Reinforcement structure for back door opening

Abstract

To provide a reinforcement structure which can prevent or reduce deformation of a back door opening caused by resonance without causing significant increase of the weight.SOLUTION: In a reinforcement structure of a back door opening, a rear header 110 includes a roof panel 20 and an outer reinforcement 31 and an inner panel 34, which are combined in a closed cross section shape below the roof panel 20, and is located above a back door opening 1. In the rear header 110, the outer reinforcement 31 includes a shelf part 312 and a cross section hat part 32 which is continuous with a front end of the shelf part 312. A back door hinge 210 is provided at a portion, which is joined to the shelf part 312 in an overlapping manner, of the roof panel 20. The reinforcement structure of the back door opening is provided with a reinforcement member 50 having at least a portion 51 which spans a space between a lower surface of the shelf part 312 located near the back door hinge 210 and a joint part 35 between the outer reinforcement 31 and the inner panel 34 located at the front relative to the lower surface and which closes a lower opening 322 of the cross section hat part 32.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 5

Description

[Technical field]

[0001] The present invention relates to a reinforcement structure for a back door opening in a vehicle. [Background technology]

[0002] The opening of the back door of a station wagon type vehicle is large in both vertical dimension and its upper part extends near the roof, which makes it difficult to ensure rigidity against deformation without increasing the weight.

[0003] For example, Patent Document 1 discloses a reinforcement structure for a back door opening in which a reinforcing member having an extension extending across a roof side, a rear pillar, and a rear header is provided.

[0004] However, simply providing a reinforcing member as disclosed in Patent Document 1 made it difficult to adequately address deformation caused by resonance that occurs during driving, such as when it is desired to make the tailgate opening larger when viewed from the rear of the vehicle, causing the rear header to sway in the vehicle width direction relative to the lower part of the tailgate opening. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0005] [Patent Document 1] JP 2019-147491 A Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0006] The present invention has been devised in light of the above-mentioned circumstances, and an object of the present invention is to provide a reinforcing structure that can prevent or reduce deformation of a back door opening due to resonance without significantly increasing weight. [Means for solving the problem]

[0007] In order to solve the above problems, the present invention employs the following technical means.

[0008] That is, the reinforcement structure for a tailgate opening provided by the present invention includes a roof panel, and an outer reinforcement and an inner panel combined in a closed cross-sectional shape below the roof panel, and in a rear header located above the tailgate opening, the outer reinforcement includes a shelf portion and a cross-sectional hat portion connected to the front end of the shelf portion, a tailgate hinge is provided at a portion of the roof panel which is overlapped and joined to the shelf portion, and a reinforcing member is provided which spans between an underside of the shelf portion located in the vicinity of the tailgate hinge and a joint of the outer reinforcement and the inner panel located forward of the underside, and has at least a portion which closes the lower opening of the cross-sectional hat portion. Effect of the Invention

[0009] When the rear header at the top of the back door opening deforms in such a way that it sways in the vehicle width direction due to resonance, the cross-sectional hat portion of the outer reinforcement behaves such that its lower opening expands and contracts. In the reinforcement structure for a back door opening configured as described above, a reinforcing member having a portion that closes the opening of the cross-sectional hat portion is provided, so that the behavior of the lower opening of the cross-sectional hat portion expanding and contracting can be prevented, which contributes to preventing or reducing deformation of the back door opening.

[0010] Moreover, the reinforcing member is connected to the underside of the shelf portion near the back door hinge. The portion where the back door hinge is provided is a portion where the roof panel and the outer reinforcement are overlapped, and where the outer reinforcement rises up toward the cross-sectional hat portion, and is therefore an extremely rigid portion, so that the reinforcing member can further enhance the effect of preventing the lower opening of the cross-sectional hat portion from expanding and contracting.

[0011] Other features and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the drawings. [Brief description of the drawings]

[0012] [Figure 1] 1 is a perspective view of a rear portion of a vehicle body to which the present invention is applied, viewed from diagonally rear right, with a back door not shown. [Diagram 2] FIG. 2 is a view corresponding to FIG. 1 in a state in which the roof panel is omitted. [Diagram 3] FIG. 3 is a diagram in which the outer reinforcement is further omitted from FIG. 2. [Figure 4] FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view taken along line IV-IV in FIG. [Diagram 5] 2 is a cross-sectional view taken along line VV in FIG. 1. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0013] Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. In these drawings, the front is indicated as fr, the rear is indicated as rr, the left in the vehicle width direction is indicated as lh, and the right in the vehicle width direction is indicated as rh.

[0014] Fig. 1 is a perspective view of the rear part of a vehicle body to which a reinforcement structure A1 for a back door opening according to the present invention is applied, viewed from the right rear, with the back door omitted. Fig. 2 is a view corresponding to Fig. 1, with the roof panel 20 omitted. Fig. 3 is a view from Fig. 2, with the outer reinforcement 31 further omitted. Fig. 4 is a cross-sectional view taken along line IV-IV in Fig. 1. Fig. 5 is a cross-sectional view taken along line VV in Fig. 1.

[0015] 1 to 3, the upper corner of the back door opening 1 is surrounded by a portion called a rear header 110 that extends in the vehicle width direction, and a portion called a rear pillar 120 that extends downward from an end of the rear header 110. Furthermore, the end of the rear header 110 is connected to a portion called a roof side 130 that extends forward. Therefore, the rear header 110, the rear pillar 120, and the roof side 130 are connected in a trifurcated shape near the upper corner of the back door opening 1.

[0016] The roof panel 20 constitutes the exterior design of the vehicle. The roof panel 20 is supported by a structural member 3 located inside the roof panel 20. The structural member 3 is generally formed by combining panels into a closed cross section.

[0017] As for the rear header 110, the structural member 3 is configured by combining an outer reinforcement 31 and an inner panel 34 in a closed cross section, as shown in Figures 4 and 5. More specifically, the outer reinforcement 31 has a rear vertical wall portion 311, a shelf portion 312 extending substantially horizontally from an upper end of the rear vertical wall portion 311, and a cross-sectional hat portion 32 connected to a front end of the shelf portion 312. A flange portion 313 is formed at the lower end of the rear vertical wall portion 311, and a front end 321 of the cross-sectional hat portion 32 is flange-shaped. The inner panel 34 is curved concavely upward in cross section, and flange portions 341, 342 are formed at its front and rear ends, respectively. The outer reinforcement 31 and the inner panel 34 are joined at their rear ends by overlapping and joining the flange portions 313, 342, for example by spot welding, and at their front ends by overlapping and joining the front end 321 of the cross-sectional hat portion 32 and the flange portion 341 of the inner panel 34, for example by spot welding.

[0018] 4 and 5, the roof panel 20 has a shape in cross section that follows the outer reinforcement 31. More specifically, the roof panel 20 has a flange portion 201 that is overlapped and joined to the joint portion 36 between the rear end of the outer reinforcement 31 and the rear end of the inner panel 34, a vertical wall portion 202 that follows the rear vertical wall portion 311 of the outer reinforcement 31, a shelf portion 203 (see FIG. 5) that extends approximately horizontally from the upper end of the vertical wall portion 202 and is overlapped and joined to the shelf portion 312 of the outer reinforcement 31, an upright wall portion 204 that extends upward from the front end of the shelf portion 203, and a roof appearance design portion 205 that extends forward from the upper end of the upright wall portion 204.

[0019] A back door hinge 210 is fixed to the overlapping joint between the shelf portion 203 of the roof panel 20 and the shelf portion 312 of the outer reinforcement 31 by welding or a fastening means (not shown) (see FIG. 4). In the embodiment shown in the figure, a reinforcing member 220 extending in a strip shape in the front-rear direction is provided in correspondence with the vehicle width direction position of the back door hinge 210, with its rear end joined to the underside of the shelf portion 312 of the outer reinforcement 31 by spot welding or the like, and its front end sandwiched and joined between a front end 321 of the outer reinforcement 31 and a flange portion 341 of the inner panel 34.

[0020] In the structural member 3 of the rear header 110 having the above-mentioned configuration, the outer reinforcement 31 is provided with a cross-sectional hat portion 32, thereby increasing the rigidity against loads in the vertical direction and maintaining the strength sufficient to withstand the weight of a tailgate (not shown) and the load acting when the tailgate is opened and closed.

[0021] As shown in Fig. 2, the outer reinforcement 31 constituting the structural member 3 at the upper corner portion of the back door opening 1 is formed in a trifurcated shape branching off from the rear header 110 and extending integrally along the rear pillar 120 and the roof side 130, and in this embodiment, the inner panel 34 is also formed in a trifurcated shape corresponding to the outer reinforcement 31 as shown in Fig. 3. The three ends of the trifurcated outer reinforcement 31 are appropriately connected to the outer panel 111 along the rear header 110, the outer panel 121 along the rear pillar 120, and the outer panel 131 along the roof side 130. Furthermore, the three ends of the trifurcated inner panel 34 are also appropriately connected to the inner panel 112 along the rear header 110, the inner panel 122 along the rear pillar 120, and the inner panel 132 along the roof side 130.

[0022] In the present invention, as shown in FIG. 5, a reinforcing member 50 is added, which has at least a portion 51 that bridges between the lower surface of the shelf portion 312 of the outer reinforcement 31 in the vicinity of the back door hinge 210 and the joint portion 35 of the outer reinforcement 31 and the inner panel 34 located forward of the lower surface. The portion 51 of the reinforcing member 50 closes the lower opening 322 of the cross-sectional hat portion 32 of the outer reinforcement 31, and is formed of a sheet metal member. The rear end of the reinforcing member 50 is joined to the lower surface of the shelf portion 312 of the outer reinforcement 31 by spot welding or the like. The front end of the reinforcing member 50 is joined by being sandwiched between the front end 321 of the outer reinforcement 31 and the flange portion 341 of the inner panel 34. In this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 4 and FIG. 5, the front-rear direction width of the lower opening 322 of the cross-sectional hat portion 32 of the outer reinforcement 31 increases toward the outside in the vehicle width direction. Correspondingly, the reinforcing member 50 has a generally sector shape whose front-rear width increases toward the outside in the vehicle width direction, as shown in Fig. 2. Note that the reinforcing member 50 only needs to have the above-mentioned portion 51, and may further have a portion (not shown) extending along the rear pillar 120 or a portion (not shown) extending along the roof side 130.

[0023] Next, the operation of the reinforcement structure A1 for a back door opening configured as described above will be described.

[0024] When the rear header 110 at the upper part of the back door opening 1 deforms in such a way that it sways in the vehicle width direction due to resonance during driving, the cross-sectional hat portion 32 of the outer reinforcement 31 behaves such that the front-to-rear width of its lower opening 322 expands and contracts. In the reinforcement structure A1 for a back door opening configured as described above, the reinforcing member 50 having the portion 51 that closes the lower opening 322 of the cross-sectional hat portion 32 of the outer reinforcement 31 is provided, so that the lower opening 322 of the cross-sectional hat portion 32 can be prevented from expanding and contracting, which makes it possible to prevent or reduce deformation such that the rear header 110 at the upper part of the back door opening 1 sways in the vehicle width direction.

[0025] In addition, the reinforcing member 50 is connected to the underside of the shelf portion 312 of the outer reinforcement 31 in the vicinity of the back door hinge 210. The portion where the back door hinge 210 is provided is a portion where the roof panel 20 and the outer reinforcement 31 are overlapped, and where the outer reinforcement 31 rises up to the cross-sectional hat portion 32, and is an extremely rigid portion, so that the effect of the reinforcing member 50 in preventing the lower opening 322 of the cross-sectional hat portion 32 from expanding and contracting can be further enhanced.

[0026] Of course, the scope of the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and all design modifications within the scope of the claims are included in the scope of the present invention. [Explanation of symbols]

[0027] A1 Reinforcement structure for back door opening 1 Back door opening 110 Rear header 111 Outer panel (rear header) 112 Inner panel (rear header) 120 Rear pillar 121 Outer panel (rear pillar) 122 Inner panel (rear pillar) 130 Roofside 131 Outer panel (roof side) 132 Inner panel (roof side) 20 Roof Panel 201 Flange part (rear end of roof panel) 202 Vertical wall section 203 Shelf 204 Standing wall section 205 Roof exterior design 210 Back door hinge 220 Reinforcement material (for back door hinge) 3 Structural members 31 Outer Reinforcement 311 Rear vertical wall 312 Shelf 313 Flange part (rear end of outer reinforcement) 32 Cross-section hat section 321 Front end (cross-section hat part) 322 Lower opening (cross-section hat part) 34 Inner Panel 341 Flange part (front end of inner panel) 342 Flange part (rear end of inner panel) 35 Joint (front end of outer reinforcement and front end of inner panel) 36 Joint (between rear end of outer reinforcement and rear end of inner panel) 50 Reinforcement member 51 parts

Claims

[Claim 1] A rear header including a roof panel, and an outer reinforcement and an inner panel combined in a closed cross-sectional shape below the roof panel, and located above a back door opening, The outer reinforcement includes a shelf portion and a cross-sectional hat portion connected to a front end of the shelf portion, A back door hinge is provided at a portion of the roof panel that is overlapped and joined to the shelf portion, and the back door hinge is reinforced by a first reinforcing member that is joined to the underside of the shelf portion in correspondence with the vehicle width direction position of the back door hinge, A reinforcement structure for a tailgate opening, characterized in that a second reinforcing member is provided, separate from the first reinforcing member, spanning between a portion of the underside of the shelf portion near the tailgate hinge and forward of the tailgate hinge and a joint of the outer reinforcement and the inner panel forward of the shelf portion, and having at least a portion that closes the lower opening of the cross-sectional hat portion, and positioned offset outward in the vehicle width direction from the tailgate hinge.

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