Radiator Duct Structure That Releases During Front Collision
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing vehicle front body structures that completely surround heat exchangers to improve cooling capacity and aerodynamic drag hinder the deformation of crash cans during frontal collisions, necessitating a trade-off between cooling performance and collision performance.
Innovation Solution
A vehicle front body structure with a duct member that completely surrounds the radiator, featuring engagement sections between vertical and transverse wall sections that disengage during a collision, allowing for reduced strength and deformation, thereby enhancing both cooling and collision performance.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If a highly-rigid duct member that completely surrounds the heat exchanger is provided to improve cooling capacity and aerodynamic drag, then cooling performance is improved, but the duct member hinders deformation of the crash can during frontal collision
Solution Approach 1:
The duct member is divided into multiple sections (first duct section, second duct section, third duct section) connected by engagement sections. This segmentation allows the duct to be flexible rather than a single rigid structure, enabling deformation during collision while maintaining cooling function.
Solution Approach 2:
The engagement sections are designed to disengage when a predetermined load is applied during frontal collision. This dynamic behavior allows the duct member to transition from a rigid state during normal operation to a flexible state during collision, resolving the contradiction between cooling performance and collision safety.
2Loss of energy
If a duct member that completely surrounds the radiator is provided to rectify air flow, then aerodynamic drag is improved, but the structure complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The duct member is segmented into multiple sections that can be manufactured separately and then assembled. This reduces the complexity of manufacturing a single complex rigid structure while achieving the same aerodynamic rectification function.
Solution Approach 2:
The engagement sections provide a simple mechanism for controlled disengagement under load, avoiding the need for complex rigid structures with multiple reinforcement elements, thus reducing overall structural complexity.
Data Source
AI summary
A vehicle front body structure includes a duct member that surrounds a radiator on an inner side in a vehicle width direction of a right and left pair of crash cans. The duct member is a member that completely surrounds the radiator and includes side duct sections and an upper duct section. The side duct sections and the upper duct section are connected such that, when the duct member receives a specified load from a bumper member of a body during a frontal collision, the side duct sections and the upper duct section are disengaged from each other in the engagement sections.