JP2005199880A - Vessel structure for fuel tank - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a vessel structure for a fuel tank preventing or reducing peeling off of coating even if a small stone or the like hits on a bottom part of the fuel tank, a vessel of the fuel tank being applied with usual coating and not with special coating. <P>SOLUTION: The fuel tank 3 of an automobile is arranged at a lower part of a vehicle body at a rear side of a wheel 2. A rear end side bottom part 22 of the vessel 4 of the fuel tank 3 is formed such that a rear side of the vehicle body is inclined directed to an upper part and a rear bead 10 extending in a vehicle width direction is formed on the rear end side bottom part 22. The rear bead 10 is formed to a stepped shape by a horizontal part 10a and an inclination part 10b directed to a rear side of the vehicle body. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2005,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a fuel tank container structure capable of preventing peeling of paint applied to a vehicle fuel tank container.

  FIG. 10 shows a lower case 52 that constitutes the lower half of the container of the fuel tank disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2000-158956. As shown in the figure, the lower case 52 is formed with a plurality of reinforcing beads 53, 57, 58 on the bottom 54 of the lower case 52 in order to increase the rigidity of the fuel tank. The reinforcing bead 57 formed in the center has a plurality of beads extending in the front-rear direction of the vehicle body (fuel tank), and the reinforcing beads 53 and 58 positioned in the front-rear direction have a plurality of beads extending in the vehicle width direction. In addition, the direction of the arrow F shown in the drawing indicates the front of the vehicle body (hereinafter the same).

FIG. 11 is a cross-sectional view taken along line AA in FIG. 10 and shows a rear end portion of the fuel tank. The reinforcing beads 53 are formed with a plurality of concave portions 56 that are recessed upward from the reference surface 55 of the bottom portion 54 of the lower case 52, and are formed in a substantially rectangular wave shape continuously in the horizontal direction toward the rear side of the vehicle body. The entire outer surface of the fuel tank, including an upper case (not shown), is painted to prevent rust and the like.
JP 2000-1558956 A (paragraph [0011] FIGS. 1 and 2) Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 63-47935 (FIG. 1)

  The fuel tank is usually disposed with the bottom surface facing the ground. Further, when the fuel tank is disposed on the rear side of the front wheel, the tire may step on the pebbles a or the like while the vehicle is running, and may hit the fuel tank due to the pebbles a jumping. As shown in FIG. 11, when the pebble a hits the bottom portion 54, when the shape hits a horizontal plane portion like the bottom portion 54, the incident angle of the pebble a is close to the horizontal direction and hits the bottom portion 54. Therefore, damage to the painted surface is not a problem.

On the other hand, when the pebbles b hit the surface 53a of the reinforcing bead 53 facing the front side of the vehicle body, the pebbles b hit at an angle close to the perpendicular direction (front), and the paint applied to the container may be peeled off due to the large impact force. is there. If paint is removed, the fuel tank may corrode. Therefore, it is necessary to apply a special coating called chip-resistant coating to the container to strengthen the bottom of the fuel tank to prevent the peeling of the coating. However, chip-resistant coating is expensive and increases the manufacturing cost of the fuel tank.
In addition to chip-resistant coating, the protector cover can be used to protect the fuel tank, but covering the entire bottom requires a large protector cover, which is also expensive and heavy. .

  The present invention has been made in view of such circumstances, and a fuel tank that performs normal coating without special coating on the fuel tank container and prevents peeling of the coating even if pebbles hit the bottom of the fuel tank. The object is to provide a container structure.

In order to achieve the above object, the fuel tank container structure according to the present invention has a bead extending in the vehicle width direction of the vehicle body at the bottom of the rear end side of the fuel tank disposed at the lower part of the vehicle body on the rear side of the wheel. In the container structure of the fuel tank formed, an inclined surface that is inclined with the rear side facing upward is formed at the bottom of the rear end side of the container, the bead is formed on the inclined surface, and the bead is a horizontal portion. It was formed in a step shape with an inclined part facing the rear side of the vehicle body.
In order to achieve the above object, another fuel tank container structure of the present invention has a vehicle width of the vehicle body at the rear end side bottom portion of the fuel tank container disposed at the lower part of the vehicle body on the rear side of the wheel. In the container structure of the fuel tank in which a bead extending in a direction is formed, an inclined surface that is inclined with a rear side upward is formed at the bottom of the rear end side of the container, and the bead is formed on the inclined surface. Is formed in a step shape by a first inclined portion facing the rear side of the vehicle body and a second inclined portion having a different inclination angle with respect to the inclined portion and also facing the rear side of the vehicle body.
Further, the fuel tank container structure of the present invention is a fuel tank container in which a bead extending in the vehicle width direction of the vehicle body is formed at the bottom of the rear end side of the fuel tank disposed on the rear side of the wheel. In the structure, an inclined surface that is inclined with the rear side facing upward is formed on the bottom of the rear end side of the container, and the bead is formed in a step shape on the inclined surface, from the front-wheel-side ground contact surface of the wheel to the rear end The inclination angle of the extension line passing through the front end of the side bottom portion was made smaller than the inclination angle of the rear end side bottom portion.
In the container structure of the fuel tank, a protector cover that covers the bottom of the container is provided on the front end side of the container. Also, the rear end side bottom portion can be arranged rearward.
Further, the container structure of the fuel tank may be positioned in front of the bottom portion on the rear end side to form a horizontal surface on the bottom surface of the container and form a second bead extending in the front-rear direction.

  The fuel tank container structure of the present invention is a fuel tank container structure in which a rear end side bottom portion of a fuel tank container disposed at the lower part of the vehicle body on the rear side of the wheel is inclined with the rear side of the vehicle body facing upward. In this case, a bead extending in the vehicle width direction is formed at the bottom of the rear end side of the container, and the bead is formed in a step shape with a horizontal portion and an inclined portion facing the rear side of the vehicle body, and thus includes a horizontal surface and an inclined surface. It is difficult for the foreign matter jumping on the stepped bead by the wheel or the like to hit the bead surface, so that the angle is such that it will come off, so that peeling of the paint on the tank of the bead portion is reduced. Since no special coating is applied, the manufacturing cost can be reduced.

  The fuel tank container structure of the present invention is a fuel tank container in which the rear end bottom portion of the fuel tank container disposed at the lower part of the vehicle body on the rear side of the wheel is inclined with the rear side of the vehicle body facing upward. In the container structure, a bead extending in the vehicle width direction is formed at a rear end side bottom portion of the container, the first inclined portion facing the rear side of the vehicle body, and an inclination angle with respect to the inclined portion are different from each other. Since the second inclined portion facing the rear side is formed in a step shape, the bead surface is further protected by the backward stepped bead surface having a different inclination angle than the above invention.

  Furthermore, the container structure of the fuel tank according to the present invention is a fuel tank container in which a rear end bottom portion of a fuel tank container disposed at the lower part of the vehicle body on the rear side of the wheel is inclined with the rear side of the vehicle body facing upward. In the container structure, a bead facing in the vehicle width direction is formed in a step shape on the rear end side bottom of the container, and an inclination angle α1 of an extension line L2 passing from the front wheel side ground surface of the wheel to the front end of the rear end bottom is Since it is smaller than the inclination angle α2 of the rear end side bottom portion, the inclination angle of the rear end side bottom portion becomes larger than the inclination angle of the extension line passing through the front end of the rear end side bottom portion from the front wheel side grounding surface of the wheel, When the wheel jumps a pebble, the rear end side bottom is prevented from contacting.

  In the container structure of the fuel tank, a protector cover that covers the bottom of the container is provided on the front end side of the container, and an extension line L1 passing through the bottom edge of the protector cover from the front-wheel-side ground surface of the wheel is in contact with the bottom of the container If the rear end side bottom portion is arranged rearward, it is possible to protect the portion of the bead surface that is not protected by the protector cover.

  Moreover, the said invention is located ahead of the said rear-end side bottom part, forms a horizontal surface in the bottom face of the said container, and when the 2nd bead extended in the front-back direction is formed, the part of the horizontal surface of a fuel tank is Even if pebbles or the like come into contact, the peeling of the paint does not matter as much as the difference, so the bottom of the container of the fuel tank can be reinforced with a bead extending in the vehicle width direction.

Hereinafter, a container structure of a fuel tank in an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. Note that the front and rear in this specification coincide with the front and rear of the vehicle body.
FIG. 1 shows a position where a fuel tank of an automobile is disposed, FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the fuel tank, and FIG. 3 is a side view thereof.
A fuel tank 3 is loaded on the automobile 1, and the fuel tank 3 is disposed at a lower portion of a floor panel (not shown) and is usually disposed on the rear side of the front wheel 2 of the automobile 1. The container 4 of the fuel tank 3 is composed of an upper case 5 and a lower case 6. A flange is formed at each opening, and the upper and lower cases 5, 6 are joined by overlapping the flange portion 19.

  As shown in FIGS. 4 and 5, the bottom 7 of the lower case 6 is formed with a plurality of front beads 8 arranged on the front side and extending in the vehicle width direction, and intermediate beads 9 extending in the front and rear of the vehicle body are formed in the middle. A plurality are formed. A plurality of rear beads 10 extending in the vehicle width direction are formed in parallel on the rear side of the lower case 6, and each of the beads 8 to 10 reinforces the bottom 7 of the fuel tank 3. Among these beads 8 to 10, the portion of the bottom 7 where the intermediate bead 9 is formed is substantially horizontal, and the rear end bottom 22 where the rear bead 10 is formed is inclined such that the rear end of the bottom 7 is upward. A surface 12 is formed.

The front bead 8 forms a recessed portion 13 that is recessed upward with respect to the reference surface of the bottom 7 of the fuel tank 3, and the intermediate bead 9 projects downward from the reference surface of the bottom 7 as shown in FIG. The convex part 14 to be formed is formed.
As shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, the rear bead 10 is formed with a horizontal portion 10 a and an inclined portion 10 b whose lower surface is directed to the rear side of the vehicle body in a step shape alternately up to the rear end portion of the bottom portion 7. The length of the rear bead 10 in the vehicle width direction is matched with the shape of the bottom 7 of the lower case 6 from one side of the bottom 7 to the other side. The lengths in the front-rear direction of the horizontal portions 10a of the plurality of beads 10 may be made to coincide with each other or can be changed. Similarly, the lengths of the plurality of inclined portions 10b in the front-rear direction may be matched or changed. The inclination angle α2 of the inclined part 10b may also be changed in each inclined part 10b.

  As shown in FIG. 4, the front surface and the front bottom portion of the lower case 6 of the fuel tank 3 are covered with a resin protector cover 17 as shown in FIGS. 7 and 8. The protector cover 17 is formed with a folded portion 18 at the top, and the folded portion 18 narrows the flange portion 19 of the fuel tank 3 and is fixed to the fuel tank 3 by a clip 24. The protector cover 17 has a U-shaped cross-section in the front-rear direction at the center, and is formed so that the bottom edge 17 a protrudes below the bottom 7 of the fuel tank 3.

  As shown in FIG. 1, in this embodiment, an extension line L <b> 1 passing from the ground contact surface (point) 20 of the front wheel 2 to the bottom edge 17 a of the protector cover 17 is a boundary 21 or boundary between the front beat 8 and the intermediate bead 9. It arrange | positioned so that it might be located in the back side a little rather than 21. Further, the inclination angle α2 of the rear end side bottom portion 22 that forms the rear bead 10 is substantially the same as the inclination angle α1 of the extension line L2 extending from the ground contact surface 20 of the front wheel 2 to the boundary 15 between the intermediate bead 9 and the rear bead 10. I am letting.

  When the automobile 1 bounces pebbles or the like with the front wheel 2, it flies in the tangential direction of the outer peripheral surface of the front wheel 2. The pebbles jumping at a high angle directly hit the protector cover 17, and the front bead 8 is protected by the protector cover 17 so that the pebbles do not hit. The intermediate bead 9 is formed with a forward-facing surface (refer to the boundary 21) at a portion where the front end protrudes downward. For this surface, if an extension line L1 of the line connecting the grounding surface 20 of the front wheel 2 to the bottom edge 17a of the protector cover 17 is disposed slightly behind the boundary 21 between the front bead 8 and the intermediate bead 9, It is protected by a protector cover 17. If the pebbles jump off at a lower angle and exceed the bottom edge 17a of the protector cover 17, it will hit the intermediate bead 9, but there will be no forward surface other than the front part of the intermediate bead and it will face the horizontal direction. Therefore, even if it hits a pebble, the incident angle is shallow, so there is no peeling of the paint.

When the front wheel 2 jumps off the pebbles at a shallower angle as in the line L2 shown in FIG. 1, the vehicle has the inclination angle α2 of the inclined surface 12 where the rear bead 10 is located and the inclination angle α1 of the line L2 are the same. Is running and the pebbles fall by gravity, so the pebbles do not hit the rear bead 10. Even if it hits, the pebbles are slightly scratched, so there is no peeling of the paint. That is, when the inclination angle of the inclined surface 12 is α1 = α2, even if the pebbles hit the rear bead 10, they hit the inclined surface 12 so that the coating is not damaged.
As shown in FIG. 1, the inclination angle α2 of the entire inclined surface 12 of the rear end side bottom portion 22 where the rear bead 10 is formed (based on the ground contact surface 20) is more than the inclination angle α1 of the extension line L2. If the relationship is α1 <α2, the pebbles do not contact the rear bead 10.

The embodiment of the present invention has been described above, but various modifications and changes can be made based on the technical idea of the present invention as well as the present invention.
For example, in the above embodiment, the rear bead 10 is formed by the horizontal portion 10a and the inclined portion 10b on the rear end side bottom portion 22 of the fuel tank 3, but as shown in FIG. 9, without forming the horizontal portion 10a, The bead 25 may be formed by the inclined portions 25a having a gentle inclination angle and the inclined portions having a large inclined portion 25b, and the lower surfaces of the inclined portions 25a and 25b may be formed to face the rear side of the vehicle body. In this way, by molding, the rear bead 10 is not hit by pebbles.

  As an application example of the present invention, it can be applied to passenger cars in general.

It is a side view which shows the fuel tank position of the motor vehicle which employ | adopted the container structure of the fuel tank in embodiment of this invention. It is the perspective view seen from diagonally upward of the fuel tank of FIG. It is a side view of the fuel tank of FIG. It is sectional drawing in the fuel tank centerline of FIG. It is a top view of the lower case of the fuel tank of FIG. It is sectional drawing in the BB line direction of FIG. It is a perspective view of the protector cover attached to the front part of the fuel tank shown in FIG. It is a side view of the protector cover attached to the front part of the fuel tank shown in FIG. It is a modification of this invention, and is sectional drawing of the rear end side bottom face of a fuel tank (CC line direction of FIG. 5). It is a perspective view of the lower case of the conventional fuel tank. It is sectional drawing in the AA line direction of the lower case of FIG.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Car 2 Front wheel 3 Fuel tank 6 Lower case 7 Bottom part 9 Middle part bead 10 Rear part bead 10a Horizontal part 10b, 25a, 25b Inclined part 12 Inclined surface 17 Protector cover 17a Bottom edge 20 Grounding surface 21 Boundary 22, 27 Rear side bottom part

Claims (5)

In the container structure of the fuel tank in which a bead extending in the vehicle width direction of the vehicle body is formed at the bottom end side of the container of the fuel tank disposed in the lower part of the vehicle body on the rear side of the wheel,
In the rear end bottom of the container, an inclined surface that is inclined with the rear side facing upward is formed, the bead is formed on the inclined surface, and the bead is formed with a horizontal portion and an inclined portion that faces the rear side of the vehicle body. A fuel tank container structure formed in a step shape. In the container structure of the fuel tank in which a bead extending in the vehicle width direction of the vehicle body is formed at the bottom end side of the container of the fuel tank disposed in the lower part of the vehicle body on the rear side of the wheel,
A first inclined portion that forms an inclined surface that inclines toward the rear side upward at the rear end side bottom portion of the container, the bead is formed on the inclined surface, and the bead faces the rear side of the vehicle body, A container structure of a fuel tank formed in a step shape by a second inclined portion having a different inclination angle with respect to the inclined portion and facing the rear side of the vehicle body. In the container structure of the fuel tank in which a bead extending in the vehicle width direction of the vehicle body is formed at the bottom end side of the container of the fuel tank disposed in the lower part of the vehicle body on the rear side of the wheel,
In the rear end side bottom portion of the container, an inclined surface that is inclined with the rear side facing upward is formed, and the bead is formed in a stepped shape on the inclined surface, and the rear end side bottom portion of the rear end side bottom portion of the wheel is formed. A fuel tank container structure in which an inclination angle of an extended line passing through a front end is smaller than an inclination angle of a bottom portion on the rear end side. A protector cover that covers the bottom of the container is provided on the front end side of the container, and the rear end side bottom is positioned more than the position where an extension line passing through the bottom edge of the protector cover from the front-wheel-side grounding surface of the wheel contacts the bottom of the container. The container structure of the fuel tank according to claim 1 or 2, which is disposed rearward. 4. The fuel tank according to claim 1, wherein the fuel tank according to claim 1, wherein the fuel tank is positioned forward of the rear end side bottom portion, a horizontal surface is formed on the bottom surface of the container, and a second bead extending in the front-rear direction is formed. Container structure.

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