Land vehicles – Wheeled – Running gear
Reexamination Certificate
1999-08-16
2001-09-11
Mai, Lanna (Department: 3619)
Land vehicles
Wheeled
Running gear
C280S762000, C280S770000, C296S198000, C296S182100
Reexamination Certificate
active
06286867
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a protective arrangement on a wheel housing of a motor vehicle shell. More particularly, the present invention relates to a protective arrangement having a crumple zone, in particular a front crumple zone, in which two longitudinal members extend in the longitudinal direction of the vehicle and along the inside of the associated lateral wheel housing, having a wheel which is held by wheel guide members within the assigned wheel housing, having a front wall, which limits the wheel housing on its side remote from the crumple zone, relative to the passenger compartment, and having means for the protection against excessive penetration of the front wall by the wheel moving towards the front wall in the event of a crash, the protecting means being arranged between the tread circumference of the wheel and the front wall.
A protective arrangement on a wheel housing of a motor vehicle shell is described in DE-AS 22 57 940 and relates to a front part for motor vehicles. A deflector member is arranged on the rear wall of a front wheel housing. The deflector member has welded-together sheet metal parts which are welded or bolted to the rear wall of the wheel housing.
The deflector members functions to guide the front wheels, as they move backwards against the deflector members in the event of a frontal impact, outwards and out of the wheel housing and so remove them from the path of deformation. As a result of the oblique outward and rearward deflection of the front wheels, the intention is, among other things, to prevent a deformation of the front wall of the vehicle and penetration of the wheel rim into the footwell.
As the front wheels are deflected obliquely outwards and out of the wheel housings and backwards into the region of the two front doors by the deflector members in the event of a frontal impact, this protective arrangement has the disadvantage that the front doors, in the event of a relatively serious accident, can be possible to open only partially and with a great expenditure of force, or even impossible to open at all, as a result of which it is made more difficult for an accident victim to escape from the vehicle.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
An object of the present invention, therefore, is to provide a protective arrangement on a wheel housing of a motor vehicle shell to protect the front wall from excessive deformation and intrusion by the wheel and to prevent a deflective movement of the wheel out of the wheel housing into the region to the side of the doors.
This object has been achieved according to the present invention by a protective arrangement on a motor vehicle shell wheel housing by providing that a tension strut with a fixing section is fixed to the associated longitudinal member as a means for protecting the front wall against excessive penetration and projects outwards laterally and transversely to the longitudinal member with a lateral intercepting section.
In the protective arrangement according to the present invention, a tension strut, as a way of protecting the front wall against excessive intrusion, is fixed within the wheel housing by a fixing section to the associated longitudinal member such that, with an intercepting section projecting outwards laterally and transversely to the longitudinal member, the movement of a wheel which has been involved in an accident and moved backwards is stopped. Thus excessive deformation or penetration of the front wall by the wheel is prevented. As a result, injuries to passengers can be significantly reduced, especially in the region of the feet, thighs or knees. The tension strut is, of course, of appropriately strong configuration in the region between the fixing section and the intercepting section to resist the forces arising, especially tensile and flexural forces, and to transmit them to the longitudinal member.
The protective arrangement of the present invention is particularly advantageous in an offset frontal impact with a slight widthwise overlap of the motor vehicles involved and in a direct oblique impact from the front against the front wheel. In such event, the inner and, in this case, front longitudinal members are not struck from the front and so are not activated as a crumple zone. With the fixing of the tension strut to the longitudinal member, in an accident scenario as described above, the energy of the front wheel intercepted by the tension strut can be transmitted to the longitudinal member and thus the crumple zone in the region at the height of the front wheels is activated.
Because the fixing section of the tension strut is fixed sufficiently far forward on the longitudinal member, a correspondingly large part of the longitudinal member, and hence also of the front crumple zone of the vehicle, can be used to receive, primarily, a tensile force and to reduce the accident energy. Thus, a significantly improved accident performance arises as a result of the improved energy absorption of the entire section of the shell affected.
In a frontal impact with greater widthwise overlap and, in particular, with higher vehicle speeds, the protective arrangement according to the present invention has the advantage of providing that the movement of the front wheel taking place after the deformation of the front crumple zone is intercepted and its kinetic energy is transmitted to the longitudinal member. Thereby, optimum use is made of the remaining front crumple zone in the region of the front wheel housings.
The protective arrangement can thus be used both at the front wheels, in the region of the front crumple zone, and also in the region of the rear wheels and of the rear crumple zone. Not only because of the fact that the driver's seat is always occupied, the protective arrangement is particularly preferably arranged at the wheel housing on the front off-side. For the driver, the further advantages arising are that the risk of penetration of the pedals into the footwell and the risk of upward projection of the steering wheel can be significantly reduced.
In a further embodiment of the invention, the tension strut is particularly advantageously arranged between the inner longitudinal member and an end section of a lateral longitudinal member or longitudinal member section. The tension strut additionally is fixed to the end section of the lateral longitudinal member. As a result, a strong protective arrangement is obtained with a particularly advantageous accident performance, because a large section of the shell, which encompasses both the inner and the lateral longitudinal member, can be subjected to the action of the energy of the moving wheel. That is, in addition to the front longitudinal member, the lateral longitudinal member can also be used thereby to absorb the energy arising.
If the tension strut is arranged at a minimum distance in front of the front wall which varies in accordance with the shell, it can be deformed backwards by the minimum distance under the impact of the backward-moving front wheel for energy absorption purposes, without this resulting in a deformation of the front wall. The result of this is to provide a particularly safe protective arrangement. Excessive penetration of the wheel into the front wall even in serious accidents is thereby prevented.
As a result of the fixing of the tension strut below or at the height of a horizontal plane through the axle of the front wheel, the wheel moving backwards in the event of a crash is stopped in the region of its tread circumference and, at the same time, excessive penetration of the front wheel into the front wall above or below the tension strut is also prevented.
The intercepting section of the tension strut can include an angle of approximately 100-140° with a lateral section of the inner longitudinal member, and can be directed towards the front end of the lateral longitudinal member, so that the tension strut, in the event of a crash, steers the wheel towards the front end of the lateral longitudinal member. This arrangement has the advantage that as much ene
Braemig Falk-Hagen
Epple Guenther
Harloff Bernd
Zimmermann Rolf
Crowell & Moring LLP
Daimler-Chrysler AG
Ilan Ruth
Mai Lanna
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