Side Door Reinforcement Layout for Lightweight Side-Impact Load Absorption
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing vehicle-body structures face challenges in reducing weight while maintaining or enhancing collision load absorption performance during side collisions, as conventional designs often require additional frame members that increase weight.
Innovation Solution
The vehicle-body structure incorporates reinforcement portions that overlap with the vehicle-body frame members in a side view, dispersing collision loads across a quadrangular area including the lower-side, front-side, and center overlapping portions, allowing the door panel to maintain contact with the frame member and transmit loads effectively, thereby reducing weight and increasing collision load absorption.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If conventional frame portion and reinforcement portion structures are used to prevent door intrusion in side collisions, then collision load absorption performance is improved, but vehicle weight increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges the frame portion and reinforcement portion into a single integrated structure. The C-shaped cross-sectional configuration combines the framing function with the reinforcement function that were previously separate components, eliminating the need for additional reinforcement members while maintaining collision load absorption performance.
Solution Approach 2:
The frame portion is designed to perform multiple functions simultaneously: it provides the structural framework for the door assembly and acts as the reinforcement element. The C-shaped cross-section provides both the framing geometry and the reinforcement characteristics needed to prevent door intrusion during side collisions.
2Reliability
If additional reinforcement portions are added to the door structure to improve side collision resistance, then collision load absorption increases, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The frame portion and reinforcement portion are merged into a single integrated component with a C-shaped cross-section. This eliminates the need for separate reinforcement members and reduces the number of parts that need to be assembled, thereby reducing device complexity while maintaining side collision resistance.
3Reliability
If the door panel is designed to transmit collision loads effectively to the frame member, then collision load absorption performance improves, but the door structure requires more complex load path design
Solution Approach 1:
By merging the frame and reinforcement functions into a single C-shaped structure, the load path becomes more straightforward. The integrated structure provides direct load transmission paths from the door panel to the vehicle body through the combined frame-reinforcement element, reducing the complexity of designing multiple separate load paths.
Solution Approach 2:
The C-shaped cross-section provides localized reinforcement at critical stress points while maintaining a relatively simple overall structure. The geometry of the C-shape naturally directs loads through the flanges and web, creating efficient local load paths without requiring complex global structural design.
Data Source
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AI summary
There are provided a vehicle-body frame member forming an opening portion for entrance at a vehicle side part and a front side door provided so as to open and close the opening portion. The vehicle-body frame member comprises a side sill, the front side door comprises a door panel portion provided with an inner lower portion which overlaps with the side sill in a vehicle wide view and reinforcement portions provided at three side-portions of a peripheral part of the door panel portion which are continuous and include the inner lower portion such that the reinforcement portions overlap with the vehicle-body frame member in a vehicle side view.