Connecting Assembly

Abstract

The present invention provides a connecting assembly including a first member and a second member, the first member having at least one rectangular pierced structure, a cantilever snap extending along the Y direction from a bottom edge of the rectangular pierced structure, and a limiting rib extending along the X direction from the lateral edge of the rectangular pierced structure; the second member having a snap structure capable of cooperating in snap-fit with the cantilever snap in the Y direction, and a plurality of reinforcement ribs arranged above the snap structure and extending along the Z direction; wherein, the two most lateral reinforcement ribs among all reinforcement ribs of the second member are arranged at the inner side of the limiting ribs of the first member and spaced apart in parallel with the limiting rib with a first gap L1 in the X direction. According to the present invention, the limiting ribs of the first member limit the position of the reinforcement ribs of the second member so as to restrict the expansion or contraction of the second member in its longitudinal direction when heated or cooled, thereby the controlling of the matching of the connecting assembly is achieved.

Claims

1. A connecting assembly comprising a first member and a second member, the first member comprising: at least one pierced structure and a limiting rib extending along an X direction from a lateral edge of the pierced structure; the second member comprising: a plurality of reinforcement ribs extending along a Z direction; wherein, the two most lateral reinforcement ribs among all reinforcement ribs of the second member are arranged at an inner side of the limiting rib of the first member and spaced apart from the limiting rib with a first gap in the X direction.

2. The connecting assembly according to claim 1, wherein the first member further comprises a cantilever snap extending along a Y direction, and the second member further comprises a snap structure, capable of cooperating in snap-fit with the cantilever snap in the Y direction.

3. The connecting assembly according to claim 2, wherein the reinforcement ribs are arranged above the snap structure.

4. The connecting assembly according to claim 1, wherein the first gap is between 1.5 and 3 mm.

5. The connecting assembly according to claim 1, wherein the reinforcement rib of the second member has a width extending along the X direction, the second member has a thickness extending along a Y direction, and a width of the reinforcement rib is less than one third of the thickness of the second member.

6. A connecting assembly comprising a first member and a second member, the first member comprising a limiting rib extending along an X direction, the second member being provided with a spacing structure in a Z direction, such that the spacing structure comprises an upper spacing element and a lower spacing element, spaced apart and oppositely arranged in the Z direction relative to each other, and that the limiting rib of the first member is fitted between the upper spacing element and the lower spacing element.

7. The connecting assembly according to claim 6, wherein a second gap, being arranged in the Z direction between the upper spacing element and the limiting rib is between 0.3 and 0.8 mm, and a third gap, being arranged in the Z direction between the lower spacing element and the limiting rib is between 0.1 and 0.3 mm.

8. The connecting assembly according to claim 7, wherein the second gap is around 0.5 mm, and the third gap is around 0.2 mm.

9. The connecting assembly according to claim 6, wherein the first member further comprises a cantilever snap extending along the Y direction, and the second member further comprises a snap structure, capable of cooperating in snap-fit with the cantilever snap in the Y direction.

10. The connecting assembly according to claim 1 wherein the first member is further provided with a limiting boss extending along the Y direction.

11. The connecting assembly according to claim 6 wherein the first member is further provided with a limiting boss extending along the Y direction.

12. The assembly according to claim 1 wherein the two most lateral reinforcement ribs are parallel to the limiting rib.

13. The connecting assembly according to claim 7, wherein the first member further comprises a cantilever snap extending along the Y direction, and the second member further comprises a snap structure, capable of cooperating in snap-fit with the cantilever snap in the Y direction.

14. The connecting assembly according to claim 8, wherein the first member further comprises a cantilever snap extending along the Y direction, and the second member further comprises a snap structure, capable of cooperating in snap-fit with the cantilever snap in the Y direction.

15. the connecting assembly of claim 2 wherein the cantilever snap extends from a bottom edge of the pierced structure.

16. The connecting assembly according to claim 7, wherein the second gap is around 0.5 mm.

17. The connecting assembly according to claim 7, wherein the third gap is around 0.2 mm.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0024] FIG. 1 is a structural schematic view of a first member according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention;

[0025] FIG. 2 is a structural schematic view of a second member according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention;

[0026] FIG. 3 is a structural schematic view of the first member as shown in FIG. 1 assembled with the second member as shown in FIG. 2;

[0027] FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line B-B of FIG. 3;

[0028] FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line C-C of FIG. 3; and

[0029] FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line D-D of FIG. 3.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0030] The preferred embodiments of the present invention will be provided and described in detail with reference to the drawings so as to facilitate the understanding of the functions and features of the present invention.

[0031] The present invention provides a connecting assembly for a vehicle body part, and more particularly in this embodiment a vehicle running board assembly, comprising a running board 1 (the second member) and an inner panel 2 (the first member), the running board 1 is installed to the sheet metal parts of the vehicle body through the inner panel 2, wherein the structures of the running board 1 and the inner panel 2 are shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 respectively. It could be understood that other examples of such a connecting assembly of another vehicle body part also fall into the protection scope of the present invention.

[0032] The inner panel 2 comprises: at least one rectangular pierced structure 21, a cantilever snap 22 extending from the bottom edge of the rectangular pierced structure 21 along the Y direction, and a limiting rib 23 extending from the lateral edge of the rectangular pierced structure 21 along the X direction. Correspondingly, the running board 1 comprises: a snap structure 11 capable of cooperating in snap-fit with the cantilever snap in the Y direction, and a plurality of reinforcement ribs 12 arranged above the snap structure 11 and extending along the Z direction, which are five as shown in the drawing.

[0033] In the process of assembly, the snap structure 11 of the running board 1 presses down the cantilever snap 22 of the inner panel 2 and makes it deformed, and the running board 1 moves on forward until it abuts against the inner panel 2 to achieve the assembly, as shown in FIGS. 3 and 4. At this time, the reinforcement ribs 12 of the running board 1 are completely arranged in the inner side of the rectangular pierced structure 21 of the inner panel 2 and meanwhile in the inner side of the limiting ribs 23, and the two most lateral reinforcement ribs 12 are respectively arranged in parallel with the limiting ribs 23 with a first gap L1 in the X direction, as shown in FIG. 5.

[0034] It is well-known that the running board 1 is about 2 m in length in the X direction and tends to expand when heated. The running board will expand about 7 mm at the temperature of 85 C., i.e., the running board 1 will expand about 3.5 mm towards each side by taking the central point as a reference point, and such a deformation from the reference point to each side will gradually increase. Since the running board includes more than one pair of mutually cooperated cantilever snap 22 and snap structure 11, which may be three pairs, four pairs or five pairs, the deformation of the running board can be effectively controlled by a plurality of limiting ribs. Thus, preferably, the first gap L1 is between 1.5 and 3 mm.

[0035] According to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the number of the reinforcement ribs 12 of the running board 1 is not limited to five. Normally, the running board is designed to have three reinforcement ribs, the number of which will later be adjusted according to the actual strength thereof and the state when assembled into the vehicle, that is to say, the number of the reinforcement ribs can be adjusted according to actual conditions.

[0036] The reinforcement rib 12 of the running board 1 has a width extending along the X direction, and the running board 1 has a thickness extending along the Y direction. In order to prevent a sink mark on A surface of the running board 1, the width of the reinforcement rib 12 is preferably less than one third of the thickness of the running board 1. According to experience, the width of the reinforcement rib is preferably designed to be 0.8 mm.

[0037] According to a further preferred embodiment of the present invention, the running board 1 is also provided with a spacing structure 13 in the Z direction at the outer side of the most lateral reinforcement rib 12, here outer side means the region which is not included in the region being arranged with a set of reinforcement ribs 12. The spacing structure 13 in the Z direction comprises an upper spacing element 131 and a lower spacing element 132 that are spaced apart and oppositely arranged in the Z direction. When the running board 1 is assembled with the inner panel 2, the limiting rib 23 of the inner panel 2 is just embedded in the spacing structure 13 in the Z direction, as shown in FIG. 6.

[0038] The second gap L2 in the Z direction between the upper spacing element 131 and the limiting rib 23 is preferably between 0.3 and 0.8 mm, and the third gap L3 in the Z direction between the lower spacing element 132 and the limiting rib 23 is preferably between 0.1 and 0.3 mm.

[0039] The second gap L2 is more preferably around 0.5 mm, and the third gap L3 is more preferably around 0.2 mm.

[0040] According to a yet preferable embodiment of the present invention, the force used to disassemble the running board assembly can be adjusted by adjusting the extending length in the Y direction of the spacing structure 13 in the Z direction or the sizes of the second gap L2 and the third gap L3. The running board is disassembled through rotation and recession. In the process of disassembly, the disassembly force will be affected by both the extending length in the Y direction of the spacing structure 13 in the Z direction and the size of the gap between the spacing structure 13 in the Z direction and the limiting rib 23 of the inner panel 2. For instance, the longer the spacing structure 13 in the Z direction is in the Y direction, the greater support in the Z direction during rotation, and the bigger the disassembly force; and the smaller the gap between the spacing structure 13 in the Z direction and the limiting rib 23, the greater the overlapping area between the spacing structure 13 in the Z direction and the limiting rib 23 during the rotation, and the bigger the disassembly force. Hence, the disassembly force required for the running board can be adjusted through adjusting the above parameters so as to meet the requirements of different customers.

[0041] Preferably, the inner panel 2 is also provided with a limiting boss 24 extending in the Y direction for the sake of position limitation when the running board 1 is assembled onto the inner panel 2.

[0042] According to the present invention, the inner panel 2 can be installed to the sheet metal parts of the vehicle body by fasteners, snaps or the combination of fasteners and snaps.

[0043] The above is only the preferred embodiments of the present invention and is not intended to limit the scope of the present invention. Variations can be also be made to the embodiments of the present utility model, that is, any simple and equivalent variations and modifications made according to the claims and description of the present application for invention fall into the protection scope defined in the claims of the present invention. Those that are not described in detail herein are customary technical content.