Land vehicles: bodies and tops – Bodies – Door or window with specified vehicle feature
Reexamination Certificate
2002-10-28
2004-08-17
Dayoan, D. Glenn (Department: 3612)
Land vehicles: bodies and tops
Bodies
Door or window with specified vehicle feature
C296S146600, C296S146800, C296S147000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06776449
ABSTRACT:
TECHNICAL FIELD
The present invention relates to a vehicle door and the manufacture thereof, and is usable, for example, as a tailgate, which is also called a back door, and a side, door of a vehicle.
BACKGROUND ART
A tailgate which is a back door of a four-wheel vehicle is formed by connecting an outer panel on an outer side of the vehicle and an inner panel on an inner side of the vehicle to each other and by assembling door parts such as a door lock and a key cylinder between these outer and inner panels.
In a tailgate in Japanese Patent Laid-open No. Hei 8-142676, an inner panel is formed in a shape having an upper opening portion corresponding to a window cavity formed in an outer panel and a lower opening portion separated by a partitioning portion extending in a right and left direction relative to this upper opening portion, and a module plate in a substantially square shape which has a size large enough to cover this lower opening portion and to which door parts are attached in advance is fitted in the lower opening portion.
At present, a decrease in vehicle weight is being demanded in order to improve the fuel efficiency of a vehicle. Since a tailgate is a part of a vehicle, this tailgate influences the vehicle weight, but in the tailgate in the aforesaid conventional art, a sufficient measure is not taken for a weight decrease.
An object of the present invention is to provide a vehicle door which can realize a decrease in door weight and contribute to a decrease in vehicle weight and to provide a method of manufacturing the vehicle door.
DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION
A vehicle door according to the present invention is a vehicle door composed of an outer panel on an outer side of a vehicle and an inner panel on an inner side of the vehicle which is connected to this outer panel, and it is characterized in that the aforesaid inner panel is in a frame shape, with only a marginal portion of the whole periphery left and with an opening portion formed therein.
According to this vehicle door, since the inner panel is in a frame shape with only the marginal portion of the whole periphery left and with the opening portion formed therein, there is no partitioning portion for partitioning the opening portion into upper and lower portions, so that the weight of the inner panel is reduced accordingly. Consequently, the total weight of the door is reduced, which can contribute to a decrease in weight of the vehicle to which this door is attached.
In the vehicle door as described above, a reinforcing member for enhancing the strength of this inner panel and securing a required door strength is disposed. This reinforcing member may be in any shape such as a substantially square shape, but it is preferable that it includes at least a first extending portion extending in a right and left direction and a second extending portion extending downward from the center or a substantially central part in the right and left direction of this first extending portion, and that the first extending portion extends between right and left marginal portions of the inner panel.
According to this, the reinforcing member is formed of the first extending portion and the second extending portion to be in a T-shape or a substantially T-shape or is formed only of the first extending portion to be in a long and narrow shape which is long in the right and left direction, so that in either case, its area is smaller than that in a substantially square shape to reduce the weight of the reinforcing member and contribute to a reduction in door weight. Furthermore, the first extending portion extends between the right and left marginal portions of the inner panel to reinforce the inner panel and enhance the strength of the door.
When the reinforcing member is formed of the first extending portion and the second extending portion to be in a T-shape or a substantially T-shape, end portions in a longitudinal direction of the first extending portion are joined to the right and left marginal portions of the inner panel respectively and a lower end portion of the second extending portion is joined to a lower marginal portion of the aforesaid inner panel.
When the reinforcing member is formed of the first extending portion and the second extending portion is in a T-shape or a substantially T-shape as described above, this reinforcing member may be simply formed to have a planar structure, but it is preferable that ribs having a rising amount toward the outer side of the vehicle are formed in a lower part of the first extending portion and right and left side parts of the second extending portion and that the rib in the lower part of the first extending portion and the rib in the left side part of the second extending portion are continuously formed and the rib in the lower part of the first extending portion and the rib in the right side part of the second extending portion are continuously formed.
According to this, these ribs enhance the strength of the reinforcing member, and the continuous formation of these ribs along the first extending portion and the second extending portion which are perpendicular or substantially perpendicular to each other enables two-dimensional reinforcement of the whole surface of the vehicle door by the reinforcing member.
When the reinforcing member is formed only of the first extending portion to be in a long and narrow shape which is long in the right and left directions, the end portions in the longitudinal direction of this first extending portion are joined to the right and left marginal portions of the inner panel respectively.
This reinforcing member may also be simply structured to have a planar structure when the reinforcing member is formed only of the first extending portion to be a long and narrow shape which is long in the right and left direction as described above, but it is preferable that this reinforcing member is a bent member having a web whose width direction corresponds to a vertical direction and a flange bending from at least one of upper and lower edge portions of this web.
This enhances the strength of the reinforcing member itself so that the strength of the door can be increased.
Furthermore, when the reinforcing member is a bent member having a web whose width direction corresponds to the vertical direction and a flange bending from this web, the number of flanges provided may be one to form the reinforcing member in an angled shape, but it is preferable that the flanges are provided both along the upper and lower edges of the web and that these two flanges are formed continuously along the longitudinal direction of the aforesaid web.
According to this, the aforesaid reinforcing member formed of the web and the two flanges to be a bent member with a substantially C-shaped cross section becomes a channel shape, so that the two flanges sufficiently increase the strength of the reinforcing member, and furthermore, unlike the case when the reinforcing member is formed of the aforesaid first extending portion and the aforesaid second extending portion to be in a T-shape or a substantially T-shape, the lower flange can be continuously formed, similarly to the upper flange, without ending halfway in the longitudinal direction of the web. Consequently, the strength given by the upper and lower flanges is maintained as it is and the strength of the inner panel reinforced by the reinforcing member and the strength of the door can be increased sufficiently.
Furthermore, when the reinforcing member is composed of the web and the two flanges to be the bent member with the substantially C-shaped cross section, an opening portion of the reinforcing member having the substantially C-shaped cross section faces the outer side of the vehicle and each of the end portions in the longitudinal direction of the reinforcing member is joined to the surface of the inner panel on the inner side of the vehicle.
According to this, the two flanges face the outer side of the vehicle and these flanges are in the state of being accommodated in a space for securing the thickness of the door, so
Hoshino Hisao
Komatsu Hiroyuki
Minagawa Takao
Miyamoto Yutaka
Dayoan D. Glenn
Flynn ,Thiel, Boutell & Tanis, P.C.
Gutman H.
Kikuchi Co., Ltd.
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