Front structure of vehicle body

Details Front structure of vehicle body Front structure of vehicle body

2001-03-28

2004-01-13

Patel, Kiran (Department: 3612)

Vehicle fenders

Buffer or bumper type

With grille or radiator guard

C293S121000

Reexamination Certificate

active

06676179

ABSTRACT:

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a front structure of a vehicle body, which is to enhance the safety of a pedestrian when the vehicle running at a low speed has a minor collision with the pedestrian.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, there have been proposed front structures of vehicles in each of which protection of a pedestrian is taken into consideration when the vehicle running at a low speed has a minor collision with the pedestrian.
For example, as disclosed in Japanese Patent Unexamined Publication No. Hei. 11-78732 and shown in
FIGS. 9
to
11
, a front structure of vehicle has an upper side bumper beam
102
and a lower side bumper beam
103
. The front face of the upper side bumper beam
102
is covered with a bumper face
101
made of flexible resin. The upper side bumper beam
102
is extended in a width direction of the vehicle at a front part of a vehicle body. The upper side bumper beam
102
and the lower side bumper beam
103
are supported by a radiator panel
106
at the front part of the vehicle body through an upper side bumper stay
104
and a lower side bumper stay
105
, respectively.
The upper side bumper stay
104
has a double structure constituted of a long outer pipe stay
107
, and a short inner pipe stay
108
. The long outer pipe stay
107
is secured to both of the upper side bumper beam
102
and the radiator panel
106
. The short inner pipe stay
108
is secured only to the radiator panel
106
. The outer pipe stay
107
is constituted of a front side stay
107
a
having a higher strength and a rear side stay
107
b
having a lower strength. The front side stay
107
a
is expanded toward its front end side, as shown in FIG.
10
.
Furthermore, the lower side bumper stay
105
is secured to the lower side bumper beam
103
with its front end side, and to the radiator panel
106
with its rear end through a bracket (not illustrated). The upper side bumper stay
104
has a strength in the longitudinal direction determined to be lower than that of the lower side bumper stay
105
.
Then, when the vehicle running at a low speed has a minor collision with a pedestrian M as schematically shown in
FIG. 10
illustrating a state before the collision and in
FIG. 11
after the collision, for example, the upper side bumper beam
102
abuts against a lower limb R near a knee H and the lower side bumper beam
103
abuts against a lower part of the lower limb R.
At this time, the low strength rear side stay
107
b
of the upper side bumper stay
104
supporting the upper side bumper beam
102
is compressed to be crushed and deformed, and the lower side bumper stay
105
itself is compressed to be crushed and deformed, which relieves an impact. In such a case, the upper side bumper stay
104
, having the strength determined to be lower than that of the lower side bumper stay
105
, is more largely deformed. This produces a force acting to turn the lower limb R of the pedestrian in directions indicated by arrows A as shown in
FIG. 11
, that is, in the direction of scooping up an under part of the lower limb R. Thus produced force reduces a bending angle &thgr; appeared at the knee H to reduce the impact load imposed on the knee H. This appropriately controls behavior of the lower limb R at the collision to bring reduction in the load on the knee H.
In the above structure, for a large impact force, it is provided so that both of the front side stay
107
a
having a high strength and the inner pipe stay inside stay
108
are compressed to be crushed and deformed.
According to the above Japanese Patent Unexamined Publication No. Hei. 11-78732, protection of a leg of a pedestrian, particularly of the knee which is susceptible to be damaged, is provided when a vehicle running particularly at a low speed has a minor collision with the pedestrian.
In the above bumper structure, the upper side and lower side bumper stays
104
and
105
are disposed at a spot near each of the right and left ends of the vehicle. Therefore, when the pedestrian M comes into a minor collision with the upper side and lower side bumper beams
102
and
103
near the upper side and lower side bumper stays
104
and
105
, for example, the rear side stay
107
b
and the lower side bumper stay
105
are compressed to be crushed and deformed to exhibit required performance. However, when the pedestrian M is collided with near the central part of each of the upper side and lower side bumper beams
102
and
103
, a force due to an imposed load is distributed to the upper side and lower side bumper stays
104
and
105
at each of the right and left ends. This possibly makes the rear side stay
107
b
and the lower side bumper stays
105
less compressed to be slightly crushed and deformed to prevent them from exhibiting the required performance.
In addition, there is fear that the reduced strength of the upper side bumper stay
104
accompanies reduction in rigidity for supporting the upper side bumper beam
102
to make a sufficient bumper function unachievable when a large impact load is exerted.
Furthermore, the lower bumper beam
103
placed in front of the radiator panel
106
necessitates conserving a space therefor to restrict design flexibility of the front part of the vehicle. Along with this, it is feared that increased number of parts leads to increases in manufacturing cost and parts stock control cost.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a front structure of a vehicle body which can provide the design flexibility of the front part of a vehicle and reduction in the number of parts, and along with this, can obtain a sufficient bumper function and sufficient reduction of damage of the pedestrian.
In order to achieve the above object, the front structure of a vehicle body according to the invention, comprises a bumper and a radiator panel. The radiator panel has an upper frame and a lower frame both extendedly provided in the width direction of the vehicle at a front part of the vehicle body. The bumper is extendedly provided in a width direction of the vehicle in front of the radiator panel. The bumper comprises an upper side bumper beam extendedly provided in the width direction of the vehicle above the lower frame, an upper part bumper extendedly provided in the width direction of the vehicle and having an upper side impact absorbing material provided between the upper side bumper beam and an upper bumper face, the lower frame of the radiator panel, and a lower part bumper extendedly provided in the width direction of the vehicle and having an lower side impact absorbing material provided between the lower frame and an lower bumper face.
In the above-mentioned structure, the lower and upper bumper faces are integrally formed as a sole bumper face unit.
According to the invention, by forming the lower part bumper with the lower side impact absorbing material provided between the lower frame of the radiator panel and the bumper face, in providing the bumper having the upper part bumper and the lower part bumper both extendedly provided in the width direction of the vehicle at a front part of the vehicle body, the lower frame of the radiator panel is allowed to function as a bumper beam of the lower part bumper. This necessitates no space for separately providing a bumper beam of the lower part bumper to ensure the design flexibility of the front part of the vehicle. Along with this, the number of parts is reduced to allow the structure to achieve lightweight with a simplified constitution.
Furthermore, the upper side impact absorbing material and the lower side impact absorbing material, extendedly provided along the upper side bumper beam constituting the upper part bumper and the lower frame, respectively, have approximately the same cross-sectional profile at any arbitrary position in the width direction of the vehicle. This can ensure a uniform bumper function.
In the structure according to the present invention, it is advantageous that, the radiator pan

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