Abstract:
The invention concerns a device for fixing a piece of equipment for a motor vehicle, in particular a heat exchanger ( 20 ), on a structural element of the vehicle ( 10 ) such as a front surface module. The invention is characterised in that the device comprises at least two shoes ( 30 ) arranged on either side of the piece of equipment ( 20 ), while the structural element ( 10 ) comprises at least two substantially parallel internal edges ( 11   a   , 11   b ) defining an open part ( 15 ) wherein is mounted the piece of equipment ( 20 ). Each shoe is supported on one of the edges ( 11   a   , 11   b ) and on an external top surface ( 24 ) of the piece of equipment and made in a deformable material such that the piece of equipment ( 20 ) is force-mounted between the shoes ( 30 ).

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     The invention relates to the fixing of motor-vehicle equipment onto a structural element of this vehicle. 
     It relates in particular to the mounting of heat exchangers, for example the radiator of the circuit for cooling the engine, or the condenser of an air-conditioning loop of an installation for ventilation, heating and/or air conditioning of the passenger compartment of the vehicle, or the vent of a motor-driven fan unit of this installation. 
     It applies in particular, but not in a limiting way, to the mounting of these items of equipment on a facade of the vehicle (front face), particularly produced in the form of a modular unit provided with various items of equipment (cooling radiator, headlamps, etc.), prepared and delivered by the equipment manufacturer and advantageously ready to be mounted on the vehicle by the builder. 
     A heat exchanger of the abovementioned type can generally be fixed onto the structural element of the vehicle by means of metal springs provided in the upper area of the structural element, on the one hand, and of elastic damping studs in the lower part, on the other hand. The springs thus make it possible to take up the various dimensional tolerances and allow the mounting of different types of radiators by virtue of their flexibility. The abovementioned elastic studs, for their part, provide damping and centering on the structural element. 
     However, this mounting technique requires the fitting of attached elements (springs and fixing pins) implying additional cost relating to the supplementary components to be provided and to the time necessary to mount them in the assembly process. 
     One of the objects of the invention is to remedy this difficulty by proposing a novel mounting configuration making it possible to reduce the number of components necessary for assembly, to provide rapid mounting and to preserve sufficient flexibility to accept several different, types of equipment. 
     BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention is thus an improvement on the situation. 
     It relates to a device for fixing motor-vehicle equipment, especially a heat exchanger, onto a structural element of the vehicle including an open part in which the equipment is mounted. 
     According to the invention, the fixing device includes at least two shoes arranged on either side of the equipment while the structural element includes at least two substantially parallel inner rims delimiting the abovementioned open part. Each shoe bears on one of the rims, on the one hand, and on an outer prominent surface of the equipment, on the other hand. The shoes are produced from a deformable material so that the equipment is mounted by force between the shoes. Hence, the fixing of the equipment by means of deformable shoes makes it possible to damp the vibrations to which the equipment may be subject and to increase the limits of manufacturing tolerance of the equipment and of the structural element. 
     In order to facilitate the mounting of the equipment between the two rims of the structural element, at least one of the rims carries a supplementary bearing surface for at least one of the shoes, projecting in a plane substantially perpendicular to the surface of the rim. Hence, the equipment is mounted by pivoting about a ridge formed by the intersection of this bearing surface and the surface of the rim. 
     Advantageously, the structural element includes a housing for each shoe, comprising side walls projecting from the rims. Hence, each shoe is immobilized with respect to a direction substantially parallel to the rim. 
     According to another advantageous characteristic of the present invention, the shoes exhibit a substantially “U” shape, and the two legs of the “U”, are in close contact with the equipment so as to hold it substantially fixed in a plane passing through the two rims. 
     In order to immobilize the equipment with respect to a direction parallel to the rim, the device according to the invention further includes means for clipping the equipment onto at least one lateral rim which the structural element includes, adjacent to the two rims. 
     In order to form the abovementioned clipping means, the equipment includes at least one inclined plane projecting from an outer side wall, this inclined plane being suitable for interacting with a substantially matching housing which the lateral rim of the abovementioned structural element includes. 
     Advantageously, the shoes are produced from a material with a high coefficient of friction, in particular in interaction with the abovementioned prominent wall of the equipment, this material especially being of the type comprising a rubber. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING 
     Other advantages and characteristics of the present invention will emerge on examining the detailed description below and the attached drawings in which: 
     FIG. 1 represents a structural element including, in the example described, a front-face module of a motor vehicle; 
     FIG. 2 diagrammatically represents a front view along the section II of FIG. 1 of the abovementioned equipment which, in the example described, includes a radiator of a circuit for cooling the engine of the vehicle; 
     FIG. 3A diagrammatically represents a side view along the section III of FIG. 2, of the fixing device according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention. 
     FIG. 3B represents a front view of the illustration shown in FIG.  3 A. 
     FIG. 4 diagrammatically represents a side view along the same section as FIG. 3, of a fixing device according to a variant of the abovementioned embodiment; 
     FIG. 5 represents a detailed view of a housing of one of the shoes of the fixing device according to the invention; 
     FIG. 6 represents a detailed view of a housing of the abovementioned inclined plane, mounted on a side wall of the structural element; and 
     FIG. 7 diagrammatically represents a view along the section VII of FIG. 6, of the abovementioned clipping means. 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
     The detailed description below and the attached drawings in essence contain elements of a certain character. They can not only serve to give a better understanding of the present invention but also contribute to its definition, as the case may be. 
     Referring first of all to FIG. 1, a structural element is described including a front-face module  10  of a motor vehicle. This module includes an open frame  15  in which is intended to be mounted equipment of the vehicle comprising a radiator of a cooling circuit  20 . The front-face module includes means (not represented) for fixing to the bodywork of the vehicle or else maybe [sic] integrated directly into the bodywork, for example by welding. 
     The front-face module  10  represented in FIG. 1 includes apertures in frames  16  for housing headlamps (lamps of the vehicle), in this example. It further includes an open frame  15  delimited horizontally by two substantially parallel rims  11   a  and  11   b , and vertically by two side walls  14   a  and  14   b , which are substantially parallel and adjacent to the rims  11   a  and  11   b . Hence, the two rims and the two side walls form a substantially rectangular frame into which the equipment is intended to be inserted. 
     In the example described, this equipment includes a radiator of a circuit for cooling the engine of the motor vehicle. Conventionally, this radiator is equipped with a bank of tubes joined together at each of their opposite ends by a manifold plate  22  (FIG.  2 ). Each of the two manifold plates  22  closes off a fluid chamber  21 . In this example, the fluid which the two chambers  21  contain is water circulating in a cooling circuit. Referring to FIG. 2, this cooling radiator  20  is placed between the two rims  11   a  and  11   b  of the front-face module. 
     According to the invention, the fixing device includes shoes  30 , produced from a deformable material (a rubber in the example described) and inserted between the radiator  20  and the rims  11   a  and  11   b . In particular, these shoes  30  come to bear on a prominent outer surface  24  (FIG. 2) of the radiator  20 , on the one hand, and on the rims  11   a  and  11   b , on the other hand. In order to avoid the shoes sliding in a direction parallel to the rims  11   a  and  11   b , lateral abutments  19   a  and  19   b  are provided, projecting from the rims  11   a  and  11   b , in contact with the rubber shoes  30 . It should be noted that, in a simplified variant of the fixing device, the lateral abutments  19   b  projecting from the lower rim  11   a  can be dispensed with. 
     Referring to FIGS. 3A and 3B, it is apparent that the four shoes which the fixing device A includes according to a preferred embodiment, of the invention exhibit a substantially “U” shape, A capping end parts of the water chambers  21  and of the prominent walls  24 . Hence the two legs  31  and  32  of the “U” shaped shoes make it possible to immobilize the radiator  20  in the plane of the frame  15 . 
     It should be noted here that the term “prominent walls” is to be taken in the wide sense. That being so, it encompasses the cheeks of the cooling radiator  20 , as well as the extremities of the manifold plates  22  and of the water chambers  21 . In this example, each shoe is mounted straddling one of the extremities of one of the manifold plates  22  (FIG.  2 ). The shoes then include central recesses matching the shape of the protuberances which the extremities of the manifold plates  22  form on the prominent surfaces  24 , which makes it possible then to immobilize the heat exchanger  20  with respect to the shoes, in translation along the rims  11   a ,  11   b . In a variant, provision may be made to add lateral abutments to the prominent surfaces  24  of the heat exchanger, and to insert the shoes between these abutments and the abutments  19   a  of the front-face module. 
     In order to mount the radiator  20  into the frame  15 , provision is made: 
     to arrange two shoes on the upper surface of the radiator and on the lower surface, straddling the extremities of the manifold plates  22 , 
     then to insert the upper shoes into housings formed by the upper rim  11   b , the lateral projection  12   b  and the lateral extension  11   c  of the upper rim (top of FIGS.  3 A and  3 B), 
     and finally to make the radiator pivot (arrow F) about the ridge  13   b  formed by the intersection of the upper rim  11   b  and of the lateral projection  12   b.    
     The lower shoes of the fixing device then come into abutment against the lateral projection  12   a  which the lower rim  11   a  includes (bottom of FIGS.  3 A and  3 B), thus forming bearing surfaces for the lower shoes. 
     Referring now to FIG. 4, a variant of the embodiment of the shoes of the fixing device described above is described. In this variant, the legs of the “U” shaped shoes exhibit protuberances  33  and  34  in their inner surface, which are suitable for engaging in notches (closed recesses) provided on the water chambers  21 . Hence, the cooling radiator can be shaped to interact with the fixing device according to the invention. 
     To that end, the present invention also envisages all the modifications made to the equipment and to the structural element, whenever they include shapes suitable for interacting with a fixing device according to the invention. 
     Hence, referring to FIGS. 2 and 3A and  3 B, in a lower part of the manifold chamber  21 , a protuberance  23  is apparent including an inclined plane (FIG.  7 ). This protuberance added to the outer lateral surface of the chamber  21  interacts with a matching housing  17  (FIG. 6) included in a lug  17   a  issuing from the surface  18   a  adjacent to the side wall  14   a  of the front-face module, thus forming means for lateral clipping of the fixing device, while the surface  18   a  and the side wall  14   a  from the above-mentioned lateral rim. In particular, a protuberance  23  is provided on each water chamber  21  in such a way as laterally to fix the radiator  21  to the module. 
     Referring now to FIG. 5, a housing is described which the rim  11   a  bears, for accommodating a shoe of the fixing device according to a further developed embodiment of the invention. This housing includes two side walls  19   a  and  19   b  forming lateral abutments of the shoe as well as a bearing surface  19   c  parallel to the rim  11   a . Advantageously, this bearing surface  19   c  includes two chamfers  191  and  192  to facilitate the mounting of the shoe. 
     Hence, the fixing device according to the invention advantageously makes it possible to damp vibrations to which the equipment may be subject and to increase the limits of manufacturing tolerance of the equipment and of the structural element, the shoes which it contains being produced from a deformable material. Another advantage procured by the present invention consists in that the shoes are substantially identical and can produced in series by molding, or else by extrusion in a constant profile coming from a die, then cut to the desired length. Another advantage which the invention procures is related to the rapidity of the mounting (introduction of the shoes bearing against the walls  12   b ,  11   b  and  11   c  of FIGS. 3A and 3B, and pivoting movement F). 
     Obviously, the present invention is not limited to the embodiment described above by way of example. It extends to other variants. 
     Thus the abovementioned equipment may exhibit a heat exchanger other than a cooling radiator, for example a condenser of an air-conditioning loop of an installation for ventilation, heating and/or air conditioning of the passenger compartment of the vehicle. 
     The equipment may further include an element other than a heat exchanger, for example a vent of a motor-driven fan unit of this installation. 
     Moreover, the respective structures described above of the front-face module and of the fixing device may advantageously be adapted to the fixing of two items of equipment side by side, for example a cooling radiator followed by a condenser of an air-conditioning loop. 
     Moreover, the material from which the shoes are produced may be other than a rubber, for example a thermoplastic elastomer material matching the shape of the prominent walls  24  of the radiator  20 . 
     The radiator  20  may be mounted otherwise, for example at 90° with respect to its configuration described in the example. In this case, the manifold chambers are horizontal, while the shoes are mounted on the side walls  14   a  and  14   b  of the front-face module. 
     The number of shoes provided may vary according to the requirements of the application of the device according to the invention. It is thus that, in a simplified embodiment of the device provision may be made for two shoes arranged on either side of the equipment. 
     Finally, the shape of the shoes may be other than a “U” shape. Provision may in fact be made for four “L”-shaped shoes, one leg of the “L” of two shoes on a diagonal bearing on one surface of the equipment, while the other surface of the equipment is in contact with the leg of two other shoes in the other diagonal of the frame  15 .