TECHNICAL FIELD
[0001] The present disclosure relates, in general, to mounting structure of front bumper grill assembly, and particularly to a front bumper grill assembly 5 having an upper grill mounted on a lower grill.
BACKGROUND
[0002] Background description includes information that may be useful in understanding the present subject matter. It is not an admission that any of the 10 information provided herein is prior art or relevant to the presently claimed subject matter, or that any publication specifically or implicitly referenced is prior art.
[0003] In present day passenger cars, the front bumper grill assembly has been spilt into two parts. For instance, the front bumper grill assembly includes an 15 upper grill and a lower grill. The upper grill is assembled with the lower grill so as to form a one-piece unit, or the upper grill is a separate component which is attached to the lower grill with the help of locators, integrated clips, bolts, or screws. Both arrangements have certain shortcomings such as hard fitment during assembly of upper grill clip into the lower grill mounting hole and susceptible to 20 breakage due to clip flat face (15) will have direct contact with clip mounting hole flat face (1) during assembly.
[0004] To overcome these short comings, clip mounting holes in the lower grill are provided with flat face (1) for controlling Y-direction movement of an upper grill clip (FIGS. 2A, 2B, and 3) during its mounting, horizontal faces (2, 3) 25 for controlling Z-direction movement of the upper grill clip, and vertical faces (4, 5) for controlling X-direction movement of the upper grill clip, as shown in FIGS. 1A and 1B.
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[0005] With all these faces formed at the clip mounting holes in the lower grill, a clip body of the upper grill clip is provided with a flat face (1ʹ) for controlling Y-direction movement of the upper grill clip, horizontal faces (2ʹ, 3ʹ) for controlling Z-direction movement of the upper grill clip, and vertical faces (4ʹ, 5ʹ) for controlling the X-direction movement of the upper grill clip, as shown in 5 FIGS. 2A and 2B.
[0006] Accordingly, with the above-mentioned faces, when the upper grill clip is positioned in a clip mounting hole, it is expected that Y-direction movement is controlled by the flat faces (1, 1ʹ) of the upper grill clip and the clip mounting hole, Z-direction movement is controlled by the horizontal faces (2, 3, 10 2ʹ, 3ʹ) of the upper grill clip and the clip mounting hole, and X-direction movement is controlled by the vertical faces (4, 5, 4ʹ, 5ʹ) of the of the upper grill clip and the clip mounting hole.
[0007] However, in practical situation, during Y-direction movement a first point of contact with the flat face (1) of the clip mounting hole is center face (15) 15 of the upper grill clip, instead of flat face (1ʹ) of the upper grill clip. Due to the first contact of the center face (15) of the upper grill clip with the flat face (1) of the clip mounting hole, mounting of the upper grill clip (FIGS. 2 and 3) in the clip mounting hole (FIG. 1) would be little harder and there is no control for center to center position, as shown in FIG. 3. 20
[0008] As can be seen from FIG. 3, while mounting, a push clip center (16) of the upper grill clip is not aligned with a clip mounting hole center (17) of the clip mounting hole, thereby there is always a difference (Δ) in central axes of both the upper grill clip and the clip mounting hole. Because of which, to push the upper grill clip towards the clip mounting hole center (17) of the clip mounting hole, 25 horizontal and vertical faces (2, 3, 4, 5) of the clip mounting holes need to be modified. However, in case the horizontal and vertical faces (2, 3, 4, 5) of the clip mounting holes are increased towards the clip mounting hole center (17) of the clip mounting hole, the fitment of the upper grill on the lower grill will be very hard and susceptible to breakage during assembly. 30
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[0009] Accordingly, there is a need in the state of the art to modify either the faces of the clip mounting hole or of the upper grill clip.
OBJECTS OF THE DISCLOSURE
[0010] Some of the objects of the present disclosure, which at least one 5 embodiment herein satisfy, are listed hereinbelow.
[0011] A general object of the present disclosure is to provide a front bumper grill assembly having an upper grill mounted on a lower grill.
[0012] An object of the present disclosure is to provide a front bumper grill assembly with modified clip mounting holes on a lower grill. 10
[0013] Yet another object of the present disclosure is to provide a front bumper grill assembly having modified faces on clip mounting holes of a lower grill.
[0014] These and other objects and advantages of the present disclosure will be apparent to those skilled in the art after a consideration of the following 15 detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in which a preferred form of the present disclosure is illustrated.
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SUMMARY
[0015] This summary is provided to introduce concepts related to a front bumper grill assembly having an upper grill mounted on a lower grill. The concepts are further described below in the detailed description. This summary is not intended to identify key features or essential features of the claimed subject 25 matter, nor is it intended to be used to limit the scope of the claimed subject matter.
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[0016] The present disclosure relates to a front bumper grill assembly comprising a mounting structure formed on a clip mounting hole of a lower grill. The mounting structure includes inner horizontal faces formed at a distance from horizontal faces of the clip mounting hole for controlling Z-direction movement of an upper grill clip during its mounting; inner vertical faces formed at a distance 5 from vertical faces of the clip mounting hole for controlling X-direction movement of the upper grill clip during its mounting; and a flat face formed at a height from the clip mounting hole for controlling the Y-direction movement of the upper grill clip during its mounting, wherein the flat face is connected to the inner horizontal faces with inner angular horizontal faces and is connected to the 10 inner vertical faces with inner angular vertical faces to avoid flat face (15) of clip struck up or facing hard fitment due to flat face (1) of clip mounting hole.
[0017] In an aspect, the flat face, the inner horizontal faces and the inner vertical faces are adapted to adjustable to a push clip center towards a clip mounting hole center, with the help of adjustable angular horizontal and vertical 15 faces for easy fitment of the upper grill clip.
[0018] In an aspect, the mounting structure is having slots in center of the inner horizontal faces so as to receive a front face of the upper grill clip at a central position of the clip mounting hole.
[0019] In an aspect, the lower grill comprises a top row of clip mounting holes 20 and a bottom row of mounting holes, and wherein the top row and the bottom row are parallel to each other.
[0020] In an aspect, the mounting structure is formed on the clip mounting holes of the bottom row.
[0021] These and other objects and advantages of the present invention will 25 be apparent to those skilled in the art after a consideration of the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in which a preferred form of the present invention is illustrated.
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BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0022] The illustrated embodiments of the subject matter will be best understood by reference to the drawings, wherein like parts are designated by like numerals throughout. The following description is intended only by way of example, and simply illustrates certain selected embodiments of devices, systems, 5 and methods that are consistent with the subject matter as claimed herein, wherein:
[0023] FIGS. 1A and 1B illustrate different perspective views of a conventional mounting hole of a lower grill of a front bumper grill assembly;
[0024] FIGS. 2A and 2B illustrate different perspective views of clip body of 10 a conventional upper grill clip formed at an upper grill of a front bumper grill assembly;
[0025] FIG. 3 illustrates a scenario in which the center of the mounting hole mismatch with the center of the upper grill clip;
[0026] FIGS. 4A and 4B illustrate a mounting structure formed on a clip 15 mounting hole of a lower grill, in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure;
[0027] FIG. 5A illustrates a scenario in which the upper grill clip slides over the vertical and horizontal angular faces of the mounting structure, in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure; 20
[0028] FIG. 5B illustrates a scenario in which the upper grill clip is entering into the clip mounting hole, in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure;
[0029] FIG. 5C illustrates a scenario in which the upper grill clip is locked or mounted into the clip mounting hole, in accordance with an embodiment of the 25 present disclosure;
[0030] FIG. 5D illustrates a section A-A of the assembled upper grill clip shown in FIG. 5C, in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure;
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[0031] FIG. 5E illustrates a section B-B of the assembled upper grill clip shown in FIG. 5C, in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure;
[0032] FIG. 6 illustrates a shape of the mounting hole achieved after formation of the mounting structure, in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure; and 5
[0033] FIG. 7 illustrates a lower grill with the mounting structure formed on the mounting holes, in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
[0034] The detailed description of various exemplary embodiments of the 10 disclosure is described herein with reference to the accompanying drawings. It should be noted that the embodiments are described herein in such details as to clearly communicate the disclosure. However, the amount of details provided herein is not intended to limit the anticipated variations of embodiments; on the contrary, the intention is to cover all modifications, equivalents, and alternatives 15 falling within the spirit and scope of the present disclosure as defined by the appended claims.
[0035] It is also to be understood that various arrangements may be devised that, although not explicitly described or shown herein, embody the principles of the present disclosure. Moreover, all statements herein reciting principles, aspects, 20 and embodiments of the present disclosure, as well as specific examples, are intended to encompass equivalents thereof.
[0036] The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of example embodiments. As used herein, the singular forms “a”, “an” and “the” are intended to include the 25 plural forms as well, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. It will be further understood that the terms “comprises”, “comprising”, “includes” and/or “including,” when used herein, specify the presence of stated features, integers, steps, operations, elements and/or components, but do not preclude the presence
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or addition of one or more other features, integers, steps, operations, elements, components and/or groups thereof.
[0037] It should also be noted that in some alternative implementations, the functions/acts noted may occur out of the order noted in the figures. For example, two figures shown in succession may, in fact, be executed concurrently or may 5 sometimes be executed in the reverse order, depending upon the functionality/acts involved.
[0038] Unless otherwise defined, all terms (including technical and scientific terms) used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art to which example embodiments belong. It will be further 10 understood that terms, e.g., those defined in commonly used dictionaries, should be interpreted as having a meaning that is consistent with their meaning in the context of the relevant art and will not be interpreted in an idealized or overly formal sense unless expressly so defined herein.
[0039] Embodiments and/or implementations described herein relate to a front 15 bumper grill assembly having an upper grill and a lower grill. The upper grill includes a clip for locking in a mounting hole of the lower grill during the assembly of the front bumper grill assembly.
[0040] FIGS. 4A and 4B illustrate a mounting structure formed on a clip mounting hole of a lower grill, in accordance with an embodiment of the present 20 disclosure. The mounting structure includes inner horizontal faces (7, 12) formed at a distance from horizontal faces of the clip mounting hole for controlling Z-direction movement of an upper grill clip during its mounting; inner vertical faces (9, 14) formed at a distance from vertical faces of the clip mounting hole for controlling X-direction movement of the upper grill clip during its mounting; and 25 a flat face (6) formed at a height from the clip mounting hole for controlling the Y-direction movement of the upper grill clip during its mounting, wherein the flat face (6) is connected to the inner horizontal faces (7, 12) and the inner vertical faces (9, 14) by inner angular horizontal faces (8, 11) and the inner angular vertical faces (10, 13). 30
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[0041] Further, in order to move upper grill clip center (16) towards lower grill clip mounting hole center (17), the inner horizontal faces (7, 12) and the inner vertical faces (9, 14) are adapted adjustable. Also, to maintain easy fitment of upper grill clip, the inner angular horizontal faces (8, 11) and the inner angular vertical faces (10, 13) are also adjustable based on above adjustment. 5
[0042] In an aspect, the mounting structure is having slots (18) in center of the inner horizontal faces (7, 12) so as to receive the front face (15) of the upper grill clip at a central position of the clip mounting hole.
[0043] With the above mentioned configured of the proposed mounting structure formed on the clip mounting hole, the front face (15) of the upper grill 10 clip will slide over the inner vertical and horizontal angular faces (8, 10, 11, 13) of the mounting structure (FIGS. 5A and 5B) which will help for easy fitment. FIG. 5A illustrates a scenario in which the upper grill clip slides over the inner vertical and horizontal angular faces (8, 10, 11, 13) of the mounting structure, while FIG. 5B illustrates a scenario in which the upper grill clip is entering into the clip 15 mounting hole.
[0044] FIG. 5C illustrates a scenario in which the upper grill clip is locked or mounted into the clip mounting hole. FIG. 5D illustrates a section A-A of the assembled upper grill clip shown in FIG. 5C, while FIG. 5E illustrates a section B-B of the assembled upper grill clip shown in FIG. 5C. 20
[0045] As can be seen from FIGS. 5D and 5E, by changing distances (FIG. 6) of the inner horizontal faces (7, 12), the upper grill clip can be positioned in a desired position in Z-direction with respect to the horizontal faces (2ʹ, 3ʹ) of the clip body of the upper grill clip.
[0046] Further, by changing the distance of the inner vertical faces 9 and 14 25 (FIG. 6), the upper grill clip can be positioned in a desired position in X-direction with respect to the vertical faces (5ʹ, 4ʹ) of the clip body of the upper grill clip.
[0047] Yet further, by changing the height of the flat face (6) (FIGS. 4A and 4B), the upper grill clip can be positioned in a desired position in Y-direction with respect to the flat faces (1ʹ) of the clip body of the upper grill clip. 30
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[0048] Furthermore, as shown in FIG. 7, the lower grill includes a top row (19) of clip mounting holes and a bottom row (20) of mounting holes, where the top row (19) and the bottom row (20) are parallel to each other. While assembling the upper grill onto the lower grill, the upper grill clips are first centrally positioned onto the bottom row (20) of the mounting holes. Accordingly, in an 5 aspect, the mounting structure proposed herein is formed on the clip mounting holes of the bottom row (20). However, without deviating from the scope of the present disclosure, the mounting structure proposed herein can be formed on the top row (19) as well.
[0049] Also, the number of mounting holes represented in FIG. 7 are merely 10 exemplary, the number of mounting holes can vary depending on the size of the lower grill.
[0050] Furthermore, the terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of the present disclosure. It will be appreciated that several of the above-disclosed and 15 other features and functions, or alternatives thereof, may be combined into other systems or applications. Various presently unforeseen or unanticipated alternatives, modifications, variations, or improvements therein may subsequently be made by those skilled in the art without departing from the scope of the present disclosure as encompassed by the following claims. 20
[0051] The claims, as originally presented and as they may be amended, encompass variations, alternatives, modifications, improvements, equivalents, and substantial equivalents of the embodiments and teachings disclosed herein, including those that are presently unforeseen or unappreciated, and that, for example, may arise from applicants/patentees and others. 25
[0052] While the foregoing describes various embodiments of the invention, other and further embodiments of the invention may be devised without departing from the basic scope thereof. The scope of the invention is determined by the claims that follow. The invention is not limited to the described embodiments, versions or examples, which are included to enable a person having ordinary skill 30
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in the art to make and use the invention when combined with information and knowledge available to the person having ordinary skill in the art.

We claim:

1. A front bumper grill assembly comprising:
a mounting structure formed on a clip mounting hole of a lower grill, the structure comprising:
inner horizontal faces (7, 12) formed at a distance from horizontal 5 faces of the clip mounting hole for controlling Z-direction movement of an upper grill clip during its mounting,
inner vertical faces (9, 14) formed at a distance from vertical faces of the clip mounting hole for controlling X-direction movement of the upper grill clip during its mounting; and 10
a flat face (6) formed at a height from the clip mounting hole for controlling the Y-direction movement of the upper grill clip during its mounting, wherein the flat face (6) is connected to the inner horizontal faces (7, 12) with inner angular horizontal faces (8, 11) and is connected to the inner vertical faces (9, 14) with inner angular vertical 15 faces (10, 13) to avoid flat face (15) of clip struck up or facing hard fitment due to flat face (1) of clip mounting hole.
2. The front bumper grill assembly as claimed in claim 1, wherein the flat face (6), the inner horizontal faces (7, 12) and the inner vertical faces (9, 14) are adapted to adjustable to a push clip center (16) towards a clip 20 mounting hole center (17), with the help of adjustable angular horizontal and vertical faces (8, 11, 10, 13) for easy fitment of the upper grill clip.
3. The front bumper grill assembly as claimed in claim 1, wherein the mounting structure is having slots (18) in center of the inner horizontal faces (7, 12) so as to receive a front face (15) of the upper grill clip at a 25 central position of the clip mounting hole.
4. The front bumper grill assembly as claimed in claim 3, wherein the lower grill comprises a top row (19) of clip mounting holes and a bottom row
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(20) of mounting holes, and wherein the top row (19) and the bottom row (20) are parallel to each other.
5. The front bumper grill assembly as claimed in claim 4, wherein the mounting structure is formed on the clip mounting holes of the bottom row 5 (20).