JP2004042774A - Device for preventing fall of propeller shaft in vehicle - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To prevent a propeller shaft from falling while disposing the propeller shaft and an exhaust pipe close to each other, and reducing a space occupied thereby. <P>SOLUTION: A stainless steel wire 30 with one end thereof fixed to a lower portion of a vehicle body is placed across a lower side of a propeller shaft 6, and the other end of the wire is fixed to an exhaust pipe 21 to prevent the propeller shaft 6 from falling by this stainless steel wire 30. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2004,JPO

Description

[0001]
TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a propeller shaft drop prevention device that transmits power from an engine of a vehicle, mainly an automobile, to driving wheels.
[0002]
[Prior art]
2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in a vehicle such as an automobile, when a traveling engine is disposed at a front portion of a vehicle body, the power of the engine is transmitted to drive wheels via a propeller shaft extending in a front-rear direction at a lower portion of the vehicle body. Further, exhaust gas discharged from the engine is discharged to the atmosphere at a lower portion of the vehicle body through an exhaust pipe extending in the front-rear direction in parallel with the propeller shaft, as shown in FIG. The propeller shaft is prevented from falling by a U-shaped propeller shaft protector fixed to the bottom plate of the vehicle body so as to avoid the exhaust pipe.
[0003]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
However, in the conventional propeller shaft drop prevention device, since the propeller shaft protector is fixed to the bottom plate of the vehicle body while avoiding interference with the exhaust pipe, it is necessary to maintain an appropriate space between the propeller shaft and the exhaust pipe. Yes, the space occupied by them in the lower part of the vehicle body becomes large, and the space efficiency around them becomes worse, especially when the propeller shaft and the exhaust pipe are juxtaposed in the tunnel part formed in the bottom plate of the vehicle body, It is necessary to increase the size of the tunnel, which causes a problem of increasing the weight of the lower part of the vehicle body and increasing the cost.
[0004]
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and arranges a propeller shaft and an exhaust pipe as close as possible to provide a propeller shaft protector over a lower part of a vehicle body and an exhaust pipe. It is an object of the present invention to provide a novel device for preventing a propeller shaft from falling in a vehicle, which solves the above problem.
[0005]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
In order to achieve the above object, the invention according to claim 1 is characterized in that a propeller shaft for transmitting power from an engine to driving wheels and an exhaust pipe for guiding exhaust gas discharged from the engine to the atmosphere are close to each other in a longitudinal direction of the vehicle body. A fall prevention device for a propeller shaft in a vehicle,
A flexible member whose one end is fixed to the lower part of the vehicle body straddles the lower part of the propeller shaft, and the other end is fixed to the exhaust pipe, and the flexible member prevents the propeller shaft from dropping. According to the above, since there is no need to secure a space between the propeller shaft and the exhaust pipe for mounting the propeller shaft protector at the lower part of the vehicle body as in the related art, the propeller shaft and the exhaust pipe can be as large as possible. Can be placed in close proximity to the lower part of the car body, reducing their occupied space, greatly improving the space efficiency around them, and the layout and The degree of freedom of attachment can be increased, and the weight and cost of the propeller shaft protector can be reduced by using a flexible member.
[0006]
BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION
Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described based on examples of the present invention shown in the accompanying drawings.
[0007]
FIG. 1 is a side view of a four-wheel drive vehicle provided with the propeller shaft drop prevention device of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a view taken in the direction of arrow 2 in FIG. 1, and FIG. 3 is an enlarged view of a virtual circle in FIG. FIG. 4 is an enlarged sectional view taken along line 4-4 of FIG. 1, and FIG. 5 is a partial perspective view of a mounting portion of the propeller shaft protector.
[0008]
In this embodiment, the propeller shaft drop prevention device of the present invention is applied to a part-time four-wheel drive (4WD) automobile. In FIGS. The engine 1 is mounted horizontally (the direction of which the crankshaft is perpendicular to the front-rear direction of the vehicle). A transmission 2 is arranged on a side of the engine 1, and a front differential 3 linked to the transmission 2 is connected to left and right front axles 5, 5 for driving left and right front wheels 4, 4. The transmission 2 is connected via a front differential 3 to a propeller shaft 6 described below, which is disposed below the vehicle body in the front-rear direction. The propeller shaft 6 is used for switching between two and four drives. The vehicle is connected to left and right rear axles 9, 9 for driving left and right rear wheels 10, 10 via a power transmission device 7 and a rear differential device 8.
[0009]
The propeller shaft 6 includes a front propeller shaft 6F and a rear propeller shaft 6R connected via a center coupling joint 11 supported by a bottom plate 15 of the vehicle body. The front end of the front propeller shaft 6F is a universal propeller shaft. A rear output end of the front differential 3 is connected via a joint 12, and a rear end of the rear propeller shaft 6 </ b> R is connected to an input end of a power transmission device 7 for switching between two and four drives.
[0010]
Since the power transmission system of the part-time type four-wheel drive has a conventionally known structure, a detailed description thereof will be omitted.
[0011]
On the other hand, in FIGS. 1 and 2, an exhaust port disposed at a lower portion of the vehicle body is connected to an exhaust port opened at a rear portion of the engine 1. The exhaust system includes an exhaust manifold 20 having an upstream end connected to the exhaust port, and an exhaust pipe 21 connected to and connected to the exhaust manifold. The exhaust pipe 21 extends longitudinally below the lower part of the vehicle body in the front-rear direction, is connected to the downstream end of the exhaust manifold 20, and has a front exhaust pipe 21F in which a flexible tube 22 and a catalyst 23 are interposed. The rear exhaust pipe 21R is connected to the downstream end of the front exhaust pipe 21F, and includes a rear exhaust pipe 21R with a primary silencer 24 as an auxiliary silencer interposed therebetween. , A secondary silencer 25 which is a main silencer is connected.
[0012]
As shown in FIGS. 2 to 4, the propeller shaft 6 and the exhaust pipe 21 are arranged close to each other at the lower part of the vehicle body, and they are located at the left and right intermediate portions of the bottom plate 15 of the vehicle body in the front-rear direction. It is housed in an arch-shaped tunnel portion 15T formed along the center, and in this embodiment, an intermediate portion of the rear exhaust pipe 21R is bent so as to cross below the front propeller shaft 6F as viewed from the bottom surface. .
[0013]
Next, the structure of the propeller shaft drop prevention device according to the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2 and FIGS. 3 to 5. At a position corresponding to the front portion of the front propeller shaft 6F, a tunnel portion is provided. A flexible member as a propeller shaft protector, that is, one end of a stainless steel wire 30 is connected to one side of the flat back wall of 15T near the front propeller shaft 6F. As shown in FIG. 5, a mounting bracket 31 for fixing one end of the stainless steel wire 30 to the inner wall of the tunnel 15T is configured by fixing a cylindrical caulking portion 31B to one end surface of an eyelet-shaped mounting portion 31A. Then, one end of the stainless wire 30 is inserted into the caulking portion 31B and caulked and fixed. The mounting portion 31A of the mounting bracket 31 is connected to the bottom plate 15 of the vehicle body by screwing a bolt 33 inserted through the mounting hole 32 to a weld nut 34 fixed to the inner wall of the tunnel portion 15T. As shown in FIG. 4, the flexible stainless steel wire 30 is curved so as to straddle under the front propeller shaft 6F, and the other end is arranged near the front propeller shaft 6F. This is welded 35 to the outer surface of the exhaust pipe 21F, whereby the stainless wire 30 can function as a propeller shaft protector, and the propeller shaft 6 can be prevented from dropping.
[0014]
The other end of the stainless wire 30 may be welded to the mounting bracket 31.
Next, the operation of this embodiment will be described.
[0015]
Now, when the automobile runs due to the operation of the engine 1, the stainless wire 30 follows the movement of the exhaust pipe 21, and the stainless steel wire 30 slightly moves. Can be reliably received.
[0016]
In this case, there is no need to secure a space between the propeller shaft 6 and the exhaust pipe 21 for mounting the propeller shaft protector 30 at the lower part of the vehicle body as in the related art. The pipe 21 can be arranged as close as possible to the lower part of the vehicle body, reducing the space occupied by them, greatly improving the space efficiency around them, and providing other equipment to the lower part of the vehicle body. In particular, when the propeller shaft 6 and the exhaust pipe 21 are housed in the tunnel portion 15T of the vehicle body bottom plate 15, the size of the tunnel portion 15T can be reduced. Further, the propeller shaft protector 30 is made of a flexible member, so that the weight and cost can be reduced.
[0017]
Although the embodiments of the present invention have been described above, the present invention is not limited to the embodiments, and various embodiments are possible within the scope of the present invention.
[0018]
For example, in the above-described embodiment, the case where the drop prevention device for the propeller shaft of the present invention is provided in the lower part of the vehicle body corresponding to the front portion of the front propeller shaft has been described, but this may be provided in another portion of the propeller shaft. Although the case where a stainless steel wire is used as the flexible member has been described, another equivalent material may be used instead.
[0019]
Further, in the above-described embodiment, the case where the propeller shaft drop prevention device of the present invention is applied to a four-wheel drive vehicle has been described. However, it is needless to say that this can be applied to a vehicle having another drive system, for example, a two-wheel drive vehicle. It is.
[0020]
【The invention's effect】
As described above, according to the first aspect of the present invention, it is necessary to secure a conventional space between the propeller shaft and the exhaust pipe for attaching the propeller shaft protector to the lower part of the vehicle body. As a result, the propeller shaft and the exhaust pipe can be arranged as close as possible to the lower part of the vehicle body, reducing the space occupied by them and greatly improving the space efficiency around them, The layout and the degree of freedom of attachment of other devices to the lower part can be increased, and the propeller shaft protector is made of a flexible member, so that its weight and cost can be reduced.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a side view of a four-wheel drive vehicle provided with a propeller shaft drop prevention device. FIG. 2 is a view taken in the direction of arrow 2 in FIG. 1 FIG. 3 is an enlarged perspective view of a virtual circle in FIG. 4 is an enlarged sectional view taken along line 4-4 of FIG. 1. FIG. 5 is a partial perspective view of a mounting portion of a propeller shaft protector. FIG. 6 is a partial perspective view of a mounting portion of a conventional propeller shaft protector.
1 ... Engine 6 ... Propeller shaft 21 ... Exhaust pipe 30 ... Flexibility Material (stainless steel wire)

Claims (1)

A vehicle in which a propeller shaft (6) for transmitting power from an engine (1) to driving wheels and an exhaust pipe (21) for guiding exhaust gas discharged from the engine (1) to the atmosphere extend close to and in the vehicle longitudinal direction. A fall prevention device for a propeller shaft in
A flexible member (30), one end of which is fixed to the lower part of the vehicle body, is fixed to the exhaust pipe (21) across the lower part of the propeller shaft (6), and the propeller shaft () is fixed by the flexible member (30). 6) A fall prevention device for a propeller shaft in a vehicle, wherein the fall prevention device prevents the fall of 6).

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