Wheelhouse inner bracket for automotive vehicles

A wheelhouse reinforcement bracket provides increased torsional rigidity for the rear wheelhouses of an automotive vehicle. The wheelhouse bracket is positioned in alignment with the location on the vehicle body where the shock absorber is located, and in alignment with the rear suspension cross frame member to create a structural ring formed by the wheelhouse bracket, the C-pillar and the rear suspension cross frame member. The wheelhouse bracket is formed with a mounting flange positionable within the inside of the U-shaped rear side frame rail to facilitate welding thereto instead of being welded to the top of the underbody floor structure. The mounting flange has a first portion configured to be mated against a first generally vertically extending wall of the rear side frame rail and a second portion configured to be mated against a generally horizontally extending wall of the rear side frame rail.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates to the unitized construction of an automotive vehicle and, more particularly, to a bracket located inside the rear side rail in line with the rear suspension cross member to create superior structural continuity in the rear underbody architecture of an automotive vehicle.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

An automotive body construction includes an underbody and a wheelhouse at which a reinforcement bracket is typically positioned on top of the floor of the underbody to increase torsional rigidity. This known reinforcement structure for the wheelhouse not located strategically well and does not provide an effective connection into the existing back-up structure in the underbody, which leads to over cost, over weight and ineffective reinforcement design solutions for increasing torsional rigidity.

An example of a known wheelhouse reinforcement structure can be seen in U.S. Pat. No. 7,021,703, issued to Toshiyuki Yamaguchi, et al, on Apr. 4, 2006. This prior art patent discloses left and right floor rear side rails extending in a longitudinal direction (i.e. front to rear with respect to the automotive vehicle) and a rear suspension cross member connected between the left and right floor rear side rails. The underbody floor is mounted on the rear side rails and the underbody cross members. Left and right damper support members are mounted to the underbody floor adjacent to the respective floor rear side rails for supporting upper end portions of the damper support member in a transverse direction, and mounted to the underbody floor and the corresponding floor rear side rails for covering upper parts of the left and right rear wheels. Left and right gussets are connected to a reinforcement plate, a respective wheelhouse, a respective damper support member and underbody cross member.

In U.S. Pat. No. 6,648,401, issued to Guenter Behnke and Thomas Doerfler and assigned to Ford Global Technologies, LLC, on Nov. 18, 2003, a reinforcement member is disclosed as being fastened to a longitudinal member in a region of a junction between the longitudinal member and underbody cross member. This reinforcement member results in a particularly rigid connecting node formed by the underbody cross member, the longitudinal rear side rail members and the wheelhouse. The reinforcement member provides an additional path to transfer forces from the wheelhouse into the longitudinal rear side rail member.

It would be desirable to provide a reinforcement bracket located inside the rear side rail in alignment with the shock and the underbody cross member to create superior structural continuity in the rear underbody architecture.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

It is an object of this invention to overcome the aforementioned disadvantages of the known prior art by providing a reinforcement bracket located inside the rear side rail in alignment with the shock and the underbody cross member to create superior structural continuity in the rear underbody architecture.

It is another object of this invention to position the reinforcement bracket in alignment with the C-pillar and the roof header body structure.

It is an advantage of this invention that when aligned with the C-pillar and the roof header body structure, the reinforcement bracket creates a structural ring that results in a lighter weight structure having a better NVH & Durability vehicle performance.

It is a feature of this invention that the reinforcement bracket is located on the inside of the rear side rail.

It is another feature of this invention that the reinforcement bracket is located inline with the location on the vehicle body where the shock absorber is attached, and inline with the rear suspension cross member.

It is another advantage of this invention that the reinforcement bracket creates a superior structural continuity in the rear underbody architecture of the automotive vehicle.

It is still another advantage of this invention that the reinforcement bracket provides improvements in static & dynamic body stiffness plus improvements in rough road NVH vehicle performance.

It is still another object of this invention to provide a wheelhouse reinforcement bracket that is connected on the interior side of a U-shaped rear side rail while being strategically aligned between the shock attachment location and the rear suspension cross member.

It is yet another object of this invention to provide a wheelhouse reinforcement bracket for an automotive vehicle that is durable in construction, inexpensive of manufacture, carefree of maintenance, facile in assemblage, and simple and effective in use.

These and other objects, features and advantages are accomplished according to the instant invention by providing a wheelhouse reinforcement bracket for the rear wheelhouses of an automotive vehicle to increase torsional rigidity for the vehicle. The wheelhouse bracket is positioned in alignment with the location on the vehicle body where the shock absorber is located, and in alignment with the rear suspension cross member to create a structural ring formed by the wheelhouse bracket, the C-pillar and the rear suspension cross member. The wheelhouse bracket is formed with a mounting flange positionable within the inside of the U-shaped rear side rail to facilitate welding thereto instead of being welded to the top of the underbody floor structure. The mounting flange has a first portion configured to be mated against a first generally vertically extending wall of the rear side rail and a second portion configured to be mated against a generally horizontally extending wall of the rear side rail.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

Referring to the drawings, a wheelhouse bracket incorporating the principles of the instant invention can best be seen. The wheelhouse bracket20is welded to each of the wheelhouse structures12of an automotive vehicle10, a representative one of which is partially shown inFIGS. 1 and 2. The wheelhouse structure12is a curved member that provides space for the mounting of one of the wheels (not shown) of an automobile10so that the wheel is positioned within the transversely extending structure of the vehicle10. As is well known in the automotive arts, the wheel has associated therewith a suspension mechanism (not shown) which includes a shock absorber (not shown) that is connected to the body of the vehicle to allow movement of the wheel relative to the vehicle body while moving over the ground surface.

The conventional unitized construction structure15of the automotive vehicle10includes a longitudinally extending rear side rail16on each opposing transverse side of the vehicle10to which is welded a transversely extending rear suspension cross member17that extends therebetween. Each of these members16,17can be formed from sheet metal into a generally U-shaped configuration to provide frame support for the vehicle10. The rear underbody structure15also conventionally includes an underbody floor structure18that is mounted on top of the rear side rail16and often the cross member17, depending on the configuration of the automobile10. The rear underbody structure15also includes a pair of generally vertically oriented C-pillar frame members19that interconnects the rear side rails16with the roof header frame members (not shown) as is well known in the automotive arts.

In known existing wheelhouse structures12, as is represented in the aforementioned U.S. Pat. No. 7,021,703, a wheelhouse bracket is provided on the wheelhouse12in alignment with the location at which the shock absorber (not shown) is mounted to the vehicle body and over top of the rear side rail16, welded to the underbody floor structure18. However, such a configuration of the wheelhouse bracket is ineffective as the wheelhouse bracket is not strategically well placed or tied into the existing backup structure of the automotive rear structure15. Because of these inefficiencies, the wheelhouse bracket needs to be larger, resulting in increased weight, increased space and increased costs.

The wheelhouse bracket20incorporating the principles of the instant invention is not affixed to the underbody floor structure18, as is known in the art. The instant wheelhouse bracket20is formed with body portion21is configured to extend generally vertically over the wheelhouse structure12and a mounting flange25that is configured to extend into the interior of the rear side rail16so as to be welded to the inner portions of the rear side rail16and become integrated into the rear structure15of the vehicle10. The wheelhouse bracket20is aligned directly with the rear suspension cross member17, which in turn is welded to the rear side rail16, and thus to the wheelhouse bracket20. The wheelhouse bracket20is also oriented in alignment with the C-pillar frame member19to create a vertically oriented structural ring that includes the roof header structure (not shown), the C-pillar19, and the cross member17to provide increased resistance to torsion.

The mounting flange25is formed with a generally vertical, longitudinally extending portion26on both sides thereof to allow the wheelhouse bracket20to be welded to the inside vertically extending side wall of the rear side rail16. The mounting flange25also includes a horizontal portion27on opposing sides of the wheelhouse bracket20to permit the mounting flange25to be affixed to the horizontal portion of the rear side rail16. Lastly, the inside face28of the wheelhouse bracket20is formed to mate against the vertically oriented opposing side wall of the rear side rail16to allow the inside face28to be welded to the rear side rail16. Accordingly, the wheelhouse bracket20is thoroughly integrated into the structure of the rear side rail16. The wheelhouse bracket20is also formed to include a formed mounting flange24that is configured to mate against the wheelhouse12to allow the wheelhouse bracket20to be welded thereto.

The wheelhouse bracket20is also positioned in alignment with the location on the body where the shock absorber is mounted. The wheelhouse bracket20is formed with a horizontal shelf22that supports the mounting of the shock absorber (not shown). The integration of the wheelhouse bracket20into the structure of the rear side rails16, as well as the orientation of the wheelhouse bracket20to be in alignment with the underbody cross member17and the C-pillar19, provides substantial resistance to the forces exerted on the rear structure15by the suspension mechanism (not shown) while providing substantial torsional rigidity within the rear structure15.

One skilled in the art will recognize that changes in the details, materials, steps and arrangements of parts which have been described and illustrated to explain the nature of the invention will occur to and may be made by those skilled in the art upon a reading of this disclosure within the principles and scope of the invention. The foregoing description illustrates the preferred embodiment of the invention; however, concepts, as based upon the description, may be employed in other embodiments without departing from the scope of the invention.