JP2010179736A - Tire warmer - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a tire warmer which raises the temperature of a tire, is superior in heating efficiency of keeping the raised temperature, and can certainly improve the fuel economy of an automobile without applying an excessive load on an engine. <P>SOLUTION: The tire warmer A has a guiding opening for guiding a traveling wind W accompanying an engine exhaust heat (motor exhaust heat) into a wheel house H provided in the wheel house H inner than the tire T in a vehicle width direction. The tire warmer A increases the temperature of the tire T with the engine exhaust heat staying in the wheel house H unlike a conventional tire warmer, and keeps the raised temperature. Therefore, a fan or compression unit for blowing warm air onto the surface of the tire T is not required. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2010,JPO&amp;INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a tire temperature raising device for increasing the temperature of a tire of an automobile.

In recent years, there has been a demand for improved fuel efficiency of automobiles more than ever because of demands for energy saving and low environmental load. And in the technical field which concerns on a tire, the tire temperature rising apparatus aiming at the improvement of the fuel consumption of a motor vehicle is known (for example, refer patent document 1 and patent document 2).
This tire temperature raising device is configured to spray hot air on the surface of the tire, and reduces the rolling resistance of the tire by increasing the temperature of the tire.

Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 7-290916 Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 4-31605

However, around the tire, there are traveling wind and surface airflow that is pulled by the tire rotating at high speed and flows in the rotation direction on the surface of the tire.
Therefore, in the conventional tire heating device, the hot air must be accelerated using a fan or a compression device so that the injected hot air reaches the tire against running wind around the tire and surface airflow. . As a result, an extra load is applied to the engine in order to supply electric power consumed to drive the fan and the compressor, and the fuel consumption may be worsened.
In addition, in the conventional tire temperature raising device, the temperature of the tire surface is increased by mainly blowing warm air on the surface of the tread portion of the tire, so the heat of the tire surface is the atmosphere around the road surface and around the tire. Easy to escape. In other words, the conventional tire temperature raising device has poor heating efficiency for increasing the temperature of the tire.

  Therefore, an object of the present invention is to increase the temperature of a tire and to be excellent in thermal efficiency for maintaining the increased temperature, and to reliably improve the fuel consumption of an automobile without placing an extra burden on a prime mover such as an engine. The object is to provide a tire heating device.

The tire heating apparatus of the present invention that has solved the above problems is characterized in that an introduction opening that guides traveling wind accompanied by motor exhaust heat into the wheel house is provided in the wheel house on the inner side in the vehicle width direction than the tire. To do.
In general, when an automobile travels, a part of the traveling wind received on the front side of the automobile enters the prime mover room where a prime mover such as an engine or a motor is arranged, and also escapes from the underfloor etc. to the exterior of the prime mover room with exhaust heat from the prime mover. .
On the other hand, in the tire temperature increasing device of the present invention, the wheel house has the opening for introducing the traveling wind accompanied by the exhaust heat of the prime mover, so that the traveling wind accompanied by the exhaust heat of the prime mover passes through the introduction opening from the prime mover chamber. Guided into the wheelhouse. And since this introduction | transduction opening is provided in the said wheel house inside a vehicle width direction rather than a tire, this tire temperature rising apparatus makes a motor waste heat retain in a wheel house. As a result, the tire temperature increasing device reduces the rolling resistance of the tire by exerting two functions of increasing the tire temperature by the engine exhaust heat accumulated in the wheel house and maintaining the increased tire temperature. .

  Further, the tire temperature increasing device of the present invention is different from the conventional tire temperature increasing device (for example, see Patent Document 1 and Patent Document 2) in which warm air is sprayed on the surface of the tire to increase the temperature of the tire. As a result, the temperature of the tire is increased and maintained by the exhaust heat of the prime mover staying in the wheel house, so that a fan or a compression device for spraying hot air on the tire surface is not required. Therefore, according to the tire temperature raising device of the present invention, an excessive load due to driving of the fan and the compression device is not applied to the prime mover.

  And since the conventional tire temperature rising apparatus (for example, refer patent document 1 and patent document 2) is raising the temperature of the surface of a tire by spraying a warm air, the heat of the surface of a tire is a road surface or a tire. Easy to escape to the surrounding atmosphere. On the other hand, according to the tire temperature increasing device of the present invention, the temperature of the tire is increased by the engine exhaust heat accumulated in the wheel house, and the increased temperature of the tire is maintained, so the total amount of heat contributing to the tire And heat can be continuously and stably supplied to the tire (without interruption).

  Moreover, in such a tire temperature raising device, it is desirable to further have a strake. Stroke is originally known as an aerodynamic device that reduces drag (Cd value), but in the present invention, in addition to this action, it acts to make the motor exhaust heat stay in the wheel house more stably. To do.

  Unlike the conventional tire heating device, the tire heating device of the present invention does not require acceleration of warm air and does not impose an extra load on the prime mover, so that the fuel consumption of the vehicle can be improved with certainty. Further, the tire temperature raising device of the present invention has a large total heat amount contributing to the tire, and can continuously and stably supply heat to the tire (without interruption). Excellent thermal efficiency to maintain elevated temperature.

It is the perspective view which shows the front side of the car which mounts the tire temperature rising device of this invention partially, it is the figure which looked down at the front side of the car from the diagonally right rear of the car. It is a top view which shows partially the front side of the motor vehicle carrying the tire temperature rising apparatus of this invention. FIG. 3 is a sectional view taken along line III-III in FIG. 2. (A) is a partial side view of the front side of the automobile schematically showing the airflow around the tire of the traveling automobile, and (b) is a front side portion of the automobile schematically showing the airflow in the wheel house of the traveling automobile. A side view and (c) are figures which show typically distribution of air current in a wheel house, and are sectional views corresponding to a IV-IV section of Drawing 2. It is a figure which shows the other aspect of the opening formed in the wheel house, Comprising: It is sectional drawing corresponding to FIG.4 (c).

  Hereinafter, an embodiment of a tire temperature raising device of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. The tire temperature increasing device of the present invention is different from conventional tire temperature increasing devices (see, for example, Patent Document 1 and Patent Document 2), such as a fan and a compression device for spraying hot air actively to a tire. The engine exhaust heat (motor exhaust heat) is guided into the wheel house without using the engine. More specifically, the tire temperature increasing device according to the present invention distributes engine exhaust heat collected at a position ahead of the wheel house to the left and right passively by the driving wind and guides it into the wheel house. It is comprised so that it may stay together.

  Here, FIG. 1 to FIG. 3 are mainly referred to. In FIG. 3, radiators, shrouds, strakes, and the like are indicated by virtual lines. In the following description, the front-rear, up-down, left-right directions are based on the front-rear, up-down, left-right directions shown in FIG.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the tire temperature increasing device A of the present embodiment is configured so that a running wind that passes through a radiator 10 and accompanies engine exhaust heat is transmitted to a wheel house via a heat collection cover 1 and a running wind guide member 2 described later. It is configured to guide into H.

  As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the tire heating device A has openings 7 and 7 inside the wheel houses H and H in the vehicle width direction (left and right direction in the drawing) of the tires T and T. Is the main feature. The openings 7 and 7 correspond to “introduction openings” in the claims, and introduce the traveling wind W (see FIG. 2) accompanied by engine exhaust heat into the wheel houses H and H.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the wheel houses H and H have a space for arranging the tires T and T, and are partitioned by inner fenders 6 and 6. The inner fenders 6 and 6 shown in FIG. 1 are drawn integrally for convenience of drawing, but if the wheel houses H and H are partitioned, they are formed by combining a plurality of members. May be. Further, a part of a frame (not shown) forming the skeleton of the vehicle body may also serve as a part of the inner fenders 6 and 6.

  In the inner fenders 6 and 6 in the present embodiment, the openings 7 and 7 are formed on the front side thereof. Then, as described above, the openings 7 and 7 communicate the inside of the wheel houses H and H with the engine room (not shown) on the inner side in the vehicle width direction of the tires T and T of the wheel houses H and H. Is formed. More specifically, as will be described later, the openings 7 and 7 are formed so as to face the airflow region C3 (see FIG. 4C) where the velocity of the airflow is extremely small in the wheel houses H and H. .

Next, the heat collecting cover 1 and the traveling wind guide member 2 will be described.
As shown in FIG. 1, the heat collecting cover 1 is provided behind the radiator 10. Incidentally, the radiator 10 is disposed above the bulkhead lower cross member 12b disposed at the front ends of the front side frames 12a and 12a of the automobile M, and is disposed outside the front side frames 12a and 12a in the vehicle width direction. It will be located in front of the wheel house H, H. As described above, in FIG. 1, reference numeral 6 indicates an inner fender that partitions the wheel house H, and reference numeral T indicates a tire (wheel) disposed in the wheel house H.

  As shown in FIG. 3, the heat collecting cover 1 is formed of a substantially L-shaped plate body in a cross-sectional view, and with respect to a substantially upper half of the opening 11 a of the shroud 11 attached to the rear surface side of the radiator 10, It arrange | positions so that the vertical wall part 3 which forms the substantially L shape of the heat collecting cover 1 may oppose. Since the area of the opening 11a of the shroud 11 in this embodiment is smaller than the area in which the shroud 11 surrounds the rear surface of the radiator 10, the traveling wind W (see FIG. 2) flowing out from the rear surface of the radiator 10 is The flow velocity is increased by the so-called throttling effect of the opening 11a.

  Incidentally, in the present embodiment, by arranging the vertical wall portion 3 so as to face the substantially upper half of the opening 11a, the exhaust heat is efficiently collected as will be described later while maintaining good heat dissipation by the radiator 10. be able to. In the present invention, if the area of the vertical wall portion 3 and the distance between the shroud 11 and the vertical wall portion 3 are adjusted so that the heat radiation of the radiator 10 can be maintained, a necessary amount of heat collection can be secured. The shape of the vertical wall portion 3 may be arbitrarily determined.

  As shown in FIGS. 1 and 3, the heat collecting cover 1 has a heat radiating hole 5 formed in a lateral wall portion 4 that forms a substantially L shape. The heat radiating hole 5 more reliably prevents the engine exhaust heat dissipated from the radiator 10 from being generated in the heat collecting cover 1 when, for example, the traveling vehicle M stops.

As shown in FIG. 3, the heat collecting cover 1 has a mounting flange 4 a formed at the front end of the lateral wall portion 4. In this embodiment, the heat collecting cover 1 is attached by fixing the attachment flange 4a with a bolt or the like to a support portion 15 extending from the vehicle body side, such as a vehicle body skeleton.
Incidentally, in the tire temperature increasing device A in the present embodiment, the heat collecting cover 1 is fixed to a vibrating member such as the radiator 10 or the shroud 11 by fixing the heat collecting cover 1 to the vehicle body side as described above. Compared with the case where it does, the tire temperature rising apparatus A can be attached to the motor vehicle M more firmly.

As shown in FIG. 1, the traveling wind guide members 2, 2 extend from the heat collecting cover 1 toward the wheel houses H, H. More specifically, each of the traveling wind guide members 2 and 2 extends from the vertical wall portion 3 of the heat collecting cover 1 to the left and right, and then extends rearward in a gentle arc. And the driving | running | working wind guide members 2 and 2 in this embodiment comprise the baffle plate of the driving | running | working wind W (refer FIG. 2), and are formed with the substantially C-shaped board body by the cross sectional view.
And as shown in FIG. 1, the edge part extended to the wheel houses H and H side of the driving | running | working wind guide members 2 and 2 is an opening edge of the openings 7 and 7 formed in the inner fenders 6 and 6 demonstrated below. Are connected by mechanical fitting or welding.

  As shown in FIG. 3, the tire temperature increasing device A in the present embodiment further includes a strake 14. The strake 14 is an aerodynamic device disposed immediately before the tire T, and the strake 14 in the present embodiment is formed of a plate-like body that hangs immediately before the tire T. The strake 14 is originally known as reducing drag (Cd value) generated when the traveling wind directly hits the tread portion of the tire T. As will be described later, the strake 14 in the present embodiment has a traveling wind that does not involve engine exhaust heat in addition to this action, and the front side of the tire T and the inner side of the tire T (the tire T in the wheel house H exists). The amount of air flowing into the wheel house H from the zone that does not) is reduced. As a result, the stroking 14 can retain the engine exhaust heat in the wheel house H more stably.

  Next, the effect of the tire temperature increasing apparatus A according to this embodiment will be described. FIG. 4A referred to here is a partial side view of the front side of the vehicle schematically showing the airflow around the tire of the traveling vehicle, and FIG. 4B is a schematic view of the airflow in the wheel house of the traveling vehicle. 4C is a partial side view of the front side of the automobile shown schematically, and FIG. 4C is a view schematically showing the airflow distribution in the wheel house, and is a cross-sectional view corresponding to the IV-IV cross section of FIG. In FIG. 4C, wheels, a hub, a drive shaft, a knuckle, a lower arm, an upper arm, a damper, and the like on which tires are mounted are indicated by phantom lines.

As shown in FIG. 2, when a vehicle M equipped with the tire temperature increasing device A travels, part of the traveling wind W received on the front side of the vehicle M passes through the radiator 10. The traveling wind W that has passed through the radiator 10 is accompanied by engine exhaust heat and is directed to the heat collecting cover 1 from the openings 11a and 11a of the shroud 11 at an increased flow velocity.
And in this tire temperature rising apparatus A, after each of the driving | running | working wind guide members 2 and 2 extended from the vertical wall part 3 of the heat collecting cover 1 to right and left, it extended toward the back in a gentle arc. Therefore, the traveling wind W accompanied with the engine exhaust heat is distributed from the heat collecting cover 1 to each of the traveling wind guide members 2 and 2 to the left and right. Thereafter, the traveling wind W accompanied with the exhaust heat of the engine is guided in the extending direction of the traveling wind guide members 2, 2 and is directed to the front sides of the inner fenders 6, 6.

  On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 4A, traveling wind W flows around the tire T of the traveling automobile M. Further, around the tire T, there is a surface airflow S that is pulled by the tire T rotating at a high speed and flows in the rotation direction on the surface thereof.

On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 4 (b), in the wheel house H, the traveling wind W flows from the inside of the hub 20 in the vehicle width direction from the lower part of the bumper or under the floor (not shown).
However, even in the traveling vehicle M, the airflow F in the upper portion of the wheel house H (the airflow region C3 (see FIG. 4C) described later) has a remarkably small velocity, and the flowing direction becomes a random vortex. The inventors have confirmed that a similar flow is formed. Specifically, in the measurement by the simulation performed by the present inventors, the velocity of the airflow in the upper part in the wheel house H of the automobile traveling at 30 km / h is about 1.0 to 2.0 m / s, The speed of the airflow in the upper part in the wheel house H of the automobile traveling at 90 km / h was about 3.0 to 5.0 m / s.

That is, as shown in FIG. 4C, in the wheel house H, the airflow region C1 formed mainly around the tire T and the traveling wind W inside the hub 20 (see FIG. 4B). Is divided into an airflow region C2 into which the air flows and an airflow region C3 in which the velocity of the airflow is extremely small.
As described above, the opening 7 is formed so as to face the airflow region C3.
In FIG. 4C, reference numeral 21 denotes a wheel on which the tire T is mounted, reference numeral 22 denotes a drive shaft, reference numeral 23 denotes a knuckle, reference numeral 24 denotes a lower arm, reference numeral 25 denotes an upper arm, Reference numeral 26 denotes a damper.

As a result, as shown in FIG. 2, the traveling wind W accompanied by engine exhaust heat guided to the front side of the inner fenders 6, 6 by the traveling wind guide members 2, 2 of the tire temperature raising device A has openings 7, 7. Through the airflow region C3 shown in FIG. As a result, the engine exhaust heat stays in the airflow region C3 where the speed of the airflow is extremely low.
That is, in the tire temperature increasing device A of the present embodiment, the engine exhaust heat accumulated in the airflow region C3 increases the temperature of the tire T as shown in FIG. In particular, the inner surface of the tire T (the sidewall portion on the inner side in the vehicle width direction) is efficiently heated. Incidentally, the sidewall portion having a smaller rubber thickness than the tread portion facilitates heat transfer to the tire air chamber that can ensure a large heat capacity.

  According to the tire temperature increasing device A as described above, the temperature of the tire T is increased and maintained by the engine exhaust heat accumulated in the wheel house H, so that the rolling resistance of the tire T can be reduced. As a result, the fuel efficiency of the automobile M is improved.

  Further, the tire temperature increasing device A is different from a conventional tire temperature increasing device (for example, see Patent Document 1 and Patent Document 2) in which hot air is sprayed on the surface of the tire to increase the temperature of the tire, Since the temperature of the tire T is increased by the engine exhaust heat accumulated in the wheel house H, an accelerating fan and a compression device are not required to spray hot air on the surface of the tire. Therefore, according to the tire temperature increasing device A, unlike the conventional tire temperature increasing device (for example, see Patent Document 1 and Patent Document 2), the electric power consumed for driving the fan and the compression device for accelerating the hot air is supplied. Therefore, since no extra load is applied to the engine, the fuel efficiency of the automobile M can be improved with certainty.

  Further, unlike the conventional tire heating device (see, for example, Patent Document 1 and Patent Document 2), the tire heating device A does not require a fan or a compression device for accelerating the warm air. There is no need for a control system for the compressor. As a result, according to the tire temperature increasing device A, since the configuration is simpler than that of the conventional tire temperature increasing device, the number of parts and the manufacturing cost can be reduced. And the tire temperature rising apparatus A can also contribute to the improvement of a fuel consumption also by reducing the number of parts and reducing the weight of the motor vehicle M.

  Moreover, in the conventional tire temperature raising apparatus (for example, refer to Patent Document 1 and Patent Document 2), the temperature of the tire surface is increased by spraying warm air. Easily escape to the surrounding atmosphere. On the other hand, the tire temperature increasing device A constantly increases the temperature of the tire T and maintains the increased temperature of the tire T by the engine exhaust heat accumulated in the wheel house H, and thus contributes to the tire T. The total amount of heat (total amount of heat in the airflow region C3) is large, and heat can be continuously and stably supplied to the tire T (without interruption). As a result, the tire temperature increasing device A is superior in thermal efficiency to increase or maintain the temperature of the tire T as compared with the conventional tire temperature increasing device.

  Further, as shown in FIG. 3, the tire warming device A has the strok 14 immediately before the tire T, and therefore, the traveling wind W without exhaust heat from the engine flows through the lower part of the bumper, the floor, etc. A hit from the front of T is avoided. That is, the stroking 14 reduces the amount of air that the traveling wind W without engine exhaust heat collides with the tire T and then flows into the wheel house H. More specifically, the strake 14 reduces the traveling wind W that does not involve engine exhaust heat flowing around the tire T shown in FIG. 4A, thereby causing the surface airflow S and the traveling wind W to collide with each other. The flow rate leaking out of the wheel house H is reduced. Moreover, the stroking 14 can suppress the flow rate at which the traveling wind W without engine exhaust heat flows into the upper portion of the wheel house H even in the case shown in FIG. In other words, the airflow region C2 shown in FIG. 4C is reduced, and the airflow region C3 in which the velocity of the airflow is extremely small in the wheel house H is expanded. As a result, the tire temperature raising apparatus A causes the engine exhaust heat to stay in the wheel house H in a larger area more stably. Therefore, according to the tire temperature increasing device A, the thermal efficiency for increasing the temperature of the tire T and maintaining the increased temperature of the tire T is further improved.

  Further, according to the tire heating device A, the traveling wind guide members 2 and 2 extend leftward and rightward from the heat collecting cover 1 provided at the rear of the radiator 10, and then extend rearward in a gentle arc. Therefore, the traveling wind W accompanied with engine exhaust heat can be smoothly guided into the wheel houses H and H without using a fan or a compression device. And according to this tire temperature raising apparatus A, since the guide route of the traveling wind W can be laid out along the inner wall of the engine room, for example, the space between the radiator and the engine or the inner wall of the engine room And the space between the battery, the modulator of the brake, the reserve tank of the radiator, and the auxiliary machines such as the intake resonator can be used effectively.

As mentioned above, although embodiment of this invention was described, this invention is not limited to the said embodiment, It can implement with a various form.
In the above embodiment, one opening 7 (introduction opening) is formed on the front side of the inner fender 6. However, as long as the object (problem) of the present invention is not impaired, The number may be two or more. In this case, the traveling wind guide member described above may be provided for each introduction opening.

Moreover, in the said embodiment, while opening 7 (introduction opening) is formed in the vehicle width direction inside of the tire T of the wheel house H, it faces the air current area | region C3 in which the speed of an air current is remarkably small in the wheel house H. However, in the present invention, the introduction opening may be formed so as to face the other airflow regions C1 and C2 together with the airflow region C3. FIG. 5 referred to here is a view showing another aspect of the introduction opening formed in the wheel house, and is a cross-sectional view corresponding to FIG. In the other embodiment described with reference to FIG. 5, the same reference numerals are given to the same components as those in the previous embodiment, and the detailed description thereof is omitted.
As shown in FIG. 5, the opening 16 (introduction opening) here faces the airflow region C3 and also faces the airflow region C1. In other words, the opening 16 (introduction opening) also faces the tread portion of the tire T where the surface airflow S (see FIG. 4A) occurs.

  Moreover, in the said embodiment, although the driving | running | working wind guide members 2 and 2 are comprised with the baffle plate, this invention has what guides the driving | running | working wind W accompanying engine exhaust heat in the wheel houses H and H. Just do it. Therefore, the present invention replaces, for example, the travel wind guide members 2 and 2 shown in FIG. 2 with a battery, a modulator for the brake, a reserve tank for the radiator, along the line segment L corresponding to the guide path of the travel wind W, Auxiliary equipment such as an intake resonator may be arranged, and side surfaces of these auxiliary equipment may be connected to each other to form a guide path for the traveling wind W. Incidentally, in this embodiment, in order to form the guide path of the traveling wind W so as to draw a gentle arc, the side surface of the auxiliary machine may be formed in an arc shape. Further, a partial rectifying plate may be arranged in the gap between the auxiliary machines arranged along the line segment L so as to follow the guide route of the traveling wind W.

  Moreover, although the tire temperature increasing device applied to the engine vehicle has been described in the above embodiment, the present invention may be applied to an electric vehicle (including a hybrid vehicle and a fuel cell vehicle) whose motor is a motor. Good.

1 Heat Collection Cover 2 Traveling Wind Guide Member 6 Inner Fender 7 Opening (Introduction Opening)
10 Radiator 14 Stroke 16 Opening (Introduction opening)
A Tire temperature raising device M Automobile H Wheelhouse T Tire W Running wind

Claims (2)

  An apparatus for raising a temperature of a tire, characterized in that an introduction opening for guiding running wind accompanied by exhaust heat from a prime mover into the wheel house is provided in the wheel house on the inner side in the vehicle width direction than the tire.   The tire temperature increasing device according to claim 1, further comprising a strake.

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