JPH09277958A - Pillar structure for vehicle - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To surely prevent deformation of a necessary part of a pillar by improving rigidity of the pillar necessary part, and absorbing impact load at the other part than the pillar necessary part. SOLUTION: A front pillar 1 forms a closed cross sectional space S by an inner panel 11 and an outer panel 12 to be extended upward. A reinforcement panel 2 is installed only inside a pillar half part 1B on the opposite side to the load applied side in the closed cross sectional space S, and a bead part 13 and a bent part 14 to firstly start plastic deformation by action of load are respectively formed in the inner panel 11 and the outer panel 12 in a pillar half part 1A on the load applied side.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a vehicle pillar structure, and more particularly to an impact energy absorbing structure for the pillar structure.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art FIG. 4 (a) is a horizontal cross section of a lower half of a conventional vehicle front pillar, showing a front side surface of the vehicle shown in FIG.
It is a cross section taken along line I-I. In FIG. 4A, the front pillar 1 extending in the vertical direction (the direction perpendicular to the plane of the drawing) has a closed cross-section structure in which an outer panel 12 having a deep container cross section and a substantially flat inner panel 11 are joined at front and rear side edges. The lean hosement panel 2'is arranged in the closed cross section space S.

The lean hosesment panel 2'has a front side edge (the left side edge in the figure) and a rear side edge on both panels 11 and 12, respectively.
Are integrally sandwiched and joined between the joint portions, and the middle portion of the lean hosesment panel 2'is bent in a U shape toward the outer panel 12 and joined to the inner surface thereof. As shown in the figure, a rear end of a front side member 5 (see FIG. 3) having a rectangular closed cross-section structure is joined to a front side surface of the outer panel 12, and an outer surface of the outer panel 12 has a vehicle body opening O. A front door 4 for opening and closing is connected by a hinge 41. The fender panel 3 is located outside the outer panel 12.

It is to be noted that the dash upper panel is deformed to prevent the transmission of an impact load to the rear of the vehicle (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. Hei 5 (1999) -58).
No. 294257), a vehicle body frame is deformed into a bellows shape to prevent transmission of an impact load to the rear of the vehicle (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 58-116268).

[0005]

In the conventional pillar structure described above, when an impact load is input from the front of the vehicle through the front side member 5, the impact load is transferred from the front half 1A to the rear half 1B of the front pillar 1. Since the power is transmitted as it is, even if the lean hoses panel 2'is provided, it is unavoidable that the pillar rear half portion 1B facing the vehicle body opening O is deformed to some extent as shown in FIG. 4 (b).

Therefore, the present invention solves such a problem by improving the rigidity of the pillar-required portion and absorbing the impact load other than the pillar-required portion, thereby ensuring the deformation of the pillar-required portion. An object of the present invention is to provide a vehicle pillar structure that can be prevented.

[0007]

In order to achieve the above object, in the first aspect of the present invention, the inner panel (11) and the outer panel (12) form a closed cross section space (S) and extend upward to form a closed cross section space. In a vehicle pillar (1) structure in which a lean hosement panel (2) is provided in (S), the lean hosement panel (2) is provided in a closed cross section space (S) on the side opposite to the load acting side. It is installed only in the portion (1B), and the pillar half portion (1A) on the load acting side is plastically deformable so as to absorb the impact energy of the acting load.

In the first aspect of the invention, when an impact load is applied, only the pillar half portion on the load application side is plastically deformed to absorb the impact energy. Therefore, the impact load does not act on the pillar half on the side opposite to the load acting side, and since the lean hose panel is provided in this pillar half, the original shape is maintained without being deformed. It When the pillar half on the side opposite to the load acting side faces the vehicle body opening, for example, deformation of the opening edge is prevented,
Smooth opening and closing of the doors is guaranteed.

Further, according to the second aspect of the present invention, the deformation start portion (first deformation start portion) of the inner panel (11) and the outer panel (12) of the pillar half portion (1A) in the load acting direction starts plastic deformation by the action of the load. 13, 14) are provided.

In the second aspect of the present invention, when an impact load is applied, the deformation of the pillar half on the load acting side is more reliably and quickly started to be deformed, and the impact energy is absorbed. As a result, the application of impact load to the pillar half on the side opposite to the load acting side can be more reliably avoided.

Further, in the third aspect of the invention, the deformation starting portion is the bead portion (13) or the bent portion (14) formed on a part of the inner panel (11) and the outer panel (12).

In the third aspect of the present invention, the deformation start portion is easily realized by the bead portion or the bent portion.

[0013]

1 is a horizontal cross section of a lower half of a front pillar 1 to which the present invention is applied, the cross section being taken along the line I--I of FIG. 3 showing the front side surface of a vehicle. is there. In FIG. 3, 3 is a fender panel and 4 is a front door.

In FIG. 1, the front pillar 1 extends vertically (in the direction perpendicular to the plane of the drawing) at an inward (upper side in the figure) position of the rear end of the fender panel 3 and is substantially flat with an outer panel 12 forming a deep container cross section. The inner panel 11 and the front and rear (left and right in the figure) side edge flanges 111, 121 and 112,
It has a closed cross-section structure joined at 122. The front panel of the outer panel 12 is joined to the rear ends of the inner panel 51 and the outer panel 52, which form the front side member 5 (see FIG. 3) having a rectangular closed cross-section structure, and the outer surface of the rear half of the outer panel 12. The front side edge of the front door 4 is connected to the front end of the front door 4 by a hinge 41. A fender panel 3 is located outside the front pillar 1.

A lean hosement panel 2 is located in the closed cross-sectional space S of the front pillar 1, and the lean hosement panel 2 has a substantially U-shaped cross section, and the rear half of the pillar in the closed cross-sectional space S (see FIG. It is provided only in the right half portion 1B. That is, the cross-section bottom portion 21 of the lean hosement panel 2 is joined to the plate surface of the outer panel 12, and the cross-section front side wall portion 22 crosses the closed cross section space S inwardly of the vehicle and is joined to an intermediate position of the inner panel 11 plate surface. There is. Further, the cross-section rear side wall portion 23 of the lean hosement panel 2 is bent along the rear end plate surface of the outer panel 12, and then the vehicle body opening O
Between the inner panel 11 and the outer panel 12 facing the rear side edge flanges 112, 122, and they are joined together.

A bead portion 13 recessed in a mountain-shaped cross section is formed in the up-down direction as a deformation starting portion on the front half plate surface of the inner panel 11 near the joint portion of the lean hosesment panel 2. The outer panel 12 is bent outward along the front corner of the joined lean hosement panel 2 near the boundary between the front half and the rear half.
4 is the deformation start part.

When an impact load from the front acts on the front pillar 1 having such a structure via the front side member 5, the front pillar 1 is changed from the shape shown in FIG. 2A to the shape shown in FIG. 2B. Transforms into a shape. That is, FIG. 2A is a schematic cross-sectional view before the impact load is applied and having the same cross-sectional shape as described in detail with reference to FIG. When an impact load is applied, the inner panel 11 starts plastic deformation from the bead portion 13 and the outer panel 12 starts from the bent portion 14, respectively, and as shown in FIG. 2B, the front half portion 1A of the front pillar 1 undergoes large plastic deformation. Then, the impact energy is absorbed by this deformation.

As a result, the rear half 1B of the front pillar 1
Almost no impact load is transmitted to, and the fact that the lean hosement panel 2 is provided in this part,
The cross section of the front pillar rear half 1B keeps the same shape as before the impact load is applied. As a result, deformation of the O-edge of the vehicle body opening is prevented, and since the posture of the hinge 41 does not change, smooth opening and closing of the front door 4 is guaranteed.

In the present embodiment, the example in which the present invention is applied to the front pillar has been described, but the present invention is not limited to the front pillar and can be applied to the rear pillar and the like. When applied to rear pillars, a lean hosement panel is provided only in the front half of the pillar that is opposite to the load acting direction, and the latter half of the pillar in the load acting direction is plastically deformed to absorb the impact energy of the applied load. It is possible.

Further, the deformation starting portion is not limited to the bead portion or the bent portion shown in this embodiment, and a portion forming a relatively large angle with respect to the load acting direction may be formed in a part of the panel.

[0021]

As described above, according to the pillar structure for a vehicle according to the present invention, the lean hose panel is provided only in the pillar half on the side opposite to the load acting side to improve the rigidity of the pillar half. While attempting, the impact energy is absorbed by plastically deforming the pillar half on the load acting side. As a result, even when an impact load is applied, the pillar half on the side opposite to the load application side is reliably prevented from being deformed.

[Brief description of drawings]

1 is a horizontal sectional view of a lower half portion of a front pillar according to an embodiment of the present invention, which is a sectional view taken along line I-I of FIG.

FIG. 2 is a schematic horizontal cross-sectional view of the lower half of the front pillar before and after applying a load according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a front side view of the vehicle.

FIG. 4 is a schematic horizontal sectional view of a lower half portion of a front pillar before and after a load is applied in a conventional example.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Front Pillar 1A Pillar Front Half 1B Pillar Second Half 11 Inner Panel 12 Outer Panel 13 Bead Part 14 Bent Part

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A vehicle in which a closed cross section space (S) is formed by an inner panel (11) and an outer panel (12) and extends upward, and a lean hosement panel (2) is provided in the closed cross section space (S). Pillar (1) structure of the above, wherein the lean hosement panel (2) has a pillar half portion (1B) on the side opposite to the load acting side in the closed cross section space (S).
A pillar structure for a vehicle, wherein the pillar half portion (1A) on the load acting side is plastically deformable so as to absorb the impact energy of the acting load. 2. Pillar half (1) in said load acting direction
The vehicle according to claim 1, wherein the inner panel (11) and the outer panel (12) of A) are provided with a deformation start portion (13, 14) that first starts plastic deformation by the action of a load. Pillar structure. 3. The deformation starting portion is formed by the inner panel (1).
The pillar structure for a vehicle according to claim 2, wherein the pillar portion is a bead portion (13) or a bent portion (14) formed on a part of the outer panel (1) and the outer panel (1).