Land vehicles: bodies and tops – Bodies – Door or window with specified vehicle feature
Patent
1994-08-05
1996-06-18
Pedder, Dennis H.
Land vehicles: bodies and tops
Bodies
Door or window with specified vehicle feature
296188, B60J 500
Patent
active
055270824
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a tubular reinforcement member for a motor vehicle door.
2. Description of the Related Art
A reinforcement member of this type is known as disclosed in DE 40 32 992 A1. The reinforcement member serves as a stiffening particularly of the door of a passenger car and is intended to absorb the impact energy in the case of an impact from the side and to convert the impact energy into mechanical work. The desired result is an increased safety of the passengers of passenger cars, independently of whether another car impacts from the side or whether, for example, a passenger car whose driver has lost control impacts against a post or a mast.
In view of the fact that in the case of an impact the middle portion of the reinforcement member provides the greatest contribution to the magnitude of the capability of work absorption, it is suggested in the known case, by taking into consideration the known mathematical relationships between elastic line and section modulus, to provide the middle portion in longitudinal direction of the reinforcement member with a resistance against bending loads which is greater than that of the end portions serving for fastening the reinforcement member to the inner side of the door. For this purpose, the middle portion has not only been deformed into an elliptic or oval shape, but has additionally been provided with a metal sleeve which is slid into or onto the reinforcement member prior to the deformation of the middle portion. The sleeve is fixed into its position by gluing, welding or soldering. As an alternative to the sleeve which is closed at its circumference, additionally the use of a slotted sleeve has been suggested, wherein the sleeve is selected in its dimensions in such a way that a clamping effect occurs. Moreover, in accordance with a third alternative, the wall thickness in the middle portion is selected greater than in the adjacent portions or the inner space of the middle portion was filled with a medium, for example, a metal foam or wood, which has a lower specific gravity.
However, all of these measures for reinforcing the middle portion of a reinforcement member have in common that the manufacture is technically difficult and fixing it in its position is complicated. A very expensive individual manufacture of each reinforcement member is generally unavoidable.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is the object of the present invention to further develop a tubular reinforcement member in such a way that it can be easily manufactured and easily mounted even in different types of door models.
In accordance with the invention, at least one sheet steel strip extending parallel to the longitudinal axis of the reinforcement member is tangentially fastened to the middle portion of the reinforcement member in a plane extending parallel to the impact direction.
As a result, a stiffening with optimum weight has now been provided for closed tube sections, particularly with circular cross section, but also with oval or elliptically-shaped cross section, which specifically permits a light-weight construction with a low structural depth of a vehicle door in transverse direction, i.e., the possible direction of load application in the case of an impact. It is now possible to use extremely thin-walled reinforcement members in which it is ensured that the end portions serving for fastening the reinforcement member to the inner side of the door can transmit the bending load to be expected, while the middle portion is stiffened to such an extent that the maximum bending load to be expected is converted without premature buckling into deformation work. In this connection, the invention makes it possible within a wide range to adapt the length and/or the height and/or the thickness of at least one sheet steel strip, preferably however of two diametrically oppositely located parallel sheet steel strips, exactly to the bending load of the reinforcement member which is specific to the door.
However, the invention not o
REFERENCES:
patent: 4948196 (1990-08-01), Baba et al.
patent: 5255487 (1993-10-01), Wieting et al.
patent: 5277469 (1994-01-01), Klippel
Bohmer Werner
Topker Dieter
Benteler AG
Kueffner Friedrich
Pedder Dennis H.
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