CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims priority to Korean Patent Application No. 10-2019-0149185, filed on Nov. 20, 2019, which application is hereby incorporated herein by reference.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates to a roof carrier for a vehicle.

BACKGROUND

In the conventional monocoque vehicle body, a large number of pails are combined with each other in a complex structure to provide a roof, and the shape and coupling structure of such parts are different for each model of the vehicle.

Therefore, in order to construct a roof of a vehicle of even one model, a large number of molds are required to manufacture parts for constructing the roof of the vehicle. In addition, in order to construct a roof of a vehicle of another model, since molds may not be used in common, another group of different molds is required to be manufactured.

Accordingly, manufacturing a roof of a vehicle according to a different assembly structure for each model using a large number of parts, as described above, is inferior in workability.

The foregoing, described as the related art of the present invention, is intended merely to aid in the understanding of the background of the present invention and is not intended to mean that the present invention falls within the purview of the related art that is already known to those skilled in the art.

SUMMARY

Accordingly, an embodiment of the present invention provides a roof carrier for a vehicle, wherein the roof carrier enables a roof structure required for a vehicle to be easily constructed during the production of a new type of vehicle, while minimizing or not requiring the development of new and/or different molds, and is able to be easily shared with various types of vehicles, thereby allowing the new type of vehicle to be easily developed, and is able to be effectively applied to a multi-product small quantity production method.

In order to achieve the above embodiment, there is provided a roof carrier for a vehicle, the roof carrier including roof side tubes extendedly provided on opposite sides of a vehicle body along a front-rear direction of the vehicle from opposite sides of a cowl in a front side of the vehicle to opposite sides of a rear roof rail in a rear side of the vehicle while providing a closed cross section, and at least one middle roof rail extendedly provided along a transverse direction of the vehicle to connect the roof side tubes on opposite sides between the cowl and the rear roof rail while providing the closed cross section.

The at least one middle roof rail may include a first roof rail provided at a position supporting an upper end of a front windshield glass.

The closed cross section of each of the roof side tubes may be a shape in which a plurality of straight portions are connected to each other in turn by a plurality of bent portions, thereby providing a single closed curve.

An embodiment of the present invention may further include a glass support panel coupled to a section of the roof side tube from the cowl to the first roof rail to support the front windshield glass, and a strip support panel coupled to a lower side of the roof side tube so as to mount a filler weather strip.

The closed cross section of the roof side tube may be integrally provided with a glass support portion that is able to independently support the front windshield glass, and the strip support panel may be coupled to the roof side tube to mount the filler weather strip.

The cowl may include a cowl upper member extendedly provided along a transverse direction of the vehicle in a predetermined closed cross-sectional shape including at least one closed curve, and a cowl lower panel coupled to a lower side of the cowl upper member to partition front and rear sides of the vehicle, at least some section of the cowl lower panel having a predetermined cross-sectional structure along the transverse direction of the vehicle.

A glass mounting bracket for mounting the front windshield glass may be coupled to a front side of the first roof rail, and a roof mounting bracket for mounting a roof may be coupled to a rear side of the first roof rail.

The at least one middle roof rail may include a second roof rail provided between the first roof rail and the rear roof rail, and roof mounting brackets for mounting the roof may be coupled to front and rear sides, respectively, of the second roof rail.

In order to improve coupling performance of a sealer, a dent portion may be locally dented downwardly in a portion coupled to the roof.

The rear roof rail may be extendedly provided along the transverse direction of the vehicle while providing a predetermined closed cross section including at least one closed curve.

A roof mounting bracket for mounting the roof may be coupled to a front of the rear roof rail.

A tailgate mounting bracket for mounting a tailgate may be coupled to a rear of the rear roof rail.

As described above, during the production of a new type of vehicle, embodiments of the present invention may enable a roof structure required for a vehicle to be easily constructed, while minimizing or not requiring the development of new and/or different molds, to be easily shared with various types of vehicles, thereby allowing the new type of vehicle to be easily developed, and to be effectively applied to a multi-product small quantity production method.

