Roof Design

Aim:

To design a Roof and reinforcement

Automobile roof:

An automobile roof or car top is the portion of an automobile that sits above the passenger compartment protecting the vehicle occupants from sun, wind, rain, and other external elements. Automobile roofs are conventionally supported by pillars on each side of the body.

Design of Automobile roof

The first step in designing an automobile roof is to create an outer surface (ski n surface), which are usually designed by styling team based on parent car design and aesthetics.

Following procedure is followed for designing a roof.

• Using surface modelling techniques, necessary ditch areas are designed on all the sides of the roof.
• In addition to that, Rails and spoilers (if necessary) are designed on the top of the roof.
• The surface is provided with a 0.75 mm thickness.
• To increase strength and to join the roof with the body of the car, some reinforcements are provided on the roof. Such as,

1. Front roof rail
2. Rear roof rail
3. Center roof when sun roof is present
4. Bow roofs
5. Center roof

Front roof

• It is used to join the roof with front glass, and chassis via A-pillars.
• The thickness of 0.75 mm is given to the surface.
• Necessary embosses are provided on the surfaces, if required.

Rear roof

• It is used to join the roof with back door and chassis via C-pillars.
• The thickness of 0.75mm is given to the surface.
• Necessary embosses are provided on the surfaces, if required.

Reinforcement centre

• It is used to join the roof with the B-pillar.
• The thickness of 0.75 mm is given to the surface.
• Reinforcement centre consists of two parts- The inner part and outer part.

• Bow roofs

  • It is used to increase the strength of the roof.
  • A number of bow roofs are decided based on the length of the roof and strength required.
  • The thickness of 0.75mm is given to the surface. ◦ Strength of the roof will increase with the number of bow roof.
  • In some cases, the bow roof itself is used as reinforcement centre.
  • In this project, two bow roofs and one reinforcement are used.

  

Conclusion

• All the parts of the roof are designed based on the required parameters and are assembled together to form the roof using NX CAD.