CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application claims priority to Japanese Patent Application No. 2019-162872 filed on Sep. 6, 2019, which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety including the specification, claims, drawings, and abstract.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present disclosure relates to a vehicle bottom structure related to sealing of a vehicle bottom, and to a manufacturing method thereof.

BACKGROUND

On a bottom of a vehicle, sealing is applied for preventing entry of water from outside of a vehicle cabin into an interior of the vehicle cabin.

JP H11-291954 A discloses a structure in which a tunnel member provided at a center in a vehicle width direction and floor panels (floor members) provided on left and right of the tunnel member are sealed. Specifically, flanges of the floor panels are overlapped with side walls of the tunnel member, and spot welding is performed. A gap between an upper end of the flange of the floor panel and the side wall of the tunnel member is sealed from an upper side, over a range spanning a front-and-rear direction of the vehicle. A cross member is provided at an upper side of the floor panel. However, because the upper end of the flange of the floor panel extends to a position higher than an upper end of a flange of the cross member, the cross member does not become an obstruction during the sealing.

In the structure of JP H11-291954 A, the sealing of the tunnel member and the floor panel must be performed at an upper side in relation to the upper end of the cross member, thereby requiring a sufficiently wide space at the upper part. However, when the cross member is connected to a skeleton member (for example, a rocker) at the vehicle side, in many cases, it may be difficult to secure a space in the up-and-down direction. Because of this, at portions where the cross member exists or the like, it becomes difficult to secure waterproofing with one seal from an upper side (that is, the vehicle cabin side) or from a lower side (that is, from outside of the vehicle).

An advantage of the present disclosure lies in provision of a new vehicle bottom structure for securing waterproof capability of the bottom of the vehicle in cases where there is a portion where sealing is difficult.

SUMMARY

According to one aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a vehicle bottom structure comprising: a skeleton member provided at a bottom of a vehicle; a panel member having, at an end thereof, a flange which extends in an up-and-down direction, wherein the flange is connected to the skeleton member; a lower seal member that seals a lower side of the flange and the skeleton member from a lower side; and an upper seal member that seals an upper side of the flange and the skeleton member from an upper side, wherein, in regions near a lower non-sealed part in which the sealing by the lower seal member is not performed and near lower sealed parts at both sides of the lower non-sealed part, in which the sealing by the lower seal member is performed, the sealing from the upper side by the upper seal member is performed over a range opposing these regions with the flange therebetween, in regions near an upper non-sealed part in which the sealing by the upper seal member is not performed and near upper sealed parts at both sides of the upper non-sealed part, in which the sealing by the upper seal member is performed, the sealing from the lower side by the lower seal member is performed over a range opposing these regions with the flange therebetween, and, in a region between a location of the lower sealed part on the side of the lower non-sealed part and a location of the upper sealed part on the side of the upper non-sealed part, sealing by a connecting seal member, which connects the lower seal member and the upper seal member and seals the region, is performed.

According to another aspect of the present disclosure, in the vehicle bottom structure, the connecting seal member is foamable.

According to another aspect of the present disclosure, the vehicle bottom structure comprises a plurality of the lower non-sealed parts and a plurality of the upper non-sealed parts, and a waterproof line is passed between the lower seal member and the upper seal member via the connecting seal member, detouring around the plurality of the lower non-sealed parts and the plurality of the upper non-sealed parts.

According to another aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a method of manufacturing the vehicle bottom structure, comprising: applying the connecting seal member which is foamable onto the skeleton member or the panel member; connecting the skeleton member and the panel member, and providing the lower seal member and the upper seal member.

According to another aspect of the present disclosure, the method further comprises foaming the connecting seal member.

According to various aspects of the present disclosure, because the lower seal member and the upper seal member are connected by the connecting seal member, there can be constructed a waterproof line which detours around the non-sealed part.

