INTERFACE FOR JOINING A CENTRAL CONSOLE WITH A MOTOR VEHICLE DASHBOARD

Abstract

INTERFACE FOR JOINING A CENTRAL CONSOLE WITH A DASHBOARD OF A MOTOR VEHICLE The present invention relates to a front central console (8) for a motor vehicle (2), comprising:- an upper control panel, intended to extend towards the front and towards the top of the vehicle, and to be connected to a dashboard of said vehicle; and- a fixing frame (14) for fixing to the dashboard, fixed to a front end of the upper control panel; noteworthy in that the fixing frame comprises a front face (14.1) with at least one cavity (20) comprising at least one upper inclined surface (20.2) configured to slide along an edge (22.1) and / or an upper face (22.2) of a protrusion (22) of the dashboard in order to compensate for a downward bending of the upper control panel during its assembly to said dashboard. (Figure to be published with the abstract: Figure 2)

Description

Title of the invention: INTERFACE FOR JOINING A CENTRAL CONSOLE WITH A MOTOR VEHICLE DASHBOARD Technical field

[0001] The present invention relates to the field of motor vehicles, more particularly the field of the passenger compartment of motor vehicles. Prior art

[0002] One of the current trends in the design of some modern motor vehicles is the use of upwardly inclined central consoles, creating a cockpit effect in the passenger compartment appreciated by motorists.

[0003] However, this type of central console generally has the disadvantage of presenting technical constraints when they are mounted in the passenger compartment. For example, during the assembly of motor vehicles, assembly technicians, who are conventionally located outside the vehicles without accessing them, are often faced with reduced visibility of the fixing areas and assembly ergonomics which are not favorable. All the more so since central consoles increasingly include electronic equipment which has a significant weight causing the flexion of a cantilevered front end of said central consoles prior to their fixing, which risks further complicating their assembly to the dashboard for assembly technicians.

[0004] Published patent document JP 2013237286 A discloses a front center console of a motor vehicle, extending longitudinally forward and upward to join an upper portion of the dashboard of said vehicle which forms a substantially horizontal base for receiving one end of the center console.

[0005] However, the architecture and layout of the central console proposed by the document do not make it possible to effectively overcome the drawbacks cited above, thus the solution disclosed by the document has room for improvement in order to optimize the assembly ergonomics. Statement of the invention

[0006] The present invention aims to overcome at least one of the drawbacks of the aforementioned state of the art. More particularly, the invention aims to propose a simple, efficient and economical solution making it possible to improve the ergonomics of mounting the front central consoles with the dashboards of motor vehicles.

[0007] For this purpose, the invention relates to a front central console for a vehicle au- automobile, including: - an upper control panel, intended to extend towards the front and towards the top of the motor vehicle, and to be connected to a dashboard of said motor vehicle; and - a dashboard mounting frame, fixed to a front end of the upper control panel; remarkable in that the fixing frame comprises a front face with at least one cavity intended to engage with a protrusion of the dashboard and provided with at least one upper inclined surface configured to slide along an edge and / or an upper face of the protrusion so as to compensate for downward bending of the upper control panel during assembly of said upper control panel to said dashboard.

[0008] Advantageously, the downward bending of the upper control panel corresponds to a gravitational bending (caused by gravity), and at least one of the edge and the upper face of the protrusion is configured to cooperate with the upper inclined surface of the corresponding cavity, in order to effectively compensate for the downward bending of the upper control panel.

[0009] According to one embodiment, the at least one inclined surface has a height of at least 4 mm.

[0010] Advantageously, the height of the at least one inclined surface is presented in a direction vertical to the motor vehicle or in a plane parallel to said at least one surface.

[0011] According to one embodiment, the at least one inclined surface extends transversely over at least 50% of a transverse extent of the corresponding cavity.

[0012] According to one embodiment, the at least one inclined surface is formed by an excess thickness of an upper wall of the corresponding cavity.

[0013] According to one embodiment, the upper wall of each of the at least one cavity has on a lower face of said upper wall a central longitudinal recess.

[0014] According to one embodiment, each of the at least one cavity has a rectangular section.

[0015] According to one embodiment, the at least one cavity comprises at least two cavities arranged transversely on either side of a central longitudinal axis of the upper control panel.

[0016] According to one embodiment, the at least one cavity is formed by walls extending longitudinally from a plate of the fixing frame.

[0017] The invention also relates to a motor vehicle comprising: - a dashboard; and - a front central console connecting to the dashboard; remarkable in that the front central console is according to the invention.

[0018] According to one embodiment, the dashboard comprises at least one protrusion engaging with the at least one cavity and comprising an upper face comprising a step close to the edge of said at least one protrusion, said step forming a circular arc profile having a radius of curvature of between 50 and 100 mm.

[0019] The measures of the invention are advantageous in that the sliding of the protrusion along the upper inclined surface makes it possible to effectively compensate for vertical dispersions between the front central console and the dashboard which may be caused by the downward bending of the upper control panel. This makes it possible to ensure increased ease and ergonomics of assembly.

[0020] Indeed, an assembly technician, who conventionally does not access the passenger compartment of the motor vehicle to mount the front central console, is able, thanks to the present invention, to ensure precise and rapid assembly. The present invention is also economical in that it does not present any additional manufacturing costs, compared to known solutions of the state of the art. Brief description of the drawings

[0021] [Fig. 1] represents a perspective view of a passenger compartment of a motor vehicle comprising a front central console according to the invention, fixed to a dashboard of said motor vehicle;

[0022] [Fig.2] illustrates a longitudinal sectional view crossing the front central console at right angles to a cavity of a frame for fixing to the dashboard, engaging with a protrusion extending from said dashboard;

[0023] [Fig.3] represents a perspective view of a plate of the fixing frame comprising a front face provided with two cavities intended to engage with corresponding protrusions of the dashboard;

[0024] [Fig.4] represents an enlarged perspective view of one of the two cavities of [Fig.3]. Detailed description

[0025] [Fig.l] represents a perspective view of a passenger compartment 4 of a motor vehicle 2 comprising a front central console 8 according to the invention.

[0026] The motor vehicle 2 comprises a dashboard 6 and a central armrest 12 at a rear portion of the front central console 8. The vehicle 2 also comprises an upper control panel 16 arranged downstream of a hand rest 10, said panel 16 allows the occupants of the vehicle to control, among other things, an infotainment device (not shown) which can be arranged at the dashboard 6. In this regard, the upper control panel 16 may include a touch-sensitive area.

[0027] Preferably, the hand rest 10 is arranged downstream of the central armrest 12 in an intermediate position between the dashboard 6 and said central armrest 12, so as to receive the palm of a hand of an occupant of the motor vehicle 2 when the central armrest 12 receives an elbow of the occupant.

[0028] The front central console 8 comprises a longitudinal V-shaped section comprising an upper part 16 (corresponding to the upper control panel) and a lower part 11 which are both directly fixed to the dashboard 6 at two separate fixing points 16.1 and 11.1.

[0029] The upper control panel 16 extends towards the front and upwards of the motor vehicle up to the connection of the latter to the dashboard 6. In this respect, the front central console 8 comprises a fixing frame (not visible in [Fig.l]) fixed to a front end 16.1 of the upper control panel 16.

[0030] The upper control panel 16 preferably comprises several electronic devices, including in particular an induction smartphone charger 18 arranged as close as possible to a front end 16.1 of said panel 16. Such an arrangement of the charger, also close to the dashboard 6, makes it possible to improve the ergonomics of use of said charger 18 by the occupant of the motor vehicle 2. However, these electronic devices cause the increase in the total mass of the upper control panel 16, as well as the increase in the downward bending at the front end 16.1 prior to its attachment to the dashboard 6, said bending results in a maximum deflection measured digitally at the end 16.1 of around approximately 5 mm (±1 mm). The present invention makes it possible to prevent said deflection from disturbing the ergonomics of mounting the front central console 8 in the motor vehicle 2.

[0031] The design of the fixing frame as well as the connection of the latter to the dashboard 6 will be detailed in depth in this description.

[0032] [Fig.2] illustrates a longitudinal sectional view crossing the front central console 8 in line with a cavity 20 arranged on a front face 14.1 of the frame 14 for attachment to the dashboard 6.

[0033] It can be seen that the cavity 20 engages with a protrusion 22 which extends from the dashboard 6. This is a sectional view taken during assembly during a manual insertion movement of the front central console 8 allowing the protrusion 22 to be inserted towards a bottom 20.1 of the corresponding cavity 20.

[0034] In order to effectively compensate for disparities along the vertical direction Z which are caused by the downward arrow at the front end of the upper control panel, the cavity 20 comprises an upper inclined surface 20.2 configured to slide along an edge 22.1 and / or an upper face 22.2 of the protrusion 22.

[0035] Preferably, the upper inclined surface 20.2 is formed by an excess thickness of an upper wall 20.3 of the corresponding cavity 20, said surface 20.2 comprising an inclination relative to the longitudinal axis X which is between 30° and 50°, and is more preferably equal to 45°, said surface 20.2 has a height “a” equal to at least 4 mm, and at most 10 mm.

[0036] In this configuration, disparities exceeding 4 mm can be compensated for when mounting the front central console, firstly by sliding the edge 22.1, followed by sliding the upper face 22.2 of the protrusion 22 along said inclined surface 20.2.

[0037] Advantageously, and in order to optimize the sliding of the protrusion 22 along the upper inclined surface 20.2, so as to further facilitate the assembly of the frame 14 to the dashboard, the upper face 22.2 comprises a step 22.3 close to the edge 22.1 or at most 10 mm away from said edge 22.1, said step 22.3 forming a profile in the shape of an arc of a circle having a radius of curvature of between 50 and 100 mm.

[0038] In this configuration, the step 22.3 corresponds to a padding of the upper face 22.1 of the protrusion 22, making it possible to progressively smooth the insertion of said protrusion 22 into the cavity 20, and this, along a width “b” of the upper inclined surface face 20.2 corresponding to approximately 4 mm (±1 mm).

[0039] Preferably, the cavity 20 comprises a depth “c” measured in the longitudinal direction from the front face 14.1 to the bottom 20.1, equal to approximately 40 mm (±10 mm).

[0040] [Fig. 3] represents a perspective view of a plate 19 of the frame 14 comprising the front face 14.1 provided with two cavities 20 engaging with the corresponding protrusions of the dashboard.

[0041] Preferably, the plate 19 is fixed to the dashboard by means of two ears 19.1 screwed respectively by a fixing screw 24 to a fixing zone of said dashboard.

[0042] The engagement of the protrusions in the cavities 20 thus corresponds to an indexing of the frame on the dashboard, before the final fixing.

[0043] Preferably, the frame 14 comprises two cavities 20 which are transversely spaced from each other by a distance of between 20 and 60 mm.

[0044] The two cavities 20 are advantageously symmetrical with respect to the central longitudinal axis of the frame 14. Said cavities 20 are formed with the frame 14, and the latter is preferably made of plastic material by injection.

[0045] Each cavity 20 comprises a width “d” equal to approximately 17 mm and a height "e" equals approximately 15 mm. As such, each of the corresponding protrusions includes a width of approximately 15 mm. The term "approximately" corresponds to ±20% of the nominal value.

[0046] The inclined surface 20.2 extends transversely over at least half of the width “d” of the cavity 20, and preferably extends over the entirety of said width “d”.

[0047] [Fig.4] represents an enlarged perspective view of one of the two cavities 20 of [Fig.3].

[0048] It can be seen that the cavity 20 has a rectangular section with the upper inclined surface 20.2 comprising, at right angles to a lower face 20.5 of the cavity 20, a central longitudinal recess 20.4 extending longitudinally over at least 20 mm of the upper wall 20.3 of the corresponding cavity 20. This central longitudinal recess 20.4 advantageously makes it possible to promote the cooling of the plastic material after injection.

[0049] Advantageously, the present invention makes it possible to compensate for a downward deflection equal to approximately 8 mm of the upper control panel, while ensuring a rigid mounting of the frame 14 on the dashboard 6, giving it resistance to stresses which may exceed 40 DaN in the vertical direction and 25 DaN in the transverse direction.

Claims

Claims

1. Front console (8) for motor vehicle (2), comprising: - an upper control panel (16), intended to extend forward and upward of the motor vehicle (2), and to be connected to a dashboard (6) of said motor vehicle (2); and - a fixing bracket (14) to the dashboard (6), fixed to a front end (16.1) of the upper control panel (16); characterized in that the fixing bracket (14) comprises a front face (14.1) with at least one cavity (20) intended to engage with a protrusion (22) of the dashboard (6) and provided with at least one upper inclined surface (20.2) configured to slide along an edge (22.1) and / or an upper face (22.2) of the protrusion (22) so as to compensate for a downward flexure of the upper control panel (16) during an assembly of said upper control panel (16) to said dashboard (6).

2. Front center console (8) according to claim 1, wherein the at least one inclined surface (20.2) has a height (a) of at least 4 mm.

3. Front center console (8) according to one of claims 1 and 2, wherein the at least one inclined surface (20.2) extends transversely over at least 50% of a transverse extent (d) of the corresponding cavity (20).

4. Front central console (8) according to one of claims 1 to 3, in which the at least one inclined surface (20.2) is formed by an excess thickness of an upper wall (20.3) of the corresponding cavity (20).

5. Front central console (8) according to claim 4, wherein the upper wall (20.3) of each of the at least one cavity (20) has on a lower face (20.5) of said upper wall (20.3) a central longitudinal recess (20.4).

6. Front center console (8) according to one of claims 1 to 5, wherein each of the at least one cavity (20) has a rectangular section.

7. Front central console (8) according to one of claims 1 to 6, in which the at least one cavity (20) comprises at least two cavities (20) arranged transversely on either side of a central longitudinal axis (X) of the upper control panel (16).

8. Front central console (8) according to one of claims 1 to 7, in which the at least one cavity (20) is formed by walls extending longitudinally from a plate (19) of the fixing frame (14).

9. Motor vehicle (2) comprising: - a dashboard (6); and - a front central console (8) connecting to the dashboard (6); characterized in that the front central console (8) is according to one of claims 1 to 8.

10. Motor vehicle (2) according to claim 9, wherein the dashboard (6) comprises at least one protrusion (22) engaging with the at least one cavity (20) and comprising an upper face (22.2) comprising a step (22.3) close to the edge (22.1) of said at least one protrusion (22), said step (22.3) forming an arcuate profile having a radius of curvature of between 50 and 100 mm.

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