JP5297361B2 - Canister layout - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an arrangement structure of a canister, capable of protecting the canister without requiring an exclusive protection member. <P>SOLUTION: The arrangement structure of the canister includes the canister 50 linked to a fuel tank 20 for a vehicle through a vaporizing fuel introducing pipe P3 to adsorb vapor in the fuel tank 20, an exhaust pipe 41 for emitting exhaust gas into the atmospheric air, and an auxiliary silencer 42 constituted by extending the diameter of part of the exhaust pipe 41 to suppress the sound of the exhaust gas passing through the exhaust pipe 41. The canister 50 and the auxiliary silencer 42 are arranged in parallel to position the lower face 42a of the auxiliary silencer 42 below the lower face of the canister 50. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2011,JPO&amp;INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a canister arrangement structure that adsorbs evaporated fuel from a fuel tank and prevents discharge to the outside.

  The fuel evaporating from the fuel tank is temporarily adsorbed by an adsorbent such as activated carbon, and the evaporated fuel is desorbed (purged) from the adsorbent by the negative pressure generated during engine operation, and supplied to the engine intake system. Various canisters configured to prevent the release of evaporated fuel into the atmosphere have been proposed.

  Further, in order to prevent the canister from coming into contact with the road surface and damaging the canister when the vehicle gets over a step or the like, a protection member formed of a tubular member formed in an L shape is provided on the bottom side of the canister. And a technique for bolting the end to the frame of the vehicle body has been proposed (see, for example, Patent Document 1).

JP 2007-162539 A (paragraph 0023, FIG. 6)

  However, as in Patent Document 1, when the protective member is bolted, it is necessary to make a hole in the frame of the vehicle body, so that there is a problem that the rigidity of the frame decreases.

  In addition, if a canister is disposed beside the exhaust pipe through which exhaust gas from the engine passes, there is also a problem that the adsorption capability of the canister is reduced due to high heat from the exhaust pipe.

  The present invention solves the above-mentioned conventional problems, and an object thereof is to provide a canister arrangement structure that can protect the canister without providing a dedicated protective member.

The present invention relates to a canister having a main chamber connected to a fuel tank for a vehicle and a vapor passage, adsorbing the vapor of the fuel tank and communicating with the vapor passage, and a sub chamber for taking outside air, and exhaust gas to the atmosphere An exhaust pipe for discharging the exhaust gas to the exhaust pipe, and a chamber configured to expand a diameter of a part of the exhaust pipe, which suppresses the sound of exhaust gas passing through the exhaust pipe, and the canister and the chamber A canister arrangement structure in which the lower surface of the chamber is positioned below the lower surface of the canister and arranged in parallel with the main room, the chamber being disposed between the chamber and the canister. The electric wire for supplying electric power to the electric motor which assists a vehicle with a motor is arrange | positioned in the space which has a gap | interval in this, and passes along this gap | interval in the perpendicular direction .

According to this, since the lower surface of the chamber is located below the lower surface of the canister, for example, even when the vehicle gets over a step, it is possible to protect the canister from grounding. As a result, there is no need to provide a dedicated protective member for protecting the canister. Further, since it is not necessary to open a hole for bolting the protective member to the frame member of the vehicle, the rigidity of the frame member is not reduced.
Further, since the purge capability is lowered when the temperature of the canister is too low, it is possible to suppress the temperature of the canister from being excessively lowered during the purge by the heat of the chamber.
In addition, the distance between the chamber and the canister can be maintained by forming an interval between the chamber and the canister so that an electric wire can be arranged, so that the heat transmitted from the chamber to the canister can be maintained at an appropriate temperature. Is possible.

  Further, the electric wire is arranged above the chamber.

  According to this, since the electric wire is positioned above the chamber, it is possible to protect the electric wire from grounding.

  The fuel tank may have a cross member in front of the vehicle, and the vapor passage may be routed along the cross member.

  According to this, it becomes possible to arrange | position a vapor path away from the chamber which becomes high temperature by routing a vapor path along a cross member. This makes it possible to keep the vapor passage at an appropriate temperature.

  ADVANTAGE OF THE INVENTION According to this invention, the canister arrangement | positioning structure which can protect a canister can be provided, without providing an exclusive protection member.

It is a schematic plan view when the canister arrangement structure according to the present embodiment is applied to a vehicle. It is a schematic side view when the canister arrangement structure according to the present embodiment is applied to a vehicle. It is a bottom view which shows the arrangement structure of the canister which concerns on this embodiment. It is sectional drawing in the AA of FIG. It is a B direction arrow line view of FIG.

  Hereinafter, an example of the canister arrangement structure according to the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. In the following description, a vehicle V (so-called e-4WD) in which front wheels are driven by an engine and rear wheels are driven by a motor will be described as an example. However, a vehicle equipped with only an engine may be used. In the following description, “front”, “rear”, “left”, “right”, “upper”, and “lower” are directions based on the vehicle body 1 of the vehicle V unless otherwise specified. It shall be shown.

  As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the vehicle body 1 is a fixed member of the vehicle V to which the engine 10, the fuel tank 20, the rear wheel drive unit 30, the exhaust system 40, the canister 50, and the like are fixed. 2 and 2, frame members such as cross members 3, 3, 3, 3 and floor panel 4 (see FIG. 2) and panel members.

  The side frames 2 are a pair of left and right skeleton members extending in the front-rear direction of the vehicle body 1 and are disposed on the left and right outer sides of the fuel tank 20.

  The cross member 3 is a skeletal member constructed so as to be orthogonal to the left and right side frames 2, and a plurality of cross members 3 are provided in front of and behind the fuel tank 20.

  The floor panel 4 is a member constituting the floor surface of the vehicle V, is formed of a metal flat plate member such as a steel plate, and is joined to the side frame 2 and the cross member 3.

  The engine 10 is supplied with the fuel in the fuel tank 20 and drives the front wheels FW, and is constituted by, for example, a gasoline engine, a diesel engine, or the like. The engine 10 is not limited to the configuration of only the internal combustion engine, and may be a hybrid engine in which the engine 10 and a motor are combined.

  The fuel tank 20 is a hollow flat container made of synthetic resin for storing liquids such as gasoline and light oil (see FIG. 4), and below the floor panel 4 where the rear seat ST (see FIG. 2) is located. Is arranged. The fuel tank 20 has a substantially trapezoidal shape when viewed from above, and is formed so that the vehicle width direction dimension is narrower than the width dimension of the pair of side frames 2, 2. More specifically, the left side surface is set in the vicinity of the left side frame 2 and the right side surface is set on the right side of the center in the vehicle width direction.

  On the upper surface of the fuel tank 20, a pump module 21 and a cut valve 22 incorporating a float valve that closes when the tank is full are provided. In addition, the pipe etc. which connect the fuel tank 20 and the fuel filler opening are omitted.

  The pump module 21 includes a suction filter for removing foreign matter in the fuel (not shown), a fuel pump for sending fuel from the fuel supply pipe P1 to the injector 6, and a fuel level gauge for detecting the fuel level in the fuel tank 20. It is equipped with a vent relief valve. The pump module 21 houses these devices in a unit case and is installed in the upper part of the fuel tank 20.

  Further, the fuel tank 20 is located between the cross member 3A (3) located immediately in front of the fuel tank 20 and the sub-frame SF on which the rear wheel drive unit 30 located behind is mounted. The front end edge of the fuel tank 20 is formed in the vicinity of the cross member 3A and along the cross member 3A, and the rear end edge of the fuel tank 20 is formed in the vicinity of the sub frame SF and along the sub frame SF. Has been.

  The fuel tank 20 is fixed to the vehicle body 1 by tank bands B1 and B2. That is, one tank band B1 has a flat plate shape (see FIG. 4), and is stretched from the bottom side of the fuel tank 20 in the front-rear direction at the approximate center in the vehicle width direction of the fuel tank 20, and one end is a cross member. The other end is fixed to the floor panel 4 with a boulder or the like on the lower surface of 3A. The tank band B2 has a columnar shape (or a circular tube shape) (see FIG. 4), and a protruding portion 20a (see FIG. 4) formed so that an internal hollow portion swells at an end of the fuel tank 20 in the vehicle width direction. 3 and FIG. 4) from the lower side of the cross member 3A. One end is fixed to the lower surface of the cross member 3A and the other end is fixed to the floor panel 4 with bolts or the like. The other ends of the tank bands B1, B2 are not limited to the floor panel 4, and may be fixed to a cross member (not shown).

  The rear wheel drive unit 30 is a power source for driving the rear wheels RW and RW of the vehicle V, and includes a drive motor 31 (see FIG. 2), a high voltage battery 32 (see FIG. 2), and a differential gear (not shown). These are assembled together and attached to the subframe SF, and the subframe SF is fixed to the side frames 2 and 2 of the vehicle body 1.

  The drive motor 31 is constituted by a three-phase AC synchronous motor or the like, and is driven by a PDU (Power Drive Unit) 8 provided with an inverter from the high voltage battery 32. The driving force from the drive motor 31 is transmitted to the rear wheels RW and RW via a reduction mechanism, a clutch, etc. (not shown). The high voltage battery 32 is configured by a rechargeable battery such as nickel metal hydride or lithium ion.

  The exhaust system 40 is formed such that an exhaust pipe 41 connected to an exhaust manifold of the engine 10 extends in the front-rear direction at the center of the vehicle V, and communicates with the atmosphere (outside air) at the rear end of the vehicle V. ing. The exhaust pipe 41 is provided with a catalytic converter (not shown), an auxiliary silencer (prechamber) 42, and a main silencer 43 from the upstream side, and is supported on the vehicle body 1 via a plurality of support members (not shown). Has been. The catalytic converter has a function of purifying harmful components such as HC, CO, and NOx contained in the exhaust gas.

  The auxiliary silencer 42 suppresses sound (noise) due to exhaust gas from the engine 10 passing through the exhaust pipe 41, and is formed in a cylindrical shape (see FIG. 4) by a heat-resistant metal plate such as stainless steel. A part of the exhaust pipe 41 is configured as a part whose diameter is larger than the diameter of the other part of the exhaust pipe 41. In the present embodiment, the auxiliary silencer 42 corresponds to the chamber described in the claims.

  The main silencer 43 suppresses the sound caused by the exhaust gas discharged from the auxiliary silencer 42, and is formed of a heat-resistant metal plate such as stainless steel (see FIG. 1). The main silencer 43 uses, for example, a partition or a pipe to ensure output in the high-speed rotation range of the engine 10 during acceleration traveling or high-speed traveling, and for the engine 10 during idling or low-speed traveling. The exhaust noise is reduced by ensuring quietness in the low-speed rotation range.

  As shown in FIG. 3, the auxiliary silencer 42 is disposed between the fuel tank 20 and a canister 50 to be described later with the axial direction thereof in the front-rear direction. More specifically, the left side (right side in the figure) of the auxiliary silencer 42 is arranged so as to overlap the protruding portion 20a formed in the fuel tank 20 in the vertical direction. Thus, the fuel tank 20 is protruded to the upper part of the auxiliary silencer 42, and the tank band B2 is disposed on the protruding portion 20a, so that the capacity of the fuel tank 20 can be sufficiently secured.

  The canister 50 captures the vaporized fuel (vapor) in the fuel tank 20 and temporarily stores it, thereby preventing the vaporized fuel from being released into the atmosphere. The air is taken out by the air sucked by the intake negative pressure and supplied to the intake manifold 7 (see FIG. 1) of the engine 10 through the purge pipe P2 (see FIG. 1).

  Further, the canister 50 has a main case 51 and a sub case 52 each formed in a cylindrical shape with a synthetic resin or the like, and a filter box 53 (see FIG. 4). The main case 51 and the sub case 52 are arranged such that their axial directions are directed in the front-rear direction of the vehicle V and are arranged side by side in the vehicle width direction, and the main case 51 is positioned on the auxiliary silencer 42 side. .

  The main case 51 and the sub case 52 are filled with an adsorbent such as activated carbon for adsorbing evaporated fuel (vapor) introduced from the fuel tank 20. The space filled with the adsorbent inside the main case 51 corresponds to the main chamber described in the claims, and the space filled with the adsorbent inside the sub case 52 is the sub chamber described in the claims. It corresponds to a room. Further, the main case 51 and the sub case 52 are connected to each other at the rear end side by a communication portion 54 that communicates the main chamber and the sub chamber.

  The main case 51 has a charge port 51 a connected to the fuel tank 20 on the front side (upper side shown in FIG. 3) and a purge port 51 b connected to the intake passage of the engine 10. One end of an evaporative fuel introduction pipe (vapor passage) P3 connected to the fuel tank 20 is connected to the charge port 51a. The evaporated fuel introduction pipe P3 is disposed along the cross member 3 (3A) extending in the vehicle width direction (left-right direction) at the front end portion of the fuel tank 20. The sub case 52 has a port 52 a connected to the filter box 53 at the front end.

  The filter box 53 prevents foreign matter contained in the atmosphere from entering the sub chamber of the sub case 52, and a known filter (not shown) is accommodated therein. The filter box 53 is connected to the sub case 52 via a pipe 53a and has an opening (not shown) that communicates with the atmosphere. The filter box 53 is provided near the upper part of the main case 51 and the sub case 52.

  The main case 51 and the sub case 52 of the canister 50 are provided with canister mounting brackets 55 and 55 at the rear end, and the bracket 56 is fixed to the main case 51 and / or the sub case 52 at the front end. It is configured. Bolt insertion holes 55a, 55a, and 56a for inserting fixing bolts are formed in the brackets 55, 55, and 56 so as to penetrate in the vertical direction (the direction perpendicular to the paper surface in FIG. 3).

  As shown in FIG. 4, the lower surface 51s of the main case 51 and the lower surface 52s of the sub case 52 of the canister 50 are positioned at the same height or substantially the same height, in other words, the road surface (not shown) of the lower surfaces 51s and 52s. The height from is set to be the same or almost the same. Further, the auxiliary silencer 42 and the canister 50 (main case 51) are arranged with a gap G, and the lower surface 42s of the auxiliary silencer 42 (chamber) is connected to the lower surface 51s of the main case 51 and the sub case 52. The lower surface 52s (the lower surface of the canister 50) is positioned below the vertical direction (vertical direction). In FIG. 5 to be described later, the lower surface 51 s and the lower surface 52 s are slightly shifted in the vertical direction for easy explanation.

  As shown in FIG. 5, the brackets 55 and 56 provided on the canister 50 are fixed via fixing members 4a and 4b fixed to the lower surface of the floor panel 4 and bolts and nuts (not shown). The means for attaching the canister 50 to the floor panel 4 is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and a plurality of substantially U-shaped brackets are held from the bottom side (lower side) of the canister 50 and both end portions thereof are held. May be fixed to the floor panel 4 with bolts or the like.

  Further, on the lower side of the floor panel 4, a three-phase wire (electric wire) 61 that connects the PDU 8 and the drive motor 31 (see FIG. 2) is positioned above the auxiliary silencer 42 along the front-rear direction. Arranged. Further, the three-phase line 61 passing above the auxiliary silencer 42 is arranged so as to pass between the canister 50 and the auxiliary silencer 42 when viewed from the bottom side shown in FIG. Further, the battery wire 62 connecting the PDU 8 and the high voltage battery 32 is arranged with the vicinity of the three-phase wire 61 facing in the front-rear direction.

  As described above, according to the canister arrangement structure of the present embodiment, the canister 50 is arranged side by side with the auxiliary silencer 42 (see FIG. 4), and the lower surface of the auxiliary silencer 42 is the lower surface of the main case 51. 51s and the lower surface 52s of the sub case 52 (the lower surface of the canister 50) are positioned below in the vertical direction (see FIGS. 4 and 5), so that, for example, when the vehicle V gets over the step, the canister 50 is grounded. Protection is possible. As a result, a protective member for protecting the canister 50 becomes unnecessary. Further, since it is not necessary to make a hole for bolting the protective member in the frame member (such as the side frame 2) of the vehicle V, it is possible to prevent the rigidity of the frame member from being lowered.

  By the way, if the canister 50 is simply arranged beside the exhaust pipe 41, the adsorption capacity of the canister 50 is reduced due to the high heat of the exhaust pipe 41, and when the canister 50 is sucked out by the negative pressure when the engine 10 is operated. By taking outside air from the filter box 53, the temperature of the canister 50 may decrease, and the purge capability may decrease. Therefore, according to the present embodiment, in the canister 50 including the main case 51 (main chamber) communicating with the evaporated fuel introduction pipe P3 and the sub case 52 (sub chamber) for taking in outside air, the main case 51 (main chamber) ) Is arranged side by side with the auxiliary silencer 42 (chamber), so that the temperature of the canister 50 can be prevented from excessively decreasing during the purge by the heat of the auxiliary silencer 42.

  Further, according to the present embodiment, electric power is supplied to the drive motor 31 (electric motor) that assists the traveling of the vehicle V in a space that passes through the gap G between the auxiliary silencer 42 and the canister 50 in the vertical direction. Since the three-phase wire 61 (electric wire) is arranged, the distance between the auxiliary silencer 42 and the canister 50 can be maintained, and the heat transmitted from the auxiliary silencer 42 to the canister 50 can be maintained at an appropriate temperature. Become. Even if the three-phase wire 61 is arranged so as to pass through the vicinity of the auxiliary silencer 42, the auxiliary silencer is arranged by the outside air passing through the gap G by arranging the three-phase line in a space passing through the gap G in the vertical direction. Heat transmitted from 42 to the three-phase wire 61 can be reduced, and deterioration of the three-phase wire 61 due to heat can be suppressed.

  Further, according to the present embodiment, the three-phase wire 61 can be grounded by arranging the three-phase wire 61 above the auxiliary silencer 42.

  Further, according to the present embodiment, the evaporative fuel introduction pipe P3 is disposed along the cross member 3A (3) provided in front of the fuel tank 20 in the vehicle, so that the evaporative fuel introduction pipe P3 has a high temperature. It becomes possible to arrange | position away from the auxiliary silencer 42 which becomes, and it becomes possible to maintain the vaporized fuel introduction piping P3 at an appropriate temperature.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Car body 2 Side frame 3A Cross member 4 Floor panel 20 Fuel tank 31 Drive motor (electric motor)
41 Exhaust pipe 42 Auxiliary silencer (chamber)
42a bottom 50 canister 51 main case (main room)
51a Lower surface 52 Sub case (sub chamber)
52a bottom surface 61 three-phase wire (electric wire)
G Gap P3 Evaporative fuel introduction pipe (vapor passage)
V vehicle

Claims (3)

A canister which is connected to a fuel tank for a vehicle by a vapor passage, adsorbs the vapor of the fuel tank, and has a main chamber communicating with the vapor passage, and a sub chamber for taking outside air ;
An exhaust pipe for discharging exhaust gas to the atmosphere;
A chamber configured to suppress a sound of exhaust gas passing through the exhaust pipe, wherein a part of the exhaust pipe is expanded in diameter;
The canister and the chamber are arranged side by side, the lower surface of the chamber is located below the lower surface of the canister, and the canister is disposed in the main chamber alongside the main chamber. And
A canister arrangement characterized in that a gap is provided between the chamber and the canister, and an electric wire for supplying electric power to an electric motor that assists the vehicle with a motor is arranged in a space passing through the gap in the vertical direction. Construction. 2. The canister arrangement structure according to claim 1 , wherein the electric wires are arranged above the chamber. The canister arrangement structure according to claim 1 or 2 , wherein a cross member is provided in front of the fuel tank in the vehicle, and the vapor passage is routed along the cross member.

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