Body structure

Details Body structure Body structure

2001-02-22

2003-04-01

Dayoan, D. Glenn (Department: 3612)

Land vehicles: bodies and tops

Bodies

Structural detail

C296S209000, C296S205000

Reexamination Certificate

active

06540286

ABSTRACT:

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to a body structure of floor parts in a vehicle.
2. Description of Related Art
A variety of body structures with frame construction, which bears an external force applied to a vehicle body, have been proposed and developed for motor trucks and the like.
For example, Japanese Utility Model Provisional Publication No. 4-98683 discloses a ladder frame, which is constructed by connecting a pair of side frames extending along the longitudinal side by a plurality of cross members. A body is mounted on the ladder frame.
On the other hand, passenger cars, which are required to be lightened, have a monocoque structure in which the entire body bears an external force applied to the body. A floor pan is reinforced by a variety of members arranged along the longitudinal side and the crosswise side to ensure the strength required in the case of a frontal impact and a side impact. For example,
FIG. 7
shows a section of a vehicle with an ordinary monocoque structure. As shown in
FIG. 7
, a pair of right and left side members
101
(
FIG. 7
only shows one side) arranged along the longitudinal side are welded to the bottom surface of a floor pan
102
(the welded part is denoted by Z) to thereby reinforce the floor pan
102
along tie longitudinal side. A cross member
104
, which is formed by pressing, is welded between a tunnel part
102
a
at the center of the floor pan
102
and a pair of right and left sills
103
(the welded part is denoted by Y) to thereby reinforce the floor pan
102
along the crosswise side.
In the vehicle with the monocoque structure, the cross member
104
is divided into two parts across the tunnel part
102
a
, and this makes it impossible to acquire the sufficient strength of the cross member
104
. Moreover, the cross member
104
is welded to the side sills
103
by abutting the outer end of the cross member
104
against the side of the side sills
103
. Therefore, the welded part has a low rigidity. In order to ensure the sufficient strength, there is the necessity of adding reinforcement materials, increasing the number of cross members
104
or increasing the board thickness of the cross member
104
, the floor pan
102
, the side sill
103
or the like. This results in the increase in the vehicle mass. It is necessary to change the length of the cross member
104
according to the vehicle width if a plurality of car models with different widths have a floor part called a platform comprised of common parts. Since the cross member
104
is formed by pressing, however, there is the necessity of individually forming the cross member
104
by using a die corresponding to the length of each cross member
104
. This results in the increase in a manufacturing cost.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a body structure, which ensures a sufficient vehicle strength to achieve the effect of the monocoque structure to the full without increasing the vehicle mass, and which easily copes with the change in the vehicle width or the like if a common platform is used for a plurality of car models.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The above object can be accomplished by providing a body structure comprising a floor panel member composing a floor surface of a vehicle, a pair of side sills having closed sectional forms and being integrated with both sides of the floor panel member along the width of the vehicle, a pair of first members integrated with the bottom surface of the floor panel member in such a manner as to extend along the longitudinal side of the vehicle; and a plurality of second members integrated with the pair of first members and fixed on the bottom surface of the floor panel member by welding with both ends of at least one second member respectively penetrating into the pair of side sills. Since the second members are continuously formed along the width of the vehicle, and this achieves a sufficient strength. Therefore, there is no necessity of providing any reinforcement materials at the welded part. Moreover, the second members are fixed on the side sills with a high rigidity by welding in the state of penetrating into the side sills, and thus, there is no necessity of increasing the board thickness of the side sills and the like for the purpose of ensuring the rigidity. In addition, the second members can be manufactured by cutting an existing steel pipe to a predetermined size, and it is therefore possible to cope with the change in the width of the vehicle and the like only by changing the cutting size.


REFERENCES:
patent: 4093253 (1978-06-01), Lehr
patent: 5002333 (1991-03-01), Kenmochi et al.
patent: 5944377 (1999-08-01), Vlahovic
patent: 6270153 (2001-08-01), Toyao et al.
patent: 6299240 (2001-10-01), Schroeder et al.
patent: 6386625 (2002-05-01), Dukat et al.
patent: 6412857 (2002-07-01), Jaekel et al.
patent: 2002/0043821 (2002-04-01), Takashina et al.

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