Energy absorbing structure of vehicular door

Details Energy absorbing structure of vehicular door Energy absorbing structure of vehicular door

1999-05-18

2001-03-20

Pape, Joseph D. (Department: 3612)

Land vehicles: bodies and tops

Bodies

Door or window with specified vehicle feature

C296S146500, C296S146700, C280S751000

Reexamination Certificate

active

06203096

ABSTRACT:

INCORPORATION BY REFERENCE
The disclosure of Japanese Patent Application No. HEI 10-144454 filed on May 26, 1998 including the specification, drawings and abstract is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an energy absorbing structure of a vehicular door.
2. Description of the Related Art Side doors of motor vehicles incorporate an energy absorbing structure for reducing the impact on an occupant body when the occupant body forcefully contacts an inner door side portion thereof that faces the compartment. An example of such a structure is disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. HEI 9-71200.
In the disclosed vehicular door energy absorbing structure, as shown in
FIG. 9
, a first energy absorbing member
72
is disposed on a door inner side of a door trim (also termed “door lining”)
70
of a door
78
, and a second energy absorbing member
74
having a greater rigidity than the first energy absorbing member
72
is mounted to the first energy absorbing member
72
in such a manner that the second energy absorbing member
74
is disposed closer to an outer panel
76
of the door
78
. In this manner, the interval between the second energy absorbing member
74
and an impact beam
82
is reduced. Therefore, if the door
78
is deformed inwards by an impact thereon from the outside in a direction of the width of the vehicle, the impact beam
82
comes into contact with the second energy absorbing member
74
immediately after the first energy absorbing member
72
and the body of an occupant
80
impact.
In this vehicular door energy absorbing structure, however, a space for vertical movements of a door glass pane
84
must be provided between the second energy absorbing member
74
and the impact beam
82
. This space needs to have a sufficient width that allows for a play of the door glass pane substantially in the directions of the width of the vehicle. This results in an increased thickness of the door, that is, an increased dimension thereof substantially in the vehicle width directions and therefore a reduced compartment width. Furthermore, if another vehicle crashes into a portion of the door
78
that is remote from the impact beam
82
, for example, a portion of the door
78
far above the impact beam
82
, deformation of the outer panel
76
does not reduce the interval between the impact beam
82
and the second energy absorbing member
74
. That is, the pre-deformation displacement of the second energy absorbing member
74
that occurs before the second energy absorbing member
74
is brought into contact with the impact beam
82
by the body of the occupant
80
pushing the first energy absorbing member
72
is not reduced from the designed interval between the second energy absorbing member
74
and the impact beam
82
in the vehicular door impact absorbing structure. Therefore, the start of energy absorption correspondingly delays. In order to ensure that a desired amount of energy will be absorbed even in the aforementioned case, an energy absorbing member having an increased thickness, that is, an increased dimension in the directions of the vehicle width, needs to be used. In turn, the volume of the interior compartment space reduces.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide an energy absorbing structure of a vehicular door that is capable of efficiently absorbing impact energy without reducing the designed size of the compartment.
According to the invention, there is provided an energy absorbing structure of a vehicular door including an energy absorbing member provided between a door inner panel and a door trim, and a reinforcing member fixed to the door and extending in an up-down direction. The energy absorbing member has a protruded portion that is formed integrally with the energy absorbing member on a side of the energy absorbing member, the side being opposite from a compartment. The protruded portion resists deforming at the time of an impact. The protruded portion faces the reinforcing member via an opening formed in the door inner panel.
Therefore, when the occupant contacts the inner side of the door as a secondary impact at the time of a side collision with another vehicle or the like, the energy absorbing member moves outwards in a direction of the vehicle width. During the second impact, the protruded portion formed together with the energy absorbing member comes into contact with the reinforcing member fixed to the door and extending in the up-down direction, via the opening formed in the door inner panel. Furthermore, since the reinforcing member is fixed to the door, there occurs substantially no movement of the reinforcing member relative to the energy absorbing member when the door is used, for example, opened or closed, or when the door glass pane is raised or lowered. Therefore, the invention makes it possible to adopt an arrangement in which the reinforcing member and the protruded portion of the energy absorbing member are close to each other. That is, it is possible to reduce the pre-deformation displacement of the energy absorbing member that occurs before the energy absorbing member, excluding the protruded member, starts to deform (buckle) at the time of an impact. Therefore, energy absorption starts earlier than it would if a vehicular door energy absorbing structure without a protruded portion was used, and energy absorbing efficiency improves.
Furthermore, since the reinforcing member extends in an up-down direction, the load applied to a door outer panel is transmitted to the energy absorbing member via the reinforcing member even in a case where another vehicle crashes into an upper or lower portion of the door. Therefore, the energy absorption by the energy absorbing member starts earlier, thereby absorbing energy at a high efficiency.
Thus, the invention eliminates the need to increase the thickness of the energy absorbing member, that is, the dimension thereof in the direction of the vehicle width, in order to ensure that a predetermined amount of impact energy will be absorbed. As a result, a wide and large compartment space can be provided.
In the energy absorbing structure of a vehicular door of the invention, the reinforcing member may be a windowpane regulator guide fixed at its upper and lower end portions to the door inner panel, and the opening may be a service hole. This construction eliminates the need to separately provide a reinforcing member and the need to separately provide an opening in the door inner panel.
Furthermore, in the invention, the energy absorbing member may have a plurality of ribs. The plurality of ribs may be grating ribs including at least one horizontal rib extending in a front-rear direction relative to a vehicle and at least one vertical rib extending in a top-bottom direction relative to the vehicle. At the time of a side impact, the ribs undergo compression deformation, and then buckle at a predetermined load, thereby absorbing energy.
Further, the protruded portion may have a plurality of ribs in an inner space at least partially defined by the protruded portion. The protruded portion may also be filled with a resin material. This construction substantially prevents compression deformation of the protruded portion during an initial period of an impact.
The energy absorbing member may be disposed at such a position as to substantially face a hip part of an occupant being at a predetermined position.
Further, the energy absorbing structure of a vehicular door of the invention may further include a plurality of impact beams extending at a side of the reinforcing member, the side being opposite from the compartment. The impact beams are inter-spaced at a predetermined interval extending in the up-down direction relative to the vehicle. A height of the protruded portion in the up-down direction relative to the vehicle may be within the predetermined interval.
In this construction, if another vehicle crashes into a forward portion of

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