Patent Description:
A tailgate of a motor vehicle is rotatably attached to a rear side body of the vehicle through a hinge assembly so that the tailgate can move between an open position and a closed position. Usually, a shelf or a rear partition is arranged at the rear of the vehicle, which is used to place objects with small volume and/or weight, and plays an aesthetic role in shielding the objects in the vehicle when the tailgate is closed.

With the diversified demand of vehicle shape and function, more and more vehicles have adopted a manner of moving and opening the shelf and the tailgate at the same time when opening the tailgate to expand the storage space at the rear of the vehicle, which makes the configuration of the tailgate need to correspond to that of the shelf. Once the configuration of the shelf is changed or the strategy is changed without increasing the space, the configuration of the tailgate needs to be changed accordingly, resulting in an increased cost. From the prior art are known <CIT>, <CIT> and <CIT>.

The purpose of the present disclosure is to solve the above-mentioned problems in the prior art, and to propose a universal vehicle tailgate, which is suitable for different situations where the shelf moves along with the tailgate or does not need to move, so as to improve the universality and interchangeability of tooling and reduce the cost.

To this end, according to one aspect of the present disclosure, a vehicle tailgate assembly is provided. The vehicle tailgate assembly comprises a tailgate inner plate and at least one joint assembly arranged on the tailgate inner plate. The joint assembly comprises a first engaging component adapted to engage with a first parcel shelf to make the first parcel shelf move in response to the movement of the tailgate inner plate; and a second engaging component matched with the first engaging component and adapted to engage with a second parcel shelf. The first parcel shelf is different from the second parcel shelf.

By providing the joint assembly arranged on the tailgate inner plate, under the condition of adopting the first parcel shelf, the engagement between the first parcel shelf and the first engaging component can make the first parcel shelf move along with the movement of the tailgate inner plate, thus expanding the storage space. Under the condition of adopting the second parcel shelf, the second engaging component provides a buffer to the second parcel shelf when the tailgate inner plate is closed, thus avoiding the abnormal noise caused by collision or friction. When the tailgate inner plate is opened, the second engaging component matched with the first engaging component also effectively avoids the problem of affecting the appearance quality.

According to the above technical concept, the embodiments of the present disclosure may further include any one or more of the following alternative forms.

The tailgate inner plate comprises a connecting part adapted to be attached to the first parcel shelf, and the first engaging component is configured as at least one clamping groove formed on the connecting part, and the at least one clamping groove is matched with at least one clamping protrusion provided on the first parcel shelf. The first engaging component further comprises a socket arranged adjacent to the clamping groove so as to be matched with the second engaging component. and this second engaging component is configured as a plug-in comprising a plug-in part adapted to be inserted into the socket, and a wing part adapted to cover the clamping groove after being inserted into the socket.

In some alternative forms, the plug-in part is provided with a convex flange for tightly matching with the edge of the socket.

In some alternative forms, the second engaging component further comprises a buffer part opposite to the plug-in part, and the buffer part is adapted to engage with the second parcel shelf when the tailgate inner plate is closed.

In some alternative forms, the buffer part is configured as a hollow structure extending opposite to the plug-in part, so as to be deformed after engaging with the second parcel shelf.

In some alternative forms, the buffer part is configured as arched shaped comprising a pair of supporting portions extending from the wing parts and a contacting portion connected with the pair of supporting portions to be adapted to abut against the second parcel shelf, wherein the supporting portions are provided with reinforcing ribs.

In some alternative forms, the second engaging component is integrally formed by EPDM.

According to another aspect of the present disclosure, a vehicle is also provided. The vehicle comprises a vehicle tailgate assembly mentioned above.

The vehicle tailgate assembly provided by the present disclosure not only improves the applicability of the tailgate inner plate by integrating the joint assembly suitable for different shelves to save the cost, but also effectively avoids the problem of abnormal noise caused by friction or impact of different shelves during opening or closing the tailgate, thereby improving the NVH performance (noise, vibration and acoustic roughness performance) and service durability of the vehicle. The present disclosure has little change to the existing vehicle tailgate, and it can be widely applied to various types of vehicle tailgate with simple structure, quick assembly and easy implementation.

Other features and advantages of the present disclosure will be better understood from the following preferred embodiments described in detail in conjunction with the accompany drawings, in which:.

The implementation and usage of the embodiments will be discussed in detail below. However, it should be understood that the specific embodiments discussed herein are merely illustrative of specific ways to implement and use the present disclosure without limiting the scope of the present disclosure. In the description for the structural positions of various components, representations of directions such as "upper", "lower", "top" and "bottom" are not absolute, but relative. When the various components are arranged as shown in the drawings, these representations of directions are appropriate. However, when the positions of the various components in the drawings are changed, these representations of directions are also changed accordingly.

Unless otherwise specified and limited, the terms "installation", "connection" and "attachment" should be understood broadly. For example, it can be fixed, detachable or integrated; it can be mechanically connected or electrically connected; it can be directly connected or indirectly connected through an intermediate medium, and it can be the internal communication of two elements or the interaction between two elements. For those skilled in the art, the specific meanings of the above terms in this disclosure can be understood according to specific situations.

Vehicle tailgate assembly usually includes tailgate outer plate, tailgate inner plate and reinforced metal sheets. For the trunk of most hatchbacks and SUVs, the tailgate with upturned structure is usually adopted. The opening and closing process of the tailgate plays an important role in luggage storage, decoration and parts maintenance. As far as the manufacturer is concerned, for the sake of cost-effectiveness, the vehicle products of the same production line are not expected to undergo substantial structural changes. However, for different configurations of the same vehicle model, or to meet the specific needs of some customers, the configuration of vehicle interior trim or interior part often needs to be changed. For example, in some configurations, it is expected that the parcel shelf will move synchronously with the opening and closing of the tailgate, so as to provide a larger shelf space when the tailgate is opened, while in other configurations, there is no need for the parcel shelf to move, which leads to the provision of different tailgates for different parcel shelf configurations, resulting in increased cost.

According to the concept of the present disclosure, the existing vehicle tailgate assembly, especially the tailgate inner plate, is improved, so that one kind of the tailgate inner plate can be applied to different parcel shelves. When the parcel shelf of vehicle product needs to be changed, the tailgate inner plate does not need to be replaced, thus reducing the tailgate cost and improving the interchange ability of tooling.

First, referring to <FIG>, a tailgate inner plate <NUM> according to one embodiment of the present disclosure is shown. The tailgate inner plate <NUM> includes a connecting part <NUM> adapted to be attached to a parcel shelf, and at least one joint assembly is provided on the connecting part <NUM> to adapt to different parcel shelves. Two joint assemblies located at two sides of the tailgate inner plate <NUM> are shown by way of example, and the joint assembly at one side is specifically illustrated and described below.

As shown in <FIG> and <FIG>, the joint assembly includes a first engaging component <NUM> and a second engaging component <NUM>, wherein the first engaging component <NUM> is adapted to engage with the first parcel shelf <NUM> (<FIG>), so that the first parcel shelf <NUM> can move in response to the movement of the tailgate inner plate <NUM>. That is, when the tailgate inner plate is opened, the first parcel shelf engaged with the tailgate inner plate moves synchronously to open, thus visually increasing the storage space. When the tailgate inner plate is closed, the first parcel shelf moves synchronously to close, and the objects inside of the vehicle cannot be seen from the rear window of the vehicle, thus meeting the appearance quality requirements.

In the illustrated embodiment, the first engaging component <NUM> is configured as at least one clamping groove formed on the connecting part <NUM>, and two clamping grooves 122a, 122b are exemplarily shown in the figure. Accordingly, the first parcel shelf <NUM> includes an attachment part <NUM> adapted to engage with the tailgate inner plate, and at least one clamping protrusion is provided on the attachment part <NUM>. Two clamping protrusions 220a, 220b are shown in <FIG> for example to be respectively matched with the two clamping grooves 122a, 122b. It should be understood that, in some embodiments, the dimensions of the clamping groove and the clamping protrusion can be set to be tightly matched with each other, so that they are clamped and not easy to fall off after being engaged. Alternatively, the clamping protrusion is in the form of a buckle, so that the engagement can be realized after the buckle being inserted into the clamping groove. When the first parcel shelf <NUM> is engaged with the first engaging component <NUM>, as shown in <FIG> and <FIG>, the two components can move together to realize synchronous opening and closing.

According to the present disclosure, the joint assembly further includes a second engaging component <NUM> to be adapted to engage with a second parcel shelf <NUM> which does not need to move with the tailgate. As shown in <FIG>, the difference from the above-mentioned first parcel shelf <NUM> is that the edge <NUM> of the second parcel shelf <NUM> has no structural features such as clamping protrusions. That is, the second parcel shelf <NUM> is a conventional shelf type. In this case, as shown in <FIG>, in some embodiments, the second engaging component <NUM> is configured as a plug-in, so that when the tailgate inner plate is used for the first parcel shelf <NUM>, it is unnecessary to use the second engaging component <NUM>, and when the second parcel shelf <NUM> is used, the second engaging component <NUM> only needs to be matched with the first engaging component <NUM> in a plug-in manner, so that the tailgate inner plate can be converted to be suitable for the second parcel shelf <NUM>. Accordingly, the first engaging component <NUM> further includes a socket <NUM> disposed adjacent to the clamping groove.

Referring specifically to <FIG>, in the illustrated embodiment, the second engaging component <NUM> includes a plug-in part <NUM> adapted to be inserted into the socket <NUM>, and a wing part adapted to cover the clamping groove after being inserted into the socket <NUM>. In this way, when the tailgate is opened, the second engaging component <NUM> covers the opening formed by the first engaging component <NUM>, as shown in <FIG>, thereby avoiding perceived quality defects.

Advantageously, in the mode that the first engaging component <NUM> includes two clamping grooves 122a, 122b, the second engaging component <NUM> is provided with two wing parts 131a, 131b respectively covering the two clamping grooves 122a, 122b. Optionally, the socket <NUM> is arranged between the two clamping grooves 122a, 122b, and the plug-in part <NUM> is formed between the two wing parts 131a, 131b.

In some embodiments, the free end of the plug-in part <NUM> is formed with a stripe part <NUM> to facilitate the operator's grip when inserting into the socket. It should be understood that the stripe part can also be replaced by a bump, a concave hole or a grid or the like. In some embodiments, the plug-in part <NUM> is further provided with a convex flange <NUM> for tightly matching with the edge of the socket <NUM>, so that the plug-in part <NUM> can be tightly engaged after being inserted into the socket <NUM>, and can avoid falling off. In some embodiments, the plug-in part and the flange on it can be configured to be tapered towards the free end, as shown in <FIG>, which is also helpful for the insertion of the plug-in part and the tight engagement with the socket.

According to the present disclosure, the second engaging component <NUM> further includes a buffer part arranged opposite to the plug-in part <NUM>. When the tailgate inner plate <NUM> is in the closed state, the buffer part is adapted to engage with the second parcel shelf <NUM> to reduce or eliminate the shaking of the parcel shelf during driving. In some embodiments, the buffer part is configured as a hollow structure extending opposite to the plug-in part, so as to be deformed after being engaged with the second parcel shelf. In the illustrated embodiment, the buffer part <NUM> is configured as an arched shape, and includes a pair of supporting portions <NUM> extending from the wing parts and a contacting portion <NUM> connected with the pair of supporting portions <NUM> and adapted to abut against the second parcel shelf <NUM>. When the tailgate inner plate <NUM> is closed so that the second engaging component <NUM> contacts the second parcel shelf <NUM>, the contacting portion <NUM> is easily deformed to provide buffering effect, as shown in part B of <FIG>. Optionally, the supporting portion <NUM> is provided with a reinforcing rib <NUM> to provide support strength when the contact portion <NUM> is deformed.

It should be understood that the second engaging component <NUM> can be made of any suitable material suitable for molding and deformation. Alternatively, the second engagement component can be integrally formed by ethylene propylene diene monomer (EPDM).

The vehicle tailgate assembly of the present disclosure is simple in structural design, easy to implement and has little change to the existing tailgate inner plate, which not only effectively solves the problem that tailgate tooling cannot be universally used, but also has low cost and is suitable for various types of vehicle tailgates.

Here, it should be understood that the embodiments shown in the figures only show the optional shapes, sizes and arrangements of various components of the vehicle tailgate assembly according to the present disclosure which are merely illustrative and not restrictive. Other shapes, sizes and arrangements can be adopted without departing from the spirit and scope of the present disclosure.

Claim 1:
A vehicle tailgate assembly comprising a tailgate inner plate (<NUM>) and at least one joint assembly arranged on the tailgate inner plate, the joint assembly comprising:a first engaging component (<NUM>) adapted to engage with a first parcel shelf to make the first parcel shelf (<NUM>) move in response to the movement of the tailgate inner plate; and a second engaging component (<NUM>) matched with the first engaging component and adapted to engage with a second parcel shelf (<NUM>), wherein the first parcel shelf is different from the second parcel shelf;a tailgate inner plate comprises a connecting part (<NUM>) adapted to be attached to the first parcel shelf, and the first engaging component is configured as at least one clamping groove (122a, 122b) formed on the connecting part, and wherein the at least one clamping groove is matched with at least one clamping protrusion (220a, 22b) provided on the first parcel shelf characterized in that the first engaging component further comprises a socket (<NUM>) arranged adjacent to the clamping groove (122a, 122b) so as to be matched with the second engaging component, wherein the second engaging component is configured as a plug-in comprising a plug-in part (<NUM>) adapted to be inserted into the socket (<NUM>), and a wing part (131a, 131b) adapted to cover the clamping groove (122a, 122b) after being inserted into the socket.