Patent Application
20190055769
The present invention relates generally to hood bumpers for automotive vehicles, and more particularly, to a hood bumper that manages energy from impacts to the vehicle hood.
Typically, hood bumpers are mounted in an automotive vehicle between the frame of the vehicle and the bottom surface of a front portion of the vehicle hood. A purpose of hood bumpers is to provide a support surface for the hood when it is closed. Vehicle manufacturers and transportation regulators, however, are frequently concerned about the safety of automotive vehicles. One safety concern that has been expressed is that in highly dense communities, collisions between automotive vehicles and pedestrians can result in severe injuries to pedestrians who are hit by moving vehicles. One of the most common types of collisions between an automotive vehicle and a pedestrian involves the vehicle driving forward into a walking pedestrian so that the pedestrian falls onto and is hit by the hood of the vehicle. In these situations, a substantial portion of the moving vehicle's energy is transmitted to the pedestrian. In other words, while the vehicle may not suffer much damage, the pedestrian experiences the full force of the impact and can be severely injured.
Therefore, it is desirable for automotive vehicles to be equipped with vehicle hood arrangement that manages some of the impact energy during a collision instead of transmitting most of the impact energy to the pedestrian. However, the majority of conventional hood bumper assemblies are not capable of managing significant energy during an impact. In particular, the features in most hood bumper assemblies are generally solid connections and cannot effectively absorb energy when a direct force is applied to the hood. For example, while a conventional threaded connection in a bumper assembly can be used to adjust the height of a vehicle hood during manufacturing or later during an intentional adjustment by turning the threaded components relative to each other, a direct vertical load to the threaded connection will not absorb energy. Thus, while conventional bumper assemblies can be intentionally adjusted in height, conventional bumper assemblies do not absorb energy during an impact. Automotive vehicles may include additional equipment in order to absorb energy during a collision, such as sacrificial brackets that break or give way when the vehicle hood is impacted.
Accordingly, it would be desirable to provide a new vehicle hood bumper that could both break-away quickly and absorb or manage the impact energy.
In one embodiment, a hood bumper includes a tower with tower legs and a tower connecting piece extending between the tower legs, where the tower legs are spaced apart from one another by a first distance to define a cavity between the tower legs. The hood bumper also includes a base with base walls, a base floor extending between the base walls, and transition pieces extending between the base walls and the tower legs, where each transition piece includes a frangible area that is configured to fracture when a predetermined force is applied to the frangible area. The hood bumper also includes an energy management protrusion extending from the base floor, where the energy management protrusion extends toward the cavity between the tower legs, and a dimension of the energy management protrusion is larger than the first distance between the tower legs.
The invention can be better understood with reference to the following drawings and description. The components in the figures are not necessarily to scale, emphasis instead being placed upon illustrating the principles of the invention. Moreover, in the figures, like referenced numerals designate corresponding parts throughout the different views.
The improved hood bumpers disclosed quickly break-away and allow for two energy absorption methods to occur in one device without the use of sacrificial brackets or other additional devices.
Referring now to the figures,
Tower 2 may include a top surface 10 that is designed to contact the bottom surface of a vehicle hood inner (not shown). During a collision between the vehicle hood and an object, such as a pedestrian, force from the collision will be applied from the vehicle hood to top surface 10 in a primarily downward direction (as hood bumper 1 is oriented in
Tower legs 4 and connecting piece 6 may be designed and shaped to resist tower legs 4 being spread apart from one another such that it is difficult to increase the size of cavity 8. Tower legs 4 and connecting piece 6 may be designed to withstand a predetermined amount of force before tower legs 4 are spread apart from one another.
Base 3 may include a base floor 14 near the bottom of base 3 and may include base walls 16 extending from base floor 14. Base 3 may include two base walls 16, as shown in
Base 3 may include transition pieces 18 that extend from base walls 16 to tower legs 4. Transition pieces 18 may be generally horizontal, as shown in
Frangible areas 20 may be any shape that is designed to intentionally fracture under a force. For example, in
Frangible areas 20 may be located in any portion of transition pieces 20.
Base 3 may include an energy management protrusion 22 extending from base floor 14. Energy management protrusion 22 may be positioned below cavity 8 and may extend upwards toward cavity 8. Energy management protrusion 22 may be any shape, such as a triangular shape, as shown in
The tip 26 of energy management protrusion 22 may be smaller than cavity 8 such that the portion of energy management protrusion 22 near tip 26 may enter cavity 8. The base portion 24 of energy management protrusion 22 may be larger than cavity 8 such that the portion of energy management protrusion 22 near base portion 24 can only fit within cavity 8 if the size of cavity 8 is increased by tower legs 4 being spread apart from one another more than is shown in
Energy management protrusion 22 may have a hollow interior, as shown in
Base 3 is designed to be attached to a vehicle frame (not shown), such as a front end cross over member or fender frame. In order to attach the base 3 to the vehicle frame, base 3 may have a bottom extension 28 with a shape that slides into an opening, such as slots or a hole, in the vehicle frame. The bottom extension 28 may also have at least one elastic snap 30 that deflects inward when the bottom extension 28 is pushed through the frame opening. Once the bottom extension 28 has been pushed through the frame opening, the top surface of the frame abuts against the lower surface of base floor 14, and the snaps 30 return to the state shown
Hood bumper 1 may include tower bumper 34 located on tower 2. The top surface 36 of tower bumper 34 may be designed to contact the bottom surface of a vehicle hood inner (not shown). During a collision between the vehicle hood and an object, such as a pedestrian, force from the collision will be applied from the vehicle hood to top surface 36 of tower bumper 34 in a primarily downward direction (as hood bumper 1 is oriented in
Tower bumper 34 may include cut-out area 38. Cut-out area 38 may provide additional cushion and energy absorption by deflecting downward during a collision. Cut-out area 38 may be sized to provide a customized deflection and energy absorption depending upon the hood weight and crush requirements. Cut-out area 38 may also reduce the amount of material and reduce the weight of tower bumper 34.
The operation of hood bumper 1 following an impact of an object with a vehicle hood will now be described. The impact will cause the vehicle hood to exert a downward force on top surface 36 of tower bumper 34. The downward force will be transmitted through tower legs 4 to transition pieces 18. Frangible areas 20 in transition pieces 18 will fracture if the downward force is larger than the predetermined force required to fracture frangible areas 20. Once frangible areas 20 fracture, tower 2 will fall onto the energy management protrusion 22.
Tower 2 will fall freely until the size of energy management protrusion 22 is larger than the width of cavity 8, at which point energy management protrusion 22 will engage tower legs 4. For example,
In addition to tower legs 4 and connecting piece 6 being designed and shaped to resist tower legs 4 being spread apart from one another, as discussed above, other aspects of hood bumper 1 may be designed and shaped to influence how tower 2 descends on energy management protrusion 22. For example, the angled shape of outer portions 42 of tower bumper 34 may allow portions of fractured transition pieces 18 to bend upward toward tower 2 without contacting outer portions 42 of tower bumper 34 or to delay the contact between the portions of transition pieces 18 and outer portions 42 of tower bumper 34. Preventing or delaying the contact between the portions of transition pieces 18 and outer portions 42 may provide less resistance to tower 2 descending on energy management protrusion 22. Alternatively, removing the angled shape of outer portions 42 may cause portions of fractured transition pieces 18 to contact outer portions 42 sooner and provide greater resistance to tower 2 descending on energy management protrusion 22, which may absorb more energy from the impact with the vehicle hood. Additionally or alternatively, the angled shape of outer portions 42 may allow tower 2 to fit within the fractured transition pieces 18 and allow tower 2 to move downward.
It should be understood that the hood bumpers disclosed are not limited to the embodiments described, modifications may be made without departing from the disclosures herein. While the embodiment described herein may refer to certain features, it should be recognized that the features described herein are interchangeable and may be included or excluded as necessary, unless described otherwise, even where no reference is made to a specific feature. It should also be understood that the advantages described above are not necessarily the only advantages of the hood bumpers, and it is not necessarily expected that all of the described advantages will be achieved with every feature of the disclosed embodiment. The scope of the disclosure is defined by the appended claims, and all devices and methods that come within the meaning of the claims, either literally or by equivalence, are intended to be embraced therein.
