Land vehicles: bodies and tops – Bodies – Structural detail
Reexamination Certificate
2002-07-17
2004-10-05
Dayoan, D. Glenn (Department: 3612)
Land vehicles: bodies and tops
Bodies
Structural detail
C296S193090, C296S203020, C293S143000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06799794
ABSTRACT:
TECHNICAL FIELD
This invention relates to a vehicle body structure which absorbs an impact force exerted when vehicles collide in driving directions, and which cushions the impact force imposed on a passenger compartment. The vehicle body structure is preferred for use in a vehicle having a passenger compartment, or an automobile having a driver seat.
BACKGROUND ART
Various track type medium duty traffic systems called new traffic systems are new technologies which generally combine railway technologies on, for example, electric motors, power collection, and vehicle bodies, with automobile technologies concerned with driving of rubber wheels, and which further incorporate computerized control. A technique, called a rubber-tired new traffic vehicle, uses steerable rubber running wheels mounted on a box-shaped vehicle body, makes these running wheels drivable, by an electric motor, and involves dedicated tracks and electric-car lines. Thus, the vehicle can travel along the tracks by the running wheels rotationally driven by the electric motor, while the electric motor is receiving supply of an electric power from power collectors in a travel zone.
An operation management system for the rubber-tired new traffic vehicles links automatic vehicle driving equipment, signal protection devices, communication equipment, power equipment, and disaster protection management facilities to perform centralized management of vehicle schedule control, route control, display control, and operation control, thereby operating vehicles smoothly and safely in an unmanned manner.
With the rubber-tired new traffic vehicle, when control instruments in the operation management system fail, various manual operations and manipulations by the driver are possible. In this case, the travel speed is limited to a low speed. In the case of such a manual vehicle operation or manipulation by the driver, a collision accident to vehicles may occur owing to an erroneous operation or the like. Thus, crush zones for cushioning shock in the vehicle collision are provided at a front end portion and a rear end portion of the vehicle.
FIG. 20
schematically shows the skeletal structure of a vehicle front end portion representing a conventional vehicle body structure. As shown in
FIG. 20
, an underframe
102
is formed as a continuation of a vehicle body floor (passenger compartment)
101
, and a bumper
103
of a U-shape in a plan view is fixed to a front portion of the underframe
102
. On the other hand, a front end roof frame
105
of a U-shape in plan view is fixed as a continuation of a vehicle body roof
104
, and the front end roof frame
105
and the bumper
103
are connected together by a plurality of front beams
106
and side beams
107
. The front beams
106
and the side beams
107
are connected by connecting beams
108
. In this manner, a front gable portion
109
is composed of the underframe
102
, bumper
103
, front end roof frame
105
, and beams
106
,
107
and
108
. An outer wall
111
of FRP is attached to the outside of the structure thus formed from the skeleton.
Hence, when rubber-tired new traffic vehicles collide head-on, their front end portions contact, and then the respective members are buckled, whereby the front gable portion
109
is crushed, and a cushioning member
110
is also buckled. Thus, the front gable portion
109
and the cushioning member
110
absorb shock due to the collision, whereupon an impact force transmitted to the passenger compartment located behind the front gable portion
109
is relieved, so that deformation of the passenger compartment can be prevented.
The aforementioned vehicle running on the dedicated tracks is preferably streamlined in consideration of the vehicle body's design and air resistance, and the conventional vehicle body has an acute-angled front end portion. If the front end portion of the vehicle body is in an acute-angled shape, however, head-on collision of the vehicles results in one of the vehicles passing over the other vehicle, and the front gable portion
109
or cushioning member
110
is not properly crushed. Thus, the impact force at the time of collision cannot be absorbed by the front gable portion
109
, and the impact force may be partly transferred to the passenger compartment to cause its deformation.
In this case, it is conceivable to mount a bumper protruding to the front of the vehicle body as in an automobile so that in the head-on collision of the vehicles, their vehicle bodies are not displaced, one on top of the other, but their front gable portions
109
are properly crushed. Mounting of a large bumper at the front end portion of the vehicle body leads to a change in the design of the vehicle, markedly deteriorating the appearance quality.
Moreover, since control instruments are installed in the aforementioned front gable portion
109
, the cushioning member
110
for absorbing an impact force during collision has to be disposed below the underframe
102
. Therefore, when a collision force is inputted to the front end portion of the vehicle, as shown in FIG.
21
(
a
), the front beam
106
is crushed rearward, as shown in FIG.
21
(
b
). Thus, the underframe
102
(the front and rear beams, floor board, etc.), to which a lower part of the front beam
106
has been firmly connected, is deformed in a downwardly bending manner. As a result, the downwardly bent, deformed underframe
102
presses the cushioning member
110
downward to bend it down. Consequently, the cushioning member
110
is further bent, without being buckled in response to an impact force subsequently inputted from the front end portion, and is no more capable of absorbing the impact force sufficiently.
In this case as well, the front end portion of the cushioning member
110
may be configured to protrude forwardly of the vehicle body in order to absorb an impact force, which occurs at head-on collision of vehicles, reliably by the cushioning member
110
by directly inputting the impact force to the front end portion of the cushioning member
110
at the collision. Forward extension of the cushioning member
110
, however, leads to a change in the design of the vehicle, markedly deteriorating the appearance quality.
Furthermore, the impact force in the collision is absorbed by the crushing of the constituent members of the front gable portion
109
and the buckling of the cushioning member
110
. If the vehicles collide straightly, the impact force in the collision can be absorbed reliably. However, if collision occurs when the vehicle runs on a curve, the impact force cannot be absorbed reliably.
In detail, the cushioning member
110
is designed to absorb the impact force reliably, for example, by having holes in a circumferential surface of a tubular body and buckling in a longitudinal direction at the time of collision. When a collision occurs while the vehicle is running on a curve, an impact force acts on the front end portion of the cushioning member
110
from an oblique direction. As a result, the cushioning member
110
is bent and does not buckle in the longitudinal direction. Hence, the function of the cushioning member
110
may fail to be properly performed, and the impact force during the collision cannot be sufficiently absorbed to cause deformation of the passenger compartment.
The present invention is intended to solve the above-described problems. Its object is to provide a vehicle body structure for achieving increased safety by reliably absorbing shock, which occurs when vehicles collide, without aggravating appearance quality or air resistance.
DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION
The vehicle body structure of the present invention for attaining the above object is characterized in that a crush zone for absorbing an impact force in a collision is provided on a front head side of a vehicle relative to a passenger compartment, and a straight portion extending along a vertical direction is formed in a front portion of a vertical beam as a constituent member constituting the crush zone.
Thus, the straight portion can be easily formed with
Hayashida Tatsuaki
Mitsui Yoshinori
Mochidome Hiroyuki
Nagaike Naofumi
Armstrong Kratz Quintos Hanson & Brooks, LLP
Chenevert Paul
Dayoan D. Glenn
Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd.
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