JPH0138715B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a motorcycle equipped with a cowling surrounding an engine, and particularly to the structure of the cowling.

In recent years, motorcycles equipped with cowlings to protect the driver from wind and rain and to reduce running resistance have become popular as commercially available vehicles for general driving. By the way, in this type of cowling, a full cowling that integrally covers not only the area around the headlight but also the area around the engine,
The front of the cowling that surrounds the engine has an opening for intake of cooling air. Therefore, the cooling air that flows into the cowling from the opening during running travels through the space between the engine and the side surface of the undercowl and flows rearward from the rear opening of the cowling. In this case, the footrest on which the driver rests his legs is located behind the cowling, so the legs are directly exposed to the cooling air that cools the engine and becomes hot. This poses no problem in the winter as the legs are warmed, but in the summer the legs may feel hot and comfort may be compromised.

The present invention was developed based on the above circumstances, and its purpose is to increase or decrease the thermal influence of engine cooling air on the driver's legs depending on driving conditions, seasons, etc. The present invention aims to provide a cowling structure for a motorcycle that provides comfortable riding.

That is, in order to achieve the above object, the present invention
The area around the engine is covered by a cowling equipped with a cooling air inlet opening at the front of the engine, and this cowling is connected to the cooling air inlet between the engine and the front of the driver's legs. A passage is formed in this cowling, and a ventilation passage is formed in this cowling, which is separated from the cooling air guide passage.The front end of this ventilation passage is opened toward the front of the cowling to take in running wind, and the rear end is opened toward the front of the cowling. The ventilation passage is opened in front of the driver's legs, and this ventilation passage is provided with an opening/closing wall that selectively opens and closes the ventilation passage.By opening and closing this opening/closing wall, the heat of the engine cooling air to the legs is The feature is that the influence can be adjusted freely.

The first embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS. 1 to 4.
This will be explained based on the diagram.

FIG. 1 shows a motorcycle, where 1 is a front fork, 2 is a steering wheel, 3 is a handlebar, 4 is a fuel tank, 5 is a seat, and 6 is a drive wheel. A water-cooled front and rear V-shaped engine 7 is arranged below the fuel tank 4. This engine 7 is a V-shaped two-cylinder engine in which a front cylinder 8 and a rear cylinder 9 are installed on a crankcase 10 so as to be inclined in the front-rear direction. A vaporizer (not shown) is installed. And on both sides of the rear part of the crankcase 10, the driver A
is the footrest 11, 11 on which the legs B, B are placed.
(only one of which is shown) is provided, and a rear cylinder 9 is located between these legs B, B.

Incidentally, the area from the front side of the handlebar 3 to the front half of the engine 7 is covered with a cowling 12 made of synthetic resin. This cowling 12
is of a frame fixed type fixed to a frame (not shown), and is formed mainly of an upper cowl 13 and an under cowl 14. The top cowl 13 surrounds the front part of the fuel tank 4 from around the front of the handle 3, that is, around the headlamp (not shown), and a windshield 15 is connected to the upper edge of the top cowl 13. On the other hand, Andakauru 14 is Atsupakauru 1
3, it surrounds the front and sides of the front half of the engine 7, and a cooling air inlet 16 is provided in the portion facing the front of the engine 7. Both side edges of the lower end of the under cowl 14 extend below the crankcase 10, and between both sides of the under cowl 14 and the engine 7, a cooling air guide passage 17 is formed which is connected to the cooling air inlet 16. ing. A radiator 18 for cooling engine cooling water is attached to the cooling air inlet 16. Further, the rear end edge of the under cowl 14 is integrally extended inward in front of the legs B, B, and this extended portion covers the rear end opening of the cooling air guide passage 17, and It constitutes leg shields 19, 19 that cover the front of the.
Furthermore, a plurality of outlet ports 20 are provided on both side surfaces of the under cowl 14 and are located forwardly and lower than the footrest 11, and these outlets 20 communicate with the cooling air guide passage 17.

Therefore, on both sides of the under cowl 14, there are duct portions 21, 2 that protrude in a substantially U-shape on both the left and right sides.
1 is integrally molded. These duct parts 21,
The front end of 21 is opened forward as it is to form the outside air intake port 22, and the rear end is extended rearward beyond the leg shields 19, 19 to form the outside air intake port 22.
At the front thereof, an air outlet 23 is formed which opens inwardly from the legs B, B. The insides of these duct parts 21, 21 constitute ventilation passages 24, 24 located on the left and right outer sides of the cooling air passage 17, and these ventilation passages 24, 24 and the cooling air passage 1
7 by partition walls 25, 25. The partition walls 25, 25 of this embodiment are
The front end portion is rotatably supported by the undercowl 14, and the entire body is provided so as to be movable in and out of the ventilation passages 24, 24, and the ventilation passages 24, 24 are selectively closed by the partition walls 25, 25. It is designed to be opened and closed. Therefore, the partition walls 25, 25 also function as opening/closing walls for opening and closing the ventilation passages 24, 24. Note that the partition walls 25, 25 are manually operated to rotate (open and close) by the driver, and the rotation position thereof can be adjusted steplessly.

With such a configuration, as shown in FIG. 2, the ventilation passage 24,
24 and the cooling air guide passage 17 are separated from each other, the outside air that has passed through the radiator 18 and has been heated during driving, that is, the cooling air, flows through the undercowl 1.
After flowing into the cooling air guide passage 17 in the cooling air 4, most of the air is discharged to the outside of the under cowl 14 through the outlet 20 located below the footrest 11 in front of the footrest 11, as shown by the broken line arrow. At the same time, the ventilation passages 24, 24 from the outside air intakes 22, 22 while driving.
The outside air, that is, the running wind flowing into the vehicle, is discharged from the air outlets 23, 23 toward the legs B, B of the driver A, as shown by solid arrows. Therefore, in the summer, the ventilation passages 24, 2 are separated by the partition walls 25, 25.
4 and the cooling air guide passage 17 are made independent, the heated cooling air is not directly guided to the legs B, B of the driver A, and the running wind is forcibly guided. Therefore, the legs B and B do not feel hot while driving, unlike in the conventional case.

On the other hand, the partition walls 25, 25 are connected to the ventilation passages 24, 2
4 side to close the inside of the ventilation passages 24, 24 as shown in FIG. The air outlets 23, 23 of the ventilation passages 24, 24 and the inside of the cooling air guide passage 17 are brought into communication. Then, the cooling air passage 17
Most of the cooling air flows into the ventilation passages 24, 24 side as shown by the arrows, and this cooling air flows through the air outlet 2.
It is discharged from 3,23. Therefore, in winter, if the ventilation passages 24, 24 are closed as described above, the legs B, B of the driver A will be warmed by the cooling air, which is convenient for driving in cold weather. Become.
In this case, in this embodiment, the ventilation passages 24, 2
Since the air outlets 23, 23 of No. 4 are opened inward from the legs B, B, the heated cooling air discharged from these ports is reliably delivered to the leg B without being diffused outward. , B, which has the advantage of further improving the heating effect. Note that if the rotational positions of the partition walls 25, 25 are changed to leave the ventilation passages 24, 24 in a half-open state, as shown by the imaginary lines in FIG. Since both wind and running wind are supplied at the same time, the temperature of the legs B, B can be freely increased or decreased according to the driver A's preference.

As can be seen from the above explanation, the thermal influence of the cooling air on the legs B, B of the driver A can be freely adjusted according to the driver A's preferences as well as the driving conditions, the season, etc. There are advantages such as significantly improved comfort.

Further, in the embodiment described above, since the partition walls 25, 25 also function as opening/closing walls, the functions of the parts can be expanded, and therefore the number of parts can be reduced and the structure can be simplified.

Note that the present invention is not limited to the first embodiment described above, and a second embodiment of the present invention is shown in FIG. This second embodiment is an air-cooled V-type engine 31.
The figure shows a case in which the cooling air inlet 16 is opened forward as it is.

Further, in the first embodiment, the leg shield provided at the rear end edge of the undercowl covers the rear end opening of the cooling air passage, and when the partition wall is opened, the cooling air is mainly discharged from the outlet. In this way,
Although the cooling air is prevented from flowing through the legs, the opening at the rear end of the cooling air passage does not necessarily need to be closed, and the cooling air may be discharged rearward from there. In this case, cooling air will flow through the legs even in summer, but since the running wind is also forcibly guided to these legs from the ventilation passage, the temperature of the cooling air is lowered by this running wind. Therefore, the thermal influence on the legs is reduced. In addition, when adopting this structure, the above first
If the outlet of the ventilation passage is opened inward from the legs as shown in the embodiment, the running air will surely mix with the cooling air in front of the legs. That is, since the flow of the running air is not obstructed by the cooling air, the cooling air is reliably guided to the legs, which is more convenient for suppressing the influence of heat.

Furthermore, in the above embodiment, the partition wall also has the function of an opening/closing wall, but for example, an opening that communicates the ventilation passage with the cooling air guide passage is provided in the partition wall, and this opening and the ventilation passage are connected by the opening/closing wall. It may be opened and closed.

Furthermore, the engine is not limited to the front and rear V-shape, and for example, a single-cylinder engine or a multi-cylinder parallel engine can be similarly implemented.

According to the present invention described in detail above, when the opening/closing wall is opened and the ventilation passage is opened, running air is actively guided to the legs, so that the heated engine cooling air flows from the cooling air passage. The influence of heat is small, and if the opening/closing wall is closed and the ventilation passage is closed, the supply of running air is cut off, so the legs are warmed by the engine cooling air. Therefore, the thermal effect of the engine cooling air on the driver's legs is
It can be freely increased or decreased depending on the driving condition, season, and driver's preference, and has excellent effects such as significantly improving comfort.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

1 to 3 show a first embodiment of the present invention, in which FIG. 1 is a side view of the motorcycle, FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of the motorcycle with the ventilation passage open, and FIG.
FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line - in the figure, FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view with the ventilation passage closed, and FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view showing a second embodiment of the present invention. 7, 31...engine, 12...cowling,
16...Cooling air inlet, 17...Cooling air guide passage,
24... Ventilation passage, 25... Opening/closing wall (partition wall),
A...driver, B...legs.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. Covering the engine with a cowling having a cooling air inlet opening at the front of the engine,
This cowling forms a cooling air passage connected to the cooling air introduction port between the engine and the driver's legs in front of the driver's legs, and this cowling also has a ventilation passage that is separated from the cooling air air passage. The front end of the ventilation passage is opened toward the front of the cowling to take in the running wind, and the rear end is opened in front of the driver's legs. A motorcycle cowling device characterized by having an opening/closing wall that opens and closes. 2. The cowling device for a motorcycle according to claim 1, wherein the opening/closing wall also serves as a partition wall that partitions a cooling air guide path and a ventilation path.