JPH06312623A - Tube supporting structure for fuel tank - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide a fuel tank tube supporting structure for supporting the opening end part of a tube, extended horizontally inside the fuel tank, easily into the specified position in the fuel tank through a supporting member. CONSTITUTION:Fuel tank tube supporting structure is provided with a lid body 3 mounted from the outside of a fuel tank so as to close a fitting opening 1b formed at the upper face of the fuel tank, and a supporting member 5 for supporting the opening end part 7a of a tube 7, horizontally extended inside the fuel tank, to the fuel tank in the specified position, opposed to the lid body 3, in the fuel tank. After supporting the opening end part 7a of the tube 7 to the fuel tank through the supporting member 5, the lid body 3 is mounted to the fuel tank.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a tube support structure for a fuel tank mounted on a vehicle, and more particularly to a support structure for supporting an open end of a breather tube at a predetermined position in a fuel tank.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In order to limit the amount of fuel contained in a fuel tank of a vehicle to a predetermined amount, a breather tube is generally mounted so that the fuel liquid level is regulated at the position of its open end. It is configured. Therefore, the open end of the breather tube needs to be supported at a predetermined position in the fuel tank. For example, in the case where a breather tube is provided on the side surface of a flat fuel tank, if fuel is injected while the vehicle is tilted, the amount of fuel to be stored will differ depending on the tilted state. For this reason, the breather tube needs to be supported so that the open end thereof is located substantially in the center of the upper space in the fuel tank.

In this regard, in Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 3-26989, there is a problem in that a supporting member for supporting the tip portion of a conventional breather tube is long in the vertical direction and is unstablely attached to a fuel tank. In view of this, there is a structure in which a partition plate and a breather tube for suppressing fuel flow in the tank are arranged in directions orthogonal to each other, and at least one of the breather tube and the supporting member is integrally connected to the partition plate. Proposed.

Further, in Japanese Utility Model Laid-Open No. 62-115226, a stopper for holding a tube at the tip is provided in a hole provided in an upper portion of a resin tank, and the other end has a size larger than a hole diameter. A resin tank tube bracket is disclosed in which a bracket having a flange portion is inserted and the other end is welded to the outer surface of the upper portion of the tank.

[0005]

However, in the tube support structures described in the above publications, it is not easy to attach the open end of the tube extending horizontally in the fuel tank to the support member or the bracket. , Installation requires skill.

Therefore, the present invention provides a tube support structure for a fuel tank which can easily support the open end of a tube extending horizontally in the fuel tank at a predetermined position in the fuel tank through a support member. The purpose is to do.

[0007]

To achieve the above object, the present invention is a fuel tank for supporting an open end portion of a tube extending horizontally in a fuel tank at a predetermined position in the fuel tank. In the tube support structure, a mounting opening is formed on the upper surface of the fuel tank, the lid is mounted from the outside of the fuel tank so as to close the mounting opening, and a predetermined portion in the fuel tank facing the lid. A support member for supporting the open end of the tube to the fuel tank at a position, and supporting the open end of the tube to the fuel tank via the support member, and then attaching the lid to the fuel tank. It is designed to be attached.

The support member includes a stay joined to the fuel tank near the mounting opening, and a mounting bracket having one end fixed to the opening end of the tube and the other end detachably mounted to the stay. Good thing.

Further, the stay may be formed in a container shape, a cut-off valve may be housed in the stay, and the opening end of the vapor tube may be supported by the lid.

The support member includes a first bracket having one end joined to the fuel tank in the vicinity of the mounting opening and the other end extending to a position facing the mounting opening, and the lid body includes: A second bracket extending to a position facing the first bracket at a predetermined distance and configured to hold the tube between the second bracket and the first bracket. You can also do it.

[0011]

In the tube supporting structure for the fuel tank constructed as described above, the opening end of the tube extending in the horizontal direction in the fuel tank is fixed by the supporting member in the fuel tank facing the lid. Positioned to be supported by the fuel tank. In this case, the open end of the tube can be easily supported by the support member via the mounting opening on the upper surface of the fuel tank.

[0012]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 shows a breather tube support structure for an automobile fuel tank according to an embodiment of the present invention. First, an outline of the fuel tank will be described. A fuel injection pipe 6 is provided in a tank body 1 that defines a closed space, and a discharge port 6a thereof opens below the tank body 1, and an injection port 6b of the tank body 1 is provided. It is mounted so as to be located above the outside. In addition, a breather tube 7 that connects the vicinity of the injection port 6b of the fuel injection pipe 6 and an upper space in the tank body 1 to each other.
Is provided so as to extend in the horizontal direction in the tank body 1, and the liquid level FL of the fuel in the tank body 1 is regulated by the opening end portion 7a.
A cap 8 is provided at the injection port 6b of the fuel injection pipe 6.

A mounting opening 1a is formed on the upper side surface of the tank body 1, and the mounting opening 1 is formed substantially at the center of the upper surface.
b is formed and is sealed by lids 2 and 3, respectively. The breather tube 7 is supported so as to pass through the one lid 2 and extend horizontally in the tank body 1. The open end 7a of the breather tube 7 is a free end bent downward in the tank body 1 and can move vertically and horizontally. In order to support the opening end portion 7a at a predetermined position, this embodiment is configured as shown in an enlarged scale in FIGS.

In FIGS. 2 and 3, a cylindrical container-shaped stay 4 is joined to the lower surface of the tank body 1 around the mounting opening 1b. A flange 4a is formed in the mounting opening of the stay 4, and is joined to the inner surface of the tank body 1 around the mounting opening 1b by, for example, projection welding. A plurality of communication holes 4b are formed on the side surface of the stay 4 over the entire circumference, and the long hole 4 extending from the side surface to the center of the bottom surface is formed.
c is drilled. An annular retainer 31 is fixed to the outer surface of the tank body 1 around the mounting opening 1b. A plurality of bolt holes 31 a are formed around the retainer 31. Thus, the disk-shaped lid 3 is mounted via the annular gasket 32, and the mounting opening 1b is sealed when the bolt 33 is screwed into the bolt hole 31a of the retainer 31. .

On the other hand, the open end 7a of the breather tube 7
One end of the mounting bracket 5 is fixed to a position facing the lid body 3 in the vicinity. As is apparent from FIG. 2, a bolt 53 is fixed to the other end of the mounting bracket 5 with the screw portion 53a facing upward, and the bolt 53 is inserted from the side of the stay 4 into the elongated hole 4c. Is configured. Therefore, the width of the long hole 4c is formed to be slightly larger than the screw portion 53a of the bolt 53 as shown in FIG.

In supporting the breather tube 7 in the tank body 1, first, the breather tube 7 to which the mounting bracket 5 is fixed is inserted into the tank body 1 from the mounting opening 1a, and the screw portion of the bolt 53 is inserted. 53a is inserted into the long hole 4c from the side of the stay 4. In this state,
A nut 54 is screwed into the screw portion 53a from the upper side of the stay 4. Since the stay 4 has a container shape and the width of the elongated hole 4c is smaller than the outer diameter of the nut 54, even if the nut 54 is accidentally dropped during the mounting work, it does not fall into the tank body 1. Then, when the lid body 2 is fixed to the tank body 1, the breather tube 7 has a structure of supporting both ends in the tank body 1, and the open end portion 7a has the opening end portion 7a.
It will be supported at a predetermined position substantially in the center. After that, the lid 3 is attached, and the retainer 3 is attached by the bolt 33.
When it is fastened to 1, the mounting opening 1b is sealed.

FIGS. 4 to 6 relate to another embodiment of the present invention, in which the first inner surface of the tank body 1 near the mounting opening 1b is provided.
One end of the bracket 51 is fixed and the other end, which is a free end, is disposed so as to face the mounting opening 1b. The free end of the first bracket 51 is formed with a recess 51a on the upper side, and the breather tube 7 is supported in this recess 51a. Further, on the surface of the lid body 3 on the tank body 1 side, the first bracket 5 extending into the tank body 1 is provided.
A second bracket 52, which faces the No. 1 at a predetermined distance, is fixed, and a recess 52a is formed on the lower side at the tip thereof. The other structure is the same as that of the embodiment shown in FIGS.

Thus, in supporting the breather tube 7 in the tank body 1 in this embodiment, the breather tube 7 is inserted into the tank body 1 from the mounting opening 1a and is inserted into the recess 51a of the first bracket 51. In the supported state, the lid body 2 is fixed to the tank body 1, and the lid body 3 is fixed to the tank body 1. As a result, the breather tube 7 is sandwiched between the recesses 51a and 52a of the first and second brackets 51 and 52, and the open end 7a is supported at a predetermined position in the tank body 1. According to the present embodiment, it is not necessary to fix the mounting bracket 5 to the breather tube 7 in advance as in the above-described embodiments, and the nut 54 is not necessary, so that the number of parts can be reduced. Not only that, the mounting work becomes easier.

FIG. 7 shows still another embodiment of the present invention, in which a vapor tube 9 and a cutoff valve 90 which are not shown in FIG. 1 are provided in the mounting opening 1b. That is, in this embodiment, the opening end of the vapor tube 9 is fixed to the lid 3 of the embodiment shown in FIGS. 1 to 3, and the cutoff valve 90 is housed in the stay 4 having a cylindrical container shape. Has been done. The other end of the vapor tube 9 is connected to, for example, a charcoal canister (not shown), and the fuel evaporative gas generated in the tank body 1 is adsorbed to the charcoal canister. As is well known, the cut-off valve 90 blocks the inflow of liquid fuel into the vapor tube 9, and has a float valve 91, for example, and is configured as shown in FIG.

Thus, according to the present embodiment, the mounting opening 1b is used for mounting the vapor tube 9 and the breather tube 7, and the lid 3 can also be used, so that the number of parts can be reduced, and the number of parts of both tubes can be reduced. Since the mounting can be performed at the same time, the number of mounting steps can be reduced.

In the embodiment shown in FIGS. 1 and 7, the container-like stay 4 is joined to the inner surface of the tank body 1 by welding or the like. Alternatively, the flange 4a may be fitted between the lid 3 and the tank body 1 and may be sandwiched between the lid body 3 and the tank body 1. Further, the tube support structure of the present invention is not limited to the support of the breather tube 7 of the above-described embodiment, but can be applied to the case of supporting a fuel return tube or the like.

[0022]

Since the present invention is constructed as described above, it has the following effects. That is, in the tube supporting structure of the fuel tank of the present invention, the opening end of the tube extending horizontally in the fuel tank is supported by the supporting member on the fuel tank at a predetermined position in the fuel tank facing the lid. Since the opening end of the tube can be supported by the support member through the mounting opening on the upper surface of the fuel tank,
The mounting work is easy, and the open end of the tube can be reliably supported at a predetermined position.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a sectional view showing an overall structure of a fuel tank according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an enlarged front cross-sectional view of a breather tube support portion according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is an enlarged side cross-sectional view of the breather tube support portion according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a plan view of a breather tube support portion according to another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is an enlarged front sectional view of a breather tube support portion according to another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is an enlarged side sectional view of a breather tube support portion according to another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is an enlarged front sectional view of a breather tube support portion according to still another embodiment of the present invention.

8 is a bottom view of the stay in the embodiment of FIGS. 1 to 3 and 7. FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Tank Main Body 1a, 1b Mounting Opening 2, 3 Lid 4 Stay (Supporting Member) 5 Mounting Bracket (Supporting Member) 6 Fuel Injection Pipe 7 Breather Tube 7a Open End 8 Cap 9 Vapor Tube 31 Retainer 32 Gasket 51 First Bracket (support member) 52 Second bracket (support member) 90 Cut-off valve

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. In a tube support structure for a fuel tank, which supports an opening end of a tube extending horizontally in a fuel tank at a predetermined position in the fuel tank, a mounting opening is formed on an upper surface of the fuel tank. A lid mounted from the outside of the fuel tank so as to close the mounting opening, and a support for supporting the opening end of the tube on the fuel tank at a predetermined position in the fuel tank facing the lid. And a member for supporting the opening end of the tube on the fuel tank via the support member, and then mounting the lid on the fuel tank. .