Land vehicles – Wheeled – Attachment
Reexamination Certificate
1999-09-28
2001-06-26
Rice, Kenneth R. (Department: 2167)
Land vehicles
Wheeled
Attachment
C180S090000, C296S182100
Reexamination Certificate
active
06250678
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a supporting structure for the instrument panel of a motor vehicle wherein an instrument panel made from a synthetic resin is supported by a reinforcing member whose opposite ends are linked to the right and left front pillars of the vehicle body.
2. Description of the Prior Art
When the head of an occupant collides with the upper surface of the instrument panel due to an accident in which the vehicle is involved in a collision, in order to prevent a large impact from being applied to the head of the occupant caused by a reinforcing member supporting the instrument panel inhibiting deformation of the instrument panel, a large buffer space for allowing a sufficient level of deformation of the instrument panel is generally formed between the reinforcing member and the instrument panel (see, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 9-2104).
However, such formation of a large buffer space between the reinforcing member and the instrument panel makes it impossible to place the reinforcing member and the instrument panel close to each other, thus leading to preventing the dimensions of the vehicle interior from being enlarged.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention has been accomplished in view of the circumstances, and its objective is to provide a supporting structure for an instrument panel of a motor vehicle which enables the reinforcing member and the instrument panel to be placed close to each other and at the same time can effectively absorb an impact when the head of an occupant collides with the upper surface of the instrument panel thus reducing the damage to the occupant as much as possible.
In order to accomplish the above-mentioned objective, according to the first characteristic of the present invention, there is proposed a supporting structure for an instrument panel of a motor vehicle, wherein an instrument panel made of a synthetic resin is supported by a reinforcing member which is linked to a body of the motor vehicle, and wherein an energy absorbing member made of a synthetic resin foam is placed between a reverse surface of the instrument panel and the reinforcing member, and when the head of an occupant collides with the upper surface of the instrument panel the collision energy is absorbed by destroying foamed cells of the aforementioned energy absorbing member as the instrument panel is deformed or destroyed.
In accordance with the above-mentioned first characteristic, when the head of an occupant collides with the upper surface of the instrument panel, the collision energy can be absorbed by destroying foamed cells of the energy absorbing member as the instrument panel is deformed or destroyed. Thus, the impact applied to the occupant can effectively be reduced while enabling the reinforcing member and the instrument panel to be placed close to each other. Moreover, the level of energy which can be absorbed can be controlled by the size of the foamed cells of the energy absorbing member and the thickness and location of the member, and thus its design can be carried out freely.
In addition to the above-mentioned characteristic, the present invention is characterised in that the energy absorbing member comprises a box-shaped air-conditioning duct.
In accordance with the second characteristic of the present invention, since the box-shaped air-conditioning duct functions also as an energy-absorbing member, it is unnecessary to form a special energy-absorbing member and thus the structure can be simplified.
Furthermore, in addition to the above-mentioned characteristics, the third characteristic of the present invention is that on a reverse side of the area of the instrument panel which is expected to receive an intense impact from the head of the occupant there is placed a lengthways wall of the box-shaped duct which rises towards the area from the circumference of the aforementioned reinforcing member.
In accordance with the third characteristic, the impact given by the head of the occupant to the instrument panel is applied to the lengthways wall of the box-shaped duct as a compressive force, and therefore the lengthways wall can absorb an impact energy so high as to make it buckle. In this case, by choosing the thickness and angle of the lengthways wall, the level of energy which can be absorbed can be controlled, and as a result the impact applied to the occupant can effectively be reduced while enabling the reinforcing member and the instrument panel to be placed closer to each other.
The above objectives, other objectives, characteristics and advantages of the present invention will be elucidated by a preferred embodiment described in detail by reference to the attached drawings.
REFERENCES:
patent: 3831705 (1974-08-01), Glance
patent: 3861486 (1975-01-01), Wilfert
patent: 3924707 (1975-12-01), Renner et al.
patent: 4123085 (1978-10-01), Oda et al.
patent: 4223754 (1980-09-01), Mizuno et al.
patent: 4474391 (1984-10-01), Matsuno et al.
patent: 5370417 (1994-12-01), Kelman et al.
patent: 5762395 (1998-06-01), Merrifield et al.
patent: 6110037 (2000-08-01), Yoshinaka
patent: 6126231 (2000-10-01), Suzuki et al.
patent: 9-2104 (1997-01-01), None
Baba Hidenori
Yoshinaka Katsunori
Arent Fox Kintner Plotkin & Kahn
Jasmin Lynda
Moriroku Kabushiki Kaisha
Rice Kenneth R.
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