Patent Application
20120133160
The present invention relates generally to automotive vehicles and more particularly to an automotive vehicular bumper apparatus.
Bumper beams are commonly used to mount front and rear bumpers to an automotive vehicle frame or side rails. Exemplary conventional bumper beams are disclosed within the following U.S. Pat. Nos. 7,793,997 entitled “Bumper Beam Mounting” which issued to Karlander on Sep. 14, 2010; 7,568,755 entitled “Rear Frame Structure For Vehicle” which issued to Imada et al. on Aug. 4, 2009; 6,988,753 entitled “Bumper Beam Attachment Structure For Vehicle” which issued to Omura et al. on Jan. 24, 2006; and 5,080,410 entitled “Vehicle Bumper Beam” which issued to Stewart et al. on Jan. 14, 1992; all of these patents are incorporated by reference herein. Traditional bumper beams employ vehicular attachments adjacent the outboard corners of the side rails or frame, thereby being disadvantageous for center impacts. Moreover, conventional bumper beam designs are only intended for attachment to sheet steel body panels or chassis.
In accordance with the present invention, an automotive vehicular bumper apparatus is provided. In another aspect, a bumper beam is attached to a composite body panel of an automotive vehicle. A further aspect provides a bumper beam including a first pair of generally V-shaped structural members and a second pair of generally V-shaped structural members joined together adjacent apexes thereof. In another aspect, a centralized bumper beam and a small width bumper are employed. Furthermore, a method of attaching a bumper beam to an automotive vehicle is provided.
The automotive vehicle bumper apparatus of the present invention is advantageous over conventional bumper beam constructions. For example, the present bumper beam is structurally attached to a light weight composite body panel of a vehicle. Furthermore, the present bumper beam is advantageously resistant to at least dual axis impacts, including a rear end impact and a cross-car impact. The diagonal and multi-planar configuration of the present bumper beam apparatus is also advantageous by providing a very rigid and impact force-dispersing structure from a central bumper impact to a larger surface area of one or more body panels. Moreover, the present bumper beam apparatus is ideally suited for attachment to a vehicle with a very small tail panel section. The present bumper beam is also well suited for retaining a centralized bumper. Additional advantages and features of the present invention will be found in the following description and accompanying claims, as well as in the appended drawings.
A first embodiment of an automotive vehicle bumper apparatus 21 is shown in
Apparatus 21 further includes a bumper beam 31 having a generally vertically planar triangular segment 33 and a generally diagonally planar triangularly configured segment 35. Segments 33 and 35 are joined together adjacent apexes 37 of the segments where they also join with a generally vertical structural member 39. Each triangularly shaped segment includes a pair of diagonal structural members 41, 43, 45 and 47 which define V-shaped pairs. A generally cross-vehicle elongated structural member 49 is attached to distal ends of diagonal members 41 and 43 opposite their apex and a generally cross-vehicle elongated structural member 51 is similarly attached to distal ends of diagonal members 45 and 47. Multiple slots, perforations or depressions may be cut or formed within two or more of the diagonal members in order to provide controlled collapsing, crumpling and deformation of the bumper beam structure during a rear impact, side impact or diagonally oriented rear corner impact. The double V-shaped configuration of bumper beam segments 33 and 35 widely disperses the impact loading to a wider surface area of the attached body panels, which is well suited for the centralized location of the bumper beam. Therefore, bumper beam 31 provides a dual-axis load bearing configuration, the majority of which extends below a horizontal plane defined by an adjacent bottom section of the floor pan.
At least one and preferably two cross-vehicle elongated mounting members 61 and 63 are attached to a rearwardly facing surface of vertical member 39. Furthermore, an optional fore-and-aft elongated trailer hitch receptacle 64 is also attached, via triangular braces 65, to a center of vertical member 39. All of the members are made from hollow, 6061 aluminum tubes, of generally square cross-section, which are welded together. Alternately, steel or other materials may be employed although such materials may be undesirably heavy especially for use with an electric vehicle having a composite body. Moreover, it is alternately envisioned that some or all of the diagonal and cross-vehicle elongated members may be solid bar-stock rather than hollow, dependent upon the impact strength requirement for each specific vehicle. It also envisioned that one or more bumper mounting members such as 61 and 63 can be attached to an upper section of vertical member 39.
A central lower bumper 81 has a side view C-shape with a forward facing notch 83 positioned about mounting members 61 and 63 in a snap-on manner and/or with adhesive bonding. Lower bumper 81 has a rearview triangular shape tapering toward its bottom. Lower bumper 81 additionally has four localized cavities 85 to provide clearance for interlocking tabs 87 between upper and lower facias 91 and 93, respectively. Furthermore, an upper bumper 95 is attached to an upper section of bumper beam 31 by snap fitting an internal cavity of the bumper onto ends of diagonal wings 97 and 99 of cross-vehicle elongated member 49 and/or adhesive bonding thereto. Lower bumper 81 has a cross-vehicle width 97 which is less than half of a maximum cross-vehicle width dimension 99 of floor pan 25. However, a cross-vehicle width dimension 101 of upper bumper 95 extends at least a majority of floor pan width 99. Lower bumper 81 is centrally aligned behind a rear wheel of vehicle 23 in a three-wheel vehicular configuration. Bumpers 81 and 95 are both preferably molded from an engineering grade polymeric material.
A second embodiment of the present bumper apparatus is shown in
The direct attachment of bumper beam 131 to floor pan 25 and tail panel 27 is best illustrated in
While various embodiments of the present automotive vehicle bumper apparatus have been disclosed, it should be appreciated that other variations are possible. For example, additional diagonal, horizontal or vertical structural members and braces can be employed between or external to those disclosed herein. Furthermore, alternate bumper shapes, sizes and attachment constructions can be used although various advantages of the present apparatus may not be achieved. While a rear bumper apparatus has been disclosed, such a bumper apparatus can optionally be employed for a front bumper, for a conventional metal vehicle body construction, or above a floor pan, however, many advantages of the present apparatus will not be realized. The preferred tail panel is an integral single piece with the floor pan, however, they can alternately be separate members that are joined together. Moreover, extra brackets and fasteners may be utilized to retain the bumper(s) to the bumper beam. Alternate mechanical or adhesive fasteners can attach the bumper beam to the vehicle body. While various materials and dimensions have been disclosed, variations may be employed. It is intended by the following claims to cover these and any other departures from the disclosed embodiments which fall within the true spirit of this invention.
