Land vehicles: bodies and tops – Bodies – Structural detail
Reexamination Certificate
2000-02-03
2001-08-07
Dayoan, D. Glenn (Department: 3612)
Land vehicles: bodies and tops
Bodies
Structural detail
Reexamination Certificate
active
06270153
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to an improved technology for a vehicle body structure of an automotive vehicle.
FIGS. 9A and 9B
are conceptual drawings of a conventional vehicle body structure and show a typical example of a vehicle body
101
of a convertible or cabriolet
100
.
FIG. 9A
shows that the vehicle body
101
comprises a monocoque body having incorporated therein left and right side members
102
,
102
and cross members (not shown) extending between these side member
102
,
102
. The side member
102
comprises a front side frame
103
located at a front portion of the vehicle body, a floor frame
104
located at a longitudinal center of the vehicle body and a rear side frame
105
located at a rear portion of the vehicle body, which are joined together in that order. The vehicle body
101
also has a floor tunnel
106
disposed at the center of the vehicle body. Reference numeral
107
denotes a floor panel.
FIG. 9B
shows the structure of the side member
102
when viewed from the side of the vehicle body in which the floor frame
104
is disposed lower than the front and rear side frames
103
,
105
so as to secure a certain dwelling performance inside a passenger compartment.
However, the vehicle
100
tends to be subject to torsional and/or bending moment while running, and the vehicle body
101
of the vehicle
100
is required to provide a sufficient rigidity. In particular, in the case of a convertible, since it has no fixed roof, an upper portion of a vehicle body thereof cannot be supported by a roof, and therefore the rigidity of the vehicle body
101
must be increased to such an extent that a decrease in rigidity due to the lack of a roof can be compensated for. In addition, the side member
102
is constructed as bent when viewed from the side thereof, and here again the rigidity of the vehicle body
101
must be increased to such an extent that a decrease in rigidity due to the bent side member can be compensated for.
In these circumstances, a number of reinforcement members
108
. . . are provided at portions of the vehicle body where an increase in rigidity is required for partial reinforcement. However, the addition of a number of reinforcement members
108
as described above results in an increase in vehicle weight, this preventing the reduction in the weight of the vehicle body
101
.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
An object of the present invention is to increase the rigidity of a vehicle body while suppressing the increase in the weight thereof.
The above object can be attained by a vehicle body structure for an automotive vehicle, according to the present invention, comprising front side frames provided left and right at a front portion of a vehicle body so as to hold a longitudinal center line of the vehicle body therebetween, rear side frames provided left and right at a rear portion of the vehicle body so as to hold the longitudinal center line of the vehicle body therebetween and floor frames or side sills provided left and right so as to hold the longitudinal center line of the vehicle body therebetween and lower than the front side frames and the rear side frames when viewed from the side of the vehicle body, the front side frames, rear side frames and floor frames or side sills being connected to each other, and further a floor tunnel having a bottom-opened U-shaped cross-sectional structure which extends along the longitudinal center line of the vehicle body between the front side frames and the rear side frames and protrudes upwardly of the floor frames or side sills, wherein auxiliary frames each having a closed cross-sectional structure are provided at an upper portion of the floor tunnel, and wherein the auxiliary frames are joined to the front side frames and the rear side frames via extensions each having a closed cross-sectional structure.
The auxiliary frames provided on the floor tunnel each have the closed cross-sectional structure and therefore they each have a high rigidity.
The front side frames and rear side frames that are connected to each other with the floor frames or side sills which are disposed longitudinally centrally of the vehicle body are further connected to each other with the auxiliary frame and the extensions thereof. Since the frames at the front portion of the vehicle body and the frames at the rear of the vehicle body are connected to each other not only with the floor frames or side sills but also with the auxiliary frame having the high rigidity, the rigidity of the vehicle body is increased while it is well balanced as a whole from the front to rear portions of the vehicle body. Consequently, the rigidity of the vehicle body can increased effectively and markedly when compared with the conventional manner in which the rigidity of the vehicle body is partially reinforced.
In the above-mentioned vehicle body structure according to the present invention, it is preferable that the front side frames, the rear side frames, the auxiliary frames constructed at the upper portion of the floor tunnel and the extensions for connecting the front side frames, the rear side frames and the auxiliary frames together are provided at substantially the same level when viewed from the side of the vehicle body.
With a view to securing a certain level of dwelling performance in the passenger compartment, the floor frames or side sills that are disposed longitudinally centrally of the vehicle body are placed lower than the front and rear side frames. Even in such a case, since the auxiliary frame and extensions are disposed substantially at the same level as those of the front and rear side frames, the torsional and bending rigidities of the vehicle body as a whole are sufficiently high.
Furthermore, since when collision energy is applied to the front portion of the vehicle body, the energy is transmitted from the front side frames to the rear side frames via the auxiliary frame which are placed at substantially the same level, the collision energy so applied can be efficiently absorbed by the entirety of those respective constituent members.
REFERENCES:
patent: 3108836 (1963-10-01), Deckert
patent: 4457555 (1984-07-01), Draper
patent: 6203099 (2001-03-01), Iwatsuki
patent: 0285131 (1988-10-01), None
patent: 126267 (1961-04-01), None
patent: 0205277 (1982-12-01), None
patent: 0205276 (1982-12-01), None
patent: 0049520 (1983-03-01), None
patent: 405097065 (1993-04-01), None
Kimura Kenji
Okamoto Yoshinori
Takai Akikazu
Tomizawa Toshinori
Toyao Hiroyuki
Armstrong Westerman Hattori McLeland & Naughton LLP
Dayoan D. Glenn
Engle Patricia
Honda Giken Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha
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