Land vehicles: bodies and tops – Bodies – Structural detail
Reexamination Certificate
2000-01-14
2001-12-04
Pedder, Dennis H. (Department: 3612)
Land vehicles: bodies and tops
Bodies
Structural detail
C296S182100, C296S198000, C296S030000, C296S209000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06325451
ABSTRACT:
This application claims priority of DE 199 01 070.6-21, filed Jan. 14, 1999, the disclosure of which is expressly incorporated by reference herein.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a fastening arrangement of a door sill on the floor panel of a motor vehicle, and more particularly, to an arrangement with a welded connection provided between a welding flange on a longitudinal side of the door sill and an edge zone of the floor panel extending laterally next to it, which welded connection being distributed along the length of the door sill, comprises at least one run of spot welds.
In such a fastening arrangement which is used in series produced motor vehicles, the door sill is conventionally fixedly connected by a welded connection along its longitudinal direction with an edge zone adjoining the door sill. For this purpose, the door sill has a welding flange on its longitudinal side. The welding flange is welded to the edge zone of the floor panel by at least one run of spot welds distributed over the entire length of the door sill. This results in a relatively low-cost welded connection between the door sill and the floor panel which can easily be made by automatic welding machines.
Particularly in the case of an offset frontal crash with a small width overlap of the motor vehicle with another vehicle or other obstacle, however, in fastening arrangements of this type, the spot-welded connection can fail because of occurring forces. The problem generally exists in such an offset frontal crash that, as the result of the accident forces acting in the front in the area of a forward wheel house, the motor vehicle is acted upon by a torsional force about a vertical axis of the vehicle. As a result, very high superimposed forces act between the door sill arranged on the side of the impact and the floor panel connected therewith, because the door sill arranged on the side of the impact is very decelerated in its movement within a short time, while, in contrast, the floor panel is acted upon by a torsional force about the above-described vertical axis of the vehicle. The spot-welded connection, which connects the door sill with the floor panel, is therefore stressed excessively particularly by tension forces, whereby the run of spot welds rips open, starting from the rearward end of the welded connection, in the direction toward the front, and the floor panel detaches from the door sill.
A bearing structure for a motor vehicle is shown in DE 40 08 703 A1 which has a relatively stiff supporting member and an adjoining thin-walled metal sheet. There, the supporting member has a so-called welding flange by way of which it is connected with the metal sheet. In order to prevent a destruction of the connection between the supporting member and the metal sheet in the event of impact-caused tension peaks, for example, in the event of a side impact, and in order to permit a uniform and large-surface introduction of force into the metal sheet, one or several projections are molded to the welding flange. The projections are connected with the metal sheet by welding. These measures are, however, not provided and suitable for avoiding particularly a tearing-off of the floor panel from the door sill. In addition, the construction of the welding flange with projections requires very high manufacturing expenditures.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
An object of the present invention is to provide a fastening arrangement which has a better crash behavior in the event of an offset frontal crash with a small width overlap of the motor vehicle with another vehicle or another obstacle, which, in addition can be manufactured in a simple manner and at reasonable cost.
According to the invention, this object has been achieved by a fastening arrangement in which the butt joint between the welding flange of the door sill and the opposite edge zone of the floor panel is bridged in the rearward length area by a tension member (lug) extending transversely thereto, the tension member being fastened by means of one end on the door sill and, by means of the other end, on the adjacent area of the floor panel.
In the fastening arrangement according to the present invention, the butt joint between the welding flange of the door sill and the opposite edge zone of the floor panel is bridged in its rearward length area such by a tension member extending transversely thereto that the forces which occur particularly in the event of an offset frontal impact with a small width overlap of the involved motor vehicles can be absorbed particularly effectively between the door sill arranged on the side of the impact and the floor panel connected with the door sill. The spot-welded connection, which connects the door sill with the floor panel, is therefore relieved. An unbuttoning of the run of weld spots starting from the rearward end of the welded connection in the area of the rearward weld house in the direction toward the front and a tearing-off of the floor panel from the door sill is effectively avoided. Because the tension member must only be arranged in the rearward length area of the butt joint in order to avoid the unbuttoning, the fastening arrangement can be produced in a relatively simple manner and at correspondingly reasonable cost.
Thus, a run of weld spots along a butt joint extending essentially in the vertical direction of the vehicle is particularly easily accessible and producible for an automatic welding machine.
It was also found to be advantageous to fix both ends of the tension member by spot-welded connections which can be made particularly rapidly and easily when manufacturing the motor vehicle.
A tension member, can be is constructed as a separate angle piece with a first leg and another leg and can be manufactured in a simple manner and at reasonable cost. The two legs can, for example, be formed to rest on the door sill and the floor panel without high expenditures and can be connected therewith by a welded connection. The legs preferably enclose an obtuse angle of approximately 100-150°, whereby the transmission of high tension forces can be ensured in a crash.
If the two legs each rest by a broad side on a side of the welded flange facing away from the butt joint or in the area of a rearward wheel house on the adjacent area of the floor panel, a particularly tension-proof connection can also be established between the tension member and the welded flange or the floor panel.
In particular, an approximately horizontally extending first leg has been found to be advantageous because it can be fixed in a simple manner on the welding flange by way of a spot-welded connection existing anyhow. In order to permit a particularly good fastening of the tension member within the wheel house, the additional leg extends, starting from the first leg, preferably diagonally upwards.
If the tension member is fastened in the area of the rearward wheel house on a wheel house panel connected with the floor panel, the additional leg can be arranged in a simple manner at a variable height on the wheel house panel.
The tension member is particularly well protected from environmental influences between a wheel house panel situated on the inside and a wheel house panel situated on the outside, the fastening of the tension member is, in addition, suitable for absorbing particularly high tension forces.
Finally, the tension member is fixed on the welded flange and on the edge zone of the floor panel by one rivet per leg respectively. In this case, particularly the rivet arranged between the first leg and the door sill or the floor panel counteracts an unbuttoning of the run of weld spots.
The tension member can be formed as a separate angle piece having a first leg and a second leg, which legs enclose an obtuse angle (&agr;) of between approximately 100 to 150 degrees.
REFERENCES:
patent: 369927 (1887-09-01), Eddy
patent: 2188267 (1940-01-01), Ledwinka et al.
patent: 3528699 (1970-09-01), Wessells, III
patent: 3940176 (1976-02-01), Ito et al.
patent: 5577797 (1996-11-01), Takanishi
patent: 5782525 (1998-07-0
Crowell & Moring LLP
Daimler-Chrysler AG
Pedder Dennis H.
LandOfFree
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