JP2003237370A - Tailgate installation structure - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a relatively simple tailgate structure, without increasing the number of part items in installing a resin tailgate on a body rear part, capable of minimizing the displacement amount of a tailgate even when an installation part on a hinge of an inner panel is broken. <P>SOLUTION: A reinforcement bracket 15 which reinforces the installation part on a hinge plate 23 of an inner panel is installed inside a panel spatial portion 13 formed between a resin inner panel 11 and an outer panel 12. The reinforcement bracket is provided with a body portion 16 corresponding to the hinge installation part of the inner panel and a plate-shaped extension portion 17 which is jointed to an outer panel with extended to near side of a panel jointing portion 14 of the inner panel and the outer panel from the body portion. The extension portion is provided with a fold portion 17b which is folded along the outer panel near the panel jointing portion. The fold portion is jointed to the outer panel through an adhesive layer Db. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2003,JPO

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a tailgate mounting structure for mounting a tailgate that covers a rear portion of a vehicle body so that the rear portion of the vehicle body can be opened and closed, via a hinge member fixed to the rear portion of the vehicle body.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art As is well known, a so-called lift gate, tail gate, rear gate or back door which opens and closes an opening at a rear end portion of a vehicle body on a rear end side of a vehicle such as an automobile is opened and closed. When a body (hereinafter, these opening / closing bodies are collectively referred to as “tailgate”) is provided, a hinge member is fixed to the rear end portion of the vehicle body roof, and the hinge member is provided near the upper end of the tailgate. It is common to attach parts.

Further, in recent years, from the viewpoint of weight reduction of a vehicle body in response to a demand for improvement of fuel efficiency, the tailgate made of synthetic resin has come into practical use. 5 and 6 show a tailgate 6 made of resin.
It is sectional explanatory drawing which shows the principal part of the conventional attachment structure which attaches 0 to the rear-end part of the vehicle body roof 52. As shown in these figures, such a resin tailgate 60 is
Usually, an inner plate member (inner panel 61) and an outer plate member (outer panel 62) are combined to form a space (panel space 63) between them, and the peripheral portions of both panels 61 and 62 and the vicinity thereof are bonded together. It is formed by joining (panel joining portion 64) with an agent or the like.

The tailgate 60 is attached to the vehicle body roof 52.
When attaching to the rear end portion of the roof unit, the main body 71 of the hinge unit 70 formed of a metal material such as steel is fixed to the upper surface of the rear header 54 at the rear end portion of the roof 52 with the fixing bolt 76 and the nut 77. Generally, the tailgate 60 is attached by fastening and fixing the inner plate 61 to a hinge plate 73 which is rotatably supported around a hinge shaft 72.

At this time, in order to reinforce the mounting portion of the inner panel 61, it is conceivable to use a metal reinforcing plate 65 such as a steel plate. That is, as shown in FIG. 5, the reinforcing plate 65 to which the fixing nut 68 is fixed is arranged in the panel space portion 63, and the reinforcing plate 65 (specifically, the fixing nut 68 is By aligning the hinge plate 73 and screwing the screw member 75, the tailgate 60 (that is, the inner panel 61) is fastened and fixed to the hinge plate 73.

By the way, when the tailgate 60 is made of resin, the weight is significantly reduced as compared with the conventional steel plate, so it can greatly contribute to the weight reduction of the vehicle body, but on the other hand, For example, when the vehicle receives a rear-end collision (so-called rear collision) and the collision load is large to a certain extent or more, the inner panel 61 is attached to the hinge plate 73 with the attachment structure shown in FIG. The part is broken to break from the hinge 70 (specifically, the hinge plate 7
It is also conceivable that the tailgate 60 may fall off the vehicle body in the worst case.

Therefore, as shown in FIG. 6, for example, a strap holding member 81 is fixed to the reinforcing plate 65, one end of a strap (string-like body) 82 is fixed to the strap holding member 81, and the strap 82 is fixed. It is conceivable to insert the other end side of the above into the panel space 63 and then fix the other end side to an appropriate place such as a latch portion (not shown) below the tailgate 60. By providing such a strap 82, when a collision load is applied,
Even if the portion where the inner panel 61 is attached to the hinge is broken and detached from the hinge 70 (specifically, from the hinge plate 73), the tailgate 60 is supported by the strap 82 and therefore falls off the vehicle body. It is prevented from doing.

[0008]

However, in this structure, since the strap 82 is required in addition to the reinforcing plate 65, the number of parts is increased and a complicated assembling man-hour is required for assembling the strap 82. ,
In addition, when the tailgate 60 is about to fall off due to breakage of the hinged portion of the inner panel 61, the fallout is prevented, but the movement of the tailgate 60 is relatively large due to the extension of the strap 82. There was a difficulty that

The present invention has been made in view of the above technical problems, and has a relatively simple structure without causing an increase in the number of parts, and even when the attaching portion of the inner panel to the hinge is broken. The object is to enable the amount of movement of the tailgate to be kept relatively small.

[0010]

Therefore, the first aspect of the present invention is as follows.
The tailgate mounting structure according to the invention (hereinafter, referred to as the first invention) includes a tailgate that is formed by joining the peripheral portions of the resin inner panel and the outer panel and the vicinity thereof and covers the rear portion of the vehicle body so that the tailgate can be opened and closed. Assuming a tailgate mounting structure that is attached to the vehicle body via a hinge member fixed to the rear portion of the vehicle body, the portion of the inner panel that is attached to the hinge member is reinforced in the space formed between the inner panel and the outer panel. A reinforcing bracket is provided. The reinforcing bracket includes a main body portion corresponding to a mounting portion of the inner panel to the hinge member, and extends from the main body portion to a side near a panel joint portion between the inner panel and the outer panel and is joined to the outer panel. It is characterized by having an extension part.

The invention according to claim 2 of the present application (hereinafter,
In a second aspect of the invention, in the first aspect of the invention, the extension portion of the reinforcing bracket is formed in a plate shape, and has a bent portion that is bent substantially along the outer panel near the panel joint portion. ing. The bent portion is joined to the outer panel via an adhesive layer.

[0012]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings. FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a vehicle body rear portion of an automobile M according to the present embodiment, and FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional explanatory view taken along line Y2-Y2 in FIG. As shown in these figures, in the rear part of the vehicle body of the automobile M,
A tailgate 10 is attached as an opening / closing body that covers the opening formed in the rear portion of the vehicle body so as to be opened and closed in the vertical direction.

As can be seen from FIG. 2, the tailgate 10 is a combination of an inner plate member 11 (inner panel) and an outer plate member 12 (outer panel) having a predetermined shape and size, and the peripheral portions of both panels 11, 12. By joining and the vicinity thereof, a space portion 13 (panel space portion) is formed between the two 11 and 12. An upper end portion of the rear window glass 6 is supported on the rear portion of the tailgate 10 via a seal member 7.

In the present embodiment, both the inner and outer panels 11 and 12 are made of synthetic resin, and their peripheral edges and their vicinity are
It is joined using an adhesive (adhesive layer Da). As the synthetic resin material of the inner panel 11, for example, polypropylene (P
P) resin was used. Further, as the synthetic resin material of the outer panel 12, a resin material made of polycarbonate (PC) resin and acetyl nitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) resin was used. Further, a urethane resin-based adhesive was used as the adhesive.

The inner and outer panel materials 1 are used.
It is needless to say that the materials 1 and 12 and the adhesive (adhesive layer Da) for joining the materials are not limited to those exemplified above, and various other appropriate materials can be used. .

On the other hand, a hinge unit 20 is fixed to the rear portion of the vehicle body of the automobile M above the rear header 3 extending in the vehicle width direction at the rear end side of the vehicle body roof 2. The hinge unit 20 is similar to a conventionally known one, and includes a hinge main body 21 fixed to the upper surface of the rear header 3 by a plurality of fixing bolts 26 and nuts 27, and an upper portion of the hinge main body 21 in the vehicle width direction. Hinge shaft 22 extended
And a hinge plate 23 pivotally supported about the hinge shaft 22. The vicinity of the upper end of the tailgate 10 is attached to the hinge plate 23. The hinge unit 20 is made of a metal material such as steel.

Inner panel 11 of the tailgate 10
A panel space portion 1 formed between the outer panel 12 and the outer panel 12.
A reinforcing bracket 15 that reinforces a mounting portion of the inner panel 11 to the hinge unit 20 (specifically, to the hinge plate 23) is provided in the interior of the housing 3. The reinforcing bracket 15 is formed of, for example, a metal material such as a steel plate, and includes a main body portion 16 corresponding to a mounting portion of the inner panel 11 to the hinge plate 23, and the main body portion 16 from the inner panel 11 to the outer panel 12. Panel joint 1
4 and an extension portion 17 that is extended to the side closer to 4 and is joined to the back surface side of the outer panel 12.

That is, as shown in detail in FIG. 3, the extension portion 17 of the reinforcing bracket 15 is connected to the panel joint portion 1.
4 has a bent portion 17b that is bent in a substantially V shape so as to extend substantially along the back surface side of the outer panel 12 in the vicinity of 4. The bent portion 17b is joined to the back surface side of the outer panel 12 via the adhesive layer Db. Also,
A plurality of (for example, two) fixing nuts 18 are joined and fixed to the main body portion 16 of the reinforcing bracket 15 by welding, for example.

When the tailgate 10 is attached to the vehicle body roof 2, the center lines of the screw holes 18h (see FIG. 3) of the fixing nuts 18 of the reinforcing bracket 15 and the respective penetrations of the hinge plate 23 of the hinge unit 20. The tailgate 10 is aligned with the hinge unit 20 so that the center line of the hole 23h substantially coincides, and more preferably, the tapping screw 25 is attached to the hinge plate 2.
Screw in from the 3 side.

As a result, the upper end side of the tailgate 10 is attached to the rear header 4 located at the rear end of the vehicle body roof 2 via the hinge unit 20. When the tailgate 10 is closed, a space between the tailgate 10 and the rear end of the vehicle body roof 2 is sealed by a seal member 5 attached to the rear end of the rear header 4.

As described above, in the present embodiment, the reinforcing bracket 15 that reinforces the mounting portion of the tailgate 10 to the hinge plate 23 of the inner panel 11 corresponds to the mounting portion of the inner panel 11 to the hinge plate 23. The main body portion 16 and the extension portion 17 that is extended from the main body portion 16 to a side near the panel joint portion 14 between the inner panel 11 and the outer panel 12 and is joined to the outer panel 12.

Specifically, the reinforcing bracket 15 is formed in a plate shape including the extension portion 17, and the extension portion 17 extended to the side closer to the panel joint portion 14 is near the panel joint portion 14. The outer panel 12 has a bent portion 17b that is folded back substantially along the back surface of the outer panel 12. By providing such a bent portion 17b, it is possible to increase the rigidity of the plate-shaped reinforcing bracket 15, particularly the extension portion 17 thereof.

The bent portion 17 of the extended portion 17
b is joined to the back surface side of the outer panel 12 via the adhesive layer Db. Therefore, the reinforcing bracket 15 can be provided as close as possible to the panel joint portion 14, and the attachment portion of the tailgate 10 to the hinge unit 20 can be made relatively compact.

As described above, since the reinforcing bracket 15 is joined to not only the inner panel 11 but also the outer panel 12, the inner panel 11 is acted upon by the action of a collision load or the like.
Even if the mounting part of the outer bracket 12 to the hinge plate 23 is broken, the outer panel 12 does not extend to the extension 1 of the reinforcing bracket 15.
By being joined to 7, it is possible to reliably prevent the tailgate 10 from falling off the vehicle body.

In this case, the reinforcing bracket 15 is provided with the extension portion 17 and is joined to the back surface of the outer panel 12 with an adhesive, so that the tailgate 10 can be joined without increasing the number of parts. Can be prevented. Moreover, the movement amount of the tailgate 10 when the mounting portion of the inner panel 11 to the hinge plate 23 is broken can be suppressed to be much smaller than that when the strap is used.

The hinge unit 2 of the inner panel 11
As the above-mentioned reinforcing bracket 15 which reinforces the attachment portion to 0, various forms can be considered. For example, as shown in FIG. 4, a reinforcing bracket 35 obtained by bending a steel plate material is provided on both sides in the vehicle width direction of a bracket main body 36 to which a plurality (for example, two) of fixing nuts 18 are fixed. You may make it provide the extension part 37 extended from the part 36 to the side near the panel joint part 14 of the inner panel 11 and the outer panel 12. As shown in FIG. The main body portion 36 corresponds to a mounting portion of the inner panel 11 to the hinge unit 20 (to the hinge plate 23).

In the reinforcing bracket 35, the extension portion 37 is bent at a substantially right angle toward the side closer to the panel joint portion 14, and further extends substantially along the back surface of the outer panel 12 near the panel joint portion 14. And has a bent portion 37b that is bent to the left and right sides at a substantially right angle,
These bent portions 37b are joined to the outer panel 12 via an adhesive layer.

As described above, it is needless to say that the present invention is not limited to the above embodiments, and various improvements and design changes can be made without departing from the scope of the invention.

[0029]

According to the first invention of the present application, the reinforcing bracket for reinforcing the mounting portion of the tailgate to the hinge member of the inner panel includes a body portion corresponding to the mounting portion of the inner panel to the hinge member, An extension portion extending from the main body portion to a side near the panel joint portion between the inner panel and the outer panel and joined to the outer panel is provided. Therefore,
Even if the portion where the inner panel is attached to the hinge is broken, the outer panel is joined to the extension of the reinforcing bracket, so that the tailgate can be reliably prevented from falling off the vehicle body. In this case, since the reinforcing bracket is only provided with the extension and is joined to the outer panel, the number of parts is not increased,
The configuration is also relatively simple. In addition, the amount of movement of the tailgate when the portion of the inner panel that is attached to the hinge is broken can be suppressed to a smaller amount than when the strap is used.

Further, according to the second invention of the present application, basically, the same effect as that of the first invention can be obtained. In particular, since the extension portion of the reinforcing bracket is formed in a plate shape and has a bent portion that is bent in the vicinity of the panel joint portion so as to extend substantially along the outer panel, it is possible to improve the rigidity of the plate-shaped extension portion. Can be planned. Also, since this bent portion is joined to the outer panel via the adhesive layer, the reinforcing bracket can be provided relatively close to the panel joined portion, and the mounting portion of the tailgate to the hinge member is relatively compact. It can be anything.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a vehicle body rear portion of an automobile according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory cross-sectional view taken along the line Y2-Y2 in FIG.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of a reinforcing bracket according to the above embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing a modified example of the reinforcing bracket.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory cross-sectional view showing a main part of a tailgate mounting structure according to a conventional example.

FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional explanatory view showing a main part of a tailgate mounting structure according to another conventional example.

[Explanation of symbols]

2 ... Body roof 10 ... Tailgate 11 ... Inner panel 12 ... Outer panel 13 ... Panel space 14 ... Panel joint 15, 35 ... Reinforcing bracket 16, 36 ... Main body 17,37 ... extension 17b, 37b ... Bent portion 20 ... Hinge unit Db ... Adhesive layer M ... Car

   ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continued front page    (72) Inventor Koichiro Yamaguchi             3-1, Shinchi, Fuchu-cho, Aki-gun, Hiroshima Prefecture Mazda             Within the corporation (72) Inventor Michio Kaku             3-1, Shinchi, Fuchu-cho, Aki-gun, Hiroshima Prefecture Mazda             Within the corporation (72) Inventor Kaoru Kawamoto             3-1, Shinchi, Fuchu-cho, Aki-gun, Hiroshima Prefecture Mazda             Within the corporation

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A tailgate, which is formed by joining peripheral portions of an inner panel and an outer panel made of resin and their vicinity to each other and covers a rear portion of a vehicle body so that the rear portion can be opened and closed, is attached to the vehicle body via a hinge member fixed to the rear portion of the vehicle body. In the tailgate mounting structure, a reinforcing bracket for reinforcing a mounting portion of the inner panel to the hinge member is disposed in a space formed between the inner panel and the outer panel, and the reinforcing bracket is A body portion corresponding to a mounting portion of the inner panel to the hinge member; and an extension portion extending from the body portion to a side near a panel joint portion between the inner panel and the outer panel and joined to the outer panel. It has a tailgate mounting structure. 2. The extension portion of the reinforcing bracket is formed in a plate shape, and has a bent portion that is bent in the vicinity of the panel joint portion so as to extend substantially along the outer panel, and the bent portion is adhesive. The tailgate mounting structure according to claim 1, wherein the tailgate mounting structure is joined to the outer panel via a layer.