Standoff boss to control crush
AssigneeToyota Engineering & Manufacturing North America, Inc.
InventorsKevin L. Gilleo, Shogo Sakai
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An energy absorbing boss for a trim panel that is secured to a body panel on a vehicle includes a generally planar trim panel having an inner surface facing the body panel and an outer surface facing into the vehicle. An energy absorbing boss extends radially from an inner surface of the trim panel, and includes an upper end, a lower end attached to the trim panel, and a wall having a predetermined thickness extending therebetween the upper end and the lower end. A triangular support fin extends radially from a lower portion of the wall, such that a lowermost end of the support fin is attached to the trim panel. Energy from a load applied to the body panel is absorbed by the energy absorbing boss at a predetermined rate.
Claims12
An energy absorbing boss for a trim panel that is secured to a body panel on a vehicle comprising:
- a generally planar trim panel having an inner surface facing the body panel and an outer surface facing into the vehicle;
- an energy absorbing boss extending radially from an inner surface of said trim panel, wherein said energy absorbing boss includes an upper end, a lower end attached to the trim panel, and a wall having a predetermined thickness extending therebetween said upper end and said lower end, and a triangular support fin extending radially from a lower portion of said wall, such that a lowermost end of said support fin is attached to said trim panel, so that energy from a load applied to the body panel is absorbed by said energy absorbing boss at a predetermined rate.
An energy absorbing boss for a trim panel that is secured to a body panel on a vehicle comprising:
- a generally planar trim panel having an inner surface facing the body panel and an outer surface facing into the vehicle;
- an energy absorbing boss extending radially from an inner surface of said trim panel, wherein said energy absorbing boss includes an upper end, a lower end attached to the trim panel, and a wall having a predetermined thickness extending therebetween said upper end and said lower end, wherein said wall is shaped as a half cylinder, and a channel extends longitudinally therethrough a central portion of said half cylinder and a triangular support fin extending radially from a lower portion of said wall, such that a lowermost end of said support fin is attached to said trim panel, so that energy from a load applied to the body panel initiates an elastic deformation at a predetermined rate beginning with an upper end of the boss followed by plastic deformation at a predetermined rate of the boss.
An energy absorbing boss for a trim panel that is secured to a body panel on a vehicle comprising:
- a generally planar trim panel having an inner surface facing the body panel and an outer surface facing into the vehicle;
- an energy absorbing boss extending radially from an inner surface of said trim panel having an upper end and a lower end attached to the trim panel, a wall shaped as a half cylinder and having a predetermined thickness extends therebetween said upper end and said lower end, a channel extends longitudinally therethrough a central portion of said half cylinder, and a triangular support fin extends radially from a lower portion of said wall, wherein said support fin has a right triangular shape, and the lowermost end of said support fin is attached to the inner surface of said trim panel so that energy from a load applied to the body panel initiates elastic deformation at a predetermined rate beginning with an upper end of the boss followed by plastic deformation at a predetermined rate of the boss.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.