JP2010064637A - Lower structure of vehicle - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To attain easy construction of a lower structure of a vehicle body, weight reduction and easy formation thereof while effectively regulating a drive unit excessively oscillating the vehicle body unnecessarily by the lower structure of the vehicle body including a suspension member. <P>SOLUTION: The suspension member 10 is provided with upper and lower plate members 31, 32 facing each other in the vertical direction and connecting respective outer edges of a vehicle body 2 each other in plane view, thereby to form a hollow shape. At least one of the upper and lower plate members 31, 32 is bent to form recess portions 34, 35 on the vehicle body 2 extending in the longitudinal direction, on an outer surface of a midway portion of the suspension member 10 in the longitudinal direction. Besides, bottom plates of the recess portions 34, 35 and the other plate member are connected to each other. A bracket 18 is firmly fixed onto the front and rear portions 37, 38 of the suspension member 10. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2010,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a vehicle lower structure in which a traveling drive unit is connected to a suspension member by a connecting body such as a torque rod, thereby restricting the drive unit from swinging unnecessarily greatly with respect to a vehicle body. Is.

  Conventionally, there is a lower structure of the vehicle described in Patent Document 1 below. According to this publication, in the lower structure of a vehicle, a suspension member that is supported by a vehicle body and suspends a wheel, a bracket that is fixed to the suspension member, one end is connected to the bracket, and the other end is There is also provided a connecting body connected to a traveling drive unit supported by the vehicle body via an elastic engine mount. The suspension members face each other in the vertical direction, and the outer edge portions in a plan view of the vehicle body are coupled to each other. The suspension members include a lower plate member, and the suspension member has a hollow shape. Further, in order to ensure the strength and rigidity of the suspension member, a reinforcing material for reinforcing the suspension member is separately provided and attached to the suspension member.

When the vehicle travels, the impact force that is to be applied from one of the vehicle body and the drive unit to the other is alleviated by elastic deformation of the engine mount. In this case, the drive unit tends to swing relative to the vehicle body based on the elastic deformation of the engine mount. However, if the drive unit tries to swing unnecessarily large, the drive unit will By being connected to the suspension member reinforced by the reinforcing material as described above, it is effectively regulated.
JP 2007-253642 A

  By the way, as described above, in the conventional technique, a separate reinforcing material is provided to reinforce the suspension member and attached to the suspension member. However, this increases the number of components of the lower structure of the vehicle, which complicates the configuration, increases the mass, and may complicate the operation of forming the lower structure of the vehicle.

  The present invention has been made paying attention to the above-described circumstances, and an object of the present invention is to provide an effect that the drive unit swings unnecessarily greatly with respect to the vehicle body by the lower structure of the vehicle body including the suspension member. The structure of the lower structure of the vehicle body can be made simpler and lighter, and the forming operation can be made easier.

The invention of claim 1 is a suspension member 10 supported by the vehicle body 2 and suspended from the wheel 7, a bracket 18 fixed to the suspension member 10, one end connected to the bracket 18, and the other end A connecting body 25 connected to a traveling drive unit 15 supported by the vehicle body 2 via an elastic engine mount 14, and the suspension members 10 face each other in the vertical direction, and each outer edge in a plan view of the vehicle body 2. In the vehicle lower structure in which the parts are coupled to each other, and the suspension member 10 includes a lower plate member 31 and 32 and the suspension member 10 has a hollow shape.
At least one of the upper and lower plate members 31 and 32 is bent to form recesses 34 and 35 extending in the width direction of the vehicle body 2 on the outer surface of the suspension member 10 in the longitudinal direction. And the bottom plates 34a, 35a of the recesses 34, 35 and the other plate member are coupled to each other,
The vehicle lower structure is characterized in that the bracket 18 is fixed to the front and rear portions 37 and 38 of the suspension member 10.

  In addition, in this section, the reference numerals and drawing numbers appended to the above terms are not intended to limit the technical scope of the present invention to the “Example” section and the contents of the drawings described later.

  The effects of the present invention are as follows.

According to the first aspect of the present invention, a suspension member supported by a vehicle body and suspending a wheel, a bracket fixed to the suspension member, one end portion connected to the bracket, and the other end portion via an elastic engine mount. A suspension body connected to a driving unit supported by the vehicle body, the suspension members face each other in the vertical direction, and the outer edge portions in a plan view of the vehicle body are coupled to each other. In the vehicle lower structure in which the suspension member has a hollow shape,
At least one of the upper and lower plate members is bent to form a recess extending in the width direction of the vehicle body on the outer surface of the midway portion in the front-rear direction of the suspension member, and a bottom plate of the recess The other plate member is coupled to each other.

  For this reason, by forming the concave portion, the front and rear portions of the suspension member each have a hollow closed cross-section structure in a side view of the vehicle body. As a result, the suspension member is reinforced so as to oppose the external force applied to the suspension member from the width direction of the vehicle body with a sufficiently large strength and rigidity. Therefore, the suspension member is more reliably prevented from being bent or buckled by the lateral external force.

  The bracket is fixed to the front and rear of the suspension member.

  For this reason, the bracket is installed and supported at the front and rear portions of the suspension member having a hollow closed cross-sectional structure, respectively, in a side view of the vehicle body. As a result, the suspension member is reinforced particularly with a sufficiently high strength and rigidity against the longitudinal external force applied to the suspension member from the front-rear direction. Therefore, the suspension member is more reliably prevented from being bent at the joint portion between the bottom plate and the other plate member by the vertical external force.

  That is, the suspension member configured as described above is reinforced to counteract external forces from various directions with sufficiently high strength and rigidity.

  And, when the vehicle is traveling, the drive unit trying to swing unnecessarily greatly due to the elastic deformation of the engine mount is caused by the suspension member reinforced as described above via the connecting body. By being connected, it is effectively regulated.

  Further, as described above, the reinforcement of the suspension member is achieved by forming a recess in the suspension member and devising the fixing of the bracket to the suspension member. This reinforcement is achieved without providing a separate reinforcing material. Therefore, as described above, the lower part of the vehicle body can be effectively controlled by the lower structure of the vehicle body including the suspension member, as the drive unit swings unnecessarily greatly with respect to the vehicle body. The structure of the structure can be made simpler and lighter, and the forming operation can be facilitated because the structure is simple as described above.

  With regard to the lower structure of the vehicle according to the present invention, it is possible to effectively regulate the unnecessary swinging of the drive unit with respect to the vehicle body by the lower structure of the vehicle body including the suspension member. In order to realize the object of making the structure of the substructure simple and lighter and further facilitating the forming operation, the best mode for carrying out the present invention is as follows. It is like this.

  That is, a suspension member that is supported by the vehicle body and suspends a wheel, a bracket that is fixed to the suspension member, one end portion is connected to the bracket, and the other end portion is supported by the vehicle body via an elastic engine mount. And a connecting body connected to the traveling drive unit. The suspension members face each other in the vertical direction, and the outer edge portions in a plan view of the vehicle body are coupled to each other. Further, the suspension member includes a lower plate member, and the suspension member has a hollow shape.

  At least one of the upper and lower plate members is bent to form a recess extending in the width direction of the vehicle body on the outer surface of the middle portion of the suspension member in the front-rear direction. The bottom plate and the other plate member are coupled to each other. The bracket is fixed to the front and rear of the suspension member across the recess.

  In order to describe the present invention in more detail, the first embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS.

  1 and 2, reference numeral 1 is a vehicle exemplified by an automobile, and an arrow Fr indicates the front of the vehicle 1 in the traveling direction.

  The vehicle body 2 of the vehicle 1 includes a vehicle body frame 3 constituting a skeleton member below the vehicle body 2. The vehicle body frame 3 includes a pair of left and right side members 4, 4 extending in the front-rear direction, and a cross member (not shown) that firmly bonds the side members 4, 4 to each other.

  A front suspension 8 is provided to suspend the left and right front wheels 7 and 7 from the front portion of the vehicle body frame 3. The suspension 8 is a metal plate suspension member 10 that is firmly supported by the side members 4 of the body frame 3 by fasteners 9 and pivotally supported on the left and right sides of the suspension member 10 so as to be swingable up and down. A lower link 11 for supporting each wheel 7 is provided at each swing end.

  A driving unit 15 for traveling is supported on each side member 4 of the vehicle body frame 3 via a pair of left and right elastic engine mounts 14, 14 in the front vicinity region of the suspension member 10. The drive unit 15 is specifically an engine.

  A bracket 18 made of sheet metal is firmly attached to the lower surface of the suspension member 10 by arc welding W. A first support shaft 20 having an axial center 19 oriented vertically is fixed to the suspension member 10 and the bracket 18. On the other hand, a second support shaft 23 having an axis 22 extending in the width direction of the vehicle body 2 is fixed to the rear end portion of the drive unit 15 in the vicinity of the front of the first support shaft 20.

  A connecting body 25 for connecting the drive unit 15 to the suspension member 10 through the bracket 18 and the first and second support shafts 20 and 23 is provided. The connecting body 25 is a torque rod. The connecting body 25 has a pipe-like connecting body 26 that extends long in the front-rear direction, and an annular shape that is fixed to the front and rear ends of the connecting body 26. Before and after having elasticity, the rear buffer bodies 27 and 28 are provided.

  One end portion (rear end portion) of the connecting body 25 is elastically connected to the suspension member 10 via the bracket 18 by the rear shock absorber 28 being externally fitted and fixed to the first support shaft 20. The Further, the other end portion (front end portion) of the connecting body 25 is elastically connected to the drive unit 15 by the front buffer body 27 being externally fitted and fixed to the second support shaft 23.

  The suspension member 10 faces each other in the vertical direction, and has outer plate members 31 and 32 that are joined to each other by spot welding S1 and S2 at the outer edge portions of the vehicle body 2 in plan view (FIG. 2). . The suspension member 10 is hollow (in the middle) and has a closed cross-sectional structure.

  The upper and lower plate members 31 and 32 are bent, respectively, above and below the middle part of the suspension member 10 in the front-rear direction, on the lower outer surface, above and below the groove shape extending over the entire width direction of the vehicle body 2. Concave portions 34 and 35 are formed. Further, the bottom plates 34a, 35a of the recesses 34, 35 are brought into surface contact with each other, and are joined to each other by spot welding S3.

  For this reason, by forming the concave portions 34 and 35, the front portion 37 and the rear portion 38 of the suspension member 10 have a hollow closed cross-section structure in a side view of the vehicle body 2, respectively. Thus, the suspension member 10 is reinforced so as to oppose the external force applied to the suspension member 10 from the width direction of the vehicle body 2 with sufficiently large strength and rigidity. Therefore, the suspension member 10 is more reliably prevented from being bent or buckled by the lateral external force.

  The bracket 18 includes a box-shaped bracket body 40 that is located below a middle portion in the longitudinal direction of the suspension member 10 and that opens upward and forward, and a left, right outer edge, and rear edge of the bracket body 40. And an outward flange 41 extending integrally from each other. Each part of the outward flange 41 is coupled to each part on the lower surface of the plate member 32 of the suspension member 10 by the arc welding W.

  The first support shaft 20 includes a first collar 20 a disposed in the front portion 37 of the suspension member 10 on the shaft 19, and a second collar 20 b disposed in the internal space 43 of the bracket 18. The suspension member 10 includes a front portion 37, a bracket 18, and first and second collars 20 a and 20 b, and a fastener 20 c that fastens them together. The buffer 28 is fixed to the second collar 20 b of the first support shaft 20 and is accommodated in the internal space 43 of the bracket 18.

  In the above case, the bracket 18 is fixed to the front and rear portions 37 and 38 of the suspension member 10 by the arc welding W, respectively.

  For this reason, the bracket 18 is supported by being laid on the front and rear portions 37 and 38 of the suspension member 10 each having a hollow closed cross-sectional structure in a side view of the vehicle body 2. As a result, the suspension member 10 is reinforced particularly with a sufficiently large strength and rigidity against a longitudinal external force applied to the suspension member 10 from the front-rear direction. Therefore, the suspension member 10 is more reliably prevented from being bent at the joint portion between the bottom plates 34a and 35a by the vertical external force.

  That is, the suspension member 10 configured as described above is reinforced so as to counteract external forces from various directions with sufficiently high strength and rigidity.

  Note that the bracket 18 may be fixed to the upper surface of the suspension member 10 as indicated by a one-dot chain line in FIG.

  When the vehicle 1 travels, an impact force that is to be applied from one of the vehicle body 2 and the drive unit 15 to the other is alleviated by the elastic deformation of the engine mount 14. In this case, the drive unit 15 tries to swing with respect to the vehicle body 2 based on the elastic deformation of the engine mount 14, but the drive unit 15 tends to swing unnecessarily greatly. Is connected to the suspension member 10 reinforced as described above via the connecting body 25, thereby being effectively regulated.

  Further, as described above, the reinforcement of the suspension member 10 was achieved by forming the recesses 34 and 35 in the suspension member 10 and devising the fixing of the bracket 18 to the suspension member 10. Therefore, reinforcement of the suspension member 10 is achieved without providing a separate reinforcing material. Therefore, as described above, it is possible to effectively restrict the drive unit 15 from swinging unnecessarily greatly with respect to the vehicle body 2 by the lower structure of the vehicle body 2 including the suspension member 10. The structure of the lower structure of the vehicle body 2 can be made simpler and lighter, and the forming operation can be facilitated as the structure is simple as described above.

  Although the above is based on the illustrated example, the recesses 34 and 35 may be formed only in the middle part of the suspension member 10 in the width direction of the vehicle body 2. Further, after the suspension member 10 and the bracket 18 are individually formed, the members 10 and 18 may be fixed to each other by fastening.

  FIG. 3 below shows the second embodiment. The second embodiment is common in many respects to the configuration and operational effects of the first embodiment. Therefore, regarding these common items, common reference numerals are attached to the drawings, and redundant description thereof is omitted, and different points are mainly described. In addition, the configuration of each part in these embodiments may be variously combined in light of the object and operational effects of the present invention.

  In order to describe the present invention in more detail, the second embodiment will be described with reference to FIG.

  In FIG. 3, only the upper plate member 31 which is one of the upper and lower plate members 31 and 32 on the suspension member 10 is bent to form a recess 34. The bottom plate 34a of the recess 34 and the lower plate member 32, which is the other plate member, are joined by spot welding S3.

  The bracket 18 faces each other in the vertical direction, the left and right outer edge portions and the rear outer edge portion are respectively joined by spot welding S4, and further include lower plate members 46 and 47, which are hollow and closed in a front view of the vehicle body 2. It is a cross-sectional structure. The first support shaft 20 is installed on the upper and lower plate members 46 and 47. The bracket 18 is fixed to the front and rear portions 37 and 38 of the suspension member 10 by the spot welding S4, straddling the concave portion 34.

  Instead of the above configuration, only the lower plate member 32 may be bent to form the recess 35 on the lower surface of the suspension member 10, or the bracket 18 may be fixed to the lower surface of the suspension member 10.

FIG. 3 shows Example 1 and is a cross-sectional view taken along the line I-I in FIG. 2. 1 is a partial plan view of a vehicle body, showing Embodiment 1. FIG. FIG. 2 shows a second embodiment and corresponds to FIG.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Vehicle 2 Car body 3 Car body frame 7 Wheel 8 Suspension 10 Suspension member 14 Engine mount 15 Drive unit 18 Bracket 25 Connection body 31 Plate member 32 Plate member 34 Recess 34a Bottom plate 35 Recess 35a Bottom plate 37 Front 38 Rear 40 Bracket body 41 Outward Flange 42 Opening 43 Internal space

Claims (1)

A suspension member supported by the vehicle body for suspending a wheel, a bracket fixed to the suspension member, one end portion connected to the bracket, and the other end portion supported by the vehicle body via an elastic engine mount A suspension body coupled to the drive unit, wherein the suspension members face each other in the vertical direction, and the outer edge portions of the vehicle body in plan view are coupled to each other, and further provided with a lower plate member, In the lower structure of the vehicle made hollow,
At least one of the upper and lower plate members is bent to form a recess extending in the width direction of the vehicle body on the outer surface of the midway portion in the front-rear direction of the suspension member, and a bottom plate of the recess , The other plate member is coupled to each other,
A lower structure of a vehicle, wherein the bracket is fixed to a front portion and a rear portion of the suspension member.

Images