Cowl louver assembly

Abstract

To increase the absorption amount of shock energy by a cowl louver assembly with a simple structure so as to accomplish a protection for a pedestrian.SOLUTION: A cowl louver assembly 20 includes: a cowl louver 21 which is placed between a front windshield 13 and a hood 14, and which extends in the vehicle widthwise direction; and tabular shield plates 40 which are provided at respective side end portions of the cowl louver 21, and which respectively extend in the downward direction. Each shield plate 40 includes: a base portion 41 attached to the cowl louver 21; and a lower portion 42 that is thinner than the base portion 41, and further a groove 43 extends in the vehicle back-and-forth direction between the base portion 41 and the lower portion 42.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 4

Description

[Technical field]

[0001] The present invention relates to a structure of a cowl louver assembly that includes a cowl louver disposed between a front windshield glass of a vehicle and a hood at the front of the vehicle, and a shielding plate attached to both ends of the cowl louver. [Background technology]

[0002] A shield plate that blocks air flow is provided at the side end of the cowl louver, but when a collision load from a pedestrian is input from above the cowl louver during a vehicle collision, the shield plate may hinder the downward movement of the cowl louver, resulting in a decrease in pedestrian protection performance. Therefore, a structure has been proposed in which the shield plate is attached by hooking it onto a locking portion provided on the cowl body, and when a downward force is applied to the cowl louver during a collision, the hooking portion is released from the locking portion to allow the cowl louver to continue to deform, absorbing impact energy and providing pedestrian protection (see, for example, Patent Document 1). [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0003] [Patent Document 1] JP 2020-97354 A Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0004] The structure described in Patent Document 1 is complex, and there is room for improvement in terms of simplifying the configuration and absorbing impact energy.

[0005] SUMMARY OF THE PRESENT EMBODIMENT An object of the present invention is to increase the amount of impact energy absorbed by a cowl louver assembly with a simple structure, thereby providing pedestrian protection. [Means for solving the problem]

[0006] The cowl louver assembly of the present invention is a cowl louver assembly that is disposed between a front windshield glass of a vehicle and a hood that covers an upper surface of a front compartment at the front of the vehicle, and includes a cowl louver that extends in a vehicle width direction, and plate-shaped shielding plates that are provided at both side ends of the cowl louver and extend downward from the cowl louver to shield air flow, each of the shielding plates being made of an elastic material and each of which includes a base that is attached to the cowl louver and a lower portion that is thinner than the base, and between the base and the lower portion The groove is inclined downwards on the front side of the vehicle and runs in the fore-and-aft direction. Each of them has Each of the lower portions has a plurality of notches extending upward from the lower end to the vicinity of each of the grooves; It is characterized by:

[0007] With this configuration, when a vehicle collides and the collision load from a pedestrian is input from above the cowl louver assembly, the lower part of the shielding plate bends at the strength reduced portion, thereby increasing the amount of impact energy absorbed without stopping the deformation of the cowl louver during the collision, thereby providing pedestrian protection with a simple configuration. This also allows the lower portion to bend at each section separated by the notches when a downward force is applied to the cowl louver assembly due to a collision, thereby making it possible to absorb a greater amount of impact energy.

[0012] In the cowl louver assembly of the present invention, the shielding plate may be made of rubber.

[0013] As a result, when a downward force is applied to the cowl louver assembly during a collision, the amount of impact energy absorbed can be increased without stopping the deformation of the cowl louvers during the collision. Effect of the Invention

[0014] The present invention can increase the amount of impact energy absorbed by the cowl louver assembly with a simple configuration, thereby providing protection for pedestrians. [Brief description of the drawings]

[0015] [Figure 1] 1 is a perspective view of a vehicle to which a cowl louver assembly according to an embodiment is attached. [Diagram 2] FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing a cowl louver assembly according to the embodiment. [Diagram 3]3 is a cross-sectional view of the center portion in the vehicle width direction of the cowl louver assembly of the embodiment, taken along the cross section AA shown in FIG. 2. [Figure 4] 3 is a cross-sectional view of the side end portion of the cowl louver assembly on the left side of the vehicle according to the embodiment, taken along cross section BB shown in FIG. 2. [Diagram 5] 1 is a perspective view of a shielding plate attached to a side end portion on the left side of a vehicle of a cowl louver assembly according to an embodiment, as viewed from below the vehicle. [Figure 6] FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view of the shielding plate shown in FIG. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0016] The cowl louver assembly 20 of the embodiment will be described below. The arrows FR, UP, and RH shown in each drawing indicate the forward direction (traveling direction), upward direction, and rightward direction of the vehicle 10, respectively. The opposite directions of the arrows FR, UP, and RH indicate the rearward direction, downward direction, and leftward direction of the vehicle. In the following description, when the directions of front-rear, left-right, and up-down are simply used, they refer to front-rear in the front-rear direction of the vehicle, left-right in the left-right direction of the vehicle (vehicle width direction), and up-down in the up-down direction of the vehicle, unless otherwise specified.

[0017] As shown in FIG. 1, the cowl louver assembly 20 is a member disposed between a front windshield glass 13 of a vehicle 10 and a hood 14 that covers the upper surface of a front compartment 12 at the front of the vehicle, and extends in the vehicle width direction.

[0018] As shown in FIG. 2, the cowl louver assembly 20 is composed of a cowl louver 21 and a shielding plate 40 provided on each of both side ends of the cowl louver 21.

[0019] 2 and 3, the cowl louver 21 includes a groove-shaped portion 22, a hood receiving portion 24, a protruding portion 25, and a rear flat plate portion 26, and is a component to be assembled on the cowl 15 attached to the rear of the front compartment 12. Here, the cowl 15 is a longitudinal member with a downwardly convex hat-shaped cross section, including a main body portion 16 extending in the vehicle width direction in a downwardly convex groove shape, a front flange 17 extending forward from the main body portion 16, and a rear flange 18 extending rearward from the main body portion 16. End plates 19 are attached to both ends of the cowl 15 in the vehicle width direction.

[0020] The groove-shaped portion 22 is a downwardly convex groove-shaped portion that is assembled onto the front flange 17 of the cowl 15. A louver 23 that takes in air is provided on a vertical plate portion on the vehicle rear side of the groove-shaped portion 22 in the center in the vehicle width direction.

[0021] The hood receiving portion 24 protrudes toward the front of the vehicle from the upper end of the groove-shaped portion 22 on the vehicle front side, and receives the hood 14 via a packing 60 attached to the upper portion.

[0022] The rear flat plate portion 26 is a flat portion to which the front windshield glass 13 is connected, and the protrusion portion 25 is a portion that protrudes upward and is connected to the front of the rear flat plate portion 26 and the rear of the groove-shaped portion 22. The upper end of the protrusion portion 25 protrudes to approximately the same height as the upper end of the hood 14.

[0023] As shown in Fig. 2, the rear end edge of the rear flat plate portion 26 of the cowl louver 21 curves toward the rear of the vehicle as it moves outward in the vehicle width direction, and the width in the vehicle front-rear direction increases, and a shielding plate 40 is attached to each of the left and right side end portions of the cowl louver 21. As shown in Fig. 4, the shielding plate 40 is attached to the left side end portion, and an end plate 19 of the cowl 15 is disposed on the outer side of the shielding plate 40 in the vehicle width direction. The shielding plate 40 will be described in detail later with reference to Figs. 5 and 6. Note that the right shielding plate 40 is symmetrical to the left shielding plate 40, and therefore a description thereof will be omitted.

[0024] The cowl louver assembly 20 and the cowl 15 form an air introduction passage that allows air that has flowed into the vehicle rear of the grooved portion 22 through the louvers 23 shown in Figures 2 and 3 to flow into the vehicle interior 11 (see Figure 1). The air that has flowed into the vehicle rear of the grooved portion 22 from the louvers 23 flows into the vehicle interior 11 shown in Figure 1 through an air intake port (not shown) through a space formed by the cowl louvers 21 and the cowl 15. At this time, the end plate 19 of the cowl 15 and the shielding plate 40 of the cowl louver assembly 20 shown in Figure 4 prevent the air that has flowed into the space formed by the cowl louvers 21 and the cowl 15 from flowing out to the outside in the vehicle width direction.

[0025] 5, the shielding plate 40 is a rubber plate-like member attached to the underside of the rear flat plate portion 26 of the cowl louver 21. The shielding plate 40 includes a base portion 41, a lower portion 42, and a groove 43.

[0026] Three pedestals 31-33 are provided on the lower surface of the rear flat plate portion 26 of the cowl louver 21. In addition, three mounting flanges 49-51 are provided on the upper end portion of the base 41, protruding toward the inside in the vehicle width direction. The mounting flanges 49-51 are fixed to the pedestals 31-33 of the rear flat plate portion 26, respectively, by inserting clips 34-36 into the three mounting flanges 49-51 of the base 41 and welding them. The base 41 extends downward from the rear flat plate portion 26.

[0027] As shown in FIG. 6, the lower portion 42 has a portion of thickness t2 thinner than the base portion 41 having thickness t1, and a groove 43 is provided between the base portion 41 and the lower portion 42 on the inner side in the vehicle width direction. The groove 43 may have a semicircular cross section. As shown in FIG. 5, the groove 43 extends in the vehicle front-rear direction, inclining downward toward the front side of the vehicle. Therefore, the height of the base portion 41 on the front side of the vehicle is higher than the height of the base portion 41 on the rear side of the vehicle. Conversely, the height of the thinner lower portion 42 on the rear side of the vehicle is higher than the height of the front side of the vehicle. For this reason, the rear side of the vehicle of the shielding plate 40 is more easily deformed than the front side of the vehicle.

[0028] 5, the lower portion 42 is provided with U-shaped notches 47, 48 extending upward from the lower end. This divides the lower portion of the lower portion 42 into three portions: a front lower portion 44, a middle lower portion 45, and a rear lower portion 46. The upper portion of the lower portion 42 is connected in the front-rear direction, and is divided from the base portion 41 by a groove 43.

[0029] When the vehicle 10 to which the cowl louver assembly 20 configured as above is attached collides and a collision load from a pedestrian is input from above the cowl louver assembly 20, for example, when the left end of the cowl louver assembly 20 deforms downward and contacts the cowl 15, the thinner lower part 42 bends and deforms at the groove 43 that constitutes the strength-reduced portion, and the shielding plate 40 does not restrict the downward movement of the left end of the cowl louver 21. This makes it possible to increase the amount of impact energy absorbed without stopping the deformation of the cowl louver 21 during a collision, thereby achieving pedestrian protection with a simple configuration.

[0030] In addition, the grooves 43 are inclined so that the front of the vehicle approaches each lower end, making the rear side of the shielding plate 40 more easily deformed than the front side of the vehicle. Therefore, when a collision load from a pedestrian is input from above the cowl louver assembly 20, the lower part 42 gradually bends and deforms from the rear side of the vehicle, smoothly absorbing the impact energy and protecting the pedestrian.

[0031] Furthermore, in the embodiment of the cowl louver assembly 20, the lower portion of the lower part 42 is divided into three parts: the front lower part 44, the middle lower part 45, and the rear lower part 46. Therefore, when a collision load from a pedestrian is input from above the cowl louver assembly 20, each part divided by the notches 47, 48 can bend separately, thereby enabling the absorption of greater impact energy.

[0032] In the cowl louver assembly 20 of the embodiment described above, the shielding plate 40 is described as being made of rubber, but it is not limited to this as long as it is an elastic material that is elastically deformable, and it may be made of resin or the like. Also, while the reduced strength portion is formed by the semicircular groove 43 provided on the inside in the vehicle width direction, it is not limited to this, and the reduced strength portion may be formed by a groove with a square cross section, or may be formed by a triangular notch. Also, the groove 43 may be provided on both sides of the shielding plate 40 to form the reduced strength portion. [Explanation of symbols]

[0033] 10 vehicle, 11 passenger compartment, 12 front compartment, 13 front window glass, 14 hood, 15 cowl, 16 main body, 17 front flange, 18 rear flange, 19 end plate, 20 cowl louver assembly, 21 cowl louver, 22 grooved portion, 23 louver, 24 hood receiving portion, 25 protrusion portion, 26 rear flat plate portion, 31-33 base, 34-36 clip, 40 shielding plate, 41 base, 42 lower portion, 43 groove, 44 front lower portion, 45 middle lower portion, 46 rear lower portion, 47, 48 notch, 49-51 mounting flange, 60 packing.

Claims

1. a cowl louver disposed between a front windshield glass of the vehicle and a hood covering an upper surface of a front compartment at the front of the vehicle and extending in a vehicle width direction; A cowl louver assembly including: a plate-shaped shielding plate provided at each of both side ends of the cowl louver, each extending downward from the cowl louver to shield an air flow, Each of the shielding plates is made of an elastic material, and includes a base portion attached to the cowl louver and a lower portion having a thickness thinner than that of the base portion. Each of the shielding plates includes a groove between the base portion and the lower portion in a vehicle longitudinal direction, the groove being inclined downward toward the front side of the vehicle, Each of the lower portions has a plurality of notches extending upward from the lower end to the vicinity of each of the grooves; A cowl louver assembly comprising:

2. 2. The cowl louver assembly of claim 1, The shielding plate is made of rubber; A cowl louver assembly comprising:

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