Automobile body structure

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9751569-B2
Application number	US-201415127629-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 15, 2014
Priority date	Mar 25, 2014
Publication date	Sep 5, 2017
Grant date	Sep 5, 2017

Abstract

In an automobile body structure, since a center pillar connecting a side sill and a roof side rail is formed from a pair of CFRP laminates that oppose each other on the inside and the outside in the vehicle width direction and a plurality of metal plates that join the pair of CFRP laminates in the vehicle width direction so as to form a closed cross-section, a compressive load and a tensile load acting on the vehicle width direction inner face and the vehicle width direction outer face of the center pillar when the collision load of a side collision is inputted can be supported by carbon fibers of the pair of CFRP laminates, and out of plane deformation of a front face and a rear face of the center pillar, which is difficult to support with the CFRP laminate, can be prevented by the metal plate.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. An automobile body structure in which a side sill and a roof side rail are connected by a center pillar, wherein
at least part of the center pillar is formed from a pair of CFRP laminates that oppose each other on an inside and an outside in a vehicle width direction and a plurality of metal plates that join the pair of CFRP laminates in the vehicle width direction so as to form a closed cross-section.

2. The automobile body structure according to claim 1 , wherein the metal plate has a squared U-shaped cross section or crank-shaped cross section comprising at inner and outer ends in the vehicle width direction a pair of joining flanges joined to the pair of CFRP laminates.

3. The automobile body structure according to claim 1 , wherein the metal plate comprises a bead extending in a vertical direction.

4. The automobile body structure according to claim 1 , wherein the center pillar has a rectangular cross section that is long in a fore-and-aft direction, and at least three metal plates are arranged side by side in the fore-and-aft direction.

5. The automobile body structure according to claim 1 , wherein a metal hollow beam is disposed between the side sill and a lower end of the center pillar, an upper end of the metal hollow beam and the lower end of the center pillar being joined by an intermediate joint.

6. The automobile body structure according to claim 5 , wherein the side sill is provided in an outer end part in the vehicle width direction of a vehicle body floor made of a CFRP, and a lower end of the metal hollow beam is fixed to an upper end of a center pillar support bracket holding an upper face of the side sill and a lower face of the vehicle body floor from an outside in the vehicle width direction.

7. The automobile body structure according to claim 6 , wherein fitting the center pillar support bracket from the outside in the vehicle width direction into a recess portion formed in the vehicle body floor at the outer end in the vehicle width direction aligns the vehicle width direction outer end of the vehicle body floor and the vehicle width direction outer end of the center pillar support bracket so as to be flush.

8. The automobile body structure according to claim 7 , wherein the vehicle body floor comprises a projecting portion in which the recess portion is formed, and the center pillar support bracket comprises a hollow projecting portion that is aligned with the projecting portion in the fore-and-aft direction.

9. The automobile body structure according to claim 1 , wherein the pair of left and right center pillars and a roof arch that connects the upper ends thereof in the vehicle width direction are formed as a unit from a CFRP.

10. The automobile body structure according to claim 2 , wherein the metal plate comprises a bead extending in a vertical direction.

Assignees

• Honda Motor Co Ltd

Inventors

• Ayuzawa Shotaro
• Shirai Yoshikazu

Classifications

• B62D25/025

  Side sills thereof · CPC title

• B62D25/06

  Fixed roofs (non-fixed roofs or like shelters B60J7/00; roof liners B60R13/02; insulating elements B60R13/08) · CPC title

• B62D25/2036

  the subunits being side panels, sills or pillars (B62D21/157 takes precedence) · CPC title

• B62D21/157

  for side impacts · CPC title

• B62D25/04 Primary

  Door pillars {; windshield pillars} · CPC title