JP2009220770A - Vehicle body front part structure - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To satisfy a requirement that a catalyst is arranged close to an engine and a requirement that a crush stroke is secured in a frontal collision. <P>SOLUTION: A DPF vessel 46 is extended in a vehicle body longitudinal direction to an upper area of a trans-axle 32 connected to the lateral placement engine 30 while being adjacent to the upper area and adjacent to a side area of the engine 30. The engine 30 is a front intake/rear exhaust system, and in a centrifugal type turbo-charger 44, an exhaust turbine 72 is arranged at the DPF vessel 46 side, a compressor 56 is arranged at an opposite side in a vehicle width direction with respect to the turbo-charger, and an inter-cooler 58 is arranged at the compressor 56 side. The DPF vessel 46 is connected to the exhaust turbine 72 by a first short exhaust pipe 80, and a second exhaust pipe connected to a front end of the DPF vessel 46 is obliquely downwardly bent and rearwardly extended at the center in the vehicle width direction. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2010,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a vehicle body front structure, and more particularly to the arrangement of exhaust system parts in an engine room.

  It is well known that purification of automobile exhaust gas is an important technical issue due to environmental problems, and exhaust gas purification depends largely on the catalyst means installed in the exhaust system. is there. Since such a purifying device requires heat to promote the catalytic reaction, a catalyst means is disposed upstream of the exhaust system in order to exhibit the purifying function at an early stage when it is cold.

  Patent Document 1 relates to a vehicle equipped with a gasoline engine, and in order to promote early activation of the catalyst at the time of engine startup with respect to so-called “lateral installation, rear exhaust” in which the engine is placed horizontally and exhausted from the rear surface of the engine. It is disclosed that the means is arranged close to the rear face of the engine. Specifically, Patent Document 1 proposes to arrange the catalyst means along the rear surface of the horizontally mounted engine.

  Patent Document 2 relates to a vehicle equipped with a diesel engine, and a DPF (diesel particulate filter) regenerates the DPF by burning the soot accumulated on the filter and burning it away with a catalyst. It is preferable to arrange them close to each other, and from this, Patent Document 2 proposes to arrange the DPF along the rear surface of the horizontally placed engine.

  In Patent Document 3, in order to reduce the yaw moment of inertia of a vehicle equipped with a rotary engine and improve steering stability, the catalyst is placed in front of the engine when the engine is mounted at a position retracted to a position where it interferes with the dash panel. Propose to arrange.

JP 2007-146681 A JP 2006-70878 A JP 2003-326981 A

  Exhaust gas purification standards are becoming stricter year by year, and the fact is that the degree of dependence on the catalyst to cope with this is increasing, and as a result, the catalyst tends to be larger. Therefore, as in Patent Documents 1 and 2, when a catalyst means such as DPF is disposed along the rear surface of the horizontally placed engine, the case for accommodating this catalyst is relatively hard and is accompanied by the retreat of the engine at the time of a frontal collision. Since the catalyst also moves backward, the problem remains that the crash stroke at the time of a frontal collision is effectively reduced.

  On the other hand, when the catalyst means is disposed in front of the engine as in Patent Document 3 in a horizontally placed and rear exhaust engine, the exhaust pipe from the engine to the catalyst becomes long. Can no longer be prompted.

  An object of the present invention is to provide a vehicle body front part structure capable of satisfying a request for arranging a catalyst close to an engine and a request for ensuring a crash stroke at the time of a frontal collision.

According to the present invention, the above technical problem is
The dash panel divides the vehicle compartment and the engine room, and a reciprocating engine with a transaxle integrated between the left and right front side frames extending forward from the dash panel extends the crankshaft along the vehicle width direction. In the vehicle body front structure mounted horizontally like
An exhaust pipe connected to an exhaust port on the front or rear surface of the horizontal reciprocating engine;
A catalyst container constituting a part of the exhaust pipe,
The catalyst container extends above the transaxle and to a lateral area of the horizontally mounted engine, and the catalyst container has an inlet positioned forward of the front of the reciprocating engine or rear of the rear; and The exit is located behind the rear surface of the reciprocating engine or ahead of the front surface,
The exhaust pipe downstream from the outlet of the catalyst container extends downward from the catalyst container, and then extends downward in the engine room toward the rear of the vehicle body,
An intake pipe connected to an intake port on the rear surface or front surface of the reciprocating engine is disposed in a region opposite to the side where the catalyst container is routed across the vehicle body longitudinal axis in the engine room. This is achieved by providing a vehicle body front structure characterized in that

  According to the present invention, by disposing the catalyst container adjacent to the engine and on the side thereof, that is, in the upper region of the transaxle, not only can the catalyst be activated early at the start, but the catalyst container is placed at the rear of the engine. The problem of shortening the crash stroke at the time of frontal collision, which is a problem when arranged adjacent to each other, can be solved.

  Further, by extending the catalyst container to the upper region of the transaxle and the lateral region of the horizontally mounted engine, the catalyst container is divided into one region when the engine room is divided into left and right regions across the vehicle body longitudinal axis. Will be installed in. Therefore, by installing the exhaust pipe in the area where the catalyst container is disposed and arranging the intake system in the opposite area, it becomes easy to suppress the influence on the supply system due to the heat of the exhaust system.

  According to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the reciprocating engine has a turbocharger, and a centrifugal exhaust turbine and a compressor of the turbocharger are arranged side by side along a front surface or a rear surface of the engine and An exhaust turbine is disposed on the catalyst container side, an outlet of the exhaust turbine is directed outward in the vehicle width direction and toward the catalyst container, and an inlet of the compressor is directed to an opposite side to the outlet of the exhaust turbine. ing. According to this, when the exhaust system is disposed in one region divided into left and right regions and the intake system is disposed in the other region, the exhaust pipe and the intake pipe can be easily arranged.

  In particular, this is because the intake port of the engine is formed at the end portion on the intercooler side of the horizontally placed engine, and the exhaust port of the engine is formed at the end portion of the horizontally placed engine on the side where the catalyst container is located. It becomes remarkable by forming.

  Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

First Example (FIGS. 1 to 4) :
With reference to FIG. 1, reference numeral 1 denotes a dash panel, and a vehicle compartment 2 and an engine room 3 are partitioned by the dash panel 1. The vehicle compartment 2 is provided with an instrument panel 4, a brake pedal 5, a steering handle, and the like. Reference numeral 6 denotes a front window.

  As can be seen from FIG. 2 when the engine room is viewed from above and FIG. 3 when the engine room is viewed from below, the lower area of the engine room 3 includes left and right fronts extending in the longitudinal direction of the vehicle body over the entire region of the engine room 3. Side frames 10 and 10 are disposed, and a dash cross member 12 extending along the dash panel 1 is disposed between the rear ends of the left and right front side frames 10 and 10 at the rear of the engine room 3. In addition, a sub-frame 14 extending in the vehicle width direction is disposed, and a steering device 16 including a steering rod and its drive unit is mounted on the sub-frame 14. Note that the front ends of the front side frames 10 and 10 are connected to a bumper reinforcement 18 via a crash can 10a (FIG. 2).

  Reference numeral 20 denotes a front wheel, and the suspension mechanism 22 of the front wheel 20 employs a strut suspension in which a shock absorber is disposed in a coil spring. As is known, this strut suspension has the advantage that the distance between the left and right suspension towers 24, 24 can be increased (FIG. 2).

  The engine 30 is mounted in the engine room 3 with its crankshaft directed in the vehicle width direction (FIGS. 2 and 3). That is, the engine 30 is a horizontal reciprocating engine, and a transaxle 32 is connected to the rear end of the crankshaft of the engine 30 side by side in the vehicle width direction. The transaxle 32 includes a multi-stage automatic transmission 36 having a planetary gear mechanism following a torque converter 34 connected to the crankshaft of the engine 30, and the engine via a differential gear 38 connected to the automatic transmission 36. The output is transmitted to the left and right front wheels 20.

  The engine 30 is a water-cooled four-cylinder engine, and the cooling water of the engine 30 is cooled by a radiator 40 fixed to a shroud panel between the front end portions of the front side frame 10.

  The horizontally placed engine 30 is sucked from the front surface 30a and exhausted from the rear surface 30b. That is, the engine 30 employs the front intake and rear exhaust formats (FIG. 2). The engine 30 is a diesel engine. The diesel engine 30 is supercharged by a turbocharger 44 with an intercooler 58, and a DPF container 46 is interposed in the exhaust system (FIG. 2).

  The intake system of the engine 30 will be described. The intake system includes an air cleaner box 52, a compressor 56 of the turbocharger 44, an intercooler 58, and an intake manifold 60, which are arranged in order from the upstream side (FIG. 2). Outside air is supplied to the air cleaner box 52 through an air introduction pipe 54, and the outside air introduced into the air cleaner box 52 is purified by a filter (not shown).

  The outside air purified in the air cleaner box 52 is supplied to the compressor 56 by the first intake pipe 62 connecting the air cleaner box 52 and the compressor 56, and is compressed by the compressor 56. The outside air compressed by the compressor 56 is supplied to the intercooler 58 by the second intake pipe 64 that connects the compressor 56 and the intercooler 58, and is cooled by the intercooler 58. The outside air cooled by the intercooler 58 is supplied to the intake manifold 60 by a third intake pipe 66 that connects the intercooler 58 and the intake manifold 60, and is filled in each cylinder in the intake stroke of each cylinder of the engine 30.

  Next, the exhaust system of the engine 30 will be described. As well known, in addition to the exhaust turbine 72 of the centrifugal turbocharger 44 and the container 46 containing the DPF (diesel particulate filter) in order from the engine 30 side. The second catalyst and the silencer. In the turbocharger 44, an exhaust turbine 72 and a compressor 56 are arranged along the longitudinal direction on the front surface 30a of the engine 30. The exhaust turbine 72 is located on the DPF container 46 side, and the compressor 56 is located on the intercooler 58 side. (Fig. 2). The outlet of the exhaust turbine 72 is directed outward in the vehicle width direction and toward the DPF container 46, and the inlet of the compressor 56 is directed outward in the vehicle width direction and toward the air cleaner box 52.

  Explaining the layout of the intake system, the rectangular parallelepiped air cleaner box 52 is disposed in an upper region at one end of the front end of the engine room 3, that is, at the corner of the front end of the engine room 3 (FIG. 2). The air introduction pipe 54 has an upstream end opening 54a that is flat in the longitudinal direction and has an elongated shape in the lateral direction, and the upstream end opening 54a of the air introduction pipe 54 has a shroud panel and a hood hood at the center in the vehicle width direction. 74 and is open to the front. The air introduction pipe 54 extends from the upstream end opening 54 a in the vehicle width direction and is connected to the side surface of the air cleaner box 52.

  Next, the first intake pipe 62 that connects the air cleaner box 52 and the compressor 56 will be described. First, the compressor 56 is disposed adjacent to the rear surface 30b of the engine 30 (FIG. 2). The upstream end of the first intake pipe 62 is connected to the upper surface of the air cleaner box 52. The first intake pipe 62 extends rearward from the air cleaner box 52, extends sideways of the engine 30 horizontally and rearward, and then extends toward the vehicle width direction center portion along the rear surface 30b of the engine 30 in the vehicle width direction. It extends to. That is, the shape of the first intake pipe 62 will be described in plan view of the engine room 3. The first intake pipe 62 is positioned at one side of the front end of the engine room 3, that is, at a high corner of the corner of the engine room 3. The air cleaner box 52 extends rearward from the air cleaner box 52 and then bends approximately 90 degrees toward the center in the vehicle width direction and extends in the vehicle width direction along the rear surface 30b of the engine 30 (FIG. 2).

  Next, the second intake pipe 64 that connects the compressor 56 and the intercooler 58 will be described. First, the intercooler 58 is located on the same side as the air cleaner box 52 at the front end of the engine room 3, that is, at the corner of the front end of the engine room 3. (FIGS. 1 and 2) and in the lower region of the engine room 3 (FIG. 1). More specifically, the intercooler 58 is disposed in a lower area outside the front end of the front side frame 10 in the vehicle width direction (FIG. 2).

  The second intake pipe 64 extends upward in the vehicle width direction along the rear surface 30b of the engine 30 and the second intake pipe 64 immediately after extending upward from the compressor 56 and then bent forward by approximately 90 degrees. 1 and extends forward and then obliquely downward, passes through the lower side of the front side frame 14 and is connected to the upper end of the intercooler 58 (FIG. 1).

  Next, the third intake pipe 66 that connects the intercooler 58 and the intake manifold 60 will be described. First, the intake manifold 60 is attached to the front surface 30a of the engine 30 because the engine 30 employs a front intake system. (FIG. 2). The third intake pipe 66 extends inward in the vehicle width direction from the lower end portion of the intercooler 58, passes through the lower side of the front side frame 14, rises upward, and is connected to the end portion of the intake manifold 60 on the intercooler 58 side. . Specifically, the inlet of the intake manifold 60 is formed to be offset toward the intercooler 58 with the center axis in the longitudinal direction of the vehicle in between. As a most preferable aspect, the intake inlet is formed at the end of the intake manifold 60.

  Explaining the layout of the exhaust system, the DPF container 46 is disposed above and adjacent to the transaxle 32 and adjacent to the side region of the engine 30 (FIGS. 2 and 4). ), And the DPF container 46 extends in the longitudinal direction of the vehicle body, and has an inlet positioned rearward of the rear surface 30b of the engine 30 and an outlet positioned forward of the front surface 30a of the engine (FIG. 2). That is, the DPF container 46 has a cylindrical shape, and the exhaust gas enters from the rear end side of the DPF container 46 and flows out from the front end side of the DPF container 46.

  The outlet of the exhaust manifold 76 attached to the rear surface 30b of the rear exhaust type engine 30 is formed so as to be shifted to the transaxle 32 side (FIG. 2). Specifically, the outlet of the exhaust manifold 76 is formed offset to the opposite side of the intercooler 58 across the center axis in the longitudinal direction of the vehicle body. As the most preferable aspect, the exhaust outlet is formed at the end of the exhaust manifold 75. A centrifugal exhaust turbine 72 is attached to the exhaust outlet of the exhaust manifold 76 substantially directly. Further, the outlet of the exhaust turbine 72 is directed outward in the vehicle width direction and toward the DPF container 46 as described above.

  As described above, the DPF container 46 is disposed above the transaxle 32, but its height is positioned at substantially the same level as the exhaust turbine 72. And the rear end of the DPF container 46 are connected by a relatively short first exhaust pipe 80 extending in the vehicle width direction.

  The front end of the DPF container 46 is located in front of the front end of the transaxle 32 (FIGS. 2 and 3), and a second exhaust pipe 82 is connected to the front end of the DPF container 46. The second exhaust pipe 82 extends inward in the vehicle width direction toward the center of the engine room 3, then bends approximately 90 degrees downward and hangs down to the height level of the lower end of the engine 30, and then passes under the engine 30. The second exhaust pipe 82 is provided with a second catalyst, a silencer, and the like. An oxidation catalyst may be accommodated in the DPF container 46. In this case, the second catalyst may be a reduction catalyst.

  As can be seen best from FIG. 3, with respect to the front intake and rear exhaust engine 30, the intake system comprising the air cleaner box 52, the intercooler 42, the compressor 56, and the first to third intake pipes 62, 64, 66 is The exhaust turbine 72, the DPF container 46, and the first and second exhaust pipes 80 and 82 are laid out on the other side in the vehicle width direction of the engine room 3. In this way, the engine room 3 is divided into zones in the vehicle width direction, and an exhaust system serving as a heat source is provided on one side, and an intake system that dislikes heat is provided on the other side, thereby suppressing the influence of the exhaust system on the intake air temperature. This makes it easy to fundamentally prevent the intake air temperature from rising.

  In addition, a DPF container 46 including a relatively large and hard case is disposed in an upper region of the transaxle 32 connected to the transverse engine 30, so that the DPF container 46 is brought close to the engine 30. However, the inlet of the DPF container 46 can be positioned at a position adjacent to the exhaust manifold 76 (FIG. 2). From this, not only can the DPF container 46 be brought close to the engine 30 to achieve early activation at the start, but also the presence of the DPF container 46 can be eliminated from the rear of the engine 30, which is a conventional method. It can be avoided that the crash stroke is shortened by the presence of the DPF container 46 behind the engine 30.

  In the embodiment, the centrifugal turbocharger 44 is mounted, and the exhaust turbine 72 and the compressor 56 are arranged adjacent to the rear surface 30b of the engine 30 in the vehicle width direction (FIG. 2). That is, the exhaust turbine 72 and the compressor 56 are positioned side by side along the rear surface 30b of the horizontally mounted engine 30. From this, the outlet of the centrifugal exhaust turbine 72 is directed outward in the vehicle width direction and toward the DPF container 46. Furthermore, since the exhaust turbine 72 and the DPF container 46 are disposed at substantially the same height level, the exhaust turbine 72 and the inlet of the DPF container 46 located on the side thereof are connected in the vehicle width direction. Can be connected by a relatively short second exhaust pipe 80 extending linearly (FIG. 2). Thus, the exhaust gas immediately after exiting the engine 30 can be introduced into the DPF container 46 without hindering the exhaust flow, and early activation of the catalyst at the start can be achieved.

  In addition, in the embodiment, a frame structure is adopted that provides a dash cross member 12 along the lower portion of the dash panel 1 (FIG. 3), thereby improving the adaptability in an offset frontal collision. Since the DPF container 46 is not present, the dash cross member 12 is disposed at a height level lower than that of the turbocharger 44 and at a height level higher than the rear end of the transaxle 32, that is, the differential gear 38. Therefore, the turbocharger 44 and the differential gear 38 do not interfere with the dash cross member 12 during a frontal collision.

Second Example (FIGS. 5 to 7) :
In the second embodiment, the rear intake and the front exhaust are used as the intake and exhaust of the engine 30. The second embodiment is common in the following points. That is,

(1) The DPF container 46 is disposed above the transaxle 32 and adjacent to the transverse engine 30;
(2) The intercooler 42 and the air cleaner box 52 are both disposed on one side of the engine room 3, the air cleaner box 52 is disposed on the upper side of the engine room 3, and the intercooler 42 is disposed on the lower side of the engine room 3. Points that have been established;
(3) The intake system and exhaust system are zoned into one side and the other side of the engine room 3, the intake system is arranged on one side of the engine room 3, and the exhaust system is arranged on the other side. The second embodiment is common to the first embodiment described above.

  The layout of the intake system will be described. The first intake pipe 62 connecting the air cleaner box 52 and the compressor 56 will be described. First, the compressor 56 is disposed adjacent to the front surface 30a of the engine 30 (FIG. 5). , FIG. 6).

  The first intake pipe 62 extends inward in the vehicle width direction from the air cleaner box 52 and is connected to the compressor 56. Next, the second intake pipe 64 that connects the compressor 56 and the intercooler 58 will be described. The second intake pipe 64 extends from the compressor 56 outward in the vehicle width direction and obliquely downward and then below the front side frame 14. And is connected to the upper end of the intercooler 58 (FIG. 7).

  Next, the third intake pipe 66 connecting the intercooler 58 and the intake manifold 60 will be described. First, the intake manifold 60 is attached to the rear surface 30b of the engine 30 because the engine 30 employs a rear intake system. (FIG. 5). The third intake pipe 66 extends inward in the vehicle width direction from the lower end of the intercooler 58, passes through the lower side of the front side frame 14, and then bends approximately 90 degrees and extends rearward while rising obliquely upward. In the side region of the upper end portion of 30, it extends rearward in the horizontal direction and then bends approximately 90 degrees to be connected to the end portion of the intake manifold 60 on the intercooler 58 side. Specifically, the inlet of the intake manifold 60 is formed offset to the intercooler 58 side with the center axis in the longitudinal direction of the vehicle in between, and as the most preferable aspect, at the end of the intake manifold 60 is formed. An intake inlet is formed.

  Next, the layout of the exhaust system will be described. The front end of the DPF container 46 disposed above and adjacent to the transaxle 32 is connected to the exhaust turbine by a relatively short first exhaust pipe 80 extending in the vehicle width direction. 72. In detail, the exhaust turbine 72 is attached substantially directly to the exhaust outlet of the exhaust manifold 76 as in the first embodiment, and the outlet of the exhaust turbine 72 is outward in the vehicle width direction and the DPF container 46. Is directed to the side. As in the first embodiment, the exhaust outlet of the exhaust manifold 76 is offset from the intercooler 58, that is, on the side of the DPF container 46 with the center axis in the longitudinal direction of the vehicle body interposed therebetween, and is the most preferable aspect. The exhaust manifold 75 has an exhaust outlet at the end on the DPF container 46 side.

  A second exhaust pipe 82 is connected to the rear end of the DPF container 46. The second exhaust pipe 82 extends inward in the vehicle width direction toward the center of the engine room 3, then bends approximately 90 degrees downward and hangs down to the height level of the lower end of the engine 30, and then passes under the engine 30. Extending rearward from the engine room 3 along the vehicle body central axis.

It is the figure which looked at the engine room in 1st Example from right to left. It is the figure which looked at the engine room in the 1st example from the upper part. It is the figure which looked at the engine room in the 1st example from the lower part. It is the figure which looked at the engine room in 1st Example from left to right direction. It is the figure which looked at the engine room in 2nd Example from the top. It is the figure which looked at the engine room in 2nd Example from the front.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Dash panel 2 Car compartment 3 Engine room 30 Engine 30a Engine front 30b Engine rear 32 Transaxle 42 Intercooler 44 Turbocharger 46 DPF container 52 Air cleaner box 54 Air introduction pipe 56 Turbocharger compressor 58 Intercooler 60 Intake manifold 62 First intake pipe 64 Second intake pipe 66 Third intake pipe 72 Exhaust turbine (turbocharger)
76 Exhaust manifold 80 First exhaust pipe 82 Second exhaust pipe

Claims (5)

The dash panel divides the vehicle compartment and the engine room, and a reciprocating engine with a transaxle integrated between the left and right front side frames extending forward from the dash panel extends the crankshaft along the vehicle width direction. In the vehicle body front structure mounted horizontally like
An exhaust pipe connected to an exhaust port on the front or rear surface of the horizontal reciprocating engine;
A catalyst container constituting a part of the exhaust pipe,
The catalyst container extends above the transaxle and to a lateral area of the horizontally mounted engine, and the catalyst container has an inlet positioned forward of the front of the reciprocating engine or rear of the rear; and The exit is located behind the rear surface of the reciprocating engine or ahead of the front surface,
The exhaust pipe downstream from the outlet of the catalyst container extends downward from the catalyst container, and then extends downward in the engine room toward the rear of the vehicle body,
An intake pipe connected to an intake port on the rear surface or front surface of the reciprocating engine is disposed in a region opposite to the side where the catalyst container is routed across the vehicle body longitudinal axis in the engine room. A vehicle body front structure characterized by The reciprocating engine has a turbocharger;
A centrifugal exhaust turbine and a compressor of the turbocharger are disposed side by side along the front or rear surface of the engine, the exhaust turbine is disposed on the catalyst container side, and the outlet of the exhaust turbine is arranged at the vehicle width. Directed outward and toward the catalyst container,
The compressor inlet is directed away from the exhaust turbine outlet;
The vehicle body front part structure according to claim 1, wherein an air cleaner box is disposed on a side where an outlet of the exhaust turbine faces with respect to a vehicle longitudinal axis. The air cleaner box is disposed at a side portion of the engine room, and an intercooler is disposed at a side portion of the engine room where the air cleaner box is disposed,
An intake pipe between the intercooler and the intake port of the compressor and the reciprocating engine is disposed in a region on the side where the air cleaner box is disposed across a vehicle body longitudinal axis of the engine room. The vehicle body front part structure according to claim 2.   The air cleaner box and the intercooler are provided at the front corner of the engine room on one side in the vehicle width direction, the air cleaner box is disposed above the corner of the front end, and the intercooler is disposed below. The vehicle body front part structure according to claim 3 provided. The engine inlet is formed at the end of the intercooler side of the horizontally installed engine,
The vehicle body front structure according to claim 4, wherein the exhaust port of the engine is formed at an end portion of the side-mounted engine on the side where the catalyst container is located.

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