Motor vehicles – With means for promoting safety of vehicle – its occupant or... – Responsive to engagement of portion of perimeter of vehicle...
Reexamination Certificate
2001-12-19
2003-12-30
Morris, Lesley D. (Department: 3616)
Motor vehicles
With means for promoting safety of vehicle, its occupant or...
Responsive to engagement of portion of perimeter of vehicle...
C180S281000, C180S069210
Reexamination Certificate
active
06668962
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a hood hinging structure for a vehicle, and more particularly to a hood hinging structure adapted to reduce impact on a pedestrian when a part of the pedestrian's body is bumped by a hood of a moving vehicle body.
In general, a vehicle body is produced through various types of manufacturing processes including molding steps to make various types of steel plates through a press molding or the like, coupling steps like welding and fastening, and a number of types of assembling steps. Among steps, an engine compartment is formed at the front side of the vehicle body for putting a power train type of parts. The engine compartment can be opened or closed with a hood.
Furthermore, the hood is rotatively installed via a hinge structure to the front portion of the vehicle body. In other words, as shown in
FIG. 1
, the hinge structure
10
includes: a fixing arm member
12
fastened with screws onto a mounting part M of a vehicle body in the left and right edges of the engine compartment, and a rotary arm member
16
with one end of its being hinged at the rear end of the fixing arm member
12
via a rotational pin member
14
and, at the same time, with the other end of its being fastened with screws at the internal sides of a hood (not shown).
Typically, the fixing arm member
12
has a plurality of fastening holes
12
a
,
12
′ at its front and rear portions to be fastened onto a mounting part M of the vehicle body with screws. Particularly, the fastening hole
12
a
′ is made at a flange part
12
′ laterally extended from the rear portion of the fixing arm member
12
.
Also, the front part of the rotary arm member
16
has a plurality of fastening holes
16
a
to be fastened onto the internal side of the hood.
Thus, in the hinging structure
10
, the rotary arm member
16
is rotated upward centering a rotational pin member
14
from the fixing arm member
12
screwed at the mounting part M when the hood is opened, and the rotary arm member
16
is rotated downward centering the rotational pin member
14
when the hood is closed.
More recently, the structure of a vehicle body is made with increasing consideration to the safety of riders inside the vehicle during a vehicle crash and to observance of traffic regulations which cover safety of a pedestrian when a moving vehicle collides with a pedestrian. Along with the recent trend as such, there appeared a new organization (EEVC) to evaluate safety of a vehicle body with a test method (EURO-NCAP) that specifies the degree of injury to a pedestrian when hit by a moving vehicle. The testing organization calculates with a particular estimation formula the predictable degree of an injury by all kinds of commercially available vehicles when the vehicle hits a pedestrian on each body part, such as calf, knee, thigh or head, and, then, determines the results of the test in specific number. With reference to the results of tests, consumers may compare and evaluate safety of vehicles in their purchase.
Therefore, in the development of a new model of a vehicle, it should be taken into account that the vehicle is properly made to observe the related traffic regulations and to satisfy requirements specified by the organization that evaluates safety of vehicles.
However, the conventional hood hinging structure has not satisfied a regulation on the level of head injury to a pedestrian particularly in a vehicle accident because the hinge structure
10
is made of a strong material and no space is available between the hinge structure
10
and a vehicle body mounting part to accommodate changes in the position of a hood made by impact of a vehicle crash.
When a pedestrian is hit by a moving vehicle, there may be a first contact between the pedestrian's lower body part and the front part of the vehicle. Then, pedestrian's upper body part is raised along the hood of the vehicle body by inertia, and the head is secondly hit by the hood where the hinge structure is positioned. A test can be conducted with the aforementioned assumptions to see the appropriateness of a hood hinging structure.
In other words, the hinge structure
10
is made of a strong material, which may be impossible to easily change its shape to make a reduction in the level of an impact on a pedestrian's head during an accident. Therefore, a pedestrian may be severely injured when hit by the prior art hinge structure
10
.
Accordingly, in order to help protect the pedestrian's head and address the related regulations, it is necessary to develop a hinge structure to help absorb impact energy that generates around the hinge structure
10
.
In other words, in order to reduce the level of an injury onto a walker's head, the newly developed hinge structure should be made to effectively absorb the impact energy that generates in an accident.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is one object of the present invention to solve the aforementioned problem and to provide a hood hinging structure for a vehicle that reduces or minimizes the level of impact on a pedestrian.
This and other objects are accomplished by the present invention, which includes a hood hinging structure installed between a vehicle body and a portion of the hood to support the hood for opening or closing. In one embodiment of the invention the hinging structure includes an outer housing part fixed to the vehicle body. The outer housing has an open top that receives an inner housing part. The inner housing part is moveable in the outer housing part. A fixing arm member is fixed on the inner housing part, and a first rotary arm member is rotatively fastened to the fixing arm member, with a second rotary arm member rotatively fastened to the first rotary arm member and to the hood. A lifting element is disposed to lift the inner housing part to raise the hood from the vehicle body.
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Hyundai Motor Company
Morris Lesley D.
Pennie & Edmonds LLP
Spisich George D
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