FIELD OF INVENTION:
[001] The present subject matter described herein, relates to vehicle rear structure, and, in particular, to backdoor striker mounting bracket to overcome inertial loads and provide stiffness at body striker mounting region. In more 5 particularly, the present subject matter relates to structure of backdoor striker mounting bracket to uniformly distribute stress among joinery areas.
BACKGROUND AND PRIOR ART:
[002] At rear of the vehicle, a back door or tailgate is provided for opening and closing. The tailgate is secured in a closed position by a latch and striker 10 assembly. The tailgate includes a latch that engages a door striker when the tailgate is closed such that the latch is secured about the striker and the tailgate is held in the closed position. Generally, the striker is mounted on rear panel of the vehicle to transfer the inertial loads. Normally, tailgate is connected at three locations in rear side of the vehicle. At the upper side, the tailgate is connected 15 with roof panel of the vehicle with two hinges and at the bottom it is connected with the striker and latch mechanism. To avoid any tilting and vibration in the tailgate, the striker is provided in the middle of the width direction of the vehicle on a vehicle rear-side of the back panel. During normal running conditions, the tailgate moves forward and backward due to inertia and creates vibrations. 20 Complete inertial loads of the tailgate transfers to the striker due to load in downward direction. Further, the striker transfers the load to the striker mounting bracket for distribution on the rear panel of the vehicle.
[003] Figure 1 illustrates the structure of vehicle rear area in common. The vehicle rear area 100 has a tailgate 101 and striker mounting bracket 102 mounted 25 on the rear panel of the vehicle. As shown in the figure 2, the striker mounting bracket 102 is mounted on rear panel 104 of the vehicle in direction of the floor panel of the vehicle. The striker mounting bracket 102 is longitudinally mounted on the rear panel 104 along width of the vehicle. The striker mounting bracket 102
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is positioned at center of the rear width of the vehicle. Figure 3 illustrates exploded view of the vehicle rear area. The rear panel 104 having center cavity 104a to receive the striker mounting bracket 102. Once the striker mounting bracket 102 is mounted on the rear panel 104 of the vehicle, a striker 103 is mounted on the striker mounting bracket 102 with predefined apertures. 5
[004] Figure 4 and 5 illustrate structure of existing striker mounting brackets. As shown in the figure 4, the striker mounting bracket 400 is rectangular in shape where front portion is vertically bent in downward direction, referred as vertical bent profile 400b. The striker mounting bracket 400 is spot welded on the rear panel 104 from two sides. The striker mounting bracket 400 has one flange 401 on 10 left hand side and other flange 402 on right hand side. The flanges 401, 402 run along the both sides and also run along vertical bent profile 400b. The flanges 401, 402 act as channels to transfer load from the striker mounting bracket to body of the vehicle. The flat rectangular profile 400a which is plane surface of the striker mounting bracket 400 has two apertures 409 to receive the striker. The 15 striker is mounted on the apertures 409 via rivet, screw and welding. The vertical bent profile 400b has a plurality of bead section 403-408 to mount the striker mounting bracket 400 on the rear panel of the vehicle.
[005] Inertial loads of tailgate are taken by striker mounting bracket 400 through the striker. Further, stress concentration near the striker mounting region 20 is high which can cause rear panel failure near the mounting point bolt. In order to distribute the stress near the striker mounting region, two side flanges 401, 402 of the striker mounting bracket 400 act as two channels for load transfer from striker mounting bracket 400 to its mating panels, such as rear panel and floor panel. The spot weld points or sections, such as 403, 408 that are near the side flanges 401, 25 402 observe the stress, whereas the spot weld points/sections, such as 404, 405, 406, and 407 at center region have negligible stress value. Therefore, the technical problem existing with conventional striker mounting bracket is non-uniform distribution or sharing of stresses at the joinery areas.
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[006] Therefore, there is need in the art to develop a striker mounting bracket structure that distributes the stress or load uniformly across all joinery points for better and efficient load distribution and avoid failure of rear panel. The present subject matter provides a striker mounting bracket structure that uniformly distributes the load/stress among all joineries. 5
OBJECTS OF THE INVENTION:
[007] The principal objective of the present invention is to provide a striker mounting bracket structure for uniformly distribution/sharing of stress among all joineries.
[008] Another object of the present subject matter is to provide a striker 10 mounting bracket structure having a bead structure around striker mounting apertures to increase stiffness and at the same time acts as a channel to transfer stress to intended center area for uniform distribution of load.
[009] Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a striker mounting bracket that is simple and inexpensive, and efficiently distribute stress among all 15 joineries for better stress management.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION:
[0010] The subject matter disclosed herein relates to structure of a backdoor striker mounting bracket. The present backdoor striker mounting bracket has an upper mounting portion that mounts on rear panel of the vehicle and front 20 mounting portion that mounts on the front rear panel of the vehicle in longitudinal direction (Y). The backdoor striker mounting bracket is mounted on the rear panel and front rear panel of the vehicle via spot welding. The backdoor striker mounting bracket has a striker mounting region having two striker mounting apertures for mounting a striker over it. The striker mounting region has side 25 flanges that bent in downward direction of the vehicle on both right and left hand sides. The front mounting portion has at least three mounting spots, where two are at the distal end and one is at middle. Where two distal mounting spots are integrally connected with side flanges to transfer stress of the striker mounting
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region to body of the vehicle. The striker mounting region has a step around the striker mounting apertures to provide stiffness to the striker mounting region. Further, the step is narrowed down toward the front mounting portion in longitudinal direction (Y) and merges into the center/middle mounting spot. The step act as a channel to transfer the stress from the proximity of the striker 5 mounting apertures to the body of the vehicle via center mounting spot. The step can be provided by a press machine on the striker mounting region. With the combination of the side flanges and the step, the striker mounting bracket uniformly shares the stress among the spot welded areas of the front mounting portion. The present structure of the backdoor striker mounting bracket shares 10 stress efficiently and provide stiffness to the structure.
[0011] In order to further understand the characteristics and technical contents of the present subject matter, a description relating thereto will be made with reference to the accompanying drawings. However, the drawings are illustrative only but not used to limit scope of the present subject matter. 15
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0012] It is to be noted, however, that the appended drawings illustrate only typical embodiments of the present subject matter and are therefore not to be considered for limiting of its scope, for the invention may admit to other equally effective embodiments. The detailed description is described with reference to the 20 accompanying figures. In the figures, the left-most digit(s) of a reference number identifies the figure in which the reference number first appears. The same numbers are used throughout the figures to reference like features and components. Some embodiments of system or methods in accordance with embodiments of the present subject matter are now described, by way of example, 25 and with reference to the accompanying figures, in which:
[0013] Fig. 1 illustrates structure of vehicle rear area as known;
[0014] Fig. 2 illustrates structure of rear panel over that striker mounting bracket is mounted as known in the art;
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[0015] Fig. 3 illustrates exploded view of the figure 2;
[0016] Fig. 4 illustrate structure of striker mounting bracket as known in the art;
[0017] Fig. 5 illustrate perspective view of striker mounting bracket of figure 4;
[0018] Fig. 6 illustrates structure of striker mounting bracket, in accordance with an embodiment of the present subject matter; 5
[0019] Fig. 7 illustrates front view of the striker mounting bracket of figure 6, in accordance with an embodiment of the present subject matter;
[0020] Fig. 8 illustrates mounting of the striker mounting bracket at rear panel of the vehicle, in accordance with an embodiment of the present subject matter; and
[0021] Fig. 9 illustrates perspective view of the mounting of the striker mounting 10 bracket at rear panel of the vehicle of figure 8, in accordance with an embodiment of the present subject matter.
[0022] The figures depict embodiments of the present subject matter for the purposes of illustration only. A person skilled in the art will easily recognize from the following description that alternative embodiments of the structures and 15 methods illustrated herein may be employed without departing from the principles of the disclosure described herein.
DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS:
[0023] The subject matter disclosed herein relates to structure of a backdoor striker mounting bracket. The present backdoor striker mounting bracket has an 20 upper mounting portion that mounts on rear panel of the vehicle and front mounting portion that mounts on the front rear panel of the vehicle in longitudinal direction (Y). The backdoor striker mounting bracket is mounted on the rear panel and front rear panel of the vehicle via spot welding. The backdoor striker mounting bracket has a striker mounting region having two striker mounting 25 apertures for mounting a striker over it. The striker mounting region has side flanges that bent in downward direction of the vehicle on both right and left hand sides. The front mounting portion has at least three mounting spots, where two are
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at the distal end and one is at middle. Where two distal mounting spots are integrally connected with side flanges to transfer stress of the striker mounting region to body of the vehicle. The striker mounting region has a step around the striker mounting apertures to provide stiffness to the striker mounting region. Further, the step is narrowed down toward the front mounting portion in 5 longitudinal direction (Y) and merges into the center/middle mounting spot. The step act as a channel to transfer the stress from the proximity of the striker mounting apertures to the body of the vehicle via center mounting spot. The step can be provided by a press machine on the striker mounting region. With the combination of the side flanges and the step, the striker mounting bracket 10 uniformly shares the stress among the spot welded areas of the front mounting portion. The present structure of the backdoor striker mounting bracket shares stress efficiently and provide stiffness to the structure.
[0024] It should be noted that the description and figures merely illustrate the principles of the present subject matter. It should be appreciated by those skilled 15 in the art that conception and specific embodiment disclosed may be readily utilized as a basis for modifying or designing other structures for carrying out the same purposes of the present subject matter. It should also be appreciated by those skilled in the art that by devising various arrangements that, although not explicitly described or shown herein, embody the principles of the present subject 20 matter and are included within its spirit and scope. Furthermore, all examples recited herein are principally intended expressly to be for pedagogical purposes to aid the reader in understanding the principles of the present subject matter and the concepts contributed by the inventor(s) to furthering the art, and are to be construed as being without limitation to such specifically recited examples and 25 conditions. The novel features which are believed to be characteristic of the present subject matter, both as to its organization and method of operation, together with further objects and advantages will be better understood from the following description when considered in connection with the accompanying figures. 30
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[0025] These and other advantages of the present subject matter would be described in greater detail with reference to the following figures. It should be noted that the description merely illustrates the principles of the present subject matter. It will thus be appreciated that those skilled in the art will be able to devise various arrangements that, although not explicitly described herein, embody the 5 principles of the present subject matter and are included within its scope.
[0026] Figures 6 and 7 illustrate structure of backdoor striker mounting bracket, in accordance with an embodiment of the present subject matter. In figure 6, arrow Y represents longitudinal direction which directs toward front of the vehicle, arrow X represents transversal direction which directs toward width of 10 the vehicle, and arrow Z represents vertical downward direction which directs toward downward direction from vehicle floor panel. The backdoor striker mounting bracket 600 (hereinafter referred as striker mounting bracket 600) has a upper mounting portion 601 that is mounted on rear panel of the vehicle (as shown in figure 7) and a front mounting portion 601a that is mounted on front rear 15 panel of the vehicle in longitudinal direction (Y). The striker mounting bracket 600 is mounted on the rear panel 700 (as shown in figure 8) and front rear panel of the vehicle via spot welding process. Further, any other means of mounting, such as welding process and nut-bolt combination can be used. In the present striker mounting bracket 600, the upper mounting portion 601 is wider than the 20 front mounting portion 601a in transversal direction X. Further, the striker mounting bracket 600 is tapered down from the upper mounting portion 601 to the front mounting portion 601a in longitudinal direction Y towards rear end of the vehicle.
[0027] The striker mounting bracket 600 has a striker mounting region 602 which 25 is parallel to floor panel of the vehicle. The striker mounting region 602 has two striker mounting apertures 603 for mounting a striker over it. The striker mounting region 602 has side flanges 604, 605 on right and left hand side. The side flanges 604, 605 are bent in downward direction Z of the vehicle on both right and left hand side. The striker mounting region 602 has a step 606 around 30
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the striker mounting apertures 603 to provide stiffness to the striker mounting region 602. Further, the step 606 is narrowed down toward the front mounting portion 601a in longitudinal direction (Y) toward rear end of the vehicle and merges into a center mounting spot 608 of the front mounting portion 601a. The step 606 act as a channel to transfer the stress from the proximity of the striker 5 mounting apertures 603 to the body of the vehicle via the front mounting portion 601a. The step 606 can be provided by a press machine on the striker mounting region 602.
[0028] As shown in the figures 6 and 7, the front mounting portion 601a has at least three mounting spots 607, 608, 609 for spot welding on the front rear panel 10 of the vehicle. In the at least three mounting spots 607, 608, 609, two mounting spots 607, 609 are at the distal end and one mounting spot 608 is at middle. Where two distal mounting spots 607, 609 are integrally connected with the side flanges 604, 605, respectively, to transfer stress of the striker mounting region 602 to body of the vehicle. Further, the step 606 of the striker mounting region 602 act as 15 a channel, that is channel third (two side flanges are first and second channels), to transfer the stress from the proximity of the striker mounting apertures 603 to the body of the vehicle via center mounting spot 608. The present striker mounting bracket 600, with the combination of the side flanges 604, 605 and the step 606, shares the stress uniformly among all the spot welded areas, such as 607, 608, 609 20 of the front mounting portion 601a. Due to uniform sharing of the stress, there are fewer chances for failure of the striker mounting bracket 600 at rear end of the vehicle. With the present structure, the backdoor striker mounting bracket 600 shares stress efficiently and provide stiffness.
[0029] Referring to figure 7, arrow 701 represents flow of stress via the side 25 flange 605 from the striker mounting region 602 to the mounting spot 609 and arrow 702 represents flow of stress via the side flange 604 from the striker mounting region 602 to the mounting spot 607. Further, arrow 703 represents flow of stress via the step 603 from proximity of the striker mounting region 602 to the center mounting spot 608. All three mounting spots 607, 608, 609 are spot welded 30
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on the front rear panel which is body of the vehicle to transfer stress from the striker mounting bracket 600 to the vehicle body. Along the three stress transfer channels 604, 605, 606, the stress of the striker mounting bracket 600 is uniformly shared and transferred to body of the vehicle.
[0030] Referring to figure 8 and 9 that represent mounting of upper mounting 5 region 601 of the striker mounting bracket 600 on the rear panel 700 of the vehicle. The upper mounting portion 601 is spot welded on the rear panel 700 of the vehicle. The front mounting portion 601a mounts on the front rear panel which comes in longitudinal direction Y toward front end of the vehicle from rear end.
[0031] It is easy to manufacture the present striker mounting bracket for the 10 vehicle. The present striker mounting bracket is a single integral unit which is made of a sheet metal. Further, dimensions and thickness of the sheet metal can be optimized based on the requirements of the vehicle. In the present, the striker mounting bracket step 606 can be easily provided by a press machine. The present striker mounting bracket can be easily manufactured using simple press process 15 and can be assembled to vehicle using spot-welding, bolting or any other attachment method based on vehicle requirement. The present striker mounting bracket is light weighted compared to the typical existing striker mounting bracket used across the industry. Further, the material, thickness, and bead pattern or side flanges can be optimized based on specific vehicle requirement. The present 20 striker mounting bracket is small and inexpensive.
[0032] Other advantages of the present striker mounting bracket are:
[0033] High stresses observed at the striker mounting region in existing striker mounting bracket are now reduced by 39% with the present striker mounting bracket. 25
[0034] Stress concentration area created in the existing striker mounting bracket is reduced with additional center channel or step.
[0035] With the present striker mounting bracket, stresses are uniformly shared by spot weld areas and hence stress at center spot weld (Spot 608) is increased by
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approx. 52%. Stress values at spot welds on either sides (Spot 607 and Spot 609) are decreased by 28 %.
[0036] Part size is also reduced as compared to the conventional striker mounting bracket. Even with reduced size, stiffness is improved in the present striker mounting bracket. 5
[0037] Although embodiments for the present subject matter have been described in language specific to structural features, it is to be understood that the present subject matter is not necessarily limited to the specific features described. Rather, the specific features and methods are disclosed as embodiments for the present subject matter. Numerous modifications and adaptations of the system/component 10 of the present invention will be apparent to those skilled in the art, and thus it is intended by the appended claims to cover all such modifications and adaptations which fall within the scope of the present subject matter.

We claim:
1. A striker mounting bracket (600) for mounting striker on rear panel (700) of vehicle, the striker mounting bracket (600) comprising:
upper mounting portion (601) for mounting the striker mounting bracket (600) on the rear panel (700); 5
a striker mounting region (602) that extend from the upper mounting portion (601) in longitudinal direction (X) toward rear end of the vehicle, the striker mounting region (602) has mounting apertures (603) for mounting a striker and two side flanges (604, 605) on right and left hand side of the mounting apertures (603), wherein the two side flanges (604, 10 605) are bent in downward direction (Z); and
front mounting portion (601a) that bents in vertically downward direction (Z) from the striker mounting region (602) for mounting on front rear panel of the vehicle.
2. The striker mounting bracket (600) as claimed in claim 1, wherein the 15 striker mounting region (602) has a step (606) around the mounting apertures (603) and act as center channel for transferring stress around the mounting apertures (603) area to body of the vehicle via the front mounting region (601a).
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3. The striker mounting bracket (600) as claimed in claim 2, wherein the step (606) is narrowed down towards the front mounting portion (601a) in longitudinal direction (Y) of the vehicle and merges into center mounting spot (608).
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4. The striker mounting bracket (600) as claimed in claim 1, wherein the front mounting portion (601a) has at least three mounting spots (607, 608, 609) to mount the striker mounting bracket (600) on front rear panel of the vehicle.
5. The striker mounting bracket (600) as claimed in claim 1, wherein the side 30 flanges (604, 605) flow through the side mounting spots (607, 609) of the
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front mounting portion (601a) to transfer stress from the striker mounting region (602) to the rear panel (700) and the front rear panel of the vehicle.
6. The striker mounting bracket (600) as claimed in claim 5, wherein the side flanges (604, 605) transfer stress on the vehicle body, in particularly to front 5 rear panel of the vehicle via side mounting spots (607, 609).
7. The striker mounting bracket (600) as claimed in claim 1, wherein the upper mounting portion (601) is wider than the front mounting portion (601a) in transversal direction (X), wherein the striker mounting bracket (600) is 10 tapered down from the upper mounting portion (601) to the front mounting portion (601a).
8. The striker mounting bracket (600) as claimed in claim 1, wherein the striker mounting bracket (600) is mounted on the rear panel (700) and the 15 front rear panel of the vehicle via spot welding.
9. The striker mounting bracket (600) as claimed in claim 1, wherein the striker mounting bracket (600) is a single integral unit and made from a sheet metal. 20
10. The striker mounting bracket (600) as claimed in claim 4, wherein at least one of the three mounting spots (607, 608, 609) is integrally connected with the stress transfer channels (604, 605, 606) to uniformly transfer the stress of the striker mounting region (602).