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JP-7855903-B2 - Vehicle undercover

JP7855903B2JP 7855903 B2JP7855903 B2JP 7855903B2JP-7855903-B2

Inventors

  • 足達 陽介
  • 平田 匠

Assignees

  • 日産自動車株式会社

Dates

Publication Date
20260511
Application Date
20220404

Claims (4)

  1. An under cover that covers the parts of the vehicle's underside that need protection, A non-woven fabric cover body to be placed on the underside of the vehicle, The cover body is further equipped with a resin protector that is partially positioned on the outer surface of the front end of the vehicle, The cover body is fixed to the vehicle bottom surface, forming a space between it and the vehicle bottom surface. An underbody cover for a vehicle, characterized in that the protector is fixed to the underside of the vehicle together with the cover body at the front end of the vehicle, and is also fixed to the cover body at a rearward side of the front end of the vehicle.
  2. The underbody cover for a vehicle according to claim 1, characterized in that the protector and the cover body are fixed together by rivets at multiple locations in the front-to-rear direction of the vehicle.
  3. The under cover according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the protector has a size corresponding to the part to be protected.
  4. The under cover according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the protected portion is the portion of the vehicle's underside with the smallest gap to the ground.

Description

This invention relates to a vehicle underbody cover used to protect specific parts of a vehicle by being positioned on the underside of the vehicle. Conventional vehicle undercovers include those described in Patent Document 1 under the name "automotive exterior material." The automotive exterior material described in Patent Document 1 comprises a nonwoven fabric layer and a thermoplastic resin provided on one surface of the nonwoven fabric layer. This automotive exterior material is formed by laminating a molten thermoplastic resin sheet extruded from an extrusion molding machine onto the entire surface of one side of a nonwoven fabric layer to form a laminate, and then pressing the laminate in the thickness direction to impregnate the nonwoven fabric layer with molten resin, thereby integrating the nonwoven fabric layer and the thermoplastic resin. The above-mentioned automotive exterior materials are used in fender liners, engine undercovers, etc. They are installed with the non-woven fabric layer facing the vehicle body and the thermoplastic resin layer facing outwards. This protects the vehicle from impacts caused by sand and pebbles kicked up by the tires, and reduces road noise from the ground. Patent No. 5666143 This is a cross-sectional view (A) illustrating one embodiment of the underbody cover of a vehicle according to the present invention, and a cross-sectional view (B) showing the state during impact absorption.Figure 1 is a bottom view of a vehicle equipped with an underbody cover. Figures 1 and 2 illustrate one embodiment of the underbody cover for a vehicle according to the present invention. The illustrated underbody cover 1 covers the area to be protected A on the underside of the vehicle, i.e., the bottom surface of the floor member M. The area to be protected A is the part of the floor member M with the smallest gap to the ground, and is, for example, a recess where the battery is housed, with its bottom bulging downwards. As shown in Figure 2, the under cover 1 of this embodiment is positioned on the bottom surface of the floor member M, on the rear side (right side in Figure 2) of the left and right front wheels W, W. Each under cover 1, as shown in Figure 1(A), comprises a non-woven fabric cover body 2 positioned on the bottom surface of the floor member M (vehicle bottom surface), and a resin protector 3 partially positioned on the outer surface of the front end side (left end side in Figure 1) of the cover body 2. The nonwoven fabric cover body 2 contains resin to maintain its shape and is molded into a felt-like form. The cover body 2 in the illustrated example is generally dish-shaped, with a continuous upward-sloping wall 2B around the bottom wall 2A, and a continuous outward-facing flange 2C at the upper end of the inclined wall 2B. This cover body 2 forms a space S between itself and the bottom surface of the floor member M, and is fixed to the bottom surface of the floor member M by multiple screws 4 provided on the flange 2C. The resin protector 3 is not limited to any particular material, as long as it has durability against impacts expected from a moving vehicle and a low coefficient of friction; a typical example is polypropylene (PP). The protector 3 in the illustrated example has a continuous bottom wall 3A, inclined wall 3B, and flange 3C, similar to the cross-sectional shape of the cover body 2 at the vehicle's front end. Furthermore, the protector 3 has a size corresponding to the area to be protected A. Therefore, in a plan view, the cover body 2 has a larger area than the protector 3. Furthermore, the under cover 1 described above has a protector 3 fixed to the bottom surface of the floor member M together with the cover body 2 at the front end of the vehicle, and also fixed to the cover body 2 at a point further rear than the front end of the vehicle. More specifically, the under cover 1 is constructed by overlapping the protector 3 onto the outer surface (bottom surface) of the cover body 2 at the front end of the vehicle, and fixing the flange 3C of the protector 3 and the flange 2C of the cover body 2 to the floor member M with bolts 5. The under cover 1 is then secured to the bottom wall 3A of the protector 3 and the bottom wall 2A of the cover body 2 with multiple rivets 6. In this case, the protector 3 and the cover body 2 are fixed together with rivets 6 at at least multiple locations in the front-to-rear direction of the vehicle, as shown in Figure 2. Note that Figure 1 schematically shows the basic configuration of the under cover 1, so the number and arrangement of the rivets 6 differ from those in Figure 2. The under cover 1, with the above configuration, can protect the target area A from impacts such as sand and pebbles kicked up by the front wheels W while driving. Furthermore, as shown in Figure 1(B), when it comes into contact with obstacles P such as uneven road surfaces, the resin protector 3, which has a low coefficient of friction, makes contac