Land vehicles: bodies and tops – Bodies – Body shell
Reexamination Certificate
2000-07-13
2001-10-02
Pape, Joseph D. (Department: 3612)
Land vehicles: bodies and tops
Bodies
Body shell
C296S203020, C296S203040, C296S029000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06296300
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a vehicle body structure.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
During an end-on collision of a vehicle, such as a full or partial frontal head-on or rear end collision, it is very important to absorb a great portion of impact energy by controlled deformation of the side members which form part of the front or rear compartments, (e.g. the engine room and trunk). It is ideal to deform, under compression, the side members in a collapsible manner because this form of deformation tends to maximize the amount of impact energy absorption.
Currently, the most popular measure is to provide a path of transmission of stress or force to structural members of the passenger compartment floor such as the side sills which extend along either side thereof. To improve the force transmission characteristics it is advantageous to increase the rigidity and stiffness of the floor. The use of extruded parts to increase stiffness and rigidity is known from JP-A-9-99870.
However, if there is a vertical offset between the floor and the side members, it is necessary to provide a joint structure whereby each front side member is rigidly connected to the floor. This establishes a structure which generates, during a collision, a moment of force which consists of the force applied to the floor by the front side member during initial stage of process of impact energy absorption, and the perpendicular distance (viz., the arm of the moment) between a point in the joint structure wherein bucking initiates and the side member. Occurrence of such moment places a bias a dash panel and its associated structure which tends to move it undesirably toward and/or into a passenger compartment which is located above the floor.
Accordingly, a need exists to minimize this bias and to ensure that vehicle structural members do not distort excessively and/or encroach into passenger cabin space in a manner which reduces passenger safety.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention is directed to an arrangement which, upon application of force or stress greater than a predetermined magnitude during end-on collision of a vehicle, the transmission of force/stress is directed toward the vehicle floor structure to a floor in a manner which reduces the length of the above-mentioned arm of a moment of force around a portion of the structure proximate an end of the floor.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a vehicle body structure capable of reducing the magnitude of a moment around a portion in the proximity of an end of a floor while transmitting force to a floor, upon application of stress or force which is sufficiently great as to cause structural deformation of the vehicle body.
More specifically, a first aspect of the invention resides in a vehicle body structure for a vehicle having a longitudinal center line, comprising: a floor structure; a side member having an end, the side member extending in a direction essentially parallel to the longitudinal center line; a cross panel extending laterally across an end of the floor structure; and a deformation force redirecting structure which is connected to the cross panel and which has a force receiving surface portion spaced from an end of the floor, the force receiving surface portion engaging the end of the side member, the deformation force redirecting structure including: a first structural portion including the force receiving surface portion, a second structural portion interconnecting the first structural portion and a portion of the floor in the proximity of the predetermined end thereof, and a third structural portion interconnecting the side member and the floor, the first, second and third structural portions respectively exhibiting deformation resistances which induce the first structural portion to initially deform upon the application of a predetermined amount of pressure on at least a portion of the force receiving surface.
In this arrangement at least one of the floor structure, the side member, the cross panel, and the deformation force redirecting structure is made of a corrosion resistant light weight material which obviates the need for an externally applied corrosion preventing coating or treatment. Additionally, it is possible that the floor structure, the side member, the cross panel, and the deformation force redirecting structure are each one of extruded and die cast from a corrosion resistant light weight material which obviates the need for an externally applied corrosion preventing coating or treatment. The corrosion resistant light weight material is a light metal alloy such as an aluminum containing alloy, an aluminum based alloy, a magnesium containing alloy, or titanium containing alloy.
The side member and the floor are extruded and the deformation force redirecting structure includes a cross structural member which extends laterally across a longitudinal end of the floor and which is extruded and has at least one extruded feature which extends laterally across the longitudinal end of the floor.
The first structural portion has a lower deformation resistance than the third structural portion, while the second structural portion has a lower deformation resistance than the third structural portion and a higher deformation resistance than the first structural portion.
The first structural portion includes first upper and lower walls which defining a first laterally extending channel which has an essentially uniform cross-sectional profile, and wherein the upper wall has a lower deformation resistance than the lower wall. Alternatively, the first structural portion includes first walls defining a first channel having an essentially uniform cross-sectional profile, the second structural portion includes second walls defining a second channel having an essentially uniform cross-sectional profile, and the third structural portion includes third walls defining a third channel having an essentially uniform cross-sectional profile, and wherein each of the first, second and third channels respectively include at least one reinforcement therein.
In addition to the above, the vehicle body structure set forth above is such that the deformation force redirecting structure includes a first partition between the first channel and the second channel, a second partition between the first channel and the third channel, and a third partition between the second channel and the third channel, wherein the deformation force redirecting structure includes a hub member at which the first, second and third partitions merge, wherein the reinforcement wall within the first structural portion extends from the hub member and merges with an upper essentially horizontally extending wall which forms part of the first structural portion and which extends across an upper portion of the first channel, and wherein the third partition interconnects the hub member and an upper surface portion of the floor in the proximity of the end of the floor.
In the above arrangement the deformation force redirecting structure is a one piece extruded member, and/or a one piece die cast part.
A second aspect of the invention resided in that the channels of at least the second and third structural portions are filled with a filler. The deformation force redirecting structure further has a first socket which receives a portion of the floor, and a second socket which receives a portion of the side member.
Another aspect of the invention resides in structure wherein the first, second and third structural portions are respectively defined by first, second and third structural portions of the deformation force redirecting structure, the first structural portion is discrete from the second and third structural portions, the second and third structural portions are unitarily formed with one another, the second structural portion has a seat against which a portion of the first structural portion abuts, and the first and second structural portions include a hinge mechanism which interconnects the first and second structural portions and
Engle Patricia L.
McDermott & Will & Emery
Nissan Motor Co,. Ltd.
Pape Joseph D.
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