Land vehicles: bodies and tops – Bodies – Dashboards
Reexamination Certificate
2000-09-15
2003-08-05
Dayoan, D. Glenn (Department: 3612)
Land vehicles: bodies and tops
Bodies
Dashboards
C296S208000, C296S182100
Reexamination Certificate
active
06601902
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The invention relates to a cockpit.
In the current state of the art, motor vehicle cockpits are complex systems adapted to the vehicle type, which generally consist of a cross-member, the air conduction elements, a shell construction, which predetermines the visible side of the cockpit, operational elements and a passenger airbag. In DE 34 47 185 A1 and in EP 0 515 287 A1, cockpits of this type are described. The objective here is to create constructional units which are pre-assembled as far as possible and are tested in respect of their function before being fitted into the vehicle and which can possibly also contribute to stiffening of the motor vehicle body. Solutions of this type are vehicle-specific, i.e. are suitable in construction and production only for a specific type of vehicle. DE 36 11 486 A1 describes a solution which is suitable for retrofitting or converting the safety standard with lower outlay in a specific type of vehicle. The cross-member of this system is admittedly simplified but can still be used for a vehicle type. In the older, not prior-published application DE 196 26 441 is described a cockpit, the cross-member of which consists in modular fashion of components which are predominantly no longer vehicle-specific and which can therefore be used for a plurality of vehicle types. In this design, the air conduction system is a component of the cross-member, thus producing a complex construction which requires -additional outlay for connecting the air conduction system to the visible shell of the cockpit, for example noise and heat insulation. In one design, provision is made for the housing of the heating or air conditioning system also to be an integral component of the cross-member, whereby joints are produced which can impair the function of the cross-member as stiffening for the vehicle body. Moreover, in this case, the housing must be able to absorb corresponding forces, i.e. be over-dimensioned in relation to the original purpose, which is not an optimum solution both in respect of production and also in respect of weight.
In DE 44 45 381 A1 is described a cockpit with which are associated two cross-members disposed the one behind the other. The front member in the direction of travel here runs in the interior of the motor vehicle body below the front windscreen, the second cross-member carries, as is also usual, the actual cockpit which contains the pre-tested operational and functional elements.
Although not referred to in DE 44 45 381 A1, the use of two cross-members has safety advantages in a frontal impact. This aspect is referred to by DE 195 27 627 A1, in which an integrated safety member for cab-over-engine lorries or buses is described, which serves as a basis for the dashboard. Here, a front cross-member again runs in the interior of the car body below the front windscreen; the second cross-member on the driver's side is connected to the first by bars which run parallel to the direction of travel to form a safety member, the bars being intended to act as energy-absorbing deformation elements. Both publications refer to snub-nosed vehicles which have increased safety requirements in a frontal impact, since there is no crumple zone. DE 44 45 381 A1 has only a low safety advantage, since the two cross-members are “de-coupled”, i.e. do not form any additional crumple zone.
In DE 195 27 627 A1, the coupling does exist but the alignment of the coupling bars parallel to the direction of travel involves the danger that if one of the bars is torn away, it could come towards the occupants like a dagger, with the corresponding risk of injury.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The object of the present invention, therefore, is to quote a vehicle cockpit which can be pre-assembled and pre-tested and which is suitable in vehicles with a cross-member running underneath the front windscreen with simplified construction and defined stability behaviour, to be more of an active component of an occupant protection system in the case of a frontal impact than previously provided.
Because, at least between the box-section and the cross-member, a flat-shaped piece, also referred to and considered as a structural planar profiled member, is mounted as a mounting plate for the functional and operational elements, which piece couples the box-section and the cross-member in the event of a frontal impact, in an energy-absorbing manner, the following advantages arise.
A shaped piece of this type is an excellent mounting platform for functional and operational elements, much more variable than for example the arrangement of these elements only on the cross-member, as in prior art (see FIG.
5
). Moreover a platform-shaped piece of this type can, if it is designed expediently of deformable materials, absorb impact energy through deformation, and can connect box-section and cross-member to one another in linear fashion over the whole width of the vehicle to form an enclosed safety system, in which the total intermediate space between box-section and cross-member is used for energy absorption, and in which above all the danger of being injured by torn-off coupling elements, which are arranged in the direction of the interior space, disappears.
An expedient design consists for example in the flat shaped piece having stiffening ribs which are oriented in a particularly advantageous manner in their plurality approximately parallel to the cross-member. In this case, the stiffened and thus more energy-absorbing surface regions are deformed in chronological succession, the impact time being thereby lengthened and the acceleration force being reduced.
It is also advantageous if the cross-member is integrated as a constructional unit in the shaped piece, i.e. is produced in common with the shaped piece. Manufacturing and handling such a shaped piece and the whole cockpit are thus considerably simplified. A good possible way of integrating the cross-member in the shaped piece is the embodiment as a metal-plastics material-hybrid construction; naturally in this technology, the production of only the flat shaped piece is also possible and possibly expedient. A further advantageous design possibility is a corresponding embodiment as a sheet metal preform, for example like a corrugated plate or one with trapezoidal corrugations. With a sheet metal preform, the cross-member can also be integrated as a constructional unit.
As a result of the unavoidable tolerances of the body shells, the possibility of tolerance balancing during the fitting of a cockpit module is indispensable. Prior art here offers a large number of possible systems, partially with the disadvantage that the connection between the cockpit and motor vehicle body is a weak point. In the cockpit, a weak point of this type can be avoided if at least the cross-member, in an integrated design of the whole element, is secured in the region of the A-columns with the aid of tolerance-balancing sloping surfaces. These sloping surfaces abut against corresponding sloping surfaces on the A-columns, to which they can be secured. The overall securing of the cockpit, trapezoid in the plan view, makes possible both compensation of the width tolerance of the bodywork and also here a whole-surfacing bearing surface for the fastening shackles.
The flat shaped piece according to the invention is so to speak a natural parting plane between the elements of the foot space and those of the actual cockpit side. If one disregards a large number of elements of the cockpit, such as for example indicating and control instruments, airbag, switches etc., which can be pre-assembled not on the cross-member, as in prior art, but more simply on the shaped piece, i.e. the natural parting plane, because the surface offers better opportunities for arrangement than the “line” of a cross-member, the parting plane of the shaped piece divides the main components of a pre-assembled cockpit in a clearer manner than previously.
On the upper side of the shaped piece is securely mounted an air distribution system, whilst a heating and/or air-co
Creutz Lydia
Rahmstorf Peter
Bianco Paul D.
Dayoan D. Glenn
Fleit Martin
Fleit Kain Gibbons Gutman & Bongini P.L.
Gutman H.
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