VEHICLE BODY LOWER STRUCTURE

• US 20120256448A1
• Filed: 03/21/2012
• Published: 10/11/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 04/07/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Honda Motor Co., Ltd. (Honda Motor Company)
• Original Assignee: Honda Motor Co., Ltd. (Honda Motor Company)
• Inventors: Yasui, Ken, Furusaki, Yuya
• Granted Patent: US 8,585,134 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 296/209
• CPC Class Codes: B62D 21/152 Front or rear frames
• CPC Class Codes: B62D 25/025 Side sills thereof
• CPC Class Codes: B62D 25/2018 the subunits being front structures
• CPC Class Codes: B62D 25/2036 the subunits being side panels, sills or pillars B62D21/157 takes precedence

Abstract

A vehicle includes a crush area disposed in front end part of each side sill, the crush area being crushable under a collision load upon collision in order to absorb the collision load. A bulkhead is disposed on the rear of the crush area inside the side sill. A reinforcing frame is attached to a side surface of the side sill facing a vehicle interior, one end of the reinforcing frame being joined to surface part of a portion, where the bulkhead is disposed, of the side sill such that the reinforcing frame extends rearwardly and inwardly in a vehicle width direction, the other end thereof being joined to a floor frame.

Claims

1. A vehicle body lower structure comprising:

a side sill disposed on an end of a vehicle body in a vehicle width direction so as to extend along the length of the vehicle body, the side sill including a crush area and a bulkhead, the crush area being crushable under a collision load caused by collision with a vehicle in order to absorb the collision load, the bulkhead being disposed on the rear of the crush area inside the side sill; and

a reinforcing frame attached to a side surface of the side sill facing a vehicle interior, a first end of the reinforcing frame being joined to the side surface of the side sill facing the vehicle interior, and where the bulk head is disposed, such that the reinforcing frame extends rearwardly and inwardly in the vehicle width direction, a second end of the reinforcing being joined to a floor frame.

2. The structure according to claim 1,

wherein the side sill includes a side sill inner disposed inside the vehicle body and a side sill outer disposed on the outside of the vehicle body such that the side sill inner and the side sill outer are joined to each other,

wherein the bulkhead is coupled an upper inner surface, a side inner surface, and a lower inner surface of the side sill inner, and

wherein a separating portion of the bulkhead which separates a space within the side sill into front and rear parts is disposed on an extension of a load transfer path of a load transfer portion included in the reinforcing frame.

3. The structure according to claim 2, wherein the load transfer portion is an edge line defined by an upper surface and a side surface of the reinforcing frame.

4. The structure according to claim 3, wherein the reinforcing frame extends along a floor surface and

wherein a cross-sectional centroid of the side sill is positioned on an approximate extension of the edge line of the reinforcing frame.

5. The structure according to claim 4, wherein a floor panel forming the floor surface is coupled to the lower surface of the side sill inner.

6. The structure according to claim 5, wherein the floor frame and the reinforcing frame are arranged on the lower surface of the floor panel.

7. The structure according to claim 1, further comprising:

a jack-up reinforcement plate disposed in the crush area, the jack-up reinforcement plate being resistant to a load acting along the height of the vehicle body and being sensitive to a load acting along the length of the vehicle body.

Although a specific form of embodiment of the instant invention has been described above and illustrated in the accompanying drawings in order to be more clearly understood, the above description is made by way of example and not as a limitation to the scope of the instant invention. It is contemplated that various modifications apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art could be made without departing from the scope of the invention which is to be determined by the following claims.