Vehicle undercover structure

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12479506-B2
Application number	US-202217968892-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 19, 2022
Priority date	Jul 7, 2022
Publication date	Nov 25, 2025
Grant date	Nov 25, 2025

Abstract

An embodiment vehicle undercover structure includes a chassis frame, a moving component that is movable up and down below the chassis frame, and a first undercover connected to the chassis frame and located above the moving component, wherein the first undercover includes a first bottom wall, a first recessed wall recessed from the first bottom wall toward the chassis frame, wherein the first recessed wall is designed to not interfere with a movement path of the moving component, and a pair of first side walls extending from both side edges of the first bottom wall and both side edges of the first recessed wall toward the chassis frame, respectively.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A vehicle undercover structure comprising:
a chassis frame; a moving component that is movable up and down below the chassis frame; and a first undercover connected to the chassis frame and located above the moving component, wherein the first undercover comprises:
a first bottom wall;
a first recessed wall recessed from the first bottom wall toward the chassis frame, wherein the first recessed wall is designed to not interfere with a movement path of the moving component,
wherein the first recessed wall has a first opening aligned with the movement path of the moving component; and
a pair of first side walls extending from both side edges of the first bottom wall and both side edges of the first recessed wall toward the chassis frame, respectively.

2 . The vehicle undercover structure according to claim 1 , further comprising a powertrain component mounted on the chassis frame, wherein a lower portion of the powertrain component is exposed below the chassis frame and a portion of a bottom surface of the lower portion of the powertrain component is aligned with the first opening.

3 . The vehicle undercover structure according to claim 1 , wherein the first recessed wall further comprises:
a rear opening spaced apart from the first opening and located behind the first opening; and a reinforcing rib extending in a width direction of the first recessed wall between the first opening and the rear opening.

4 . The vehicle undercover structure according to claim 1 , wherein:
a width of the first recessed wall is less than a distance between top edges of the pair of first side walls; and each first side wall is stepped from the top edge thereof toward the first recessed wall.

5 . The vehicle undercover structure according to claim 1 , wherein:
each first side wall has a stair form that is stepped from a top edge thereof to the first recessed wall; and the stair form has a plurality of risers and a plurality of treads.

6 . A vehicle undercover structure comprising:
a chassis frame; a moving component that is movable up and down below the chassis frame; a first undercover connected to the chassis frame and located above the moving component, wherein the first undercover comprises:
a first bottom wall;
a first recessed wall recessed from the first bottom wall toward the chassis frame, wherein the first recessed wall is designed to not interfere with a movement path of the moving component,
wherein the first recessed wall has a first opening aligned with the movement path of the moving component; and
a pair of first side walls extending from both side edges of the first bottom wall and both side edges of the first recessed wall toward the chassis frame, respectively; and
a second undercover connected to a front portion of the first undercover, wherein a rear portion of the second undercover is overlapped with the front portion of the first undercover.

7 . The vehicle undercover structure according to claim 6 , wherein an overlapped section between the front portion of the first undercover and the rear portion of the second undercover is connected to the chassis frame through a mounting bracket.

8 . The vehicle undercover structure according to claim 7 , wherein the mounting bracket comprises a cover-side attachment portion attached to the overlapped section through a cover-side fastener and a chassis-side attachment portion attached to the chassis frame through a chassis-side fastener.

9 . The vehicle undercover structure according to claim 8 , wherein the cover-side fastener is spaced apart from a front end of the first undercover by a predetermined marginal distance.

10 . The vehicle undercover structure according to claim 6 , wherein the second undercover comprises:
a second bottom wall; a second recessed wall recessed from the second bottom wall toward the chassis frame, wherein the second recessed wall is designed to not interfere with the movement path of the moving component; and a pair of second side walls extending from both side edges of the second bottom wall and both side edges of the second recessed wall toward the chassis frame, respectively.

11 . The vehicle undercover structure according to claim 10 , wherein the second recessed wall has a second opening aligned with the movement path of the moving component.

12 . The vehicle undercover structure according to claim 10 , wherein:
a width of the second recessed wall is less than a distance between top edges of the pair of second side walls; and each second side wall is stepped from the top edge thereof toward the second recessed wall.

13 . The vehicle undercover structure according to claim 10 , wherein:
each second side wall has a stair form that is stepped from a top edge thereof to the second recessed wall; and the stair form has a plurality of risers and a plurality of treads.

14 . The vehicle undercover structure according to claim 10 , further comprising a third undercover connected to a rear portion of the first undercover, wherein a front portion of the third undercover is at least partially overlapped with the rear portion of the first undercover.

15 . The vehicle undercover structure according to claim 14 , wherein:
an overlapped section between the front portion of the third undercover and the rear portion of the first undercover is connected to the chassis frame through a mounting bracket; the mounting bracket comprises a cover-side attachment portion attached to the overlapped section through a cover-side fastener and a chassis-side attachment portion attached to the chassis frame through a chassis-side fastener; and the cover-side fastener is spaced apart from a rear end of the first undercover by a predetermined marginal distance.

16 . A vehicle undercover structure comprising:
a chassis frame; a moving component that is movable up and down below the chassis frame; a first undercover connected to the chassis frame and located above the moving component, wherein the first undercover comprises:
a first bottom wall;
a first recessed wall recessed from the first bottom wall toward the chassis frame, wherein the first recessed wall is designed to not interfere with a movement path of the moving component,
wherein the first recessed wall has a first opening aligned with the movement path of the moving component; and
a pair of first side walls extending from both side edges of the first bottom wall and both side edges of the first recessed wall toward the chassis frame, respectively; and
a third undercover connected to a rear portion of the first undercover, wherein a front portion of the third undercover is at least partially overlapped with the rear portion of the first undercover.

17 . The vehicle undercover structure according to claim 16 , wherein an overlapped section between the front portion of the third undercover and the rear portion of the first undercover is connected to the chassis frame through a mounting bracket.

18 . The vehicle undercover structure according to claim 17 , wherein the mounting bracket comprises a cover-side attachment portion attached to the overlapped section through a cover-side fastener and a chassis-side attachment portion attached to the chassis frame through a chassis-side fastener.

19 . The vehicle undercover structure according to claim 18 , wherein the cover-side fastener is spaced apart from a rear end of the first undercover by a predetermined marginal distance.

Assignees

• Hyundai Motor Co Ltd
• Kia Corp

Inventors

• Seon Dong Ku

Classifications

• B62D25/08

  Front or rear portions {(sub-frames for mounting engine or suspensions B62D21/11)} · CPC title

• B62D21/09

  Means for mounting load bearing surfaces · CPC title

• B62D21/04

  single longitudinal type · CPC title

• Y02T10/88

  Optimized components or subsystems, e.g. lighting, actively controlled glasses · CPC title

• B60K5/00

  Arrangement or mounting of internal-combustion or jet-propulsion units (B60K7/00 takes precedence; arrangement or mounting of plural diverse prime-movers for mutual or common propulsion B60K6/00) · CPC title