Eureka AIR delivers breakthrough ideas for toughest innovation challenges, trusted by R&D personnel around the world.

Structural reinforcement system for an automotive vehicle

a technology for structural reinforcement and automotive vehicles, applied in the direction of roofs, vehicular safety arrangements, pedestrian/occupant safety arrangements, etc., can solve the problems of lancia construction lack of cross-vehicle structural support anywhere near the belt line, essentially impractical to achieve with conventional body structures, and vehicle stiffness to be reduced, so as to improve cross-vehicle resistance to side impact collisions, reduce parts, and torsional stiffness sufficient

Inactive Publication Date: 2005-03-03
SPECIALTY VEHICLE ACQUISITION
View PDF92 Cites 11 Cited by
  • Summary
  • Abstract
  • Description
  • Claims
  • Application Information

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

"The present invention is a structural reinforcement system for automotive vehicles that improves cross-vehicle resistance to side impact collisions and provides torsional stiffness sufficient for use with a large four door vehicle, such as one having a convertible roof. The system acts as a seat frame attachment thereby reducing parts and saving redundant weight as a multifunctional device. The same structure that adds stiffness also retains rear passenger devices such as airbags, entertainment systems and the like. The invention is advantageous over conventional constructions and is particularly useful for convertible roof vehicles."

Problems solved by technology

This issue is especially important for convertible vehicles where the removal of the traditional fixed roof structure further decreases vehicle stiffness to the point where four door convertible roof vehicles have been essentially impractical to achieve with conventional body structure.
Furthermore, the Lancia construction appears to lack any cross-vehicle structural support anywhere near the belt-line that would significantly resist side impacts or belt-line torsion, especially for a modern unibody construction vehicle.

Method used

the structure of the environmentally friendly knitted fabric provided by the present invention; figure 2 Flow chart of the yarn wrapping machine for environmentally friendly knitted fabrics and storage devices; image 3 Is the parameter map of the yarn covering machine
View more

Image

Smart Image Click on the blue labels to locate them in the text.
Viewing Examples
Smart Image
  • Structural reinforcement system for an automotive vehicle
  • Structural reinforcement system for an automotive vehicle
  • Structural reinforcement system for an automotive vehicle

Examples

Experimental program
Comparison scheme
Effect test

Embodiment Construction

[0026] An automotive vehicle according to the present invention has a body, a convertible roof and a structural reinforcement system 19. In a first preferred embodiment of vehicle 21, shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the convertible roof is a retractable hard-top roof including a front hard-top section 23, a middle hard-top section 25 and a rear hard-top section 27. The hard-top sections are interconnected by a linkage assembly (not shown) driven by an automatic actuator 29, such as an electric motor or hydraulic cylinder. The convertible roof is movable from a raised and closed position above front passenger seats 31 and rear passenger seats 33 in a passenger compartment 35, as shown in FIG. 2, to a retracted and open position within a roof storage compartment 37, as shown in FIG. 1. Roof storage compartment 32 is a trunk with a dual opening decklid, or a bootwall, forward and separated from a trunk, covered by an automatically openable tonneau cover. Such a hard-top roof and linkage assemb...

the structure of the environmentally friendly knitted fabric provided by the present invention; figure 2 Flow chart of the yarn wrapping machine for environmentally friendly knitted fabrics and storage devices; image 3 Is the parameter map of the yarn covering machine
Login to View More

PUM

No PUM Login to View More

Abstract

A structural reinforcement system is provided for an automotive vehicle. In another aspect of the present invention, an upper structural beam is employed which extends in a cross-vehicle direction adjacent to a vehicle belt-line. A further aspect of the present invention employs an upper structural beam with a recessed central portion. Yet another aspect of the present invention uses a structural reinforcement system in a convertible roof vehicle.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS [0001] This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 60 / 499,669, filed on Sep. 3, 2003. The disclosure of the above application is incorporated by reference herein.BACKGROUND AND SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION [0002] The present invention generally relates to automotive vehicle structure and more particularly to a cross-vehicle structural reinforcement for an automotive vehicle. [0003] Cross-vehicle body stiffness within automotive vehicles is important in reducing torsional twist and vibration of the body, but also improves the ride and handling of the vehicle. This issue is especially important for convertible vehicles where the removal of the traditional fixed roof structure further decreases vehicle stiffness to the point where four door convertible roof vehicles have been essentially impractical to achieve with conventional body structure. Furthermore, U.S. Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard (“FMVSS”) 214 relates to...

Claims

the structure of the environmentally friendly knitted fabric provided by the present invention; figure 2 Flow chart of the yarn wrapping machine for environmentally friendly knitted fabrics and storage devices; image 3 Is the parameter map of the yarn covering machine
Login to View More

Application Information

Patent Timeline
no application Login to View More
Patent Type & Authority Applications(United States)
IPC IPC(8): B60J7/04B60R21/16B60R21/213B62D21/15B62D25/00B62D25/20
CPCB60J7/04B60R2021/23153B62D25/2036B62D25/00B62D25/025B62D21/157
Inventor ROBERTSON, JAMES E.STORC, ROBERT G.
Owner SPECIALTY VEHICLE ACQUISITION
Who we serve
  • R&D Engineer
  • R&D Manager
  • IP Professional
Why Eureka
  • Industry Leading Data Capabilities
  • Powerful AI technology
  • Patent DNA Extraction
Social media
Eureka Blog
Learn More
PatSnap group products