Corrugated Front Corner Linking Plate for Vehicle Crash Rigidity
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing vehicle structures that link the front side member and upper member using multiple components complicate the configuration and manufacturing process, while requiring a more robust solution for enhancing the strength of forward corner portions during frontal collisions.
Innovation Solution
A single corrugated linking plate made of a metal material links the front side member and upper member, with alternating ridges and grooves extending in the vehicle right-left direction, enhancing rigidity and supporting the front side member with a crash box, and allowing for the integration of accessory devices like a coolant pump.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Strength
If multiple members are used to link the front side member and upper member, then the strength of forward corner portions is improved, but the configuration and manufacturing process become complicated
Solution Approach 1:
Multiple separate linking members are merged into a single integrated corrugated linking plate that performs the same structural function. This consolidation maintains the strength enhancement while eliminating the complexity of assembling and coordinating multiple separate components.
Solution Approach 2:
A flat plate is transformed into a corrugated plate with alternating ridges and grooves. This curvature modification increases the moment of inertia and bending resistance of the linking plate, thereby enhancing the strength of forward corner portions without requiring multiple members.
2Strength
If multiple members are used to link the front side member and upper member, then the strength of forward corner portions is improved, but the manufacturing process becomes complicated
Solution Approach 1:
Multiple manufacturing steps and processes required for producing separate linking members are consolidated into a single stamping or forming process for the corrugated linking plate. This reduces manufacturing complexity while achieving the same structural reinforcement.
Solution Approach 2:
The plate geometry is modified from flat to corrugated through changing the shape parameter. This single parameter change (adding corrugations) provides the strength enhancement that previously required multiple separate members, thereby simplifying the manufacturing process.
3Device complexity
If a single corrugated linking plate is used, then the configuration is simplified, but the rigidity of the linkage may be insufficient
Solution Approach 1:
The corrugations (ridges and grooves) in the linking plate create a three-dimensional curved structure that significantly increases the plate's moment of inertia and bending stiffness. This allows a single plate to provide the rigidity that would otherwise require multiple members, while maintaining configuration simplicity.
Solution Approach 2:
The linking plate transitions from a two-dimensional flat structure to a three-dimensional corrugated structure. This addition of dimensional complexity within a single component increases rigidity without increasing the number of parts, thus maintaining configuration simplicity.
Data Source
AI summary
A vehicle includes wheels including a front wheel, a front side member extending in a vehicle front-rear direction on an inward side of the front wheel in a vehicle right-left direction, an upper member including a first section extending in the vehicle front-rear direction above the front wheel in a vehicle up-down direction, and a second section extending downward in the vehicle up-down direction forward of the front wheel in the vehicle front-rear direction, and a linking plate positioned forward of the front wheel in the vehicle front-rear direction and that links a front end of the front side member and the second section of the upper member to each other. The linking plate is made of a single plate material, and is corrugated in shape, in which ridges and grooves that extend in the vehicle right-left direction are fashioned alternating along the vehicle up-down direction.