Vehicle door

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9834070-B2
Application number	US-201314416824-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 23, 2013
Priority date	Jul 23, 2012
Publication date	Dec 5, 2017
Grant date	Dec 5, 2017

Abstract

A door assembly for a vehicle is provided. The door assembly includes an inner panel and an outer panel which are joined together to define a central space therebetween. The central space has a front which faces towards the front of a vehicle and a back which faces towards a back of the vehicle. Both the inner and outer panels are made of aluminum, and at least one reinforcement beam made of steel is disposed in the central space between the aluminum inner and outer panels to provide the door assembly with increased impact resistance.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A door assembly for a vehicle, comprising:
a door support structure including no more than two panels, said no more than two panels including an inner-most structural panel made of aluminum and an outer-most structural panel made of aluminum;
said aluminum inner-most and outer-most panels being joined together and defining a central space between said aluminum inner and outer panels, said central space having a front and a back;
at least one reinforcement beam made of a single monolithic piece of steel and extending lengthwise between said front and back of said central space between said aluminum inner-most and outer-most panels and fixed with at least one of said inner-most and outer-most panels for providing increased impact resistance to said door assembly;
said at least one reinforcement beam having a circumferentially continuous outer peripheral free edge bounding a volume;
said volume of said at least one steel reinforcement beam being less than a volume of said aluminum inner-most panel and being less than a volume of said aluminum outer-most panel;
a window channel, at least one latch reinforcement piece, and at least one check link reinforcement disposed in said central space between said aluminum inner-most and outer-most panels;
a window frame made of steel and a belt reinforcement piece attached with at least one of said inner-most and outer-most panels; and
said at least one reinforcement beam, said window channel, said at least one latch reinforcement piece, said at least one check link reinforcement, said window frame, and said belt reinforcement piece being, in combination, greater than 35% steel by mass, less than 65% aluminum by mass, and less than 5% magnesium by mass for reinforcing said aluminum inner-most and outer-most panels.

2. The door assembly as set forth in claim 1 wherein said at least one reinforcement beam in said central space between said aluminum inner-most and outer-most panels is a door beam.

3. The door assembly as set forth in claim 1 wherein said at least one hinge reinforcement piece is made of steel and positioned in said central space between said aluminum inner-most and outer-most panels.

4. The door assembly as set forth in claim 1 wherein said at least one latch reinforcement is made of steel and positioned in said central space between said aluminum inner-most and outer-most panels.

5. The door assembly as set forth in claim 1 further including a mid plane assembly made of steel and positioned at least partially in said central space between said aluminum inner-most and outer-most panels.

6. The door assembly as set forth in claim 1 wherein said at least one check link reinforcement piece is made of steel and positioned at least partially in said central space between said aluminum inner-most and outer-most panels.

7. The door assembly as set forth in claim 1 further including a plurality of reinforcement pieces disposed in said central space and each being smaller by volume than said aluminum inner-most panel and smaller by volume than said aluminum outer-most panel.

8. A method of making a door assembly for a vehicle, comprising the steps of:
preparing an inner-most panel made of aluminum and an outer-most panel made of aluminum;
joining said aluminum panels together such that a central space is defined between the panels and the central space has a front and a back to form a door support structure which includes no more panels than the inner-most and outer-most panels;
attaching a window channel, at least one latch reinforcement piece, and at least one check link reinforcement to one of the inner-most and outer-most panels and inside the central space for guiding a window into and out of the central space;
joining at least one reinforcement beam made as a single monolithic piece of steel and having a circumferentially continuous outer peripheral free edge that bounds a volume to at least one of the aluminum inner-most and outer-most panels in the central space such that the at least one reinforcement beam extends lengthwise between the front and back of the central space for increasing the impact resistance of the door assembly, wherein the volume of the steel reinforcement beam is less than a volume of the aluminum inner-most panel and is less than a volume of the aluminum outer-most panel;
fixing a window frame made of steel and a belt reinforcement piece with at least one of the inner-most and outer-most panels; and
the at least one reinforcement beam, the window channel, the at least one latch reinforcement piece, the at least one check link reinforcement, the window frame, and the belt reinforcement piece being, in combination, greater than 35% steel by mass, less than 65% aluminum by mass, and less than 5% magnesium by mass for reinforcing the aluminum inner-most and outer-most panels.

9. The method of making a door assembly as set forth in claim 8 further including attaching at least one other metal component to at least one of the aluminum inner-most and outer-most panels and wherein in combination all metal components attached to at least one of the aluminum inner-most and outer-most panels and located in the central space between the aluminum inner-most and outer-most panels are greater than 35% steel by mass and less than 65% aluminum by mass.

10. The method of making a door assembly as set forth in claim 8 further including the step of attaching at least one hinge reinforcement piece to at least one of the aluminum inner-most and outer-most panels within the central space between the aluminum inner-most and outer-most panels.

11. The method of making a door assembly as set forth in claim 8 further including the step of disposing a plurality of reinforcement pieces made of steel between the aluminum inner-most panel and the aluminum outer-most panel, and each of the reinforcement pieces being smaller by volume than the aluminum inner-most panel and smaller by volume than the aluminum outer-most panel.

Assignees

• Magna Int Inc
• Garimella Venugopal
• Chellman Mari
• Johnson John
• Zak Alexander

Inventors

• Garimella Venugopal
• Chellman Mari
• Johnson John
• Zak Alexander

Classifications

• Y10T29/49622

  Vehicular structural member making · CPC title

• B60J5/0484

  hybrid, i.e. plastic moulded onto metal parts · CPC title

• B60J5/0463 Primary

  Conceptual assembling of door, i.e. how door frame parts should be fitted together to form door · CPC title

• B60J5/0483

  lightweight metal, e.g. aluminum, magnesium · CPC title

• B60J5/0419

  Windows in lower door structures · CPC title