Splash guard

Abstract

This splash guard is provided adjacent, in a vehicle width direction, to a disc rotor that rotates about an axle, and has a main section (2) provided with a fastening hole (4) for mounting onto a suspension mechanism and an outer peripheral section (3) on the outer side of the main section (2) in the axle radial direction. A bulging section (5) that bulges on the disc rotor side is provided in a portion of the main section (2), and the outer peripheral section (3) on the outer side of the bulging section (5) in the axle radial direction is bent toward the side opposite from the disc rotor.

Description

Splash guard

[0001] The present invention relates to a splash guard, and more particularly to a splash guard provided adjacent to a disc rotor that rotates around an axle in the vehicle width direction.

[0002] Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2003-144992 discloses a splash guard whose outer peripheral edge is bent toward the disk rotor.

[0003] Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2002-276698

[0004] Because the splash guard is adjacent to the disc rotor, it is susceptible to the heat of the disc rotor. If the outer peripheral edge of the splash guard is bent toward the disc rotor along its entire circumference, thermal expansion may cause the outer peripheral edge of the splash guard to further displace toward the disc rotor, resulting in interference between the two. This tendency is particularly pronounced when a bulge that bulges toward the disc rotor is present on the main body, radially inward of the outer peripheral edge in the axle direction. Furthermore, this tendency is even greater when the splash guard is made of a metal (alloy) containing aluminum. The present invention aims to provide a splash guard that can avoid interference with the disc rotor.

[0005] One aspect of the present invention is a splash guard that is arranged adjacent to the disc rotor, which rotates around the axle, in the vehicle width direction and has a main body portion with fastening holes for attachment to a suspension mechanism, and an outer periphery of the main body portion radially outward of the axle, in which a bulge portion that bulges out toward the disc rotor is provided on part of the main body portion, and the outer periphery of the bulge portion radially outward of the axle is bent toward the opposite side to the disc rotor.

[0006] According to one aspect of the present invention, interference with the disk rotor can be avoided. The objects and advantages of the present invention will be realized and attained by means of the elements and combinations set forth in the appended claims. It is to be understood that both the foregoing general description and the following detailed description are exemplary and explanatory only and are not intended to be limiting of the invention as claimed.

[0007] 1 is a front view showing one embodiment of the splash guard; FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of the splash guard of FIG. 1 taken along line AA; FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view of the splash guard of FIG. 1 taken along line BB; and FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view of the splash guard of FIG. 1 taken along line CC.

[0008] The splash guard 1 of the embodiment shown in FIG. 1 is applied to the rear left wheel of a vehicle as an example. As in Patent Document 1, the splash guard 1 is provided adjacent to the disc rotor (hereinafter, "rotor") on the inner side in the vehicle width direction. The rotor, of course, rotates around the axle together with the wheel. The front side of FIG. 1 is the outer side in the vehicle width direction, and the back side is the inner side in the vehicle width direction. Therefore, the rotor is located adjacent to the front side of the splash guard 1 in FIG. 1. As shown in FIG. 1, the splash guard 1 is positioned so that the top of the figure is the upper side and the bottom is the lower side. The splash guard 1 is a circular, tray-like, aluminum alloy metal plate formed by press-molding. The portion that interferes with the disc brake caliper is removed to form a roughly fan-shaped splash guard. The splash guard 1 is attached to a knuckle, which is part of the vehicle's suspension mechanism. The central portion of the disk that interferes with the knuckle (or, more precisely, the hub or axle) is also removed. Four fastening holes 4 are formed near the center of the disk of the splash guard 1 for attaching it to the knuckle. For example, the splash guard 1 is attached to the knuckle by inserting male threads of bolts into these fastening holes 4.

[0009] The four fastening holes 4 are located at approximately the same positions in the direction perpendicular to the plane of the page in FIG. 1 . The central portion of the disk where the fastening holes 4 are located and its surrounding area are defined as a main body 2, and the radially outer portion of the main body 2 (radially outward in the axle direction) is defined as an outer peripheral portion 3. As shown in FIG. 2 , a bulge 5 that bulges out toward the rotor is provided in the lower portion (under the vehicle) of the main body 2. This bulge 5 is formed by pressing a portion of the lower portion of the disk-shaped main body 2 toward the rotor into a rectangular shape. This bulge 5 is formed to avoid interference with a knuckle located on the inner side of the splash guard 1 in the vehicle width direction. Specifically, a portion of the knuckle bulges outward in the vehicle width direction to attach a ball joint that connects the knuckle to the lower arm to the knuckle. To avoid interference with this bulging portion, the lower portion of the main body 2 of the splash guard 1 bulges outward in the vehicle width direction, i.e., toward the rotor. As is clear from FIG. 1, the two fastening holes 4 below the vehicle are arranged on both sides of the bulge 5 in the circumferential direction of the axle, at the radially inner portion of the bulge 5 in the axle direction.

[0010] In this embodiment, the main body 2 on which the bulge 5 is formed, i.e., the lower outer peripheral portion 3 of the main body 2, is bent away from the rotor. The bending angle is set, for example, so that the cross section of the outer peripheral portion 3 is approximately 45° with respect to the vehicle width direction. As will be described later, the upper portion of the splash guard 1 needs to protrude toward the rotor to prevent splashes (muddy water) from entering between the splash guard 1 and the rotor. However, the lower portion of the splash guard 1 does not particularly need such a function. As described above, if the bulge 5 that bulges toward the rotor is formed on the lower portion of the main body 2, the lower portion of the main body 2 becomes hot due to heat from the rotor. When heated, a metal splash guard 1 exhibits thermal behavior that tends to further bend in the bending direction. Therefore, if the lower outer peripheral portion 3 on which the bulge 5 is formed is bent toward the rotor, the lower outer peripheral portion 3 may be strongly affected by the heat of the bulge 5 and displace toward the rotor, potentially interfering with the rotor. This tendency is even greater for splash guards 1 made of an aluminum alloy, which has high thermal conductivity. In contrast, by bending the outer periphery 3 at the bottom of the main body 2 where the bulge 5 is formed away from the rotor, the outer periphery 3 is displaced in a direction away from the rotor, thereby making it possible to actively avoid interference with the rotor. Also, by bending the outer periphery 3 at the bottom of the splash guard 1 away from the rotor, there is an effect that splashes that get in between the rotor and the splash guard 1 can easily fall off.

[0011] In contrast, the edge (upper edge) 3a of the upper outer periphery 3 of the splash guard 1 is bent toward the rotor at the outer edge of the stepped flange, as shown in Figure 2. Specifically, the edge 3a of the upper outer periphery 3 of the splash guard 1 is bent outward in the vehicle width direction so as to be perpendicular to the main body 2. The splash guard 1 is designed to prevent splashes thrown up by the wheels (tires) from entering, for example, a parking brake device disposed radially inside the rotor, and therefore it is necessary to reduce the gap with the rotor, at least at the upper part. Therefore, the edge 3a of the upper outer periphery 3 of the splash guard 1 is bent toward the rotor, thereby reducing the gap between the tip of the bent edge and the rotor.

[0012] However, since the edge 3 a of the outer periphery 3 at the upper part of the splash guard 1 is bent toward the rotor, when the splash guard 1 is subjected to heat from the rotor, the edge 3 a of the upper outer periphery 3 is displaced toward the rotor. Here, as shown in Figure 1 , if the region at the upper part of the splash guard 1 where the edge 3 a of the outer periphery 3 is bent toward the rotor is defined as a second region 8, and the region at the lower part of the splash guard 1 where the outer periphery 3 is bent away from the rotor is defined as a first region 7, the circumferential length of the outer edge of the first region 7 is set to be longer than the circumferential length of the outer edge of the second region 8. Since the displacement due to thermal deformation is greater toward the outer periphery 3, by making the circumferential length of the outer edge of the first region 7 longer than the circumferential length of the outer edge of the second region 8, the displacement of the entire outer edge of the splash guard 1 in the direction away from the rotor is greater, and as a result, the displacement of the edge 3 a of the upper outer periphery 3 of the splash guard 1, i.e., the second region 8, toward the rotor can be kept small. In particular, because the fastening holes 4 are arranged on both sides of the bulge 5 in the circumferential direction of the axle, when the splash guard 1 is attached to the knuckle, thermal deformation of the bulge 5, i.e., displacement toward the rotor, is suppressed, and displacement of the lower outer peripheral portion 3 of the bulge 5 toward the inside in the vehicle width direction, i.e., away from the rotor, is emphasized. By emphasizing the displacement of the first region 7, i.e., the lower outer peripheral portion 3, relative to the second region 8, i.e., the upper outer peripheral portion 3, whose edge 3a is bent toward the rotor, it is possible to further reduce the displacement of the upper outer peripheral portion 3 toward the rotor.

[0013] 3 shows a cross section taken along the line CC in FIG. 1 , i.e., a cross section of the first region 7 closest to the second region 8, in which the outer periphery 3 is also bent away from the rotor. As can be seen by comparing this cross section with the edge 3 a of the outer periphery 3 of the second region 8 in FIG. 1 , the edge 3 a of the outer periphery 3 bent toward the rotor side in the second region 8 is not continuous in the circumferential direction with the first region 7, i.e., the outer periphery 3 bent toward the opposite side from the rotor. Specifically, the edge 3 a of the outer periphery 3 of the second region 8 bent toward the rotor side is removed within the first region 7, and therefore is not continuous in the circumferential direction with the first region 7. By making the portions of the first region 7 and the second region 8 where the bending directions are different discontinuous in this way, it is possible to prevent deformation of both regions when the splash guard 1 receives heat from the rotor.In particular, by preventing displacement of the second region 8 closer to the first region 7 toward the opposite side of the rotor, the edge 3a of the outer periphery 3 at the upper part does not separate from the rotor, and as a result, the gap between the edge 3a of the outer periphery 3 at the upper part and the rotor can be maintained small.

[0014] Furthermore, in this embodiment, the main body 2 is provided with an air guide passage 6 through which air flows between the rotor and the main body 2 from the front to the rear of the vehicle. As shown in FIG. 4 , the air guide passage 6 is formed by bending the main body 2 into a channel cross-sectional shape at the boundary between the first region 7 and the second region 8 of the main body 2, thereby separating the bulge 5 from the second region 8. More specifically, the air guide passage 6 is bent in a crank course shape so that air enters from the front to the rear of the vehicle, then flows upward, i.e., toward the second region 8, and then exits rearward. The splash guard 1 is heated by the rotor primarily when the vehicle is moving, and at the same time, traveling wind (airflow) acts on the vehicle. Therefore, by taking in and cooling the traveling wind at the boundary between the first region 7 and the second region 8 of the main body 2 of the splash guard 1, the transmission of heat received by the bulge 5 to the second region 8 can be reduced. Furthermore, by forming the air guide passage 6 so that the air flows upward, the temperature of the upper part, particularly the outer peripheral part 3 in the second region 8, can be effectively reduced.

[0015] In this embodiment, a thermal deformation analysis has shown that these configurations can reduce displacement due to thermal deformation of the outer circumferential portion 3 of the second region 8, particularly displacement of the edge 3 a of the outer circumferential portion 3 of the second region 8 that is bent toward the rotor, toward the rotor. On the other hand, the displacement due to thermal deformation is large in the lower part of the bulge 5, i.e., the outer circumferential portion 3 located radially outward of the bulge 5 in the axle direction, but this large displacement away from the rotor does not cause any problems, and the displacement of the outer circumferential portion 3 at the bottom of the splash guard 1 in the direction away from the rotor can effectively reduce the displacement of the edge 3 a of the outer circumferential portion 3 of the second region 8 that is bent toward the rotor. In this way, the ability to reduce the displacement of the second region 8, i.e., the edge 3a bent toward the rotor of the upper outer periphery 3, toward the rotor when thermal deformation occurs means that the change in the gap between the edge 3a and the rotor can be reduced, making it possible to bring the edge 3a closer to the rotor from the cold setting state, and effectively suppressing the penetration of splash from above regardless of whether or not the splash guard 1 is thermally deformed.

[0016] Although the splash guard 1 according to the embodiment has been described above, the present invention is not limited to the configuration described in the above embodiment, and various modifications are possible within the scope of the present invention. For example, in the above embodiment, the edge 3a of the upper outer peripheral portion 3, which is bent toward the rotor, is removed from the lower outer peripheral portion 3, thereby making the edge 3a of the upper outer peripheral portion 3 and the lower outer peripheral portion 3 discontinuous. However, the edge 3a of the upper outer peripheral portion 3 and the edge of the lower outer peripheral portion 3 can also be made discontinuous by, for example, providing a notch between them. Furthermore, in the above embodiment, only the edge 3a of the upper outer peripheral portion 3 of the splash guard 1 is bent toward the rotor. However, as can be inferred from the above, it is acceptable for the entire upper outer peripheral portion 3 of the splash guard 1 to be bent toward the rotor, as long as the gap between the upper portion of the splash guard 1 and the rotor is small. Furthermore, in the above embodiment, the bulge 5 is provided in the lower part (lower side of the vehicle) of the splash guard 1, but the location where the bulge 5 is formed does not have to be at least in the upper part (upper side of the vehicle) of the splash guard 1, and by bending the outer peripheral part 3 on the outer side of the axle radially outward of the bulge 5 away from the rotor, it is possible to reduce the displacement of the edge 3a of the upper outer peripheral part 3 that is bent toward the rotor side toward the rotor. Furthermore, the material of the splash guard 1 does not have to be an aluminum alloy, but the effects of the present invention are more pronounced when it is made of a metal that contains aluminum, which has a high thermal conductivity.

[0017] As described above, the splash guard 1 of this embodiment is provided adjacent to the rotor, which rotates around the axle, in the vehicle width direction, and has a main body 2 with fastening holes 4 for attachment to a knuckle (suspension mechanism), and an outer periphery 3 on the radially outer side of the main body 2 in the axle direction, and a bulge 5 that bulges out toward the rotor is provided in part of the main body 2, and the outer periphery 3 on the radially outer side of the axle of the bulge 5 is bent away from the rotor, thereby reducing the displacement of the outer periphery 3 (edge ​​3a) on the upper side of the vehicle that is bent toward the rotor toward the rotor, thereby avoiding interference with the rotor. The above effect is particularly noticeable when the splash guard 1 is made of a metal containing aluminum.

[0018] Furthermore, by disposing the bulge 5 on the vehicle lower side of the main body 2 and bending the outer peripheral portion 3 (edge ​​3 a) on the vehicle upper side toward the rotor, it is possible to effectively reduce displacement of the outer peripheral portion 3 (edge ​​3 a) on the vehicle upper side that is bent toward the rotor, thereby effectively suppressing the intrusion of splash from above. Furthermore, the outer edge of the outer peripheral portion 3 is arc-shaped, and if the portion of the outer peripheral portion 3 that is bent away from the rotor is defined as a first region 7 and the portion of the outer peripheral portion 3 (edge ​​3 a) that is bent toward the disc rotor is defined as a second region 8, by making the circumferential length of the outer edge of the first region 7 longer than the circumferential length of the outer edge of the second region 8, it is possible to further effectively reduce displacement of the outer peripheral portion 3 (edge ​​3 a) on the vehicle upper side that is bent toward the rotor, toward the rotor.

[0019] Furthermore, by making the outer peripheral portion 3 (edge ​​3a) bent toward the rotor side discontinuous in the circumferential direction with the outer peripheral portion 3 bent away from the rotor, it is possible to prevent deformation of the two when the splash guard 1 is subjected to heat from the rotor, and it is possible to maintain a small gap between the outer peripheral portion 3 (edge ​​3a) at the upper part and the rotor. Furthermore, by arranging fastening holes 4 on both sides of the bulge 5 in the circumferential direction of the axle, it is possible to increase the displacement of the lower outer peripheral portion 3 in the direction away from the rotor, thereby reducing the displacement of the upper outer peripheral portion 3 (edge ​​3a) toward the rotor.

[0020] Furthermore, the air guide 6, which allows air to flow between the rotor and the main body 2 from the front to the rear of the vehicle, is formed by bending the main body 2, which allows the splash guard 1 to be cooled effectively, and in particular reduces the propagation of heat received by the bulge 5 upward, i.e., to the outer periphery 3, where the edge 3a is bent toward the rotor.

[0021] REFERENCE SIGNS LIST 1 splash guard, 2 main body, 3 outer periphery, 4 fastening hole, 5 bulging portion, 6 air guide passage, 7 first region, 8 second region

Claims

1. A splash guard having a main body portion provided adjacent to a disc rotor that rotates around an axle in the vehicle width direction and having fastening holes for attachment to a suspension mechanism, and an outer circumference portion on the outer side of the main body portion in the axle radial direction, wherein a bulge portion that bulges out toward the disc rotor is provided on a part of the main body portion, and the outer circumference portion on the outer side of the bulge portion in the axle radial direction is bent toward the opposite side from the disc rotor, A splash guard having a first region in which the outer circumference is bent toward the opposite side of the disc rotor, and a second region in which the outer circumference is bent toward the disc rotor, wherein the circumferential length of the outer edge of the first region is greater than the circumferential length of the outer edge of the second region.

2. The splash guard according to claim 1, characterized in that the outer circumference bent toward the disc rotor is not continuous in the circumferential direction with the outer circumference bent toward the opposite side of the disc rotor.

3. A splash guard having a main body portion provided adjacent to a disc rotor that rotates around an axle in the vehicle width direction and having fastening holes for attachment to a suspension mechanism, and an outer circumference portion on the outer side of the main body portion in the axle radial direction, wherein a bulge portion that bulges out toward the disc rotor is provided on a part of the main body portion, and the outer circumference portion on the outer side of the bulge portion in the axle radial direction is bent toward the opposite side from the disc rotor, A splash guard characterized in that the fastening holes are arranged on both sides of the bulging portion in the circumferential direction of the axle.

4. The splash guard according to claim 3, characterized in that the fastening holes are located on the inner side of the bulging portion in the axle diameter direction.

5. The bulging portion is located on the lower side of the vehicle of the main body. The splash guard according to claim 1 or 3, characterized in that the outer circumference on the upper side of the vehicle is bent toward the disc rotor side.

6. The splash guard according to claim 1 or 3, characterized in that the main body portion has an air guide passage formed by bending the main body portion, which allows air to flow from the front of the vehicle to the rear of the vehicle between it and the disc rotor.

7. The splash guard according to claim 6, characterized in that the air guide is arranged to separate the outer circumference portion, which is bent toward the disc rotor side on the upper side of the vehicle, from the bulging portion.

8. The splash guard according to claim 1 or 3, characterized in that it is made of a metal containing aluminum.