06565148
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an assembly structure for a cowl louver comprising a soft seal member at an end part for sealing influx of air from an engine room into the cowl louver by elastically contacting with a hood panel covering the engine room of an automobile, with the lower end part held by a cowl inner panel so as to be fixed.
The present application is based on Japanese Patent Applications No. Hei. 11-256840, 11-276128 and 11-367550, which are incorporated herein by reference.
2. Description of the Related Art
FIG. 18
shows a conventional assembly structure for a cowl louver. A cowl louver main body
100
provided between a hood panel
101
and a windshield
102
, for covering a wiper motor, or the like so as to improve the design, comprises a small hole group
103
to be the inlet for introducing the outside air into the car room. Moreover, a hood seal part
104
is formed integrally with the front end of the cowl louver main body
100
, with a soft seal member
105
held by the hood seal part
104
. The engine room and the outside can be sectioned airtight according to the elastic contact of the seal member
105
with the hood panel
101
. Accordingly, introduction of the air in the engine room through the small hole group
103
in to the car room can be prevented. Furthermore, a clip
106
is fixed on the lower surface of the hood seal part
104
such that one end of the hood seal part
104
is held and fixed on a holding part
108
of a cowl inner panel
107
by the clip
106
. The rear end part at the opposite side with respect to the hood seal part
104
of the cowl louver main body
100
is fixed by gripping the windshield
102
.
By assembling the cowl louver main body
100
and the hood seal part
104
as described above, the seal member
105
contacts with the hood panel
101
elastically so as to prevent introduction of the air from the engine room into the car room, and thus introduction of the heat and the bad smell from the engine room into the car room through the cowl louver main body
100
can be prevented.
In the conventional assembly structure for a cowl louver, since the hood panel
101
has a substantially constant thickness and thus cannot be made larger, the position of the seal member
105
is limited to a relatively upper position. Therefore, the position of the holding part
108
for holding the hood seal part
104
of the cowl inner panel
107
is relatively upward so that the seal member
105
and the holding part
108
are located at the substantially same position.
However, in the case the seal member
105
and the holding part
108
of the cowl inner panel
107
are disposed at the substantially same position, since the cowl inner panel
107
has a large rigidity so as not to be deformed, the deformation amount of the hood panel
101
can be substantially the same as the deformation amount of the seal member
105
, which is extremely small. Therefore, in a case when a large impact is applied on the hood panel
101
, for example, in traffic accident, since the impact energy amount to be absorbed by the deformation of the hood panel
101
is slight, the reaction force from the car body is large so that the impact force onto the other party of the collision is large.
FIG. 16
shows another assembly structure for a cowl louver. A seal member
301
is provided at the tip end of a cowl louver
300
, elastically contacting with a hood
400
. Moreover, a clip
302
is fixed on the lower surface of the tip end of the cowl louver
300
so that the cowl louver
300
is fixed with the cowl inner panel
303
by the clip
302
.
During a run, the seal member
301
is elastically contacted with the hood
400
so as to prevent introduction of the air from the engine room into the car room, and thus introduction of the heat and the noise from the engine room into the car room through the cowl louver
300
can be prevented.
As the seal member
301
, those having a hollow shape have been used commonly, being fixed on the cowl louver
300
by an adhesive double coated tape. However, according to the seal member
301
, the adhesive force of the adhesive double coated tape can be lowered at a high temperature, and the bonded part can be displaced according to the restoration force of the seal member
301
. Moreover, it is often bent at both end parts of the cowl louver so as to be used as a fender seal, but also in the case the bending stress is applied accordingly, the bonded part can be displaced. In the case the bonded part is displaced, since the contact area of the seal member
301
and the hood is changed, the reliability of the sealing property is lowered, and thus it is problematic.
Accordingly, integration of the cowl louver
300
and the seal member
301
is conceivable. For example, as shown in
FIG. 17
, one comprising a wall-like soft seal member
304
integrally molded with the cowl louver
300
has been proposed. According to the integral mold of the seal member and the cowl louver, the reliability of the sealing property can be improved dramatically as well as since the adhesive double coated tape can be eliminated, the effect of reducing the number of steps in assembly can be achieved.
However, in the case of the integral molding of the seal member with the cowl louver
300
, it is difficult to have the seal member in the cylindrical shape as shown in FIG.
16
. Therefore, it has been provided in the wall-like shape as shown in FIG.
17
. According to the seal member
304
integrally molded with the cowl louver
300
, since the seal member
304
has a linear cross-sectional shape, the restoration force by the shape can hardly be expected, and thus the restoration force of the seal member
304
highly responsible for the sealing property, depends mostly on the material of the seal member
304
. Even though the wall-like seal member
304
can be molded integrally with the cowl louver
300
, it is disadvantageous in that the sealing property is deteriorated in the case the restoration force of the material is lowered due to heat deterioration of the seal member
304
.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The invention has been achieved in view of the circumstances and an object thereof is to alleviate the reaction force to be applied from the hood panel onto the other party of the collision by reducing the deformation load of the hood panel by increasing the deformation of the hood panel when the impact is applied thereto.
Another object of the invention is to provide a seal member capable of being molded integrally with a cowl louver as well as capable of preventing the sealing property deterioration due to heat deterioration.
In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, an assembly structure for a cowl louver according to a first aspect of the present invention comprises a cowl inner panel having a holding part, a cowl louver main body held by the holding part, and a hood seal part having a soft seal member to be contacted elastically with the lower surface of a hood panel, held by the cowl louver main body, wherein the holding part is disposed below the hood seal part sufficiently away therefrom, and the hood seal part is deformed drastically so as to reduce the deformation load on the hood panel in the case downward force of a predetermined size or larger is applied from the hood panel.
According to an assembly structure for a cowl louver of the invention, a holding part of a cowl inner panel is disposed below a hood seal part sufficiently away therefrom. And the hood seal part is deformed drastically so as to reduce the deformation load on the hood panel in the case downward force of a predetermined size or larger is applied from the hood seal part.
In the case impact force of a predetermined size or larger is applied on the hood panel due to the traffic accident, the impact force is transmitted to the hood seal part via a seal part so that the hood seal part is detached or deformed drastically. Accordingly, the reaction force to be applied from the hood panel on the opposite party of the co
Ichioka Tetsumi
Ikeda Kazutoshi
Kawashima Daiichiro
Shibuya Yasuo
Teramoto Yasunobu
Blankenship Greg
Dayoan D. Glenn
Toyoda Gosei Co,., Ltd.
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