JP4283262B2 - Front body structure of the vehicle - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention configures a duct into which outside air is introduced by an outer member, an inner member, and a lower member of a front fender portion, and connects an intake opening provided at a front portion of the duct to an intake passage of an engine. The present invention relates to a front body structure of a vehicle in which an air-conditioning outside air inlet provided at a rear portion is connected to a front cowl.

The rear end of the tubular section defined by the outer panel of the front fender, the dash panel, and the wheel house is connected to one end of the front cowl that extends in the left-right direction of the vehicle body along the lower end of the windshield. Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. H10-228867 discloses that a vehicle body is introduced into a vehicle compartment via a cylindrical portion and a front cowl.
JP 2000-43533 A

  By the way, when the cylindrical portion formed in the front fender is connected to the intake system of the engine via the intake passage and the intake air is supplied to the engine via the intake passage, the intake noise of the engine is generated from the cylindrical portion. There is a possibility that the noise level in the vehicle interior will increase due to transmission through the duct (fender cross section) to the vehicle interior via the front cowl or front door.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and an object of the present invention is to prevent intake noise from being transmitted from a cylindrical portion formed in a front fender to a vehicle interior via a front cowl.

  In order to achieve the above object, according to the invention described in claim 1, a duct into which outside air is introduced by the outer member, the inner member, and the lower member of the front fender portion is configured and provided at the front portion of the duct. A vehicle body structure in which the air intake opening connected to the intake passage of the engine is connected to the front cowl, and the air intake opening of the duct and the air A front vehicle body structure for a vehicle is proposed in which the inlets are partitioned by a silencer made of closed-cell foamed rubber.

  According to the invention described in claim 2, in addition to the configuration of claim 1, the silencer is inserted between the outer member and the inner member from below, and the silencer and the lower member are attached to the inner member. A vehicle front body structure characterized by being fastened together is proposed.

  The fender panel 12 of the embodiment corresponds to the outer member of the present invention, the fender upper 13 and the fender garnish 14 of the embodiment correspond to the inner member of the present invention, and the inner fender 15 of the embodiment corresponds to the lower member of the present invention. Corresponding to

  According to the configuration of claim 1, since the middle portion of the duct constituted by the outer member, the inner member and the lower member of the front fender portion is partitioned by the silencer constituted by the foamed rubber of closed cells, the outside air introduced into the duct is The intake noise generated when the air is supplied from the intake opening to the intake passage of the engine is blocked by the silencer, and the intake noise can be prevented from entering the vehicle interior from the outside air inlet for air conditioning through the front cowl. In addition, a silencer made of foamed rubber with closed cells is placed inside the front fender, so the silencer absorbs rainwater and does not cause rust, and the silencer is crushed when the vehicle collides, making the collision energy effective. Can be absorbed into.

  According to the configuration of claim 2, when the silencer is inserted between the outer member and the inner member from below, the silencer is slightly compressed and held in the duct, so that the operator holds the lower member with one hand, Thus, the silencer and the lower member can be fastened together with the inner member, and the number of parts and the number of assembling steps can be reduced as compared with the case where the silencer and the lower member are separately fixed.

  DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Embodiments of the present invention will be described below based on examples of the present invention shown in the accompanying drawings.

  1 to 6 show an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 1 is a plan view of a front part of a vehicle body, FIG. 2 is a view taken in the direction of the arrow in FIG. 1, and FIG. 4 is a sectional view taken along line 4-4 of FIG. 3, FIG. 5 is a perspective view of the silencer and the mounting bracket, and FIG. 6 is an explanatory view of the operation when the silencer is mounted.

  As shown in FIGS. 1 to 4, the front fender portion 11 at the front of the vehicle body of the automobile has a metal fender panel 12 positioned on the outer side in the vehicle width direction, and is positioned on the inner side in the vehicle width direction than the fender panel 12. A fender upper 13 made of metal and having a box structure, a fender garnish 14 made of synthetic resin that connects the upper end of the fender panel 12 and the inner surface in the vehicle width direction of the fender upper 13, and the outer end in the vehicle width direction of the fender panel 12 and the fender upper 13 A duct 16 (see FIGS. 1 and 6) extending in the longitudinal direction of the vehicle body is configured by the synthetic resin-made inner fender 15 connecting the lower surfaces of the inner and outer fenders. The fender panel 12 constitutes the outer member of the present invention, the fender upper 13 and the fender garnish 14 constitute the inner member of the present invention, and the inner fender 15 constitutes the lower member of the present invention.

  A part of the cooling air taken in from the front grille 18 at the front end of the vehicle body to cool the engine E disposed in the engine room 17 is supplied to the front end of the duct 16 through the inside of the front bumper 19. An intake opening 15a (see FIGS. 1 and 2) is formed in the inner fender 15 of the front fender portion 11 on the left side of the vehicle body, and the internal space in the front portion of the duct 16 passes through the intake opening 15a and the intake passage 20 to engine. E is supplied to the intake system of E. Further, the interior space of the front cowl 22 extending in the vehicle width direction along the lower edge of the windshield 21 and the rear end of the duct 16 form an air conditioning outside air inlet 13a (FIGS. 1 to 3) provided in the fender upper 13. Communicate through. The duct 16 is partitioned in the front-rear direction by a silencer 23 that is disposed at an intermediate portion in the front-rear direction, that is, at an intermediate position between the intake opening 15 a and the air-conditioning outside air inlet 13 a.

  As apparent from FIG. 5, the silencer 23 is made of a closed-cell foam rubber having elasticity and is formed in a generally triangular thick plate shape, and its first side 23 a abuts against the inner surface in the vehicle width direction of the fender panel 12, The lower part of the second side 23b contacts the outer surface in the vehicle width direction of the fender upper 13, and the third side 23c faces the upper surface of the inner fender 15 with a slight gap. At this time, the third side 23 c of the silencer 23 is fixed via the mounting bracket 24 in order to position the silencer 23 in the duct 16. The duct 16 is not completely partitioned by the silencer 23, and a gap is formed along the second side 23 b and the third side 23 c of the silencer 23 through which the air for air conditioning supplied to the front cowl 22 can pass.

  The mounting bracket 24 is formed by press-molding a metal plate, and integrally includes a U-shaped sandwiching portion 24a and an L-shaped mounting portion 24b connected to the center of the sandwiching portion 24a. By inserting the bolt 25 into the bolt holes 24c and 24c of the clamping part 24a and the bolt hole 23d of the silencer 23 and fastening with the nut 26 with the third side 23c of the silencer 23 held in the front-rear direction by the clamping part 24a. The silencer 23 and the mounting bracket 24 are integrated.

  Subsequently, as shown in FIG. 6, when the silencer 23 is inserted from below into the duct 16 before the inner fender 15 is attached, the attachment portion 24 b of the attachment bracket 24 comes into contact with the lower surface of the fender upper 13. In this state, after positioning the inner fender 15 under the fender panel 12 and the fender upper 13, the bolt holes 15b of the inner fender 15, the bolt holes 24d of the mounting portion 24b of the mounting bracket 24, and the bolt holes 13b of the fender upper 13 are provided. By screwing the inserted bolt 27 into a weld nut 28 provided inside the fender upper 13, the mounting bracket 24 and the inner fender 15 can be fastened together with the fender upper 13. By adopting this co-fastening structure, the number of parts and the number of assembly steps can be reduced.

  As described above, by inserting the silencer 23 between the fender panel 12 and the fender upper 13 with a predetermined crushing margin, the silencer 23 after insertion is held in the duct 16 so as not to fall even if the hand is released. The operator can hold the inner fender 15 with one hand, and the silencer 23 and the inner fender 15 can be fastened to the fender upper 13 with the other hand, which greatly improves the workability of the assembly work. In addition, since the silencer 23 made of closed-cell foamed rubber is disposed inside the front fender portion 11, the silencer 23 can be crushed at the time of a vehicle collision to effectively absorb the collision energy. At this time, by appropriately setting the thickness of the silencer 23 and the crushing allowance at the time of insertion, it is possible to achieve both the workability of the assembly work described above and the effect of absorbing the collision energy.

  The intermediate portion of the duct 16 constituted by the fender panel 12, the fender upper 13, the fender garnish 14 and the inner fender 15 of the front fender portion 11 is partitioned by the silencer 23 made of closed-cell foamed rubber. Intake noise generated when the introduced outside air is supplied from the intake opening 15a to the intake passage 20 of the engine E is blocked by the silencer 23, and the intake noise enters the vehicle interior from the air-conditioning outside air inlet 13a through the front cowl 22. Intrusion can be suppressed. Moreover, since the silencer 23 is made of closed-cell foamed rubber, it does not absorb moisture, and there is no risk of rusting metal members such as the fender panel 12 and the fender upper 13 that are in contact therewith.

  Although the embodiments of the present invention have been described above, various design changes can be made without departing from the scope of the present invention.

Plan view of the front of the car body 2 direction view of FIG. 2 is an enlarged view of the main part Sectional view taken along line 4-4 in FIG. Perspective view of silencer and mounting bracket Action diagram when installing silencer

Explanation of symbols

11 Front fender 12 Fender panel (outer member)
13 Fender upper (inner member)
13a Outside air inlet for air conditioning 14 Fender garnish (inner member)
15 Inner fender (lower member)
15a Intake opening 16 Duct 20 Intake passage 22 Front cowl 23 Silencer

Claims (2)

A duct (16) into which outside air is introduced is constituted by the outer member (12), the inner members (13, 14) and the lower member (15) of the front fender portion (11), and is provided at the front portion of the duct (16). The air intake opening (15a) is connected to the intake passage (20) of the engine (E), and the air conditioning outside air introduction port (13a) provided at the rear of the duct (16) is connected to the front cowl (22). The front body structure of
A vehicle body structure for a front part of a vehicle, characterized in that the intake opening (15a) of the duct (16) and the outside air introduction port (13a) for air conditioning are partitioned by a silencer (23) made of foamed rubber of closed cells. The silencer (23) is inserted between the outer member (12) and the inner member (13, 14) from below, and the silencer (23) and the lower member (15) are inserted into the inner member (13, 14). The front body structure of a vehicle according to claim 1, wherein the front body structure is fastened together.

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