Hood pedestrian energy absorber
AssigneeShape Corp.
InventorsDaniel Ralston, Vidya Revankar
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An energy absorbing system includes a hood with inner and outer panels defining a rear edge cavity, and a pair of polymeric energy absorbers in the cavity. The hood and energy absorber are tuned to minimize an HIC value when a pedestrian's head contacts the hood during an impact to absorb energy prior to the hood bottoming out on the plenum of the vehicle. The energy absorber is preferably made of a polymeric material capable of withstanding high temperatures associated with going through a paint over or e-coat process, such as high temperature nylon. The illustrated energy absorber has a hat-shaped cross section and includes criss-crossing flanges tuned to provide an optimal force-deflection curve during impact.
Claims19
An energy absorbing system for a vehicle having a plenum or other under-hood hard structure, comprising:
- a hood including a hood inner panel and a hood outer panel defining at least one cavity near a rear edge thereof;
- and
- at least one energy absorber positioned in the at least one cavity and made of non-foamed polymeric material, the energy absorber having spaced sidewalls configured to crush and absorb energy prior to the outer layer of the hood bottoming out on the plenum or other under-hood hard structure of the vehicle.
An energy absorbing system for a vehicle having a hood, a plenum or other under-hood hard structure, comprising:
- the hood including a hood inner panel and a hood outer panel defining at least one cavity;
- and
- at least one polymeric energy absorber positioned in the at least one cavity that is configured to minimize an HIC value when a pedestrian's head contacts the hood by absorbing energy during an impact into the pedestrian prior to the pedestrian's head bottoming out on the under-hood hard structure of the vehicle.
An energy absorbing system for a vehicle having a plenum or other under-hood hard structure, comprising:
- a hood including a hood outer panel and a hood inner panel defining at least one cavity;
- and
- at least one polymeric energy absorber positioned under the hood outer panel and attached to the hood, the energy absorber being configured to absorb energy from an impact from above such as will occur from a pedestrian's head during a pedestrian-vehicle accident, the energy absorber being made of a polymeric material.
A method for optimizing head impact criteria (HIC) of a hood on a vehicle comprising steps of:
- providing a hood including a hood outer panel and hood inner panel defining at least one cavity therebetween;
- providing a non-foam energy absorber with walls configured to crush and absorb energy upon impact;
- placing the non-foam energy absorber in the at least one cavity and assembling the hood inner and outer panels with the energy absorber to form a hood assembly;
- impact testing the hood assembly for HIC value;
- customizing the energy absorber by forming weakening sites on one or more of the walls of the energy absorber;
- repeating the steps of providing a hood, providing an energy absorber, placing and assembling the hood, and impact testing.
A method for optimizing head impact criteria (HIC) of a hood on a vehicle, the vehicle including under-hood hard structures, comprising steps of:
- providing a hood including a hood inner panel and a hood outer panel that, when assembled, define at least one cavity and that is configured to aesthetically cover the under-hood hard structures of the vehicle;
- and
- attaching at least one polymeric energy absorber to the hood at a location under the hood where the presence of the energy absorber minimizes an HIC value when a pedestrian's head contacts the hood during an impact, the energy absorber being configured to absorb impact energy prior to the pedestrian's head bottoming out on the under-hood hard structure of the vehicle.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.