JP3226705B2 - Engine stiffener coupling device - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a stiffener connecting device for connecting an engine body and a transmission case in a vehicle engine.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a pair of left and right stiffeners are usually provided between an engine body and a transmission case in order to improve the coupling rigidity between the engine body and the transmission case in an automobile engine. The rigidity of power plant systems such as engines, transmissions, etc., is reduced due to the tendency toward weight reduction, which increases the vibrations such as bending vibrations of the power plant system, increases the vibration transmitted to the body, and deteriorates vehicle interior noise due to the vibration. Etc. is a problem.

In order to solve this problem, Japanese Utility Model Publication No. Sho 62-2
In the stiffener device described in Japanese Patent No. 9639, a pair of stiffeners disposed on the left and right sides of the engine are integrated with a strength member passed between the stiffeners to form an integrated structure, and the strength member is an oil pan. And a part of the rear end plate.

That is, the strength member includes a thick plate-shaped portion parallel to the rear end plate, and a thick plate-shaped portion provided at a position corresponding to the lower portion of the oil pan and spaced apart from the lower portion of the oil pan, Further, the respective parts are connected to each other to form a stiffener device having a box-shaped integrated structure that wraps around the rear part of the oil pan together with the pair of stiffeners.

[0005]

By the way, in an engine in which a crankshaft is mounted on a vehicle in a vehicle width direction and an exhaust port is located on a front side of the vehicle, exhaust gas from a combustion chamber is connected to the exhaust port. An exhaust pipe leading to the atmosphere is provided so as to extend rearward of the vehicle through a lower portion of the engine including the engine body and a transmission case connected to the engine body.

[0006] This exhaust pipe is usually provided below the vicinity of the connection between the engine body and the transmission case.
If the box-shaped stiffener device as described above is provided in this portion, it is difficult to arrange the exhaust pipe so as not to interfere with the stiffener device. In addition, it is necessary to support the exhaust pipe on the engine side. Becomes difficult.

[0007]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of such circumstances, and in the present invention, an exhaust pipe is provided below an engine body mounted with a crankshaft directed in a vehicle width direction. And a pair of stiffener members connected at positions adjacent to the exhaust pipe, the pair of stiffener members connecting the vicinity of the lower end portions on both sides of the engine body and the transmission case connected by a connecting member provided therebetween. In the coupling device, the pair of stiffener members are coupled by the coupling member on the transmission case side, and the coupling member has a flange surface that contacts an end surface of the transmission case along a circumferential direction. A supporting portion for supporting the exhaust pipe is protruded from the adjacent coupling member.

In this stiffener connecting device, a pair of stiffener members are connected and integrated by a connecting member interposed therebetween, and the connecting member extends circumferentially to an end surface of the transmission case via a flange surface. As a result, the rigidity of the engine body and the transmission case is improved, and the vibration of the engine is greatly reduced, and the noise in the vehicle caused by the engine vibration is also significantly reduced. .

In addition, since the pair of stiffener members are connected by the connecting member on the transmission case side, the exhaust pipe is passed below the pair of stiffener members extending from the connecting member toward the engine body. Enough space can be secured.

Further, since the exhaust pipe supporting portion is formed so as to protrude from the coupling member portion which is further rigidized by being in close contact with the end surface of the transmission case via the flange surface, the exhaust pipe is connected to the engine via the supporting portion. The exhaust pipe can be firmly and easily supported on the side, whereby the exhaust pipe can be held at a predetermined position and its vibration can be suppressed.

[0011]

FIG. 1 is a front view of an engine provided with a stiffener connecting device (hereinafter referred to as a stiffener) according to the present invention. This engine comprises an engine body 1 and a transmission case 2 connected to one end face of the engine body by bolts 3. The crankshaft extends in the engine body 1 in the left-right direction in the figure, and the present engine is a horizontal engine mounted on a vehicle with the crankshaft directed in the vehicle width direction. The engine body 1 is a cylinder block 4,
The transmission case 2 includes a cylinder head 5, a cylinder head cover 6, and an oil pan 7. The transmission case 2 includes a portion 2a containing a transmission device and a portion 2b containing a clutch device.

Exhaust ports 8 corresponding to the respective cylinders are opened on the front surface of the cylinder head 5, and one exhaust pipe 9 communicating with these exhaust ports 8 extends downward in front of the engine body 1 so as to extend downward. 1 and it is facing backwards. The mission case 2 side of the oil pan 7 has a raised bottom, and an exhaust pipe 9 extends forward and backward in a space formed below the mission case 2 side. In this portion, the exhaust pipe 9 is covered by a cover member 10 from below.

FIG. 2 is a side view of the exhaust pipe 9 as viewed from the right side of FIG. In the illustrated embodiment, a catalytic converter 11 is interposed in a portion of the exhaust pipe 9 that descends in front of the engine body 1. A portion of the exhaust pipe 9 that passes below the engine body 1 has a front portion connected to a bracket 12 formed at a connection portion with the catalytic converter 11 with a stay 13 bolted.
, And the rear portion is supported on the rear side of the lower end of the cylinder block 4 via a stay 15 bolted to a bracket 14 fixed to the exhaust pipe 9 by welding. Have been.

The engine body 1 and the transmission case 2 connected to each other by the bolts 3 as described above are further connected by the stiffener 16 to increase the connection rigidity. The rigidity of the cylinder block 4 itself is secured by the reinforcing ribs 33, and the transmission case 2
34 ensures rigidity. The stiffener 16 is
The transmission case 2 is disposed between an end surface portion 2c extending below the cylinder block 4 and the lower surface portions 4a, 4a before and after the cylinder block 4, and has an overall structure as shown in FIGS. ing. 3 is a view of the exhaust pipe 9 passing portion viewed from below, and FIG. 4 is a schematic perspective view of the entire stiffener 16.

The stiffener 16 includes a stiffener member 17f extending obliquely between the lower surface portion 4a of the cylinder block 4 and the end surface portion 2c of the transmission case 2 on the front side of the engine, and the lower surface portion 4a and the end surface portion 2c on the rear side. And stiffener members 17r extending obliquely between the transmission case 2 and mounting bosses 18 formed in the vertical direction at the ends of the stiffener members 17f and 17r opposite to the transmission case 2. And stiffener members 17f, 17r
The upper end surfaces of these mounting bosses 18 are brought into contact with the lower surface portion 4a of the cylinder block 4, and are fixedly fastened to the corresponding lower surface portion 4a by mounting bolts 19. The rear stiffener member 17r is fastened to the cylinder block 4 at a position farther from the transmission case 2 than the front stiffener member 17f.

The front and rear stiffener members 17f and 17r are connected to each other by a connecting member 20 on the transmission case 2 side. The coupling member 20 extends in the circumferential direction of the transmission case 2 along the end face portion 2c of the transmission case 2, and has bolt holes 21f and 21r at relatively high positions on the front side and relatively low positions on the rear side, respectively. . The connecting member 20 is attached to each of the mounting bolts 22 inserted into these bolt holes 21f and 21r.
The wide flange surface 24 connected to the end surface of the mounting boss 23 surrounding the bolt hole 21f and the end surface of the mounting boss 25 surrounding the bolt hole 21r are brought into close contact with the end surface portion 2c by (FIG. 4). Let's go to mission case 2
Firmly fixed to

The stiffener 16 has high rigidity because the stiffener member 17f and 17r are integrally formed by connecting the pair of stiffener members 17f and 17r by the connecting member 20, as described above. To further increase the rigidity. Moreover, since the connecting member 20 is in close contact with the end face of the transmission case 2 via the wide flange surface 24, the engine body 1 and the transmission case 2 are connected by the stiffener 16 so that the connection rigidity between the engine body 1 and the transmission case 2 is reduced. This significantly reduces engine vibrations and vehicle interior noise resulting from the vibrations.

Since the stiffener members 17f and 17r extend obliquely upward from the coupling member 20 extending along the end face 2c of the transmission case 2, the exhaust pipe 9 can pass therethrough without interfering with them. As described above, the exhaust pipe 9 has its front and rear portions supported by the cylinder block 4 by the stays 13 and 15, respectively. However, in order to further support the intermediate portion and to securely support the exhaust pipe 9, A support boss 27 protrudes from the member 20 toward the exhaust pipe 9. FIG. 5 is a bottom view showing the vicinity of the support boss 27 of the stiffener 16 in further detail, and FIG. 6 is a sectional view taken along the line VI-VI of FIG.

The support boss 27 is a tubular body having an oblong cross section and extending vertically, and has a lower surface supporting the exhaust pipe 9.
It has become. Two screw holes 29 arranged in front and back are opened in the support surface 28. The support boss 27 is
Are connected and reinforced via the reinforcing ribs 26 to the portion where the flange surface 24 is formed. Coupling member 20
This part of the transmission case 2
The end pipe 2c is supported by the end face 2c and has a particularly high rigidity. The exhaust pipe 9 is supported by the support boss 27 on this part, so that the exhaust pipe 9 is reliably supported. be able to.

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 3, the exhaust pipe 9 is attached to a support boss 27 via a support stay 30. Support stay
One end of the exhaust pipe 9 is screwed to a bracket 31 welded to the outer peripheral surface of the exhaust pipe 9, the upper part of the exhaust pipe 9 extends toward the support boss 27, and the other end thereof extends along the support surface 28 of the support boss 27. As shown in FIG. 7, the support boss 27 is fastened by a bolt 32 screwed into the screw hole 29.

The support stay 30 includes two metal plates 30a and 30b.
Are spaced from each other in the middle, and are overlapped with each other at the fastening portions at both ends. By adopting such a configuration, the vibration from the engine side and the exhaust pipe 9 side is absorbed, and the vibration between both sides is absorbed. Transmission can be effectively prevented. The stays 13 and 15 before and after the above are similarly configured.

[0022]

According to the present invention, the connecting portion between the engine body and the transmission case is reinforced by the stiffener connecting device having high rigidity, so that the connecting rigidity is greatly improved, and engine vibration and vehicle interior noise are reduced. As well as
A sufficient space for passing the exhaust pipe can be ensured below the vicinity of the connecting portion, and the exhaust pipe can be firmly and easily supported on the engine side.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a front view of an engine according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a side view showing an exhaust pipe of the engine.

FIG. 3 is a plan view of an exhaust pipe disposition portion below the engine as viewed from below.

FIG. 4 is a schematic perspective view of a stiffener.

FIG. 5 is a bottom view of the vicinity of a support boss of a stiffener.

FIG. 6 is a sectional view taken along the line VI-VI in FIG. 5;

FIG. 7 is a perspective view showing a support boss and an exhaust pipe support stay.

[Explanation of symbols]

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Engine body, 2 ... Transmission case, 3 ... Bolt, 4 ... Cylinder block, 5 ... Cylinder head, 6 ...
Cylinder head cover, 7 oil pan, 8 exhaust port, 9 exhaust pipe, 10 cover member, 11 catalyst converter, 12 bracket, 13 stay, 14 bracket, 15
… Stay, 16… Stiffener, 17… Stiffener member, 18…
Mounting boss, 19 mounting bolt, 20 connecting member, 21 bolt hole, 22 mounting bolt, 23 mounting boss, 24 flange surface,
25 mounting boss, 26 reinforcing rib, 27 support boss, 28 support surface, 29 screw hole, 30 support stay, 31 bracket, 32
... bolts, 33, 34 ... reinforcing ribs.

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page (58) Field surveyed (Int.Cl. ⁷ , DB name) F02B 61/06 F01N 7/08 F02B 77/00 F02F 7/00

Claims (2)

(57) [Claims] An exhaust pipe is disposed below an engine body mounted with a crankshaft directed in the width direction of the vehicle body, and the vicinity of lower ends of both sides of each of the engine body and the transmission case is positioned adjacent to the exhaust pipe. In a stiffener coupling device in which a pair of stiffener members to be coupled are coupled and disposed by a coupling member provided therebetween, the pair of stiffener members are coupled by the coupling member on the transmission case side, and A stiffener connection for an engine, wherein a flange surface that contacts the end surface of the transmission case along the circumferential direction is formed, and a support portion that supports the exhaust pipe protrudes from the coupling member near the flange surface. apparatus. 2. A stiffener connecting device according to claim 1, further comprising:
An engine in which the exhaust pipe is supported by the support via a stay member.