U.S. patent application number 09/853757 was filed with the patent office on 2002-05-09 for impact beam for car doors.
Invention is credited to Kwon, Jae Wook, Lee, Chang Seop, Lee, Dae Gil, Lim, Seong Tae, Suh, Jung Do.
Application Number | 20020053812 09/853757 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 19697952 |
Filed Date | 2002-05-09 |
United States Patent
Application |
20020053812 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Lee, Dae Gil ; et
al. |
May 9, 2002 |
IMPACT BEAM FOR CAR DOORS
Abstract
An impact beam for car doors is disclosed. This impact beam is
reinforced at its central portion, and is improved in beam
bracketing structure. The impact beam is also improved in bending
strength and impact energy absorption capacity. In an embodiment,
the impact beam consists of a longitudinal beam stepped at two
positions to allow its central portion to be thicker than its
opposite end portions. In another embodiment, the impact beam
consists of a longitudinal base beam body, and a hollow reinforcing
beam body having a length shorter than that of the base beam body
and a sectional size larger than that of the base beam body, and
fitted over a central portion of the base beam body. The impact
beam further comprises a beam bracketing structure for fastening
the opposite ends of the impact beam on a door panel. This beam
bracketing structure consists of two support brackets fixedly
mounted to the door panel, and a locking means for locking each end
of the beam to an associated one of the two support brackets.
Inventors: |
Lee, Dae Gil; (Daejeon-si,
KR) ; Kwon, Jae Wook; (Seoul, KR) ; Suh, Jung
Do; (Seoul-si, KR) ; Lee, Chang Seop;
(Soowon-si, KR) ; Lim, Seong Tae; (Daejeon-si,
KR) |
Correspondence
Address: |
BIRCH STEWART KOLASCH & BIRCH
PO BOX 747
FALLS CHURCH
VA
22040-0747
US
|
Family ID: |
19697952 |
Appl. No.: |
09/853757 |
Filed: |
May 14, 2001 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
296/146.6 |
Current CPC
Class: |
B60J 5/0437
20130101 |
Class at
Publication: |
296/146.6 |
International
Class: |
B60J 005/00 |
Foreign Application Data
Date |
Code |
Application Number |
Nov 8, 2000 |
KR |
2000-66249 |
Claims
What is claimed is:
1. An impact beam for car doors, comprising: a longitudinal beam
stepped at two positions to allow its central portion to be thicker
than its opposite end portions.
2. The impact beam according to claim 1, further comprising a beam
bracketing structure for fastening the opposite ends of said impact
beam on a door panel, said beam bracketing structure comprising two
support brackets fixedly mounted to said door panel, and locking
means for locking each end of said beam to an associated one of the
two support brackets.
3. An impact beam for car doors, comprising: a longitudinal base
beam body; and a hollow reinforcing beam body having a length
shorter than that of said base beam body and a sectional size
larger than that of said base beam body, and fitted over a central
portion of the base beam body.
4. The impact beam according to claim 3, wherein two reinforcing
caps are closely fitted over opposite ends of said reinforcing beam
body on the base beam body.
5. The impact beam according to claim 4, wherein said reinforcing
caps are made of steel, thus effectively reinforcing the ends of
the reinforcing beam body and almost completely preventing the ends
of the reinforcing beam body from being shear-fractured in the case
of an application of bending force on said reinforcing beam
body.
6. The impact beam according to claim 3, further comprising a beam
bracketing structure for fastening the opposite ends of said impact
beam on a door panel, said beam bracketing structure comprising two
support brackets fixedly mounted to said door panel, and locking
means for locking each end of said beam to an associated one of the
two support brackets.
7. The impact beam according to claim 2 or 6, wherein said locking
means comprises: a fitting holder fixedly mounted at one end
portion of each of said two support brackets to receive each end of
said impact beam therein; and a locking bolt or a locking rivet
used for locking the end portion of said impact beam to the fitting
holder.
8. The impact beam according to claim 1 or 3, wherein said impact
beam is made of a fiber reinforced high molecular composite
material, consisting of glass fiber, aramid fiber or mixed fiber
thereof with an epoxy base or a polyester base.
9. The impact beam according to claim 1 or 3, wherein said impact
beam is lined with a shock absorbing foam layer on its internal
surface.
10. An impact beam for car doors, comprising: a longitudinal beam;
two support brackets fixedly mounted to a door panel; a fitting
holder fixedly mounted at one end portion of each of said two
support brackets to receive each end of said beam therein; and a
locking bolt or a locking rivet used for locking the end portion of
said beam to the fitting holder.
Description
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0001] 1. Field of the Invention
[0002] The present invention relates to an impact beam mounted in a
car door and used for absorbing impact in the case of a collision
and, more particularly, to an impact beam for car doors designed to
have both an improved bending strength and an improved impact
energy absorption capacity.
[0003] 2. Description of the Prior Art
[0004] As well known to those skilled in the art, an impact beam is
provided between the inside and outside panels of a car door for
absorbing impact in the case of a collision. Conventional impact
beams for car doors are made of steel pipes, and so they are
undesirably heavy in weight and are somewhat inferior in their
impact energy absorption capacity at a low temperature.
[0005] In an effort to compensate for such problems of conventional
steel impact beams, a fiber reinforced impact beam, made of a fiber
reinforced composite material having an improved specific strength
(strength/density) and somewhat effectively absorbing impact
energy, has been proposed and used.
[0006] Impact beams become most highly stressed at their central
portions, when they are loaded with unexpected bending force.
However, since the impact beams are conventionally designed to have
a uniform thickness, they cannot effectively endure such bending
force. In order to overcome such a problem, the impact beam may be
designed to be increased in its thickness. However, such thick
impact beams are problematic in that they undesirably waste
material, and increase the production cost in addition to being
heavy in weight.
[0007] Another problem experienced in the conventional impact beams
resides in that the beam bracketing structure for fastening the
impact beam to a support bracket of a door panel has been designed
with only a consideration of strength while ignoring the impact
energy absorption capacity.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0008] Accordingly, the present invention has been made keeping in
mind the above problems occurring in the prior art, and an object
of the present invention is to provide an impact beam for car
doors, which is reinforced at its central portion, and is improved
in beam bracketing structure, thus being finally improved in
bending strength and impact energy absorption capacity.
[0009] In order to accomplish the above object, the primary
embodiment of the present invention provides an impact beam for car
doors, comprising: a longitudinal beam stepped at two positions to
allow its central portion to be thicker than its opposite end
portions.
[0010] Another embodiment of this invention provides an impact
beam, comprising: a longitudinal base beam body; and a hollow
reinforcing beam body having a length shorter than that of the base
beam body and a sectional size larger than that of the base beam
body, and fitted over the central portion of the base beam
body.
[0011] A further embodiment of the present invention provides an
impact beam for car doors, comprising: a longitudinal beam; two
support brackets fixedly mounted to a door panel; a fitting holder
fixedly mounted at one end portion of each of the two support
brackets to receive each end of the beam therein; and a locking
bolt or a locking rivet used for locking the end portion of the
beam to the fitting holder.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0012] The above and other objects, features and other advantages
of the present invention will be more clearly understood from the
following detailed description taken in conjunction with the
accompanying drawings, in which:
[0013] FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an impact beam for car doors
in accordance with the primary embodiment of the present
invention;
[0014] FIG. 2 is an exploded perspective view, showing a beam
bracketing structure for fastening opposite ends of the impact beam
of FIG. 1 to two support brackets;
[0015] FIG. 3 is a perspective view, showing the construction of
the beam bracketing structure of FIG. 2;
[0016] FIG. 4 is a sectional view of the beam bracketing structure
taken along the line IV-IV' of FIG. 3;
[0017] FIG. 5 is an exploded perspective view, showing the beam
bracketing structure of FIG. 3, when the structure is unexpectedly
broken;
[0018] FIG. 6a is an exploded perspective view of an impact beam in
accordance with the second embodiment of the present invention, and
FIG. 6b is a perspective view of the impact beam of FIG. 6a with
the elements of the impact beam completely assembled into a single
body; and
[0019] FIG. 7 is an exploded perspective view, showing a beam
bracketing structure for fastening opposite ends of the impact beam
of FIG. 6a to two support brackets.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
[0020] FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an impact beam for car doors
in accordance with the primary embodiment of the present
invention.
[0021] As shown in the drawing, the impact beam according to the
primary embodiment of the present invention is a longitudinal beam
10, which is stepped at two positions to allow its central portion
12 to be thicker than its opposite end portions 11.
[0022] The impact beam 10 of this invention is made of a fiber
reinforced high molecular composite material, which consists of
glass fiber, aramid fiber or mixed fiber thereof with an epoxy base
or a polyester base.
[0023] In the present invention, the impact beam 10 may have a
variety of cross-sections, preferably, a hollow square
cross-section, and may be preferably lined with a shock absorbing
foam layer (not shown) on its internal surface.
[0024] FIG. 2 is an exploded perspective view, showing a beam
bracketing structure for fastening the opposite ends of the impact
beam of FIG. 1 to two support brackets.
[0025] As shown in the drawing, the beam bracketing structure for
the beam 10 of this invention comprises two support brackets 20 and
21 fixedly mounted to a door panel (not shown), and a locking means
30 for locking each end of the beam 10 to each support bracket 20
or 21.
[0026] The above locking means 30 comprises a fitting holder 31 and
a locking bolt 32. The fitting holder 31 is fixedly mounted at one
end portion of each bracket 20 or 21 while forming a fitting
channel therein, and receives each end of the impact beam 10 into
the fitting channel. The locking bolt 32 is threaded into a screw
hole formed on the top surface of the fitting holder 31, thus
locking the position of the end of the beam 10 within the fitting
holder 31.
[0027] Of course, it should be understood that the locking bolt 32
may be substituted with a locking rivet without affecting the
functioning of the present invention.
[0028] FIG. 3 is a perspective view, showing the construction of
the beam bracketing structure of FIG. 2. FIG. 4 is a sectional view
of the beam bracketing structure taken along the line IV-IV' of
FIG. 3.
[0029] In the present invention, the two beam bracketing
structures, provided at the opposite ends of the impact beam 10,
have the same construction, and so only one beam bracketing
structure having the first bracket 20 is shown in FIGS. 3 and 4 for
ease of description. As shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, the end portion of
the support bracket 20 is depressed axially and downwardly at its
central portion 20a to form a channel along its central axis. On
the other hand, the fitting holder 31 is depressed axially and
upwardly at its central portion 31a to form another channel along
its central axis. The opposite flanges of the bracket 20 and the
fitting holder 31 are welded together into a single body with the
desired fitting channel.
[0030] The locking bolt 32 is vertically threaded into the screw
hole of the fitting holder 31, thus fixing the end portion of the
impact beam 10 to the bracket 20.
[0031] The operational effect of the above-mentioned impact beam
will be described herein below.
[0032] FIG. 5 is an exploded perspective view, showing the beam
bracketing structure of FIG. 3, when the structure is unexpectedly
broken.
[0033] When bending force is applied to the impact beam 10 of this
invention, the beam 10 becomes most highly stressed at its central
portion 12 in the same manner as that described in the prior art.
However, the impact beam 10 of the present invention is designed to
have the central portion 12 thicker than the opposite end portions
11, and so the beam 10 effectively endures such bending force
applied thereto. The beam bracketing structures for fastening the
opposite ends of the beam 10 to the two brackets 20 and 21 are
accomplished by the use of the locking screws 32 as described
above, and so the impact beam 10 may be excessively stressed at its
ends and may be finally shear-fractured as shown in FIG. 5 when the
beam 10 is subjected to such bending force in a direction as shown
by the arrow of the drawing.
[0034] That is, the impact beam 10 of this invention may be
shear-fractured by an application of bending force on the beam 10
in such a way that the fracture is in proportion to the amount of
absorbed impact energy.
[0035] FIG. 6a is an exploded perspective view of an impact beam in
accordance with the second embodiment of this invention, and FIG.
6b is a perspective view of the impact beam of FIG. 6a with the
elements of the impact beam completely assembled into a single
body.
[0036] As shown in the drawings, the impact beam 40 according to
the second embodiment of the present invention comprises a hollow
longitudinal base beam body 41 and a hollow reinforcing beam body
42. The reinforcing beam body 42 has a length shorter than that of
the base beam body 41, and has a sectional size larger than that of
the base beam body 42, and is fitted over the central portion of
the base beam body 41.
[0037] Two reinforcing caps 43 are closely fitted over opposite
ends of the reinforcing beam body 42, thus fixing the position of
the reinforcing beam body 42 on the base beam body 41. In the
present invention, it is preferable to make the reinforcing caps 43
using steel, thus effectively reinforcing the ends of the
reinforcing beam body 42 and almost completely preventing the ends
of the reinforcing beam body 42 from being undesirably
shear-fractured in the case of an application of bending force on
said beam body 42.
[0038] FIG. 7 is an exploded perspective view, showing a beam
bracketing structure for connecting the opposite ends of the impact
beam 40 of FIG. 6a to two support brackets.
[0039] In the second embodiment of this invention, the impact beam
40 is held to the two support brackets 20 and 21 using the same
locking means 30 as that of the primary embodiment, and further
explanation is thus not deemed necessary.
[0040] The impact beam 40 becomes most highly stressed at its
central portion when it is loaded with unexpected bending force.
However, this impact beam 40 is reinforced at its central portion
by the reinforcing beam body 42 fitted over the central portion of
the base beam body 41. It is thus possible for the impact beam 40
to more effectively endure such bending force.
[0041] In addition, the opposite ends of the reinforcing beam body
42 on the base beam body 41 are also reinforced by the two
reinforcing caps 43, and so it is possible to almost completely
prevent the opposite ends of the reinforcing beam body 42 from
being undesirably shear-fractured prior to being conventionally
compression-fractured or tension-fractured in the case of an
application of bending force on the impact beam 40.
[0042] The operational effect provided by the beam bracketing
structure of this second embodiment remains the same as that
described for the primary embodiment, and further explanation is
thus not deemed necessary.
[0043] As described above, the present invention provides an impact
beam for car doors, which is reinforced at its central portion, and
is improved in beam bracketing structure, thus being reduced in its
weight due to its high strength and superior design and allowing a
car with such impact beams to save fuel. The impact beam of this
invention is also improved in bending strength and impact energy
absorption capacity, and so it accomplishes desired safety of
passengers.
[0044] The impact beam and the beam bracketing structure of this
invention may be effectively used in designing a variety of load
supporting structures or a variety of impact resisting structures
in addition to impact beams for car doors. For example, the present
invention may be preferably used in the structure of vehicles or
the structure of guide rails, which require an improved impact
energy absorption capacity.
[0045] Although a preferred embodiment of the present invention has
been described for illustrative purposes, those skilled in the art
will appreciate that various modifications, additions and
substitutions are possible, without departing from the scope and
spirit of the invention as disclosed in the accompanying
claims.
* * * * *