Front trunk with improved rearward movement of a bumper in the event of a vehicle collision

Abstract

The invention relates to a housing for a front trunk (1), comprising a frame for laterally delimiting a volume of the front trunk (1), wherein the frame has an end wall (3), wherein the end wall (3) has recesses which are closed with closing caps (5) in such a way that, by external action, the closing caps (5) can be pressed out of the end wall (3) into the volume of the front trunk (1) without damaging the remaining end wall (3).

Description

[0001] The invention relates to a housing for a front trunk according to the preamble of claim 1 and to a vehicle with such a housing.

[0002] While passenger cars with combustion engines for general road use often have an engine located under a hood, this space is at least partially available for other uses in purely battery-electric passenger cars. It is therefore possible to provide a storage compartment under the hood. Such a front-mounted storage compartment or front trunk is commonly referred to as a "frunk." The word "frunk" is a portmanteau of English, formed from the words "front" and "trunk." Various types and specific embodiments of such a "frunk" are known in the prior art.

[0003] The generic patent DE 10 2019 004 286 B3 discloses a front trunk compartment located in the front section of a motor vehicle. The front trunk compartment comprises a housing with a frame for laterally defining the volume of the trunk compartment. The frame has a front wall designed as a flap, oriented towards the front of the motor vehicle, which can be folded down for loading and unloading the trunk compartment and, in its folded-down position, covers structural elements of the front section located in front of the trunk compartment.

[0004] German patent application DE 10 2017 004 263 A1 discloses a motor vehicle with a front trunk located at the front of the vehicle. The front trunk has a housing comprising a frame for laterally defining the volume of the front trunk, the frame having a fixed end wall oriented towards the front of the vehicle, while the floor of the front trunk is height-adjustable to allow for ergonomic loading and unloading.

[0005] Finally, DE 10 2019 007 850 A1 describes a motor vehicle with a front trunk of the type discussed here, which has a housing with a frame for laterally defining the volume of the front trunk, the frame having a front wall oriented towards the front of the motor vehicle. The front trunk can be closed at the top by a lid which, in the event of a pedestrian impact with a hood located above the front trunk, is displaced into the housing, thereby reducing the forces acting on the pedestrian and thus also the risk of injury or the severity of the injury.

[0006] When installing such a frunk, the available installation space is often quite limited. Components frequently have to be positioned very close together and often overlap. In a frontal crash, specifically regarding the "leg impact" scenario, the vehicle's bumper should be able to shift rearward by 70 mm without internal collision. Typically, rearward-protruding tabs from the bumper, known as bumper flanges, can penetrate a front wall of the frunk housing. If the frunk wall is shifted rearward by 40 mm, the requirement for the "leg impact" scenario is met, but the storage volume of the front trunk, i.e., the frunk, is drastically reduced.

[0007] The object of the invention is therefore to provide an improved design of a front trunk that allows a required collision-free movement of, in particular, 70 mm of a vehicle's front bumper, without completely destroying the front trunk or making it smaller from the outset.

[0008] To solve the problem, a housing for a front trunk with the features of claim 1 and a vehicle according to claim 5 are proposed. Advantageous further developments and embodiments are the subject of the dependent claims.

[0009] A first aspect of the invention relates to a housing for a front trunk, comprising a frame for laterally delimiting a volume of the front trunk, wherein the frame has an end wall, the end wall having recesses which are closed with end caps in such a way that, by external force, the end caps can be pressed out of the end wall into the volume of the front trunk without damaging the rest of the end wall. The recesses serve to ensure that the bumper fins of a front bumper, i.e., the flanges projecting from it, do not damage the front trunk in the area of ​​its end wall when the front bumper moves backward, nor that the front trunk does not have to be arranged particularly far behind the front bumper in order to allow a correspondingly predetermined range of backward movement of the front bumper.These flanges are specifically mounting tabs for the bumper cover to attach it to the front of the vehicle.

[0010] Such movement of the front bumper occurs particularly during a frontal collision with an obstacle. A force is then generated at the front of the vehicle and thus at the front bumper. Since the bumper has finite stiffness, or rather its connecting elements have finite stiffness, the front bumper generally moves from the front of the vehicle towards the rear in such a scenario.

[0011] The rearward-protruding bumper fins pose a danger to the front trunk. If the front trunk is positioned too far forward on the front bumper with its front wall, and no separate structural features are provided, the rearward-moving bumper fins of the front bumper would cause practically irreparable damage to the front trunk's front wall.

[0012] However, by providing recesses in the front wall of the trunk precisely behind the bumper tabs, as in the invention, each bumper tab can move through a respective recess in the front wall. To avoid leaving openings in the front wall of the trunk generally open, the recesses are closed with caps.

[0013] The end caps are not permanently fixed to the bulkhead, but rather removable. A force exceeding a certain threshold is required to remove each end cap. If this force is reached, for example by one or more impacting bumper flaps, the affected end cap is forced into the volume of the front trunk.

[0014] The design of each end cap in relation to its recess determines whether it falls into the volume of the front trunk or merely moves inwards by a certain angle or distance. For example, the end caps may be attached to the bulkhead with a hinge, allowing them to simply flip open. Alternatively, they may be completely detached, falling to the floor of the front trunk. Other options are available to the expert.

[0015] This design offers the advantage that, in a collision, the vehicle's front bumper can move a predetermined distance backward without causing lasting damage to the front trunk, which is located directly behind the bumper. The end caps are easily replaceable without requiring the replacement of the bulkhead or any other component of the front trunk.

[0016] According to an advantageous embodiment, the recesses are square.

[0017] However, the cutouts are preferably designed to match the shape of the bumper flaps, so as not to be larger than necessary. It should be taken into account that in certain collision scenarios, the front bumper may twist due to movement, so it is advantageous to leave some clearance for the bumper flaps within the cutouts.

[0018] According to another advantageous embodiment, the closure caps are made of plastic.

[0019] According to a further advantageous embodiment, the end caps are attached to the front wall by means of snap fasteners, wherein the snap fasteners release themselves from the front wall when a limit tensile force is exceeded and release a respective end cap to fall into the volume of the front trunk.

[0020] Another aspect of the invention relates to a vehicle with a housing as described above and below, wherein the front wall is oriented towards the front of the vehicle and the recesses are arranged congruently behind bumper fins projecting from a front bumper towards the rear of the vehicle, so that a reversing movement of the bumper with the bumper fins caused by a vehicle collision with an obstacle leads, if the movement length is sufficient, to the ejection of at least one closure cap from the recess covered by it through a bumper fin arranged congruently in front of it.

[0021] According to another advantageous embodiment, the vehicle is a battery-electric vehicle.

[0022] Advantages and preferred further developments of the proposed vehicle result from an analogous and meaningful transfer of the above statements made in connection with the proposed housing.

[0023] Further advantages, features, and details will become apparent from the following description, in which – possibly with reference to the drawing – at least one embodiment is described in detail. Identical, similar, and / or functionally equivalent parts are identified by the same reference numerals.

[0024] They show: Fig. 1: A vehicle with a front trunk according to an embodiment of the invention. Fig. 2: A housing of a front trunk according to an embodiment of the invention. Fig. 3: The housing of the front trunk of the Fig. 2 in a state following a vehicle collision.

[0025] The representations in the figures are schematic and not to scale.

[0026] Fig. Figure 1 shows a vehicle with a front trunk 1. The vehicle is a battery-electric vehicle; the battery modules are arranged in a floor area, specifically between the front and rear axles of the vehicle. By using wheel hub motors, the area under the hood is freed up for other uses. Thus, a front trunk 1 can be provided, which is accessible through the opening of the front hood on the vehicle.

[0027] Fig. Figure 2 shows a housing for the front trunk 1 of the Fig. 1 in detail. The front trunk 1 is positioned close behind a bumper 9. Flanges, the bumper tabs, extend rearward from the bumper 9. These are designed as tabs and serve to attach further components. As the bumper 9 moves toward the front trunk 1, the bumper tabs encounter end caps 5, which cover recesses in a front wall 3 of the front trunk 1. The end caps 5 are made of plastic and are attached to the front wall 1 by means of snap fasteners 7. This attachment of the end caps 5 is designed to remain in place during normal vehicle operation, but can be released when the bumper tabs of the bumper 9 are pushed through from the front. The snap fasteners 7 then move away from the front wall, and the respective end cap 5, which is ejected, falls or folds into the interior of the front trunk 1.

[0028] Fig. Figure 3 shows such a case, in which the bumper 9 moves from the front of the vehicle towards the rear of the vehicle and towards the front trunk 1. In this case, the locking cap 5 has already been pushed out of the recess in the front panel 3. The bumper 9 can therefore travel a correspondingly long distance towards the front trunk 1 without causing irreparable damage. Replacing or reinserting a locking cap 5 is relatively simple. Fig. 2 and Fig.Figure 3 schematically shows only a single tab on the rear of the bumper 9, drawn in a cross-section from a side view. In practice, a bumper 9 typically has several such tabs projecting to the rear. Accordingly, several recesses are provided along a transverse axis of the vehicle on an end wall 3 of the front trunk 1, i.e., arranged horizontally, which can be closed with corresponding end caps 5.

[0029] Although the invention has been further illustrated and explained in detail by means of preferred embodiments, the invention is not limited by the disclosed examples, and other variations can be derived from them by a person skilled in the art without departing from the scope of protection of the invention. It is therefore clear that a multitude of possible variations exist. It is also clear that the embodiments mentioned as examples are truly only examples and are not to be understood in any way as limiting, for example, the scope of protection, the possible applications, or the configuration of the invention.Rather, the preceding description and the description of the figures enable the person skilled in the art to implement the exemplary embodiments in concrete terms, whereby the person skilled in the art, with knowledge of the disclosed inventive concept, can make various changes, for example with regard to the function or the arrangement of individual elements mentioned in an exemplary embodiment, without leaving the scope of protection defined by the claims and their legal equivalents, such as further explanations in the description.

Claims

[1] Housing for a front trunk (1), comprising a frame for laterally defining a volume of the front trunk (1), wherein the frame has an end wall (3), characterized by that the front wall (3) has recesses which are closed with closure caps (5) in such a way that the closure caps (5) can be pressed out of the front wall (3) individually or together into the volume of the front trunk compartment (1) by external influence without damaging the remaining front wall (3). [2] Housing according to claim 1, wherein the recesses are square. [3] Housing according to one of the preceding claims, wherein the closure caps (5) are made of plastic. [4] Housing according to one of the preceding claims, wherein the closure caps (5) are fastened to the end wall (3) by snap fasteners (7), wherein the snap fasteners (7) are released from the end wall (3) when a tensile force limit is exceeded and release a respective closure cap (5) for movement into the volume of the front trunk (1). [5] Vehicle with a housing according to one of the preceding claims 1 to 4, wherein the end wall (3) is directed towards a vehicle front and the recesses are arranged congruently behind bumper vanes projecting from a front bumper (9) in the direction of the vehicle rear, so that a backward movement of the bumper (9) with the bumper vanes caused by a vehicle collision with an obstacle, with a sufficient movement length to eject at least one closure cap (5) from the recess covered by it, through a bumper vane arranged congruently in front of it. [6] A vehicle according to claim 5, wherein the vehicle is a battery electric vehicle.

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