Land vehicles: bodies and tops – Bodies – With distinct wind deflector
Reexamination Certificate
2001-05-22
2002-08-13
Pape, Joseph D. (Department: 3612)
Land vehicles: bodies and tops
Bodies
With distinct wind deflector
C296S180500, C296S076000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06431639
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a technique for mounting a spoiler to a trunk door of a motor vehicle, and more particularly, the present invention relates to a traveling safety device for a motor vehicle, which effectively prevents a rear part of the motor vehicle from being jolted or lifted upon high speed traveling, abrupt stopping, or cornering of the motor vehicle, specifically, a compact car.
2. Description of the Related Art
Generally, in a motor vehicle, an engine room is defined at a front part. Therefore, the front part of the motor vehicle is weighty, and a rear part of the motor vehicle is light.
Upon high speed traveling, abrupt stopping, or cornering of a motor vehicle, airflow which passes over surfaces of the motor vehicle, should be properly controlled to improve tire traction and directional stability. In this regard, in the conventional art, in order to control the airflow, the surfaces of a body of the motor vehicle over which surfaces the airflow passes, are aerodynamically designed, and, as auxiliary means, a spoiler is mounted to a rear end of a trunk door of the motor vehicle.
That is to say, as shown in
FIG. 1
, due to the fact that a spoiler
2
is mounted to a rear end of a trunk door
1
of a motor vehicle so as to divert and thereby control airflow which passes over aerodynamic surfaces of the motor vehicle, tire traction and directional stability is improved.
However, although the conventional spoiler controls the airflow, it is encountered with a problem in that, since it only functions to divide the airflow which passes over the aerodynamic surfaces of the motor vehicle, as the airflow masses at a rear part of the motor vehicle upon high speed traveling or abrupt stopping, the rear part of the motor vehicle which rear part is relatively light in comparison with a front part of the motor vehicle in which front part an engine room is defined, is likely to be aerodynamically jolted or lifted.
In other words, when observing the motor vehicle in view of the center of gravity, because the rear part in which a trunk room is defined, is more light than the front part in which the engine room is defined, when the motor vehicle, specifically, a compact car travels at a high speed or abruptly stops, the rear part of the motor vehicle can be jolted or lifted by the airflow passing over the aerodynamic surfaces of the motor vehicle, whereby tire traction and directional stability of the motor vehicle cannot but be deteriorated.
Moreover, as schematically shown in
FIG. 2
, in the case that the motor vehicle rounds a sharp curve while traveling at a high speed, left wheels are lifted and thereby the body of the motor vehicle is inclined downward in a rightward direction. At this time, due to this cornering of the motor vehicle, strong airflow is developed on the aerodynamic surfaces of a left part B of the motor vehicle, whereas smooth airflow is developed on the aerodynamic surfaces of a right part A of the motor vehicle.
Therefore, in the conventional art, when the motor vehicle corners, the likelihood of a left portion of the rear part of the motor vehicle which rear part is relatively light in comparison with the front part of the motor vehicle in which front part the engine room is defined, to be jolted or lifted due to the presence of the strong airflow, is increased, and, thereby, safe driving of the motor vehicle can be adversely affected.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Accordingly, the present invention has been made in an effort to solve the problems occurring in the related art, and an object of the present invention is to provide a traveling safety device for a motor vehicle, wherein one or more spoilers are disposed between a rear windshield glass and a front end of a trunk door in a manner such that operations of the spoilers can be selectively controlled by signals which are produced by sensing a speed of the motor vehicle through a speedometer, measuring a difference in wind velocity between both sides of a body of the motor vehicle and/or grasping operational statuses of left and right shock absorbers positioned in a rear part of the motor vehicle, upon high speed traveling, abrupt stopping, or cornering of the motor vehicle, and thereby, an end portion or both end portions of the rear part of the motor vehicle can be depressed downward due to collision of airflow which passes over aerodynamic surfaces of the motor vehicle, with the spoilers, whereby the rear part of the motor vehicle is effectively prevented from being jolted or lifted upon high speed traveling, abrupt stopping, or cornering of the motor vehicle.
In order to achieve the above object, according to the present invention, there is provided a spoiler adapted for controllably diverting airflow which passes over aerodynamic surfaces of a motor vehicle, upon high speed traveling of the motor vehicle, the spoiler comprising: a supporting section arranged between a rear windshield glass and a trunk door and defined with a receiving groove in a manner such that a front end portion of the trunk door is inserted into the receiving groove, with a rubber packing fitted into the receiving groove, the supporting section being fastened to the front end portion of the trunk door by fastening means; and an airflow controlling section arranged in such a way as to define a predetermined inclination angle with respect to the supporting section, the airflow controlling section functioning to control the airflow which passes over the aerodynamic surfaces of the motor vehicle and thereby forcibly depress downward a rear part of the motor vehicle so that the rear part of the motor vehicle is prevented from being aerodynamically jolted or lifted.
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patent: 4274670 (1981-06-01), Pitzmann
patent: 4810022 (1989-03-01), Takagi et al.
patent: 5165751 (1992-11-01), Matsumoto et al.
patent: 5356195 (1994-10-01), Kanda
patent: 5415453 (1995-05-01), Huber
patent: 5454619 (1995-10-01), Haraway, Jr.
patent: 5544931 (1996-08-01), Nelson
patent: 5934740 (1999-08-01), Moebius et al.
patent: 2002/0021022 (2002-02-01), Erdelitsch et al.
patent: 3512378 (1985-10-01), None
patent: 2506247 (1982-11-01), None
patent: 5-185963 (1993-07-01), None
Engle Patricia
Pape Joseph D.
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